Civil and Political Events During The Years of 1938-1940
(1938-1940)

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 A historical overview of the political and civilian
events during 1938-1940

This section will give a brief history of the civil and political events that took place throughout the USSR during the conflict filled years just prior to the Great Patriotic War.  We later plan on discussing these events in detail.  The Soviet leader of the period will also be profiled at a later time.

Soviet Leaders
(1938-1940)

Political & Civil Events Historical Index

Joseph Stalin
1924-1953

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Timeline 1938-1940

 

1938

 

 

 

 
Stalin purges the officer corps of the Red Army.  These began in 1937, but lasted in some form until the German invasion in 1941.

 

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 Eisenstein releases 'Alexander Nevsky'
- Bukharin and numerous Communist Party members are put through show trials and shot.
7 August Soviet director Konstantin Stanislavsky dies.  He was also the founder of the Moscow Art Theater and developer of the 'method acting' theory.
16 August The cosmonaut Oleg Grigoryevich was born in Kononenko, Russia.
20 September Czech President Benes asks the Soviet Minister in Prague if the Soviet Union would help the Czechs in case of a German attack.
30 September President Benes again asks the Soviet Minister if they will assist them in the event of a German attack, and if they would do this without France or the League of Nations.
2 October The Soviets finally reply that they will assist Czechoslovakia if they fight the Germans, but the reply is too late.  The German army had already marched into the Sudetenland.
Third Five-Year Plan is announced.  It lasts from 1938-1941.

1939

 

 

 

 
10 March 18th Party Congress is held.  At this meeting both Stalin and Molotov claim that the Western nations were spreading false rumors that Germany was planning to attack the Soviet Union.  They also said that there were no signs of a Russo-German conflict. 
- Minimum labor days are set for work on collective farms.

 

24 August

 Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union.
  - World War II begins with the German invasion of Poland.
Soviet forces occupy Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Joseph Stalin is named 'Man of the Year' by Time magazine.
Soviet forces invade Poland from the East.
28 November The Soviet government revoked the non-aggression treaty that it had previously signed with Finland.
The Winter War begins as Soviets attack Finland.
14 December Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations.  This was because of their attack on Finland.

1940

 

 

 

 
- Sholokhov completes work on 'Silent Don'
End of Winter War.  Portions of Finland and the Baltic states are annexed.

 

28 June

Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Bucovina, and parts of Eastern Poland are annexed after the war with Poland.

 

20 August

 Leon Trotsky (also known as Lev Bronstein) is murdered in Mexico by Ramon Mercador del Rio.  Trotsky was 63.

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Civilian Items from the 
Years of 1938-1940		 Return to the
Wars of 1938-1940