Political and Civilian History of the Era of Rebuilding

1946
	-	Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946-1950) German factories are dismantled and moved to Soviet Union. First elections to the Supreme Soviet since 1937
		Zhdanov attacks Soviet composers and Zoshchenko.
		Eisenstein's 'Ivan the Terrible Part II' is withdrawn from theaters.
		Communist government established in Bulgaria.
	May	The Soviet air force makes the aircraft of long range aviation, the VVS (Dalnaya Aviatsaya) is made into as separate military command. The first Soviet ballistic missile unit is formed from two Guards Katyusha regiments. This force is to use captured V-2's at Kasputin Yar in central Asia.
	17 June	USSR refuses United States proposal, the 'Baruch plan', to allow UN to inspect all atomic energy facilities.
	July-August	Soviet rocket engineer S. Korolev designs a rocket best described as a 'stretched V-2'
	22 October	6000 German military specialists in Soviet Occupation Zone are rounded up and sent into Russia.
1947
		Rationing is abolished in Soviet Union.
	May	The Tu-4 'Bull' appears at air display. The aircraft was a remarkable copy of the United States B-29.
		Cominform is established.
	30 October	Early Soviet missile tests begin. They begin with a V-2 launch in Kazakhstan. Early flights reach 175 miles in range.
1948
	-	Czechoslovakia joins Soviet bloc following assassinations and resignations of prominent government officials.
	17 May	The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.
	June	Berlin blockade occurs. All land routes to West Berlin are closed. Western nations begin airlift to support citizens of West Berlin. It was seen by many as a test of Western resolve by Stalin.
		Stalinist censorship reaches new extremes - Pravda article on the fall of Berlin fails to mention Marshal Zhukov. Yugoslavia expelled from Cominform
	November	Soviets begin testing rockets based on the German V-2.
1949
	May	Berlin blockade ends.
	26 June	The Warsaw Pact nations and the Soviet Union break off all economic relations with Yugoslavia. Marshal Tito then makes a series of economic agreements with the West, and United States.
	29 August	Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb.
	22 September	The United States, England and Canada announce that they had detected the Soviet nuclear explosion.
	30 September	The Berlin Airlift came to an end after 277,264 successful flights that delivered 2,323,738 tons of supplies. The airlift was instituted after the Soviets blockaded the city of West Berlin.
	.	Stalin celebrates his 70th birthday with Mao Tse-tung. They attend the Bolshoi theater. Pravda devotes almost all 12 pages of its content to Stalin.
1950
	14 February	USSR and China sign Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance.
	25 June	Outbreak of Korean War. Soviets and Chinese support North Korea. Western power support South Korea.
1951
		Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951-1955)
1952
		19th Party Congress
1953
	28 February	Stalin dies after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage.
	6 March	Stalin's death is announced to Soviet people.
	June	Riots in East Berlin
	17 June	Khrushchev is sent to put down riots in East Berlin
	10 July	Beria, the head of the NKVD, is arrested.
	12 August	USSR tests first thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb.
	12 September	Malenkov named premier, and Nikita Khrushchev named first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
	23 December	Lavrenty Beria is executed for numerous crimes (including plotting to succeed Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union).
1954
		Khrushchev initiates 'Virgin Lands' program (1954-1956).
	26 April	Crimea is transferred to Ukraine.
		PVO-Strany (air defense force) is established as a separate command.
	23 October	The Soviet Union, United States, France, and England agree to end the occupation of Germany after a series of conferences in Paris.
	22 November	The Soviet diplomat and lawyer Andrei Vyshinsky died. He was chief prosecutor during the trials of the Great Purge and then later went on to be Soviet Foreign Minister.
1955
	February	Malenkov resigns as premier and is replaced by Bulganin.
		Summit Conference in Geneva
	14 May	The Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, East Germany, Bulgaria, and Albania form the Warsaw Pact.
		The Soviet Navy conducts their first launch of a submarine launched ballistic missile.
	13 September	West Germany and the Soviet Union agree to establish diplomatic relations.
1956
	14 February	20th Party Congress begins at this congress Nikita Khrushchev denounced the policies of Stalin.
		Khrushchev's "Secret Speech"; Lenin's Testament is read and the Party condemns "cult of the individual." Molotov resigns.
	June	The United States begins U-2 spy overflights over the Soviet Union. Soviet air defense and air forces attempt to stop overflights, but are unsuccessful.
	23 October	Anti-Communist revolt begins in Hungary
	1 November	The government of Hungary, under Premier Imre Nagy withdraws from the Warsaw Pact treaty.
	4 November	Soviet forces move into Hungary to crush the revolt.
1957
		Malenkov, Kaganovich and Molotov are ousted.
		Decentralization of economic organization begins.
		FROG (Free Rocket Over Ground) series of battlefield nuclear missiles become operational with Soviet Army.
	14 July	Soviet ship Eshahabad runs aground in the Caspian sea killing 270 people.
	7 August	USSR successfully tests ICBM - the R-7 (NATO codename: Sapwood)
	4 October	First artificial satellite 'Sputnik' is launched by the Soviet Union.
	2 November	First dog 'Laika' is sent into space in Sputnik II.
1958
		Bulganin resigns. US-USSR cultural exchange agreement is made. US edition of "Doctor Zhivago" is published.
	March	Soviets begin a unilateral test ban. This lasts until 30 September.
	23 October	The book 'Doctor Zhivago' earns Russian writer Boris Pasternak awarded Nobel Prize for literature. The book was a best-selling novel in the West, but had not yet been published in the Soviet Union.
	27 November	The Soviet Union abrogates the agreements it made during the war with the Western allies regarding the control of Germany.
1959
		Mikoyan, Kozlov, and Khrushchev visit the United States.
		Nikita Khrushchev launches his corn campaign.
		Strategic Rocket Forces are established.
		Marshal M.I. Nedlin of the Strategic Rocket Forces is killed when the N-1 rocket explodes during launch.
		21st Party Congress is held.
	20 June	The Soviet Union revokes agreement to supply China with nuclear weapons technology.
	12 September	Lunik II, first man-made object to impact the moon.
	15 September	Nikita Khruschchev arrives in the United States for a 12-day visit.
	4 October	Lunik III takes first picture of the dark side of the moon.
		Seven-Year Plan (1959-1965) The "Anti-Party Group" is denounced.

Statistics of the Russia during the Early Cold War (1946-1959)
• Coming Soon!!		Civilian Items from the Era of Rebuilding
Earlier Political Events	Return to the Era of Rebuilding	Later Political Events