A historical overview of the political and civilian
events during 1979-1989

This section will focus on a history of events that took place throughout the USSR during the war in Afghanistan.  Here we will discuss the political changes and significant civil events that occurred between 1979 and 1989.  The Soviet leaders of the period will also be profiled at a later time.

Timeline of the Years 1979-1989

 

1979
		Mikhail Gorbachev is made a candidate member of Politburo.
		An accident at a Sverdlovsk biological warfare facility kills __ people.
	June	The SALT II treaty is signed in Vienna.  It was set to last until 1985 and was to limit various ballistic and cruise missiles.  It did not address this issue of the Tu-22M, mobile missiles, or ground and sea launched cruise missiles.
	19 August	Soyuz 34 returns to Earth after Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakov and Valery Ryumin completed a record 175 days in space.
	6 October	Brezhnev offers to reduce number of SS-20 'Saber' IRBM launchers deployed if the United States does not deploy Ground Launched Cruise  and Pershing Missiles in Europe.
	26 December	Beginning of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
1980
		US grain embargo to protest invasion of Afghanistan.
	January	President Carter suspends exports of high technology to the Soviet Union and asks for a delay in ratification of SALT II treaty.
		Andrei Sakharov, the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb program, is exiled.
		Vladimir Vysotsky dies at the age of __.
		64 countries boycott Moscow Summer Olympics to protest Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
		Gorbachev promoted to full member of Politburo.
	11 October	Salyut 6 space mission is completed.  During the mission two Soviet  cosmonauts spent a record 185 days in space.
1981
		26th Party Congress is held and the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981-1985) is proposed.
	28 October	A Soviet nuclear armed Whiskey class submarine ran aground in Swedish waters creating an international incident.
	6 November	After protests from the Soviet Union, the Swedish government releases the Whiskey-class submarine that ran aground in their waters the previous month.
	19 November	President of the United States, Ronald Reagan proposes 'Zero Option'.  It is an offer not to deploy the Pershing or GCLM missiles in Europe if the Soviets dismantle their SS-20 'Saber' IRBM launchers in Europe.
	20 November	Anatoly Karpov defeats Viktor Korchnoi during the World Chess Championship in Italy.
	22 - 24 November	Brezhnev-Schmidt conference is held in Bonn.  Soviet Union offers to reduce a 'certain portion' of its IRBM force.
	30 November	Closed session medium range missile reduction talks are held in Geneva.
	19 December	Military takeover in Poland results in more sanctions against the USSR by the United States.  High technology exports are again the targets of these sanctions.
1982
	16 March	Brezhnev announces a moratorium on new Soviet missiles targeted at Western Europe.
	10 November	Leonid Brezhnev dies.  He had been leader of the Soviet Union since 1964 and its president since 1977.
	12 November	Yuri Andropov is elected First Secretary of the Soviet Communist party following the death of Leonid Brezhnev.
	10 December	A pair of Soviet cosmonauts return to Earth after setting a new record by spending 211 days in space aboard Salyut 7.
		New biological warfare facility is set up in Stepnogorsk to replace the one closed in Sverdlovsk.
1983
	February	The Warsaw Pact summit proposes a non-aggression agreement with NATO.
	1 September	Korean airliner KAL 007 shot down by Soviet Su-15 'Flagon' after violating Soviet airspace.
	23 November	The Soviet delegation walked out of arms limitation talks in Geneva in protest over the United States deployment of cruise missiles in Europe.
1984
		Yuri Andropov dies; Konstantin Chernenko becomes General Secretary
		Soviets withdraw from Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
		Tarkovsky emigrates to Italy
	21 June	Massive explosion at Sevromorsk naval supply depot kills over 200 people.
1985
		Konstantin Chernenko dies; Gorbachev becomes General Secretary.
		Anti-alcoholism program ('dry law') is initiated.
		Gorbachev calls for economic reforms (Perestroika).
	2 July	Andrei Gromyko becomes president of the Soviet Union, and  Eduard Shevardnadze replaces him as Soviet Foreign Minister.
1986
	19 February	Core of MIR space station is launched at 2119 local time.
	26 April	Chernobyl disaster occurs when one reactor melts down and contaminates huge area with its radioactive cloud.
		27th Party Congress is held and Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1991) is announced.
		The US-Soviet summit in Reykjavik is held between President Reagan and Premier Gorbachev.
		Gorbachev begins an anti-corruption campaign.
	31 August	Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nahkimov and Soviet freighter Pyotr Vasev collide in Black Sea killing 398 people.
	21October	Fifty-five Soviet diplomats are ordered to leave the United States by November 1.  This came in retaliation for the expulsion of five diplomats from the Soviet Union.  The Soviets retaliated by expelling more diplomats the following day.
1987
		Andrei Sakharov is freed from his 7 years of exile in Gorky
		Moscow showing of Abuladze's 'Repentance'.
		Mikhail Gorbachev is named man of the year by Time magazine.
		Josef Brodsky is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
		Mathias Rust, 19 years old, lands his Cessna 172 in Red Square; Air-defense commander Koldunov is removed for failing to stop it.
		Gorbachev sets 1991 as deadline for overhaul of the economy
		Soviet diplomats go to Israel for first official visit since 1967 US/Soviet summit in Washington
	24 October	Both the Soviet Union and the United States agree to scrap their arsenals of short and medium-range nuclear missiles.
1988
		Ethnic unrest in the Baltic Republics
	20 February	Nagorno-Karabakh Soviet declares the region under Armenian control.
	27 February	Azerbaijani massacre of 32 Armenians in Sumgait suburb of Baku
	March	Nina Andreeva's anti-Perestroika letter published in Sovetskaja Rossija.  It criticized the thaw in censorship, permissiveness, American rock and roll culture and denigration of Stalin.
	15 May	Soviets begin pullout from Afghanistan
	May	US/Soviet Moscow summit. Trial of Churbanov, Brezhnev's son-in-law, for bribery and extortion
	7 June	Soyuz TM-5 mission to MIR space station.
	28 June	Second Party Conference.   New Congress of Peoples' Deputies with elected seats is announced. Kremlin sends troops to Nagorno-Karabakh. Gorbachev becomes president.
	.	Gorbachev's speech at U.N. announcing significant cuts in Soviet military strength.
		Devastating earthquake in Armenia kills over 150,000. Doctor Zhivago is first published in Russia.
	29 August	Soyuz TM-6 mission to MIR space station.
	15 October	Soviet pullout of Afghanistan is half complete.
1989
	January	Gorbachev takes control of Nagorno-Karabakh
	1 February	Yuri Levada's questionnaire in Lit gazeta
	15 February	Soviets complete military pullout of Afghanistan
	26 March	First multi-candidate elections; several uncontested candidates defeated. Boris Yeltsin and Andrei Sakharov overwhelmingly win seats in the Congress of People's Deputies
	6 April	Protesters in Georgia demand independence, Soviet troops move in.
	May	Purging of "dead souls" in the Central Committee.
		Soviet-Chinese summit is held in Beijing.
		Coal miners in Siberia, Ukraine, and Central Asia go on strike.
		Demonstrations in Baltics for independence. The Popular Movement of the Ukraine (RUKH) demands independence.
	25 May - 9 June	Congress of Peoples Deputies of the USSR begins political reforms
	July	Coal miners strike in Vorkutka, Karaganda, Siberia and the Ukraine
	4 September	Azerbaijani Popular Front imposes blockade on 85% of freight entering Armenia
		Gorbachev warns Erich Honecker of East Germany to liberalize.
	October	Armenia and Azerbaijani engaged in civil war
	November	The Berlin Wall is torn down.
	14  December	Andrei Sakharov dies.