Civil and Political Events
during the End of The Cold War
(1988-1991)

 

 A historical overview of the political and civilian
events at the end of the Cold War.

This section will focus on a history of events that took place throughout the USSR during the end of the Cold War.  Here we will discuss the political changes and significant civil events that occurred between 1988 and 1991.  The Soviet leaders of the period will also be profiled at a later time.

 

Political & Civil Events Historical Index

Soviet Leaders (1988-1991)
1985-1991 Mikhail Gorbachev
1991-2000 Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin

 

Timeline 1988-1991

 

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.
Doctor Zhivago first published in Russia.
  29 August Soyuz TM-6 mission to MIR space station.
30 September In a meeting lasting only one hour members of the Communist Party approve the retirement of five senior officials, including President Andrei Gromyko.
  15 October Soviet pullout of Afghanistan is half complete.
7 December 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Armenia kiills over 55,000 killed.

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 in Beijing.
Coal miners strike in Siberia, Ukraine, Central Asia
Demonstrations in Baltics for independence
RUKH (Popular Movement of the Ukraine) 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
  2 July Andrei Gromyko dies.
  4 September Azerbaijani Popular Front imposes blockade on 85% of freight entering Armenia
26 September Eduard Shevardnadze, the Soviet Foreign Minister, calls for the total destruction of chemical weapons possessed by the United States and Soviet Union.  His offer went further than United States President George Bush, who offered an 80% chemical weapons reduction the day before.
    Gorbachev warns Erich Honecker of East Germany to liberalize.
  October Armenia and Azerbaijani engage in a civil war.
  November The Berlin Wall comes down
9 November East Germany opens its borders to the West ending a major area of contention of the Cold War.
13 December Vladimir Zhirinovsky founds the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party Of Russia.
  14  December Andrei Sakharov dies

1990

 

 

 

 
  February Russia's first McDonald's opens on Gorky Street.  Lines stretch for 4 blocks as 50,000 people a day are served.
  March Elections of regional deputies of the Russian Federation
Lithuania declares independence
  June 28th Party Congress.
Yeltsin announces resignation from Communist Party.
Supreme Soviet passes law to lift censorship from the press.
  12 June Independence Day
The Congress of Peoples Deputies of RSFSR passes "Declaration of State Sovereignty of Russia"
1 September Both the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia sign the first agreement between Comecon countries to conduct their trade in convertible currencies and use world prices.
18 September The Soviet Union and United States sign an agreement covering nuclear waste disposal and environmental restoration.
30 September Formal diplomatic relations with the nation of Israel are reestablished.  They had been broken in 1967 after the six-day war.
15 October Mikhail Gorbachev awarded Nobel Prize for peace.
  26 October The Soviet Republic of Kirghizin changes its name to the Socialist Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
  November 'Law on Peasant Farms' allows kolkhozniks to own private farms 
26 November Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev makes a formal statement requesting Iraqi troops to leave Kuwait.
  19 November Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty is signed in Paris.
27 November Gennady Yanayev was elected to the new post of Soviet vice-president.

1991

 

 

 

 

 

 January Soviet army attacks public buildings in Riga and Vilnius.
  12 June Boris Yeltsin becomes first democratically elected Russian President
  1 July The Warsaw Pact is formally dissolved.
  4 July Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister, decided to leave the Communist Party.
  10 July Boris Yeltsin is sworn in as the first elected President of Russia.
  July Bodies of Nicholas II and family exhumed.
23 July Soviet government applies for full fledged membership in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank after the G-7 nations recommend a limited association with the Soviet Union.
  19 August August 1991 Coup Attempt
Communist hard liners Gennady Yanayev, Pugo, Marshal Yazov, Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev, Pavlov, and another announce take-over.
  20 August Yeltsin speaks to crowd from tank then barricades himself in Parliament building.
  21 August Latvia declares its independence.
Gorbachev returns from house arrest in Crimea.
  22 August Pugo commits suicide.  Marshal Akhromeyev hangs himself on second attempt.
  23 August Boris Yeltsin closes Pravda and disbands the Communist Party.
Statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky outside Lubyanka is toppled.
  24 August Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of Communist Party.

The Ukrainian government declares independence from Moscow, the issue will be put to a public referendum in December.
31 August The Republics of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan declare their independence from the Soviet Union.
  5 September State Council set up by Congress of People's Deputies to govern in emergency.

The Soviet government began dismantling its old power structures and severely weakened its constitution.  Power was shifted dramatically away from the central authority to the republics..
  7 September The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are recognized by the Soviet Union.
13 September Both the United States and Soviet Union agree to stop shipping arms to the warring parties in Afghanistan.
5 October Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev pledged to match the United States in reducing tactical nuclear weapons.
27 October The Supreme Soviet of Turkmenistan pass a law declaring its independence from the Soviet Union.
  Fall Leningrad is renamed 'St. Petersburg'
  1 November COMECON is dissolved
  15 November Economic freedom to import and export established.
  1 December Ukrainian referendum on independence is held.  90.3% of the people vote for independence.
  8 December Presidents of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine sign treaty to abolish USSR and form Commonwealth of Independent States.
  25 December Gorbachev announces his resignation and USSR ceases to exist.

   

  

Statistics of the Soviet Union (1991)

• Population: 152.2 million.
• Gross Domestic Product: $332.3 billion
• Defense spending: $280 billion
• Ruble/Dollar Ratio: 32 Rubles = 1 Dollar

  

 

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