Timeline (WFAC)

1930s

1938

• 1 October
  • German–Czechoslovak border – The invasion of Czechoslovakia by Germany started at 06:15 a.m. as German Army passed the Czechoslovak border in great numbers from north west and south. The Luftwaffe begins air operations later in the day lat due to fog and mist.
    
    
  • Rome, Italy – The Italian government announces that it will maintain a condition of "non-belligerence" in the conflict.
    
    
  • Berlin, Nazi Germany – Acting on account of their governments, the ambassadors of France and Britain informed the German government that France would fulfill its obligations to Czechoslovakia unless Germany ceased all hostile activities and withdrew its troops from Czechoslovakia.
    
    
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Soviet government informed Czechoslovakia that they would fulfill its obligations to Czechoslovakia as long as France did the same.
    
    
  • Warsaw, Poland – Poland delivered an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia for the immediate cession of the preponderantly Polish areas of Zaolzie and the withdrawal of all Czechoslovak military personnel by 3 October, and a cession of the the Orava territory in the Beskidy Mountains, Spiš and Čadca in the Tatra Mountains by 10 October. An answer was demanded by midnight on 2 October.

• 2 October
  • Paris, France – The British and French governments agreed on issuing an ultimatum to Germany. At 09:00 a.m. the French Government delivers a similar final ultimatum to Germany which would expire at 11:00 a.m. on 3 October. The French Parliament also approved an emergency war budget, while the French Army began its general mobilization.

• • London, United Kingdom – At 12:00 p.m. the British ambassador to Berlin Ivan Henderson is instructed by the Cabinet to deliver an ultimatum to Germany with a deadline set at 01:00 p.m. on 3 October.

• 3 October
  • Zaolzie region, Czechoslovakia – Polish forces commanded by General Bortnowski invaded the Zaolzie region of Czechoslovakia. The same day President Beneš sent a communiqué to Warsaw agreeing to cede the Zaolzie region in return for Polish neutrality and allowing Czechoslovak forces transit rights through Poland. Although stating they were not allied with Germany and claimed their actions were to protect the Polish population in the area, the Polish actions resulted in strong British and French governments criticism, while Soviet government condemned the Polish actions.

1950s

1956

• 1 November
  • Budapest, Hungary – Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic, Imre Nagy, received reports that Soviet forces had entered Hungary from the east and were moving towards Budapest. Nagy sought and received assurances (which proved false) from Soviet ambassador Yuri Andropov that the Soviet Union would not invade. The Cabinet, with János Kádár in agreement, declared Hungary's neutrality, withdrew from the Warsaw Pact, and requested assistance from the diplomatic corps in Budapest and the UN Secretary-General to defend Hungary's neutrality. Ambassador Andropov was asked to inform his government that Hungary would begin negotiations on the removal of Soviet forces immediately.

• 3 November
  • Tököl, near Budapest, Hungary – A Hungarian delegation led by the Minister of Defense Pál Maléter were invited to attend negotiations on Soviet withdrawal at the Soviet Military Command at Tököl. At around midnight that evening, General Ivan Serov, Chief of the Soviet Security Police (KGB) ordered the arrest of the Hungarian delegation.

A second Soviet intervention, codenamed "Operation Whirlwind", was launched by Marshal Ivan Konev. The five Soviet divisions stationed in Hungary before 23 October were augmented to a total strength of 17 divisions. The 8th Mechanized Army under command of Lieutenant General Hamazasp Babadzhanian and the 38th Army under Lieutenant General Hadzhi-Umar Mamsurovs from the nearby Carpathian Military District were deployed to Hungary for the operation. By 21:30 on 3 November, the Soviet Army had completely encircled Budapest.

• 4 November
  • Budapest, Hungary – At 03:00 on 4 November, Soviet tanks penetrated Budapest along the Pest side of the Danube in two thrusts: one up the Soroksári road from the south and the other down the Váci road from the north. Thus before a single shot was fired, the Soviets had effectively split the city in half, controlled all bridgeheads, and were shielded to the rear by the wide Danube river. Armoured units crossed into Buda and at 04:25 fired the first shots at the army barracks on Budaörsi Road. Soon after, Soviet artillery and tank fire was heard in all districts of Budapest. Operation Whirlwind combined air strikes, artillery, and the co-ordinated tank-infantry action of 17 divisions.

During the early morning hours of 4 November, Ferenc Münnich announced on Radio Szolnok the establishment of the "Revolutionary Workers'-Peasants' Government of Hungary".

At 05:20 on 4 November, Imre Nagy broadcast his final plea to the nation and the world, announcing that Soviet Forces were attacking Budapest and that the Government remained at its post. The radio station, Free Kossuth Rádió, stopped broadcasting at 08:07. An emergency Cabinet meeting was held in the Parliament but was attended by only three ministers. As Soviet troops arrived to occupy the building, a negotiated evacuation ensued, leaving Minister of State István Bibó as the last representative of the National Government remaining at his post. He wrote For Freedom and Truth, a stirring proclamation to the nation and the world.

Along the Hungarian-Austrian and Hungarian-Czechoslovak borders – On the morning of the Soviet military intervention, an avalanche of Hungarians fleeing towards Austria and Czechoslovakia. Five thousand had crossed the border to Austria and seven thousand had crossed the border to Czechoslovakia by noon.

Prague, Czechoslovakia – On Sunday morning the Czechoslovak government met to decide on the most urgent measures. Decisions reflected initial uncertainty. Soldiers that crossed the frontier with or without weapons had to be placedin custody immediately, regardless of whether they were members of the Hungarian or other armed forces. They had to be disarmed and interned at as great a distance from the frontier as possible, and isolated from the civilian population. This measure also applied to civilians if they crossed the frontier carrying arms. It was not established, however, what, other than the carrying of weapons, determined that one was a soldier who had to be interned or a civilian. The government had decided that all care had to be taken to ensure the smooth reception of refugees and their transit through Austria. All means of public transport had to be used, and if necessary, privately owned vehicles too.

In keeping with the prior government decisions, refugees had to be placed in camps. Local police were responsible for the security of the camps, and security within the camps. Crossing the frontier into Hungary with the aim of rescuing someone was not permitted, nor was it allowed to take a vehicle to Hungary for that purpose. Measures to close the frontier to Hungary were strengthened. Any exit in the direction of Hungary had to be prevented, even if the person concerned was in possession of a Hungarian visa. With the support of the Czechoslovak Army and the Red Cross, refugee camps were established in Nové Zámky Krupina, Košice and Zvolen.

Early in November the various ministries and voluntary and international organizations feverishly negotiated each other's duties and spheres of competence, and the measures taken or to be taken ugently. On November 6 a meeting was held in the Foreign Ministry for that purpose.

Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Štefan Osuský contacted Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold Figl, and agreed to coordinate measures in dealing with the Hungarian refugee crisis.

Vienna, Austria – Similarily, the Austrian government met to decide on the most urgent measures in relation to the Hungarian refugees. Refugee camps were established in Traiskirchen and Graz.

• 4–9 November
  • Hungary – Between 4 and 9 November, the Hungarian Army put up sporadic and disorganised resistance, with Marshal Zhukov reporting the disarming of twelve divisions, two armoured regiments, and the entire Hungarian Air Force. The Hungarian Army continued its most formidable resistance in various districts of Budapest and in and around the city of Pécs in the Mecsek Mountains, and in the industrial centre of Dunaújváros (then called Stalintown). Fighting in Budapest consisted of between ten and fifteen thousand resistance fighters, with the heaviest fighting occurring in the working-class stronghold of Csepel on the Danube River. Although some very senior officers were openly pro-Soviet, the rank and file soldiers were overwhelmingly loyal to the revolution and either fought against the invasion or deserted. The United Nations reported that there were no recorded incidents of Hungarian Army units fighting on the side of the Soviets.

By 08:00 organised defence of the city evaporated after the radio station was seized, and many defenders fell back to fortified positions. During the same hour, the parliamentary guard laid down their arms, and forces under Major General K. Grebennik captured Parliament and liberated captured ministers of the Rákosi-Hegedüs government. Among the liberated were István Dobi and Sándor Rónai, both of whom became members of the re-established socialist Hungarian government. As they came under attack even in civilian quarters, Soviet troops were unable to differentiate military from civilian targets. For this reason, Soviet tanks often crept along main roads firing indiscriminately into buildings. Hungarian resistance was strongest in the industrial areas of Budapest, with Csepel heavily targeted by Soviet artillery and air strikes.

The longest holdouts against the Soviet assault occurred in Csepel and in Dunaújváros, where fighting lasted until 11 November before the insurgents finally succumbed to the Soviets. At the end of the fighting, Hungarian casualties totalled at around 2,500 dead with an additional 20,000 wounded. Budapest bore the brunt of the bloodshed, with 1,569 civilians killed. Approximately 53 percent of the dead were workers, and about half of all the casualties were people younger than thirty. On the Soviet side, 699 men were killed, 1,450 men were wounded, and 51 men were missing in action. Estimates place around 80 percent of all casualties occurring in fighting with the insurgents in the eighth and ninth districts of Budapest.

In the immediate aftermath, many thousands of Hungarians were arrested. Eventually, 26,000 of these were brought before the Hungarian courts, 22,000 were sentenced and imprisoned, 13,000 interned, and 229 executed. Hundreds were also deported to the Soviet Union, many without evidence. Approximately 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees. Sporadic resistance and strikes by workers' councils continued until mid-1957, causing economic disruption.[167] By 1963, most political prisoners from the 1956 Hungarian revolution had been released.

• 6 November
  • Vienna, Austria and Prague, Czechoslovakia – Jan Fulík, the Czechoslovak Minister of the Interior, and Oskar Helmer, the Austrian Minister of the Interior, jointly for international help in the placing and reception of refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees sent a round robin to sixty governments asking them to support Hungarian refugees and for help in their reception. He stated that both UNHCR and ICEM were ready to co-operate in the selection and transport of the refugees, and that although the Vienna and Prague representatives of both organizations had been told that what mattered to Austria was a non-judgemental reception of refugees, taking them as they come, without selection.

The League of Red Cross Societies undertook to look after the basic needs of 10,000, as well as the care of refugee camps and of a maximum number of 33,000 Hungarian refugees.

• 21 November
  • Vienna, Austria and Prague, Czechoslovakia – By 21 November, Czechoslovak Police estimated that around 42,000 refugees had taken refuge in Czechoslovakia. In Austria, another 30,000 Hungarian refugees resided in Austria.

1960s

1969

20 July

• Moon's surface — Apollo program Moon landing: At 10:56 pm ET (02:56 UTC July 21) Apollo 11's lunar module Eagle landed on the Moon's surface. An estimated 650 million people worldwide, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at this time, watched in awe as astronaut Neil Armstrong takes his first historic steps on the surface. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first Americans to visit the moon

1970s

1970

23 April

• Moon's surface — Soyuz program Moon landing: Soyuz 9's lunar module landed on the Moon's surface. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov thus became the first Russian to visit the moon.

1980s

Alliances in 1980:          NATO and Western allies,              Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact and other Soviet allies,      nonaligned states,      China and other allies (communist countries not aligned with USSR), × Anti-Communist armed resistance × Communist armed resistance, × Other armed resistance

1987

Prime Minister Klaus celebrates on election night as his centre-right government was re-elected for a second term.

• 13 June
  • Prague, Czechoslovakia — In the 1987 federal elections, the centre-right government of Prime Minister Václav Klaus was re-elected. The conservative Republican Party (RS) won 27.60% of the vote and 88 seats of the Chamber of Deputies, a loss 14 seats and 4.78 percentage points. The opposition Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) under Jiří Dienstbier won 25.05% of the votes and 82 seats, a gain of 2.38 percentage points and two seats. With parliamentary support from the populist Free Democrats (SD), Klaus was able to continue as prime minister heading a centre-right coalition together with the ČSL/SĽS and the LDS, and the new cabinet was sworn in on 8 July 1987 and passed its investiture vote on 25 July 1987.

• 23-24 September
  • Belgrade, Yugoslavia — At the 8th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia (League of Communists of Yugoslavia's Serbian branch), Slobodan Milošević (the President of the League of Communists of Serbia) lost a vote on expelling Dragiša Pavlović, the leader of the Belgrade Communist Party and an ally of Ivan Stambolić, the President of SR Serbia).
    
    In the backdrop of rising ethnic tensions between the Albanian and Serb communities in the Serbian province of Kosovo, Stambolić had become increasingly critical of Milošević's nationalistic policy about dealing with Albanian unrest in Kosovo and his handling of a crowd in Kosovo, when he used the phrase "no one shall beat you again" that has since then become famous and also displayed open support for the Kosovo Serbs, against the party policy. Stambolić and his ally Pavlović, on the other hand, supported a plan of reaching a consensus through slow and patient negotiations with the Albanian leaders. This situation was worsened by Milošević's grudge against Pavlović, who highly disapproved of the Milošević camp and who had been appointed as the leader of the Belgrade Communist Party by Stambolić against the wishes of Milošević. Milošević's handling of the Kosovo situation split the Serbian Communist Party into two groups. Pro-Pavlović/Stambolić group favoured negotiations with the Albanian leaders while the pro-Milošević group demanded quick and rapid action to end the "Kosovo problem". Pavlović's thinly veiled critical comments accused Milošević of being an anti-Albanian Serb nationalist who's offering populist solutions to the Kosovo situation. Seeing the remarks as an attack, Milošević, together with his senior allies within the party, planned to expel Pavlović from the Communist Party. Pavlović, however, enjoyed the staunch support of Stambolić, and Pavlović's expulsion from the party would effectively mean toppling Stambolić. Stambolić refrained, however, from dispatching a letter asking the party's Belgrade branch to stay out of the Pavlović issue.
    
    On 18 September the Presidency of the Serbian Communist Party met, where Stambolić tried hard to forge a compromise between the two groups. Instead Milošević turned against Stambolić by calling Pavlović a threat to "ideological unity."
    
    On the day of the session, Milošević started by accusing Pavlović of being against the principles of the party and those of Yugoslavia and a threat to party unity. Stambolić replied by saying that Milošević was the one breaking unity. Members of the party were shocked over the intensity of Milošević' attacks, and subsequently voted down his and his supporters' vote on expelling Pavlović. Milošević, having no forces to outmanoeuvre Stambolić, was publicly humiliated and weakened; even his allies lost their influence, and he was obliged to resign from the post of President of the League of Communists of Serbia, which he did three weeks later. This ended his political career.

1990s

1990

• 20–24 January
  • Belgrade, Yugoslavia – At the 14th (Extraordinary) Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the party voted in favour of introducing a multi-party system. The first free multi-party elections at federal and republic level were announced for 8 and 9 June the same year.

The proposals by the Slovenian delegation led by Milan Kučan, which would increase the confederation of both party and state, was adopted through a majority vote (with delegates from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia voting in favor). The federal government would retained exclusive jurisdiction over foreign affairs, federal defense, federal economy and reserves, and national resources and held joint jurisdiction in a number of other matters, while each republic would have extensive self-determination and control over internal and financial matters, including the right to secession.

• 11 February
  • Belgrade, Yugoslavia – Yugoslav Foreign Minister Budimir Lončar formally sends and offer to Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and the Czechoslovak government to advise on the Yugoslav transition from a Communist one-party system to a multi-party political system and act as observers for the upcoming elections.

The Czechoslovak government agreed to the request three days later and will over the following weeks coordinate with the European Communities (EC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and neighbouring Austria and Italy.

• 14 March
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – In the first Soviet presidential election, chairman of the Supreme Soviet and chairman of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Mikhail Gorbachev was elected president for a five-year term with 1,329 votes (or 72.9%).

Although the constitution required the president to be directly-elected, it was decided that the first elections should be held on an indirect basis as it was necessary for a president to be elected immediately and processes taking place in the country did not leave time for elections to be held.

The day after the election, on 15 March, Gorbachev took office as President at a meeting of the Congress of People's Deputies 10 days after the election, on 24 March, President Gorbachev appointed his cabinet.

• 17 March
  • Vienna, Austria – Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg met with the foreign ministers of Austria (Alois Mock) and Italy (Gianni De Michelis) in order to coordinate common policy towards Yugoslavia.

• 8–9 June
  • Belgrade, Yugoslavia – The first free multi-party elections were held in Yugoslavia at federal level alongside elections for the parliaments of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Voter turnout was 96.2%.

At the federal level, the Democratic Union of Yugoslavia (SDJ) led by Prime Minister Ante Marković emerged as the largest bloc, with majorities in both the Federal Chamber a Chamber of Republics and Provinces – something that no Yugoslav party or alliance had previously achieved in a free election. In total the SDJ won 46.6% of the votes and 181 seats out of 350. The League of Communists came in second with 43.1% of the votes and 152 seats. Marković thus renewed his mandate to govern.

In Serbia, the League of Communists (SKS) won the election with 46.09% of the votes and 127 of 250 seats. The Democratic Union of Serbia (SDS) received 25.79% of the votes while the nationalist Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) came in third with 15.79% and seats. Various smaller parties such as the Democratic Fellowship of Vojvodina Hungarians (DVZM, 2.64% and 7 seats), Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak (SDA, 1.67% and 4 seats), the Peasants Party of Serbia (SSS), also managed to gain represenation. Dragiša Pavlović of the SKS was appointed prime minister.

In Croatia, though the League of Communists of Croatia – Party of Democratic Reform (SKH-SDP) was widely expected to win the election, the election resulted in a narrow victory for the Croatian Democratic Union (HDS) led by Stjepan Mesić. The HDS won 41.50% of the votes and 148 of 356 seats, while the SKH-SDP came in second with 39.70% and 141 seats. The Coalition of People's Accord came in second with 10.99% of the votes. Mesić was appointed the prime minister by the new parliament.

In Slovenia, a five-party coalition comprising the Slovenian Democratic Union (SDZ), the Liberal Democrats (LDS), the Slovenian Peasant Union (SKZ), the Christian Democrats (SKD) and the Greens (ZS), won 58.4‬% of the votes and 50‬ of 80 seats. Despite their attempts to court popularity, the Communists (ZKS) only won 30.1% and 25 seats. Lojze Peterle of the SDZ was tasked with forming a government.

In Bosnia and Hercegovina, the election was virtually a census. The Democratic Union of Bosnia and Hercegovina (SDBiH) won 32.66% of the vote and 42 seats. The Muslim Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) won 23.15% and 30 seats, the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) won 18.23% and 24 seats and the Croatian Democratic Party (HDS) won 12.35% and 16 seats. The League of Communists won 11.76% and 15 seats. A coalition government was formed in which the SDBiH and all three ethnically-based parties were represented and the Muslim Alija Izetbegović became prime minister.

In Macedonia, the League of Communists of Macedonia (SKM) emerged as the largest party with 29.9% of the votes and 38 of 120 seats. The Democratic Union of Macedonia came in second with 27.7% of the votes and 31 seats. The nationalist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) won 16.1% of the votes and 17 seats, while the Liberal Party of Macedonia got 13.3% and 11 seats. The election result made it difficult to form a government, and eventually a technocratic government was formed headed by Kiro Gligorov of the SKM.

In Montenegro, the League of Communists of Montenegro (SKCG) 56.29% of the votes and 83 seats. The Democratic Union of Montenegro (SDCG) headed by Ljubiša Stanković came in second with 24.54% and 29 seats while the People's Party came in third with 13.31% of the votes and 13 seats. Momir Bulatović of the SKCG was elected prime minister.

• 3-4 November
  • Belgrade, Yugoslavia – At the 15th (Extraordinary) Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the party voted in favour of renaming the party to League of Socialists of Yugoslavia (SSJ). The party also announced it would rework the party platform to take the party into a more social democratic direction.

1991

• 1 January
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – A drafting committee started work on the New Union Treaty (Russian: Новый союзный договор, romanized: Novyy soyuznyy dogovor). The treaty would replace the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and thus would have reform the Soviet Union into a new entity named the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. Six of the fifteen Soviet republics did not participate in the drafting of the treaty: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Georgia and Armenia.

• 17 January
  • Persian Gulf – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins with air strikes against Iraq. The U.S.-led UN coalition would until 23 February fly over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs, widely destroying military and civilian infrastructure.

• 15 February
  • Visegrád, Hungary – President Alexander Dubček of Czechoslovakia, Lech Wałęsa of Poland and József Antall of Hungary signed a treaty forming the Visegrád Group at a summit meeting in the Hungarian castle-town of Visegrád.

The purpose of the Visegrád Group was to promote close cooperation between the three Central European countries on military, cultural, economic, political and energy matters. Czechoslovakia would also assist Poland and Hungary in their transition from Communist regimes to free, pluralist and democratic societies.

Visegrád was chosen as the location for the 1991 meeting as an intentional allusion to the medieval Congress of Visegrád in 1335 between John I of Bohemia, Charles I of Hungary and Casimir III of Poland.

• 22 February
  • Baghdad, Iraq – Iraq agreed to a Soviet-proposed ceasefire agreement. The agreement called for Iraq to withdraw troops to pre-invasion positions within six weeks following a total ceasefire, and called for monitoring of the ceasefire and withdrawal to be overseen by the UN Security Council. The coalition rejected the proposal, but said that retreating Iraqi forces would not be attacked, and gave 24 hours for Iraq to withdraw its forces.

• 24 February
  • Kuwait and Iraq – Gulf War: The ground campaign of Operation Desert Storm is initiated as British, French and American armored forces crossed the Iraq–Kuwait border and entered Iraq in large numbers. These forces are eventually followed by other coalition forces.

• 27 February
  • Baghdad, Iraq – On Baghdad radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat.

The coalition's advance was much swifter than theys had expected. American, British, and French forces continued to pursue retreating Iraqi forces over the border and back into Iraq, eventually moving to within 240 km of Baghdad, before withdrawing back to Iraq's border with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

• 28 February
  • Washington, D.C., United States – Gulf War: One hundred hours after the ground campaign started, President George H.W. Bush declared a ceasefire, and he also declared that Kuwait had been liberated. Kuwait is liberated from Iraqi occupation. While the Iraqi Army suffered 20,000-35,000 casualties and 150,000 captured, coalition casualties are light (1,155 killed and wounded).

• 6 March
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The New Union proposal was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and sent to the Supreme Soviets of each republic for approval. Agreement could not be reached on the distribution of power between the Union and the Republics and the proposal was not approved. As an additional restrictive element, some autonomous republics expressed the desire to raise their status and to be a party to the new Soviet treaty.

• 17 March
  • Soviet Union – In a popular referendum was held in nine of the Soviet republics (Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Turkmenia, and Tajikistan), 77.8% of the population voted in favour of maintaining the federal system of the Soviet Union, including a majority in all of the nine republics. The vote was boycotted by the authorities in Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia (though not the breakaway province of Abkhazia and in South Ossetia), and Moldova (though not Transnistria or Gagauzia), turnout was 80% across the rest of the Soviet Union.

• 23 April
  • Novo-Ogaryovo, Soviet Union – An agreement between the Soviet central government and the nine republics, the so-called "9+1" agreement, was signed in Novo-Ogaryovo. The New Union Treaty would have converted the Soviet Union into a federation of independent republics with a common president, foreign policy, and military.

• 27 June
  • Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union – The Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR adopted a resolution on postponing the discussion of the draft for the New Union Treaty to September of the same year. The reason for the postponement was to consider the draft's compliance with the provisions and principles in the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine.

• 20 August
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Russian SFSR, the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR signed the in a ceremony in Moscow. Besides Gorbachev, the treaty was signed by Boris Yeltsin (President of the RSFSR), Nursultan Nazarbayev (President of the Kazakh SSR) and Islam Karimov (President of the Uzbek SSR). Subsequently the Union Treaty of 1922 became null and void and established a new state known as the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics (Russian: Союз Советских Суверенных Республик, romanized: Soyuz Sovetskikh Suverennykh Respublik).

The agreement also promised the drafting of a new constitution and elections six no later than six months after the conclusion of the treaty or the formation of the Supreme Council of the Union. The Constitution of the Union was to enter into force after approval by all the states that formed the Union.

• • Tallinn, Estonia – At 11:02 PM, during a live broadcast carried out by Estonian Television, the Estonian Supreme Soviet voted on the declaration of its Restoration of Independence, whose judicial foundation stemmed back to the statehood that existed from 1918 to the occupation in 1944.

• 21 August
  • Riga, Latvia – Latvia declared that the transition period to full independence declared on 4 May 1990 had come to an end. Therefore, Latvia was proclaimed a fully independent nation whose judicial foundation stemmed back to the statehood that existed before the occupation in 1944.

• 27 August
  • Chișinău, Moldavian SSR – The Supreme Soviet of Moldova declared the independence of Moldova from the Soviet Union.

Gagauzia and Transnistria, which had declared their independence from the Moldavian SSR on 19 August 1990 and 2 September 1990 respectively, opposed the move and subsequently announced their application to be reattached to the Soviet Union as independent federal republics. Gagauzia and Transnistria feared that a union between Moldova and Romania was inevitable and would result in the Russian-speaking population being excluded from most aspects of public life.

• 3 September
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Byelorussian SSR became the fourth republic to sign the New Union Treaty.
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – Singing Revolution: The Soviet Union formally recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

• 17 September
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Azerbaijan SSR and the Tajik SSR signed the New Union Treaty.

• 1 October
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Turkmen SSR and the Kyrgyz SSR signed the New Union Treaty.

• 14 October
  • Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union – The Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR adopted a resolution on calling a referendum over the issue of declaring independence from the Soviet Union. The referendum was scheduled for 1 December 1991.

• 1 December
  • Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union – In the Ukrainian independence referendum, a majority of 58.2% of voters voted in favor of remaining in the Union of Soviet Sovereign States and rejected independence from the Soviet Union.

As a result, the President of the Ukrainian SSR, Leonid Kravchuk, announced that Ukraine would sign the New Union Treaty on 10 December.

• 10 December
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Ukrainian SSR signed the new New Union Treaty as the last remaining republic.

• 21 December
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Constitutional Conference of the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics opened in Moscow in order to complete a draft of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Sovereign States.

1992

• 3 January
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Constitutional Conference of the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics opened in Moscow in order to complete a draft of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Sovereign States.

• 25 April
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Constitutional Conference of the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics finalized the draft for a new Constitution.

• 29 April
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The Supreme Soviet voted in voted in favor of the draft Constitution.
    
    Later that day, President Gorbachev addressed the nation directly on television where he announced the election to the Supreme Soviet and a popular referendum for the new constitution to be held on 29 June.

• 3 November
  • Washington, D.C., United States – Democratic Senator of Delaware Joe Biden defeats Republican President George H. W. Bush and Independent Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election. Biden received 43.0% of the popular vote and 316 electoral votes against Bush's 37.5% and 221 electoral votes and Perot's 18.9%.

• 13 December
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – The first partially free multi-party legislative elections held in the Soviet Union for the Supreme Soviet. Four parties were allowed to participate; the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPSS), the Social Democratic Party (SDPSS) and the Agrarian Party (APSS). The Communists won 53.86% of the votes and a total of 389 seats in the lower house, the Soviet of the Union. In the upper house, the Soviet of the Republics, the CPSU won 56.3% and 419 seats.
    
    Following the election, President Gorbachev asked Yuri Maslyukov of the CPSU to form a new Cabinet of Ministers.
    
    Turnout was 78.40%.

1996

Washington, D.C., United States – Democratic President Joe Biden defeats Republican Senator of Kansas Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election. Biden received 50.4% of the popular vote and 379 electoral votes against Dole's 41.2% and 221 electoral votes, while Reform Party candidate Perot's received 6.7% of the popular vote.

2000s

2000

• 8 March
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – In the Soviet presidential elections, Prime Minister and former chairman of the KGB Vladimir Putin (CPSU) defeated Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPSS), Pavel Kudyukin of the Social Democratic Party (SDPSS), independent candidate Aman Tuleyev and Mikhail Lapshin of the Agrarian Party. Putin won 63.40% percent of the votes, followed by Zhirinovsky with 20.87%, Kudyukin with 5.90%, Tuleyev with 4.68% and Sharetsky with 3.25%.

• 7 May
  • Moscow, Soviet Union – Vladimir Putin is sworn in as president of the Soviet Union.

• 7 November
  • Washington, D.C., United States – In the United States presidential election, Republican Senator of Arizona John McCain defeats Democratic Vice President Al Gore with 48.4% of the votes and 276 electoral votes compared to Gore's 47.9% and 262 electoral votes.

2004

• 2 November

Washington, D.C., United States – In the United States presidential election, Republican incumbent President John McCain is declared the winner over his Democratic challenger, Governor of Vermont Howard Dean, with 51.8% of the votes over Dean's 46.7%.

2008

• 4 November

Washington, D.C., United States – In the United States presidential election, Democratic Senator of New York Hillary Clinton defeats Republican Governor of Massachussetts Mitt Romney.

2020s

2020

30 January

• Wuhan, People's Republic of China – 2019–20 Wuhan COVID-19 outbreak: The World Health Organization (WHO) declares that the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus as Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the sixth time that the measure has been invoked since 2009.

23 February

• Zurich, Switzerland – 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: Finland won their third world championship title by defeating Canada 3–1 in the final. Switzerland secured the bronze medal after a penalty-shootout win over Sweden.

31 October – 1 November 2020

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — COVID-19 pandemic: Czechoslovakia became the first country in the world to initiate a programme to screen its entire population for COVID-19 with antigen tests. Tests were undertaken in 15,000 test centres. 5.58 million people were tested on 31 October with 45,850 tests being positive. By Sunday evening the testing campaign concluded with more than 10.62 million people tested. 82,836 (or 0.78%) were positive. Testing was not compulsory but anyone not isolating without a negative test result risked being fined. A second round of nationwide coronavirus testing were held a week later in an effort to curb increasing infections.

3 November 2020

• Washington, D.C., United States — 2020 United States presidential election: Democratic candidate Barack Obama is elected President of the United States after winning a decisive victory over incumbent President Ted Cruz. Obama won 52.93% of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes, defeating Cruz' 46.8% of the popular vote and 173 electoral votes.

1 December 2020

• Amsterdam, Netherlands — COVID-19 pandemic: Pfizer and BioNTech announced an Emergency Use Authorization application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech's BNT162b2 vaccine (Tozinameran).

5 December 2020

• Moscow, Soviet Union — COVID-19 pandemic: the Soviet Union begins mass vaccination against COVID-19 with the Sputnik V candidate.

10 December 2020

• Washington, D.C., United States — COVID-19 pandemic: The United States and Saudi Arabia approve Tozinameran for emergency use.
• Tehran, Iran — COVID-19 pandemic: Iran approves Tozinameran for emergency use.
• Buenos Aires, Argentina — COVID-19 pandemic: Argentina approves Sputnik V for emergency use.

14 December 2020

• Washington, D.C., United States and Ottawa, Canada — COVID-19 pandemic: The United States and Canada begin mass vaccination with Tozinameran. In the United States, critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay from Northwell Long Island Jewish Medical Center was the first vaccinated in New York at 9:23 a.m. during a livestreamed event with Governor Andrew Cuomo. In Canada, personal support worker Anita Quidangen at the Rekai Centre nursing home in Toronto was the first to be administered the vaccine.

21 December 2020

• Amsterdam, Netherlands — COVID-19 pandemic: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Commission approved the Tozinameran vaccine. The following day, German pharmaceutical company BioNTech announced it was preparing 12.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for delivery across the EU bloc by the end of the year.

26–27 December 2020

• Across the European Union — COVID-19 pandemic: European Union member states, including France, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Spain, along with EFTA countries Norway and Switzerland, launched a mass inoculation programs, with many countries starting with health care workers or elderly people.
  Vaccinations in the bloc officially began on Sunday after the first shipments of the two-dose vaccine arrived across the EU late Friday and early Saturday. Each member nation has been tasked with taking the lead on how to implement the rollout, with three member states — Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia — starting vaccinations a day early on Saturday.
• Prague, Czechoslovakia — COVID-19 pandemic: Just hours after the vaccines arrived in Czechoslovakia, authorities began administering their first doses on Saturday evening. President Zuzana Čaputová became the first person in the country to be given the vaccine, receiving it at the Central Military Hospital in Prague. In addition to Čaputová, 95-year-old World War II veteran Emilie Řepíková was also vaccinated. Front-line medical staff in hospitals treating COVID-19 patients were among the first to get the vaccine.

28 December 2020

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — COVID-19 pandemic: in a new display of Prague's maverick vaccine policy, Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek announced it had received 6,000 doses of the Soviet Union's controversial coronavirus vaccine. Zaorálek had the previous month announced they were was the first European country to receive samples for testing of the Soviet Union's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, while Czechoslovak doctors and experts have visited the Soviet Union to study its production. The opposition and EU representatives criticized the move.

2021

20 January 2021

• Washington, D.C., United States — Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.

22 January 2021

• Washington, D.C., United States — U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama received the first of two Tozinameran injections against COVID-19 at the White House on live television. Obama emphasized the safety of the vaccine, stating: "People need to understand that this vaccine is safe. Michelle and I are doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when it's available, to take the vaccine." He added that distributing the vaccine is "going to take time." Meanwhile, he urged citizens to wear masks and avoid unnecessary travel over the Christmas period.

17 April 2021

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — Prime Minister Robert Fico (ČSSD) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSNS) announced that Czechoslovakia was expelling 18 Soviet diplomats it had identified as KGB spies within 48 hours. This occured after the Czechoslovak intelligence agencies had concluded that Soviet military intelligence officers, namely members of Soviet military intelligence KGB's unit 29155, were involved in two massive ammunition depot explosions in Vrbětice (part of Vlachovice), near the Moravian-Slovak border, on 16 October and 3 December 2014. Both warehouses were leased from the Czechoslovak Army by a private company Imex Group from Ostrava.

The first explosion and the subsequent fire destroyed a warehouse that contained 58 tons of ammunition and killed two civilians during the explosion. The second explosion destroyed additional 98 tons of ammunition. According to the Czechoslovak Police, weapons were being moved from the facility to be sold to a Bulgarian arms dealer during their visit. Those weapons were supposed to be sold to Georgia later on. Sources say that the Bulgarian arms dealer was Emilian Gebrev, whom the GRU attempted to assassinate in 2015 in Sofia. Media speculate that some of the destroyed weapons may have eventually be sold to Georgia or Syria. The incident was compared to the attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal in 2018.

Fico said in an emergency press conference on April 17 that the decision to expel the diplomats was made on the basis of "unequivocal evidence" provided by investigators from the Czechoslovak intelligence and security services, and that there was "reasonable suspicion regarding a role of members of Russian military intelligence KGB's unit 29155 in the explosion of the munition depot in Vrbětice in 2014." Fico said that the blasts "inflicted immense material damage, seriously endangered and disrupted the lives of many local residents, and, most importantly, killed two of our citizens -- unsuspecting, innocent fathers of their families." The decision from Prague signalled a shift from a divided foreign policy, as Fico, in a rare act of unity, took the Foreign Minister's side against Putin.

Among the countries first to express support for the Czechoslovakia included the United States, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Canada and Poland. Shortly after, on 20 April, the Czechoslovakia formally informed the NATO allies on the matter and requested a joint statement at the NATO level as well as a follow-up North Atlantic Council meeting "to discuss other possible coordinated steps".

18 April 2021

• Moscow, Soviet Union — A day after the Czechoslovak government blamed operatives from the KGB for a series of mysterious explosions at an ammunition depot in 2014 and expelled 18 Soviet diplomats, the Soviet government announced that 20 Czechoslovak diplomats would be ejected in response.

In a statement, the Soviet Foreign Ministry called the Czechoslovak accusations "absurd" and accused the government of being an American puppet: "In an effort to please the U.S.A. following recent American sanctions against the Soviet Union, the Czechoslovk government in this instance even exceeded its overseas masters."

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — Czechoslovak Trade Minister Petr Dolínek said that the Soviets' Sovatom would be excluded from the nuclear tender to build a new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station.

22 April 2021

• Brussels, Belgium — NATO's North Atlantic Council issued a statement that concluded by saying, "Allies express deep concern over the destabilising actions the USSR continues to carry out across the Euro-Atlantic area, including on Alliance territory, and stand in full solidarity with Czechoslovakia."

• Warsaw, Poland — Poland expelled three Soviet diplomats. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki commented that Poland was acting in solidarity with Czechoslovakia and that the decision was made after a thorough evaluation of information provided by Polish intelligence services in coordination with the services of allied countries.

23 April 2021

• Tallinn, Estonia; Riga, Latvia; and Vilnius, Lithuania — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have expelled four Soviet diplomats.

26 April 2021

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia's (KSČ) leadership voted to withdraw support for the minority cabinet led by Prime Minister Robert Fico. The vote means that Fico's coalition government lost its parliamentary majority six months ahead of the scheduled federal election. The party had provided parliamentary support for the party in the Chamber of Deputies, but with the election looming, they sought to distance themselves from the cabinet, which had refused to back some of their requests, such as a reduction in military spending. The expulsion of the Soviet diplomats over the recent Vrbětice affair.

5 May 2021

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSNS) denied a report that he wanted to cover up the Vrbětice scandal in exchange for supplies of Soviet Sputnik V vaccines and right to host a U.S.–Soviet summit in Prague. Opposition politicians have called for his resignation. "The article is based on speculation and lies, which none of the participants confirmed and could not confirm because it did not happen," Zaorálek said in a series of posts on Twitter.
  
  On May 4, Seznam Zprávy published a story by investigative journalists Janek Kroupa and Kristina Ciroková about the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 15 April which was planned to take place on 19 April, but was eventually canceled after the Vrbětice scandal broke on 17 April.
  
  According to the Seznam Zprávy report, Zaorálek communicated his travel plans to the participants of the meeting, whose participants included Czechoslovak Ambassador to the Soviet Union Vítězslav Pivoňka, Foreign Relations and Information Office director Marek Šimandl, Military Intelligence director Jan Beroun, and Police President Jan Švejdar. Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman joined later. Beroun, Švejdar, and Šimandl reportedly tried to convince Zaorálek to cancel his planned visit to Moscow, adding that they argued that no such bargain was possible in the given situation and that a minister should not negotiate about it. All three confirmed that they took part in the meeting, but they did not comment on its contents.
  
  Republican (RS) chairwoman Markéta Pekarová Adamová called for Hamáček's resignation, adding that the Spolu coalition also supported this demand. Liberal Democrat (LDS) chairman Petr Fiala also called for Hamáček to resign, tweeting that the Czechoslovakia was “not for sale” and that there should be a vote of no confidence to end the current government.

10–21 May 2021

• Gaza Strip — 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis: An outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced marked by protests and police riot control, rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Israeli airstrikes targeting the Gaza Strip. The crisis was triggered on 6 May, when Palestinians began protests in East Jerusalem over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah. Under international law, the area, effectively annexed by Israel, is a part of the occupied Palestinian territories. The crisis prompted protests around the world and reactions from world leaders.

20 May 2021

• Gaza Strip — Following international pressure, and nearly 250 deaths, Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal to end the conflict with Gaza militants, effective on 21 May at 2:00 AM local time.

24 May 2021

• Bamako, Mali — A coup d'état in Mali removed interim President Bah Ndaw and the acting Prime Minister, Moctar Ouane, from power and restored military rule leading to the country being suspended from the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, as well as France suspending its military operations in the country.

26 May 2021

• Damascus, Syria — In the 2021 Syrian presidential election, incumbent President Bashar al-Assad of the Ba'ath Party won with 95.19% of the votes. While the election result was welcomed by the Soviet Union, the Syrian opposition, the United States, France and Turkey condemned the electoral process as illegitimate and the election as neither free nor fair.

2 June 2021

• Jerusalem, Israel — The 2021 Israeli presidential election was held. In order to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, Naftali Bennett agreed to form a coalition with the Israeli opposition as a rotation government that will come to take effect after eleven days.

3 June 2021

• Prague, Czechoslovakia — The Czechoslovak governments survived a no-confidence motion after the Communist Party (KSČ) holding decisive votes shunned the opposition's attempt to overthrow Prime Minister Robert Fico's minority Cabinet months before the schedules federal election. The SPOLU coalition and the Free Democrats (SD), both challengers to Fico's social democratic party (ČSSD) in the election planned for October, brought the motion over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and investigations into Fico' alleged conflicts of interest in the recent Czechoslovak–Soviet diplomatic crisis over the Vrbětice affair.
  
  The no-confidence motion received 145 votes in favour and 134 votes against, but the opposition fell short of winning the required majority of 151 votes in the 300-member lower house after the KSČ, and its 21 votes, left the chamber and did not participate. While the party has backed Fico throughout his term, it withdrew its support in April over his Cabinet's tough stance in a spying row with the Soviet Union that led to embassy expulsions both in Prague and Moscow. "The government does not have our confidence, but the rightist (opposition) parties even less so," KSČ Chairman Vojtěch Filip said during the debate in parliament. "Therefore we will not participate in this pointless spectacle, and we are leaving to work for the people."

5 June 2021

• The G8 agreed on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% intended to prevent tax avoidance by some of the world's biggest multinationals.

11–13 June 2021

• Carbis Bay, United Kingdom — World leaders met at the 47th G7 summit, hosted by the United Kingdom, with topics of discussion including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the corporate taxation of multinationals.

11 June – 11 July 2021

• Europe — The UEFA Euro 2020 was held in 11 different countries. In the final, Denmark won their second European Championship title by beating Italy on penalties in the final following a 1–1 draw after extra time.

13 June – 10 July 2021

• Brazil — The 2021 Copa América was hosted in Brazil behind closed doors. Argentina won their fifteenth title after defeating Brazil 1–0 in the final, their first senior title since the 1993 edition of the same tournament.

13 June 2021

• Jerusalem, Israel — Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister of Israel, is voted out of office; Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are sworn-in as Prime Minister of Israel and as Alternate Prime Minister of Israel, respectively.

16 June 2021

• Geneva, Switzerland — The 2021 Soviet–United States Summit was held between US President Barack Obama and Soviet President Vladimir Putin

28 June 2021

• Tigray, Ethiopia — Tigray War: The Tigray Defense Force seizes the Tigrayan capital Mekele shortly after the Ethiopian government declares a ceasefire.

29 June 2021

• COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 3 billion.

1 July 2021

• Beijing, China — Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China were held in Beijing to celebrate the centennial of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has been the sole governing political party of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 1949. CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, as the guest of honor, delivered an hour-long speech in which he warned that "any foreign force who attempted to bully China would find their heads broken and bashed bloody against the great wall of steel forged by the blood and flesh of 1.4 billion Chinese people."

3 July 2021

• Tigray, Ethiopia — The United Nations announce that recent fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has resulted in a famine that is now affecting more than 400,000 people.

7 July 2021

• Pétion-Ville, Haiti — Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at 1:00 am local time in his home. First Lady Martine Moïse was injured and hospitalized.[147]

8 July 2021

• COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 4 million.

11 July 2021 – ongoing

• San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba — Thousands of Cubans, most of them young, attended rare anti-government protests to protest the increased food and medicine shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and curbs on civil liberties, and demanded the resignation of President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the end of Communist rule.

• Washington, D.C., United States — President Barack Obama said that he supports the Cuban people and their "clarion call for freedom and relief."

• Moscow, Soviet Union — The Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated through its spokesperson Maria Zakharova that it is "unacceptable for there to be outside interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state or any destructive actions that would encourage the destabilization of the situation on the island."

• Caracas, Venezuela — Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro expressed "all the support to the Cuban revolutionary government" on a phone call to Díaz-Canel.

12 July 2021 – ongoing

• Template:Country data Germany Central Europe — 2021 European floods: Flooding caused by severe rain in the border region of Germany and Belgium left at least 204 people dead, including 166 in Germany, 36 in Belgium, 1 in Italy and 1 in Austria. In Germany, the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were the most affected areas. Austria, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy also experienced floods. Damage to infrastructure was especially severe in Germany. The event is attributed to a slowed jetstream caused by climate change.

See also

• War in a Far Away Country