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Events

37 events, A to Z.

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  • 1887 attempt on the life of Alexander III 13 Mar 1887 – 20 May 1887The failed attempt by members of the Terrorist Faction of People's Will to kill Emperor Alexander III in St Petersburg; they were arrested on 1 (13) March 1887, and five, including Alexander Ulyanov, were hanged on 8 (20) May.
  • 1985–86 oil price collapse Sep 1985 – 1986The fall in world oil prices after Saudi Arabia raised output from late 1985, which cut the Soviet Union's hard-currency earnings.

A

  • August 1991 coup attempt 19–21 Aug 1991The failed attempt by hard-line Communist officials to remove Gorbachev, 19–21 August 1991.

B

  • Belovezha Accords 8 Dec 1991The agreement of 8 December 1991 in which Russia, Ukraine and Belarus declared the Soviet Union dissolved and founded the Commonwealth of Independent States.

C

  • Chernobyl disaster 26 Apr 1986The explosion of reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Soviet Ukraine on 26 April 1986.
  • Cold War 1947–1991Rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies, about 1947–1991.
  • Common ownership of US airlines 2001–2014Large investment firms holding shares in several competing US airlines at once; a 2018 study measured it on US routes from 2001 to 2014.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis 16–28 Oct 1962Thirteen-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

D

  • Dissolution of the Soviet Union 25–26 Dec 1991The end of the USSR in December 1991: Gorbachev resigned on 25 December and the Union ceased to exist on 26 December.

E

  • Egyptian rule in Canaan c. 1550 BCE – c. 1200 BCEEgypt's dominance over Canaan in the Late Bronze Age, contested by the Hittites.
  • End of the Cold War 1989–1991The winding down of the US–Soviet rivalry, from the revolutions of 1989 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

F

  • Fall of the Berlin Wall 9 Nov 1989The opening of the border between East and West Berlin on 9 November 1989.
  • February Revolution 8–16 Mar 1917The uprising in Petrograd in March 1917 (February in the old Russian calendar) that ended the monarchy.
  • First World War 28 Jul 1914 – 11 Nov 1918Global war of 1914–1918 between the Allied Powers, with Russia among them until 1918, and the Central Powers.
  • Founding of the Soviet Union 30 Dec 1922The 30 December 1922 declaration and treaty uniting Soviet Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian republic as the USSR.

G

  • Game Stopped? hearing 18 Feb 2021Virtual hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services on the January 2021 trading in GameStop and other stocks, with six witnesses.
  • GameStop short squeeze 8 Jan 2021 – 5 Feb 2021GameStop's share price rose about 2,700% between 8 and 28 January 2021, then fell more than 86% by early February. The episode is widely called a short squeeze.
  • Glasnost 1985–1991Gorbachev's policy of openness in public information and debate, from the mid-1980s.
  • Google's garage office Sep 1998 – Feb 1999Google's first office, a garage in Menlo Park owned by Susan Wojcicki, used from September 1998 to February 1999.

I

  • IBM–Microsoft operating-system deal Nov 1980 – Aug 1981IBM's 1980 contract with Microsoft for the IBM PC's operating system, which Microsoft bought from Seattle Computer Products.
  • Invention of the alphabet c. 1800 BCE – c. 1500 BCESemitic-speaking people create a script whose letters stand for consonants; most, and probably all, later alphabets descend from it.
  • Invention of writing c. 3300 BCE – c. 3000 BCEThe earliest known writing: signs drawn on clay tablets in southern Mesopotamia in the late 4th millennium BCE, the forerunner of cuneiform.

J

L

  • Lenin's sealed train 9–16 Apr 1917Lenin's journey from Switzerland across Germany to Petrograd in April 1917, arranged with the German government.

N

  • NSCC margin calls of January 2021 27–28 Jan 2021Higher clearing-fund deposits that NSCC required of member firms during the late-January 2021 volatility, including $6.9 billion in intraday calls on 27 January.

O

  • October Revolution 7–8 Nov 1917The Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 (25 October in the old Russian calendar).
  • Operation Anadyr 1962Code name of the 1962 Soviet deployment of missiles and troops to Cuba.

P

  • Perestroika 1985–1991Gorbachev's program of economic and political restructuring of the Soviet system, 1985–1991.
  • Project Vanguard 1955–1959US Navy-led program of 1955–1959 to launch the first American satellite.

R

  • Rise of cities in Mesopotamia c. 3500 BCE – c. 3000 BCEGrowth of cities in southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq); by about 3200 BCE Uruk was the largest settlement in the region.
  • Robinhood trading restrictions of 2021 28 Jan 2021 – 5 Feb 2021Robinhood's temporary limits on customer purchases of GameStop and other volatile stocks, 28 January to 5 February 2021.

S

  • Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan 15 May 1988 – 15 Feb 1989The pull-out of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, May 1988 to 15 February 1989, ending a war begun in December 1979.
  • Space Race 1957–1975Cold War competition in spaceflight between the United States and the Soviet Union.

T

  • The ExodusNarrative of the Israelites' departure from slavery in Egypt, told in the Book of Exodus.
  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 3 Mar 1918Separate peace signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, taking Russia out of the First World War.

U

W