Chronology of the USSR's Nationalities and the 1990–1991 Attempts to Rebuild the Union

Chronology of the Nationalities of the USSR

1917: Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Independence of Ukraine and Transcaucasia. Stalin becomes People's Commissioner for Nationalities.

1918: Creation of the CPSU. Brest-Litovsk Treaty with the Central Powers in World War I: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine become independent.

1920: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland are independent again. Russia recovers the territories of Belarus and western Ukraine (which Poland had annexed).

30 December 1922: The USSR is created, with 4 federal republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia. Lenin dies in 1924.

1924: Stalin becomes the first troika of three persons. The first Soviet constitution is adopted. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan become federal republics (6 in total).

1929: Stalin becomes the chairman of the USSR troika. Tajikistan becomes the 7th federal republic.

1936: Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan become federal republics (9 in total). Transcaucasia is divided into three new federal republics: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan (11 in total).

1940: Annexation of the Baltic states. Moldova is added. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of 1939 with the Nazis allowed the recovery of eastern Poland, which was divided between Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

1945: End of World War II. Stalin's purges deport or execute populations considered collaborators. Republics are no longer authorized to establish diplomatic relations and no longer have their own armed forces.

1953: Malenkov succeeds Stalin. Creation of the 1955 Warsaw Pact and the Comecon. Malenkov is dismissed; Khrushchev becomes leader.

1956: The Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Azerbaijan proclaims Azeri the official language of the republic. Brezhnev becomes President of the USSR again in 1964.

1977: Article 72 of the new constitution recognizes the right of secession of the federal republics.

1982: Andropov becomes President of the USSR. 1984: Chernenko becomes President of the USSR. 1985: Gorbachev becomes President of the USSR and perestroika begins.

1988: Moscow, after Armenia denies the authority over Nagorno-Karabakh, takes state control of the region. The Abkhaz and South Ossetian territories of Georgia claim their independence. Russia's opposition to the Georgians grows.

1989: Multiple candidates are allowed to run in congressional elections for the first time. The influence of reformist communists and nationalists begins to grow. A state of emergency is declared in Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Moldova claims union with Romania; the northern Moldovan republic declares itself a self-proclaimed Russian trans-Dniester region.

1990: The Soviet government accepts a multiparty system, amending the Constitution in Article 6, which had recognized the CPSU as the only legal party. Estonia and Lithuania declare their independence. The USSR rejects this decision and proposes a referendum on a new union treaty. Moscow and Baku engage in violent clashes.

1991: The USSR recognizes the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Eight republics sign the new union treaty. A coup d'état follows, and Yeltsin rises to power. Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the CPSU, and the CPSU is outlawed. The new treaty fails. The Soviet Union ceases to exist, and Gorbachev resigns as President of the USSR.

The Failed Attempts to Build a New Union (1990 to 1991)

In March 1990, Gorbachev launches the new federal covenant. However, he did not control the situation, and the USSR was seen as in decline. The situation was as follows: the Baltic republics seceded de facto, the Caucasus was in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Central Asia had intercommunal clashes, and Slavic populations were divided. Yeltsin took control.

On 13 March 1990, the congress of People's Deputies met to reconcile the people and reformists. Gorbachev proposed amending Article 6 of the Constitution, which declared the CPSU the only legal party. This was accepted, and a multi-institutional, presidentialist regime was established that gave more powers to the President. Gorbachev was elected President for 5 years. Some leaders considered his powers excessive, recognizing the irreversible character of some reforms.

On 3 April, the Congress presented a draft of the modalities of secession, to avoid violent secessions. Its principles were: a republic can leave the Union, and the exercise of this right is linked to compliance with strict conditions, resolving problems of ethnic minorities. Secession must not harm the USSR as a whole or the autonomy of the republics and federal entities.

A positive majority vote on the first draft was achieved, with 60% participation from voters. The USSR organized negotiations with the republics. If the new treaty was not approved, a new process would be initiated, which lasted no more than 5 years. On 11 March, Estonia declared its independence; Lithuania did so on 30 March. In May, Latvia proclaimed its independence. The secession law, approved on 14 May, allowed the declaration of the illegal Baltic resolutions.

Gorbachev's first attempt at a new treaty of the Union was the last Soviet attempt to preserve the USSR. It rested on two fundamental points: the creation of a federation of equal republics, and respect for the rights and freedoms of individuals. On 17 December, Gorbachev requested special powers, which were granted.

In spring, he announced a referendum on the future of the USSR. Yeltsin's ambivalence became more pronounced. Shevardnadze resigned on 20 December. Army intervention in regional conflicts and the KGB's role increased. Yeltsin, who had left the CPSU, accused Gorbachev of deceiving the people and became a dictator.

The referendum was set for 17 March 1991. The question was whether the USSR should be preserved as a renewed federation of sovereign states. Other questions were included in certain republics. The Baltic states, Moldova, Armenia and Georgia refused to participate. The result was a majority vote in favor of preserving the Union, but the republics pursued independence. In Russia, voters approved the creation of a presidency of the republic.

On 23 April, Gorbachev signed a new treaty with nine republics, including Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, with Russia as a participant. From then on, Yeltsin became the real leader of Russia, supported by special powers.

In June, Yeltsin won the Russian presidential elections, and on 29 July, Gorbachev and Patriarch Alexy II took part in ceremonies in Russia. Russia signed an agreement with Ukraine to mutually recognize each other's sovereignty. Russia, after Iceland, was the first country to recognize Lithuania's independence. While Gorbachev was highly valued abroad, domestically he was contested by reformers (Yeltsin) and by conservatives, nostalgic for the old order.

In the summer of 1991, the USSR had already renounced its privileged position in Eastern Europe (the Warsaw Pact and Comecon collapsed, Cuba was abandoned, etc.). It had been forced to accept German reunification in 1990 (France opposed it), the Caucasus war, the situation in Central Asia, and Baltic independence. To remain in power, it had to ally itself with Yeltsin's democrats against the privileges of the CPSU.

Despite the reactionary forces, Gorbachev persisted in trying to preserve the USSR. Some republics announced they would not sign the new union treaty, which was to be signed on 20 August. Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreed to sign it.

On 19 August, the day before the signing, Gorbachev was deposed in a coup by conservative members of the state, led by Vice President Yanayev. The coup aimed to halt the collapse of the USSR and save the homeland, claiming Gorbachev was ill (while on vacation in Crimea). A state of emergency was declared, civil liberties were eliminated, censorship was imposed, and demonstrations were banned.

Many Russians, and other peoples, did not understand the coup, having grown accustomed to the freedoms and democracy of recent years, which perestroika and glasnost had brought (glasnost had abolished censorship in June, for example). Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan supported the coup. Kyrgyzstan condemned it. Kazakhstan, after hesitating, also condemned it. Tajikistan resigned.

As news of the coup spread, Yeltsin was legitimized as the leader of Russia and launched the first campaign of civil resistance, inviting the KGB and the Army to place themselves under his authority in Gorbachev's absence. Muscovites took to the streets, the navy denied its support to the coup, and doubts about the KGB (directed by Putin) led to the coup's failure. Yeltsin became the anti-coup leader.

The movement that Yeltsin led on 21 August ended the coup. Gorbachev returned, in a sense dependent on Yeltsin. On 23 August, Gorbachev explained to the Russian parliament that he admitted his errors in choosing collaborators, most of whom had betrayed him, and did not accept the changes that Yeltsin had made during the coup.

Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the CPSU and requested that the CPSU Central Committee be dissolved. On 29 August, Yeltsin suspended the CPSU in Russia, and the Soviet Supreme Soviet dismissed the special powers Gorbachev had been granted in 1990.

In contrast, the representative of the powerful Russian republic and its President, Yeltsin, replaced the Leninist regime opened in 1917. Not only had the regime failed, but the empire was disintegrating. The republics declared their independence, which soon became a reality. Yeltsin and Gorbachev sought to place provisional structures to organize the former USSR.

In September, deputies of the Congress of People's Deputies adopted transitional laws and institutions. A State Council was formed, composed of the presidents of the federal republics, which would govern the Union. The executive and legislative bodies were established, with 20 deputies from each republic. An Interrepublican Economic Committee was formed, with representatives of the federal republics on the basis of equality.

Gorbachev, very politically weakened, attempted once again to draft a new treaty on the Union based on a referendum. Only Kazakhstan supported it. He planned to sign it on 26 November, but the opposition, shown mainly by Yeltsin, meant it was never signed.

On 8 December 1991, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus agreed in Minsk to the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), based on mutual recognition of sovereignty, equality, and non-interference in internal affairs. They declared that the USSR had ceased to exist as a subject of international law. Those republics agreed to respect human rights and minorities, to share responsibility for nuclear armaments, and to address the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

On 10 December, the five Central Asian republics, along with Moldova, and later Armenia and Azerbaijan, announced they would join the CIS. On 12 December, conditions were established. The Soviet Union's dissolution was voted on, and on 21 December, in Alma-Ata (capital of Kazakhstan), eleven republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol creating the CIS. The Baltic states and Georgia were absent.

On Christmas Day 1991, Gorbachev resigned, and the red Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin, replaced by the Russian tricolor. On 30 December, the first CIS summit accepted the armed forces and the transfer of nuclear weapons to Russian territory. In February, the first steps toward national armed forces were taken, as Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan established their own armies. The Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet became a point of dispute with Russia.

Russia's intervention in Chechnya recalls that Russian secessionist forces had not renounced their empire. In the economy, the interdependence of the republics was greatly reduced. The problem of nationalities remained: Russia was the largest, with 16 autonomous republics and 5 autonomous regions. The signing of the treaty means the Russian Federation would be the next arena of new explosions.