Transcaucasian Federation established

Britain and Soviet Russia signed a trade agreement that reduced the risk of renewed war and opened commercial relations. The agreement did not amount to full diplomatic recognition, but it marked...

Mongolian revolutionaries and Soviet forces entered Urga in July 1921, and the Bogd Khan was restored as constitutional monarch under a new People’s Government. The revolution advanced Mongolian...

As drought, war damage, requisitioning and economic disruption produced catastrophic hunger, Maxim Gorky appealed internationally for aid. The famine of 1921–22 killed millions. Soviet authorities...

The Soviet government and the American Relief Administration concluded an agreement on 20 August 1921 to organize large-scale food relief. The operation fed millions during the famine, demonstrating...

Turkey and the Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed the Treaty of Kars, settling borders in the South Caucasus. The agreement involved regional governments but was shaped by...

Germany and Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Rapallo, renouncing claims and restoring diplomatic relations. The agreement challenged the isolation of both states after the First World War. It also...

Lenin objected to Stalin’s proposal to absorb Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian republics into the Russian federation, arguing for a union of formally equal republics. His intervention...

The First Congress of Soviets adopted the Declaration and Treaty establishing the USSR from the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Transcaucasian SFSR. The founding texts promised voluntary...

In a final note on the national question, Lenin warned that formal equality among republics would be hollow if Russian officials used the state to impose the language and interests of the dominant...

The Twelfth Congress debated the economy, party organization and the national question. Delegates heard warnings about Great Russian chauvinism and discussed how the party should build national cadres...