The Soviet state begins deporting the Balkar people

A decree accused the Karachays collectively of collaboration and ordered their removal from the North Caucasus. Families were forced into exile in Central Asia and Siberia; the Karachay autonomous...

The mass operation uprooted tens of thousands from their homes and sent them to special settlements. Many died during transport and exile. Deportation became a tool of territorial control and...

Stalin met with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to coordinate Allied strategy, including the opening of a western front. The alliance was essential to defeating Nazi Germany but also...

A decree abolished the Kalmyk Autonomous Republic and ordered the expulsion of the Kalmyk population to Siberia and Central Asia. The state used collective accusations of collaboration to punish a...

NKVD forces began mass deportation of Chechens and Ingush to Central Asia under collective accusations of collaboration. People were forced from their homes in winter; many died during removal and...

The Soviet government deported the Crimean Tatar population to Central Asia, citing collective collaboration. Families were removed at gunpoint, with many deaths during deportation and exile; the...

Soviet authorities removed Meskhetian Turks and several other borderland communities from southern Georgia to Central Asia. The state cited security concerns and alleged collaboration, but the...

Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill negotiated the final campaign against Nazi Germany and postwar arrangements. Agreements on liberated Europe coexisted with Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, where...

The meeting near Torgau symbolized the closing encirclement of Nazi Germany by Allied armies. Soviet and U.S. soldiers celebrated their linkup, even as their governments were already bargaining over...

The parade celebrated the Red Army’s victory and projected Stalin’s authority through a carefully staged public spectacle. It honored immense popular sacrifice while centering the state and military...