Curated playlist
Soviet military occupations
- Anglo-Soviet invasion of IranIn 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded neutral Iran. The Shah was gone within a month.
- Allied-occupied GermanyOn the 5th of June 1945, the Berlin Declaration ended Germany as a sovereign state.
- Molotov–Ribbentrop PactHitler decided Stalin looked like a man he could do business with. Their 1939 pact split Eastern Europe in secret.
- Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)In 1940, one Estonian army unit on Raua Street in Tallinn fought back against the Soviet takeover.
- Hungarian Revolution of 1956Hungary's 1956 revolution began when students read out sixteen demands. Soviet tanks crushed it after just 15 days.
- Soviet–Afghan WarEarly in the Soviet–Afghan War, troops in Afghan uniforms stormed a Kabul palace and killed the country's leader.
- Warsaw Pact invasion of CzechoslovakiaSoviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1968 and were met with stones, eggs and tomatoes.
- Soviet occupation zone in GermanyIn April 1946, Soviet authorities forcibly merged two German parties into one. It became East Germany's governing party.
- Soviet invasion of PolandOn September 17, 1939, Polish schools and factories were still running when the Red Army crossed the border.
- Occupation of the Baltic statesIn August 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were absorbed into the Soviet Union. Sham elections came first.
- Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern BukovinaIn June 1940, Molotov gave Romania four days to hand over Bessarabia and northern Bukovina.