istoryworld
Events relating to russia
Russia forms the Warsaw Treaty Organization (or Warsaw Pact) with her east European allies, as a counterbalance to NATO
Konrad Adenauer negotiates the release of the last 10,000 German prisoners of war held in the USSR
Nikita Khrushchev denounces Stalin, dead now for three years, at a party congress in the USSR
Russian dancer Galina Ulanova proves a sensation on tour in Europe and the USA in her late forties
Russian and Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary to end the uprising and arrest Imre Nagy
The ballet Spartacus, with music by Aram Khachaturian, has its premiere in Leningrad
Nikita Khrushchev's position in the Soviet Communist party is secure after the failure of a plot to remove him
The USSR launches Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite
Boris Pasternak's only novel, Doctor Zhivago, is first published in an Italian translation
The Russian spacecraft Sputnik II puts into space a living creature, the dog Laika
Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 goes into orbit round the sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars
Vice-president Richard Nixon engages in a 'kitchen debate' with Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev at a US exhibition in Moscow
Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 successfully strikes the moon, in the Palus Putredinus region
Soviet spacecraft Luna 3, passing by the moon at a distance of some 40,000 miles, is able to photograph the far side
Soviet forces shoot down a US high-altitude U-2 spy plane and capture the pilot, Gary Powers
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel in space, orbiting the earth once in Vostok 1
Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Kirov company at Le Bourget airport and seeks political asylum in France
In Babi Yar the dissident Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko tackles the subject of Russian anti-Semitism
Khrushchev permits publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's first book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, in the literary journal Novy Mir
A deal between President Kennedy and Soviet premier Khrushchev defuses the Cuban missile crisis
Dmitry Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony sets poems from Yevtushenko's Babi Yar I
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space, flying solo in Vostok 6
British diplomat Kim Philby defects to the USSR and is discovered to have been a Soviet spy
The Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed by the USA, USSR and UK, is the first of many international attempts to limit the threat of nuclear war
Nikita Khrushchev is forced from office as Soviet leader by a conservative faction that includes Leonid Brezhnev
