Timeline
| Date | Conflict | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918–1920 | Russian Civil War | Russian SFSR | The nascent Red Army defeats the White movement and their foreign allies. |
| 1919–1921 | Polish-Soviet War | Belarus, Second Polish Republic, Ukraine | The Soviets are defeated and concede substantial territory to Poland. |
| 1921 | Red Army invasion of Georgia | Democratic Republic of Georgia | Soviet rule established in Georgia |
| 1921 | Kronstadt Rebellion | Russian SFSR | Last major uprising against the Bolsheviks. Put down by Red Army |
| 1924 | August Uprising in Georgia | Georgian SSR | Last major rebellion against Bolsheviks in Georgia. Put down by Red Army. |
| 1929 | Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) | Inner Manchuria | Minor armed conflict between the Soviet Union and Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang of the Republic of China over the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway. |
| 1934 | Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang | Xinjiang | Red Army and GPU troops attack the Chinese Muslim 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) and Han chinese Ili troops led by Generals Ma Zhongying and Zhang Peiyuan. Stalemate, with an entire column of Russian troops wiped out by Ma Zhongying. Mustard gas is used by the USSR. |
| 1937 | Xinjiang War (1937) | Xinjiang | Red Army troops assist the provincial government of Xinjiang led by Sheng Shicai in fighting Uighur Rebels. Mustard Gas is used by the USSR. |
| 1938 | Soviet-Japanese border incident (1938) | Korea-USSR Border | The Soviets repel the Japanese incursion. |
| 1939 | Soviet-Japanese border incident (1939) | Manchuria-Mongolia Border | The Soviets defeat the Japanese Kwantung Army and retain their existing border with Manchukuo. |
| 1939 | Invasion of Poland and Bessarabia (WWII) | Poland, Belarus, Romania | Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divide up Eastern Europe according to the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. |
| 1939–1940 | Winter War | Finland | The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations and gains some Finnish territory. |
| 1941–1945 | Great Patriotic War (WWII) | Soviet Union, Eastern Europe | In a titanic struggle with Nazi Germany, the Red Army defeats the Wehrmacht and becomes an occupying force in Eastern Europe. |
| 1941–1944 | Continuation War (WWII) | Finland | Soviet forces defeat Finland, procuring additional territory and Finland withdraws from World War II. |
| 1944–1949 | Ili Rebellion | Xinjiang, Republic of China | Red Army troops and Republic of China troops clash in Xinjiang over Soviet support for the Second East Turkestan Republic. A Chinese Muslim unit loyal to the Chinese government, the 14th Tungan Cavalry regiment fights against Soviet forces on the Mongolian border. |
| 1945–1974 | Partisan wars in the Baltic States | Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania | Thousands of Baltic "forest brothers" wage a war of resistance against Soviet occupation. Major fighting ends in the late forties and early fifties. The last partisan, an Estonian, killed in 1974. |
| 1945 | Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation (WWII) | Manchuria | The Red Army launches a short and successful campaign to evict the Japanese from mainland Asia. Soviets become occupying force in Manchuria, North Korea and the Kuril Islands. |
| 1947–1991 | Cold War | Worldwide, opposing the United States and the West | Nuclear war is frequently threatened, but never realized. In 1955, the Soviet Union establishes the Warsaw Pact in response to the West's 1948 creation of NATO. |
| 1948–1949 | Berlin Blockade | Berlin | The first of many Cold War standoffs as the Soviet Union seals Berlin from outside access. The West responds with the Berlin Airlift and the blockade is eventually called off. |
| 1956 | Hungarian Revolution | Hungary | The Red Army forcibly suppresses a Hungarian anti-Soviet revolt. Thousands of casualties—both civilian and military—are the result. |
| 1962 | Cuban Missile Crisis | Cuba | Another Cold War standoff over Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The Soviets agreed to withdraw the missiles after a U.S. naval blockade of the island nation, and a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba and to withdraw nuclear missiles from Turkey. |
| 1968 | Invasion of Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia | An invasion by the Warsaw Pact quiets a national movement for a more liberal Czech government. |
| 1969 | Sino-Soviet border conflict | Sino-Soviet border | A longstanding ideological feud between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China] erupts into several occasions of inconclusive armed conflicts. |
| 1979–1989 | Soviet war in Afghanistan | Afghanistan | The Soviet's launch of a military intervention in Afghanistan quickly devolves into a quagmire. Troops are recalled after ten years of an indecisive "shooting war", in which the U.S. fund and arm the Afghan Mujahideen. |
Read more about this topic: Military History Of The Soviet Union