Under consecutive Persian, Ottoman and Russian influence, Azerbaijan, one of the world's major oil producers in 1900, was established as an independent state in 1917.
* 1920 Soviet Red Army invades. Soviet republic established.
* 1922 Incorporated in Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (TSFSR).
* 1930 Forced collectivization of agriculture. Peasant uprisings.
* 1936 TSFSR disbanded. Azerbaijan a full union republic (ASSR).
* 1945 Failed attempt to annex Azeri region of Iran.
* 1985 President Gorbachev makes tackling corruption in CPA a priority.
* 1988 Nagorno Karabakh council requests unification with Armenia. Outbreaks of ethnic violence.
* 1990 Nagorno Karabakh tries to secede. Riots in Baku. PFA takes control. Soviet troops move in.
* 1991 Independence from Moscow.
* 1993 Internal ethnic conflict over enclave of Nagorno Karabakh escalates into war with Armenia.
