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The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (abbreviated USSR, Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, СССР (help·info); tr.: Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, SSSR), also called the Soviet Union[1] (Russian: Советский Союз; tr.: Sovetsky Soyuz), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. For the HTML tag see HTML element. An abbreviation (from Latin brevis "short" Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet and Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet and The Soviet Union was governed by three versions of its Constitution, following the 1918 Soviet Constitution established by the Russian Federation, the immediate The term socialist state (or socialist republic, or workers' state) can carry one of several different (but related meanings In strictly speaking any For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Emerging from the Russian Empire following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War of 1918–1921, the USSR was a union of several Soviet republics, but the synecdoche Russia—after its largest and dominant constituent state—continued to be commonly used throughout the state's existence. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other Synecdoche is taken from Greek sinekdohi (συνεκδοχή meaning "simultaneous understanding" (si-nek-duh-kee (pronounced /sɪˈnɛkdoˌki/ The geographic boundaries of the USSR varied with time, but after the last major territorial annexations of the Baltic states, eastern Poland, Bessarabia, and certain other territories during World War II, from 1945 until dissolution the boundaries approximately corresponded to those of late Imperial Russia, with the notable exclusions of Poland, most of Finland, and Alaska. The Baltic states (Balti riigid Baltijas valstis Baltijos valstybės or Baltic countries are three countries in Northern Europe, all members of the After the Soviet invasion of Poland following the corresponding German invasion that marked the start of World War II in 1939 the Soviet Union annexed Bessarabia ( Basarabia in Romanian, Бесарабія in Ukrainian, Бессарабия in Russian, Бесарабия in Bulgarian World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent The Soviet Union became the primary model for future Communist states during the Cold War; the government and the political organization of the country were defined by the only political party, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Communist state is a term used by many Political scientists to describe a Form of government in which the State operates under a one-party system Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the
From 1945 until dissolution in 1991—a period known as the Cold War—the Soviet Union and the United States of America were the two world superpowers that dominated the global agenda of economic policy, foreign affairs, military operations, cultural exchange, scientific advancements including the pioneering of space exploration, and sports (including the Olympic Games and various world championships). The Soviet Union 's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985 Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale Economic policy refers to the actions that Governments take in the economic field. This article describes three distinct but related terms military operations Operations as military events and operational level of war The Olympic Games is an international Multi-sport event established for both summer and winter games A world championship(s is the top achievement for any sport or Contest.
Initially established as a union of four Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR grew to contain 15 constituent or "union republics" by 1956: Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Estonian SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Russian SFSR, Tajik SSR, Turkmen SSR, Ukrainian SSR, and Uzbek SSR. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (Հայկական ՍովետականՍոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն Haykakan Sovetakan Sotsialistakan Hanrapetutyun This article is about the former Soviet republic for other similar uses see Azerbaijan (disambiguation. The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика Estonskaya The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (საქართველოს საბჭოთასოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Қазақ Кеңестік Социалистік Республикасы Qazaq Keñestik Socialistik Respublikasi; Казахская Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic redirects here For the Kazakh entity of that name see Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvijas Padomju Sociālistiskā Republika Латвийская Советская Социалистическая Республика The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Moldovan: Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ or Republica Sovietică Socialistă The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Республикаи Советии Социалистии Тоҷикистон Respublikai Sovetii Sotsialistii Tocikiston; Таджикская The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Түркменистан Совет Социалистик Республикасы Türkmenistan Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasy; The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси O`zbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi; Узбекская (From annexation of the Estonian SSR on August 6, 1940 up to the reorganisation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR into the Karelian ASSR on July 16, 1956, the count of "union republics" was 16. The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика Estonskaya Events 1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karjalais-suomalainen sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta Карело-Финская Советская Социалистическая The Karelian ASSR (Карельская АССР was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union. Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. )
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History
The Soviet Union is traditionally considered to be the successor of the Russian Empire and of its short-lived successor Provisional Government under Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov and then Alexander Kerensky. History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union is covered in the following series of articles Succession of states is a theory in International relations regarding the recognition and acceptance of a newly created State by other states based on The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Knyaz (Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov (Георгий Евгеньевич Львов Georgy Evgenyevich Lvov) ( November 2, 1861 Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский Aleksandr Fjëdorovich Kerenskij) ( June 11, 1970) served The last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, ruled until March, 1917 when the Empire was overthrown and a short-lived Russian provisional government took power, the latter to be overthrown in November 1917 by Vladimir Lenin. Tsar csar and tzar redirect here For other uses see Tsar (disambiguation. The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd in 1917 after the February Revolution and the Abdication From 1917 to 1922, the predecessor to the Soviet Union was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which was an independent country as well as other Soviet republics at the time. The Soviet Union was officially established in December 1922 as the union of the Russian (colloquially known as Bolshevist Russia), Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics ruled by Bolshevik parties. Bolshevist Russia or Bolshevik Russia is a common term for the Bolshevik side in the Russian Civil War, or more specifically the Russian The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (Հայաստանի Խորհրդային Սոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն Azerbaijani: The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction
Revolution and the foundation of a Soviet state
Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, and although serfdom was abolished in 1861, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. The origins of Serfdom in Russia are traced to Kievan Rus in the 11th century A parliament—the State Duma—was established in 1906 after the Russian Revolution of 1905, but the Tzar resisted attempts to move from absolute to constitutional monarchy. The State Duma (Государственная дума (Gosudarstvennaya Duma common abbreviation Госдума (Gosduma in the Russian Federation is the See also Russian Revolution (1917 The 1905 Russian Revolution also known as the Failed Russian Revolution of 1905 was an empire-wide struggle of Absolute monarchy is a monarchical Form of government where the king and queen have absolute power over everything A constitutional monarchy, or a limited monarchy, is a form of Constitutional Government, wherein either an elected or hereditary Monarch is Social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages in major cities. Rebellion is a refusal of obedienceIt may therefore be seen as encompassing a range of Behaviours from Civil disobedience and mass Nonviolent resistance World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All
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A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's economy and morale, culminated in the toppling of the imperial government in March 1917 (see February Revolution). Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River The February Revolution (Февральская революция in 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The tzarist autocracy was replaced by the Russian Provisional Government, whose leaders intended to establish liberal democracy in Russia and to continue participating on the side of the Entente in World War I. The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd in 1917 after the February Revolution and the Abdication The term "liberal" in "liberal democracy" does not imply that the government of such a democracy must follow the political ideology of The Entente Powers (from Triple Entente) were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. At the same time, to ensure the rights of the working class, workers' councils, known as soviets, sprang up across the country. A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, pushed for socialist revolution in the soviets and on the streets. They seized power from the Provisional Government in November 1917 (see October Revolution). The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution Only after the long and bloody Russian Civil War of 1918–1921, which included foreign intervention in several parts of Russia, was the new Soviet power secure. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed In a related conflict with Poland, the "Peace of Riga" in early 1921 split disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between Poland and Soviet Russia. The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga; (Ри́жский ми́рный договóр -- Romanisation Rízhsky Mírny dogovór --, Rīgas Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland
Unification of the Soviet Republics
On December 28, 1922 a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the RSFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Events 1065 - Westminster Abbey is Consecrated. 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (Հայաստանի Խորհրդային Սոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն Azerbaijani: The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка The Treaty on the Creation of the USSR is a document that legalized the creation of a union of several Soviet republics in the form of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics These two documents were confirmed by the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by heads of delegations[2] - Mikhail Kalinin, Mikha Tskhakaya, Mikhail Frunze and Grigory Petrovsky, Aleksandr Chervyakov[3] respectively on December 30, 1922. The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union in two periods from 1917 to 1936 and Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (Михаи́л Ива́нович Кали́нин ( – June 3, 1946) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and the titular Head Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze ( Russian: Михаил Васильевич Фрунзе Romanian: Mihail Frunză; also known as Арсений Трифоныч– Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (Григорий Иванович Петровский Григорій Іванович Петровський Ivanovych Petrovsky ( January 23 Aleksandr Grigoryevich Chervyakov (Александр Григорьевич Червяков Аляксандр Рыгоравіч Чарвякоў Events 1460 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield. 1816 - The Treaty of St Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The first foreign state to recognize the Soviet Union was the Irish Republic. The Irish Republic ( Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann or Saorstát Éireann) was a unilaterally declared independent state of Ireland proclaimed On February 1, 1924 the USSR was recognized by the British Empire. Events 1327 - Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power.
The intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was performed according to Bolshevik Initial Decrees, documents of the Soviet government, signed by Vladimir Lenin. Decrees (декреты were legislative acts of the highest Soviet institutions primarily of the Council of People's Commissars (the highest executive body and One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, that envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. GOELRO plan ( Russian: план ГОЭЛРО was the first-ever Soviet plan for national economic recovery and development The Plan was developed in 1920 and covered a ten to 15 year period. It included construction of a network of 30 regional power plants, including ten large hydroelectric power plants, and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises. A power station (also referred to as generating station, power plant or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for the generation of Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by Hydropower, ie the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling water [4] The Plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was basically fulfilled by 1931. [5]
Stalin's rule
From its beginning years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks). [6] After the economic policy of War Communism during the Civil War, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist with nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax (see New Economic Policy). War communism (or military communism) (Военный коммунизм 1918 - 1921 is the term created by western historians referring to the economic and political system For the Malaysian New Economic Policy see Malaysian New Economic Policy. Soviet leaders argued that one party rule was necessary because it ensured that 'capitalist exploitation' would not return to the Soviet Union and that the principles of Democratic Centralism would represent the people's will. Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for Soviet leaders to contend for power in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating his rivals within the party, Georgian Joseph Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union by the end of the 1920s. The Georgians (ქართველები kartvelebi) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party
In 1928, Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a socialist economy. While encompassing the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the course of the Revolution, it also aimed for building socialism in one country. International Socialism redirects here For the journal of the same name see International Socialism (journal Proletarian internationalism is a Socialism in One Country was a thesis developed by Nikolai Bukharin in 1925 and adopted as state policy by Joseph Stalin. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization; in agriculture collective farms were established all over the country. is a process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a Pre-industrial society into an industrial one Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin, between 1928 and 1940(much later for areas further away from capital to consolidate individual It met widespread resistance from kulaks and some prosperous peasants, who withheld grain, resulting in a bitter struggle of this class against the authorities and the poor peasants. Kulaks ( Russian: кула́к kulak " Fist ", by extension "tight-fisted" were a category of rich Peasants in later Famines occurred causing millions of deaths and surviving kulaks were politically persecuted and many sent to Gulags to do forced labour. The Gulag was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. A wide range of death tolls has been suggested, from as many as 60 million kulaks being killed suggested by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to as few as 700 thousand by Soviet news sources. Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn ( Алекса́ндр Иса́евич Солжени́цын) (December 11 1918 – August 3 2008 was a Russian Novelist [7]. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Stalin's Great Purge of the party eliminated many "Old Bolsheviks" who had participated in the Revolution with Lenin. Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution Old Bolshevik (ста́рый большеви́к is an unofficial designation for a member of the Bolshevik party before the Russian Revolution of 1917, most of Yet despite the turmoil of the mid- to late 1930s, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
The 1930s saw closer cooperation between the West and the USSR. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings In 1933, diplomatic relations between the United States and the USSR were established. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Four years later, the USSR actively supported the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War against the Nationalists, which were supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Nevertheless, after Great Britain and France concluded the Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany, the USSR dealt with the latter as well, both economically and militarily, by concluding the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which involved the occupation of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the invasion of Poland in 1939. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Munich Agreement (Mnichovská dohoda Mníchovská dohoda Münchner Abkommen Accords de Munich was an agreement regarding the Sudetenland, which were areas along borders Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region The 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939 during the early stages of World War II, sixteen In late November 1939, unable to force Finland into agreement to move its border 25 kilometres back from Leningrad by diplomatic means, Stalin ordered the invasion of Finland. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party The Winter War (Talvisota Советско-финляндская война - official Зимняя война - unofficial Vinterkriget began when the Although it has been debated whether the Soviet Union had the intention of invading Nazi Germany once it was strong enough, Germany itself broke the treaty and invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the Codename for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II The Red Army stopped the Nazi offensive in the Battle of Stalingrad, lasting from late 1942 to early 1943, being the major turning point, and drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945 (see Great Patriotic War). The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The Battle of Stalingrad is a commonly used name in English sources for several large operations by Germany and its allies and Soviet forces conducted with the Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. The Eastern Front of World War II (die Ostfront 1941-1945, der Rußlandfeldzug 1941-1945 (Russian campaign or der Ostfeldzug 1941-1945 (Eastern Campaign Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged superpower. A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale
During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, while maintaining its strictly centralized control. A planned economy or directed economy is an Economic system in which the Government or Workers' councils manages the Economy. The Soviet Union aided post-war reconstruction in the countries of Eastern Europe while turning them into Soviet satellite states, founded the Warsaw Pact in 1955, later, the Comecon, supplied aid to the eventually victorious Communists in the People's Republic of China, and saw its influence grow elsewhere in the world. Satellite state is a political term that refers to a country which is formally independent but under heavy influence or control by another country The Warsaw Pact (see Nomenclature) was an organization of Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Meanwhile, the rising tension of the Cold War turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, into enemies. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
Post-Stalin Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In the absence of an acceptable successor, the highest Communist Party officials opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly, although a struggle for power took place behind the facade of collective leadership. Nikita Khrushchev, who had won the power struggle by the mid-1950s, denounced Stalin's use of repression in 1956 and eased repressive controls over party and society known as de-Stalinization. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following The Cold War ensued as the USSR and the United States struggled indirectly for influence around the world The Cold War ensued as the USSR and the United States struggled indirectly for influence around the world At the same time, Soviet military force was used to suppress nationalistic uprisings in Hungary and Poland in 1956. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 ( Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom) was a spontaneous nationwide Revolt against the Stalinist government of The Poznań 1956 protests (also known as Poznań 1956 uprising or Poznań June (Poznański Czerwiec were the first of several massive protests of the Polish During this period, the Soviet Union continued to realize scientific and technological pioneering exploits; to launch the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1, living being Laika, and later, the first human being Yuri Gagarin into Earth's orbit. Sputnik 1 ( "Спутник-1", "Satellite-1" ПС-1 ( PS-1, i Laika (from the Лайка, a breed of dog, literally meaning "Barker" or "Howler" was a Soviet space dog (c Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963, and Alexey Leonov became the first person to walk in space on March 18 1965. Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва born 6 March 1937) is a retired Soviet Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov (Алексе́й Архи́пович Лео́нов (born May 30, 1934 in Listvyanka Kemerovo Oblast, USSR Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy towards China and the United States suffered difficulties, including those that led to the Sino-Soviet split. The Sino-Soviet split was a gradual divergence of diplomatic ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR Khrushchev was retired from power in 1964.
Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, lasting until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. Brezhnev presided over a period of Détente with the West while at the same time building up Soviet military strength; the arms buildup contributed to the demise of Détente in the late 1970s. Détente is a French term meaning a relaxing or easing the term has been used in international politics since the early 1970s Another contributing factor was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War or just the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, was a nine-year conflict involving
Throughout the period, the Soviet Union maintained parity with or superiority to the United States in the areas of military numbers and technology, but this strained the economy. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change. The long period of Brezhnev's rule had come to be dubbed one of "standstill" (застой), with an aging and ossified top political leadership.
After some experimentation with economic reforms in the mid-1960s, the Soviet leadership reverted to established means of economic management. Industry showed slow but steady gains during the 1970s. Agricultural development continued, but could not keep up with the growing consumption and the USSR had to import food products like grain. Due to the low investment in consumer goods, the USSR was largely only able to export raw materials, notably oil, which made it vulnerable to global price shifts. Moreover, human welfare in the Soviet Union was keeping behind Western and socialist Central-European levels, after initially converging in the 1950's and 60's. The Human Development Index ( HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of Life expectancy, Literacy, Educational attainment, and GDP Even in absolute measurements, Soviet citizens were becoming less healthy between the 1960's and 1985: the crude death rate climbed from 6. 9 per 1,000 in 1964 to 10. 3 in 1980. [8]
Reforms of Gorbachev and dissolution
Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician After the rapid succession of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, transitional figures with deep roots in Brezhnevite tradition, beginning in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev made significant changes in the economy (see Perestroika, Glasnost) and the party leadership. Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (Ю́рий Влади́мирович Андро́пов Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov) ( &ndash 9 February 1984 was a Soviet politician Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Константи́н Усти́нович Черне́нко Konstantin Ustinovič Černenko; 24 September 1911 &ndash 10 March 1985 was Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" His policy of glasnost freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship. (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase"
In the late 1980s, the constituent republics of the Soviet Union started legal moves towards or even declaration of sovereignty over their territories, citing Article 72 of the USSR Constitution, which stated that any constituent republic was free to secede. Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself [9] On April 7, 1990 a law was passed, that a republic could secede, if more than two thirds of that republic's residents vote for it on a referendum. Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) [10] Many held their first free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in 1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as "The War of Laws". In 1989, the Russian SFSR, which was then the largest constituent republic (with about half of the population) convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected the chairman of the Congress. Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin () (1 February 1931 23 April 2007 was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999 On June 12, 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the USSR's laws. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) The period of legal uncertainty continued throughout 1991 as constituent republics slowly became de facto independent.
A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on March 17, 1991, with the majority of the population voting for preservation of the Union in nine out of fifteen republics. Events 45 BC - In his last victory Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost, and, in the summer of 1991, the New Union Treaty was designed and agreed upon by eight republics which would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser federation. The New Union Treaty (Новый союзный договор was a draft treaty that would have replaced the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and thus would have replaced
The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the August Coup—an attempted coup d'état against Gorbachev by hardline Marxist members of the government, who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt ( August 19 - August 21, 1991) also known as the August Putsch or August Coup was a three-day After the coup collapsed, Yeltsin came out as a hero while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared restoration of full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example), while the other 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union.
On December 8, 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. Events 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room the second public library of Europe. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east The Belavezha Accords (Беловежские соглашения is the Agreement which declared the Soviet Union effectively dissolved and established the While doubts remained over the authority of the Belavezha Accords to dissolve the Union, on December 21, 1991, the representatives of all Soviet republics except Georgia, including those republics that had signed the Belavezha Accords, signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the dismemberment and consequential extinction of the USSR and restated the establishment of the CIS. Events 69 - The end of the Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (საქართველოს საბჭოთასოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა The summit of Alma-Ata also agreed on several other practical measures consequential to the extinction of the Union. Almaty ( Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata ( Алма-Ата) also Verniy, (Верный is the largest city in Kazakhstan On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev yielded to the inevitable and resigned as the president of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. Events 274 - Roman Emperor Aurelian Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. He turned the powers that until then were vested in the presidency over to Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia. Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin () (1 February 1931 23 April 2007 was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999 Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The following day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body of the Soviet Union, recognized the collapse of the Soviet Union and dissolved itself. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Верхо́вный Сове́т СССР Verkhóvnyj Sovét SSSR) was the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in This is generally recognized as the official, final dissolution of the Soviet Union as a functioning state. Many organizations such as the Soviet Army and police forces continued to remain in place in the early months of 1992 but were slowly phased out and either withdrawn from or absorbed by the newly independent states. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya
Politics
The government of the Soviet Union administered the country's economy and society. It implemented decisions made by the leading political institution in the country, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
In the late 1980s, the government appeared to have many characteristics in common with liberal democratic political systems. For instance, a constitution established all organizations of government and granted to citizens a series of political and civic rights. A legislative body, the Congress of People's Deputies, and its standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, represented the principle of popular sovereignty. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Верхо́вный Сове́т СССР Verkhóvnyj Sovét SSSR) was the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in The Supreme Soviet, which had an elected chairman who functioned as head of state, oversaw the Council of Ministers, which acted as the executive branch of the government. Council of Ministers of the USSR (Совет Министров СССР tr The chairman of the Council of Ministers, whose selection was approved by the Supreme Soviet, functioned as head of government. A constitutionally based judicial branch of government included a court system, headed by the Supreme Court, that was responsible for overseeing the observance of Soviet law by government bodies. According to the 1977 Soviet Constitution, the government had a federal structure, permitting the republics some authority over policy implementation and offering the national minorities the appearance of participation in the management of their own affairs. At the Seventh (Special Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution
In practice, however, the government differed markedly from Western systems. In the late 1980s, the CPSU performed many functions that governments of other countries usually perform. For example, the party decided on the policy alternatives that the government ultimately implemented. The government merely ratified the party's decisions to lend them an aura of legitimacy. The CPSU used a variety of mechanisms to ensure that the government adhered to its policies. The party, using its nomenklatura authority, placed its loyalists in leadership positions throughout the government, where they were subject to the norms of democratic centralism. The nomenklatura were a small elite subset of the general population in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist Party bodies closely monitored the actions of government ministries, agencies, and legislative organs.
The content of the Soviet Constitution differed in many ways from typical Western constitutions. It generally described existing political relationships, as determined by the CPSU, rather than prescribing an ideal set of political relationships. The Constitution was long and detailed, giving technical specifications for individual organs of government. The Constitution included political statements, such as foreign policy goals, and provided a theoretical definition of the state within the ideological framework of Marxism-Leninism. Marxism-Leninism is a Communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency amongst the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted The CPSU leadership could radically change the constitution or remake it completely, as it did several times throughout its history.
The Council of Ministers acted as the executive body of the government. Its most important duties lay in the administration of the economy. The council was thoroughly under the control of the CPSU, and its chairman—the Soviet prime minister—was always a member of the Politburo. Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Председатель The Politburo ( in Russian: Политбюро, full Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated The council, which in 1989 included more than 100 members, was too large and unwieldy to act as a unified executive body. The council's Presidium, made up of the leading economic administrators and led by the chairman, exercised dominant power within the Council of Ministers. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ( Президиум Верховного Совета in Russian, or Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta was a Soviet
According to the Constitution, as amended in 1988, the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union was the Congress of People's Deputies, which convened for the first time in May 1989. The main tasks of the congress were the election of the standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, and the election of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, who acted as head of state. Theoretically, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet wielded enormous legislative power. In practice, however, the Congress of People's Deputies met infrequently and only to approve decisions made by the party, the Council of Ministers, and its own Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, and the Council of Ministers had substantial authority to enact laws, decrees, resolutions, and orders binding on the population. The Congress of People's Deputies had the authority to ratify these decisions.
The judiciary was not independent. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts and applied the law as established by the Constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union lacked an adversarial court procedure known to common law jurisdictions. The adversarial system (or adversary system) of law is the system of law generally adopted in Common law countries that relies on the skill of each advocate Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive Rather, Soviet law utilized the system derived from Roman law, where judge, procurator and defense attorney worked collaboratively to establish the truth. This article is about the inquisitorial system for organizing court proceedings
The Soviet Union was a federal state made up of fifteen republics joined together in a theoretically voluntary union; it was this theoretical situation that formed the basis of the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs' membership in the United Nations. A federation ( Latin: foedus, covenant is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal" The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security In turn, a series of territorial units made up the republics. The republics also contained jurisdictions intended to protect the interests of national minorities. The republics had their own constitutions, which, along with the all-union Constitution, provide the theoretical division of power in the Soviet Union. All the republics except Russian SFSR had their own communist parties. In 1989, however, the CPSU and the central government retained all significant authority, setting policies that were executed by republic, provincial, oblast, and district governments.
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For more details on this topic, see Soviet law. The Law of the Soviet Union &mdashalso known as Socialist Law &mdashwas the law developed in the Soviet Union following the October Revolution of 1917
Leaders of the Soviet Union
The de facto leader of the Soviet Union was the First/General Secretary of the CPSU. An approximately chronological list of leaders of the Soviet Union (heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Soviet Union) The head of government was considered the Premier, and the head of state was considered the chairman of the Presidium. The Soviet leader could also have one (or both) of these positions, along with the position of General Secretary of the party. The last leader of the Soviet Union was Mikhail Gorbachev, serving from 1985 until late December 1991.
- List of Soviet Premiers
- (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (1923–1946); Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1946–1990); Prime Minister of the USSR (1991))
- List of Soviet Heads of state
- (Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets (1917–1922); Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1922–1938); Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1938–1989); Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1989–1990); President of the Soviet Union (1990–1991))
Foreign relations
members members who did not participate associates observers
Once denied diplomatic recognition by the capitalist world, the Soviet Union had official relations with practically all nations of the world by the late 1940s. The Soviet Union also had progressed from being an outsider in international organizations and negotiations to being one of the arbiters of the world's fate after World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the Soviet Union became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions (see Soviet Union and the United Nations). The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security A veto, Latin for "I forbid" is used to Denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of Legislation. The Soviet Union took an active role in the United Nations and other major international and regional organizations
The Soviet Union emerged from World War II as one of the world's two superpowers, a position maintained for four decades through its hegemony in Eastern Europe (see Eastern Bloc), military strength, economic strength, aid to developing countries, and scientific research, especially into space technology and weaponry. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including During the Cold War, the term Communist Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) was used to refer to the Soviet Union and countries it either controlled or that were The Soviet Union's growing influence abroad in the postwar years helped lead to a Communist system of states in Eastern Europe united by military and economic agreements. It overtook the British Empire as a global superpower, both in a military sense and its ability to expand its influence beyond its borders. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON / Comecon / CMEA / CAME), (Russian: Совет экономической взаимопомощи - СЭВ), 1949 – 1991, was an economic organization of communist states and a kind of Eastern Bloc equivalent to—but more geographically inclusive than—the European Economic Community. The military counterpart to the Comecon was the Warsaw Pact, though Comecon's membership was significantly wider. [12]
The descriptive term Comecon was often applied to all multilateral activities involving members of the organization, rather than being restricted to the direct functions of Comecon and its organs. [13] This usage was sometimes extended as well to bilateral relations among members, because in the system of socialist international economic relations, multilateral accords — typically of a general nature — tended to be implemented through a set of more detailed, bilateral agreements. [12]
Established in 1949 the Soviet-dominated Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) led by Moscow, served as a framework for cooperation among the planned economies of the Soviet Union, and, later, for trade and economic cooperation with the Third World. Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically The military counterpart to the Comecon was the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact (see Nomenclature) was an organization of Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. The Soviet economy was also of major importance to Eastern Europe because of imports of vital natural resources from the USSR, such as natural gas.
Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone for the forward defense of its western borders and ensured its control of the region by transforming the East European countries into satellite states. Satellite state is a political term that refers to a country which is formally independent but under heavy influence or control by another country Soviet troops intervened in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and cited the Brezhnev Doctrine, the Soviet counterpart to the U. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 ( Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom) was a spontaneous nationwide Revolt against the Stalinist government of The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet Foreign policy, first and most clearly outlined by S S. Johnson Doctrine and later Nixon Doctrine, and helped oust the Czechoslovak government in 1968, sometimes referred to as the Prague Spring. The Johnson Doctrine, enunciated by US President Lyndon B Johnson after the United States ' intervention in the Dominican Republic The Nixon Doctrine (also known as the Guam Doctrine) was put forth in a press conference in Guam on July 25, 1969 by Richard Nixon Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Prague Spring ( Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during
In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the USSR's rapprochement with the West and what Mao perceived as Khrushchev's revisionism led to the Sino-Soviet split. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led The term "revisionism" is also used to refer to other concepts The Sino-Soviet split was a gradual divergence of diplomatic ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR This resulted in a break throughout the global Communist movement and Communist regimes in Albania and Cambodia choosing to ally with China in place of the USSR. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East For a time, war between the former allies appeared to be a possibility; while relations would cool during the 1970s, they would not return to normality until the Gorbachev era. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician
During the same period, a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a Nuclear weapon at the position of Detonation, on or near its intended target The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War.
The KGB (Committee for State Security) served in a fashion as the Soviet counterpart to both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency in the U. KGB ( Transliteration of "КГБ" is the Russian abbreviation of Committee for State Security ( Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosty near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all S. It ran a massive network of informants throughout the Soviet Union, which was used to monitor violations in law. The foreign wing of the KGB was used to gather intelligence in countries around the globe. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was replaced in Russia by the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) and the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation). Foreign Intelligence Service ( Russian: Служба Внешней Разведки (or SVR) is Russia 's primary external intelligence agency The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation ( FSB) ( Russian: ФСБ Федера́льная слу́жба безопа́сности Federalnaya
The KGB was not without substantial oversight. The GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate), not publicized by the Soviet Union until the end of the Soviet era during perestroika, was created by Lenin in 1918 and served both as a centralized handler of military intelligence and as an institutional check-and-balance for the otherwise relatively unrestricted power of the KGB. GRU is the English transliteration of the Russian Acronym ГРУ, which stands for "Гла́вное Разве́дывательное (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev Military intelligence (abbreviated MI int Commonwealth, or intel Effectively, it served to spy on the spies, and, not surprisingly, the KGB served a similar function with the GRU. As with the KGB, the GRU operated in nations around the world, particularly in Soviet bloc and satellite states. The GRU continues to operate in Russia today, with resources estimated by some to exceed those of the SVR [12][13].
In the 1970s, the Soviet Union achieved rough nuclear parity with the United States, and eventually overtook it. It perceived its own involvement as essential to the solution of any major international problem. Meanwhile, the Cold War gave way to Détente and a more complicated pattern of international relations in which the world was no longer clearly split into two clearly opposed blocs. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Détente is a French term meaning a relaxing or easing the term has been used in international politics since the early 1970s Less powerful countries had more room to assert their independence, and the two superpowers were partially able to recognize their common interest in trying to check the further spread and proliferation of nuclear weapons (see SALT I, SALT II, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty). The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty ( ABM Treaty or ABMT) was a treaty between the United States of America and the Soviet Union on the limitation
By this time, the Soviet Union had concluded friendship and cooperation treaties with a number of states in the non-Communist world, especially among Third World and Non-Aligned Movement states like India and Egypt. The Non-Aligned Movement ( NAM) is an International organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Notwithstanding some ideological obstacles, Moscow advanced state interests by gaining military footholds in strategically important areas throughout the Third World. Furthermore, the Soviet Union continued to provide military aid for revolutionary movements in the Third World. For all these reasons, Soviet foreign policy was of major importance to the non-Communist world and helped determine the tenor of international relations.
Although myriad bureaucracies were involved in the formation and execution of Soviet foreign policy, the major policy guidelines were determined by the Politburo of the Communist Party. The foremost objectives of Soviet foreign policy had been the maintenance and enhancement of national security and the maintenance of hegemony over Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States and Western Europe were also of major concern to Soviet foreign policy makers, and relations with individual Third World states were at least partly determined by the proximity of each state to the Soviet border and to Soviet estimates of its strategic significance.
After Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the CPSU in 1985, he introduced many changes in Soviet foreign policy and in the economy of the USSR. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Константи́н Усти́нович Черне́нко Konstantin Ustinovič Černenko; 24 September 1911 &ndash 10 March 1985 was Gorbachev pursued conciliatory policies towards the West instead of maintaining the Cold War status quo. The Soviet Union ended its occupation of Afghanistan, signed strategic arms reduction treaties with the United States, and allowed its allies in Eastern Europe to determine their own affairs. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت,
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, Russia was internationally recognised[14] to be the legal successor to the Soviet state on the international stage. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt, and claimed overseas Soviet properties as its own. To prevent subsequent disputes over Soviet property, "zero variant" agreements were proposed to ratify with newly independent states the status quo on the date of dissolution. (Ukraine is the last former Soviet republic not to have entered into such an agreement. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. ) The end of the Soviet Union also raised questions about treaties it had signed, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; Russia has held the position that those treaties remain in force, and should be read as though Russia were the signatory. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty ( ABM Treaty or ABMT) was a treaty between the United States of America and the Soviet Union on the limitation [15]
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For more details on this topic, see Military history of the Soviet Union. The Military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power
Republics
- See also: Oblasts of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was a federation that consisted of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR). The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other Oblast (во́бласць oblast о́бласт oblast о́бласть област/ oblast; oblasť област о́бласть is a type of Administrative division The first Republics were established shortly after the October Revolution of 1917. The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution At that time, republics were technically independent from one another but their governments acted in closely coordinated confederation, as directed by the CPSU leadership. In 1922, four Republics (Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belarusian SSR, and Transcaucasian SFSR) joined into the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (Հայաստանի Խորհրդային Սոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն Azerbaijani: Between 1922 and 1940, the number of Republics grew to sixteen. Some of the new Republics were formed from territories acquired, or reacquired by the Soviet Union, others by splitting existing Republics into several parts. The criteria for establishing new republics were as follows:
- to be located on the periphery of the Soviet Union so as to be able to exercise their right to secession;
- be economically strong enough to survive on their own upon secession; and
- be named after the dominant ethnic group which should consist of at least one million people.
The system remained almost unchanged after 1940. No new Republics were established. One republic, Karelo-Finnish SSR, was disbanded in 1956, and the territory formally became the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) within the Russian SFSR. The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karjalais-suomalainen sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta Карело-Финская Советская Социалистическая The remaining 15 republics lasted until 1991. Even though Soviet Constitutions established the right for a republic to secede, it remained theoretical and very unlikely, given Soviet centralism, until the 1991 collapse of the Union. The Soviet Union was governed by three versions of its Constitution, following the 1918 Soviet Constitution established by the Russian Federation, the immediate At that time, the republics became independent countries, with some still loosely organized under the heading Commonwealth of Independent States. Some republics had common history and geographical regions, and were referred by group names. These were Baltic Republics, Transcaucasian Republics, and Central Asian Republics. The Baltic states (Balti riigid Baltijas valstis Baltijos valstybės or Baltic countries are three countries in Northern Europe, all members of the The South Caucasus is a mountainous geopolitical area of south-central Eurasia, also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Transcaucasus. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south
| The Republics of the Soviet Union | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flag | Republic | Capital |  |
|
| 1 |  |
Armenian SSR | Yerevan | |
| 2 |  |
Azerbaijan SSR | Baku | |
| 3 |  |
Byelorussian SSR | Minsk | |
| 4 |  |
Estonian SSR | Tallinn | |
| 5 |  |
Georgian SSR | Tbilisi | |
| 6 |  |
Kazakh SSR | Alma-Ata | |
| 7 |  |
Kirghiz SSR | Frunze | |
| 8 |  |
Latvian SSR | Riga | |
| 9 |  |
Lithuanian SSR | Vilnius | |
| 10 |  |
Moldavian SSR | Kishinev | |
| 11 |  |
Russian SFSR | Moscow | |
| 12 |  |
Tajik SSR | Dushanbe | |
| 13 |  |
Turkmen SSR | Ashgabat | |
| 14 |  |
Ukrainian SSR | Kiev | |
| 15 |  |
Uzbek SSR | Tashkent | |
Economy
Prior to its dissolution the USSR had the second largest economy in the world after the United States. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (Հայկական ՍովետականՍոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն Haykakan Sovetakan Sotsialistakan Hanrapetutyun Yerevan (Երևան Երեւան or Երեվան ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn sometimes written as Erevan, Iravan, Erewan, Ayrivan, and Erivan This article is about the former Soviet republic for other similar uses see Azerbaijan (disambiguation. Baku (Bakı sometimes known as Baqy, Baky, Baki or Bakü, is the capital the largest city and the largest port of Azerbaijan The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (abbreviated as Byelorussian SSR or BSSR) (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка Minsk (Мінск mʲinsk Минск mʲinsk is the Capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика Estonskaya Tallinn (historically known by the German, Swedish and Danish name Reval or the Polish name Rewal, among other names The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (საქართველოს საბჭოთასოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა Tbilisi (ˌtbiˈliːsi in Georgian: თბილისი is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Қазақ Кеңестік Социалистік Республикасы Qazaq Keñestik Socialistik Respublikasi; Казахская Almaty ( Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata ( Алма-Ата) also Verniy, (Верный is the largest city in Kazakhstan Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic redirects here For the Kazakh entity of that name see Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvijas Padomju Sociālistiskā Republika Латвийская Советская Социалистическая Республика Riga (Rīga riːga) the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava. The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Moldovan: Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ or Republica Sovietică Socialistă Chişinău (kiʃi'nəw (also known as Kishinev, Кишинёв Kishinyov) is the capital and largest city of Moldova. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Республикаи Советии Социалистии Тоҷикистон Respublikai Sovetii Sotsialistii Tocikiston; Таджикская Dushanbe (Душанбе Dushanbe; formerly Dyushambe or Stalinabad) population 661100 people (2006 census is the Capital and largest city The Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Түркменистан Совет Социалистик Республикасы Türkmenistan Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasy; Ashgabat ( Aşgabat in Turkmen) (or formerly Ashkhabad or Poltoratsk is the Capital and largest city of Turkmenistan, a country in The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси O`zbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi; Узбекская The economy of the Soviet Union was based on a system of State ownership, administrative planning Socialist competition and free labour The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station (or DniproHES) is the largest Hydroelectric power station in Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe. Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by Hydropower, ie the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling water [16] The economy of the Soviet Union was the modern world's first centrally planned economy. A planned economy or directed economy is an Economic system in which the Government or Workers' councils manages the Economy. It was based on a system of state ownership and managed through Gosplan (the State Planning Commission), Gosbank (the State Bank) and the Gossnab (State Commission for Materials and Equipment Supply). Public ownership (also called government ownership, state ownership or state property) refers to Government Ownership of any Gosplan or State Planning Committee ( Russian: ru Госпла́н) was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. Gosbank (Госбанк Государственный банк СССР Gosudarstvenny bank SSSR &mdashthe USSR State Bank was the central bank of the Soviet Union Narkomprod or the People's Commissariat for Food Supplies, ( translit The first major project of economic planning was the GOELRO plan, which was followed by a series of other Five-Year Plans. GOELRO plan ( Russian: план ГОЭЛРО was the first-ever Soviet plan for national economic recovery and development The emphasis was put on a very fast development of heavy industry and the nation became one of the world's top manufacturers of a large number of basic and heavy industrial products, but it lagged behind in the output of light industrial production and consumer durables. Soviet industry was usually divided into two major categories
Agriculture of the Soviet Union was organized into a system of collective farms (kolkhozes) and state farms (sovkhozes) but it was relatively unproductive. Agriculture in the Soviet Union was organized into a system of state and collective farms known as Sovkhozes and Kolkhozes respectively A kolkhoz () plural kolkhozy, was a form of Collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state Farms ( Sovkhoz, A sovkhoz ( Russian language: Совхоз, Советское хозяйство, Sovetskoye khozyaystvo, "soviet Farm " Crises in the agricultural sector reaped catastrophic consequences in the 1930s, when collectivization met widespread resistance from the kulaks, resulting in a bitter struggle of many peasants against the authorities, and famine, particularly in Ukraine (see Holodomor), but also in the Volga River area and Kazakhstan. Collective farming is an organization of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise Kulaks ( Russian: кула́к kulak " Fist ", by extension "tight-fisted" were a category of rich Peasants in later Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. The Holodomor (Голодомор is the famine that took place in Soviet Ukraine during the 1932-1933 agricultural season
| Comparison between USSR and US economies (1989) according to 1990 CIA World Factbook[16] |
||
|---|---|---|
| USSR | US | |
| GDP (1989 - millions $) | 2,659,500 | 5,233,300 |
| Population (July 1990) | 290,938,469 | 250,410,000 |
| GDP Per Capita ($) | 9,211 | 21,082 |
| Labour force (1989) | 152,300,000 | 125,557,000 |
As the Soviet economy grew more complex, it required more and more complex disaggregation of control figures (plan targets) and factory inputs. The Economy of the United States is the largest national economy in the world near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all The World Factbook ( ISSN; also known as the CIA World Factbook) is an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the As it required more communication between the enterprises and the planning ministries, and as the number of enterprises, trusts, and ministries multiplied, the Soviet economy started stagnating. The Soviet economy was increasingly sluggish when it came to responding to change, adapting cost−saving technologies, and providing incentives at all levels to improve growth, productivity and efficiency. Most information in the Soviet economy flowed from the top down and economic planning was often done based on faulty or outdated information, particularly in sectors with large numbers of consumers. As a result, some goods tended to be underproduced, leading to shortages, while other goods were overproduced and accumulated in storage. Some factories developed a system of barter and either exchanged or shared raw materials and parts, while consumers developed a black market for goods that were particularly sought after but constantly underproduced. Barter is a type of Trade in which goods or services are directly exchanged
Conceding the weaknesses of their past approaches in solving new problems, the leaders of the late 1980s, headed by Mikhail Gorbachev, were seeking to mold a program of economic reform to galvanize the economy. However, by 1990 the Soviet government had lost control over economic conditions. Government spending increased sharply as an increasing number of unprofitable enterprises required state support and consumer price subsidies to continue. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, almost all of the 15 former Soviet republics have dismantled their Soviet-style economies. The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other
Geography
The Soviet Union occupied the eastern portion of the European continent and the northern portion of the Asian continent. The Soviet Union was located in the middle and northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the country was north of 50° north latitude and covered a total area of approximately 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,500 sq mi). The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. Due to the sheer size of the state, the climate varied greatly from subtropical and continental to subarctic and polar. Climate encompasses the temperatures humidity rainfall atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorogical factors in a given region over long periods of The subtropics are the zones of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropic zone which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Continental climate is a Climate that is characterized by Winter Temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of Snow cover each Year Regions having a subarctic climate (also called boreal climate) are characterized by long usually very cold winters and brief warm summers Regions with a polar climate are characterized by a lack of warm summers (specifically no month having an average temperature of 10 °C or higher 11% of the land was arable, 16% was meadows and pasture, 41% was forest and woodland, and 32% was declared "other" (including tundra). In Geography, arable land (from Latin arare, to Plough) is an agricultural term meaning land that can be used for A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by Grass and other non- Woody plants. Pasture is land with Herbaceous vegetation cover used for grazing of Ungulate Livestock as part of a Farm or Ranch. A forest is an area with a high density of Trees There are many definitions of a forest based on various criteria Ecologically a woodland is an area covered in trees differentiated from a Forest. In physical Geography, tundra is an area where the Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons
The Soviet Union measured some 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) from Kaliningrad on the in the west to Ratmanova Island (Big Diomede Island) in the Bering Strait, or roughly equivalent to the distance from Edinburgh, Scotland, west to Nome, Alaska. Kaliningrad (Калининград is a Seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian Exclave between Poland The Diomede Islands (острова Диомида, ostrová Diomída) also known in Russia as Gvozdev Islands (острова Гвоздёва The Bering Strait (Берингов пролив Beringov proliv) is a sea Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43' Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. Nome is a city located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea From the tip of the Taymyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean to the Central Asian town of Kushka near the Afghan border extended almost 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of mostly rugged, inhospitable terrain. Taymyr Peninsula (Полуостров Таймыр Таймырский полуостров is a peninsula in Siberia that forms the most northern part of mainland Asia The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Kushka may refer to Serhetabat, Turkmenistan Kushka Balkh, Afghanistan Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, The east-west expanse of the continental United States would easily fit between the northern and southern borders of the Soviet Union at their extremities. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
Population and society
The Soviet Union was one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries, with more than 200 distinct ethnic groups within its borders. Population dynamics in the 1970s and 1980s The Crude birth rate in the USSR throughout its history had been decreasing - from 44 The total population was estimated at 293 million in 1991, having been the 3rd most populous nation after China and India for decades. In the last years of the Soviet Union, the majority of the population were Russians (50. The Russian people (Русские— Russkie) are an East Slavic Ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries 78%), followed by Ukrainians (15. Ukrainians (Українці Ukrayintsi,) are an East Slavic Ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly— Citizens 45%) and Uzbeks (5. The Uzbeks (Self designation sg O‘zbek, pl O‘zbeklar) are a Turkic people of Central Asia. 84%). Other ethnic groups included Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Belarusians, Estonians, Georgians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Latvians, Lithuanians, Moldovans, Tajiks, and Turkmen as well as Abkhaz, Adyghes, Aleuts, Assyrians, Avars, Bashkirs, Bulgarians, Buryats, Chechens, Chinese, Chuvash, Cossacks, Evenks, Finns, Gagauz, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians, Ingushes, Inuit, Jews, Kalmyks, Karakalpaks, Karelians, Kets, Koreans, Lezgins, Maris, Mongols, Mordvins, Nenetses, Ossetians, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Rusyns, Tats, Tatars, Tuvans, Udmurts, Yakuts, Cubans, and others. The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large The Azerbaijanis are an Ethnic group mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran. Belarusians or Belorussians (Беларусы Biełarusy previously also spelled Belarussians, Byelorussians and Belorusians, also Estonians ( Estonian: eestlased, previously maarahvas) are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting primarily the country The Georgians (ქართველები kartvelebi) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazaks, Qazaqs; Kazakh: Қазақтар qɑzɑqtɑr Russian: Казахи the English name is transliterated The Kyrgyz (also spelled Kirgiz, Kirghiz) are a Turkic Ethnic group found primarily in Kyrgyzstan. Latvians or Letts (latvieši the indigenous Baltic people of Latvia, occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of Latvji, which Lithuanians are the Baltic Ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number a little over 3 million Moldovans, or Moldavians (original name Moldoveni; Молдовень in the Moldovan Cyrillic script, used nowadays only in Transnistria Tajik ( - Tādjīk; UniPers: Tâjik; Cyrillic: Тоҷик is a term generally applied to Persian-speaking people of This article is about the Turkmen people of Turkmenistan. For the distinct group of Turk peoples of Iraq see Iraqi Turkmen. The Abkhazians or Abkhaz ( Abkhaz: Аҧсуа Apswa; Georgian: აფხაზი Aphkhazi) are a Caucasian The Adyghe or Adygs are a people of the northwest Caucasus region principally inhabiting Adygeya (24 The Aleuts ( self-denomination from Aleut language allíthuh 'community' older or regional self-denomination Unangax̂, Unangan or The Assyrians are an Ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Avars or Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan, in which they are the predominant group The Bashkirs, a Turkic people, live in Russia, mostly in the republic of Bashkortostan. The Bulgarians (българи balgari) are a South Slavic people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language The Buryats or Buriyads, numbering approximately 436000 are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland the Chechens ( Chechen: Hохчи / Noxçi) constitute the largest native Ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region Han Chinese ( are an Ethnic group native to China and by most modern definitions the largest single Ethnic group in the world. The Chuvash ( Chuvash Чǎвашсем Russian Чуваши Tatar: Çuaşlar Чуашлар are a Turkic -speaking people The Cossacks (Каза́ки́ Kazaki; Козаки́ Kozaki; Kozacy are a group of martial people living in the southern Steppe regions of Eastern The Evenks or Evenki (autonym Эвэнкил Evenkil; Эвенки Evenki; 鄂温克族 pny ''Èwēnkè Zú'' formerly known as Tungus The terms Finns and Finnish people ( Finnish: suomalaiset, Swedish: finländare) are used in English to The Gagauz is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Turkic ethnic group in southern Moldova ( Gagauzia) and southwestern Ukraine ( The German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions Hungarians (or Magyars, magyarok are an Ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. The Ingush ( Ingush: Галгай "Ghalghay" are an Ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian Inuit (plural the singular Inuk, means "man" or "person" is a general term for a group of culturally similar Indigenous peoples inhabiting PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Kalmyk redirects here for the breed of cattle see Kalmyk (cattle. The Karakalpaks (also Qaraqalpaqs) are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and in the (former delta The Karelians (also Karels are descendants of Baltic Finns whose historic homeland Karelia is divided between Finland 's counties North Karelia Kets ( Кеты in Russian) are a Siberian people who speak the Ket language. The Korean people are an East Asian Ethnic group. Most Koreans speak the Korean language. The Lezgins (other spellings Lezgin, Lezgi, Lezgis, Lezgs, and Lezgians) ( Lezgian: лезгияр Russian The Mari are a Volga-Finnic people who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia The Mordvins (also Mordva, Mordvinians) are a people who speak languages of the Volga-Finnic (Finno-Volgaic branch of the Finno-Ugric language The Nenets people ( Ethnonym in Nenets language: ненэця Russian name ненцы IPA: (plural--> The Ossetians (ирæттæ irættæ are an Iranic Ethnic group indigenous to Ossetia, a region that spans the Caucasus Mountains The Polish people, or Poles, (Polacy) are a Western Slavic Ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins The Romanians (dated Rumanians or Roumanians; Romanian: români or historically and today rather seldom and only regional rumâni Rusyns (also referred to as Русины Ruthenians Ruthenes Rusins Carpatho-Rusyns and Rusnaks) are a Slavic Ethnic group that speaks For Tattoos also called "tats" see Tattoo. The Tat are an Aryan (Iranic ethnic group in the Caucasus. Tatars ( Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic -speaking ethnic group or multiple ethnic groups Tuvans or Tuvinians ( Tuvan: Тывалар Tyvalar) are a group of Mongols or Turkic people. The Udmurts are a people who speak the Udmurt language. Through history they have been known in Russian as Chud Otyatskaya (чудь отяцкая Yakuts, self-designation Sakha, are a Turkic -speaking people associated with the Sakha (Yakutia Republic. Cubans (Cubanos are people inhabiting or originating from Cuba. Mainly because of differences in birth rates among the Soviet nationalities, the share of the population that was Russian steadily declined in the post-World War II period. [17]
Nationalities
The extensive multinational empire that the Bolsheviks inherited after their revolution was created by Tsarist expansion over some four centuries. Some nationality groups came into the empire voluntarily, others were brought in by force. Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians shared close cultural ties while, generally, the other subjects of the empire shared little in common—culturally, religiously, or linguistically. The Russian people (Русские— Russkie) are an East Slavic Ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries Belarusians or Belorussians (Беларусы Biełarusy previously also spelled Belarussians, Byelorussians and Belorusians, also Ukrainians (Українці Ukrayintsi,) are an East Slavic Ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly— Citizens Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them More often than not, two or more diverse nationalities were co-located on the same territory. Therefore, national antagonisms built up over the years not only against the Russians but often between some of the subject nations as well.
For many years, Soviet leaders maintained that the underlying causes of conflict between nationalities of the Soviet Union had been eliminated and that the Soviet Union consisted of a family of nations living harmoniously together. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the government conducted a policy of korenizatsiya (indigenization) of local governments in an effort to recruit non-Russians into the new Soviet political institutions and to reduce the conflict between Russians and the minority nationalities. Korenizatsiya (коренизация sometimes also called korenization, meaning "nativization" or "indigenization" literally "putting down roots" One area in which the Soviet leaders made concessions perhaps more out of necessity than out of conviction, was language policy. To increase literacy and mass education, the government encouraged the development and publication in many of the "national languages" of the minority groups. While Russian became a required subject of study in all Soviet schools in 1938, in the mainly non-Russian areas the chief language of instruction was the local language or languages. This practice led to widespread bilingualism in the educated population, though among smaller nationalities and among elements of the population that were heavily affected by the immigration of Russians, linguistic assimilation also was common, in which the members of a given non-Russian nationality lost facility in the historic language of their group. [18]
The concessions granted national cultures and the limited autonomy tolerated in the union republics in the 1920s led to the development of national elites and a heightened sense of national identity. Subsequent repression and Russianization fostered resentment against domination by Moscow and promoted further growth of national consciousness. Russification (in Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya)is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily National feelings were also exacerbated in the Soviet multinational state by increased competition for resources, services, and jobs, and by the policy of the leaders in Moscow to move workers—mainly Russians—to the peripheral areas of the country, the homelands of non-Russian nationalities.
By the end of the 1980s, encouraged in part by Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, unofficial groups formed around a great many social, cultural, and political issues. (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" In some non-Russian regions ostensible green movements or ecological movements were thinly disguised national movements in support of the protection of natural resources and the national patrimony generally from control by ministries in Moscow. Green politics is a Political ideology which places a high importance on ecological and environmental goals and on achieving these goals through broad-based
Religious groups
Although the Soviet Union was officially secular, it supported atheist ideology and suppressed religion, though according to various Soviet and Western sources, over one-third of the people in the Soviet Union professed religious belief. The Soviet Union was an Atheist state, in which religion was largely discouraged and heavily persecuted Atheism Christianity and Islam had the most believers. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. The state was separated from church by the Decree of Council of People's Comissars on January 23, 1918. Separation of church and state is a Political and Legal Doctrine that Government and religious institutions are to be kept separate Events 393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Two-thirds of the Soviet population, however, had no religious beliefs. About half the people, including members of the CPSU and high-level government officials, professed atheism. Official figures on the number of religious believers in the Soviet Union were not available in 1989.
Christians belonged to various churches: Orthodox, which had the largest number of followers; Catholic; and Baptist and various other Protestant denominations. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world As a Christian Ecclesiastical term Catholic —from the Greek adjective, meaning "general" or "universal"—is described Baptist is a term describing individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation.
Government persecution of Christianity continued unabated until the fall of the Communist government, with Stalin's reign the most repressive. Stalin is quoted as saying that "The Party cannot be neutral towards religion. It conducts an anti-religious struggle against any and all religious prejudices. " In World War II, however, the repression against the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily ceased as it was perceived as "instrument of patriotic unity" in the war against "the western Teutonics". World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including See also Eastern Orthodox Church Structure and organization The Slavic Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure The Teutonic Order is a German Roman Catholic religious order. Repression against Russian Orthodox restarted from ca. 1946 onwards and more forcibly under Nikita Khrushchev. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following In 1914, before the revolution, there were over 54,000 churches, while during the early years of Stalin's reign that number was counted in the hundreds. By 1988, the number had decreased to roughly 7,000. Immediately following the fall of the Soviet government, churches were re-opening at a recorded rate of over thirty a week. Today, there are nearly 20,000.
Although there were many ethnic Jews in the Soviet Union, actual practice of Judaism was rare in Communist times. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut In 1928, Stalin created the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the far east of what is now Russia to try to create a "Soviet Zion" for a proletarian Jewish culture to develop. Jewish Autonomous Oblast (Евре́йская автоно́мная о́бласть Yevreyskaya avtonomnaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia
The overwhelming majority of the Islamic faithful were Sunni. Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic The Azerbaijanis, who were Shiite, were one major exception. The largest groups of Muslims in the Soviet Union resided in the Central Asian republics (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and Kazakhstan, though substantial numbers also resided in Central Russia (principally in Bashkiria and Tatarstan), in the North Caucasian part of Russia (Chechnya, Dagestan, and other autonomous republics) and in Transcaucasia (principally in Azerbaijan but also certain regions of Georgia). Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly
Other religions, which were practiced by a relatively small number of believers, included Buddhism (mostly Vajrayana) and paganism (which was largely shamanic), a religion based on spiritualism. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Vajrayana Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayana, Mantranaya, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world The role of religion in the daily lives of Soviet citizens thus varied greatly.
Culture
The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the USSR's 70-year existence. The Culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the 70 year existence of the Soviet Union. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of All-Russian Exhibition Centre (Всероссийский выставочный центр is a permanent general-purpose Trade show in Moscow, Russia Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic During the first eleven years following the Revolution (1918–1929), there was relative freedom and artists experimented with several different styles in an effort to find a distinctive Soviet style of art. Lenin wanted art to be accessible to the Russian people. The government encouraged a variety of trends. In art and literature, numerous schools, some traditional and others radically experimental, proliferated. Communist writers Maksim Gorky and Vladimir Mayakovsky were active during this time. Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov ( In Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в ( &ndash June 18, 1936) better known as Maxim Gorky (Максим Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский ( &ndash April 14, 1930) was a Russian poet and Film, as a means of influencing a largely illiterate society, received encouragement from the state; much of director Sergei Eisenstein's best work dates from this period. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн January 23, 1898 &ndash February 11, 1948) was
Later, during Joseph Stalin's rule, Soviet culture was characterised by the rise and domination of the government-imposed style of Socialist realism, with all other trends being severely repressed, with rare exceptions (e. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Socialist realism is a teleologically -oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of Socialism and Communism g. Mikhail Bulgakov's works). Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, Kiev &ndash March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian Many writers were imprisoned and killed. [19]Also religious people were persecuted and either sent to Gulags or were murdered in their thousands[20] though the ban on the Orthodox Church was temporarily lifted in the 1940s, in order to rally support for the Soviet war against the invading forces of Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Under Stalin, prominent symbols that were not in line with communist ideology were destroyed, such as Orthodox Churches and Tsarist buildings.
Following the Khrushchev Thaw of the late 1950s and early 1960s, censorship was diminished. Khrushchev's Thaw or the Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s when repression and Censorship in the Soviet Union Greater experimentation in art forms became permissible once again, with the result that more sophisticated and subtly critical work began to be produced. The regime loosened its emphasis on socialist realism; thus, for instance, many protagonists of the novels of author Iurii Trifonov concerned themselves with problems of daily life rather than with building socialism. Socialist realism is a teleologically -oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of Socialism and Communism Yury Valentinovich Trifonov (Юрий Валентинович Трифонов August 28, 1925 - 28 March, 1981) was a leading representative An underground dissident literature, known as samizdat, developed during this late period. Samizdat (самиздат was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc In architecture Khrushchev era mostly focused on functional design as opposed to highly decorated style of Stalin's epoch.
In the second half of 1980s, Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost significantly expanded freedom of expression in the media and press, eventually resulting in the complete abolishment of censorship, total freedom of expression and freedom to criticise the government. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. [21]
The following articles contain information on specific aspects of Soviet culture:
- Soviet art
- Soviet music
- Soviet education
- Soviet cinema
- Philosophy in the Soviet Union
- Soviet television
- Broadcasting in the Soviet Union
- Voluntary Sports Societies of the USSR
- Soviet Union at the Olympics
- USSR Chess Championship
- Palace of Culture
- Research in the Soviet Union
- Soviet Ballroom dances
- Soviet Student Olympiads
- Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- Censorship in the Soviet Union
- Glavlit
- Samizdat
Audio
See also
- Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations with the USSR
- Droughts and famines in Russia and the USSR
- History of the Soviet Union (1953-1985)
- History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)
- Human rights in the Soviet Union
- Kaliningrad Oblast (see also: German East Prussia)
- List of Soviet Leaders
- List of Soviet Republics
- Population transfer in the Soviet Union
- Post-Soviet states
- Prometheism
- List of premiers of the Soviet Union
- List of the presidents of the Soviet Union
- Public holidays in the Soviet Union
- Sovietization
- Soviet war in Afghanistan
- Collapse of the Soviet Union
- Military history of the Soviet Union
References
- ^ Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The term Soviet art refers to Visual art produced in the former Soviet Union. Soviet music is the music composed and produced in the USSR. It varied in many genres and epochs Soviet Education was organized in a highly centralized government-run system The cinema of the Soviet Union, not to be confused with " Russian Cinema " despite Russian language films being predominant in both genres includes Philosophical research in the Soviet Union was officially confined to Marxist-Leninist thinking which theoretically was the basis of objective and ultimate philosophical Television in the Soviet Union was owned by the state and was under its tight control and Censorship. Broadcasting in the Soviet Union was owned by the state and was under its tight control and Censorship. The Soviet Union first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952 and competed at the Games on 18 occasions since then This is a list of all the winners of the USSR Chess Championship. Palace of Culture ( dvorets kultury, 文化宫 wénhuà gōng) or House of Culture ( dom kultury) was the name for major Club -houses In the Soviet Union, science and technology served as an important part of national Politics, practices and identity Competitions in Ballroom dancing in the former Soviet Union were held in three dance categories ''Standard dances'', ''Latin dances'', and Soviet Soviet Student Olympiad was an annual set of contests for students in USSR. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia ( Большая Советская Энциклопедия, or БСЭ; transliterated Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced Main Administration for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the USSR Council of Ministers (Главное управление по охране государственных Samizdat (самиздат was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc The National Anthem of the Soviet Union (or Hymn, Гимн Советского Союза Gimn Sovetskogo Soyuza) replaced The Internationale This page aims to list articles on Wikipedia that are related to Soviet Union. The Cold War ensued as the USSR and the United States struggled indirectly for influence around the world The Soviet Union 's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985 Soviet Union was a Single-party state where the Communist Party ruled the country Kaliningrad Oblast (Калинингра́дская о́бласть Kaliningradskaya oblast; informally called Yantarny kray (ru Янта́рный край meaning East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part An approximately chronological list of leaders of the Soviet Union (heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Soviet Union) The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other Population transfer in the Soviet Union may be classified into the following broad categories deportations of " Anti-Soviet " categories of population often classified The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent nations that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Prometheism ( Polish: " Prometeizm " was a political project initiated by Poland 's Józef Piłsudski. Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Председатель The President of the Soviet Union was the Head of State of the USSR from March 15, 1990 to December 25, 1991. There were eight major Public holidays in the Soviet Union. There were over 30 holidays total Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct (but related meanings the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War or just the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, was a nine-year conflict involving The Soviet Union 's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985 The Military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power Britannica
- ^ (Russian)Voted Unanimously for the Union
- ^ (Russian)Creation of the USSR at Khronos. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc ru
- ^ 70 Years of Gidroproekt and Hydroelectric Power in Russia
- ^ (Russian) On GOELRO Plan—at Kuzbassenergo
- ^ The consolidation into a single-party regime took place during the first three and a half years after the revolution, which included the period of War Communism and an election in which multiple parties competed. War communism (or military communism) (Военный коммунизм 1918 - 1921 is the term created by western historians referring to the economic and political system See Leonard Schapiro, The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955, 1966.
- ^ Matthew White according to Matthew White's research
- ^ W. Tompson, The Soviet Union under Brezhnev, (Edinburgh, 2003), p. 91
- ^ The red blues—Soviet politics by Brian Crozier, National Review, June 25, 1990
- ^ Origins of Moral-Ethical Crisis and Ways to Overcome it by V. National Review ( NR) is a biweekly Magazine and Web site, founded by the late author William F Events 524 - Battle of Vézeronce, the Franks defeat the Burgundians Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) A. Drozhin Honoured Lawyer of Russia
- ^ Robert L. Hilliard; Michael C. Keith (2006). The Broadcast Century and Beyond: a Biography of American Broadcasting. Elsevier, p. 271. ISBN 0240805704.
- ^ a b c Main Intelligence Administration (GRU) Glavnoye Razvedovatel'noye Upravlenie - Russia / Soviet Intelligence Agencies
- ^ a b The SVR Russia’s Intelligence Service
- ^ Country Profile: Russia Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
- ^ Memorandum of Understanding, AcqWeb, 7 February 2007
- ^ a b 1990 CIA World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all Retrieved on 2008-03-09. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia.
- ^ Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, "Demographic Sources of the Changing Ethnic Composition of the Soviet Union," Population and Development Review 15 (December 1989): 609–656.
- ^ Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver. 1984. "Equality, Efficiency, and Politics in Soviet Bilingual Education Policy, 1934–1980," American Political Science Review 78 (December): 1019–1039.
- ^ Rayfield 2004, p. 317-320.
- ^ Rayfield 2004, p. 121-122
- ^ "Gorbachev, Mikhail. " Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2 Oct. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037405>. "Under his new policy of glasnost (“openness”), a major cultural thaw took place: freedoms of expression and of information were significantly expanded; the press and broadcasting were allowed unprecedented candour in their reportage and criticism; and the country's legacy of Stalinist totalitarian rule was eventually completely repudiated by the government. "
References
- Armstrong, John A. The Politics of Totalitarianism: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1934 to the Present. New York: Random House, 1961.
- Brown, Archie, et al, eds. : The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
- Gilbert, Martin: The Routledge Atlas of Russian History (London: Routledge, 2002).
- Goldman, Minton: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (Connecticut: Global Studies, Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc. , 1986).
- Grant, Ted: Russia, from Revolution to Counter-Revolution, London, Well Red Publications,1997
- Howe, G. Melvyn: The Soviet Union: A Geographical Survey 2nd. edn. (Estover, UK: MacDonald and Evans, 1983).
- Katz, Zev, ed. : Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities (New York: Free Press, 1975).
- Moore, Jr. , Barrington. Soviet politics: the dilemma of power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1950.
- Rayfield, Donald. Donald Rayfield (born 1942) is professor of Russian and Georgian at the University of London. Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him. Stalin and His Hangmen: An Authoritative Portrait of a Tyrant and Those Who Served Him by Donald Rayfield New York: Random House, 2004 (hardcover, ISBN 0-375-50632-2); 2005 (paperback, ISBN 0375757716).
- Rizzi, Bruno: "The bureaucratization of the world : the first English ed. of the underground Marxist classic that analyzed class exploitation in the USSR" , New York, NY : Free Press, 1985.
- Schapiro, Leonard B. The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955, 1966.
External links
- Bibliographic database of german publications on Russia and the Soviet Union (about 175 000 positions)
- Images of the Soviet Union—a collection of photos showing everyday life in the Soviet Union
- Impressions of Soviet Russia, by John Dewey
- Soviet Agitation Posters
- Documents and other forms of media from the Soviet Union: 1917-1991
- Revival Program, Part of the Chechen Rebels.
- Soviet Union
- Soviet Calculators Collection — a big collection of Soviet technology goods: calculators, computers, electronic watches, etc
This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress ( USA) freely available for use by researchers The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
Dictionary
Soviet Union
-noun
- The name for a constitutionally socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991.
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