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Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union; Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, SSSR written in the Cyrillic alphabet as ????) was a communist-ruled union with a single-party system that existed from 1922 until 1991. It stretched from the Baltic and Black Seas to the Pacific Ocean. In its final years it consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs). Russia was by far the largest Republic in the Soviet Union in terms of both land area and population, and also dominated it politically and economically. National motto: Workers of the world, unite! Official language Russian Capital Moscow History Area Ranked 1st before Ê- Total collapse Ê- % water 22,402,200 km2 xx% Ranked 3rd before Severe social problems, widespread dissatisfaction with the autocratic Population collapse monarchy, and the tremendous setbacks Ê- Total 293,047,571 (July being suffered by Russia in World War Ê- Density 1991) 13,08/km2 (July I led to the Russian Revolution and 1991) the ousting of the monarchy in 1917. A multiparty provisional government was Independence Russian Revolution briefly instituted, but collapsed Ê- Declared 1917 within a year. Popular pressure Ê- Recognised 1922 prompted the Bolshevik Party to Dissolution 1991 declare its seizure of power in Currency Ruble October of 1917. During the resultant civil war, Communist forces known as Time zone UTC +3 to +11 Reds fought against the Whites, the (1917-1944) The pro-monarchist forces and their European and American allies. The war National anthem International, (1944-1991) Hymn of ended with the victory of the Red Army the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Soviet Union, the world's first communist Internet TLD .SU (still in use) state, on December 30, 1922, with Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin as its leader. The Soviet Union was the successor state of the Russian Empire but was smaller as a result of the independence of Poland, Finland and the Baltic States. Lenin instituted a policy whereby these conquests of the imperial Russian Empire were granted independence, and many other conquered regions were granted a great deal of autonomy. After Lenin's death in 1924, there was a power struggle within the party leadership. Party secretary Joseph Stalin emerged as the new leader. Stalin began a program of rapid industrialization and forced agricultural reforms, inadvertently triggering several famines. He also drastically increased the scope of the KGB, and had many perceived political opponents and army officers killed or exiled to the Gulags in a period known as the Great Purges. The territory of the Soviet Union increased during its period of hostility with Nazi Germany. Under Premier Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union emerged from World War II as a major world power, with a territory including the Baltic States and a significant portion of the territory of pre-war Poland, together with a substantial sphere of influence in Eastern Europe (see Soviet Empire). Political confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States persisted for many years and is termed the Cold War. After Stalin's death, another power struggle occurred, with Nikita Khrushchev the new leader. A major low point of US-Soviet relations was the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Khrushchev began installing medium-range nuclear missiles on the newly-Communist island of Cuba. Premier Mikhail Gorbachev dramatically reformed the oppressive nature of the Soviet government in the 1980s with his glasnost, or openness program, under which people were no longer arrested for criticizing the government. His perestroika economic reforms meant the end of Soviet imperialism; the Soviet army pulled out of Afghanistan, negotiated with the United States on arms reduction, and the Soviet government ceased interfering in the affairs of other Communist governments, specifically those in Eastern Europe. In 1991, the Soviet Union fell apart after a failed coup attempt by military leaders who were upset with the direction Gorbachev was leading the country. In chronological order, the leaders of the Soviet Union were: 1. Vladimir Lenin (1917-1924) 2. Joseph Stalin (1924-1953) 3. Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964) 4. Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) 5. Yuri Andropov (1982-1984) 6. Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985) 7. Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991) Politics After the revolution, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) outlawed every other political party. The governing of the country was, in theory, to be done by local and regional democratically elected soviets. In practice, however, each level of government was controlled by its corresponding party group (see democratic centralism). The highest legislative body was the Supreme Soviet. The highest executive body was the Politburo. (More about the political organization of the USSR can be found on Organization of the Communist Party of the USSR.) Republics In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Socialist Soviet Republics (SSR). Three of these in particular shared some common history and were referred to as the Baltic Republics. They are all independent countries now, only very loosely organized under the heading Commonwealth of Independent States. Former Soviet Republics Current Independent Countries * Armenian SSR Armenia * Azerbaijan SSR Azerbaijan * Byelorussian SSR Belarus * Estonian SSR Estonia * Georgian SSR Georgia * Kazakh SSR Kazakstan * Kirghiz SSR Kyrgyzstan * Latvian SSR Latvia * Lithuanian SSR Lithuania * Moldavian SSR Moldova * Russian SFSR Russia * Tadzhik SSR Tajikistan * Turkmen SSR Turkmenistan * Ukrainian SSR Ukraine * Uzbek SSR Uzbekistan Geography The Soviet Union covered the area of the 15 current countries mentioned in the previous section, with a total area of 22,402,200 sq. km. Economy The Soviet Union was the first country to base its economy on communist principles, where the state owned all the means of production and farming was collectivized. Demographics The Soviet Union was one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries, with more than 100 distinct national ethnicities living within its borders. The total population was estimated at 293 million in 1991. The Soviet Union was so large, in fact, that even after all associated republics gained independence Russia, remains the largest country by area (with Canada second), and remained quite ethnically diverse, including, e.g., minorities of Tatars, Udmurts, and many other non-Russian ethnicities. Holidays Date English Name Remarks January 1 New Year's Day Ê Ê January 7 Eastern Orthodox Christmas February 23 Heroes Day Ê February Revolution, 1917, Formation of the Red Army, 1918 March 8 International Women's Day May 1 International Labor Day Ê Ê November Great October Socialist October Revolution 7-November 8 Revolution Ê 1917
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