UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Coat of arms of the Soviet Union 1
The flag of the Soviet Union The
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (
USSR ), also known as the
Soviet Union , was a
transcontinental country that spanned much of
Eurasia from 1922 until
its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's
third-most populous country ,
largest by area , and
bordered twelve countries . A diverse
multinational state , it was organized as a
federal union of
national republics , the largest and most populous being the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . In practice,
its government and
economy were
highly centralized . As a
one-party state governed by
its Communist Party , it was the flagship
communist state . Its capital and largest city was
Moscow .
The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin , established the Russian SFSR, the world's first constitutionally communist state . Following the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War , the Russian SFSR and its subordinate republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant growth but contributed to a 1930s famine killing millions. Soviet forced labour expanded via the Gulag system. Stalin's government conducted the late 1930s Great Purge via deportations , executions , and show trials . Failing to build an anti-Nazi coalition in Europe , the Soviet Union signed a 1939 non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany . Nonetheless, in 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening the Eastern Front of World War II . The Red Army played a decisive role in the Allies defeating the Axis powers , while liberating much of Central and Eastern Europe . At around 27 million casualties , the country suffered the most deaths in World War II . In the war's aftermath , the Soviet Union consolidated territories it occupied into satellite states , and undertook rapid economic development , cementing its status as a superpower .
Geopolitical tensions with the United States led to the Cold War . The US-led Western Bloc coalesced into the NATO military alliance in 1949, prompting the Eastern Bloc to form the Warsaw Pact in 1955. With scant direct combat , the blocs fought via ideological and proxy wars . In 1953, following Stalin's death , Nikita Khrushchev led a campaign of de-Stalinization . Resulting ideological tensions with communist China , led by Mao Zedong , culminated in an acrimonious split . In the following fifteen years the Soviet military suppressed uprisings in East Germany , Hungary and Czechoslovakia , while resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis narrowly averted a global conflict . Under the 18-year rule of Leonid Brezhnev , prosperity turned toward stagnation and corruption , while US relations eased . In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev sought reform through his policies glasnost perestroika Chernobyl disaster , the worst nuclear power disaster in history, contributed to Soviet socio-economic crises. In 1989, most Warsaw Pact countries overthrew their Soviet-backed regimes , ending the Eastern Bloc. Nationalist movements across the Soviet republics declared sovereignty . In 1991, after a successful referendum to establish a renewed federation , a failed coup by hardliners prompted Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus to secede . On 26 December, Gorbachev officially recognized the dissolution of the Soviet Union . Boris Yeltsin , leader of the Russian SFSR , oversaw its reconstitution into the Russian Federation , the Soviet Union's successor state ; the fourteen other republics emerged as fully independent states . All except the Baltics joined the Commonwealth of Independent States . The post-Soviet states experienced a humanitarian disaster , and dozens of wars and conflicts .
The Soviet Union was one of the world's two superpowers, with the largest
standing military ,
the second-largest economy ,
a hegemony in Eastern Europe and Asia,
global diplomacy ,
ideological influence (particularly in the
Global South ), and
scientific and technological accomplishments . It wielded the world's largest arsenals
of nuclear ,
chemical ,
and biological weapons .
Its space program made
extensive achievements in the
Space Race , including the
first artificial satellite and
first human spaceflight .
Soviet culture was influenced by the official
socialist realism style, and later underground
samizdat publications. As a major Allied nation, it became one of the
five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council . In some post-Soviet states including Russia,
nostalgia remains high for the Soviet Union, while others view it negatively. Academics have variously criticized the Soviet system as
authoritarian ,
bureaucratic , and
state capitalist , while some have praised its
industrialization , scientific capacity, and
anti-imperialist influence globally. (
Full article... )
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards. Bezhin Meadow Бежин луг Bezhin lug Soviet propaganda film, famous for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein , it tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film draws its title from a story with the same name from the cycle A Sportsman's Sketches Ivan Turgenev , but is based on the (largely fabricated) life story of Pavlik Morozov , a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he supposedly denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Pavlik Morozov was immortalized in school programs, poetry, music, and film.
Commissioned by a communist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted by the central Soviet government, which said it contained artistic, social, and political failures. Some, however, blamed the failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies, extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself. In the wake of the film's failure, Eisenstein publicly recanted his work as an error. Individuals were arrested during and after the ensuing debacle. (Full article...
360° Panoramic view of the Red Square in Moscow. The photograph was made early in the morning by a nearly empty square.
Red Square Russian : Красная площадь Krásnaya plóshchad’ ) is a city square in Moscow . During the Soviet era, Red Square maintained its significance, becoming a focal point for the new state. Besides being the official address of the Soviet government , it was renowned as a showcase for military parades.
... that because Leonid Brezhnev had more than 200 decorations, it was decided to break the Soviet custom of featuring only one decoration on cushions during his funeral
“
Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kowtow before any United States proconsul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.
”
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov né Skryabin [ O.S. 25 February] 1890 – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary. He was one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies and one of the most prominent figures in the Soviet government during his rule. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from 1930 to 1941, he held office as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1939 to 1949 and again from 1953 to 1956.
An Old Bolshevik , Molotov joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1906 and was arrested and internally exiled twice before the October Revolution of 1917. He briefly headed the party's Secretariat before supporting Stalin's rise to power in the 1920s, becoming one of his closest associates. Molotov was made a full member of the Politburo in 1926 and became premier in 1930, overseeing Stalin's agricultural collectivization (and resulting famine ) and his Great Purge . Following his appointment as Foreign Minister in 1939, he signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which led to the Soviet Union's joint occupation of Poland alongside Nazi Germany and its ensuing annexation of the Baltic states . During World War II, he became deputy chairman of the State Defense Committee as well as Stalin's main negotiator with the Allies . Upon the war's end in 1945, he began to lose favour, losing his ministership in 1948 before being criticized by Stalin at the 19th Party Congress in 1952. (Full article...
The following are images from various Soviet Union-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Revolutionaries protesting in February 1917 (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 2 "Pogrom in the Winter Palace" by
Ivan Vladimirov (from
October Revolution )
Image 3 The New York Times headline from 9 November 1917 (from
October Revolution )
Image 4 European theatre of the
Russian Civil War in 1918 (from
October Revolution )
Image 5 Internally displaced Azerbaijanis from
Nagorno-Karabakh , 1993 (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 6 Soviet general secretary
Leonid Brezhnev and US President
Jimmy Carter sign the
SALT II arms limitation treaty in Vienna on 18 June 1979. (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 7 Russian troops in trenches awaiting a German attack (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 8 Revolutionaries attacking the tsarist police in the early days of the February Revolution (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 9 A revolutionary meeting of Russian soldiers in March 1917 in Dalkarby of
Jomala ,
Åland (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 10 Red Guard unit of the Vulkan factory in Petrograd, October 1917 (from
October Revolution )
Image 11 Map showing the greatest territorial extent of the Soviet Union and the sovereign states that it dominated politically, economically and militarily in 1960, after the
Cuban Revolution of 1959 but before the official
Sino-Soviet split of 1961 (total area: c. 35,000,000 km
2 ) (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 12 Country emblems of the Soviet Republics before and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the
Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (fifth in the second row) no longer exists as a political entity of any kind and the emblem is unofficial.) (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 13 Forward gun of
Aurora that fired the signal shot (from
October Revolution )
Image 15 The dissolution of the
Constituent Assembly on 6 January 1918. The
Tauride Palace is locked and guarded by
Trotsky ,
Sverdlov ,
Zinoviev and
Lashevich . (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 16 A scene from the July Days. The army has just opened fire on street protesters. (from
October Revolution )
Image 17 The 2nd Moscow Women Death Battalion protecting the Winter Palace as the last guards of the stronghold (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 18 Lenin ,
Trotsky and
Kamenev celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution (from
October Revolution )
Image 19 Anniversary of October Revolution in
Riga , Soviet Union in 1988 (from
October Revolution )
Image 20 On 21 December 1991, the leaders of 11 former Soviet republics, including Russia and Ukraine, agreed to the
Alma-Ata Protocols , formally establishing the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 21 The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly on 6 January 1918. The
Tauride Palace is locked and guarded by
Trotsky ,
Sverdlov ,
Zinoviev , and
Lashevich . (from
October Revolution )
Image 22 The elections to the
Constituent Assembly took place in November 1917. The Bolsheviks won 24% of the vote. (from
October Revolution )
Image 24 Soldiers marching in
Petrograd , March 1917 (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 26 Petrograd
Milrevcom proclamation about the deposing of the
Russian Provisional Government (from
October Revolution )
Image 27 The
Pan-European Picnic took place in August 1989 on the Hungarian-Austrian border. (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 28 Cruiser
Aurora (from
October Revolution )
Image 29 Meeting before the Russian wire entanglements (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 30 The
Battle of Stalingrad , considered by many historians as a decisive turning point of World War II (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 31 Residents of Leningrad leave their homes destroyed by German bombing. About 1 million civilians died during the 871-day
Siege of Leningrad , mostly from starvation. (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 32 Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev (left) with US President
John F. Kennedy in Vienna, 3 June 1961 (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 33 Russian troops meeting German troops in No Man's Land (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 34 Provisional Government 's volunteer soldiers secure Petrograd's
Palace Square with the
Austin Armoured Car , summer 1917. (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 35 Lenin ,
Trotsky , and
Kamenev celebrating the second anniversary of the
October Revolution (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 37 The
Russian famine of 1921–22 killed an estimated 5 million people.
(from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 38 Mikhail Gorbachev in one-to-one discussions with US President
Ronald Reagan (
left ), 1985 (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 39 Murder of the Romanov family,
Le Petit Journal (from
Russian Revolution )
Image 40 Russian Civil War in the European part of Russia (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 41 Stalin and
Lavrentiy Beria with Stalin's daughter,
Svetlana , on his lap. As head of the NKVD, Beria was responsible for many
political repressions in the Soviet Union . (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 42 From left to right, the Soviet General Secretary
Joseph Stalin , US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill confer in Tehran, 1943 (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 43 Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War (from
History of the Soviet Union )
Image 44 Bolshevik (1920) by
Boris Kustodiev (from
October Revolution )
Image 45 American, British, and Japanese Troops parade through Vladivostok in armed support to the White Army. (from
Russian Revolution )
This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs ) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. { { WikiProject Soviet Union } } or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.
2020-09-16 165855 Soviet submarine B-515
Alexei Leonov
Field Marshall Keitel signs German surrender terms in Berlin 8 May 1945 - Restoration
German instrument of surrender2
Instrument of surrender Japan2
Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender, officially ending the Second World War
Maxim Gorky LOC Restored edit1
Moscow Elektrozavodskaya metro station asv2018-09
Prokofieff (i.e. Prokofiev) LCCN2014708419 Crop 2
RUS-2016-Murmansk-Icebreaker Lenin 01
Raising a flag over the Reichstag - Restoration
Russian Imperial Family 1913
USS Yorktown collision
Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W)
Yuri Gagarin (1961) - Restoration
Yury Pen - Portrait of Marc Chagall
Did you know? articlesMain page featured articles
German instrument of surrender2 (2009-05-07)
Instrument of surrender Japan2 (2009-09-02)
Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W) (2010-05-08)
USS Yorktown collision (2011-02-12)
Maxim Gorky LOC Restored edit1 (2013-03-28)
Yuri Gagarin (1961) - Restoration (2020-03-09)
Alexei Leonov (2020-03-18)
Field Marshall Keitel signs German surrender terms in Berlin 8 May 1945 - Restoration (2020-05-08)
RUS-2016-Murmansk-Icebreaker Lenin 01 (2020-06-08)
Moscow Elektrozavodskaya metro station asv2018-09 (2022-02-26)
Russian Imperial Family 1913 (2022-07-17)
Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender, officially ending the Second World War (2022-09-02)
2020-09-16 165855 Soviet submarine B-515 (2023-04-18)
Prokofieff (i.e. Prokofiev) LCCN2014708419 Crop 2 (2023-07-25)
Raising a flag over the Reichstag - Restoration (2025-05-02)
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