query: who was the leader of the soviet union in 1945?

title: Generalissimus of the Soviet Union

text: Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Generalissimus of the Soviet Union (; ) was a proposed military rank created on 27 June 1945, following the tradition of the Imperial Russian Army (the rank in question only ever having been held by Count Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Suvorov who served during the reign of Catherine II the Great.). It was granted to Joseph Stalin following World War II; however, Stalin refused to officially approve the rank and died with the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. It would have been the highest military rank in the Soviet Union. This military rank was specifically

title: Antisemitism in the Soviet Union

text: of Soviet law. The official stance of the Soviet government in 1934 was to oppose antisemitism "anywhere in the world" and claimed to express "fraternal feelings to the Jewish people", praising the Jewish contributions towards international socialism. Joseph Stalin emerged as leader of the Soviet Union following a power struggle with Leon Trotsky after the death of Lenin. Stalin has been accused of resorting to antisemitism in some of his arguments against Trotsky, who was of Jewish heritage. Those who knew Stalin, such as Khrushchev, suggest that Stalin had long harbored negative sentiments toward Jews that had manifested themselves before

title: Collective leadership in the Soviet Union

text: Collective leadership in the Soviet Union Collective leadership (, ') or Collectivity of leadership (, '), was considered an ideal form of governance in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and other socialist states espousing communism. Its main task was to distribute powers and functions among the Politburo, the Central Committee, and the Council of Ministers to hinder any attempts to create a one-man dominance over the Soviet political system by a Soviet leader, such as that seen under Joseph Stalin's rule. On the national level, the heart of the collective leadership was officially the Central Committee of the

title: General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

text: Soviet republics. General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was an office of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) that by the late 1920s had evolved into the most powerful of the Central Committee's various secretaries. With a few exceptions, from 1929 until the union's dissolution the holder of the office was the "de facto" leader of the Soviet Union, because the post controlled both the CPSU and the Soviet government. Joseph Stalin elevated the office to overall command of the

text: General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was an office of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) that by the late 1920s had evolved into the most powerful of the Central Committee's various secretaries. With a few exceptions, from 1929 until the union's dissolution the holder of the office was the "de facto" leader of the Soviet Union, because the post controlled both the CPSU and the Soviet government. Joseph Stalin elevated the office to overall command of the Communist Party

title: History of the Soviet Union

text: temporarily for some of these. Eventually crushing all opponents, the RCP spread Soviet style rule quickly and established itself through all of Russia. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the RCP, became Lenin's successor and continued as leader of the Soviet Union into the 1950s. The history of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953 covers the period of the Second World War and of victory against Nazi Germany while the USSR remained under the firm control of Joseph Stalin. Stalin sought to destroy his political rivals while transforming Soviet society with aggressive central planning, in

title: Racism in the Soviet Union

text: Then, the secret police indiscriminately arrested all Greek men 16 years old or older. All Greeks who were wealthy or self-employed professionals were sought for prosecution first. After the October Revolution, Lenin and the Bolsheviks abolished the laws which regarded the Jews as an outlawed people. Whilst the Bolsheviks were opposed to all religion, Christianity as well as Judaism, Joseph Stalin emerged as leader of the Soviet Union following a power struggle with Leon Trotsky after the death of Lenin. Stalin has been accused of resorting to antisemitism in some of his arguments against Trotsky, who was of Jewish heritage.

title: Censorship of images in the Soviet Union

text: was also among the first members of the Politburo. He became an enemy of the State and was erased from Soviet history after leading the failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing bureaucratization of the Soviet Union. Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union in the Great Purge. As the head of the Fourth International, he continued in exile to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and was eventually assassinated in Mexico by Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent who

title: Rail transport in the Soviet Union

text: the Ural region and Siberia. The loss of mining and industrial centers of the western Soviet Union necessitated speedy construction of new railways during the wartime. Particularly notable among them was the railway to the Arctic coal mines of Vorkuta, extended after the war to Labytnangi on the Ob River; construction work to extend it all the way to the Yenisey continued into the 1950s, aborted with the death of Joseph Stalin. As a result of Japan's loss in World War II, the southern half of Sakhalin Island was annexed by Soviet Union in 1945. The railway network built by

title: Tanks in the Soviet Union

text: guns or heavier armour but served as a basis for the later Iosif Stalin heavy tank. The Iosif Stalin tank (or IS tank, named after the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin) was a heavy tank developed by the Soviet Union during World War II. The tanks in the series are also sometimes called JS or ИС tanks. The heavy tank was designed with thick armour to counter the German 88 mm guns, and carried a main gun that was capable of defeating the German Tiger and Panther tanks. It was mainly a breakthrough tank, firing a heavy high-explosive shell that was

title: Premier of the Soviet Union

text: Premier of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union () was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Twelve individuals became Premier during the time span of the office. Two of the twelve Premiers died in office of natural causes (Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin), three resigned (Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Tikhonov and Ivan Silayev) and three had the offices of party secretary and Premier simultaneously (Lenin, Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev). The first Premier was Lenin, who was inaugurated during 1922 after the Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union. Ivan Silayev spent

title: History of the Soviet Union

text: devastated much of the USSR with about one out of every three World War II deaths representing a citizen of the Soviet Union. After World War II the Soviet Union's armies occupied Central and Eastern Europe, where socialist governments took power. By 1949 the Cold War had started between the Western Bloc and the Eastern (Soviet) Bloc, with the Warsaw Pact pitched against NATO in Europe. After 1945 Stalin did not directly engage in any wars. Stalin continued his totalitarian rule until his death in 1953. In the USSR, the eleven-year period from the death of Joseph Stalin (1953) to

title: Turks in the former Soviet Union

text: the Soviet secret police and the Red Army. The reason for the deportation was because the Soviet Union was preparing to launch a pressure campaign against Turkey. In June 1945 Vyacheslav Molotov, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, formally presented a demand to the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow for the surrender of three Anatolian provinces (Kars, Ardahan and Artvin). Moscow was also preparing to support Armenian claims to several other Anatolian provinces. Thus, war against Turkey seemed possible, and Joseph Stalin wanted to clear the strategic Turkish population (especially those situated in Meskheti) located near the Turkish-Georgian border which were likely

title: Railway electrification in the Soviet Union

text: a third standard electrification system in the USSR. Site with 34 articles on 34 Soviet electric locomotives Westwood J.N. "Transport" chapter in book "The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945" ed. by Davies, R.W. et al., Cambridge University Press, 1994. Railway electrification in the Soviet Union While the former Soviet Union got a late (and slow) start with rail electrification in the 1930s it eventually became the world leader in electrification in terms of the volume of traffic under the wires. During its last 30 years the Soviet Union hauled about as much rail freight as all the other

title: Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria

text: leaders since 1945 Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Leader of the Christian Social Union ("Vorsitzender der Christlich-Sozialen Union") is the most senior political figure within the Christian Social Union in Bavaria. Since 25 October 2008, the office has been held by Horst Seehofer; who is the 8th leader of the party. The Leader of the Christian Social Union is supported by a General Secretary, which since 2018 has been Markus Blume. Furthermore, the leader is supported by five deputy leaders, which currently are Kurt Gribl, Angelika Niebler, Dorothee Bär, Manfred Weber and Melanie Huml. A list

title: Elections in the Soviet Union

text: Elections in the Soviet Union The electoral system of the Soviet Union was based upon Chapter XI of the Constitution of the Soviet Union and by the Electoral Laws enacted in conformity with it. The Constitution and laws applied to elections in all Soviets, from the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, the Union republics and autonomous republics, through to regions, districts and towns. Voting was secret and direct with universal suffrage. A 1945 decree allowed for members of the Red Army stationed outside the Soviet Union to vote for both chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (the Soviet

title: Generalissimus of the Soviet Union

text: considered them to be too luxurious and old-fashioned. Currently they are stored in the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic war located in Moscow at Poklonnaya Gora. Below are proposed designs of the shoulder insignia of Generalissimus of the Soviet Union. Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Generalissimus of the Soviet Union (; ) was a proposed military rank created on 27 June 1945, following the tradition of the Imperial Russian Army (the rank in question only ever having been held by Count Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Suvorov who served during the reign of Catherine II the Great.). It was granted to Joseph

title: Population transfer in the Soviet Union

text: escalation in Soviet ethnic cleansing. The Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union, originally conceived in 1926, initiated in 1930, and carried through in 1937, was the first mass transfer of an entire nationality in the Soviet Union. Almost the entire Soviet population of ethnic Koreans (171,781 persons) were forcefully moved from the Russian Far East to unpopulated areas of the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR in October 1937. Looking at the entire period of Stalin's rule, one can list: Poles (1939–1941 and 1944–1945), Romanians (1941 and 1944–1953), Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians (1941 and 1945–1949), Volga Germans (1941–1945), Ingrian Finns

title: Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union

text: Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union An admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union (), was the highest naval rank of the Soviet Union. It was comparable to NATO five-star rank (OF-10 level). The rank was largely honorary and could be considered equivalent to admiral of the fleet in other nations. It was formally established by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on March 3, 1955, and replaced a similarly named rank, admiral of the fleet ("aдмирал флота") that had been equivalent to marshal of the Soviet Union since 1945. The holders were entitled to

title: Foreign relations of the Soviet Union

text: power struggles and foreign intervention, requested the neighboring Soviet Union to send military aid. Soviet intervention was seen as a hostile invasion by the United States and its allies, who funded the counter-revolutionary Mujahadeen, and thus led to a return to hostilities which were greatly exacerbated in the following years. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, he sought to restructure the Soviet Union to resemble the Scandinavian model of western social democracy and thus create a private sector economy. He removed Soviet troops from Afghanistan and began a hands-off approach in the USSR's relations

title: President of the Soviet Union

text: was also the leader of the Gang of Eight which attempted the August coup, and declared himself Acting President of the Soviet Union on 19 August 1991. After three days the coup collapsed and Gorbachev was restored. He held the office up to the country's dissolution. President of the Soviet Union The President of the Soviet Union (, ), officially called President of the USSR () or President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), was the head of state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 15 March 1990 to 25 December 1991. Mikhail Gorbachev was the

title: Evacuation in the Soviet Union

text: distilled water from the city of Omsk, a further 600 kilometers east of Tyumen. Lenin's body was returned to Moscow in April 1945. Evacuation in the Soviet Union Evacuation in the Soviet Union was the mass migration of western Soviet citizens and its industries eastward as a result of Operation Barbarossa, the German military invasion of June 1941. Nearly sixteen million Soviet civilians and over 1,500 large factories were moved to areas in the middle or eastern part of the country by the end of 1941. Along with the eastern exodus of civilians and industries, other unintended consequences of the

title: Dissolution of the Soviet Union

text: Dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on 26 December 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. On the previous day, 25 December, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the USSR,

title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: Purge of 1937–38. On 7 May 1940, three new Marshals were appointed: the new People's Commissar of Defence, Semyon Timoshenko, Boris Shaposhnikov, and Grigory Kulik. During World War II, Kulik was demoted for incompetence, and the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was given to a number of military commanders who earned it on merit. These included Georgy Zhukov, Ivan Konev and Konstantin Rokossovsky to name a few. In 1943, Stalin himself was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in 1945, he was joined by his intelligence and police chief Lavrenti Beria. These non-military Marshals were joined

title: Orphans in the Soviet Union

text: Orphans in the Soviet Union At certain periods the Soviet state had to deal with large numbers of orphans in the Soviet Union - due to a number of turmoils in the history of the country from its very beginnings. Major contributors to the population of orphans and otherwise homeless children included World War I (1914-1918), the October Revolution of November 1917 followed by the brutal Russian Civil War (1917-1922), famines of 1921–1922 and of 1932–1933, political repression, forced migrations, and the Soviet-German War theatre (1941-1945) of World War II. By the early 1920s, Russia was home to millions of

title: Republics of the Soviet Union

text: The Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida) was also proclaimed in 1918, but did not became a union republic and was made into an autonomous republic of the RSFSR, although the Crimean Tatars had a relative majority until the 1930s or 1940s according to censuses. When the Tuvan People's Republic joined the Soviet Union in 1944, it did not become a union republic, and was instead established as an autonomous republic of the RSFSR. The leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov, suggested in the early 1960s that the country should become a union republic,

title: Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union

text: were deported during the war in order to prevent their possible collaboration with the Nazi invaders. In August 1941 the Soviet government ordered ethnic Germans to be deported from the European USSR. By early 1942 1,031,300 Germans had been banished to Central Asia and Siberia. During 1945 the Soviets deported to the special settlements an additional 203,796 Soviet ethnic Germans who had been resettled by Germany in Poland . During the war, shortages of food plagued the whole Soviet Union, especially within the special settlements. Life in the special settlements was harsh and severe; food was limited and the deported

text: subsequently transferred to NKVD special camps in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany or to the Soviet Union for forced labor By May 1945 the NKVD had selected for deportation to the USSR 66,152 German civilians who were considered suspected Nazi party members and government officials, as well as 89,110 able bodied adults (mostly men) for forced labor. In early 1947 the Soviets sent an additional 4,579 Germans from the Soviet occupation zone to the USSR as forced laborers. The Soviets classified the civilians interned into two groups; the first Group A (205,520 persons) were "mobilized internees" who were able

title: Population transfer in the Soviet Union

text: all Soviets regardless of their wishes. British and U.S. civilian authorities ordered their military forces in Europe to deport to the Soviet Union millions of former residents of the USSR (some of whom collaborated with the Germans), including numerous persons who had left Russia and established different citizenship many years before. The forced repatriation operations took place from 1945–1947. At the end of World War II, more than 5 million "displaced persons" from the Soviet Union survived in German captivity. About 3 million had been forced laborers (Ostarbeiter) in Germany and occupied territories. Surviving POWs, about 1.5 million, repatriated "Ostarbeiter",

title: Population transfer in the Soviet Union

text: who resided east of the established Poland–Soviet border were deported to Poland (c.a. 2,100,000 persons) and Ukrainians that resided west of the established Poland-Soviet Union border were deported to Soviet Ukraine. Population transfer to Soviet Ukraine occurred from September 1944 to April 1946 (ca. 450,000 persons). Some Ukrainians (ca. 200,000 persons) left southeast Poland more or less voluntarily (between 1944 and 1945). In February 1956, Nikita Khrushchev in his speech "On the Personality Cult and its Consequences" condemned the deportations as a violation of Leninist principles, asserting as a joke that the Ukrainians avoided such a fate "only because there

title: Military occupations by the Soviet Union

text: II, on June 29, 1945, a treaty was signed between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, ceding Carpatho-Ukraine officially to the Soviet Union. Following the capture of Prague by the Red Army in May 1945 the Soviets withdrew in December 1945 as part of an agreement that all Soviet and US troops leave the country. 1944–1946, Soviet troops occupied northern Norway and the Danish island of Bornholm, strategically situated at the Baltic sea entrance. Stalin's intent was to attempt to gain bases at these locations late in the war. The Soviet deputy ambassador suggested seizing Bornholm in March 1945 and on

title: Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

text: Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Politburo (, full: Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated Политбюро ЦК КПСС, "Politbyuro TsK KPSS") was the highest policy-making government authority under the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was founded in October 1917, and refounded in March 1919, at the 8th Congress of the Bolshevik Party. It was known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966. The existence of the Politburo ended in 1991 with the breakup of the Soviet Union. On August 18, 1917, the top Bolshevik leader,

title: Flag of the Soviet Union

text: that constituted the USSR were all defaced or modified versions of the Soviet flag. On 15 April 1996 Boris Yeltsin signed a presidential decree giving the Soviet flag (called the Victory Banner, after the banner that was raised above the Reichstag on 1 May 1945) status similar to that of the national flag. The hammer and sickle were removed from the flag, leaving only the star, but they were reinstated later. On certain holidays, the Victory Banner is flown along with the Russian flag. Flag of the Soviet Union The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ();

text: Railway electrification in the Soviet Union While the former Soviet Union got a late (and slow) start with rail electrification in the 1930s it eventually became the world leader in electrification in terms of the volume of traffic under the wires. During its last 30 years the Soviet Union hauled about as much rail freight as all the other countries in the world combined and in the end, over 60% of this was by electric locomotives. Electrification was cost effective due to the very high density of traffic and was at times projected to yield at least a 10% return

title: State Anthem of the Soviet Union

text: State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" (), also unofficially known as "Slav'sya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye" () was the official national anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the state anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". The lyrics were written by Sergey Mikhalkov (1913–2009) in collaboration with Gabriel El-Registan (1899–1945) and the music was composed by Alexander Alexandrov (1883–1946). Although the USSR was dissolved in 1991, the melody of its national anthem continues to be used in the national anthem of the

text: forced labor in post-war Poland 1945-1950 – Total 100,000 of whom 36,000 died. The Soviet Union exploited the technical expertise of the German specialists who were resident in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany as well as POWs held in the USSR. In October 1946 the Soviet NKVD forcibly deported from East Germany "a few hundred" selected German experts to work in the USSR. They were held under favorable conditions and most were released by 1948. They worked in the aviation industry and the development of submarines. A selected few remained in the USSR until the early 1950s including German

title: Predictions of the dissolution of the Soviet Union

text: to force the dissolution of the Soviet empire. Ronald Reagan, in contrast, believed that the Soviet economy was so weak that increased pressure could bring the Soviet Union to the brink of failure. He therefore periodically expressed confidence that the forces of democracy 'will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history'. The leader of the Ananda Marga cult in West Bengal, P.R. Sarkar, predicted in the 1980s that Soviet Communism would fall with "a few blows from the hammer". He cited "inner and external stasis" as major weaknesses of communism. On 7 January 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, supreme leader

title: Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

text: Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union After :World War II there were from 560,000 to 760,000 Japanese personnel in the Soviet Union and Mongolia interned to work in labor camps as POWs. Of them, it is estimated that between 60,000-347,000 died in captivity. The majority of the approximately 3.5 million Japanese armed forces outside Japan were disarmed by the United States and Kuomintang China and repatriated in 1946. Western Allies had taken 35,000 Japanese prisoners between December 1941 and 15 August 1945, i.e., before the Japanese capitulation The Soviet Union held the Japanese POWs much longer and used

title: Military history of the Soviet Union

text: Pei-ta-shan Incident, Soviet Russian and Mongol forces attempted to occupy and raid Chinese territory, in response, a Chinese Muslim Hui cavalry regiment, the 14th Tungan Tungan Cavalry regiment was sent by the Chinese government to attack Mongol and Soviet positions. Many of the Soviet forces who fought to liberate the countries of Eastern Europe from Nazi control remained in the region even after Germany's surrender in 1945. Stalin used this military occupation to establish satellite states, creating a buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Soviets quickly became an enormous political and economic influence in the region and

title: Religion in the Soviet Union

text: historic region of Galicia, became part of the Soviet Union in 1939. Although Ukrainian, its population was never part of the Russian Empire, but was Eastern Rite Catholic. After the Second World War, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church identified closely with the nationalist aspirations of the region, arousing the hostility of the Soviet government, which was in combat with Ukrainian Insurgency. In 1945, Soviet authorities arrested the church's Metropolitan Josyf Slipyj, nine bishops and hundreds of clergy and leading lay activists, and deported them to forced labor camps in Siberia and elsewhere. The nine bishops and many of the clergy

title: Admiral of the fleet (Soviet Union)

text: of the Soviet Union in 1945, they were replaced with a single, bigger star to look similar to marshal's shoulder boards. The two existing admirals of the fleet were given this new 'big' marshal's star. So from 1945 to 1962, there was no intermediate rank equivalent to general of the army in between admiral and admiral of the fleet. The rank was abolished in March 1955 with the creation of the rank of admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union but restored in 1962 as the second-highest navy rank. Holders of the ranks were given a smaller marshal's star

text: that Gorbachev still retained his role as leader of the Soviet Union. Following the failed August coup of 1991, Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary. He was succeeded by his deputy, Vladimir Ivashko, who only served for five days as Acting General Secretary before Boris Yeltsin, the President of Russia, suspended all activity in the Communist Party. Following the party's ban, the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP–CPSU) was established by Oleg Shenin in 1993. The UCP–CPSU works as a framework for reviving and restoring the CPSU. The organisation has members in all the former

title: Automotive industry in the Soviet Union

text: specific government aims and economic hardships of that time, cars were only a small share of all vehicles produced in the early years of Soviet production. In 1937, the Soviet Union produced over 200,000 vehicles, mostly trucks, putting the country in second place worldwide by production of trucks. Between 1932 and 1939 the amount of car production in the Soviet Union increased up to 844,6%. After the war, the Soviet automotive industry developed rapidly. The State Defense Committee issued a number of important decisions: it established new car factories in Kutaisi and Dnepropetrovsk and on August 26, 1945, issued Resolution

title: Poles in the Soviet Union

text: significant Polish minorities: The Polish population in the Soviet Union peaked in 1959, decreased by about 20% by 1970, and then decreased extremely slowly between 1970 and 1989. Poles in the Soviet Union The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who used to reside in the Soviet Union before its 1991 dissolution (in the Autumn of Nations), and who live in post-Soviet, sovereign countries of Europe and Asia as their significant minorities at present time, including the Kresy macroregion (Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine), Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan among others. Millions of Poles lived within the

title: Dissolution of the Soviet Union

text: original members on October 24, 1945, together with the Soviet Union. After declaring independence, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic changed its name to Ukraine on August 24, 1991 and on September 19, 1991, the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic informed the UN that it had changed its name to the Republic of Belarus. The other twelve independent states established from the former Soviet Republics were all admitted to the UN: Historiography on Soviet dissolution can be roughly classified in two groups, namely intentionalist accounts and structuralist accounts. Intentionalist accounts contend that Soviet collapse was not inevitable and resulted from the policies

title: Tanks in the Soviet Union

text: the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and others. T-54s and T-55s were involved in many of the world's armed conflicts during the late 20th century. T-54/55 tanks were replaced by the T-62, T-72, T-64 and T-80 in the Soviet and Russian Armies, but many remain in use by up to 50 other armies worldwide, some having received sophisticated retrofitting. Soviet tanks

title: Foreign relations of the Soviet Union

text: Foreign relations of the Soviet Union At the time of the founding of the Soviet Union (the USSR) in 1922, most governments internationally regarded the Soviet state as a pariah because of its advocacy of communism, and thus most states did not give it diplomatic recognition. Less than a quarter century later the Soviet Union not only had official relations with the majority of the nation-states of the world, but had progressed to the role of a superpower. By 1945 the USSR—a founding member of the United Nations—had become one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council,

text: be compared to the office of Prime Minister in the Westminster system. The General Secretary in the Soviet political system acted as the leading broker in Politburo sessions and could be considered "the Party leader" due to his negotiation skills and successful tactics which retained the Politburo's support. In other words, the General Secretary needed to retain Politburo consensus if he wanted to remain in office. Collective leadership in the Soviet Union Collective leadership (, ') or Collectivity of leadership (, '), was considered an ideal form of governance in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and other socialist

title: German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

text: Soviet custody, which is supported by other academic works. According to Edward Peterson, the U.S. chose to hand over several hundred thousand German prisoners to the Soviet Union in May 1945 as a "gesture of friendship". Niall Ferguson maintains that "it is clear that many German units sought to surrender to the Americans in preference to other Allied forces, and particularly the Red Army". Heinz Nawratil maintains that U.S. forces refused to accept the surrender of German troops in Saxony and Bohemia, and instead handed them over to the Soviet Union. According to a report in the "New York Times"

title: Forced settlements in the Soviet Union

text: Nazi occupants: a number of peoples of North Caucasus and Crimea: Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays, Meskhetian Turks, Crimean Tatars, and Crimean Bolgars, as well as Kalmyks. The Red Army occupation led to the deportation to Siberia of more than 200,000 ethnic Germans of Romania (around 75,000 Transylvanian Saxons), Hungary and Yugoslavia. See Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union for details. After capturing East Prussia in 1945, virtually all of its pre-war population of three million was expelled to Germany. The depopulated area was then settled with people from the western parts of the Soviet Union, mainly ethnic Russians.

title: Soviet Union and the United Nations

text: Soviet Union and the United Nations The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the Security Council. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its UN seat was transferred to the Russian Federation. The Soviet Union took an active role in the United Nations and other major international and regional organizations. At the behest of the United States, the Soviet Union took a role in the establishment of the UN in 1945. The Soviet Union insisted that there be veto rights in the Security Council

title: History of the Soviet Union (1964–82)

text: become Mao's last meeting with any Soviet leader. The Cultural Revolution caused a complete meltdown of Sino-Soviet relations, inasmuch as Moscow (along with every communist state save for Albania) considered that event to be simple-minded insanity. Red Guards denounced the Soviet Union and the entire Eastern Bloc as revisionists who pursued a false socialism and of being in collusion with the forces of imperialism. Brezhnev was referred to as "the new Hitler" and the Soviets as warmongers who neglected their people's living standards in favor of military spending. In 1968 Lin Biao, the Chinese Defence Minister, claimed that the Soviet

title: Historiography in the Soviet Union

text: Era was the time of "samizdat" (circulating unofficial manuscripts within the USSR) and "tamizdat" (illegal publication of work abroad). The three most prominent Soviet dissidents of that era were Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov and Roy Medvedev. Of the "tamizdat" authors, Solzhenitsyn was the most famous, publishing "The Gulag Archipelago" in the West in 1973. Medvedev's "Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism" was published in 1971 in the West. Neither could publish in the Soviet Union until the advent of Perestroika and Glasnost. The 2006 Russian book, "A Modern History of Russia: 1945-2006: A Manual for History Teachers"

title: Racism in the Soviet Union

text: 1945 only 687,300 Germans remained alive in the Soviet labour camps. The Soviet Union began to discuss the idea of the forced labor of Germans as war reparations, their allies did not raise any objections. By the summer of 1944 the Soviet forces had reached the Balkans that had ethnic German minorities. State Defense Committee Order 7161 of December 16, 1944 instructed to intern all able-bodied Germans of ages 17–45 (men) and 18-30 (women) residing within the territories of Romania (67,332 persons), Hungary (31,920 persons), Yugoslavia (12,579 persons), which were under the control of the Red Army. Consequently, 111,831 (61,375

title: Leader of the Christian Union

text: Leader of the Christian Union The Leader of the Christian Union is the most senior politician within the Christian Union (, CU) in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Gert-Jan Segers, who succeeded Arie Slob in 2015. The Leaders outwardly act as the 'figurehead' and the main representative of the party. Within the party, they must ensure political consensus. At election time the Leader is always the Lijsttrekker (top candidate) of the party list. Outside election time the Leader can serves as the Opposition leader. In the Christian Union the Leader is often the Parliamentary leader in the

title: Communist Party of the Soviet Union

text: the Soviet Union. The tension between the party and the state (Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union) for the shifting focus of power was never formally resolved, but in reality the party dominated and a paramount leader always existed (first Lenin and thereafter the General Secretary). After the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922, Lenin had introduced a mixed economy, commonly referred to as the New Economic Policy, which allowed for capitalist practices to resume under the Communist Party dictation in order to develop the necessary conditions for socialism to become a practical pursuit in the economically undeveloped

title: Leader of the Christian Union

text: House of Representatives. One Christian Union leader became a Minister in a Cabinet. Leader of the Christian Union The Leader of the Christian Union is the most senior politician within the Christian Union (, CU) in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Gert-Jan Segers, who succeeded Arie Slob in 2015. The Leaders outwardly act as the 'figurehead' and the main representative of the party. Within the party, they must ensure political consensus. At election time the Leader is always the Lijsttrekker (top candidate) of the party list. Outside election time the Leader can serves as the Opposition leader.

title: History of Germans in Russia, Ukraine and the Soviet Union

text: Latvian nationalist movements. In late 1939 ("after" the start of the Second World War), the entire remaining Baltic German community was repatriated by Adolf Hitler to areas Nazi Germany had invaded in western Poland (especially in the Warthegau). The "legal" basis for this was agreed in the August 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the subsequent Nazi–Soviet population transfers which had given the Soviet Union a green light to invade and annex Latvia and Estonia in 1940. Only a handful of Baltic Germans remained under Soviet rule after 1945 mainly among those few who refused Germany's call to leave the Baltics. History

title: Poles in the Soviet Union

text: Poles in the Soviet Union The Polish minority in the Soviet Union refers to people of Polish descent who used to reside in the Soviet Union before its 1991 dissolution (in the Autumn of Nations), and who live in post-Soviet, sovereign countries of Europe and Asia as their significant minorities at present time, including the Kresy macroregion (Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine), Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan among others. Millions of Poles lived within the Russian Empire following the military Partitions of Poland throughout the 19th century. As Austria, Germany, and Russia took over Polish lands during World War I, many Poles were

title: Soviet of the Union

text: lively debates. The Soviet of the Union elected a chairman (who would lead the sessions of the chamber), his 4 deputies and permanent commissions: Mandates, Legislative Proposals, Budget Planning, Foreign Affairs, Youth Affairs, Industry, Transportation and Communications, Construction and Industry of Building Materials, Agriculture, Consumer goods, Public Education, Healthcare and Social Security, Science and Culture, Trade, Consumer Service and Municipal Economy, Environment. The Soviet of the Union was effectively dissolved on 12 December 1991, two weeks before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic recalled its deputies, leaving it without a quorum. The

text: Officers", pro-communist POWs got more privileges and better rations. As a result of Operation Bagration and the collapse on the southern part of the Eastern front, the number of German POWs nearly doubled in the second half of 1944. In the first months of 1945 the Red Army advanced to the Oder river and on the Balkans. Again the number of POWs rose – to 2,000,000 in April 1945. A total of 2.8 million German Wehrmacht personnel were held as POWs by the Soviet Union at the end of the war, according to Soviet records. A large number of German

title: Communist Party of the Soviet Union

text: Brown added that a different leader than Gorbachev would probably have oppressed the opposition and continued with economic reform. Nonetheless, Gorbachev accepted that the people sought a different road and consented to the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991. He said that because of its peaceful collapse, the fall of Soviet communism is "one of the great success stories of 20th century politics". According to Lars T. Lih, the Soviet Union collapsed because people stopped believing in its ideology. He wrote: When in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed not with a bang but a whimper, this unexpected outcome was partly the

title: Racism in the Soviet Union

text: lists seven crucial policies that applied only, or mainly, to Soviet Ukraine. He states: "Each of them may seem like an anodyne administrative measure, and each of them was certainly presented as such at the time, and yet each had to kill": In the years of 1944 to 1946, the Ukrainian population of the Soviet Union and Poland were to be voluntarily relocated, but eventually forceful tactics prevailed. Within the course of a single year, July 1945 – July 1946, some 400,000 Ukrainians and Rusyns were uprooted and deported by force. The forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars from Crimea

text: on electrification investment (to replace diesel traction). By 1990, the electrification was about half 3 kV DC and half 25 kV AC 50 Hz and 70% of rail passenger-km was by electric railways. Compared to the US, the Soviet Union got off to a very slow start in electrification but later greatly surpassed the US. Electrification in the US reached its maximum of 5,000 km in the late 1930s which is just when electrification was getting its start in the USSR. About 20 years after the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union, China became the new world leader in rail

text: this stage a much more remote possibility" than alternative #3: renewed stagnation. He also predicted chances of some form of communism existing in the Soviet Union in 2017 was a little more than 50%. Finally when the end did come in a few more decades, Brzezinski wrote, it would be "most likely turbulent." Ferenc Farkas de Kisbarnak, an exiled Hungarian general and leader of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN), predicted the dissolution of the Soviet Union due to nationalist pressures. From June 12–14 of 1950, the Convention of the ABN was held in Edinburgh, Scotland under the auspices of

title: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union

text: three months after the Nazi attack, the last antireligious periodicals were shut down, officially because of a paper shortage. Churches were re-opened in the Soviet Union and the League of the Militant Godless was disbanded. Emelian Yaroslavsky, the leader and founder of the LMG, who had led the entire national anti-religious campaign in the 1930s, found himself writing an article in praise of Orthodox Christian Fyodor Dostoyevsky for his alleged hatred of the Germans. The German forces, while allowing much greater religious tolerance, attempted to sever the Orthodox church's loyalties to the Patriarch in Moscow during the occupation, sometimes with

text: Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Leader of the Christian Social Union ("Vorsitzender der Christlich-Sozialen Union") is the most senior political figure within the Christian Social Union in Bavaria. Since 25 October 2008, the office has been held by Horst Seehofer; who is the 8th leader of the party. The Leader of the Christian Social Union is supported by a General Secretary, which since 2018 has been Markus Blume. Furthermore, the leader is supported by five deputy leaders, which currently are Kurt Gribl, Angelika Niebler, Dorothee Bär, Manfred Weber and Melanie Huml. A list of the 8

title: Republics of the Soviet Union

text: by it between the 1700 Great Northern War and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. In 1944, amendments to the All-Union Constitution allowed for separate branches of the Red Army for each Soviet Republic. They also allowed for Republic-level commissariats for foreign affairs and defense, allowing them to be recognized as "de jure" independent states in international law. This allowed for two Soviet Republics, Ukraine and Byelorussia, (as well as the USSR as a whole) to join the United Nations General Assembly as founding members in 1945. All of the former Republics of the Union are now independent countries, with ten

text: 1945 till 1993. It was only in 1956 that official agreements between communist regime in Poland established by Soviets themselves and Soviet Union recognized the presence of those troops; hence many Polish scholars accept the usage of term 'occupation' for period 1945–1956. Other scholars date the Soviet occupation till 1989. The Polish Government in Exile existed until 1990. After existing as independent countries for twenty years, the Baltic states were occupied and illegally annexed in June 1940. Given a free hand by Nazi Germany via the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and its secret additional protocol of August 1939, the Soviet Union

text: of the collective" even after becoming Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier of the Soviet Union), replacing Nikolai Bulganin. Most Western observers believed that Khrushchev had become the supreme leader of the Soviet Union by the early 1960s, even if this was far from the truth. The Presidium, which had grown to resent Khrushchev's leadership style and feared Mao Zedong's one-man dominance and the growing cult of personality in the People's Republic of China, began an aggressive campaign against Khrushchev in 1963. This campaign culminated in 1964 with the replacement of Khrushchev in his offices of First Secretary by

title: Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union

text: the USSR were soviet (as soviet national), yet 15 were of union level, while the other, autonomous republics, were subordinated to the union republics. List of known autonomous republics councils Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union () was the most authoritative legislative body of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics beginning 1936, and the only one with the power to approve constitutional amendments. (The Congress of Soviets was the supreme legislative body from 1917 to 1936. During 1989-1991 a similar, but not identical (elected directly by the people instead of local Soviets) structure

title: History of the Soviet Union (1982–91)

text: History of the Soviet Union (1982–91) The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991 spans the period from Leonid Brezhnev's death and funeral until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth stagnated. Failed attempts at reform, a standstill economy, and the success of the United States against the Soviet Union's forces in the war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling of discontent, especially in the Baltic republics and Eastern Europe. Greater political and social freedoms, instituted by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail

title: Soviet of the Union

text: Union represented the interests of all of the people of the Soviet Union no matter what their nationality was. The Soviet of the Union had the same rights and competence as the Soviet of Nationalities, including the right for legislative initiative. In practice, until 1989, it did little more than approve decisions already made by the top leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After the 1989 elections–the first, and as it turned out, only, free elections ever held in the Soviet Union–the Soviet of the Union acquired a much greater role, and was the scene of many

title: Soviet Union in the Korean War

text: the war to rebuild the country. Soviet soldiers were instrumental in the creation and early development of the North Korean People's Army and Korean People's Air Force, as well as for stabilizing the early years of the Northern regime. The Shineuiju Air Force Academy was founded under Soviet leadership on 25 October 1945 in order to train new pilots. Because at the time the war broke out in 1950, the Communist Soviet Union, China and their allies were already locked into a "Cold War" with capitalist countries, both sides felt that the Korean Conflict carried the potential to further destabilize

title: Politics of the Soviet Union

text: new Soviet man. The validity of ideas, public discourse, and institutional form were evaluated in terms of the official ideology of Marxism-Leninism, as interpreted by the Communist Party. Politics of the Soviet Union The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a single-party socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the Constitution. "For information about the government, see Government of the Soviet Union." The Bolsheviks who took power during the October Revolution, the final phase of the Russian Revolution, were the

title: Military history of the Soviet Union

text: War was greatly influenced by the growing tension between Stalin and Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany and an avid supporter of the fascist forces of Francisco Franco. Nazi–Soviet relations were tempered by Hitler's personal hatred for communist ideology and for wanting to expand German territories. Direct armed conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union was delayed by the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939, which essentially divided the nations of Eastern Europe into two spheres of interest, one belonging to the Soviets and the other to the Nazis. The Soviet Union sold arms to the

title: History of the Jews in the Soviet Union

text: the late 20th century. The 2001 census showed that 380,000 Jews left Ukraine since 1989, which was ¾ of the entire Jewish population. This is discussed in more detail in the following articles: The following articles discuss various aspects of Jewish history specific to the Soviet Union and the Soviet era: Pre-Soviet Union History of the Jews in the Soviet Union The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "For

title: Orphans in the Soviet Union

text: during the war. From 1941–1945, 200,000 children were adopted in the Soviet Union. 'Model workers' featured in propaganda were often adoptive parents. Courts preferred to place children with families, taking into account the importance of love, security, and happiness in childhood. The population of homeless children declined in the years after the war, largely due to the public's participation in the foster care system. German children in Kaliningrad region annected in 1945 didn't obtain state help during some period, some of them survived in Lithuania. The government's approach to child homelessness continued to advance in the decades following Stalin's death.

title: History of the Soviet Union (1964–82)

text: that should war break out in Europe, they would rally to the defense of Italy and resist any Soviet incursion on their nation's soil. In particular, Soviet–First World relations deteriorated when the US President Jimmy Carter, following the advice of his National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, denounced the 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan (see Soviet–Afghan relations) and described it as the "most serious danger to peace since 1945". The United States stopped all grain export to the Soviet Union and persuaded US athletes not to enter the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow. The Soviet Union responded by boycotting the

title: History of the Soviet Union (1964–82)

text: successfully engineering Taraki's own assassination on 9 October. Later, in December, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan at the behest of Khan. On 27 December a KGB unit killed Amin. Babrak Karmal, the leader of the Parcham faction, was chosen by the Soviet leadership as Amin's successor in the aftermath of the Soviet intervention. Unfortunately for the Soviet leadership Karmal did not turn out to be the leader they expected, and he, just as his predecessors had arrested and killed several Parcham-members, arrested and killed several high-standing and low-standing Khalq members simply because they supported the wrong faction. With Soviet troops

title: Leader of the Christian Democratic Union

text: Laschet and Thomas Strobl. A list of leaders since 1946 Leader of the Christian Democratic Union The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union ("Vorsitzender der Christlich Demokratischen Union") is the most senior political figure within the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Since 7 December 2018, the office has been held by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer who is the second female leader of the party, following her immediate predecessor Angela Merkel. The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union Party is supported by a General Secretary who, since 2018, has been Paul Ziemiak. Furthermore, the leader is supported by five deputy leaders: these currently

text: Leader of the Christian Democratic Union The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union ("Vorsitzender der Christlich Demokratischen Union") is the most senior political figure within the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. Since 7 December 2018, the office has been held by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer who is the second female leader of the party, following her immediate predecessor Angela Merkel. The Leader of the Christian Democratic Union Party is supported by a General Secretary who, since 2018, has been Paul Ziemiak. Furthermore, the leader is supported by five deputy leaders: these currently are Ursula von der Leyen, Volker Bouffier, Julia Klöckner, Armin

title: Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union

text: Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union () was the most authoritative legislative body of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics beginning 1936, and the only one with the power to approve constitutional amendments. (The Congress of Soviets was the supreme legislative body from 1917 to 1936. During 1989-1991 a similar, but not identical (elected directly by the people instead of local Soviets) structure (Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union) was the supreme legislative body.) It elected the Presidium, served as the collective head of state of the USSR, and appointed the

title: Historiography in the Soviet Union

text: Historiography in the Soviet Union Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet Union (USSR). In the USSR, the study of history was marked by restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Soviet historiography is itself the subject of modern studies. George M. Enteen identifies two approaches to the study of Soviet historiography. A totalitarian approach associated with the Western analysis of the Soviet Union as a totalitarian society, controlled by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, this school "thought that signs of dissent merely represented

title: Television in the Soviet Union

text: Television in the Soviet Union Television in the Soviet Union was owned, controlled and censored by the state. The body governing television in the era of the Soviet Union was the Gosteleradio committee, which was responsible for both the Soviet Central Television and the All-Union Radio. Soviet television production was classified into central (Soviet Central Television), republican, and regional broadcasting. In 1938, television broadcasting began in Moscow and Saint Petersburg under the auspices of the All-Union Committee for Radiofication and Radio Broadcasting at the USSR Sovnarkom (Всесоюзный комитет по радиофикации и радиовещанию при СНК СССР). On 1 October 1934, Russia's

title: Soviet of the Union

text: Soviet of the Union The Soviet of the Union (, "Sovet Soyuza") was the lower chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot in accordance with the principles of Soviet democracy, and with the rule that there be one deputy for every 300,000 people. Until Glasnost and the 1989 elections however, only candidates approved by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were permitted to participate in the elections. As opposed to the upper chamber, the Soviet of Nationalities, the Soviet of the

title: Rugby union in the Soviet Union

text: Rugby union in the Soviet Union Rugby union in the Soviet Union was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in Georgia; parts of the Russian SFSR such as Moscow and certain regions in Siberia like Krasnoyarsk; and Alma-Ata, the former capital of Kazakhstan. Rugby enjoyed a more limited popularity in the Ukraine, Minsk in the Byelorussia and parts of the RSFSR such as Leningrad and areas in Southern Russia, including Krasnodar. Rugby gained a significant following due to the vast size of the Soviet Union, but was never a major sport; despite many attempts to develop the sport,

title: Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

text: prisoners were repatriated between 1945 and 1954. The individual fate of 30,430 soldiers, who died during the fighting and the withdrawal or after capture, is less well known. It is roughly estimated that about 20,000 men lost their lives due to the fighting and 10,000 men died between the time they became prisoners to the time they registered inside the camps. Russian sources list the deaths of 28,000 of the 49,000 Italian war prisoners (according to them) in Soviet Union 1942-1954. Travel to the destination camps in captivity covered hundreds of kilometres and was done mainly on foot. They were

title: Historiography in the Soviet Union

text: the Ministry of Education and Science, many promoting opposite views. In 2009 president Dmitri Medvedev created the Historical Truth Commission, against the perceived anti-Soviet and anti-Russian slander. Officially, the Commission's mission is to "defend Russia against falsifiers of history and those who would deny Soviet contribution to the victory in World War II". Also, United Russia has proposed a draft law, that would mandate jail terms of three to five years "for anyone in the former Soviet Union convicted of rehabilitating Nazism". Historiography in the Soviet Union Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet

title: 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

text: in a month the speech was reported to the general public, but the full text was published only in 1989. Not everyone was ready to accept Khrushchev's new line. Albanian Communist leader Enver Hoxha, for instance, strongly condemned Khrushchev as revisionist. The speech was also seen as a catalyst for 1956 uprisings in Poland and Hungary, and was seen as a "major stimulus" to the Sino–Soviet split. 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during the period 14–25 February 1956. It is known especially

title: Politics of the Soviet Union

text: Politics of the Soviet Union The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a single-party socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the Constitution. "For information about the government, see Government of the Soviet Union." The Bolsheviks who took power during the October Revolution, the final phase of the Russian Revolution, were the first Communist Party to take power and attempt to apply the Leninist variant of Marxism in a practical way. Although they grew very quickly during the Revolution, from

title: History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)

text: constrained but where Communist parties enjoyed widespread appeal. In response, the United States sustained a massive anti-communist ideological offensive. The United States aimed to contain communism through both aggressive diplomacy and interventionist policies. In retrospect, this initiative appears largely successful: Washington brandished its role as the leader of the "Free World" at least as effectively as the Soviet Union brandished its position as the leader of the "progressive" and "anti-imperialist" camp. In 1950, the Soviet Union protested against the fact that the Chinese seat at the United Nations Security Council was held by the Nationalist government of China, and boycotted

title: Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union

text: Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union 17 days after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of the Second World War, the Soviet Union invaded the eastern regions of Poland (known as the ""Kresy""), which Poland re-established during the Polish–Soviet War, and annexed territories totaling with a population of 13,299,000. Inhabitants besides ethnic Poles included Czech, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and other minority groups. Most of these territories remained within the Soviet Union in 1945 as a consequence of European-wide territorial rearrangements configured during the Tehran Conference of 1943. Poland was “compensated” for this

title: Demographics of the Soviet Union

text: from 1928–1941, in which religion was largely discouraged and heavily persecuted, and a secular state from 1945 until its dissolution. However, according to various Soviet and Western sources, over one-third of the country's people professed religious beliefs: Russian Orthodox 20%, Muslim 15%, Protestant, Georgian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic 7%, Jewish less than 1%, atheist 60% (1990 est.). There were some indigenous pagan belief systems existent in the Siberian and Russian Far Eastern lands in the local populations. Russian became the official language of the Soviet Union in 1990. Until that time it was still necessary to have a

title: Rugby union in the Soviet Union

text: played several games. http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3186&hilit= http://www.rugby.by/ Rugby union in the Soviet Union Rugby union in the Soviet Union was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in Georgia; parts of the Russian SFSR such as Moscow and certain regions in Siberia like Krasnoyarsk; and Alma-Ata, the former capital of Kazakhstan. Rugby enjoyed a more limited popularity in the Ukraine, Minsk in the Byelorussia and parts of the RSFSR such as Leningrad and areas in Southern Russia, including Krasnodar. Rugby gained a significant following due to the vast size of the Soviet Union, but was never a major sport; despite many

title: Soviet of the Union

text: legality of this action was questionable, since the Soviet Constitution did not allow a republic to unilaterally recall its deputies. However, by this time the Soviet government had been rendered more or less impotent, and it was in no position to object. Soviet of the Union The Soviet of the Union (, "Sovet Soyuza") was the lower chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot in accordance with the principles of Soviet democracy, and with the rule that there be one deputy for

title: 1991 in the Soviet Union

text: 1991 in the Soviet Union The following lists events that happened during 1991 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet Union had a transitional government in 1991, during the fall of communism. Every republic in the union had growing nationalism until Christmas of 1991 when Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and President of the Soviet Union, abandoned the Union at the time of its dissolution. The dissolution created huge changes in politics and territorial claims. NATO scaled back its presence following the dissolution. January Events (Lithuania) Soviet Union referendum, 1991

title: Polish–Soviet border agreement of August 1945

text: the Soviet Union. It was occupied again in 1944–1945 after the Soviet advance to Berlin). The border between Poland and Belarus, and Poland and Ukraine has remained the same since. Polish–Soviet border agreement of August 1945 The Border Agreement between Poland and the USSR of 16 August 1945 established the borders between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Republic of Poland. It was signed by the Provisional Government of National Unity (Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej) formed by the Polish communists. According to the treaty, Poland officially accepted the ceding its pre-war Eastern territory to the USSR (Kresy)

text: zone of Germany was the area of eastern Germany occupied by the Soviet Union from 1945 on. In 1949 it became The German Democratic Republic known in English as East Germany. In 1955 the Republic was declared by the Soviet Union to be fully sovereign; however, Soviet troops remained, based on the four-power Potsdam agreement. As NATO troops remained in West Berlin and West Germany, the GDR and Berlin in particular became focal points of Cold War tensions. A separation barrier between West and East Germany, the Berlin Wall known in the Soviet Union and in East Germany as the

title: Romanian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

text: the Allies. In April 1945 a second division, the Horia, Cloșca și Crișan Division led by Mihail Lascăr, was created, a mixture of prisoners and Romanian communist volunteers, but the war ended before it saw combat. An April 1946 report to Vyacheslav Molotov (see the wikisource reference) stated that in 1945, 61,662 Romanian POWs were repatriated, 20,411 took part in forming Romanian volunteer divisions, and about 50,000 more remained in labor camps. The last Romanian POW were freed in 1956. Some were arrested again by Communist Romanian authorities on their arrival in Romania "for waging war on the Soviet Union",