Soviet Union

The **Union of Soviet Socialist Republics**, commonly referred to as the Soviet Union or abbreviated as USSR, was one of the major powers existing before the Great War.

## History

### Creation of the Soviet Union

The foundation for the Soviet Union was created during the Russian Revolution and Civil War from 1917 to 1925, in which the Soviet/Bolshevik forces fought a variety of different factions attempting to assume control of the territory of what was formerly the Russian Empire. With Imperial Russia unable to industrialize and modernize at a comparable rate to other European powers, some sort of major event would be inevitable, which was only fueled by Russia's several losses in the First World War, mirroring the current state of the country.

Eventually mass unrest and a revolution, primarily led by Vladimir Lenin, forced the Tsarist government to abdicate, creating a provisional government to take its place. This provisional government was much weaker and was unable to respond with many of the same issues the former Tsarist government had faced. Another revolution overthrew the provisional government and established peace with Germany, allowing for the Bolsheviks to re-organize and establish their first armies in order to spread their borders. Several prominent leaders such as, Nikolai Bukharin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin were likely candidates to become the Lenin's successor.

### Emergence as a Superpower

The death of Vladimir Lenin saw a power vacuum created within the fairly new Soviet Union, with Josef Stalin eventually coming out victorious and led a purge against many of his staff along with the implementation of several reforms. During the German territorial expansion in Europe, Josef Stalin found himself striking a deal with the Adolf Hitler and Germany, followed by a non-aggression pact along with the partitioning of Poland. However things would change in 1941 with the German offensive into the Soviet Union.

With defeat after defeat, the Germans reached the gates of Moscow, but in 1943, the Soviets recovered and had begun their counter offensive against the German Army, utilizing lots of manpower, Allied support and using similar methods to that of the Germans in 1941. With this combination, the Soviet Union overwhelmed the Germans, driving them off from Moscow and into Berlin, resulting in a military occupation of several Eastern and Central European states.

After the war, the Soviet Union emerged as a global superpower, having a large modernized industrialized and agrarian society along with a much larger sphere of influence, creating the stage for the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would become the counter to Western capitalistic ideals, funding several rebellions and opposition groups across the globe, with fierce proxy wars in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

### 20th Century Reforms

During the late 20th century, the Soviet Union would see signs of eventual collapse as their lack of economic growth and ethnic tensions would create mass instability across the Union. This called for reforms within the Soviet institutions, and Soviet leaders were not pleased with the economic stagnation, many intellectuals and think tanks predicted a collapse as early as 1987. As a result, said reforms shifted the Soviet economic and social policy, and they essentially gave up on being the major Communist power, and paved the way for China to assume its position.

This caused extreme Communist hardliners and conservatives to launch an attempted coup on Moscow, being dubbed the Moscow Crisis which could've ended in the dissolution of the Union had it escalated further, however after an intense standoff in Moscow between the conservative and reformist forces, both agreed to a ceasefire and agreed to sign a truce, creating what was essentially a coalition government between conservative Socialist and reformist. This turmoil would cause an initial wave of revolts, however they were quickly put down once the Soviet Union had reorganized its armed forces and created a new home guard. Low scale Insurgency still continued into the mid-2000's, resulting in a large military presence in the Caucasus.

### European Commonwealth-Middle Eastern War and Energy Crisis

Oil prices continued to increase during the 21st century, oil heavy regions such as the Far East, the Caucasus and Romania became valuable assets to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was regarded as an alternative to Middle Eastern fuel to its allies but refused to trade significant amounts to the European Commonwealth, mass consumption by the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact led to a shortage of energy. A premium was put on gas prices and oil prices skyrocketed within the Soviet Union, and as a result, attention was soon placed on the Moscow Metro, after economic analyst predicted the rise of public transport. The European Commonwealth nearly suffered bankruptcy and was placed in a tough situation, deteriorating relations eventually led to a war between various Middle Eastern nations and the European Commonwealth.

The nuclear detonation in Tel Aviv from terrorist prompted the Soviet Union to upgrade its early warning network, as paranoia of nuclear war struck the globe. The Soviet Union was draining more energy and resources from the Far East and Siberia than it was producing and its seemingly endless supply of energy was coming at an end, resulting Soviet operations in the Arctic. This marked the beginning of intense domestic regulation within the Soviet Union, although cars were still permitted, non-military consumption was heavily frowned upon and quotas on roads were placed in order to discourage the usage of cars.

As a result of the collapse of the UN, the Soviet Army saw mass expansion, both by spending and size, the Eastern Bloc followed suit; peace between nations became fragmented. The Moscow Metro saw an expansion of its web of railways and tracks in order to decrease the time it took to travel, the same was applied to buses and bicycle lanes, tickets for public transport became significantly cheap following the Energy Crisis.

### European Civil War and Escalation

With the end of the European Commonwealth-Middle Eastern War, the Soviet Union sought to protect itself and its valuable allies. As the European Commonwealth dissolved into a civil war, foreign nations demanded Soviet oil, China was at an uneasy truce with the Soviet Union but small buildups near the Manchurian border worried the Soviet Army. Initially, the Soviet Union attempted to remain neutral in the European Civil War, but violence became inevitable. The Soviet Union projected their influence on their valuable allies and on May 10th, of 2061, the Soviet Army and Soviet National Guard directly occupied the Romanian oil fields, with over 100k men and several land/air vehicles.

Fear of an increasing authoritarian government grew as rationing of resources became even more strict. Eastern and Central Europe saw support from the Soviet Armed Forces in order to protect itself from internal and external forces, as Soviet intelligence reported an increase in anti-Soviet sentiment. The last remaining bits of oil were shipped off to many underground bunkers and secure locations, cars were later completely regulated by the government. By 2061, the Romanian and Caucasus oil fields were nearly dried up, all non-military consumption was halted entirely, public transport, bicycles and even horses became the main methods of transportation other than walking.

Demonstrations and even riots became prevalent, most were asking for major economic and social reforms within the Soviet government while some were asking for the complete dissolution of the Soviet institution. The Caucasus Insurgency did not help the situation as the fighting only increased in the region, paramilitary groups in the Caucasus hoped to inspire a wave of revolution across the Soviet Union in order to alleviate pressure. Soviet military activity increased throughout the 2060s alongside the demonstrations and riots - poor communication, corruption, infighting and disorganization led to even more intensified unrest within the public. Paramilitary action was not widespread until 2067, when the Soviet National Guard started to crack down on various different groups across the Union.

### Internal Instability

The early and mid 2070's was one of the most violent eras of the Soviet Union, behind the Russian Revolution and Civil War. Paramilitary groups were seemingly formed out of thin air and many independence movements became popular among the youth and adult population, leading to Ukrainian, Caucasian, Baltic, and Central Asian independence groups to increase in size. The Soviet government had little to no options, with energy becoming too valuable to waste and the agrarian economy across its allied nations failing.

The Soviet government refused to act until early 2070 when the Ukrainian State of Government was shot several times in a drive by, followed by an "occupation" of Kiev by rioters and paramilitary forces, in which they declared the "Kiev Free State". Fearing the repetition of events in Kiev, the Communist conservative faction in the government attempted to give in to the protestors, but were blocked by the majority reformist, who favored complete dissolution. The old Soviet institution simply became too unpopular and it became evident that the time for small changes was too late - whatever the problems United States of America had, was multiplied by two.

Several cities lacked military presence and such vacuums allowed for paramilitary forces and rioters to take control. The Congresses of People's Deputies all agreed on dissolution in the near future but had no idea when and how, most Soviet Republics government officials favored a federation, however the population favored full on independence. The Communist and hardliners were arrested by reformist members of the secret police, followed by a wave of political assassinations in order to speed up the process of the dissolution. The Congresses of People's Deputies created a temporary council to discuss the dissolution, but only 10 of the 15 delegates had arrived to discuss.

### The Great War

On September 2nd of 2075, the powers within the Soviet Union reached an agreement of the dissolution, paperwork, documents, revisions and reorganization led to the state of governments agreeing to disband sometime in early to mid 2078. The state owned press and radio continued to downplay the entire situation and gave the public false hope by announcing several failed ineffective projects such as fusion and solar energy, the cost for these projects was simply too much and were researched too late.

The Soviet administration at the time had prepared their contingency plan since the 2060's and had already moved all important assets to their secure bunkers across the Soviet union. The entire Soviet Union was engulfed in mass unrest, looting, rioting, and paramilitaries plagued the nation, all asking for freedom of the Soviet institution which shackled them. Most wanted to avoid collapse, and with news of potential dissolution, many wanted to wait and see if this brought any real legitimate change. Nobody would find out, as amidst the chaos, on October 23rd, 2077, nuclear armageddon struck, bringing an end to the decades old Union.

The USSR did not participate in Great war directly, and, because of it, wasn't damaged as heavily as the USA or China were. Despite this, some European countries, like West Germany or Turkey wanted to take advantage of the Soviet internal instability and try once more to get their hands on the remnants of Soviet oil. Turkish forces invaded the Caucasus on October 15th, 2077, trying to support the local insurgents, but the Soviet Union, despite being on the brink of collapse, managed to successfully repel all the attacks. Turkey reacted with deploying their nuclear arsenal, but this attempt failed as well: Soviet armed forces detected the launch preparations via Grigory IX recon cameras, and the whole Turkey was obliterated with orbit-launched neutron warheads. Reacting to the destruction of Turkey, some European countries (West Germany, Austria) launched a massive nuclear attack against the USSR and its satellites like Poland or GDR. Soviets responded with both missile and orbital strikes, finally turning most of the Europe into nuclear wasteland. Soviet missile defense systems worked well, but still several dozens of warheads still got through and fell on the european part of the country, striking major cities like Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. With the Central government gone, the rest of the USSR collapsed into lots of different states by itself, falling victim to internal instability, even though large territories in Urals, Siberia, Central Asia and Soviet Far East were totally not affected by nuclear strikes and had from low to moderate levels of radiation. It wasn't the nuclear war that killed the USSR, but the internal unrest.

After the Great War, former Soviet territory is controlled by lots of gangs, military juntas, which mainly grew from the Soviet Army and the KGB, and local warlord states, including radical communist, democrat and nationalist holdouts. Most of them are in constant struggle with each other, and nobody knows if Russia could be united again.

## Known locations

* Chukchi Sea, Chukotka, and Gulf of Anadyr
* Russia
* The Kremlin
* Red Square
* Trans-Siberian Railway

## Armed Forces

The Soviet Armed Forces were divided into several branches, these were the Soviet Army, Soviet Navy, Soviet National Guard, Soviet Air Force, Soviet Strategic Defense and the General Staff.

### Soviet Army

The Soviet Army was the bulk of the Soviet Union, with a large population, the Soviet Union was able to project its military power across the continents. It was estimated that the Soviet Army was 2.7 million men strong in 2072, but the exact number varied from intelligence agency. The main driving force for recruitment was the constant fear mongering of Western imperialism and eventually the spread of violence in the Soviet Union after the start of the European Civil War. After 2063, most of the conscripts in the Army consisted of drafted young adults, although a significant amount still joined by choice due to a variety of personal reasons.

They worked heavily alongside the Soviet National Guard and local police forces in the home front during the wave of protest and riots within the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, they were tasked with counter insurgency and riot control. There was Soviet Army and Soviet Naval Infantry outside of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, as seen during Operation Lengo due to an increase of energy consumption and eventual shortage, which saw the Soviet Union desperately clinging on to the last deposits of energy.

### Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was perhaps the least impressive among the Soviet Armed Forces compared to Western navies. Because of the geography of the Soviet Union and the lack of a large coastline with a major port, the Soviet Naval doctrine focused on utilizing stealth instead of fighting head on, the energy crisis further highlighted the importance of stealth as Soviet naval activity across the world became limited.

Ever since the 1980s, Soviet submarines have been fast and agile, with the ability to hold large amounts of missiles while remaining undetected, this was reflected on the Chinese doctrine, when they began developing a "ghost fleet" in the Pacific and Atlantic. The Soviet Navy only had a small handful of modernized ships and carriers, and were mainly stationed in the Black Sea, the rather outdated ships were stationed across Soviet waters in defensive positions, fearing external attacks on Soviet territory.

Soviet submarines did assist the Chinese however, most notably in the Atlantic, where they acted as "volunteer expeditionary forces" attacking Western vessels in joint operations. Soviet Marines were also a big part of the Soviet Navy, and were used during amphibious landings or overseas operations, they wore and used similar equipment to that of the Soviet Army. The DIA estimated that the Soviet Navy had an estimated 290 submarines, with over 100 armed with nuclear warheads.

### Soviet National Guard

While the Soviet Army operated mainly outside Soviet territory, the Soviet National Guard, sometimes dubbed the Red Guard, focused heavily on domestic issues, they acted as counter-terrorist and peacekeeping forces in areas with any level of intensity. The Soviet National Guard consisted of reserve forces and included elements of local police forces and worked alongside them, especially in the Caucasus, where skirmishes between the Soviet National Guard and insurgent forces was frequent in the 2060s.

Most of their equipment was similar to that of the Soviet Army, however, the Soviet National Guard was mainly given surplus or outdated equipment, this even included domestically produced variants of the M16. Deployment of the Soviet National Guard wasn't exclusive to just Soviet territory, as their deployment extended to Warsaw Pact members, where they were deployed during the European Civil War and the occupation of the Romanian oil fields, but most of the time, they were labeled as "peacekeeping forces" by both the Soviet government and media.

### Soviet Air Forces

The Soviet Air Forces was one of the most important components of the Soviet Armed Forces, apart from the Army and National Guard. The Soviet Union had one of the largest air forces in the world and was able to deploy several thousands of aircraft across the Soviet Union, it consisted of several air forces from the various republics within the Soviet Union and worked together as one. The Air Forces worked alongside the Army and the National Guard, especially in the Caucasus and Romania where the mountainous terrain made visibility worse for the infantry, which was where the Air Forces came in.

As opposed to the Navy, the Soviet Air Forces did not turn to stealth, but rather, speed and agility, sacrificing durability for some of its fighter models. Its main competition had shifted from the United States air force to the Chinese air force, which violated Soviet air space various times and reportedly sent various stealth bombers, undetected, deep into Siberia as a show of force. In order to compete with the technological marvels of many nations, the Soviet Air Forces had one of the most extensive research programs in the Soviet Union, working heavily with research institutes in East Germany, making almost alien aircraft, but the problem wasn't the engineering, but rather, a source of fuel.