Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The **Union of Soviet Socialist Republics** (often referred to as the **USSR** or the **Soviet Union**) is a federal union of various sovereign republics in Eastern Europe and Western, Central, and Northern Asia. It is a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a highly centralized and egalitarian society in practice. Founded in 1922, most of its territories consisted of the former Russian Empire, containing 18 national republics before World War II, and currently consisting of 25 socialist nations. The Russian SFSR contains its capital, Moscow, in addition to being its largest republic by both size and population. Other major cities include Istanbul (Turkish SSR), Tehran (Iranian SSR), Kabul (Afghan SSR), Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kyiv (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk (Belarusian SSR), Bucharest (Romanian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Warsaw (Polish SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SSR). The USSR spans over 10.2 million miles through 11 different time zones, making it the largest country in the world.

The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, which saw the Bolsheviks overthrow the Russian Provisional Government that formed earlier that year following the February Revolution and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, marking the end of the Russian Empire. Following the coup, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), the world's first constitutionally guaranteed socialist state. Persisting internal tensions escalated into the brutal Russian Civil War. As the war progressed in the Bolshevik's favor, the RSFSR began to incorporate land conquered from the war into nominally independent states, which were unified into the Soviet Union in December 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power. Stalin inaugurated a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization that led to significant economic growth. Major famines also occurred in the early days of the USSR, including the famine of 1930–1933, partially caused by weather conditions and the burning of crops and killing of cattle as a protest to collectivization, with killed millions as a result.

Nationalism and fascism began to rise within the USSR in the 1930s, infiltrating many high positions of the CPSU. The Second and Third Great Purges saw the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of fascists, who collaborated to overthrow the government and install fascism. Many fascists in power were executed for treason or sent to gulags to perform hard labor. In 1938, after tensions with fascist Nazi Germany, Germany invaded the Soviet Union with help from Italy, Spain, Britain, and France, along with the rest of Eastern Europe, minus Turkey. Just a few months later, Japan would begin its own invasion from the east, though mainly focus on mainland China. Much of the western USSR would end up occupied by the Axis, as the country suffered heavy losses in the war. During Axis occupation, the USSR found itself in the midst of the Holocaust, with many ethnic minorities such as Jews, Slavs, Poles, homosexuals, among others sent to concentration camps or extermination camps, if not massacred in broad daylight by volunteering fascist groups. However, a turning point would arrive between 1942-1943, as rapid production of equipment outpaced that of the Axis, and both Germany and Italy began to show signs as weakness, added on to the Union of North American Socialist Council Republics joining the war on the side of the Allies, deploying similar methods and providing many troops and equipment to the USSR on the European Front, while also doing much of the fighting against Japan in the Pacific Front. The USSR began to regain all of its lost territories, even occupying much of Eastern Germany (Prussia) after the chaos following the death of the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler. The war reached its hottest point when in August of 1946, after months of nuclear escalations, Britain deployed planes carrying atomic weapons in Nazi Germany, flying above several Danubian cities, resulting in the atomic bombings of Prague, Brno, Vienna, and Bratislava. Warsaw, now reoccupied by the USSR, was also hit by an atomic bomb, killing tens of thousands. The UNA responded two weeks later, bombing the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Tensions reached seemingly insurmountable points, as millions and millions across all cities involved in the war were evacuated. Plane encirclement along the borders also prevented more bombings with planes carrying atomic bombs being destroyed. However, the UNA led negotiations for the Allies, encouraging no more nuclear bombs to be used and a peaceful end to the war. After months of negotiations and stalemate, a ceasefire was called, ending the war.

In total, an estimated 28 million Soviet lives were lost in WWII, either through direct genocide, civilian casualties, or soldier deaths. The Cold War began after WWII, and though no war broke out directly between the economic powers of each camp (mostly due to threats of nuclear escalation), both sides were involved in many proxy wars, including the Albanian Revolution, Korean Revolution, Indian Civil War, and various wars across Southeast Asia. The end of the war also saw the establishment of the Budapest Pact, a military alliance, and the Socialist Union, an intergovernmental organization that would later be renamed the Global Union.

Despite the losses in World War II, the Soviet Union would see economic prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s, a major rebound from the depression after WWII. Entertainment, cultural expression, cultural unity, and community spirit were all at all-time highs due to patriotism and unity after WWII. After Stalin's death in 1953, Vyacheslav Molotov took power, beginning the Fourth Great Purge in 1953, as many revisionists who wanted to restore capitalism were expelled. Beginning in 1966, the Fifth (and final) Great Purge would occur alongside the Soviet Cultural Revolution, and although it was not as extensive as the Chinese Cultural Revolution or American Cultural Revolution, most of the last bourgeoisie elements of society would be liquidated, with almost no revisionists within the government, requiring loyalty checks, annual expulsions, term limits, targets on bureaucracy, and stricter requirements for joining the CPSU or governing body.

The USSR today remains one of the world's most progressive advances toward socialism. After 2020, with the European Union gaining more influence over Europe and propositions for the European Confederation in place, the USSR began to accept nations with close economic ties into the union, incorporating Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Kurdistan.

## Ideology

The USSR has remained a one-party Marxist-Leninist state throughout its existence. Although originally allowing for market growth in Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), under Joseph Stalin, collectivization, demarketization, and planned economies were implemented, among many other socialist policies. All leaders after Stalin upheld these same policies.

The USSR claims to be a socialist, transitional republic, with the goal of reaching communism.