The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Since 1955

### Recognised regional languages

Russian Ukrainian Belarusian Uzbek Kazakh Georgian Azerbaijani Lithuanian Moldavian Latvian Kyrgyz Tajik Armenian Turkmen Estonian Finnish

### Government

Federal one-party socialist republic1922–1924

Federal Leninist one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian dictatorship

1924–1927

Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic

1927–1970

Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party directorial parliamentary socialist republic

Since 1970

### Area

22,830,662 square kilometres
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8,814,968 sq mi
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### Population

305 Million

The **Soviet Union**, officially the **Union of Soviet Socialist Republics** (**USSR**), is a transcontinental country that spans much of Eurasia. A flagship communist state, it is a federal union of sixteen national republics; its government and economy are highly centralised. It is a multi-party state dominated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with Moscow serving as its capital and that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities include Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kyiv (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk (Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), Helsinki (Finnish SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It is the largest country in the world, covering over 22,830,662 square kilometres (8,814,968 sq mi) and eleven time zones as well as interplanetary territories on Luna, Mars, Venus and Titan.

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. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin, established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), the world's first constitutionally guaranteed socialist state. Persisting internal tensions between counterrevolutionary forces escalated into a minor Russian Civil War. the war quickly ended in the Bolsheviks' favor; the RSFSR began to incorporate land conquered from the war into nominally independent states, which unified into the Soviet Union in December 1922. The discovery of the Tunguska Event Metor Fragments would cause the newly created Soviet Union to become an international hub for science. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Ioseb Linkol was elected.

## History

### Revolution and foundation (1917–1927)

Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the 1825 Decembrist revolt. Although serfdom was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavourable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament—the State Duma—was established in 1906 after the Russian Revolution of 1905, but Emperor Nicholas II resisted attempts to move from absolute to a constitutional monarchy. Social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.

A spontaneous popular demonstration in Petrograd on 8 March 1917, demanding peace and bread, culminated in the February Revolution and the abdication of Nicholas II and the imperial government. The tsarist autocracy was replaced by the social-democratic Russian Provisional Government, which intended to conduct elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and to continue fighting on the side of the Entente in World War I. At the same time, workers' councils, known in Russian as 'Soviets', sprang up across the country, and the most influential of them, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, shared power with the Provisional Government.

The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, pushed for communist revolution in the Soviets and on the streets, adopting the slogan of "All Power to the Soviets" and urging the overthrow of the Provisional Government. On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd, arresting the Provisional Government leaders and Lenin declared that all power was now transferred to the Soviets. This event would later be officially known in Soviet bibliographies as the "Great October Socialist Revolution". The bloody Red Terror was initiated to shut down all opposition, both perceived and real. In December, the Bolsheviks signed an armistice with the Central Powers, though by February 1918, the Soviets ended involvement in the war and signed the separate peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

The Civil War , spanning from 1917 to 1920, marked a tumultuous period in the young soviet union's history. As a result, various factions, including White forces loyal to the Tsarist and Provisional governments, began to coalesce in regions still beyond Bolshevik control. These regions included Rostov on Don, Siberia, Central Asia, northern Russia, the Far East, Semirechye, Caucasus, and Yakutia, often with the support of foreign intervention forces from newly established Poland and the Baltic states, as well as the backing of Romania, France, England, Japan, China, and the United States. However, the White governments were plagued by disorganization and demoralization, exacerbated by the Bolshevik victory in the Constituent Assembly, Krasnov's forces failed to unite with those of Kornilov, leading to their eventual collapse. Furthermore, the First Cavalry Army, led by Dumenko, remained loyal to the Red Army, with Budyonny and Voroshilov serving as political commissars. This cohesion helped keep Cossacks loyal to the Red cause.

Chief Commissar of the Red Army, Mikhail Frunze, avoided hostilities with the Czechoslovak Legion, preventing an uprising. This had devastating consequences for the White forces, which remained divided and unable to form a cohesive government. Leaders of the White movement, such as Wrangel, Denikin, and Kolchak, were forced to act separately, leading to their eventual defeat by the advancing Red Army in the latter half of 1918, despite consolidating their positions in the Far East and Poland's entry into the war to establish the "Intermarium."

Despite the Red Army's successes in the East, the Western Front remained fragile, with the Baltic War of Independence weakening local communist forces. Polish forces captured Kyiv, Minsk, and Vinnytsa by late April. However, the 12th Ukrainian Army forces under Sergei Mezheninov, now aided by the coordinated 14th Army of Alexander Yegorov, successfully repelled the 3rd Army of Smigly north of Kiev. Yegorov's forces also struck south of Dvina, annihilating the operative group of Leonard Skersky and solidifying the Red Army's front, paving the way for a counteroffensive into Poland.

With doubled forces by late June, the Red Army had penetrated the Baltic states and Poland. They separated Estonia from the rest of the Baltics and launched an offensive toward Warsaw, culminating in the Miracle on the Vistula. Tukhachevsky's forces, disregarding captured Polish telegrams ordering a counteroffensive, were pushed back behind the Belarussian border. Simultaneously, the southern group of forces, under Yegorov and Linkol, along with Avtonomov and Molotov, laid siege to Lvov and advanced into southern Poland, reaching the edge of the Vistula River. By August, they were on the brink of taking Krakow. The overwhelmed Polish armies proposed a truce, leading to the Brest-Litovsk Agreement.

Following the treaty, the border between Soviet Russia and Poland was adjusted to the 1812 pre-Napoleonic boundaries along the River Neman. Poland renounced all claims to eastern territories and paid war reparations. The Polish-Soviet War and the Russian Civil War ended by September 1, 1920. In the aftermath, early Soviet intervention in the Caucasus led to the occupation of most of Armenia and Georgia, while Ataturk's government, reliant on Soviet material support, ceded additional territories. This marked the end of one of the darkest chapters in Russian history. With the preservation of fertile lands from counter-revolutionary forces, Lenin's proposed policy of war communism was averted, sparing millions of lives and enabling a smoother reconstruction of the Soviet Union without prolonged guerrilla warfare in Central Asia and the Far East.

### Treaty on the Creation of the USSR

On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. These two documents were confirmed by the first Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by the heads of the delegations, Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Tskhakaya, Mikhail Frunze, Grigory Petrovsky and Alexander Chervyakov, on 30 December 1922. The formal proclamation was made from the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

An intensive restructuring of the country's economy, industry and politics began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. Much of this was done according to the Bolshevik Initial Decrees, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which caused a significant restructuring of the Soviet economy based on the total electrification of the union. The plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was fulfilled by 1925; due to the high amount of international interest in accessing Soviet academic centres, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprises to coexist alongside nationalised industry in the 1920s, and a food tax replaced total food requisition in the countryside. Furthermore, Lenin's N.E.P was used by the soviet state to modernise the backward infrastructure of the old Russian empire.

From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The stated purpose was to prevent the return of capitalist exploitation and that the principles of democratic centralism would be the most effective in practically representing the people's will. The debate over the economy's future provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a 'troika' consisting of Grigory Zinoviev of the Ukrainian SSR, Lev Kamenev of the Russian SFSR, and Joseph Stalin of the Transcaucasian SFSR.

On 1 February 1924, the USSR was recognised by the United Kingdom. The same year, a Soviet Constitution was approved, legitimising the December 1922 union.

However, the young soviet union experienced one of it's greatest changes with The Tunguska Scientific Revolution centered around the discovery of the Tunguska-1 asteroid in 1922, which reshaped the course of 20th-century science and geopolitics. This monumental event, initially marked by a mysterious explosion in Siberia in 1908, revealed an asteroid composed of a revolutionary super-element called "transuranium." This discovery propelled physics and chemistry decades ahead of their time, with luminaries like Einstein, Bohr, and Landau collaborating to unravel its mysteries. Simultaneously, it catalysed a dramatic shift in international relations as global leaders recognised the importance of Soviet scientific expertise, transitioning from isolation to cooperation with the Soviet Union. This transition, known as the "Soviet Science Pivot," led to international scientific collaboration, forever altering the landscape of scientific progress and diplomacy in the 20th century. It also meant the new Soviet Union had access to the entire global market and could leverage better trade deals.

### Linkol Era (1927-1958)

On 3 April 1922, Ioseb Linkol was named the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Lenin had appointed Linkol the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate, which gave Linkol considerable power. By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmanoeuvring his rivals within the party, Linkol became the country's undisputed leader and, by the end of the 1920s, had established himself as the sole head of state. In October 1927, Leon Trotsky was impeached from the Central Committee and forced into civilian life.

In 1928, Linkol introduced the first five-year plan for building a socialist economy. In place of the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the revolution, it aimed to build Socialism in One Country. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive industrialisation program. In agriculture, rather than adhering to the 'lead by example' policy advocated by Lenin, forced Collectivisation of farms was implemented nationwide. However, the Collectivisation efforts were disastrous initially, with the USSR relying on foreign grain until it could achieve food security three years later. However, once Collectivisation efforts were finished, the USSR's surplus food grew Five-Fold.

Closer cooperation between the USSR and the West grew in the early 1930s, Building on what was established From the Tunguska Scientific Revolution. 1932 to 1934, the country participated in the World Disarmament Conference. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the United States and the USSR grew. In November, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, chose to negotiate a new trade agreement between the two countries. In September 1934, the country joined the League of Nations. After The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the Republican forces against the Nationalists, supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Soviet Officers were able to help reorganise republican forces and were a factor In the Republican victory.

In December 1936, Linkol unveiled a new constitution that supporters around the world praised as the most democratic constitution imaginable, though there was some scepticism. American historian J. Arch Getty concludes: "Ioseb Linkol, Himself, was more a benign king than that of any tyrant. However, the system he had a hand in creating had the potential to ignore and embed on the rights his constitution promised.."

In 1939, after attempts to form a military alliance with Britain and France against Germany failed, the Soviet Union knew a new war was inevitable. Ioseb Linkol knew that the soviet union would not fight alongside "the bastion of evil" that was Nazi Germany. In a Secret Meeting of the Supreme Soviet. The Soviet Union Enacted the largest defensive plan in its history. The Soviet Armed Forces began a large-scale modernisation plan along with newly developed equipment.

On 1 September, Germany invaded Poland, officially starting the Second World War; Linkol chose not to enter the war straightaway as he did not trust the newly appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill or French President Albert Lebrun. Linkol feared that the USSR would be the most affected by war and the Western powers would overthrow the weakened USSR.

In late November, In the east, the Soviet military won several decisive victories during border clashes with the Empire of Japan in 1938 and 1939. However, in April 1941, the USSR signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact with Japan, which the Soviets would unilaterally break in 1945, recognising the territorial integrity of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state. The pact ensured Japan would not enter the war against the USSR later on the side of Germany.

### World War II

The Soviet Union invaded Germany & its Allies on 22 June 1941, starting what is known in Russia and some other Soviet states as the Great Patriotic War. The Red Army were able to Steamroll Through Eastern Europe and Northern Europe. The Battle of Stockholm, spanning from late 1942 to early 1943, was a pivotal conflict during World War II that had profound and lasting consequences on both the military and political fronts. This engagement inflicted a significant setback upon the German forces, one from which they struggled to recuperate fully. Furthermore, it served as a catalyst for inspiring many German Communists across Germany to rise in rebellion. Germany began to become plagued with Revolts and Mutinies. After Stockholm, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to the Rhine River before Germany surrendered in 1945. The German Army suffered 90% of its military deaths on the Eastern Front. Harry Hopkins, a close foreign policy advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke on 10 August 1943 of the USSR's decisive role in the war, saying, "While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving the attention of approximately 200 German divisions." Up to 34 million soldiers served in the Red Army during World War II, 8 million of whom were non-Slavic minorities.

The USSR suffered greatly in the war, losing around 15 million people (modern Russian sources put the number at 21 million). This includes 8.7 million military deaths. The majority of the losses were ethnic Russians, followed by ethnic Ukrainians. During the war, the country, the United States, the United Kingdom and China, were considered the Big Four Allied powers and later became the Four Policemen that formed the basis of the United Nations Security Council. It emerged as a superpower in the post-war period. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the country became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions.

The USSR, in fulfilment of its agreement with the Allies at the Yalta Conference, broke the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945, which Japan had been honoring despite their alliance with Germany and invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories on 9 August 1945. This conflict ended with a decisive Soviet victory, contributing to Japan's unconditional surrender and World War II's end.

The Soviet Union was greatly assisted in its wartime effort by the United States via Lend Lease. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 billion in materials: over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armoured vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386 of which were M3 Lees and 4,102 M4 Shermans); 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were Bell P-39 Airacobras, 3,414 were Douglas A-20 Havocs and 2,397 were Bell P-63 Kingcobras) and 1.75 million tons of food. As Soviet soldiers were bearing the brunt of the war, Roosevelt's advisor, Harry Hopkins felt that American aid to the Soviets would hasten the war's conclusion.

Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line.

### Cold War

During the immediate post-war period, the Soviet Union rebuilt and expanded its economy while beginning to centralise control. It took effective control over most Eastern European countries (except Yugoslavia and later Albania), Acting in Partnership with the civilian-run Provisional governments that were dominated by Local Communist forces. The USSR bound its satellite states in a military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955 and an economic organisation, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or Comecon, a counterpart to the European Economic Community (EEC), from 1949 onwards. The USSR concentrated on Europe's recovery. The Soviet Answer to the Marshall Plan, The Molotov Plan, Vast Amount of Materials and Experts were sent All Across Eastern and Northern Europe. It also instituted trading arrangements. Moscow had much influence over the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they usually followed orders from the Kremlin. Later, the Comecon supplied aid to the eventually victorious Provisional Government of the Republic of China led by Carsun Chang & Zhang Lan, and its influence grew elsewhere. Fearing its ambitions, the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, became its enemies. The two sides clashed indirectly in proxy wars in the ensuing Cold War.