The Soviet Union or Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (U.S.S.R) was a Communist state that existed in the last century, between 1922 and 1991. At that time, it was the largest country in the world, spread over two continents, Asia and Europe, and eleven time zones. The Soviet Union was the most powerful Communist country that ever existed.
The European part of the Soviet Union was about a fourth of the size of the whole country, but almost 80% of its citizens lived there. The Asian part stretched across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Himalayas. It was a sparsely populated region.
History
The Soviet Union emerged out of the Russian Revolution, a conflict that abolished the Russian empire and removed the tsar who ruled it. The new country was founded in 1922 after Vladimir Lenin reunited Russia with other republics after a civil war between Communists and forces who were loyal to the tsar.
When Lenin died in 1924, Joseph Stalin took over as the leader of the Soviet Union. He was a ruthless dictator, who had many citizens arrested and killed for criticizing Communism.
At the beginning of World War II the Soviet Union signed a treaty with Nazi Germany, in which both states promised not to attack each other. However, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. In the following two years, the bloodiest battles of the war were fought on Russian soil, including the infamous Battle of Stalingrad. Millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians were killed.
After World War II, The Soviet Union expanded its influence to many states of Eastern Europe. The U.S.S.R regarded Eastern Europe as their backyard and installed pro Communist governments there. This led to the Cold War, a period of tension and unstable relationships with western countries. The Soviets also expanded their influence to other continents. As a result, Cuba, North Korea and North Vietnam turned Communist.
After Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev came to power. He was a more liberal leader than Stalin, but during his rule confrontation with the west’s superpower USA came to a climax. The Cuban missile crisis almost led to a nuclear war between the USA and the U.S.S.R. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union made progress in technology and launched the first satellites into space, thus provoking the USA to enter the Space Race.
In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. His aim was to liberalize the Soviet Union. He introduced his famous policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) . Towards the end of the decade there were signs of Communism collapsing everywhere in Eastern Europe. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down and thousands of East Germans were able to freely travel to the west.
In 1991, Gorbachev lost power after generals attempted to overthrow his government. On December 25, 1991 he resigned and the majority of the 15 Soviet Republics declared independence. The USSR had ceased to exist.
Government
The Communist Party was the only existing party in the Soviet Union. It controlled everything. Members of the ruling Central Committee elected a Politburo, which made most of the decisions. The Secretary General was not only leader of the Communist party but also the nation’s most powerful person. Even though the Soviet Union existed of 15 separate republics, they controlled them tightly.
Economy
The whole economy of the Soviet Union was planned by the state. The production of goods was centralised. There was no free trade and private companies did not exist. So-called five-year plans were used to develop industries as well as the energy sector. During the first decades, the Soviet Union changed from a farming country to a highly industrialised nation. At its climax, it was the second largest economy of the world.
Production, however, did not take into consideration what people really needed. Western goods were impossible to get. Workers got the same wages, regardless of how hard they worked. Prices were also set by the state. On the other side, the government provided basic services, like health care, housing and education.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union spent a lot of money on weapons and the arms race. This led to shortages in food production so that the country often had to import products from the west. The Soviets had a vast supply of natural resources. Oil and natural gas were produced for the world market. Pipelines brought energy to Western Europe.
Population and ethnic groups
The Soviet Union consisted of many ethnic groups with different languages, cultures and religions. In 1991, about 290 million people lived in the county, but only 60% of them were Russians. The U.S.S.R. had problems integrating these cultures. Especially during the 1980s, the Islamic population in the southern republics wanted more autonomy and independence from Soviet authorities. This led to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Why the Soviet Union collapsed
There are many reasons for