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The '''Soviet Union''' (Russian: Советский Союз, ''Sovyetskiy Soyuz''), formally the '''Union of Soviet Socialist Republics''' (or '''USSR''') (Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, ''Soyuz Sovietskykh Sotsialisticheskykh Respublik'', abbreviated ''СССР'') was a [[progressive]] [[police state]] that existed 1922-1991,<ref>[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-established/ This Day in History USSR Established 1922]</ref> then broke into 15 separate countries, most notably [[Russia]]. The USSR guaranteed free healthcare and jobs for its people, even if the employment was in a [[gulag]] as a [[slave]] of the [[state]]. It was the most powerful established [[socialist]] state in history, coming to power under [[Lenin]] in 1918 and killing millions of its citizens to establish a ruthless Communist dictatorship under [[Joseph Stalin]] in the 1930s. After cooperating with the USSR (1939–41), the Nazi Germans under [[Adolf Hitler]] invaded in a war to the death. The USSR defeated the Nazis in [[World War II]] (1941–45), and took control of most of [[Central Europe]], turning formerly independent countries into Communist satellite states. It was the primary antagonist of the United States during the [[Cold War]] (1947-1989); it then collapsed because of American pressure and its own internal economic and social failures. At its height the USSR covered one-sixth of the earth's land area, stretching from [[Central Europe]] across [[Eastern Europe]] and northern Asia to the Pacific Ocean. Although Russia and most of Soviet republics are [[Western world]] countries, during the Soviet period, a war was declared on Christianity, the country wanted to cut its Western roots and create a brand new civilization, a communist utopia.