Changes

|arms =Arms Coat of arms of the Soviet Union.svg.png

The '''Soviet Union''' (Russian: Советский Союз, ''Sovyetskiy Soyuz''), formally officially the '''Union of Soviet Socialist Republics''' (or '''USSR''') (Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, ''Soyuz Sovietskykh Sotsialisticheskykh Respublik'', abbreviated ''СССР'') was one of the most powerful established a [[socialistprogressive]] states [[police state]] that existed from 1922 to December 25, 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 the [[Russian Federation]]. At Throughout its height history, the USSR covered one-sixth of leadership in the earth's land area stretching from eastern Europe across north Asia to [[Kremlin]] and [[Politburo]] was never dominated by ethnic Russians. The communist ideology suppressed the Pacific Oceandominant culture and national identity while promoting [[diversity]] and inclusion of minorities.

==Founding==The USSR, Soviet Union was the primary member of which was communist-era [[Russia]], was most powerful established by [[Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanovsocialist]] (Russian: Владимир Ильич Улянов)state in history, known by his ''nom de guerre'' of coming to power under [[Lenin]], in 1922 following the overthrow 1918 and killing tens of millions of the tsarist its people to establish an extreme [[Russian Empire]] in the [[Russian Revolution]], and the ensuing [[Russian Civil Warleftwing]]ideology. It allowed one central government under Lenin to control many republics, including Neither Russia nor the original members Soviet Union had any tradition of [[Ukrainedemocracy]], [[Belarus]], [[Russia]] and the republics of the Trans-Caucasian regionRussian people never voted for socialism or communism. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics became a multi-national entity that eventually included 15 republics: Russia (the RSFSR), [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Estonia]], [[Ukraine]], [[Belarus]], [[Georgia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Armenia]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Moldova]].

==Rise of Stalin==Upon Lenin's deathThe Soviet Union, a power struggle ensued between [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]], two influential officials during Lenin's tenure. Stalin eventually gained the upper hand in the fightparticular, and forced Trotsky into exile; he was eventually assassinated also notorious for being the first country in [[Mexico]] in 1940. By 1932all of history to not only legalize abortion, but also having absolutely no restrictions on the standard practice, with the only exception being 1936 up until 1953 where Stalin briefly made it illegal in order to preserve some elements of living of average the Soviet workers was lower than people when it became apparent the rate of abortions were such that of the unemployed in Western countries. Tens of thousands had been shot as dissenters and as “speculators,” i.e., for engaging in [[free market]] tradecountry would go extinct soon. <ref>[httphttps://www.independentcatholicworldreport.orgcom/publications2020/article.asp?id=1468 ''FDR: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy''], Ralph Raico, Future of Freedom Foundation, April 1, 2001. Retrieved from The Independent Institute.org 0611/17/07.november-1920-2020-a-century-of-abortion-in-russia/</ref> The [[Gulag]] was rapidly filling up with millions condemned to hunger and death. And then came the great terror-famine of 1932–33. In this forgotten [[democide]], some five or six or more millions died of starvation and diseases resulting from malnutrition, mostly in the Ukraine, but also in the North Caucasus and other regions. From the villages stretching across this vast area, state functionaries nervously informed Moscow that conditions were so bad that cannibalism was becoming common.

After an [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact|alliance among socialists]] to dismember [[Catholic]] [[Poland]] (1939–41), the [[Nazi]] [[German]]s under [[Adolf Hitler]] invaded the USSR in a war to the death. The correspondent of USSR defeated the ''Nazis in [[New York TimesWorld War II]]''(1941–45), Walter Durantyand took control of most of [[Central Europe]], staunchly denied in print that any famine existed, although he admitted turning formerly independent countries into [[Communist]] satellite states. It was the primary antagonist of the United States during the [[Cold War]] (1947-1989); it in privatethen collapsed because of [[American]] pressure and its own internal economic and social failures. For his reporting 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 Russiaand most of Soviet republics are [[Western world]] countries, during the Soviet period, Duranty won a war was declared on [[Pulitzer PrizeChristianity]], of which the ''New York Times'' still boasts country wanted to this daycut its Western roots and create a brand new civilization, a communist utopia.

On the eve [[File:480px-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (orthographic projection).svg.png|thumbnail|right|400px|The Soviet Union after [[World War IIWWII]] came the ]]==Geography==[[Great PurgeFile:Саблинский хребет.jpg|thumbnail|300px|The Ural Mountains run north-to-south through the Soviet Union (Russia), roughly dividing the eastern and western parts.]], Located in which Stalin disposed of all followers of Lenin the middle and Trotsky. The liquidation northern latitudes of the military leadership had important ramifications after the Germans invaded in 1941Northern Hemisphere, and is largely accredited as the cause Soviet Union's 22.4 million square kilometers included one-sixth of the USSRearth's unpreparedness and setbacks in the early usable land area. Its western portion (European part of Russia), comprising more than half of all European landmass, made up 25% of Russia's total area, was where 72% of the Warpeople lived, and was where most industrial and agricultural activities were concentrated. The largest region was the lightly populated [[Siberia]], a land between the Urals and the Pacific that for centuries was infamous as a place of exile, a land of endless expanses of snow and frigid temperatures.

During the Second World WarExtending for over 60,000 kilometers, the USSR Soviet border was invaded by the world's longest national frontier, sharing a common border with twelve countries, six on each continent. In Asia, its neighbors were the [[Nazi GermanyDemocratic People's Republic of Korea]]. (North Korea), [[Adolf HitlerChina]] was an outspoken anti-Communist and longed to crush Russia. The German army, however[[Mongolia]], failed to capture Moscow[[Afghanistan]], mostly due to the harsh Russian winter. Over twelve million Russians died [[Iran]], and [[Turkey]]; in the Second World War[[Europe]], it bordered [[Romania]], [[Hungary]], [[Czechoslovakia]] (now [[Czech Republic]] and [[Slovakia]]), [[Poland]], [[Norway]], and [[Finland]].

The Soviet Union supposedly Approximately two-thirds of the frontier was vocal in protecting workers' interestsbounded by water, however Isaac Deutscher noted after World War II restrictions on forming the employment longest and, owing to its proximity to the North Pole, probably the most useless coastline of [[child labor]] were abolishedany country.<ref>Isaac DeutscherApart from Murmansk, ''The Great Purges''which receives the warm currents of the Gulf Stream, edited by Tamara Deutscher (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1984), pthe northern coast is locked in ice much of the year. 79The search for a warm water port was a central theme throughout Russian history.</ref>

{{Famine ===Administrative-Political-Territorial Divisions===The USSR was divided into fifteen union republics - the largest administrative and political units - officially known as Soviet republics or union republics. Theoretically they were independent countries; in practice they were controlled by the Kremlin. Nationality, size of 1933}}the population, and location were the determinants for republic status. By far the largest and most important was the Russian Republic, containing about 51% of the population. In 1989 Russians made up over 51% of the Soviet population and were politically, economically and culturally the dominant nationality, there are more than 100 other nationality groups that make up Soviet society. Fourteen other major nationalities also have their own republics: in the European part are the [[Lithuania]]n, [[Latvia]]n, [[Estonia]]n, [[Belarus]]ian, [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]], and [[Moldavia]]n republics; the [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]n, [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Armenian]] republics occupy the Caucasus; and Soviet Central Asia is home to the [[Kazakhstan|Kazakh]], [[Uzbekistan|Uzbek]], [[Turkmenistan|Turkmen]], [[Kyrgyzstan|Kyrgyz]], and [[Tajikistan|Tajik]] republics.

==Soviet aggression==[[Image:Sovietambitions.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The darkened areas represent territorries of Soviet ambitions and designs, 1921 - 1949.]]Soviet ambitions in China as early as 1921 republics were to transform all northern China — [[Sinkiang]], [[Mongolia]] and [[Manchuria]] — subdivided into outright Russian dependencies and to convert what remained of China into a Communist satellite.<ref>''While You Slept : Our Tragedy in Asia and Who Made It''administrative subdivisions called autonomous republics, John T. Flynnautonomous oblasts, New York : The Devin - Adair Companyautonomous okruga, 1951kraia, [http://wwwor most often oblasts.mises.org/books/whileyouslept.pdf pg. 17] pdfThese subdivisions made the country easier to manage and some served to recognize additional nationalities.</ref>

The ==People==[[UImage:Solzhenitsyn.S. Department of Statejpg‎|thumb|150px|right|The [[Nobel Prize]] refused to regard winning [[JapanRussia]]n author [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] as a bulwark against Soviet expansion in North China in the 1930s. As a matter of fact, not one protest was sent by the Department of State against exiled from the Soviet Union despite her absorption due to his criticism of Sinkiang and [[Outer Mongoliathe Soviet government.]],while at the same time, Japan was censured for stationing troops in China. <ref>"The Explanation official Soviet census of 1989 listed over 100 nationalities in the Foreign Minister at Imperial ConferenceSoviet Union. Each had its own history," December 1culture, 1941, Far Eastern Military Tribunal, Record pand language. 26101Each possessed its own sense of national identity and national consciousness. According The position of each nationality in the Soviet Union depended to Alexander Barminea large degree on its size, who was in charge the percentage of the supply people using the national language as their first language, the degree of its integration into the Soviet armssociety, by 1935, Sinkiang had become "a Soviet colony in all but nameand its territorial-administrative status." One Who Survived (NewYork: G. P.PutnamThis position was also dependent on each nationality's Sons, 1945), pp. 231-232. share of membership in the [http://home.comcast.net/~markconrad/Sinkiang.htm#_ednref9][http://www.oxuscom.com/sovinxj.htmCommunist Party of the Soviet Union]</ref>] (CPSU), the number of students in higher institutions, the number of scientific workers, and the urbanization of each nationality.

==The Cold War==various nationalities differed greatly in size. On the one hand, the Russians, who constituted about 50.8 percent of the population, numbered about 145 million in 1989. On the other hand, half of the nationalities listed in the census together accounted for only 0.5 percent of the total population, most of them having fewer than 100,000 people. Twenty-two nationalities had more than 1 million people each. Fifteen of the major nationalities had their own union republics, which together comprised the federation known as the Soviet Union.

Later the USSR would oppose the [[United States]] by providing aid The nationalities having union republic status commanded more political and economic power than other nationalities and found it easier to enemies in direct conflictmaintain their own language and culture. In 1971 the USSR provided heavy arms shipments to Egypt and Syria that were used in 1989 some nationalities formed an overwhelming majority within their 1967 war with [[Israel]]. Although own republics; one nationality (the two Arab nations were routed the Soviets would replenish the arms lostKazakhs), however, lacked even a majority. Soviet military assistance aided North Vietnam in In addition to the 1960s fifteen union republics, individual nationalities had their own territorial units, such as autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts, and 1970s during autonomous okruga. The remaining nationalities did not have territorial units of their own and in most cases only constituted minorities in the [[Vietnam War]]Russian Republic.

In 1979 The nationalities that have had a significant political and economic impact on the Soviet forces entered [[Afghanistan]] to support Union include the fifteen nationalities that government against Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen rebelshave their own union republics and the non-union republic nationalities that numbered at least 1 million people in 1989. These rebels found support from They are the United StatesSlavic nationalities, Saudi Arabiathe Baltic nationalities, the nationalities of the Caucasus, the Central Asian nationalities, Pakistan and a few other Muslim nationsnationalities. By 1989 the Soviets withdrew with some 14*Population: 293,000 killed and 53047,000 troops wounded571 (1991 estimate). This along with Average annual growth rate 0.9 percent. Density twelve persons per square kilometer; 75 percent of people lived west of Ural Mountains. *Nationalities: 51 percent of population Russian, 15 percent Ukrainian, 6 percent Uzbek, nearly 4 percent Belorussian, and 24 percent about 100 other nationalities. [[File:Bezhnoznik u stanka 15-1929.jpg|thumb|260px|A Soviet propaganda poster disseminated in the economic cost helped lead ''Bezbozhnik'' (''Atheist'') magazine depicting [[Jesus]] being dumped from a wheelbarrow by an industrial worker as well as a smashed church [[bell]]; the text advocates Industrialisation Day as an alternative replacement to the disintegration of the Soviet Union[[Christian]] Transfiguration Day. see: [[Militant atheism]] ]]*Religions: Religious worship was authorized by Constitution, but Marxism–Leninism, the official ideology, was militantly [[Atheism|atheistic]] (Only 80see: [[Militant atheism]]). Reliable statistics are unavailable,000 - 140but about 18 percent was Russian Orthodox; 17 percent Muslim; and nearly 7 percent Roman Catholic,000 troops Protestant, Armenian Orthodox, Georgian Orthodox, and Jewish combined. Officially, most of remainder was atheist. *Languages: Russian was the official language. Over 200 other languages and dialects were spoken, often as the primary tongue; 18 languages were spoken by groups of more than 1 million each. About 75 percent of people spoke Slavic languages. *Education: Highly centralized school system with standardized curriculum. Attendance was compulsory through eleventh grade. Strong emphasis on training for vocations selected by central authorities. Indoctrination in Afghanistan Marxist–Leninist ideology at any given all levels. Science and technology emphasized at secondary level and above. As of 1979 census, official literacy rate 99.8 percent for persons between nine and forty-nine years old. Over 5.3 million studied at universities and institutes, nearly 50 percent part-time.)<ref>The World AlmanacAll education free, Global Pressand in many cases students received stipends. *Health and Welfare: Medical care by government health institutions; free, 1999</ref>but of poor quality for general public despite having the highest number of physicians and hospital beds per capita in world. Welfare and pension programs provided, albeit marginally, for substantial segments of population.

The ===Population===Seven official censuses have been taken in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to Union (1920, 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979, and 1989). Both the America quality and several other nations boycotting the Moscow 1980 Summer [[Olympics]]quantity of the data have varied: in 1972 seven volumes totaling 3,238 pages were published on the 1970 census. In turn contrast, the Soviets and many results of their proxy states would boycott the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics1979 census were published more than five years later in a single volume of 366 pages.

===The Shootdown of KAL 007===Considered by many as According to the second or third most critical single incident census of the Cold War1989, after on the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] day of 1962 and [[Able Archer 83]]the census, January 12, the shooting down population of [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] on Sept. 1, 1983 would signal a change in the relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union prompted by the subsequent deployment of Pershing and cruise missiles in West Germany just 6 minutes from launch was estimated to Moscowbe 286,717,000. This precipitated figure maintained the era of confrontation of 1983 and 1984 between the two nations. The world would once again witness what it saw country's long-standing position as the blatent barbarity of what President Reagan had termed the "Evil Empire". Though the world had accepted that KAL 007 had exploded 's third most populous country after China and crashed with no survivors of India. In the 269 passengers and crewintercensal period (1979–88), there has most recently surfaced evidence to the contrary [http://wwwpopulation of the Soviet Union grew from 262.rescue0074 million to 286.org/]7 million, a 9 percent increase.

==Disintegration==The During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Soviet Union eventually imploded after experienced declining birth rates, increasing divorce rates, a series of economic trend toward smaller nuclear families, and political reforms known increasing mobility and urbanization. Major problems associated with such factors as [[Glasnost]] migration, tension among nationality groups, uneven fertility rates, and perestroika high infant and adult mortality became increasingly acute, and various social programs and incentives were introduced by the last Chairman to deal with them. ===Religion===Over one-third of the [[Communist Party of people in the Soviet Union]] (CPSU), an officially [[Mikhail GorbachovAtheism|atheistic]]state, in the 1980sprofessed religious belief. As previously mentioned, the Soviet Union was also strategically weakened by its engagement in Afghanistan. The USSR was formally dissolved in 1991 by [[Boris YeltsinChristianity]]and Islam had the most believers. The [[successor state|successor states]] Christians belonged to various churches: Orthodox, which had the Soviet Union are the [[Russian Federation]], largest number of followers; Catholic; and Baptist and the various other members Protestant sects. The majority of the [[Commonwealth Islamic faithful were Sunni. Judaism also had many followers. Other religions, which were practiced by a relatively small number of Independent States]]believers, included Buddhism, Lamaism, and shamanism, a religion based on primitive spiritualism.

The role of religion in the daily lives of Soviet citizens varied greatly. Because Islamic religious tenets and social values of Muslims are closely interrelated, religion appeared to have a greater influence on Muslims than on either Christians or other believers. Two-thirds of the Soviet population, however, had no religious beliefs. About half the people, including members of the CPSU and high-level government officials, professed atheism. For the majority of Soviet citizens, therefore, religion seemed irrelevant. ==Government==[[File:200px-Coat of arms of the Soviet Union.svg.png|thumbnail|200px|Coat of arms of the Soviet Union. The legend on the red ribbon repeats, in the fifteen national languages spoken in the original "republics," the final line from Karl Marx' Communist Manifesto: [[Workers of the world, unite!|"Workers of all countries, unite!"]] The hammer-sickle device overspreading the world signifies the spread of Communism worldwide.]]{{Main|Soviet Union government}}The Soviet Union administered the country's economy and society through decisions made by the extremely authoritarian leading political institution in the country, the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU). The USSR guaranteed free healthcare and jobs as a basic right, even if the employment was in a [[gulag]] as a [[slave]] of the [[state]]. In the late 1980s, the government appeared to have many characteristics in common with other Western, democratic political systems. For instance, a constitution established all organs of government and granted to citizens a series of political and civic rights. A legislative body, the Congress of People's Deputies, and its standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, represented the principle of popular sovereignty. The Supreme Soviet, which had an elected chairman who functioned as head of state, oversaw the Council of Ministers, which acted as the executive branch of the government. The chairman of the Council of Ministers, whose selection was approved by the legislative branch, functioned as head of government. A constitutionally based judicial branch of government included a court system, headed by the Supreme Court, which was responsible for overseeing the observance of Soviet law by government bodies. According to the Constitution of 1977, the government had a federal structure, permitting the republics some authority over policy implementation and offering the national minorities the appearance of participation in the management of their own affairs.  In practice, however, the government differed markedly from other Western systems. In the late 1980s, the CPSU performed many functions that governments of other countries usually perform. For example, the party decided on the policy alternatives that the government ultimately implemented. The government merely ratified the party's decisions to lend them an aura of legitimacy. The CPSU used a variety of mechanisms to ensure that the government adhered to its policies. The party, using its nomenklatura authority, placed its loyalists in leadership positions throughout the government, where they were subject to the norms of [[democratic centralism]]. Party bodies closely monitored the actions of government ministries, agencies, and legislative organs.  The content of the Soviet Constitution differed in many ways from typical Western constitutions. It generally described existing political relationships, as determined by the CPSU, rather than prescribing an ideal set of political relationships. The Constitution was long and detailed, giving technical specifications for individual organs of government. The Constitution included political statements, such as foreign policy goals, and provided a theoretical definition of the state within the ideological framework of Marxism–Leninism. The CPSU could radically change the constitution or remake it completely, as it has done several times in the past.  The Council of Ministers acted as the executive body of the government. Its most important duties lay in the administration of the economy. The council was thoroughly under the control of the CPSU, and its chairman - the prime minister - was always a member of the Politburo. The council, which in 1989 included more than 100 members, is too large and unwieldy to act as a unified executive body. The council's Presidium, made up of the leading economic administrators and led by the chairman, exercised dominant power within the Council of Ministers.  According to the Constitution, as amended in 1988, the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union was the Congress of People's Deputies, which convened for the first time in May 1989. The main tasks of the congress were the election of the standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, and the election of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, who acted as head of state. Theoretically, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet wielded enormous legislative power. In practice, however, the Congress of People's Deputies met only a few days in 1989 to approve decisions made by the party, the Council of Ministers, and its own Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, and the Council of Ministers had substantial authority to enact laws, decrees, resolutions, and orders binding on the population. The Congress of People's Deputies had the authority to ratify these decisions.  The government lacked an independent judiciary. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts and applied the law, as established by the Constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union lacked an [[Adversary proceeding|adversary court procedure]]. Under Soviet law, which derived from Roman law, a procurator worked together with a judge and a defense attorney to ensure that civil and criminal trials uncovered the truth of the case, rather than protecting individual rights.  The Soviet Union was a federal state made up of fifteen republics joined together in a theoretically voluntary union. In turn, a series of territorial units made up the republics. The republics also contained jurisdictions intended to protect the interests of national minorities. The republics had their own constitutions, which, along with the all-union Constitution, provide the theoretical division of power in the Soviet Union. In 1989, however, the CPSU and the central government retained all significant authority, setting policies that were executed by republic, provincial (''oblast'', ''krai'', and autonomous subdivisions), and district (''raion'') governments. ==History=={{Main|History of the Soviet Union}}===Lenin===The Soviet Union was established in December 1922 by the leaders of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) on territory generally corresponding to that of the old Russian Empire. A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd overthrew the imperial government in March 1917, leading to the formation of the Provisional Government, which intended to establish democracy in Russia. At the same time, to ensure the rights of the working class, workers' councils (''soviets'') sprang up across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir I. Lenin, agitated for socialist revolution in the soviets and on the streets, and they seized power from the Provisional Government in November 1917. Only after the ensuing Civil War (1918–21) and foreign intervention was the new communist government secure.  From its first years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communists, as the Bolsheviks called themselves beginning March 1918. After unsuccessfully attempting to centralize the economy during the Civil War, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist with nationalized industry in the 1920s. Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for Soviet leaders to contend for power in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. By gradually consolidating influence and isolating his rivals within the party, [[Joseph Stalin|Joseph V. Stalin]] became the sole leader of the Soviet Union by the end of the 1920s. Lenin had a criticism of the tsarist Russian empire as a ''prison house of nations'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6g86AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA102 Lenin’s Electoral Strategy from 1907 to the October Revolution of 1917: The Ballot, the Streets—or Both]</ref> but in the end under communist rule the USSR became the most prison-like state the world had ever seen up to this point. ===Stalin===[[Image:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|right|225px|thumb|Joseph Stalin, the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953, founded the League of Militant Atheists, whose chief aim was to propagate militant atheism and eradicate [[religion]].<ref name=Hesemann-Strieber>{{cite book|author=Michael Hesemann, Whitley Strieber|title=The Fatima Secret|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tx-BEpkJBq8C&pg=PT107&dq=Joseph+Stalin+militant+atheism&hl=en&ei=-DeRTpLrJoPi0QHo88wi&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=Joseph%20Stalin%20militant%20atheism&f=false|quote=Lenin's death in 1924 was followed by the rise of Joseph Stalin, "the man of steel," who founded the "Union of Militant Atheists," whose chief aim was to spread [[atheism]] and eradicate religion. In the following years it devastated hundreds of churches, destroyed old icons and relics, and persecuted the clergy with unimaginable brutality.|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|date=2000|accessdate=9 October 2011}}</ref> See also: [[Atheism]] ]]In 1928 Joseph Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a socialist economy. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization; in agriculture, the state appropriated the peasants' property to establish collective farms. These sweeping economic innovations produced widespread misery, and millions of peasants perished during forced collectivization. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s when Stalin began a purge of the party; out of this purge grew a campaign of terror that led to the execution or imprisonment of untold millions of people from all walks of life. Yet despite this turmoil, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II. ===World War II===Stalin tried to divide up Central Europe with Germany by concluding the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1939. The USSR took over the Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) and the eastern borderlands (Polish: 'Kresy') of Poland, while going to war with [[Finland]]. Communists across the world ended their diatribes against fascism, while Stalin provided the German war machine with supplies of oil and grain. Europe was not big enough for two dictators, so in June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The U.S. and Britain formed an alliance with Stalin to fight the Nazis, and poured in [[Lend Lease]] aid. After many humiliating defeats and the loss of three mission soldiers, the Red Army finally stopped the Nazi offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43 and then all of Central Europe before Germany surrendered in 1945. Although severely ravaged in the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as one of the world's great powers. ===Cold War===During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, using resourcs stripped from defeated Germany. The Red Army imposed Communist political control over postwar Central Europe and the Balkans, except for Yugoslavia and Albania. The active Soviet foreign policy helped bring about the [[Cold War]], starting about 1947, which turned its wartime allies, Britain and the United States, into foes. Within the Soviet Union, repressive measures continued in force; Stalin apparently was about to launch a new purge when he died in 1953. ===Khrushchev===[[File:Nikita Krushchev.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Nikita Khrushchev]] liked to threaten and bully, often using "brinkmanship" (the threat of nuclear weapons); ''Time'' Sept. 8, 1961]] see: [[Nikita Khrushchev]] After three years of a join leadership, [[Nikita Khrushchev]] seized power, denounced Stalin's use of terror and effectively reduced repressive controls over party and society. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy toward China and the United States suffered reverses. Khrushchev's colleagues in the leadership removed him from power in 1964. ===Brezhnev ===Following the ouster of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, which lasted until [[Leonid Brezhnev|Leonid I. Brezhnev]] established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. Brezhnev presided over a period of détente with the rest of the West while at the same time building up Soviet military strength; the arms buildup contributed to the demise of [[détente]] in the late 1970s. Alsocontributing to the end of détente was the [[Soviet-Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]] in December 1979.  After some experimentation with economic reforms in the mid-1960s, the Soviet leadership reverted to established means of economic management. Industry showed slow but steady gains during the 1970s, while agricultural development continued to lag. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of cautious conservatism and aversion to change. Brezhnev was succeeded by former KGB head Yuri Andropov. ===Reagan challenge===Friction with other Western countries continued in the 1980s, especially with the United States and its new president, [[Ronald Reagan]], who saw the Soviet Union for what it was and branded it an "evil empire," partially in response to the Afghanistan occupation. Reagan negotiated with West Germany to provide sites for the basing of Pershing II medium-range ballistic missiles, which was bitterly opposed by Moscow. A short period of confrontation existed between the two superpowers during the period of late-1983 through 1984, beginning with the tragic Soviet attack on a commercial airliner, [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]], over international waters near Sakhalin Island on September 1, 1983, and killing 269 civilians, including a sitting U.S. Congressman, [[Larry McDonald]]; this was followed by events within a military exercise known as Able Archer, in which a falling satellite was mistaken for an incoming ICBM and almost triggered a major war. Reagan's [[Strategic Defense Initiative]], a space-based missile defense system critics derisively dubbed "Star Wars" as well as his expansion of the United States military, also prompted a new, expensive arms race. Andropov and his successor, [[Konstantin Chernenko]], kept the communist system under Brezhnev intact, but upon Chernenko's death [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] became party chairman. ===Gorbachev and the end of communist rule===see [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]  A reformer, he introduced a series of economic and political reforms known as ''[[glasnost]]'' ("openess") and ''[[perestroika]]'' ("restructuring"), which began to creak open the doors of the Soviet's closed system. A failed attempt to reign in the three [[Baltic States]] in 1989 led to a domino-effect of [[Warsaw Pact]] countries abandoning communism; a coup attempt against Gorbachev in 1991 by hard-liners trying to keep their tattering empire ended within days. The USSR was formally dissolved on Christmas Day 1991 by [[Boris Yeltsin]], freeing many from its tyranny. The main successor state to the Soviet Union is Russia; the effort to form a "Commonwealth of Independent States" went nowhere, and the 15 republics of the USSR are now independent states.  According to declassified CIA documents, [[George Soros]] targeted the Soviet government as early as 1987. Soros worked closely with a CIA linked non-governmental organization, the Institute for East-West Security Studies, to take advantage of Glasnost and Perestroika for the purpose of infiltrating and sabotaging the Soviet economic and political system. <ref>https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/12/09/soros-and-his-cia-friends-targeted-ussr-russia-1987/</ref> To assent to the reunification of Germany, Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] ultimately agreed to a proposal from then U.S. Secretary of State [[James Baker (DOS)]] that a reunited Germany would be part of NATO but the military alliance would not move “one inch” to the east, that is, absorb any of the former [[Warsaw Pact]] nations into NATO.  On Feb. 9, 1990, Baker said: “We consider that the consultations and discussions in the framework of the 2+4 mechanism should give a guarantee that the reunification of Germany will not lead to the enlargement of NATO’s military organization to the East.” On the next day, then German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] said: “We consider that NATO should not enlarge its sphere of activity.”<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/28/the-tangled-tale-of-nato-expansion-at-the-heart-of-ukraine-crisis/</ref> Gorbachev’s mistake was not to get it in writing as a legally-binding agreement.<ref>For years it was believed there was no written record of the Baker-Gorbachev exchange at all, until the National Security Archive at George Washington University in December 2017 published a series of memos and cables about these assurances against NATO expansion eastward.</ref>[[File:Schifrinson.PNG|right|350px|thumb|Gorbachev and Yeltsin agreed to collapsing the Soviet Union in exchange for a non-NATO expansion pledge. In 2021 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denied such agreements ever existed or discussions even took place.<ref>https://www.rt.com/russia/544257-nato-boss-expansion-proposals/</ref>]]{{quotebox-float|“U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous ‘not one inch eastward’ assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by [[Western]] leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents … The documents show that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991, that discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of [[East German]] territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels. … The documents reinforce former CIA Director [[Robert Gates]]’s criticism of ‘pressing ahead with expansion of NATO eastward [in the 1990s], when Gorbachev and others were led to believe that wouldn’t happen.’ … President [[George H.W. Bush]] had assured Gorbachev during the Malta summit in December 1989 that the U.S. would not take advantage (‘I have not jumped up and down on the [[Berlin Wall]]”) of the revolutions in Eastern Europe to harm Soviet interests.’”<ref>https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early</ref>}} The minutes of a March 6, 1991 meeting in [[Bonn]], [[West Germany]] between political directors of the foreign ministries of the US, UK, France, and Germany contain multiple references to “2+4” talks on German unification in which Western officials made it “clear” to the Soviet Union that NATO would not push into territory east of Germany. “We made it clear to the Soviet Union – in the 2+4 talks, as well as in other negotiations – that we do not intend to benefit from the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe,” the document in British foreign ministry archives quotes US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Canada Raymond Seitz. “NATO should not expand to the east, either officially or unofficially,” Seitz added. A British representative also mentions the existence of a “general agreement” that membership of NATO for [[eastern Europe]]an countries is “unacceptable.”<ref>https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/nato-osterweiterung-aktenfund-stuetzt-russische-version-a-1613d467-bd72-4f02-8e16-2cd6d3285295</ref> The dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991 was a watershed event in terms of the [[decline of leftism]] and the [[decline of the secular left]]. ==See also==*[[Soviet Union government]]*[[Decline of leftism]]*[[Soviet Union and morality]]*[[Mass rape during the occupation of Germany|Mass rape of German women by the Soviet army]]

==ReferencesBibliography==<references===Surveys===* Brzezinski, Zbigniew. ''Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century'' (1990)* Ingram, Philip. ''Russia and the USSR, 1905-1991'' (1997) [https:/>/www.amazon.com/Russia-1905-1991-Cambridge-History-Programme/dp/0521568676/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232394134&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]* Keep, John L. H. ''Last of the Empires: A History of the Soviet Union, 1945-1991'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/read/25055927?title=Last%20of%20the%20Empires%3a%20A%20History%20of%20the%20Soviet%20Union%2c%201945-1991 online edition]* McCauley, Martin. ''The Soviet Union: 1917-1991'' (1993) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=54365219 online edition]* McCauley, Martin. ''Who's Who in Russia since 1900,'' (1997) [http://www.questia.com/read/103052094?title=Who's%20Who%20in%20Russia%20since%201900 online edition] * Malia, Martin. ''Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia'' (1995) [https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Tragedy-History-Socialism-Russia/dp/0684823136/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232396454&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]* Nove, Alec. ''An Economic History of the USSR 1917-1991'' (3rd ed. 1993) * Pipes, Richard. ''Communism: A History'' (2003), by a leading conservative * Suny, Ronald Grigor. ''The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States.'' (1998) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24265044# online edition]===Lenin and Stalin===* Bullock, Alan. ''Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives'' (1992), a double biography covering each man in separate but parallel chapters* Lee, Stephen J. ''Stalin and the Soviet Union'' (1999) [http://www.questia.com/read/108215209?title=Stalin%20and%20the%20Soviet%20Union online edition] * McCauley, Martin. ''Stalin and Stalinism'' (3rd ed 2003), 172pp* Service, Robert. ''Stalin: A Biography'' (2004), along with Tucker the standard biography* Service, Robert. ''Lenin: A Biography'' (2002)* Tucker, Robert C. ''Stalin as Revolutionary, 1879-1929'' (1973); ''Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1929-1941.'' (1990) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=103246514 online edition] with Service, a standard biography; [http://www.historyebook.org/ online at ACLS e-books]* Ulam, A. B. ''Stalin'' (1973), good older biography; replaced by Tucker and Service* Wood, Alan. ''Stalin and Stalinism'', (2004), 105pp [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108863368 online edition] ===Peoples, society, culture===* Cole, J. P. ''Geography of the Soviet Union'' (1984) [http://www.questia.com/read/7724372?title=Geography%20of%20the%20Soviet%20Union online edition]* Davis, Nathaniel. ''A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy'' (1995) [http://www.questia.com/read/30537968?title=A%20Long%20Walk%20to%20Church%3a%20A%20Contemporary%20History%20of%20Russian%20Orthodoxy online edition]* Denber, Rachel. ''The Soviet Nationality Reader: The Disintegration in Context'' (1992) [http://www.questia.com/read/97474829?title=The%20Soviet%20Nationality%20Reader%3a%20The%20Disintegration%20in%20Context online edition] * Lane, David. ''Soviet Society under Perestroika'' (1992) [http://www.questia.com/read/103443652?title=Soviet%20Society%20under%20Perestroika online edition]* Lapidus, Gail Warshofsky. ''Women, Work, and Family in the Soviet Union'' (1982) [http://www.questia.com/read/106056669?title=Women%2c%20Work%2c%20and%20Family%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union online edition]* Lutz, Wolfgang Lutz, Sergei Scherbov, Andrei Volkov. ''Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union before 1991'' (1994) [http://www.questia.com/read/103849492?title=Demographic%20Trends%20and%20Patterns%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union%20before%201991 online edition]* Wixman, Ronald. ''The Peoples of the USSR: An Ethnographic Handbook'' (1984) [http://www.questia.com/read/582240?title=The%20Peoples%20of%20the%20USSR%3a%20An%20Ethnographic%20Handbook online edition]

==External links=1918-1939===*State Defense Committee Decree NoDaniels, R. 5859ss V., ed. ''The Stalin Revolution'' (1965)* Davies, Sarah, and James Harris, eds. ''Stalin: A New History,'' (2006), 310pp, 14 specialized essays by scholars [httphttps://www.locamazon.govcom/exhibitsStalin-New-History-Sarah-Davies/archivesdp/l2tartar0521616530/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201494353&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]* De Jonge, Alex.html "On ''Stalin and the Crimean Tatars"Shaping of the Soviet Union'' (1986)* Fitzpatrick, Sheila, ed. ''Stalinism: New Directions,'' (1999), 396pp excerpts from many scholars on the impact of Stalinism on the people (little on Stalin himself) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=109468478 online edition]* Hoffmann, David L. ed. ''Stalinism: The KremlinEssential Readings, May 11'' (2002) essays by 12 scholars* Pipes, 1944Richard. ''A Concise History of the Russian Revolution'' (1996) [https://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Russian-Revolution/dp/0679745440/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232393501&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search], by a leading conservative* Tucker, Robert. ''Stalinism: Essays in Historical Interpretation'' (1998) [https://www.amazon.com/Stalinism-Historical-Interpretation-Robert-Tucker/dp/0765804832/ref=sr_1_12/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193876953&sr=1-12 excerpt and text search]

{{communism}}[[categoryCategory:European Russian History]]