Difference between revisions of "Soviet Union"
(→Soviet aggression: edit) |
(→Soviet aggression: add lk) |
||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
==Soviet aggression== | ==Soviet aggression== | ||
The [[U.S. Department of State]] refused to regard Japan as a bulwark against Soviet expansion in North China in the 1930s. As a matter of fact, not one protost was sent by the Department of State against the Soviet Union despite her absorption of [[Sinkiang]] and [[Outer Mongolia]], | The [[U.S. Department of State]] refused to regard Japan as a bulwark against Soviet expansion in North China in the 1930s. As a matter of fact, not one protost was sent by the Department of State against the Soviet Union despite her absorption of [[Sinkiang]] and [[Outer Mongolia]], | ||
| − | while at the same time, Japan was censured for stationing troops in China. <ref>"The Explanation of the Foreign Minister at Imperial Conference," December 1, 1941, Far Eastern Military Tribunal, Record p. 26101. According to Alexander Barmine, who was in charge of the supply of Soviet arms, by 1935, Sinkiang had become "a Soviet colony in all but name." One Who Survived (NewYork: G. P.Putnam's Sons, 1945), pp. 231-232. [http://home.comcast.net/~markconrad/Sinkiang.htm#_ednref9]</ref> | + | while at the same time, Japan was censured for stationing troops in China. <ref>"The Explanation of the Foreign Minister at Imperial Conference," December 1, 1941, Far Eastern Military Tribunal, Record p. 26101. According to Alexander Barmine, who was in charge of the supply of Soviet arms, by 1935, Sinkiang had become "a Soviet colony in all but name." One Who Survived (NewYork: G. P.Putnam's Sons, 1945), pp. 231-232. [http://home.comcast.net/~markconrad/Sinkiang.htm#_ednref9][http://www.oxuscom.com/sovinxj.htm]</ref> |
==Disintegration== | ==Disintegration== | ||
Revision as of 19:11, August 14, 2007
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, Sovyetskiy Soyuz), formally the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, Soyuz Sovietskykh Sotsialisticheskykh Respublik, abbreviated СССР) was one of the most powerful established socialist states in history.
Contents
Founding
The USSR, the primary member of which was Russia, was established by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Владимир Ильич Улянов) in 1922 following the overthrow of the tsarist Russian Empire in the Russian Revolution, and the ensuing Russian Civil War. It allowed one central government under Lenin to control many republics, including the original members of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and the republics of the Trans-Caucasian region. 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 death, 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 fight, and ostracised Trotsky to Mexico. By 1932, the standard of living of average Soviet workers was lower than 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 trade. [1] 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 of malnutrition, mostly in Ukraine, but also in the North Caucasus and other regions. From the villages stretching across this vast area, Red functionaries nervously informed Moscow that conditions were so bad that cannibalism was becoming common.
The correspondent of the New York Times, Walter Duranty, staunchly denied in print that any famine existed, although he admitted it in private. For his reporting from Russia, Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize, of which the New York Times still boasts to this day.
On the eve of World War II came the Great Purge, in which Stalin disposed of all followers of Lenin and Trotsky. The liquidation of the military leadership had important ramifications after the Germans invaded in 1941, and is largely accredited as the cause of the USSR's unpreparedness and setbacks in the early part of the War.
During the second World War, the USSR was invaded by Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler was an outspoken anti-Communist and longed to crush Russia. The German army, however, failed to capture Moscow, mostly due to the harsh Russian winter. Over twelve million Russians died in the Second World War.
"This famine was deliberately engineered by the regime of Josef Stalin 91 years ago claimed millions of lives, mostly in Ukraine but also in some other parts of the Soviet Union. It is today considered one of the worst atrocities of the Soviet regime and a terrifying act of genocide. Even so, the famine of 1933 is relatively unknown. ... Estimates of how many people died in Stalin's engineered famine of 1933 vary. But they are staggering in their scale -- between seven and 11 million people."[2]
Soviet aggression
The U.S. Department of State refused to regard Japan as a bulwark against Soviet expansion in North China in the 1930s. As a matter of fact, not one protost was sent by the Department of State against the Soviet Union despite her absorption of Sinkiang and Outer Mongolia, while at the same time, Japan was censured for stationing troops in China. [3]
Disintegration
The Soviet Union eventually imploded after a series of economic and political reforms known as Glasnost and perestroika introduced by the last Chairman of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), Mikhail Gorbachov, in the 1980s. The USSR was formally dissolved in 1991 by Boris Yeltsin. The successor states to the Soviet Union are the Russian Federation, and the other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
See Also
References
- ↑ FDR: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy, Ralph Raico, Future of Freedom Foundation, April 1, 2001. Retrieved from The Independent Institute.org 06/17/07.
- ↑ Stalin's Starvation of Ukraine – Seventy Years Later, World Still Largely Unaware Of Tragedy, By Askold Krushelnycky, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague, 8 April 2003 (RFE/RL).
- ↑ "The Explanation of the Foreign Minister at Imperial Conference," December 1, 1941, Far Eastern Military Tribunal, Record p. 26101. According to Alexander Barmine, who was in charge of the supply of Soviet arms, by 1935, Sinkiang had become "a Soviet colony in all but name." One Who Survived (NewYork: G. P.Putnam's Sons, 1945), pp. 231-232. [1][2]
External links
- State Defense Committee Decree No. 5859ss "On the Crimean Tatars", The Kremlin, May 11, 1944.
