- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), or Soviet Union, emerged alongside the United States after World War II as one of the two world superpowers. The Soviet Union had been founded following a revolution in Russia in 1917. It was the first country in the world to form a government based on the political philosophy known as Communism. In theory, the Soviet Union was a “workers' state” that was controlled by the working class. In reality, the country was dominated by the Communist party and individual party leaders. The government offered very little freedom to the people. In 1991 the Soviet Union fell apart under the weight of political troubles and economic problems. The Soviet Union was the world's largest country. It covered the whole of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe. Its area of more than 8.6 million square miles (22.3 million square kilometers) was almost seven times the area of India and two and one half times that of the United States. The Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics. The largest and most powerful was the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, now Russia. After 1991 the other republics became the modern countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The capital of the Soviet Union was Moscow. PeopleThe population of the Soviet Union in 1991 was more than 290 million. Only China and India had more people. More than 100 different ethnic groups lived in the Soviet Union, making it one of the world's most diverse countries. Most of these groups were small. According to the 1989 census, only 23 of them had more than 1 million members. Ethnic Russians made up the largest part of the Soviet population, numbering about 148 million. The next-largest groups were Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Belarussians, Kazakhs, Azerbaijanis, and Tatars. More than 200 languages were spoken in the country, but Russian was the official and most commonly spoken language. Soviet officials had no use for religion. They thought that it was a dangerous superstition, and they tried to wipe it out using a variety of methods. They took away the legal status and property of churches and ridiculed religious teachings. Nevertheless, as many as half of the country's residents in 1991 may have practiced a religion. Christians of the Russian Orthodox church made up the largest religious group (see Eastern Orthodox churches). They were followed by Muslims, or followers of Islam. The government monitored these and other religious groups and often put a stop to their activities. At the start of the 20th century most of the people of the Russian Empire lived in the countryside. By 1991, however, two out of every three Soviet citizens lived in a city. At that time the Soviet Union had 24 cities with more than 1 million residents. The largest was Moscow, with an estimated population of 8.8 million in 1991. Leningrad (now called Saint Petersburg) had about 4.5 million, and Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, had more than 2.6 million. CultureDuring the first decade after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the arts thrived in the Soviet Union. Writers, painters, composers, and filmmakers were among the artists who welcomed the revolutionary spirit of the times. During the late 1920s and 1930s, however, the Soviet government put a stop to this free artistic expression. Experimental art was replaced by a government-supported style known as socialist realism. Artists were encouraged to create works that portrayed socialism, the theory behind Communism, only in a positive way. Artists who openly opposed the government were forced to stop their activities or to leave the country. Because of these difficult conditions, many of the Soviet Union's best artists chose to leave the country on their own. A few writers supported the Soviet system, but most opposed it. The leading writer of the early Soviet era was Maksim Gorky, who helped develop the style of socialist realism. He wrote novels and plays about the working class. The popular pro-Soviet novelist Mikhail Sholokhov won the Nobel prize for literature in 1965. A leading writer who rejected socialist realism was Boris Pasternak. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1958 for his book Doctor Zhivago. He refused the award, however, because of great opposition to his novel in the Soviet Union. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who won the 1970 Nobel prize for literature, opposed the Soviets more than any other writer. He was charged with treason and forced to leave the Soviet Union in 1974. Classical music and dance fared better in the Soviet Union than some other forms of art. The great Soviet composers included Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. Among Prokofiev's works were Peter and the Wolf, a well-known musical fairy tale for children, and the ballet Romeo and Juliet. Dmitri Shostakovich gained fame with works in a modern style. Ballet in the Soviet Union continued a strong Russian tradition. The Kirov Ballet of Leningrad and the Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow ranked among the greatest dance companies in the world. EconomyAt its height, the Soviet Union had the world's second-largest economy. It depended heavily on agriculture, mining, and heavy industry. In theory the Soviet economy was based on socialism, in which all workers were treated equally. According to this ideal, all individuals would produce as much as they were able. In turn, the Soviet state would provide for all the basic needs of the people, including health care, housing, and education. In reality, however, the Soviet economy was based on access to political power. The most powerful citizens received goods and services while most of the rest of the people lived in poverty. At the start of the Soviet era, about 70 percent of the population was made up of peasant farmers. Beginning in about 1930 the Soviet Union tried to improve agricultural production by combining tens or hundreds of small farms into large farms that were controlled by the government. This system was called collectivization. Peasants across the country resisted collectivization because it forced them to give up their private land. Millions of peasants who refused to cooperate with the government were sent to prison camps. Millions more died as a result of famine, especially in Ukraine. By the 1970s the Soviet Union had to import large amounts of food to meet the needs of its people. While the farms were being collectivized, many new factories were built. Soviet officials set high goals for industrial production, and by the 1960s and 1970s the country had become a manufacturing power. The Soviet Union was a world leader in machine building and the production of iron, steel, and cement. It was also a major oil and gas producer. In general, though, Soviet industries were inefficient and behind the times. By the mid-1980s many goods were in short supply. The economy was near collapse. The fall of the country itself was not far behind. HistoryThe old Russian Empire fell apart during World War I. In 1917 the last ruler (or czar) of the empire, Nicholas II, was removed from power when the Russian people rose up in revolution. After months of unstable government, a small group of revolutionaries known as the Bolshevik party took power. The Bolsheviks later changed their name to the Communist party. They were led by Vladimir Lenin. Of the problems facing Lenin after the revolution, the most urgent was to end the Russians' involvement in World War I. In March 1918 the Bolsheviks and the Germans signed a peace treaty. The Bolsheviks agreed to give up large Russian territories, creating much opposition within the country. Civil war and the early Soviet governmentPeace with Germany allowed the Bolsheviks to concentrate on defeating their enemies within Russia. Civil war broke out between pro-Bolshevik forces, called the Red Army, and various anti-Bolshevik groups, called the White armies. During the civil war, the Communists gave much of the land to the peasants and took control of all factories and stores. The government dealt harshly with its enemies, killing many people in what came to be known as the Red Terror. The White armies did much the same against people who were thought to be pro-Communist, particularly Jews. The Communists won the war in 1920, making them the major power in the country. In 1922 they announced the creation of the Soviet Union. The rise of StalinLenin died in 1924. For years afterward two Communist party leaders—Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin—struggled for power. Stalin won. He expelled Trotsky from the party in 1927 and forced him to leave the Soviet Union in 1929. Once firmly in control of the government, Stalin launched a radical socialist program. It involved collectivizing farms and building many factories. Stalin used a secret police force to find people he thought were enemies of socialism. Stalin removed suspected traitors from government and had millions of Soviet citizens jailed or killed. The exact number of people killed during this period—known as the Great Terror—is not known. Estimates range from between 3 and 5 million to more than 10 million people. The horror in the Soviet Union was similar to what was going on in Germany under the Nazis. During the 1930s the two countries appeared headed for war. In 1939, however, the Soviet and German governments secretly signed an agreement stating that neither side would attack the other. Knowing the Soviet Union would not interfere, Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. This attack began World War II. The Great Patriotic WarFollowing the German invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union invaded Finland and parts of Eastern Europe. By 1941 Germany and the Soviet Union had conquered and divided most of Europe. In June 1941, however, Germany broke the two-year-old agreement and invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union then joined the Allied forces, led by the United States and Great Britain. After large losses at first, the Soviet Union regrouped following a victory in the battle of Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd) in 1942–43. Fighting continued until Germany was defeated in 1945. The war between Germany and the Soviet Union was perhaps the most destructive in world history. More than 20 million Soviet soldiers and civilians were killed in the fighting. Millions of German soldiers and civilians and supporting troops from Eastern European states were also killed. In the Soviet Union, the war was remembered as the Great Patriotic War. (See also World War II.) Postwar EuropeWorld War II completely changed the balance of power in Europe. Germany, the greatest power before the war, was defeated. The Soviet Union, though it had suffered huge losses, controlled almost all of Eastern Europe. Tension soon developed between the Soviet Union and its former allies, the United States and Britain. The Soviet Union established Communist governments in the Eastern European countries it had occupied. These countries became known as Soviet satellites, or the Soviet bloc. Democratic governments came to power in Western Europe. The division of Europe began a long period of tense competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. This rivalry came to be known as the Cold War. End of StalinismStalin's death in 1953 brought an end to the worst era in Soviet history. Over the next few years Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the most powerful leader in the Communist party. In 1958 he took the title of premier. Khrushchev introduced some reforms that eased Soviet rule. These changes angered other Communist party leaders. In 1964 Khrushchev was removed from power and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Brezhnev ruled the country until his death in 1982. Cold War conflictsThe death of Stalin led to greater calm within the Soviet Union. But conflict continued between the Soviet Union and the United States. From the 1950s through the 1980s they struggled for control over areas of the world ranging from Southeast Asia to the Middle East to Latin America. The United States and the Soviet Union never fought each other directly during this period, but several times they supported opposing armies in struggles throughout the world. The situation grew worse when the Soviets developed nuclear weapons in 1949. The United States already had nuclear bombs, having used them against Japan during World War II. When both countries were armed with nuclear weapons, each conflict between them held the potential for nuclear war. The closest the two countries came to nuclear war was a conflict over the Soviet Union's placement of missiles on the island of Cuba in 1962. This incident, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, ended peacefully after a tense standoff lasting several days. (See also Cold War.) Uprisings in Eastern EuropeDuring the 1950s and 1960s the Soviet Union faced uprisings in its Eastern European satellites. In 1956 the people of Hungary rose up against the Communist government of their country. The Soviet Union invaded Hungary to restore order. In 1968 a similar uprising took place in Czechoslovakia, resulting in another Soviet invasion. Both invasions led to increased opposition to the Soviet-backed governments of Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, the 1970s were a period of relative calm in the Soviet Union and its satellites. Invasion of AfghanistanIn the late 1970s Brezhnev became concerned about rebellions in the neighboring country of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union had recently supported the creation of a Communist government in that country. In an effort to prevent rebels from overthrowing the government, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The invasion started a war between the Soviet Union and Islamic forces known as mujahideen. The United States supported the rebels. The war was costly for the Soviet Union, claiming more than 10,000 lives and hurting its economy. In 1989 the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in defeat. The Gorbachev eraAfter Brezhnev died in 1982, the Soviet government became unstable. The country's next two leaders died after short terms in office. In 1985 power passed to a reformer named Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev began to introduce major changes designed to improve the economy and open up Soviet society. His policies were known as glasnost, meaning “openness,” and perestroika, or “restructuring.” They provided freedom never before seen in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev also worked with the United States to reduce the threat of nuclear war. Gorbachev's reforms ultimately weakened the Soviet Union. They encouraged Soviet citizens to call for even more changes. Beginning in 1987 people in many of the Soviet republics began to demand greater independence. Soon the countries of Eastern Europe called for an end to Communist rule. In 1989 a series of mostly peaceful revolutions began that led to the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe. In the Soviet Union, the economy worsened and shortages of housing, food, and supplies became more common. In August 1991 a group of Communists who opposed Gorbachev's policies tried to remove him from power. This attempt failed, but within days Gorbachev resigned as head of the Communist party and then ended the party itself. Over the next few months Gorbachev gave independence to the Soviet republics. By the end of 1991 the 74-year-old Soviet Union had come to an end. It was replaced by 15 independent nations. |