The
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (
USSR), commonly known as the
Soviet Union, was a
transcontinental country that spanned much of
Eurasia from 1922 until
it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the
largest country by area, extending across
eleven time zones and sharing
borders with twelve countries, and the
third-most populous country. An overall successor to the
Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a
federal union of
national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the
Russian SFSR. In practice,
its government and
economy were
highly centralized. As a
one-party state governed by the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), it was the flagship
communist state. Its capital and largest city was
Moscow.
The Soviet Union's roots lay in theOctober Revolution of 1917. The new government, led byVladimir Lenin, established the Russian SFSR, the world's first constitutionallycommunist state. The revolution was not accepted by all within theRussian Republic, resulting in theRussian Civil War. The Russian SFSR and its subordinate republics weremerged into the Soviet Union in 1922. FollowingLenin's death in 1924,Joseph Stalin came to power, inauguratingrapid industrialization andforced collectivization that led to significant economic growth but contributed to afamine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. TheSoviet forced labour camp system of theGulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin's government conducted theGreat Purge to remove opponents, resulting in large scale deportations, arrests, and show trials accompanied by public fear. Having failed to build an anti-Nazi coalition in Europe, the Soviet Union signeda non-aggression pact withNazi Germany in 1939. Despite this, in 1941 Germanyinvaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening theEastern Front of World War II. The Soviets played a decisive role in defeating theAxis powers while liberating much ofCentral and Eastern Europe. However they would suffer an estimated27 million casualties, which accounted for most losses among the victoriousAllies. In theaftermath of the war, the Soviet Union consolidated the territory occupied by theRed Army, formingsatellite states, and undertook rapid economic development which cemented its status as asuperpower.
Geopolitical tensions with the United States led to theCold War. The American-ledWestern Bloc coalesced intoNATO in 1949, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own military alliance, theWarsaw Pact, in 1955. Neither side engaged in direct military confrontation, and instead foughton an ideological basis and throughproxy wars. In 1953, followingStalin's death, the Soviet Union undertook a campaign ofde-Stalinization underNikita Khrushchev, which saw reversals and rejections of Stalinist policies. This campaign caused ideological tensions with thePRC led byMao Zedong, culminating in the acrimoniousSino-Soviet split. During the 1950s, the Soviet Union expandedits efforts in space exploration and took a lead in theSpace Race with thefirst artificial satellite, thefirst human spaceflight, thefirst space station, and thefirst probe to land on another planet. In 1985, the last Soviet leader,Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform the country through his policies ofglasnost andperestroika. In 1989, various countries of the Warsaw Pactoverthrew their Soviet-backed regimes, leading to the fall of the Eastern Bloc. A major wave ofnationalist andseparatist movements erupted across the Soviet Union, primarily inAzerbaijan,Georgia and theBaltic states. In 1991, amid efforts topreserve the country as arenewed federation, an attemptedcoup against Gorbachev by hardline communists prompted the largest republics—Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus—to secede. On 26 December, Gorbachev officially recognized thedissolution of the Soviet Union.Boris Yeltsin, the leader of theRussian SFSR, oversaw its reconstitution into theRussian Federation, whichbecame the Soviet Union's successor state; all other republics emerged as fully independentpost-Soviet states. TheCommonwealth of Independent States was formed in the aftermath of the disastrous Soviet collapse, although the Baltics would never join.
During its existence, the Soviet Union produced
many significant social and technological achievements and innovations. The USSR was one of the most advanced industrial states during its existence. It
had the world's second-largest economy and largest standing military. An
NPT-designated state, it wielded the
largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. As an Allied nation, it was a
founding member of the
United Nations as well as one of the
five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council. Before its dissolution, the Soviet Union was one of the world's two superpowers through its hegemony in Eastern Europe and Asia, global diplomacy, ideological influence (particularly in the
Global South), military might, economic strengths, and
scientific accomplishments. (
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