How many countries was the Soviet Union?

The Soviet Union was one of the most powerful and influential
states in the world for many years, eventually encompassing 15
republics. These republics were: Russia, Ukraine, Georgia,
Belorussia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania,
and Estonia.

What country is the Soviet Union now?

After the Cold War, Russia is recognized as the successor state to
the Soviet Union. Ukraine has said that it is the legal successor of
both the Ukrainian SSR and the Soviet Union. There is still
disagreement over who owns the assets that used to be owned by
Communists.

What was the Soviet Union?

The Soviet Union was a country that occupied much of Eurasia
and lasted from 1922-1991. It was officially a federation of 21
republics, but in reality, it had a centralized government and
economy. The Communist Party governed the country with
Moscow as its capital city, which was also the largest and most
populous republic: The Russian SFSR.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 After the Bolshevik triumph at the end of October, 1917, Lenin needed the support
of the Russians as the nation was near collapse. Despite the lack of experience in
running a government, Lenin, Trotsky, and the Bolshevik Party were able to
introduce new laws right after the revolution.
 Initially, the Bolsheviks showed support of the Constituent Assembly. However,
with the return of Lenin in 1917, he distinguished the party from other socialist- and
bourgeois-dominated bodies, including the Provisional Government and the
Constituent Assembly.
 After the election, Lenin anonymously issued the Theses on the Constituent
Assembly on December 26, 1917, in the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda. He argued
that a republic of Soviets should not be composed of a Constituent Assembly with
bourgeois members.
 On July 16, 1918, the last of the Russian royal family was sentenced to death.
Many believed that the impromptu murder was planned by the Bolsheviks. All of
Nicholas II’s family, his wife, and children were executed.
 In line with the promise of giving the Russian people peace, Bolshevik leader Lenin
signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers composed of Germany, the Austro-
Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.
 On December 22, 1917, open talks between representatives took place in Brest-
Litovsk (modern-day Belarus).
 On March 3, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, and Russia was successful in
exiting the war but faced humiliating territorial loss.
 Between 1918 and 1920, the Russian Civil War occurred in opposition to Lenin’s
regime. Groups composed of militarists, monarchists, and some foreigners were
collectively known as the Whites, while Lenin supporters were the Reds.
 After the Russian Civil War, the once small Bolshevik Party held total control of
Russia. Moreover, Lenin recaptured several territories of the former Russian
Empire and organized them into socialist republics all ruled by the Soviets.
 By 1922, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the
USSR, was established by Lenin. After two years, each Republic delegated
representatives to the Congress of Soviets and agreed with a constitution.

THE UNION OF THE SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

 Aside from having a supreme governing body with the Central Executive
Committee of the Congress, Russia became a Communist one-party state.
 In 1924, upon the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin rose to power, defeating expected
successor Leon Trotsky. Stalin ruled as a dictator and employed a series of brutal
policies, including the Great Purge.
 From 1924 until Stalin’s death in 1953, the USSR changed from an agrarian
society to an industrial and military nation.
 In order to transform the Soviet Union, Stalin led a series of Five-Year Plans which
included collectivization of agriculture and rapid industrialization. The succeeding
Five-Year Plans still included industrialization plus the massive production of
armaments.
 Collectivization was Stalin’s policy, which initially encouraged the transformation of
agriculture from private-capitalist to collective-socialist production.
 Collective farms were called kolkhoz and were composed of 50 to 100 families that
replaced outmoded farms owned by the peasantry. Richer peasants known as the
kulaks were excluded.
 In order to modernize agriculture, small farms were combined into one and
machinery like tractors was used to boost productivity. All products were sold to the
government and farmers received wages.
 In 1930, many peasants rebelled against Stalin’s policy of Collectivization. They
burned farmland and killed domestic animals rather than selling to the state.
 The direct consequence was famine. After a year, Stalin doubled the policy; this
worsened the famine. Stalin blamed the kulaks who were sent to gulags. By 1939,
99% of farmland was collectivized and 90% of all production went to the
government.
 Dekulakization was Stalin’s response to the kulaks’ organized protests against
Collectivization. There were also reports of kolkhoznik (collective farmers) attacked
by non-collective neighbors.
 During the initial years of the Second World War, Stalin signed a nonaggression
pact with Adolf Hitler with hopes that the Fuhrer would spare the USSR. However,
Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa against the USSR. In response, Stalin made
an alliance with the U.S. and Britain.
 After the surrender of the Nazis, Stalin felt uncomfortable with his alliance. By
1948, he installed communist governments in Eastern Europe.
 As a result of Communist expansionism, the U.S. and Britain were threatened. In
response, NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in 1949.
 By 1955, the USSR and its allies in the Eastern bloc formed the Warsaw Pact
which set the stage for the Cold War. The Cold War lasted until 1991, the same
year of the union’s collapse.
 Upon the death of Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev consolidated power and became the
premier of the USSR.
 Under Khrushchev, tensions of the Cold War rose. He instigated the Cuban Missile
Crisis in 1962, against U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
 Khrushchev became known for his de-Stalinization policy. Through a speech, he
criticized Stalin’s regime. Among his policies included the release of political
prisoners, loosening of censorship, and closing of gulags or labor camps.
 After the success of the Soviet’s Sputnik 1 and Yuri Gagarin’s mission,
technological rivalry against the United States began with the Space Race.