Soviet Union (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik), abbreviated to USSR (Russian: СССР SSSR), commonly called as the Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз Sovetsky Soyuz) and rarely as the Soviet Russia (Russian: Советский России Sovetsky Rossiya), is a constitutionally socialist state in Eurasia that ruled under one-party government of the Soviet Communist Party and consists of 15 Soviet republics with Moscow as its capital.

The Soviet Union is the largest country in the world and shares land borders with Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia (with the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic), Lithuania and Poland (both with the Königsberg German Autonomous Oblast), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Uyghurstan, Outer Mongolia, Manchuria, and Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japanese island of Karafuto across the Strait of Tartary and with the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms.

Revolution and foundation (1917)
General dissatisfaction over the autocratic Tsarist regime of the Russian Empire and decline of war morale and national economy due to World War I culminated in the February Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. The Tsar abdicated in March 1917 and was replaced by the Russian Provisional Government presided by Georgy Lvov of Constitutional Democratic Party and later by Alexander Kerensky of Socialist Revolutionary Party.

At the same time, the Socialists formed the rival political body: the workers' council, known in Russian as the "Soviet" (Russian: сове́т sovét). The formation of the Petrograd Soviet resulted to the emergence of dual power in the country. The Bolsheviks, under Leon Trotsky, quickly gained the power in the Petrograd Soviet. Returned from his exile in Switzerland, Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, wrote the April Theses that stressed the importance of Russian Revolution as a trigger for the international socialism and the need of the establishment of dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia.

The conflict between two authorities erupted in July 1917 when the industrial workers and soldiers demanded the power be turned over to the Soviets. The demonstration was broken down by the Provisional Government and forced Lenin into hiding. Bolsheviks began to be arrested, workers were disarmed and revolutionary military units in Petrograd were disbanded or sent off to the front. Lenin returned from his hiding in Finland and directing the Red Guards to storm the Winter Palace, the seat of Russian Provisional Government, in October 1917. This event would later be known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Council of People's Commissars established shortly afterward and acted as the highest executive body of Soviet Russia with Lenin as its chairman.

In December, the Bolsheviks signed an armistice with the Central Powers, though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, Soviet Russia ended involvement in the war for good and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, giving away much of the territories of the former Russian Empire to German Empire, in exchange for peace in World War I. Russia officially renamed as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1918.