Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Союз Советских Социалистических РеспубликSoviet Union Timeline: Dies Irae
OTL equivalent: Soviet Union | |||||
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1922–1943 | |||||
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Motto: Workers of the world, unite! |
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Anthem: The Internationale |
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Capital (and largest city) | Moscow | ||||
Religion | Secular state | ||||
Demonym | Soviet | ||||
Government | Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic |
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1943.
The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin, established the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The revolution was not accepted by all within the Russian Republic, resulting in the Russian Civil War. The RSFSR and subordinate Soviet republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant economic growth, but contributed to a famine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. The forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents, resulting in mass death, imprisonment, and deportation. In 1939, the USSR and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact but in 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, which resulted in the collapse of the nation in 1943.