| Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (Russian) | ||||||
| Timeline: What nuke? | ||||||
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| Anthem Интернационал "The Internationale" (1922–1944) Государственный гимн СССР "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" (1944–1966) | ||||||
 Map of the Soviet Union, 1960
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| Capital | Moscow | |||||
| Languages | Russian | |||||
| Government | Federal one-party socialist republic (1922–1924) Federal Leninist one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian dictatorship (1924–1927) Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic under a Stalinist totalitarian dictatorship (1927–1953) Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party directorial parliamentary socialist republic (1953–1966) | |||||
| Leader | ||||||
| - | 1922–1924 (first) | Vladimir Lenin | ||||
| - | 1953–1966 (last) | Nikita Khrushchev | ||||
| Legislature | Congress of Soviets (1922–1936) Supreme Soviet (1936–1966) | |||||
| History | ||||||
| - | Formation | 30 December 1922 | ||||
| - | Constitution | 5 December 1936 | ||||
| - | Westward expansion | 1939–1940 | ||||
| - | Great Patriotic War | 1941–1945 | ||||
| - | World War III | 1963–1966 | ||||
| - | Collapse | 7 September 1966 | ||||
| Currency | Soviet ruble | |||||
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state that spanned Eurasia during its existence from 1922 to 1966. It was nominally a federal union of multiple national republics; in practice its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with Moscow as its capital within its largest and most populous republic, the Russian SFSR.
The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government that had earlier replaced the House of Romanov of the Russian Empire. They established the Russian Soviet Republic, the world's first constitutionally guaranteed socialist state. Tensions escalated into a civil war between the Bolshevik Red Army and many anti-Bolshevik forces across the former Empire, among whom the largest faction was the White Guard. The White Guard engaged in violent anti-communist repression against the Bolsheviks and suspected worker and peasant Bolsheviks known as the White Terror. The Red Army expanded and helped local Bolsheviks take power, establishing soviets, repressing their political opponents and rebellious peasants through Red Terror. By 1922, the balance of power had shifted and the Bolsheviks had emerged victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian republics. Upon the conclusion of the civil war Lenin's government introduced the New Economic Policy, which led to a partial return of a free market and private property; this resulted in a period of economic recovery.
Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power. Stalin suppressed all political opposition to his rule inside the Communist Party and inaugurated a command economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and forced collectivization, which led to significant economic growth, but also led to a man-made famine in 1932–1933. The Gulag labour camp system was also expanded in this period. Stalin also fomented political paranoia and conducted the Great Purge to remove his actual and perceived opponents from the Party through mass arrests of military leaders, Communist Party members, and ordinary citizens alike, who were then sent to correctional labor camps or sentenced to death.
On 23 August 1939, after unsuccessful efforts to form an anti-fascist alliance with Western powers, the Soviets signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. After the start of World War II, the formally neutral Soviets invaded and annexed territories of several Eastern European states, including the eastern regions of Poland and the Baltic states. In June 1941 the Germans invaded, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the majority of Allied casualties of the conflict in the process of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at intense battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin and won World War II in Europe on 9 May 1945 - they then launched an invasion of the northern Japanese islands in early 19. All territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Communist Bloc.
The second interwar years were filled with tensions, where the Communist Bloc confronted the Western Bloc, which would unite in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalin's death in 1953, a period known as de-Stalinization and the Khrushchev Thaw occurred under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. The country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. In the 1950s, relations grew worse, especially after Richard Nixon was elected as president in 1960. After the Miami Incident where a Soviet plane carrying a bomb crashed into Miami Beach killing hundreds of innocent civilians, along with the annexation of Poland into the Soviet Union in early February 1963, the United States declared war on the country, starting World War III.
The Soviets launched an invasion of West Germany, Austria, Italy and France, establishing more communist regimes and lead to the collapse of the European Economic Community. They then launched a full-scale invasion of the United Kingdom, which was a massive success and resulted in the establishment of the United People's Republic of Britain and the Irish Democratic Republic. It then sent its troops to the east to North Japan to invade South Japan and assisted North Korea in taking over South Korea and North Vietnam with South Vietnam. However, in the newly-formed satellite states, multiple uprisings took place, which eventually lead to the European Revolution and the Asian Revolution, where all socialist governments collapsed. Then the United States, Canada and Australia launched Operation B.R.W. on Britain, liberating the country from the Soviets. By early 1966, the war was turning against the Soviet, and after the Battle of Moscow, the Soviet Union collapsed, and was replaced by the provisional Russian State.