Soviet Union

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Flag of the Soviet Union (1980-1991)

The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovietsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or U.S.S.R.; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovietskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991. The Soviet Union was created by Vladimir Lenin after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II and the Provisional Government. The Soviet Union became one of the most powerful nations in the world and was one of the biggest rivals of the United States.

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Vladimir Lenin etablished a democratic system in Russia. A lot of reforms was gained, and he was supported by most of the population. The state was known as the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. Soviets were councils were ordinary workers discussed how Russia should be ruled. The countries Finland, Poland and Ukraine were made independent from Russia, though Ukraine merged with Russia already in 1919. In December 1922, the Soviet Union was created after the Russian, Byelorussian, Ukrainian and Transcausian Soviet Republics merged. Under Stalin, it was extended.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, the man who created the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union had free education, healthcare, and had very low unemployment. The Soviet Union became one of the most powerful nations after the five year plan by Josef Stalin which became a major industrial power. During the Second World War the Soviet Union played a major role and was responsible for most of the German defeats in the Wehrmacht and S.S on the Eastern Front, liberating many countries from nazi tyranny and saved many Jews from concentration camps.

In 1924, Lenin died. This resulted in disagreements between different people. Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin was the strongest of them. Stalin became General Secretary in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union already in 1922, and Lenin tried to remove him from this.^[1][2][1] Toward the end of his life, Lenin sought Stalin's removal as General Secretary of the Communist Party, ...</ref> Lenin failed and in 1927, Trotsky had to escape from the USSR after he had to admit that Stalin had won this fight.

Though some label Stalin's rule as authoritarian,^{[citation needed]} he also industrialized the country and played an important role in The Allies victory in the Second World War, etablished socialist governments in Eastern Europe and several other things. Because of the victory in the World War, the industrialization of the USSR, the stablishment of socialist governments in Eastern Europe and the expanding of the Soviet Union, he's still popular among the population.

After the Second World War the U.S.S.R became a major superpower and then had the Cold War with the U.S. The Soviet influence became powerful which resulted in successful revolutions like China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and others, which the U.S tried to turn back to Capitalism, but failed in most of them. The Soviet Union prospered during the 1970's which the economy was bigger than the U.S and people had a higher life expectancy.

After Stalin's death in 1953, the new leaders started a "de-Stalinization" campaign, and Nikita Khrushchev is famous for his "secret speech" in the United Nations in 1956, where he critisized Stalin for democide.^{[citation needed]} Though it was meant to be a secret speech, it was soon revealed. Though Khrushchev became very popular in the USSR, he was unclever in agricultural politics. Of that reason, he was replaced with Leonid Brezhnev in 1964. Though Brezhnev was often described to be authoritarian in the West, he was a strong man and was much better than Khrushchev in agricultural policies. Under Brezhnev, the USSR had less scandals in foreign policies. He died in 1982.

During the late 70's and the 80's the Soviet Union stagnated, and coupled with an costly gurellia war in Afghanistan began to decline.

In the early 1990's Gorbachev attempted to reform the U.S.S.R in a attempt to make it "more democratic"^{[CPOV issue]}. This resulted in economic collapse,^[3] high mortality rates, and macrocapitalism. He's often critsized for destroying the USSR.

Many Western Propaganda criticized communism by making people in the West think that the Soviet Union was a horrible country, even today many people still think the same way about it.

But when many saw the pictures of their war crimes, they held rallies against the government. There were some american peaceful peace protesters during the Vietnam War years.

American propaganda poster during the Cold War about communist taking over America if they succeed.

The Soviet Union fell at December 26 1991. Since then, the percentage of poor people in Russia and other Soviet republics, have became higher and higher. 2009 was the first years since 1992 that the Russian population had became higher. Also, Belarus and especially Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have become brutal capitalist dictatorships under the new regimes.^{[citation needed]}

Leaders of the Soviet Union

This is the list of the USSR's leaders:^{[citation needed]}

1. Vladimir Lenin (1922-1924) (in Russia since 1917)
2. Joseph Stalin (1924/1927-1953)
3. Georgy Malenkov^{[citation needed]} (1953)
4. Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964)
5. Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982)
6. Yuri Andropov (1982-1984)
7. Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985)
8. Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991)

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union
• http://www.answers.com/topic/soviet-union
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union

External links and further reading

• "The Soviet Union's Afterlife" Stephen F. Cohen The Nation, December 21, 2011, issue of January 9-16, 2012