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{{Redirect|Soviet-era|the statues|Soviet-era statues}}
{{History of the Soviet Union}}
{{History of Russia}}
{{Culture of the Soviet Union}}
The history of the [[Soviet Union]] (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the [[Russian Civil War]], the Soviet Union quickly became a one-party state under the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]]. Its early years under [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] were marked by the implementation of socialist policies and the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP), which allowed for market-oriented reforms.
The rise of [[Joseph Stalin]] in the late 1920s ushered in an era of intense centralization and totalitarianism. Stalin's rule was characterized by the forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization of agriculture]], rapid [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|industrialization]], and the [[Great Purge]], which eliminated perceived enemies of the state. The Soviet Union played a crucial role in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied victory]] in [[World War II]], but at a tremendous human cost, with millions of Soviet citizens perishing in the conflict.
The Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, leading the [[Eastern Bloc]] in opposition to the [[Western Bloc]] during the [[Cold War]]. This period saw the USSR engage in an arms race, the [[Space Race]], and [[Proxy war|proxy wars]] around the globe. The post-Stalin leadership, particularly under [[Nikita Khrushchev]], initiated a [[de-Stalinization]] process, leading to a period of liberalization and relative openness known as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]]. However, the subsequent era under [[Leonid Brezhnev]], referred to as the [[Era of Stagnation]], was marked by economic decline, political corruption, and a rigid [[gerontocracy]]. Despite efforts to maintain the Soviet Union's superpower status, the economy struggled due to its centralized nature, technological backwardness, and inefficiencies. The vast military expenditures and burdens of maintaining the Eastern Bloc, further strained the Soviet economy.
In the 1980s, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s policies of [[Glasnost]] (openness) and [[Perestroika]] (restructuring) aimed to revitalize the Soviet system but instead accelerated its unraveling. Nationalist movements gained momentum across the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]], and the control of the Communist Party weakened. The failed [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup attempt]] in August 1991 against Gorbachev by hardline communists hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union, which formally dissolved on December 26, 1991, ending nearly seven decades of Soviet rule. The legacy of the Soviet Union is complex, leaving behind significant industrial achievements, military prowess, cultural influence, and an impact on global politics, but also a record of repression, economic inefficiencies, and the suppression of political and personal freedoms.
== Establishment (1917–1927) ==
{{Main|History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)}}
{{multiple image
| align = left
| total_width = 300
| image1 = Lenin in 1920 (cropped).jpg
| caption1 = [[Vladimir Lenin]], founder of the [[Soviet Union]] and the leader of the [[Bolshevik party]].
| image2 = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R15068, Leo Dawidowitsch Trotzki.jpg
| caption2 = [[Leon Trotsky]], founder of the [[Red Army]] and a key figure in the [[October Revolution]].
}}
Modern revolutionary activity in the [[Russian Empire]] began with the 1825 [[Decembrist revolt]]. Although [[Serfdom in Russia|serfdom]] was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavourable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament, the [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]], was established in 1906 after the [[Revolution of 1905|Russian Revolution of 1905]], but [[Nicholas II of Russia|Emperor Nicholas II]] resisted attempts to move from [[Absolute monarchy|absolute]] to a [[constitutional monarchy]]. [[Rebellion|Social unrest]] continued and was aggravated during [[World War I]] by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.
A spontaneous popular demonstration in Petrograd on [[International Women's Day|8 March]] 1917, demanding peace and bread, culminated in the [[February Revolution]] and the abdication of Nicholas II and the imperial government.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=83}} The [[tsarist autocracy]] was replaced by the [[Social democracy|social-democratic]] [[Russian Provisional Government]], which intended to conduct elections to the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]] and to continue fighting on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] in World War I. At the same time, [[workers' council]]s, known in Russian as '[[Soviet (council)|Soviets]]', sprang up across the country, and the most influential of them, the [[Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies]], shared power with the Provisional Government.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=487}}<ref name="br1">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union |title=Soviet Union |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |last1=Dewdney|first1=John C. |last2=Conquest |first2=Robert |last3=Pipes|first3=Richard E. |last4=McCauley|first4=Martin |access-date=27 December 2022 }}</ref> Membership of the [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] party had risen from 24,000 members in February 1917 to 200,000 members by September 1917.<ref>Stephen Cohen, ''Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography 1888–1938'' (Oxford University Press: London, 1980) p. 46.</ref> 50,000 workers had passed a resolution in favour of the Bolshevik demand for the transfer of power to the Soviets.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Head |first1=Michael |title=Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal |date=12 September 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-30787-5 |pages=1–288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYGNAgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PT83 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shukman |first1=Harold |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution |date=5 December 1994 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-631-19525-2 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PA21 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:19191107-lenin second anniversary october revolution moscow.jpg|thumb|[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]], and [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]] celebrating the second anniversary of the [[October Revolution]]]]
The Bolsheviks, led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], pushed for [[communist revolution]] in the Soviets and on the streets, adopting the slogan of "All Power to the Soviets" and urging the overthrow of the Provisional Government.{{sfn|Read|2005|pp=82–85}}{{sfn|Service|2005|pp=47–49}} On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guard]]s stormed the [[Winter Palace]] in Petrograd, arresting the Provisional Government leaders and Lenin declared that all power was now transferred to the Soviets.<ref name=BBC1>{{Cite news |title=The causes of the October Revolution |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/october/revision/4 |url-status=dead |access-date=31 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805155250/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/october/revision/4 |archive-date=5 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="br1"/> This event would later be officially known in Soviet bibliographies as the "[[October Revolution|Great October Socialist Revolution]]". Bolshevik figures such as [[Anatoly Lunacharsky]], [[Moisei Uritsky]], and [[Dmitry Manuilsky]] agreed that Lenin's influence on the Bolshevik party was decisive but the [[October Revolution|October insurrection]] was carried out according to [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky's]], not to Lenin's plan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky |date=5 January 2015 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78168-721-5 |page=1283|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGznDwAAQBAJ&q=isaac+deutscher+trotsky+the+prophet |language=en}}</ref> The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on [[Petrograd]] occurred largely without any human [[Casualty (person)|casualties]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shukman |first1=Harold |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution |date=5 December 1994 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-631-19525-2 |page=343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA343 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bergman |first1=Jay |title=The French Revolutionary Tradition in Russian and Soviet Politics, Political Thought, and Culture |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-884270-5 |page=224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UKjDwAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA224 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McMeekin |first1=Sean |title=The Russian Revolution: A New History |date=30 May 2017 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-09497-4 |pages=1–496 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXmZDgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PT155 |language=en}}</ref>
Lenin's government instituted a number of progressive measures such as [[Universal access to education|universal education]], [[universal healthcare]], and [[Women in Russia|equal rights for women]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Katherine H. |last2=Keene |first2=Michael L. |title=After the Vote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists |date=10 January 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5647-5 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyaxYvSG6gAC&dq=lenin+universal+literacy+after+the+vote+was+won&pg=PA109 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ugri͡umov |first1=Aleksandr Leontʹevich |title=Lenin's Plan for Building Socialism in the USSR, 1917–1925 |date=1976 |publisher=Novosti Press Agency Publishing House |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXknAQAAMAAJ&q=lenin+universal+literacy |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Service |first1=Robert |title=Lenin: A Political Life: Volume 1: The Strengths of Contradiction |date=24 June 1985 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-05591-3 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntiuCwAAQBAJ&q=universal+education&pg=PA98 |language=en}}</ref> Conversely, the bloody [[Red Terror]] was initiated to shut down all opposition, both perceived and real.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222175025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union | url-status=dead | archive-date=22 February 2021 | title=How Lenin's Red Terror set a macabre course for the Soviet Union | website=[[National Geographic Society]] | date=2 September 2020 }}</ref> The terror also arose in response to a number of [[Assassination attempts on Vladimir Lenin|assassination attempts]] on Bolshevik senior leaders and [[Left SR uprising|organized insurrections]] against the Soviet government.<ref name="Leninism Under Lenin">{{cite book |last1=Liebman |first1=Marcel |title=Leninism Under Lenin |date=1985 |publisher=Merlin Press |isbn=978-0-85036-261-9 |pages=1–348 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQjzAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Scott Baldwin |title=Captives of Revolution: The Socialist Revolutionaries and the Bolshevik Dictatorship, 1918–1923 |date=15 April 2011 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre |isbn=978-0-8229-7779-7 |pages=75–85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ueUEE8jVRsC&dq=anarchist+assassination+attempt+lenin&pg=PA74 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Rabinowitch306">{{cite book |last= Rabinowitch|first= Alexander|title= The bolsheviks in power. The first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BEoBCGJ4VqYC&q=The+bolsheviks+in+power.+The+first+year+of+Soviet+rule+in+Petrograd|language= en|date= 2007|publisher= Indiana University Press|isbn= 9780253349439|page= 306}}</ref>
The [[federalization]] of Russia was promulgated in the [[Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia]] in November, not including the detached borderlands.<ref name="federation"/> In December, the Bolsheviks signed an [[armistice]] with the [[Central Powers]], though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, the Soviets ended their involvement in the war and signed a [[separate peace]] treaty, the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. After the defeat of the Germans in the war, Lenin sought the creation of formally independent [[Soviet republic]]s in the territories that were being vacated by the German Army.<ref name="federation">{{cite book |last1=Raffass |first1=Tania |title=The Soviet Union: Federation Or Empire? |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-68833-8 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P4E7WSecBakC |language=en}}</ref>
A long and bloody [[Russian Civil War|civil war]] ensued between the [[Red Army|Reds]] and the [[White movement|Whites]], ending in 1921–1922 with the Reds' victory.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reese |first1=Roger |title=Russian Civil War, 1918–1921 |journal=Military History |date=6 February 2012 |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0051|isbn=978-0-19-979127-9 }}</ref> It included [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|foreign intervention]], the [[Murder of the Romanov family|murder of the former emperor and his family]], and the [[Russian famine of 1921–22|famine of 1921–1922]], which killed about five million people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mawdsley |first=Evan |url=https://archive.org/details/russiancivilwar00evan |title=The Russian Civil War |year= 2007 |publisher=Pegasus Books |isbn=978-1-933648-15-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/russiancivilwar00evan/page/287 287] |author-link=Evan Mawdsley |url-access=registration}}</ref> Although Lenin had declared his support for the principle of [[self-determination]], the party became centralized and the independent Soviet republics were subordinated to Soviet Russia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Robert A. |title=The Soviet Concept of 'Limited Sovereignty' from Lenin to Gorbachev: The Brezhnev Doctrine |date=27 July 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-20491-5 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuW-DAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> In March 1921, the [[Treaty of Riga]] was signed with the [[Second Polish Republic|Republic of Poland]], splitting territories in [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]], and putting an end to Lenin's westward offensive against capitalism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Stephen J. |title=European Dictatorships 1918–1945 |date=12 November 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-69011-3 |pages=89–90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLXkGLDxSkAC |language=en}}</ref> In [[Estonian War of Independence|Estonia]], [[Finnish Civil War|Finland]], [[Latvian War of Independence|Latvia]], and [[Lithuanian–Soviet War|Lithuania]], the Reds were defeated, while the Red Army managed to occupy [[Red Army invasion of Armenia|Armenia]], [[Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]], and [[Red Army invasion of Georgia|Georgia]] in the [[Caucasus]].{{sfn|Lee|2003|pp=84, 88}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=50}} Additionally, the forced requisition of food by the Soviet government led to substantial resistance, of which the most notable was the [[Tambov Rebellion]], ultimately put down by the Red Army.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1p=459|2a1=Leggett|2y=1981|2pp=330–333|3a1=Service|3y=2000|3pp=423–424|4a1=White|4y=2001|4p=168|5a1=Ryan|5y=2012|5pp=154–155}}
[[File:Russian civil war in the west.svg|thumb|right|[[Russian Civil War]] in the European part of Russia]]
The civil war had a devastating impact on the economy. A [[black market]] emerged in Russia, despite the threat of [[martial law]] against profiteering. The [[Russian ruble|ruble]] collapsed, with [[bartering|barter]] increasingly replacing money as a medium of exchange<ref name="DaviesHarrison1993">{{cite book|author1=R. W. Davies|author2=Mark Harrison|author3=S. G. Wheatcroft|title=The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ULWRnskfr4C&pg=PA6|year= 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-45770-5|page=6}}</ref> and, by 1921, heavy industry output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels. 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than money.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft796nb4mj&chunk.id=d0e9364&toc.id=&brand=ucpress|access-date=2021-10-27|website=publishing.cdlib.org}}</ref> 70% of locomotives were in need of repair{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}, and food requisitioning, combined with the effects of seven years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#RCW|title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls|website=necrometrics.com|access-date=2017-12-12}}</ref> Coal production decreased from 27.5 million tons (1913) to 7 million tons (1920), while overall factory production also declined from 10,000 million roubles to 1,000 million roubles. According to the noted historian [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]], the grain harvest was also slashed from 80.1 million tons (1913) to 46.5 million tons (1920).<ref>{{cite book|last=Christian|first=David|title=Imperial and Soviet Russia|year=1997|publisher=Macmillan Press Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-0-333-66294-6|page=236}}</ref>
=== Treaty on the Creation of the USSR ===
On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], the [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasian SFSR]], the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], and the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]] approved the [[Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Treaty on the Creation of the USSR]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sakwa |first=Richard |title=The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917–1991: 1917–1991 |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-12290-0 |pages=140–143}}</ref> and the [[Declaration of the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Declaration of the Creation of the USSR]], forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Towster |first=Julian |title=Political Power in the U.S.S.R., 1917–1947: The Theory and Structure of Government in the Soviet State |date=1948 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=106}}</ref> These two documents were confirmed by the first [[Congress of Soviets of the USSR]] and signed by the heads of the delegations,<ref>{{In lang|ru}} [http://region.adm.nov.ru/pressa.nsf/0c7534916fcf6028c3256b3700243eac/4302e4941fb6a6bfc3256c99004faea5!OpenDocument Voted Unanimously for the Union.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204132112/http://region.adm.nov.ru/pressa.nsf/0c7534916fcf6028c3256b3700243eac/4302e4941fb6a6bfc3256c99004faea5%21OpenDocument|date=4 December 2009}}</ref> [[Mikhail Kalinin]], [[Mikhail Tskhakaya]], [[Mikhail Frunze]], [[Grigory Petrovsky]], and [[Alexander Chervyakov]],<ref>{{In lang|ru}} [http://www.hronos.km.ru/sobyt/cccp.html Creation of the USSR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529132218/http://www.hronos.km.ru/sobyt/cccp.html |date=29 May 2007 }} at Khronos.ru.</ref> on 30 December 1922. The formal proclamation was made from the stage of the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in Moscow.
An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry, and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was done according to the [[Bolshevik Initial Decrees]], government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the [[GOELRO|GOELRO plan]], which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total [[electrification]] of Russia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lapin |first=G. G. |year=2000 |title=70 Years of Gidroproekt and Hydroelectric Power in Russia |journal=Hydrotechnical Construction |volume=34 |issue=8/9 |pages=374–379 |doi=10.1023/A:1004107617449 |bibcode=2000PTE....34..374L |s2cid=107814516 | issn=0018-8220}}</ref> The plan became the prototype for subsequent [[Five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union|Five-Year Plans]] and was fulfilled by 1931.<ref name="Kuzbassenergo">{{In lang|ru}} [http://www.kuzbassenergo.ru/goelro/ On GOELRO Plan – at Kuzbassenergo.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226190310/http://www.kuzbassenergo.ru/goelro|date=26 December 2008}}</ref> After the economic policy of '[[War communism]]' during the Russian Civil War, as a prelude to fully developing [[Socialist mode of production|socialism]] in the country, the Soviet government [[New Economic Policy|permitted some private enterprise to coexist alongside nationalized industry]] in the 1920s, and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax.
[[File:Russia Famine Saratov 1921.jpg|thumb|The [[Russian famine of 1921–22]] killed an estimated 5 million people.<br /><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 June 2015 |title=Famine of 1921–22 |language=en-US |work=Seventeen Moments in Soviet History |url=http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1921-2/famine-of-1921-22/ |access-date=20 July 2018 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115171429/http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1921-2/famine-of-1921-22/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Courtois |first1=Stéphane |url=https://archive.org/stream/TheBlackBookofCommunism10/the-black-book-of-communism-jean-louis-margolin-1999-communism#page/n71/ |title=The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression |last2=Werth |first2=Nicolas |last3=Panné |first3=Jean-Louis |last4=Paczkowski |first4=Andrzej |last5=Bartošek |first5=Karel |last6=Margolin |first6=Jean-Louis |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-674-07608-2 |page=123}}</ref>]]
From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the [[One-party state|one-party rule]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]].{{Efn|The consolidation into a one-party state took place during the first three and a half years after the revolution, which included the period of [[War communism]] and an election in which multiple parties competed. See {{Cite book |last=Schapiro |first=Leonard |title=The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922 |date=1955 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]}}}} The stated purpose was to prevent the return of capitalist exploitation, and that the principles of [[democratic centralism]] would be the most effective in representing the people's will in a practical manner. The debate over the future of the economy provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a '[[Collective leadership|troika]]' consisting of [[Grigory Zinoviev]] of the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], [[Lev Kamenev]], of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], and [[Joseph Stalin]], of the [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasian SFSR]].
In February 1924, the USSR was recognized by the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/formation-of-the-soviet-union/#:~:text=On%20February%201%2C%201924%2C%20the,of%20Soviet%20power%20in%201917.|title=Formation of the Soviet Union|access-date=30 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67122375|title=Recognition of Britain|newspaper=Advocate |date=4 February 1924 |access-date=30 May 2024}}</ref> The same year, a [[1924 Soviet Constitution|Soviet Constitution]] was approved, legitimizing the December 1922 union.
According to [[Archie Brown (historian)|Archie Brown]] the constitution was never an accurate guide to political reality in the USSR. For example, the fact that the Party played the leading role in making and enforcing policy was not mentioned in it until 1977.<ref>Archie Brown, ''The rise and fall of Communism'' (2009) p, 518.</ref> The USSR was a federative entity of many constituent republics, each with its own political and administrative entities. However, the term 'Soviet Russia'{{Spaced ndash}}formally applicable only to the Russian Federative Socialist Republic{{Spaced ndash}}was often applied to the entire country by non-Soviet writers due to its domination by the Russian SFSR.
== Stalinism (1927–1953) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)}}
{{See also|Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin}}
On 3 April 1922, Stalin was named the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. Lenin had appointed Stalin the head of the [[Rabkrin|Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate]], which gave Stalin considerable power.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 November 2009 |title=Joseph Stalin – Biography, World War II & Facts – History |url=https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912144422/https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin |archive-date=12 September 2018 |access-date=6 December 2021}}</ref> By [[Rise of Joseph Stalin|gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmaneuvering his rivals within the party]], Stalin became the [[dictator|undisputed leader]] of the country and, by the end of the 1920s, established a [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] rule. In October 1927, [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]] and [[Leon Trotsky]] were expelled from the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] and forced into exile.
In 1928, Stalin introduced the [[First five-year plan (Soviet Union)|first five-year plan]] for building a [[Socialist economics|socialist economy]]. In place of the [[Proletarian internationalism|internationalism]] expressed by Lenin throughout the revolution, it aimed to build [[Socialism in One Country]]. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|industrialization]]. In [[Agriculture in the Soviet Union|agriculture]], rather than adhering to the 'lead by example' policy advocated by Lenin,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lenin |first=V.I. |title=Collected Works |pages=152–164, Vol. 31 |quote=The proletarian state must effect the transition to collective farming with extreme caution and only very gradually, by the force of example, without any coercion of the middle peasant.}}</ref> forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization of farms]] was implemented all over the country.
[[Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union|Famines]] ensued as a result, causing deaths estimated at three to seven million; surviving [[kulak]]s (wealthy or middle-class peasants) were persecuted, and many were sent to [[Gulag]]s to do [[Forced labor in the Soviet Union|forced labor]].{{Sfn|Davies|Wheatcroft|2004|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4s1lCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14 xiv], 401 441}}<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Stéphane |last1=Courtois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206 |title=Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression |last2=Mark Kramer |year=1999 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-07608-2 |page=206 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622213827/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206 |url-status=live }}</ref> Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Despite the turmoil of the mid-to-late 1930s, the country developed a robust industrial economy in the years preceding [[World War II]].
[[File:Lavrenti Beria Stalins family.jpg|thumb|Stalin and [[Lavrentiy Beria]] with Stalin's daughter, [[Svetlana Alliluyeva|Svetlana]], on his lap. As head of the NKVD, Beria was responsible for many [[Political repression in the Soviet Union|political repressions in the Soviet Union]].]]
Closer cooperation between the USSR and the West developed in the early 1930s. From 1932 to 1934, the country participated in the [[World Disarmament Conference]]. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the [[United States]] and the USSR were established when in November, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, chose to recognize Stalin's Communist government formally and negotiated a new trade agreement between the two countries.<ref>[http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html Ukrainian 'Holodomor' (man-made famine) Facts and History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424093532/http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html |date=24 April 2013 }}. Holodomorct.org (28 November 2006). Retrieved on 29 July 2013.</ref> In September 1934, the country joined the [[League of Nations]]. After the [[Spanish Civil War]] broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican forces]] against the [[Francoist Spain|Nationalists]], who were supported by [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]] and [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Casanova |first=Julián |title=República y Guerra Civil. Vol. 8 de la Historia de España, dirigida por Josep Fontana y Ramón Villares |publisher=Crítica/Marcial Pons |year=2007 |isbn=978-84-8432-878-0 |location=Barcelona |pages=271–274 |language=es |author-link=Julián Casanova Ruiz}}</ref>
In December 1936, Stalin unveiled a new [[1936 Soviet Constitution|constitution]] that was praised by supporters around the world as the most democratic constitution imaginable, though there was some skepticism. American historian J. Arch Getty concludes: "Many who lauded Stalin's Soviet Union as the most democratic country on earth lived to regret their words. After all, the Soviet Constitution of 1936 was adopted on the eve of the Great Terror of the late 1930s; the "thoroughly democratic" elections to the first Supreme Soviet permitted only uncontested candidates and took place at the height of the savage violence in 1937. The civil rights, personal freedoms, and democratic forms promised in the Stalin constitution were trampled almost immediately and remained dead letters until long after Stalin's death."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Getty |first=J. Arch |year=1991 |title=State and Society Under Stalin: Constitutions and Elections in the 1930s |journal=Slavic Review |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=18–35 |doi=10.2307/2500596 |jstor=2500596|s2cid=163479192 }}</ref>
[[File:5marshals 01.jpg|thumb|Five [[Marshal of the Soviet Union|Marshals of the Soviet Union]] in 1935. Only two of them—[[Semyon Budyonny|Budyonny]] and [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]]—survived the [[Great Purge]]. [[Vasily Blyukher|Blyukher]], [[Alexander Yegorov (soldier)|Yegorov]] and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky|Tukhachevsky]] were executed.]]
Stalin's [[Great Purge]] resulted in the detainment or execution of many '[[Old Bolshevik]]s' who had participated in the October Revolution. According to declassified Soviet archives, the [[NKVD]] arrested more than one and a half million people in 1937 and 1938, of whom 681,692 were shot.<ref name="Thurston">{{Cite book |last=Thurston |first=Robert W. |title=Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934–1941 |date=1998 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-07442-0 |page=139 |author-link=Robert W. Thurston}}</ref> Over those two years, there were an average of over one thousand executions a day.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Abbott |last=Gleason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373 |title=A companion to Russian history |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4051-3560-3 |page=373 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175409/https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Efn|name=fn1|According to British historian [[Geoffrey Hosking]], "excess deaths during the 1930s as a whole were in the range of 10–11 million."<ref name="1930s">{{Cite book |first=Geoffrey A. |last=Hosking |url=https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk |title=Russia and the Russians: a history |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-674-00473-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk/page/469 469] |url-access=registration}}</ref> American historian [[Timothy D. Snyder]] claims that archival evidence suggests maximum excess mortality of nine million during the entire Stalin era.<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/ Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012090945/http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/ |date=12 October 2017 }}, ''The New York Review of Books'', 27 January 2011</ref> Australian historian and archival researcher [[Stephen G. Wheatcroft]] asserts that around a million "purposive killings" can be attributed to the Stalinist regime, along with the premature deaths of roughly two million more amongst the repressed populations (i.e. in camps, prisons, exiles, etc.) through criminal negligence.{{Sfn|Wheatcroft|1996|pp=1334,1348}}}} Scholars estimate the total death toll for the Great Purge (1936–1938), including fatalities attributed to prison conditions, to be roughly 700,000-1.2 million.<ref>{{Citation |title=Introduction: the Great Purges as history |date=1985 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002 |work=Origins of the Great Purges |pages=1–9 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002 |isbn=978-0521259217 |access-date=2021-12-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Homkes|first=Brett|date=2004|title=Certainty, Probability, and Stalin's Great Purge|url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mcnair|journal=McNair Scholars Journal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ellman |first1=Michael |title=Soviet Repression Statistics: Some Comments |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |date=2002 |volume=54 |issue=7 |pages=1151–1172 |doi=10.1080/0966813022000017177 |jstor=826310 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/826310 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shearer |first1=David R. |title=Stalin and War, 1918-1953: Patterns of Repression, Mobilization, and External Threat |date=11 September 2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-95544-6 |page=vii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCHMEAAAQBAJ&dq=great+purge+1.2+million&pg=PR7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=Todd H. |title=Bringing Stalin Back In: Memory Politics and the Creation of a Useable Past in Putin's Russia |date=16 October 2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-9153-9 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJGyDwAAQBAJ&dq=stalin+great+purge+1.2+million&pg=PA7 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1939, after attempts to form a military alliance with Britain and France against Germany failed, the Soviet Union made a dramatic shift towards Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why didn't the USSR join Allies in 1939? |last=Yegorov |first=Oleg |url=https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii |date=26 September 2019 |access-date=5 February 2022 |website=Russia Beyond |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206011636/https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii |url-status=live }}</ref> Almost a year after Britain and France had concluded the [[Munich Agreement]] with Germany, the Soviet Union made agreements with Germany as well, both militarily and economically during [[German–Soviet Axis talks|extensive talks]]. Unlike the case of Britain and France, the Soviet Union's agreement with Germany, the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] (signed on 23 August 1939), included a secret protocol that paved the way for the Soviet invasion of Eastern European states and [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union|occupation of their territories]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/moscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry|title=Molotov-Ribbentrop: why is Moscow trying to justify Nazi pact?|work=[[The Guardian]]|author=Andrew Roth|date=23 August 2019}}</ref> The pact made possible the Soviet occupation of [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia]], [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina|Bessarabia, northern Bukovina]], and [[Soviet invasion of Poland|eastern Poland]].
In the far east, the Soviet military won several decisive victories during [[Soviet–Japanese border conflicts|border clashes]] with the [[Empire of Japan]] in 1938 and 1939. However, in April 1941, the USSR signed the [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact]] with Japan, which the Soviets would unilaterally break in 1945, recognizing the territorial integrity of [[Manchukuo]], a Japanese [[puppet state]]. The pact ensured Japan would not enter the World War II against the USSR on the side of Germany later.
=== World War II ===
{{Main|Soviet Union in World War II}}
{{Further|Eastern Front (World War II)|Great Patriotic War (term)|World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|Soviet war crimes}}
[[File:RIAN archive 44732 Soviet soldiers attack house.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], considered by many historians as a decisive turning point of World War II]]
On 1 September, Germany [[Invasion of Poland|invaded Poland]] and on the 17th the Soviet Union invaded Poland as well. On 6 October, Poland fell and part of the Soviet occupation zone was then handed over to Germany. On 10 October, the Soviet Union and Lithuania signed an agreement whereby the Soviet Union transferred Polish sovereignty over the Vilna region to Lithuania, and on 28 October the boundary between the Soviet occupation zone and the new territory of Lithuania was officially demarcated. On 1 November, the Soviet Union [[Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia|annexed Western Ukraine]], followed by Western Belarus on the 2nd. In late November, unable to coerce the [[Finland|Republic of Finland]] by diplomatic means into moving its border {{Convert|25|km}} back from [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], Stalin ordered the [[Winter War|invasion of Finland]]. On 14 December 1939, the Soviet Union was expelled from the [[League of Nations]] for invading Finland.<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV USSR expelled from the League of Nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914013927/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV |date=14 September 2021 }}</ref>
Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]] on 22 June 1941 starting what is known in Russia and some other post-Soviet states as the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Great Patriotic War]]. The [[Red Army]] stopped the seemingly invincible German Army at the [[Battle of Moscow]]. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], which lasted from late 1942 to early 1943, dealt a severe blow to Germany from which they never fully recovered and became a turning point in the war. After Stalingrad, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before [[End of World War II in Europe|Germany surrendered in 1945]]. The German Army suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front.<ref>{{Cite book |first=William J. |last=Duiker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC |title=Contemporary World History |year= 2009 |publisher=Wadsworth Pub Co |isbn=978-0-495-57271-8 |page=128 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622200541/https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Harry Hopkins]], a close foreign policy advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke on 10 August 1943 of the USSR's decisive role in the war, saying that "While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving attention of approximately 200 German divisions."{{Efn|name=fn3|"In War II Russia occupies a dominant position and is the decisive factor looking toward the defeat of the Axis in Europe. While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving attention of approximately 200 German divisions. Whenever the Allies open a second front on the Continent, it will be decidedly a secondary front to that of Russia; theirs will continue to be the main effort. Without Russia in the war, the Axis cannot be defeated in Europe, and the position of the United Nations becomes precarious. Similarly, Russia's post-war position in Europe will be a dominant one. With Germany crushed, there is no power in Europe to oppose her tremendous military forces."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Executive of the Presidents Soviet Protocol Committee (Burns) to the President's Special Assistant (Hopkins) |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d317 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821062622/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d317 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |access-date=21 August 2018 |website=www.history.state.gov |publisher=[[Office of the Historian]]}}</ref>}} Up to 34 million soldiers served in the Red Army during World War II, 8 million of which were [[Demographics of the Soviet Union|non-Slavic minorities]].<ref name="Soviet losses">{{Citation | first = ГФ| last = Кривошеев | title = Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: потери вооруженных сил. Статистическое исследование |trans-title=Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study | language = ru}}.</ref>
[[File:RIAN archive 2153 After bombing.jpg|thumb|right|Residents of Leningrad leave their homes destroyed by German bombing. About 1 million civilians died during the 871-day [[Siege of Leningrad]], mostly from starvation.]]
[[File:Teheran conference-1943.jpg|thumb|From left to right, the Soviet General Secretary [[Joseph Stalin]], US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] [[Tehran Conference|confer]] in Tehran, 1943]]
The USSR suffered greatly in the war, [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|losing around 20 million people]] (modern Russian sources put the number at 26.6 million).<ref name="1930s" /><ref name="MOD Russian Federation">{{cite web|last1=Министерство обороны Российской Федерации|first1=MOD Russian Federation|title=On Question of war Losses (in Russian)|url=http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/history/more.htm?id=11359251@cmsArticle|publisher=MOD Russian Federation|access-date=12 November 2017}}</ref> This includes 8.7 million military deaths. The majority of the losses were ethnic [[Russians]], followed by ethnic [[Ukrainians]].<ref name="Soviet losses"/> Approximately 2.8 million [[German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war|Soviet POWs]] died of starvation, mistreatment, or executions in just eight months of 1941–42.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldhagen |first=Daniel | author-link=Daniel Goldhagen |title=[[Hitler's Willing Executioners]] |page=290 |quote=2.8 million young, healthy Soviet POWs" killed by the Germans, "mainly by starvation{{nbsp}}... in less than eight months" of 1941–42, before "the decimation of Soviet POWs{{nbsp}}... was stopped" and the Germans "began to use them as laborers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941 – January 1942 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106204101/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942 |archive-date=6 November 2018 |access-date=9 March 2019 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org}}</ref> More than 2 million people were killed in [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Belarus]] during the three years of [[German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II|German occupation]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Belarus – World War II |url=https://countrystudies.us/belarus/10.htm |work=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]}}</ref> almost a quarter of the region's population, including around 550,000 Jews in the [[The Holocaust in Belarus|Holocaust in Belarus]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Waitman Wade Beorn|title=Marching into Darkness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8cXAgAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-72660-4|page=28}}</ref> During the war, the country together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the [[Big Four in World War II|Big Four]] Allied powers,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HymSg_Pp7X0C&q=big+four+world+war+2&pg=PA223 |title=The New York Times Living History: World War II, 1942–1945: The Allied Counteroffensive |publisher=Macmillan|year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8050-7247-1 |author-link=Douglas Brinkley |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162717/https://books.google.com/books?id=HymSg_Pp7X0C&q=big+four+world+war+2&pg=PA223 |url-status=live }}</ref> and later became the [[Four Policemen]] that formed the basis of the [[United Nations Security Council]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Urquhart |first=Brian |title=Looking for the Sheriff |publisher=New York Review of Books, 16 July 1998 |author-link=Brian Urquhart}}</ref> It emerged as a superpower in the post-war period. Once denied [[diplomatic recognition]] by the Western world, the USSR had official relations with practically every country by the late 1940s. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the country [[Soviet Union and the United Nations|became]] one of the [[Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council|five permanent members]] of the [[United Nations Security Council]], which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions.
The USSR, in fulfillment of its agreement with the Allies at the [[Yalta Conference]], broke the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945 which Japan had been honoring despite their alliance with Germany,<ref name="denunciation">[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp Denunciation of the neutrality pact] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092519/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp |date=20 May 2011 }} 5 April 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> and [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories]] on 9 August 1945.<ref name="declarationofwar">[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp Soviet Declaration of War on Japan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092513/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp |date=20 May 2011 }}, 8 August 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> [[Soviet–Japanese War|This conflict]] ended with a decisive Soviet victory, contributing to the unconditional [[surrender of Japan]] and the end of World War II.
Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|Germany]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Women and War |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PA480|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-770-8|pages=480–}}</ref> The [[Wartime sexual violence|wartime rapes]] were followed by decades of silence.<ref>{{cite web |author=Allan Hall |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html |title=German women break their silence on horrors of Red Army rapes|date=24 October 2008 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=10 December 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="The Independent">{{cite web|title=Raped by the Red Army: Two million German women speak out|work=The Independent|date=15 April 2009 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/raped-by-the-red-army-two-million-german-women-speak-out-1669074.html|access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Susanne Beyer">{{cite news|title=Harrowing Memoir: German Woman Writes Ground-Breaking Account of WW2 Rape |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,680354,00.html|author=Susanne Beyer|newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=26 February 2010|access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref> According to historian [[Antony Beevor]], whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, [[NKVD]] (Soviet secret police) files have revealed that the leadership knew what was happening, but did little to stop it.<ref name=Bird>{{cite journal |last=Bird |first=Nicky |title=Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor |journal=International Affairs |volume=78 |number=4 |date=October 2002 |pages=914–916 |institution=Royal Institute of International Affairs}}</ref> It was often [[wikt:rear echelon|rear echelon]] units who committed the rapes. According to professor Oleg Rzheshevsky, "4,148 Red Army officers and many privates were punished for committing atrocities".<ref name=":0">Television documentary from CC&C Ideacom Production, "Apocalypse Never-Ending War 1918–1926", part 2, aired at Danish DR K on 22 October 2018.</ref> The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Naimark|first=Norman M.|title=The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949 |publisher=Belknap Press|year=1995|location=Cambridge |page=70}}</ref>
The Soviet Union was greatly assisted in its wartime effort by the United States via [[Lend-Lease]]. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 [[1,000,000,000 (number)|billion]] in materials: over 400,000 [[jeep]]s and trucks; 12,000 [[armored vehicle]]s (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386<ref>Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) pp. 28, 30, 31.{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}</ref> of which were [[M3 Lee]]s and 4,102 [[Lend-Lease Sherman tanks|M4 Shermans]]);<ref>''Lend-Lease Shipments: World War II'', Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, December 31, 1946, p. 8.</ref> 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were [[Bell P-39 Airacobra]]s, 3,414 were [[Douglas A-20 Havoc]]s and 2,397 were [[Bell P-63 Kingcobra]]s)<ref>{{cite book |last=Hardesty |first=Von |chapter=Appendix 10: Lend-Lease Aircraft to USSR June 22, 1941 – September 20, 1945 |title=Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941–1945 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |place=Washington, D.C. |year=1991 |oclc=1319584971 |isbn=978-1-56098-071-1 |url= https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |pages=[https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6/page/253/mode/1up 253]}}</ref> and 1.75 million tons of food.<ref>{{cite book |title=American Military History |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |chapter=World War II: The War Against Germany And Italy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506174749/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2017 |publisher=US Army Center of Military History |page=158}}</ref> As Soviet soldiers were bearing the brunt of the war, Roosevelt's advisor [[Harry Hopkins]] felt that American aid to the Soviets would hasten the war's conclusion.<ref>David Roll (2012) ''The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler'', ch. 6.</ref>
Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line.<ref>{{cite web|title=The five Lend-Lease routes to Russia |url=http://www.o5m6.de/Routes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031212063805/http://www.o5m6.de/routes.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2003 |website=Engines of the Red Army |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Motter |first1=T.H. Vail |title=The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia |date=1952 |publisher=Center of Military History |pages=4–6 |url=https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/index.htm |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref>
=== Cold War ===
{{Main|Cold War}}
[[File:Soviet empire 1960.png|thumb|Map showing the greatest territorial extent of the Soviet Union and the sovereign states that it dominated politically, economically and militarily in 1960, after the [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1959 but before the official [[Sino-Soviet split]] of 1961 (total area: c. 35,000,000 km<sup>2</sup>){{Efn|34,374,483 km<sup>2</sup>}}]]
During the immediate post-war period, the Soviet Union rebuilt and expanded its economy, while maintaining its [[Command economy|strictly centralized control]]. It took effective control over most of the countries of Eastern Europe (except [[Tito–Stalin split|Yugoslavia]] and later [[Soviet-Albanian split|Albania]]), turning them into [[satellite state]]s. The USSR bound its satellite states in a military alliance, the [[Warsaw Pact]], in 1955, and an economic organization, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or [[Comecon]], a counterpart to the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), from 1949 to 1991.<ref name="fas.org">{{cite web |title=Main Intelligence Administration (GRU) Glavnoye Razvedovatel'noye Upravlenie – Russia / Soviet Intelligence Agencies |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226090607/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/ |archive-date=26 December 2008 |access-date=24 November 2008 |publisher=Fas.org}}</ref> Although nominally a "defensive" alliance, the Warsaw Pact's primary function was to safeguard the [[Soviet Empire|Soviet Union's hegemony]] over its [[Soviet Bloc|Eastern European]] satellites, with the Pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away.<ref name="history.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/warsaw-pact-ends|title=Warsaw Pact ends|website=HISTORY}}</ref> The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted [[World War II reparations|war reparations]] from [[East Germany]], [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]], [[People's Republic of Romania|Romania]], and [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the [[Marshall Plan]]."<ref>Mark Kramer, "The Soviet Bloc and the Cold War in Europe", in {{Cite book |editor-first=Klaus | editor-last=Larresm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyNcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT174 |title=A Companion to Europe Since 1945 |publisher=Wiley |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-89024-0 |page=79}}</ref> Later, the Comecon supplied aid to the eventually victorious [[Chinese Communist Party]], and its influence grew elsewhere in the world. Fearing its ambitions, the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, became its enemies. In the ensuing Cold War, the two sides clashed indirectly in [[proxy war]]s.
== Khrushchev Thaw (1953–1964) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)}}
[[File:John Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev 1961.jpg|thumb|Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] (left) with US President [[John F. Kennedy]] in Vienna, 3 June 1961]]
Stalin died on 5 March 1953. Without a mutually agreeable successor, the highest Communist Party officials initially opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly through a troika headed by [[Georgy Malenkov]]. This did not last, however, and [[Nikita Khrushchev]] eventually won the ensuing power struggle by the mid-1950s. In 1956, he [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|denounced Joseph Stalin]] and proceeded to ease controls over the party and society. This was known as [[de-Stalinization]].
Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a critically vital buffer zone for the forward defence of its western borders, in case of another major invasion such as the German invasion of 1941. For this reason, the USSR sought to cement its control of the region by transforming the Eastern European countries into satellite states, dependent upon and subservient to its leadership. As a result, Soviet military forces were used to suppress an anti-communist uprising in [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungary]] in 1956.
In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the Soviet rapprochement with the West, and what [[Mao Zedong]] perceived as Khrushchev's [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionism]], led to the [[Sino–Soviet split]]. This resulted in a break throughout the global Marxist–Leninist movement, with the governments in [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]], [[Democratic Kampuchea|Cambodia]], and [[Somali Democratic Republic|Somalia]] choosing to ally with China.
During this period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the USSR continued to realize scientific and technological exploits in the [[Space Race]], rivaling the United States: launching the first artificial satellite, [[Sputnik 1]] in 1957; a living dog named [[Laika]] in 1957; the first human being, [[Yuri Gagarin]] in 1961; the first woman in space, [[Valentina Tereshkova]] in 1963; [[Alexei Leonov]], the first person to walk in space in 1965; the first soft landing on the Moon by spacecraft [[Luna 9]] in 1966; and the first Moon rovers, [[Lunokhod 1]] and [[Lunokhod 2]].<ref name="lunokhod">{{Cite episode |title=Tank on the Moon |url=http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/magazine2.html |series=The Nature of Things with David Suzuki |network=CBC-TV |air-date=6 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226123643/http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/magazine2.html |archive-date=26 December 2008}}</ref>
Khrushchev initiated '[[Khrushchev Thaw|The Thaw]]', a complex shift in political, cultural, and economic life in the country. This included some openness and contact with other nations and new social and economic policies with more emphasis on commodity goods, allowing a dramatic rise in living standards while maintaining high levels of economic growth. Censorship was relaxed as well. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive. In 1962, he precipitated a [[Cuban Missile Crisis|crisis with the United States]] over the Soviet deployment of [[Nuclear weapons delivery|nuclear missiles]] in [[Cuba]]. An agreement was made with the United States to remove nuclear missiles from both [[Cuba]] and [[Turkey]], concluding the crisis. This event caused Khrushchev much embarrassment and loss of prestige, resulting in his removal from power in 1964.
== Era of Stagnation (1964–1982) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)}}
[[File:Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nikolai Podgorny]] visiting [[Tampere]], [[Finland]] on 16 October 1969]]
[[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|Soviet general secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and US President [[Jimmy Carter]] sign the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II|SALT II arms limitation treaty]] in Vienna on 18 June 1979.]]
The history of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, referred to as the Brezhnev Era, covers the period of [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s rule of the [[Soviet Union|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] (USSR). This period began with high economic growth and soaring prosperity but ended with a much weaker Soviet Union facing social, political, and economic stagnation. The average annual income stagnated because needed economic reforms were never fully carried out.
Following the ousting of [[Nikita Khrushchev]] on 14 October 1964, Brezhnev replaced him as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|First Secretary]], and [[Alexei Kosygin]] took over as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. [[Anastas Mikoyan]], and later [[Nikolai Podgorny]], became Chairmen of the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]]. Alongside [[Andrei Kirilenko (politician)|Andrei Kirilenko]] as organisational secretary, and [[Mikhail Suslov]] as chief ideologue, this group formed a reinvigorated [[collective leadership]], which contrasted in form with the autocracy that characterized Khrushchev's rule.
The collective leadership initially focused on stabilizing the Soviet Union and calming [[Soviet society]]. They also sought to accelerate economic growth, which had slowed considerably during Khrushchev's final years in power. In 1965, Kosygin initiated several economic reforms aimed at decentralizing the Soviet economy. These reforms initially spurred economic growth, but hard-liners within the Party halted them, fearing that they would undermine the Party's prestige and power. As a result, no further radical economic reforms were implemented during the Brezhnev era, leading to economic stagnation by the early-to-mid-1970s. By Brezhnev's death in 1982, Soviet economic growth had nearly come to a standstill.
During this period, Brezhnev consolidated power, and by the early 1970s, he had established himself as the preeminent Soviet leader. The stabilization policy established a ruling [[gerontocracy]], and [[political corruption]] became increasingly prevalent. Despite this, Brezhnev never launched any large-scale anti-corruption campaigns. The Soviet Union, thanks to the military buildup of the 1960s, solidified its status as a [[superpower]] during Brezhnev's rule. However, this era was also marked by the [[Era of Stagnation]], a period characterized by economic, political, and social decline, which persisted under Brezhnev's successors, [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]].
The Brezhnev Era also witnessed significant international actions, including the 1968 [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] to suppress the [[Prague Spring]] reforms. Brezhnev justified this and future interventions with the [[Brezhnev Doctrine]], which stated that any threat to Soviet rule in a Warsaw Pact state was a threat to all Warsaw Pact states, thus justifying military intervention.
Brezhnev presided over a period of ''[[détente]]'' with the West, leading to treaties on arms control such as [[SALT I]], [[SALT II]], and the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]], while simultaneously building up Soviet military might. In 1977, the [[1977 Soviet Constitution|third Soviet Constitution]] was unanimously adopted. One of the Soviet economy's key strengths during this period was its vast oil and gas reserves. The quadrupling of world oil prices during the [[1973 oil crisis]] and another rise in the late 1970s made the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy. This revenue was used to offset multiple economic weaknesses. Former Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] once remarked that "things are bad with bread. Give me 3 million tons [of oil] over the plan."<ref>Yergin, ''The Quest'' (2011) p 23</ref> The revenue from oil exports helped to mitigate a growing food supply crisis, fund the import of equipment and consumer goods, and sustain the arms race with the US. It also underpinned risky foreign policy actions, such as the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] beginning in 1979, which effectively ended the period of détente with the West.<ref>{{cite book|author=Yegor Gaidar|title=Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102|date= 2007|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|page=102|isbn=9780815731153 }}</ref>
The long period of Brezhnev's rule culminated in his death on 10 November 1982. By this time, the Soviet Union had become increasingly stagnant, with an ageing leadership resistant to change and a deteriorating economy. Moreover, the Soviet Union's failure to modernize its economy, particularly in the field of computerization, further hindered its competitiveness with Western powers.<ref>James W. Cortada, "Public Policies and the Development of National Computer Industries in Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, 1940—80." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (2009) 44#3 pp: 493-512, especially page 509-10.</ref><ref>Frank Cain, "Computers and the Cold War: United States restrictions on the export of computers to the Soviet Union and Communist China." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (2005) 40#1 pp: 131-147. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036313 in JSTOR]</ref>
== Reforms and dissolution (1982–1991) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)|Cold War (1985–1991)|1991 Soviet coup attempt}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at the first Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.jpg|thumb|[[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in one-to-one discussions with US President [[Ronald Reagan]] (''left''), 1985]]
Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. Kenneth S. Deffeyes argued in ''[[Beyond Oil]]'' that the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] encouraged [[Saudi Arabia]] to [[1980s oil glut|lower the price of oil]] to the point where the Soviets could not make a profit selling their oil, and resulted in the depletion of the country's [[hard currency]] reserves.<ref>Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak.</ref>
Brezhnev's next two successors, transitional figures with deep roots in his tradition, did not last long. [[Yuri Andropov]] was 68 years old and [[Konstantin Chernenko]] 72 when they assumed power; both died in less than two years. In an attempt to avoid a third short-lived leader, in 1985, the Soviets turned to the next generation and selected [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]. In addition to the failing economy, the prolonged war in Afghanistan led to increased public dissatisfaction with the Communist government.<ref name=":1" />
In the [[Chernobyl disaster]] of 26 April 1986, at the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] in [[Pripyat]], Ukraine, one of the plant's [[Nuclear reactor|nuclear reactors]] exploded, spreading [[Radioactive contamination|radioactive contaminants]] across Europe and forcing tens of thousands of people to permanently evacuate from the [[Chernobyl exclusion zone|Chernobyl Exclusion Zone]] around Pripyat. At least two dozen people died from being at the plant and many more died from [[radiation exposure]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-23 |title=Chernobyl disaster {{!}} Causes, Effects, Deaths, Videos, Location, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Chernobyl-disaster |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
The Chernobyl disaster added motive force to Gorbachev's reforms.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Zimmerman |first1=William |last2=Axelrod |first2=Robert |title=The "Lessons" of Vietnam and Soviet Foreign Policy |journal=World Politics |date=October 1981 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.2307/2010148|jstor=2010148 |s2cid=155025896 }}</ref> He made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called ''[[perestroika]]''. His policy of ''[[glasnost]]'' freed public [[access to information]] after decades of heavy government censorship. Gorbachev also moved to end the Cold War. In 1988, the USSR abandoned its [[Soviet–Afghan War|war in Afghanistan]] and began to withdraw its forces. In the following year, [[Sinatra Doctrine|Gorbachev refused to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet satellite states]], which paved the way for the [[Revolutions of 1989]]. In particular, the standstill of the Soviet Union at the [[Pan-European Picnic]] in August 1989 then set a peaceful chain reaction in motion, at the end of which the Eastern Bloc collapsed. With the tearing down of the [[Berlin Wall]] and with East and West Germany pursuing re-unification, the [[Iron Curtain]] between [[Western world|the West]] and Soviet-occupied regions came down.<ref>Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</ref><ref>Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</ref><ref>Otmar Lahodynsky: Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: Profil 9 August 2014.</ref><ref>"Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows" (German – 19 August 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), in: FAZ 19 August 2009.</ref>[[File:00 Páneurópai Piknik emlékhely.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Pan-European Picnic]] took place in August 1989 on the Hungarian-Austrian border.]]At the same time, the Soviet republics started legal moves towards potentially declaring [[sovereignty]] over their territories, citing the freedom to secede in Article 72 of the USSR constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crozier |first=Brian |date=25 June 1990 |title=National Review: The red blues - Soviet politics |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050324050607/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705 |archive-date=2005-03-24 |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=[[National Review]]}}</ref> On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for it in a referendum.<ref>[http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html Origins of Moral-Ethical Crisis and Ways to Overcome it] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928104220/http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html |date=28 September 2007 }} by V.A.Drozhin Honoured Lawyer of Russia.</ref> Many held their first free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in 1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as the '[[War of Laws]]'. In 1989, the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. [[Boris Yeltsin]] was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress [[Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory]] and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the Soviet laws. After a landslide victory of [[Sąjūdis]] in Lithuania, that country declared its independence restored on 11 March 1990, citing the illegality of the [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Soviet occupation of the Baltic states]]. Soviet forces attempted to halt the secession by crushing popular demonstrations in Lithuania ([[January Events (Lithuania)|Bloody Sunday]]) and Latvia ([[The Barricades]]), as a result of which numerous civilians were killed or wounded. However, these actions only bolstered international support for the secessionists.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004464896/BP000014.xml|title=Chapter 3 The Baltic States Between 1940 and 1991: Illegality and/or Prescription|publisher=Brill|author=Lauri Mälksoo|year=2022|doi=10.1163/9789004464896_005 |isbn=978-90-04-46489-6 }}</ref>
[[File:Image0 ST.jpg|thumb|[[T-80]] tank on [[Red Square]] during the [[1991 August Coup|August Coup]]]]
A [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum for the preservation of the USSR]] was held on 17 March 1991 in nine republics (the remainder having boycotted the vote), with the majority of the population in those republics voting for preservation of the Union in the form of a new federation. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost. In the summer of 1991, the [[New Union Treaty]], which would have turned the country into a much looser Union, was agreed upon by eight republics. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August Coup]]—an attempted coup d'état by hardline members of the government and the KGB who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. After the coup collapsed, Russian president Yeltsin was seen as a hero for his decisive actions, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared the restoration of their full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example). Gorbachev resigned as general secretary in late August, and soon afterwards, the party's activities were indefinitely suspended—effectively ending its rule. By the fall, Gorbachev could no longer influence events outside Moscow, and he was being challenged even there by Yeltsin, who had been elected [[President of Russia]] in July 1991.
== Dissolution and aftermath ==
{{Main|Commonwealth of Independent States|Dissolution of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War.jpg|thumb|Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War]]
[[File:Refugeesaz.jpg|thumb|Internally displaced Azerbaijanis from [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], 1993]]
[[File:USSR - Then and Now.png|thumb|Country emblems of the Soviet Republics before and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic]] (fifth in the second row) no longer exists as a political entity of any kind and the emblem is unofficial.)]]
The remaining 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. However, by December all except Russia and [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakhstan]] had formally declared independence. During this time, Yeltsin took over what remained of the Soviet government, including the [[Moscow Kremlin]]. The final blow was struck on 1 December when Ukraine, the second-most powerful republic, [[1991 Ukrainian independence referendum|voted overwhelmingly for independence]]. Ukraine's secession ended any realistic chance of the country staying together even on a limited scale.
On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and [[Belarus]] (formerly Byelorussia), signed the [[Belavezha Accords]], which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS) in its place. While doubts remained over the authority of the accords to do this, on 21 December 1991, the representatives of all Soviet republics except [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]] signed the [[Alma-Ata Protocol]], which confirmed the accords. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as the President of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers that had been vested in the presidency over to Yeltsin. That night, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the [[Flag of Russia|Russian tricolour]] was raised in its place.
The following day, the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]], the highest governmental body, voted both itself and the country out of existence. This is generally recognized as marking the official, final [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] as a functioning state, and the end of the Cold War.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt5OLD3vp4UC&q=26+december+1991+ussr&pg=PR5 |title=Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States: Documents, Data, and Analysis |last1=Brzezinski |first1=Zbigniew K. |author-link1=Zbigniew Brzezinski |last2=Sullivan |first2=Paige |year=1997 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-1-56324-637-1 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=17 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217230805/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt5OLD3vp4UC&q=26+december+1991+ussr&pg=PR5 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Soviet Army initially remained under overall CIS command but was soon absorbed into the different military forces of the newly independent states. The few remaining Soviet institutions that had not been taken over by Russia ceased to function by the end of 1991.
Following the dissolution, Russia was internationally recognized<ref name="uk">[http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019744935436 Country Profile: Russia] Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311123046/http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019744935436 |date=11 March 2008 }}</ref> as the USSR's [[Succession of states|legal successor]] on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed Soviet overseas properties as its own. Under the 1992 [[Lisbon Protocol]], Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since then, the Russian Federation has [[Russia and the United Nations|assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations]], and is widely viewed as the USSR's successor state.<ref name="Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo">{{cite journal|url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/from-russianisation-to-legalisation-russia-and-the-question-of-successor-state-to-the-soviet-union|title=From Russianisation to legalisation: Russia and the question of successor state to the Soviet Union|author=Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo|journal=Журнал Сибирского Федерального Университета. Гуманитарные Науки |year=2017 |volume=10 |issue=12 |pages=1840–1855 |publisher=Cyberleninka}}</ref> [[Ukraine]] has refused to recognize exclusive Russian claims to succession of the USSR and claimed such status for Ukraine as well, which was codified in Articles 7 and 8 of its 1991 law [[On Legal Succession of Ukraine]]. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has continued to pursue claims against Russia in foreign courts, seeking to recover its share of the foreign property that was owned by the USSR.
In summing up the international ramifications of these events, [[Vladislav Zubok]] stated: 'The collapse of the [[Soviet empire]] was an event of epochal geopolitical, military, ideological, and economic significance.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zubok |first=Vladislav M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3j2VJj1hs1EC&pg=PR9 |title=A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev |year= 2009 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-9905-2 |page=ix |access-date=1 December 2017 |via=Google Books |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309161344/https://books.google.com/books?id=3j2VJj1hs1EC&pg=PR9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Before the dissolution, the country had maintained its status as one of the world's two superpowers for four decades after World War II through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, military strength, economic strength and scientific research, especially in space technology and weaponry.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |date=15 June 1992 |title=The Soviet Union and the United States – Revelations from the Russian Archives {{!}} Exhibitions – Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915012329/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html |archive-date=15 September 2017 |access-date=12 November 2017 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>
=== Post-Soviet states ===
{{Main|Post-Soviet states}}
[[File:RIAN archive 41059 CIS heads of state.jpg|thumb|On 21 December 1991, the leaders of 11 former Soviet republics, including Russia and Ukraine, agreed to the [[Alma-Ata Protocol]]s, formally establishing the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS).]]
The analysis of the [[succession of states]] for the 15 post-Soviet states is complex.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml|title=INFCIRC/397 – Note to the Director General from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation|date=23 November 2003|access-date=7 February 2023|archive-date=23 November 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031123143520/http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Russian Federation is widely seen as the legal ''continuator'' state and is for most purposes the heir to the Soviet Union. It retained ownership of all former Soviet embassy properties, inheriting the full [[Russia and weapons of mass destruction|Soviet nuclear arsenal]], and also inherited the [[Soviet Union and the United Nations|Soviet Union's UN membership]], with its permanent seat on the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]].<ref name="Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo"/>
Of the two other co-founding states of the USSR at the time of the dissolution, [[Ukraine]] was the only one that had passed laws, similar to Russia, claiming it is a state-successor of both the [[Ukrainian SSR]] and the USSR.<ref>[https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1543-12 "ЗАКОН УКРАЇНИ Про правонаступництво України"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004257/https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1543-12 |date=23 November 2019 }} (in Ukrainian).</ref> Soviet treaties laid groundwork for Ukraine's future foreign agreements as well as leading to the country agreeing to undertake 16.37% of debts of the Soviet Union for which it was going to receive its share of the USSR's foreign property. Russia's position as the 'only continuation of the USSR' that became widely accepted in the West, as well as constant pressure from the Western countries, allowed Russia to inherit Soviet state property abroad and conceal information about it. Due to that Ukraine never ratified 'zero option' agreement that Russian Federation had signed with other former Soviet republics, as it denied disclosing of information about Soviet Gold Reserves and its Diamond Fund.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSwstF6SEAkC&pg=PA924 |title=The Former Soviet Union in Transition |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-56324-318-9 |editor-last=Kaufman |editor-first=Richard F. |page=924 |editor-last2=Hardt |editor-first2=John P. |access-date=28 November 2020 |archive-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819033956/https://books.google.com/books?id=JSwstF6SEAkC&pg=PA924 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zadorozhnii |first=Oleksandr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lMokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=International Law in the Relations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation |publisher=Yuri Marchenko |year=2016 |isbn=978-617-684-146-3 |page=98 |access-date=28 November 2020 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817025957/https://books.google.com/books?id=lMokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |url-status=live }}</ref> The dispute over former Soviet property and assets between the two former republics is still ongoing:
{{Blockquote|text=The conflict is unsolvable. We can continue to poke Kiev handouts in the calculation of 'solve the problem', only it won't be solved. Going to a trial is also pointless: for a number of European countries this is a political issue, and they will make a decision clearly in whose favor. What to do in this situation is an open question. Search for non-trivial solutions. But we must remember that in 2014, with the filing of the then Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, litigation with Russia resumed in 32 countries.|author=[[Sergei Markov]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Ни по-честному, ни по-братски – Москва и Киев не могут поделить советскую собственность за рубежом |url=https://news.rambler.ru/ukraine/43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom/ |website=Рамблер/новости |date=9 March 2020 |access-date=14 July 2020 |archive-date=15 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715131651/https://news.rambler.ru/ukraine/43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Similar situation occurred with restitution of cultural property. Although on 14 February 1992 Russia and other former Soviet republics signed agreement 'On the return of cultural and historic property to the origin states' in [[Minsk]], it was halted by the Russian State Duma that eventually passed '[[Russian cultural property law|Federal Law on Cultural Valuables Displaced to the USSR as a Result of the Second World War and Located on the Territory of the Russian Federation]]' which made restitution currently impossible, effectively barring the return of looted cultural heritage by Soviet troops during the Second World War to its original owners.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Николаевич |first=Касатенко Александр |date=21 September 2013 |title=История и теория реституции культурных ценностей |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey |journal=Вестник Таганрогского института управления и экономики |volume=1 |issue=17 |via=cyberleninka.ru |access-date=14 July 2020 |archive-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716201711/https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Image:GDP of Russia since 1989.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Russian [[Gross domestic product|GDP]] since the end of the Soviet Union]]
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania consider themselves as [[State continuity of the Baltic states|revivals of the three independent countries]] that existed prior to their [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union]] in 1940. They maintain that the process by which they were incorporated into the Soviet Union violated both international law and their own law, and that in 1990–1991 they were reasserting an independence that still legally existed.
Nearly all of the post-Soviet states suffered deep and prolonged [[recession]]s after [[Shock therapy (economics)|shock therapy]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weber |first=Isabella |author-link=Isabella Weber |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1228187814 |title=How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate |date=2021 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-429-49012-5 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=6 |oclc=1228187814}}</ref> with poverty increasing more than tenfold.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E0D8163FF931A25753C1A9669C8B63 Study Finds Poverty Deepening in Former Communist Countries], New York Times, October 12, 2000</ref> In a 2001 study by the economist [[Steven Rosefielde]], he calculated that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he partly blames on the "shock therapy" that came with the [[Washington Consensus]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Rosefielde|first1=Steven|date=2001 |title=Premature Deaths: Russia's Radical Economic Transition in Soviet Perspective|journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]]|volume=53 |issue=8 |pages=1159–1176|doi= 10.1080/09668130120093174|s2cid=145733112}}</ref>
In 2011, ''[[The Guardian]]'' published an analysis of the former Soviet countries twenty years after the fall of the USSR. They found that "GDP fell as much as 50 percent in the 1990s in some republics... as capital flight, industrial collapse, hyperinflation and tax avoidance took their toll," but that there was a rebound in the 2000s, and by 2010 "some economies were five times as big as they were in 1991." Life expectancy has grown since 1991 in some of the countries, but fallen in others; likewise, some held free and fair elections, while others remained authoritarian.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=End of the USSR: visualising how the former Soviet countries are doing, 20 years on {{!}} Russia |url=https://theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/aug/17/ussr-soviet-countries-data |first1=Mark|last1=Rice-Oxley |first2=Ami |last2=Sedghi |first3=Jenny |last3=Ridley |first4=Sasha |last4=Magill |date=17 Aug 2011 |access-date=21 January 2021 |website=The Guardian }}</ref>
There are additionally three states that claim independence from the other internationally recognized post-Soviet states but [[List of states with limited recognition|possess limited international recognition]]: [[Abkhazia]], [[South Ossetia]] and [[Transnistria]]. The [[Armenians|Armenian]] separatist movement of the [[Republic of Artsakh]], [[Chechnya|Chechen]] separatist movement of the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]], the [[Gagauzia|Gagauz]] separatist movement of the [[Gagauz Republic]] and the [[Talysh people|Talysh]] separatist movement of the [[Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic]] are other such cases which have already been resolved.
== See also ==
* [[Foreign relations of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Historiography in the Soviet Union]]
* [[Index of Soviet Union–related articles]]
* [[Islam in the Soviet Union]]
* [[List of Slavic studies journals]]
* [[Ukrainian nationalism]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
{{See also|Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War|Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union|Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Robert|author-link1=Robert William Davies |last2=Wheatcroft |first2=Stephen|author-link2=Stephen G. Wheatcroft |title=The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia Volume 5: The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture 1931–1933 |url=http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780333311073 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0-230-23855-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Fischer |year=1964 |title=The Life of Lenin |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Erik |date=2013 |title=The First World War Peace Settlements, 1919–1925 |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-31-7883-678}}
* {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Stephen J. |year=2003 |title=Lenin and Revolutionary Russia |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-28718-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Leggett |first=George |year=1981 |title=The Cheka: Lenin's Political Police |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-822552-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/chekaleninspolit0000legg}}
* {{cite book |last=Mccauley |first=Martin |author-link=Martin McCauley (historian) |title=The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-86783-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Read |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Read |title=From Tsar to Soviets |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-135-36625-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ryan |first=James |year=2012 |title=Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1138815681 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ6LAgAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |year=2000 |title=Lenin: A Biography |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-72625-9 |title-link=Lenin: A Biography}}
* {{cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |year=2005 |title=A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-01801-3}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wheatcroft |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen G. Wheatcroft |year=1996 |url=http://sovietinfo.tripod.com/WCR-German_Soviet.pdf |title=The Scale and Nature of German and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930–45 |volume=48 |issue=8 |pages=1319–1353 |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]] |jstor=152781 |doi=10.1080/09668139608412415}}
* {{cite book |title=Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution |last=White |first=James D. |year=2001 |series=European History in Perspective |publisher=Palgrave |location=Basingstoke, England |isbn=978-0-333-72157-5}}{{refend}}
== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Soviet Union}}
* [http://soviethistory.msu.edu/ An on-line archive of primary source materials on Soviet history]
{{Soviet Union topics}}
{{Communist Eastern and Central Europe}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:History of the Soviet Union| ]]
[[Category:Modern history by country|Soviet Union]]' |
New page wikitext, after the edit (new_wikitext) | '== Establishment (1917–1927) ==
{{Main|History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)}}
{{multiple image
| align = left
| total_width = 300
| image1 = Lenin in 1920 (cropped).jpg
| caption1 = [[Vladimir Lenin]], founder of the [[Soviet Union]] and the leader of the [[Bolshevik party]].
| image2 = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R15068, Leo Dawidowitsch Trotzki.jpg
| caption2 = [[Leon Trotsky]], founder of the [[Red Army]] and a key figure in the [[October Revolution]].
}}
Modern revolutionary activity in the [[Russian Empire]] began with the 1825 [[Decembrist revolt]]. Although [[Serfdom in Russia|serfdom]] was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavourable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament, the [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]], was established in 1906 after the [[Revolution of 1905|Russian Revolution of 1905]], but [[Nicholas II of Russia|Emperor Nicholas II]] resisted attempts to move from [[Absolute monarchy|absolute]] to a [[constitutional monarchy]]. [[Rebellion|Social unrest]] continued and was aggravated during [[World War I]] by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.
A spontaneous popular demonstration in Petrograd on [[International Women's Day|8 March]] 1917, demanding peace and bread, culminated in the [[February Revolution]] and the abdication of Nicholas II and the imperial government.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=83}} The [[tsarist autocracy]] was replaced by the [[Social democracy|social-democratic]] [[Russian Provisional Government]], which intended to conduct elections to the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]] and to continue fighting on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] in World War I. At the same time, [[workers' council]]s, known in Russian as '[[Soviet (council)|Soviets]]', sprang up across the country, and the most influential of them, the [[Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies]], shared power with the Provisional Government.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=487}}<ref name="br1">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union |title=Soviet Union |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |last1=Dewdney|first1=John C. |last2=Conquest |first2=Robert |last3=Pipes|first3=Richard E. |last4=McCauley|first4=Martin |access-date=27 December 2022 }}</ref> Membership of the [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] party had risen from 24,000 members in February 1917 to 200,000 members by September 1917.<ref>Stephen Cohen, ''Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography 1888–1938'' (Oxford University Press: London, 1980) p. 46.</ref> 50,000 workers had passed a resolution in favour of the Bolshevik demand for the transfer of power to the Soviets.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Head |first1=Michael |title=Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal |date=12 September 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-30787-5 |pages=1–288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYGNAgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PT83 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shukman |first1=Harold |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution |date=5 December 1994 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-631-19525-2 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PA21 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:19191107-lenin second anniversary october revolution moscow.jpg|thumb|[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]], and [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]] celebrating the second anniversary of the [[October Revolution]]]]
The Bolsheviks, led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], pushed for [[communist revolution]] in the Soviets and on the streets, adopting the slogan of "All Power to the Soviets" and urging the overthrow of the Provisional Government.{{sfn|Read|2005|pp=82–85}}{{sfn|Service|2005|pp=47–49}} On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guard]]s stormed the [[Winter Palace]] in Petrograd, arresting the Provisional Government leaders and Lenin declared that all power was now transferred to the Soviets.<ref name=BBC1>{{Cite news |title=The causes of the October Revolution |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/october/revision/4 |url-status=dead |access-date=31 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805155250/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/october/revision/4 |archive-date=5 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="br1"/> This event would later be officially known in Soviet bibliographies as the "[[October Revolution|Great October Socialist Revolution]]". Bolshevik figures such as [[Anatoly Lunacharsky]], [[Moisei Uritsky]], and [[Dmitry Manuilsky]] agreed that Lenin's influence on the Bolshevik party was decisive but the [[October Revolution|October insurrection]] was carried out according to [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky's]], not to Lenin's plan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky |date=5 January 2015 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78168-721-5 |page=1283|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGznDwAAQBAJ&q=isaac+deutscher+trotsky+the+prophet |language=en}}</ref> The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on [[Petrograd]] occurred largely without any human [[Casualty (person)|casualties]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shukman |first1=Harold |title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution |date=5 December 1994 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-631-19525-2 |page=343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA343 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bergman |first1=Jay |title=The French Revolutionary Tradition in Russian and Soviet Politics, Political Thought, and Culture |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-884270-5 |page=224 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UKjDwAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA224 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McMeekin |first1=Sean |title=The Russian Revolution: A New History |date=30 May 2017 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-09497-4 |pages=1–496 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXmZDgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PT155 |language=en}}</ref>
Lenin's government instituted a number of progressive measures such as [[Universal access to education|universal education]], [[universal healthcare]], and [[Women in Russia|equal rights for women]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Katherine H. |last2=Keene |first2=Michael L. |title=After the Vote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists |date=10 January 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5647-5 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyaxYvSG6gAC&dq=lenin+universal+literacy+after+the+vote+was+won&pg=PA109 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ugri͡umov |first1=Aleksandr Leontʹevich |title=Lenin's Plan for Building Socialism in the USSR, 1917–1925 |date=1976 |publisher=Novosti Press Agency Publishing House |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXknAQAAMAAJ&q=lenin+universal+literacy |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Service |first1=Robert |title=Lenin: A Political Life: Volume 1: The Strengths of Contradiction |date=24 June 1985 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-05591-3 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntiuCwAAQBAJ&q=universal+education&pg=PA98 |language=en}}</ref> Conversely, the bloody [[Red Terror]] was initiated to shut down all opposition, both perceived and real.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222175025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union | url-status=dead | archive-date=22 February 2021 | title=How Lenin's Red Terror set a macabre course for the Soviet Union | website=[[National Geographic Society]] | date=2 September 2020 }}</ref> The terror also arose in response to a number of [[Assassination attempts on Vladimir Lenin|assassination attempts]] on Bolshevik senior leaders and [[Left SR uprising|organized insurrections]] against the Soviet government.<ref name="Leninism Under Lenin">{{cite book |last1=Liebman |first1=Marcel |title=Leninism Under Lenin |date=1985 |publisher=Merlin Press |isbn=978-0-85036-261-9 |pages=1–348 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQjzAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Scott Baldwin |title=Captives of Revolution: The Socialist Revolutionaries and the Bolshevik Dictatorship, 1918–1923 |date=15 April 2011 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre |isbn=978-0-8229-7779-7 |pages=75–85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ueUEE8jVRsC&dq=anarchist+assassination+attempt+lenin&pg=PA74 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Rabinowitch306">{{cite book |last= Rabinowitch|first= Alexander|title= The bolsheviks in power. The first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BEoBCGJ4VqYC&q=The+bolsheviks+in+power.+The+first+year+of+Soviet+rule+in+Petrograd|language= en|date= 2007|publisher= Indiana University Press|isbn= 9780253349439|page= 306}}</ref>
The [[federalization]] of Russia was promulgated in the [[Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia]] in November, not including the detached borderlands.<ref name="federation"/> In December, the Bolsheviks signed an [[armistice]] with the [[Central Powers]], though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, the Soviets ended their involvement in the war and signed a [[separate peace]] treaty, the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]]. After the defeat of the Germans in the war, Lenin sought the creation of formally independent [[Soviet republic]]s in the territories that were being vacated by the German Army.<ref name="federation">{{cite book |last1=Raffass |first1=Tania |title=The Soviet Union: Federation Or Empire? |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-68833-8 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P4E7WSecBakC |language=en}}</ref>
A long and bloody [[Russian Civil War|civil war]] ensued between the [[Red Army|Reds]] and the [[White movement|Whites]], ending in 1921–1922 with the Reds' victory.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reese |first1=Roger |title=Russian Civil War, 1918–1921 |journal=Military History |date=6 February 2012 |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0051|isbn=978-0-19-979127-9 }}</ref> It included [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|foreign intervention]], the [[Murder of the Romanov family|murder of the former emperor and his family]], and the [[Russian famine of 1921–22|famine of 1921–1922]], which killed about five million people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mawdsley |first=Evan |url=https://archive.org/details/russiancivilwar00evan |title=The Russian Civil War |year= 2007 |publisher=Pegasus Books |isbn=978-1-933648-15-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/russiancivilwar00evan/page/287 287] |author-link=Evan Mawdsley |url-access=registration}}</ref> Although Lenin had declared his support for the principle of [[self-determination]], the party became centralized and the independent Soviet republics were subordinated to Soviet Russia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Robert A. |title=The Soviet Concept of 'Limited Sovereignty' from Lenin to Gorbachev: The Brezhnev Doctrine |date=27 July 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-20491-5 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuW-DAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> In March 1921, the [[Treaty of Riga]] was signed with the [[Second Polish Republic|Republic of Poland]], splitting territories in [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]], and putting an end to Lenin's westward offensive against capitalism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Stephen J. |title=European Dictatorships 1918–1945 |date=12 November 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-69011-3 |pages=89–90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLXkGLDxSkAC |language=en}}</ref> In [[Estonian War of Independence|Estonia]], [[Finnish Civil War|Finland]], [[Latvian War of Independence|Latvia]], and [[Lithuanian–Soviet War|Lithuania]], the Reds were defeated, while the Red Army managed to occupy [[Red Army invasion of Armenia|Armenia]], [[Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan|Azerbaijan]], and [[Red Army invasion of Georgia|Georgia]] in the [[Caucasus]].{{sfn|Lee|2003|pp=84, 88}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2013|p=50}} Additionally, the forced requisition of food by the Soviet government led to substantial resistance, of which the most notable was the [[Tambov Rebellion]], ultimately put down by the Red Army.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1p=459|2a1=Leggett|2y=1981|2pp=330–333|3a1=Service|3y=2000|3pp=423–424|4a1=White|4y=2001|4p=168|5a1=Ryan|5y=2012|5pp=154–155}}
[[File:Russian civil war in the west.svg|thumb|right|[[Russian Civil War]] in the European part of Russia]]
The civil war had a devastating impact on the economy. A [[black market]] emerged in Russia, despite the threat of [[martial law]] against profiteering. The [[Russian ruble|ruble]] collapsed, with [[bartering|barter]] increasingly replacing money as a medium of exchange<ref name="DaviesHarrison1993">{{cite book|author1=R. W. Davies|author2=Mark Harrison|author3=S. G. Wheatcroft|title=The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ULWRnskfr4C&pg=PA6|year= 1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-45770-5|page=6}}</ref> and, by 1921, heavy industry output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels. 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than money.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft796nb4mj&chunk.id=d0e9364&toc.id=&brand=ucpress|access-date=2021-10-27|website=publishing.cdlib.org}}</ref> 70% of locomotives were in need of repair{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}, and food requisitioning, combined with the effects of seven years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#RCW|title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls|website=necrometrics.com|access-date=2017-12-12}}</ref> Coal production decreased from 27.5 million tons (1913) to 7 million tons (1920), while overall factory production also declined from 10,000 million roubles to 1,000 million roubles. According to the noted historian [[David Christian (historian)|David Christian]], the grain harvest was also slashed from 80.1 million tons (1913) to 46.5 million tons (1920).<ref>{{cite book|last=Christian|first=David|title=Imperial and Soviet Russia|year=1997|publisher=Macmillan Press Ltd|location=London|isbn=978-0-333-66294-6|page=236}}</ref>
=== Treaty on the Creation of the USSR ===
On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], the [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasian SFSR]], the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], and the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]] approved the [[Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Treaty on the Creation of the USSR]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sakwa |first=Richard |title=The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917–1991: 1917–1991 |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-12290-0 |pages=140–143}}</ref> and the [[Declaration of the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Declaration of the Creation of the USSR]], forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Towster |first=Julian |title=Political Power in the U.S.S.R., 1917–1947: The Theory and Structure of Government in the Soviet State |date=1948 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=106}}</ref> These two documents were confirmed by the first [[Congress of Soviets of the USSR]] and signed by the heads of the delegations,<ref>{{In lang|ru}} [http://region.adm.nov.ru/pressa.nsf/0c7534916fcf6028c3256b3700243eac/4302e4941fb6a6bfc3256c99004faea5!OpenDocument Voted Unanimously for the Union.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204132112/http://region.adm.nov.ru/pressa.nsf/0c7534916fcf6028c3256b3700243eac/4302e4941fb6a6bfc3256c99004faea5%21OpenDocument|date=4 December 2009}}</ref> [[Mikhail Kalinin]], [[Mikhail Tskhakaya]], [[Mikhail Frunze]], [[Grigory Petrovsky]], and [[Alexander Chervyakov]],<ref>{{In lang|ru}} [http://www.hronos.km.ru/sobyt/cccp.html Creation of the USSR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529132218/http://www.hronos.km.ru/sobyt/cccp.html |date=29 May 2007 }} at Khronos.ru.</ref> on 30 December 1922. The formal proclamation was made from the stage of the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in Moscow.
An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry, and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was done according to the [[Bolshevik Initial Decrees]], government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the [[GOELRO|GOELRO plan]], which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total [[electrification]] of Russia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lapin |first=G. G. |year=2000 |title=70 Years of Gidroproekt and Hydroelectric Power in Russia |journal=Hydrotechnical Construction |volume=34 |issue=8/9 |pages=374–379 |doi=10.1023/A:1004107617449 |bibcode=2000PTE....34..374L |s2cid=107814516 | issn=0018-8220}}</ref> The plan became the prototype for subsequent [[Five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union|Five-Year Plans]] and was fulfilled by 1931.<ref name="Kuzbassenergo">{{In lang|ru}} [http://www.kuzbassenergo.ru/goelro/ On GOELRO Plan – at Kuzbassenergo.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226190310/http://www.kuzbassenergo.ru/goelro|date=26 December 2008}}</ref> After the economic policy of '[[War communism]]' during the Russian Civil War, as a prelude to fully developing [[Socialist mode of production|socialism]] in the country, the Soviet government [[New Economic Policy|permitted some private enterprise to coexist alongside nationalized industry]] in the 1920s, and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax.
[[File:Russia Famine Saratov 1921.jpg|thumb|The [[Russian famine of 1921–22]] killed an estimated 5 million people.<br /><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 June 2015 |title=Famine of 1921–22 |language=en-US |work=Seventeen Moments in Soviet History |url=http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1921-2/famine-of-1921-22/ |access-date=20 July 2018 |archive-date=15 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115171429/http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1921-2/famine-of-1921-22/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Courtois |first1=Stéphane |url=https://archive.org/stream/TheBlackBookofCommunism10/the-black-book-of-communism-jean-louis-margolin-1999-communism#page/n71/ |title=The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression |last2=Werth |first2=Nicolas |last3=Panné |first3=Jean-Louis |last4=Paczkowski |first4=Andrzej |last5=Bartošek |first5=Karel |last6=Margolin |first6=Jean-Louis |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-674-07608-2 |page=123}}</ref>]]
From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the [[One-party state|one-party rule]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]].{{Efn|The consolidation into a one-party state took place during the first three and a half years after the revolution, which included the period of [[War communism]] and an election in which multiple parties competed. See {{Cite book |last=Schapiro |first=Leonard |title=The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922 |date=1955 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]}}}} The stated purpose was to prevent the return of capitalist exploitation, and that the principles of [[democratic centralism]] would be the most effective in representing the people's will in a practical manner. The debate over the future of the economy provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a '[[Collective leadership|troika]]' consisting of [[Grigory Zinoviev]] of the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], [[Lev Kamenev]], of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], and [[Joseph Stalin]], of the [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasian SFSR]].
In February 1924, the USSR was recognized by the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/formation-of-the-soviet-union/#:~:text=On%20February%201%2C%201924%2C%20the,of%20Soviet%20power%20in%201917.|title=Formation of the Soviet Union|access-date=30 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67122375|title=Recognition of Britain|newspaper=Advocate |date=4 February 1924 |access-date=30 May 2024}}</ref> The same year, a [[1924 Soviet Constitution|Soviet Constitution]] was approved, legitimizing the December 1922 union.
According to [[Archie Brown (historian)|Archie Brown]] the constitution was never an accurate guide to political reality in the USSR. For example, the fact that the Party played the leading role in making and enforcing policy was not mentioned in it until 1977.<ref>Archie Brown, ''The rise and fall of Communism'' (2009) p, 518.</ref> The USSR was a federative entity of many constituent republics, each with its own political and administrative entities. However, the term 'Soviet Russia'{{Spaced ndash}}formally applicable only to the Russian Federative Socialist Republic{{Spaced ndash}}was often applied to the entire country by non-Soviet writers due to its domination by the Russian SFSR.
== Stalinism (1927–1953) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)}}
{{See also|Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin}}
On 3 April 1922, Stalin was named the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. Lenin had appointed Stalin the head of the [[Rabkrin|Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate]], which gave Stalin considerable power.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 November 2009 |title=Joseph Stalin – Biography, World War II & Facts – History |url=https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912144422/https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin |archive-date=12 September 2018 |access-date=6 December 2021}}</ref> By [[Rise of Joseph Stalin|gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmaneuvering his rivals within the party]], Stalin became the [[dictator|undisputed leader]] of the country and, by the end of the 1920s, established a [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] rule. In October 1927, [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]] and [[Leon Trotsky]] were expelled from the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] and forced into exile.
In 1928, Stalin introduced the [[First five-year plan (Soviet Union)|first five-year plan]] for building a [[Socialist economics|socialist economy]]. In place of the [[Proletarian internationalism|internationalism]] expressed by Lenin throughout the revolution, it aimed to build [[Socialism in One Country]]. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|industrialization]]. In [[Agriculture in the Soviet Union|agriculture]], rather than adhering to the 'lead by example' policy advocated by Lenin,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lenin |first=V.I. |title=Collected Works |pages=152–164, Vol. 31 |quote=The proletarian state must effect the transition to collective farming with extreme caution and only very gradually, by the force of example, without any coercion of the middle peasant.}}</ref> forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization of farms]] was implemented all over the country.
[[Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union|Famines]] ensued as a result, causing deaths estimated at three to seven million; surviving [[kulak]]s (wealthy or middle-class peasants) were persecuted, and many were sent to [[Gulag]]s to do [[Forced labor in the Soviet Union|forced labor]].{{Sfn|Davies|Wheatcroft|2004|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4s1lCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14 xiv], 401 441}}<ref>{{Cite book |first1=Stéphane |last1=Courtois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206 |title=Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression |last2=Mark Kramer |year=1999 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-07608-2 |page=206 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622213827/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206 |url-status=live }}</ref> Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Despite the turmoil of the mid-to-late 1930s, the country developed a robust industrial economy in the years preceding [[World War II]].
[[File:Lavrenti Beria Stalins family.jpg|thumb|Stalin and [[Lavrentiy Beria]] with Stalin's daughter, [[Svetlana Alliluyeva|Svetlana]], on his lap. As head of the NKVD, Beria was responsible for many [[Political repression in the Soviet Union|political repressions in the Soviet Union]].]]
Closer cooperation between the USSR and the West developed in the early 1930s. From 1932 to 1934, the country participated in the [[World Disarmament Conference]]. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the [[United States]] and the USSR were established when in November, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, chose to recognize Stalin's Communist government formally and negotiated a new trade agreement between the two countries.<ref>[http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html Ukrainian 'Holodomor' (man-made famine) Facts and History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424093532/http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html |date=24 April 2013 }}. Holodomorct.org (28 November 2006). Retrieved on 29 July 2013.</ref> In September 1934, the country joined the [[League of Nations]]. After the [[Spanish Civil War]] broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican forces]] against the [[Francoist Spain|Nationalists]], who were supported by [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]] and [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Casanova |first=Julián |title=República y Guerra Civil. Vol. 8 de la Historia de España, dirigida por Josep Fontana y Ramón Villares |publisher=Crítica/Marcial Pons |year=2007 |isbn=978-84-8432-878-0 |location=Barcelona |pages=271–274 |language=es |author-link=Julián Casanova Ruiz}}</ref>
In December 1936, Stalin unveiled a new [[1936 Soviet Constitution|constitution]] that was praised by supporters around the world as the most democratic constitution imaginable, though there was some skepticism. American historian J. Arch Getty concludes: "Many who lauded Stalin's Soviet Union as the most democratic country on earth lived to regret their words. After all, the Soviet Constitution of 1936 was adopted on the eve of the Great Terror of the late 1930s; the "thoroughly democratic" elections to the first Supreme Soviet permitted only uncontested candidates and took place at the height of the savage violence in 1937. The civil rights, personal freedoms, and democratic forms promised in the Stalin constitution were trampled almost immediately and remained dead letters until long after Stalin's death."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Getty |first=J. Arch |year=1991 |title=State and Society Under Stalin: Constitutions and Elections in the 1930s |journal=Slavic Review |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=18–35 |doi=10.2307/2500596 |jstor=2500596|s2cid=163479192 }}</ref>
[[File:5marshals 01.jpg|thumb|Five [[Marshal of the Soviet Union|Marshals of the Soviet Union]] in 1935. Only two of them—[[Semyon Budyonny|Budyonny]] and [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]]—survived the [[Great Purge]]. [[Vasily Blyukher|Blyukher]], [[Alexander Yegorov (soldier)|Yegorov]] and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky|Tukhachevsky]] were executed.]]
Stalin's [[Great Purge]] resulted in the detainment or execution of many '[[Old Bolshevik]]s' who had participated in the October Revolution. According to declassified Soviet archives, the [[NKVD]] arrested more than one and a half million people in 1937 and 1938, of whom 681,692 were shot.<ref name="Thurston">{{Cite book |last=Thurston |first=Robert W. |title=Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934–1941 |date=1998 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-07442-0 |page=139 |author-link=Robert W. Thurston}}</ref> Over those two years, there were an average of over one thousand executions a day.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Abbott |last=Gleason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373 |title=A companion to Russian history |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4051-3560-3 |page=373 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175409/https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Efn|name=fn1|According to British historian [[Geoffrey Hosking]], "excess deaths during the 1930s as a whole were in the range of 10–11 million."<ref name="1930s">{{Cite book |first=Geoffrey A. |last=Hosking |url=https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk |title=Russia and the Russians: a history |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-674-00473-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk/page/469 469] |url-access=registration}}</ref> American historian [[Timothy D. Snyder]] claims that archival evidence suggests maximum excess mortality of nine million during the entire Stalin era.<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/ Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012090945/http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/ |date=12 October 2017 }}, ''The New York Review of Books'', 27 January 2011</ref> Australian historian and archival researcher [[Stephen G. Wheatcroft]] asserts that around a million "purposive killings" can be attributed to the Stalinist regime, along with the premature deaths of roughly two million more amongst the repressed populations (i.e. in camps, prisons, exiles, etc.) through criminal negligence.{{Sfn|Wheatcroft|1996|pp=1334,1348}}}} Scholars estimate the total death toll for the Great Purge (1936–1938), including fatalities attributed to prison conditions, to be roughly 700,000-1.2 million.<ref>{{Citation |title=Introduction: the Great Purges as history |date=1985 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002 |work=Origins of the Great Purges |pages=1–9 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002 |isbn=978-0521259217 |access-date=2021-12-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Homkes|first=Brett|date=2004|title=Certainty, Probability, and Stalin's Great Purge|url=https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mcnair|journal=McNair Scholars Journal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ellman |first1=Michael |title=Soviet Repression Statistics: Some Comments |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |date=2002 |volume=54 |issue=7 |pages=1151–1172 |doi=10.1080/0966813022000017177 |jstor=826310 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/826310 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shearer |first1=David R. |title=Stalin and War, 1918-1953: Patterns of Repression, Mobilization, and External Threat |date=11 September 2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-95544-6 |page=vii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCHMEAAAQBAJ&dq=great+purge+1.2+million&pg=PR7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=Todd H. |title=Bringing Stalin Back In: Memory Politics and the Creation of a Useable Past in Putin's Russia |date=16 October 2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-9153-9 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJGyDwAAQBAJ&dq=stalin+great+purge+1.2+million&pg=PA7 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1939, after attempts to form a military alliance with Britain and France against Germany failed, the Soviet Union made a dramatic shift towards Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why didn't the USSR join Allies in 1939? |last=Yegorov |first=Oleg |url=https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii |date=26 September 2019 |access-date=5 February 2022 |website=Russia Beyond |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206011636/https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii |url-status=live }}</ref> Almost a year after Britain and France had concluded the [[Munich Agreement]] with Germany, the Soviet Union made agreements with Germany as well, both militarily and economically during [[German–Soviet Axis talks|extensive talks]]. Unlike the case of Britain and France, the Soviet Union's agreement with Germany, the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] (signed on 23 August 1939), included a secret protocol that paved the way for the Soviet invasion of Eastern European states and [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union|occupation of their territories]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/moscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry|title=Molotov-Ribbentrop: why is Moscow trying to justify Nazi pact?|work=[[The Guardian]]|author=Andrew Roth|date=23 August 2019}}</ref> The pact made possible the Soviet occupation of [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia]], [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina|Bessarabia, northern Bukovina]], and [[Soviet invasion of Poland|eastern Poland]].
In the far east, the Soviet military won several decisive victories during [[Soviet–Japanese border conflicts|border clashes]] with the [[Empire of Japan]] in 1938 and 1939. However, in April 1941, the USSR signed the [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact]] with Japan, which the Soviets would unilaterally break in 1945, recognizing the territorial integrity of [[Manchukuo]], a Japanese [[puppet state]]. The pact ensured Japan would not enter the World War II against the USSR on the side of Germany later.
=== World War II ===
{{Main|Soviet Union in World War II}}
{{Further|Eastern Front (World War II)|Great Patriotic War (term)|World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|Soviet war crimes}}
[[File:RIAN archive 44732 Soviet soldiers attack house.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], considered by many historians as a decisive turning point of World War II]]
On 1 September, Germany [[Invasion of Poland|invaded Poland]] and on the 17th the Soviet Union invaded Poland as well. On 6 October, Poland fell and part of the Soviet occupation zone was then handed over to Germany. On 10 October, the Soviet Union and Lithuania signed an agreement whereby the Soviet Union transferred Polish sovereignty over the Vilna region to Lithuania, and on 28 October the boundary between the Soviet occupation zone and the new territory of Lithuania was officially demarcated. On 1 November, the Soviet Union [[Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia|annexed Western Ukraine]], followed by Western Belarus on the 2nd. In late November, unable to coerce the [[Finland|Republic of Finland]] by diplomatic means into moving its border {{Convert|25|km}} back from [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], Stalin ordered the [[Winter War|invasion of Finland]]. On 14 December 1939, the Soviet Union was expelled from the [[League of Nations]] for invading Finland.<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV USSR expelled from the League of Nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914013927/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV |date=14 September 2021 }}</ref>
Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]] on 22 June 1941 starting what is known in Russia and some other post-Soviet states as the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Great Patriotic War]]. The [[Red Army]] stopped the seemingly invincible German Army at the [[Battle of Moscow]]. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], which lasted from late 1942 to early 1943, dealt a severe blow to Germany from which they never fully recovered and became a turning point in the war. After Stalingrad, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before [[End of World War II in Europe|Germany surrendered in 1945]]. The German Army suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front.<ref>{{Cite book |first=William J. |last=Duiker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC |title=Contemporary World History |year= 2009 |publisher=Wadsworth Pub Co |isbn=978-0-495-57271-8 |page=128 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622200541/https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Harry Hopkins]], a close foreign policy advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke on 10 August 1943 of the USSR's decisive role in the war, saying that "While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving attention of approximately 200 German divisions."{{Efn|name=fn3|"In War II Russia occupies a dominant position and is the decisive factor looking toward the defeat of the Axis in Europe. While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving attention of approximately 200 German divisions. Whenever the Allies open a second front on the Continent, it will be decidedly a secondary front to that of Russia; theirs will continue to be the main effort. Without Russia in the war, the Axis cannot be defeated in Europe, and the position of the United Nations becomes precarious. Similarly, Russia's post-war position in Europe will be a dominant one. With Germany crushed, there is no power in Europe to oppose her tremendous military forces."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Executive of the Presidents Soviet Protocol Committee (Burns) to the President's Special Assistant (Hopkins) |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d317 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821062622/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d317 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |access-date=21 August 2018 |website=www.history.state.gov |publisher=[[Office of the Historian]]}}</ref>}} Up to 34 million soldiers served in the Red Army during World War II, 8 million of which were [[Demographics of the Soviet Union|non-Slavic minorities]].<ref name="Soviet losses">{{Citation | first = ГФ| last = Кривошеев | title = Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: потери вооруженных сил. Статистическое исследование |trans-title=Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study | language = ru}}.</ref>
[[File:RIAN archive 2153 After bombing.jpg|thumb|right|Residents of Leningrad leave their homes destroyed by German bombing. About 1 million civilians died during the 871-day [[Siege of Leningrad]], mostly from starvation.]]
[[File:Teheran conference-1943.jpg|thumb|From left to right, the Soviet General Secretary [[Joseph Stalin]], US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] [[Tehran Conference|confer]] in Tehran, 1943]]
The USSR suffered greatly in the war, [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|losing around 20 million people]] (modern Russian sources put the number at 26.6 million).<ref name="1930s" /><ref name="MOD Russian Federation">{{cite web|last1=Министерство обороны Российской Федерации|first1=MOD Russian Federation|title=On Question of war Losses (in Russian)|url=http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/history/more.htm?id=11359251@cmsArticle|publisher=MOD Russian Federation|access-date=12 November 2017}}</ref> This includes 8.7 million military deaths. The majority of the losses were ethnic [[Russians]], followed by ethnic [[Ukrainians]].<ref name="Soviet losses"/> Approximately 2.8 million [[German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war|Soviet POWs]] died of starvation, mistreatment, or executions in just eight months of 1941–42.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldhagen |first=Daniel | author-link=Daniel Goldhagen |title=[[Hitler's Willing Executioners]] |page=290 |quote=2.8 million young, healthy Soviet POWs" killed by the Germans, "mainly by starvation{{nbsp}}... in less than eight months" of 1941–42, before "the decimation of Soviet POWs{{nbsp}}... was stopped" and the Germans "began to use them as laborers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941 – January 1942 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106204101/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942 |archive-date=6 November 2018 |access-date=9 March 2019 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org}}</ref> More than 2 million people were killed in [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Belarus]] during the three years of [[German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II|German occupation]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Belarus – World War II |url=https://countrystudies.us/belarus/10.htm |work=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]}}</ref> almost a quarter of the region's population, including around 550,000 Jews in the [[The Holocaust in Belarus|Holocaust in Belarus]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Waitman Wade Beorn|title=Marching into Darkness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S8cXAgAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-72660-4|page=28}}</ref> During the war, the country together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the [[Big Four in World War II|Big Four]] Allied powers,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HymSg_Pp7X0C&q=big+four+world+war+2&pg=PA223 |title=The New York Times Living History: World War II, 1942–1945: The Allied Counteroffensive |publisher=Macmillan|year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8050-7247-1 |author-link=Douglas Brinkley |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162717/https://books.google.com/books?id=HymSg_Pp7X0C&q=big+four+world+war+2&pg=PA223 |url-status=live }}</ref> and later became the [[Four Policemen]] that formed the basis of the [[United Nations Security Council]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Urquhart |first=Brian |title=Looking for the Sheriff |publisher=New York Review of Books, 16 July 1998 |author-link=Brian Urquhart}}</ref> It emerged as a superpower in the post-war period. Once denied [[diplomatic recognition]] by the Western world, the USSR had official relations with practically every country by the late 1940s. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the country [[Soviet Union and the United Nations|became]] one of the [[Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council|five permanent members]] of the [[United Nations Security Council]], which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions.
The USSR, in fulfillment of its agreement with the Allies at the [[Yalta Conference]], broke the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945 which Japan had been honoring despite their alliance with Germany,<ref name="denunciation">[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp Denunciation of the neutrality pact] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092519/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp |date=20 May 2011 }} 5 April 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> and [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories]] on 9 August 1945.<ref name="declarationofwar">[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp Soviet Declaration of War on Japan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092513/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp |date=20 May 2011 }}, 8 August 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> [[Soviet–Japanese War|This conflict]] ended with a decisive Soviet victory, contributing to the unconditional [[surrender of Japan]] and the end of World War II.
Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in [[Soviet occupation zone of Germany|Germany]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Women and War |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PA480|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-770-8|pages=480–}}</ref> The [[Wartime sexual violence|wartime rapes]] were followed by decades of silence.<ref>{{cite web |author=Allan Hall |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html |title=German women break their silence on horrors of Red Army rapes|date=24 October 2008 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=10 December 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="The Independent">{{cite web|title=Raped by the Red Army: Two million German women speak out|work=The Independent|date=15 April 2009 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/raped-by-the-red-army-two-million-german-women-speak-out-1669074.html|access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Susanne Beyer">{{cite news|title=Harrowing Memoir: German Woman Writes Ground-Breaking Account of WW2 Rape |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,680354,00.html|author=Susanne Beyer|newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=26 February 2010|access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref> According to historian [[Antony Beevor]], whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, [[NKVD]] (Soviet secret police) files have revealed that the leadership knew what was happening, but did little to stop it.<ref name=Bird>{{cite journal |last=Bird |first=Nicky |title=Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor |journal=International Affairs |volume=78 |number=4 |date=October 2002 |pages=914–916 |institution=Royal Institute of International Affairs}}</ref> It was often [[wikt:rear echelon|rear echelon]] units who committed the rapes. According to professor Oleg Rzheshevsky, "4,148 Red Army officers and many privates were punished for committing atrocities".<ref name=":0">Television documentary from CC&C Ideacom Production, "Apocalypse Never-Ending War 1918–1926", part 2, aired at Danish DR K on 22 October 2018.</ref> The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Naimark|first=Norman M.|title=The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949 |publisher=Belknap Press|year=1995|location=Cambridge |page=70}}</ref>
The Soviet Union was greatly assisted in its wartime effort by the United States via [[Lend-Lease]]. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 [[1,000,000,000 (number)|billion]] in materials: over 400,000 [[jeep]]s and trucks; 12,000 [[armored vehicle]]s (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386<ref>Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) pp. 28, 30, 31.{{full citation needed|date=August 2023}}</ref> of which were [[M3 Lee]]s and 4,102 [[Lend-Lease Sherman tanks|M4 Shermans]]);<ref>''Lend-Lease Shipments: World War II'', Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, December 31, 1946, p. 8.</ref> 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were [[Bell P-39 Airacobra]]s, 3,414 were [[Douglas A-20 Havoc]]s and 2,397 were [[Bell P-63 Kingcobra]]s)<ref>{{cite book |last=Hardesty |first=Von |chapter=Appendix 10: Lend-Lease Aircraft to USSR June 22, 1941 – September 20, 1945 |title=Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941–1945 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |place=Washington, D.C. |year=1991 |oclc=1319584971 |isbn=978-1-56098-071-1 |url= https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |pages=[https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6/page/253/mode/1up 253]}}</ref> and 1.75 million tons of food.<ref>{{cite book |title=American Military History |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |chapter=World War II: The War Against Germany And Italy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506174749/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2017 |publisher=US Army Center of Military History |page=158}}</ref> As Soviet soldiers were bearing the brunt of the war, Roosevelt's advisor [[Harry Hopkins]] felt that American aid to the Soviets would hasten the war's conclusion.<ref>David Roll (2012) ''The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler'', ch. 6.</ref>
Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line.<ref>{{cite web|title=The five Lend-Lease routes to Russia |url=http://www.o5m6.de/Routes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031212063805/http://www.o5m6.de/routes.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2003 |website=Engines of the Red Army |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Motter |first1=T.H. Vail |title=The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia |date=1952 |publisher=Center of Military History |pages=4–6 |url=https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/index.htm |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref>
=== Cold War ===
{{Main|Cold War}}
[[File:Soviet empire 1960.png|thumb|Map showing the greatest territorial extent of the Soviet Union and the sovereign states that it dominated politically, economically and militarily in 1960, after the [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1959 but before the official [[Sino-Soviet split]] of 1961 (total area: c. 35,000,000 km<sup>2</sup>){{Efn|34,374,483 km<sup>2</sup>}}]]
During the immediate post-war period, the Soviet Union rebuilt and expanded its economy, while maintaining its [[Command economy|strictly centralized control]]. It took effective control over most of the countries of Eastern Europe (except [[Tito–Stalin split|Yugoslavia]] and later [[Soviet-Albanian split|Albania]]), turning them into [[satellite state]]s. The USSR bound its satellite states in a military alliance, the [[Warsaw Pact]], in 1955, and an economic organization, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or [[Comecon]], a counterpart to the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), from 1949 to 1991.<ref name="fas.org">{{cite web |title=Main Intelligence Administration (GRU) Glavnoye Razvedovatel'noye Upravlenie – Russia / Soviet Intelligence Agencies |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226090607/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/ |archive-date=26 December 2008 |access-date=24 November 2008 |publisher=Fas.org}}</ref> Although nominally a "defensive" alliance, the Warsaw Pact's primary function was to safeguard the [[Soviet Empire|Soviet Union's hegemony]] over its [[Soviet Bloc|Eastern European]] satellites, with the Pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away.<ref name="history.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/warsaw-pact-ends|title=Warsaw Pact ends|website=HISTORY}}</ref> The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted [[World War II reparations|war reparations]] from [[East Germany]], [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]], [[People's Republic of Romania|Romania]], and [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the [[Marshall Plan]]."<ref>Mark Kramer, "The Soviet Bloc and the Cold War in Europe", in {{Cite book |editor-first=Klaus | editor-last=Larresm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyNcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT174 |title=A Companion to Europe Since 1945 |publisher=Wiley |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-89024-0 |page=79}}</ref> Later, the Comecon supplied aid to the eventually victorious [[Chinese Communist Party]], and its influence grew elsewhere in the world. Fearing its ambitions, the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, became its enemies. In the ensuing Cold War, the two sides clashed indirectly in [[proxy war]]s.
== Khrushchev Thaw (1953–1964) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)}}
[[File:John Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev 1961.jpg|thumb|Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] (left) with US President [[John F. Kennedy]] in Vienna, 3 June 1961]]
Stalin died on 5 March 1953. Without a mutually agreeable successor, the highest Communist Party officials initially opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly through a troika headed by [[Georgy Malenkov]]. This did not last, however, and [[Nikita Khrushchev]] eventually won the ensuing power struggle by the mid-1950s. In 1956, he [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|denounced Joseph Stalin]] and proceeded to ease controls over the party and society. This was known as [[de-Stalinization]].
Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a critically vital buffer zone for the forward defence of its western borders, in case of another major invasion such as the German invasion of 1941. For this reason, the USSR sought to cement its control of the region by transforming the Eastern European countries into satellite states, dependent upon and subservient to its leadership. As a result, Soviet military forces were used to suppress an anti-communist uprising in [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungary]] in 1956.
In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the Soviet rapprochement with the West, and what [[Mao Zedong]] perceived as Khrushchev's [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionism]], led to the [[Sino–Soviet split]]. This resulted in a break throughout the global Marxist–Leninist movement, with the governments in [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]], [[Democratic Kampuchea|Cambodia]], and [[Somali Democratic Republic|Somalia]] choosing to ally with China.
During this period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the USSR continued to realize scientific and technological exploits in the [[Space Race]], rivaling the United States: launching the first artificial satellite, [[Sputnik 1]] in 1957; a living dog named [[Laika]] in 1957; the first human being, [[Yuri Gagarin]] in 1961; the first woman in space, [[Valentina Tereshkova]] in 1963; [[Alexei Leonov]], the first person to walk in space in 1965; the first soft landing on the Moon by spacecraft [[Luna 9]] in 1966; and the first Moon rovers, [[Lunokhod 1]] and [[Lunokhod 2]].<ref name="lunokhod">{{Cite episode |title=Tank on the Moon |url=http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/magazine2.html |series=The Nature of Things with David Suzuki |network=CBC-TV |air-date=6 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226123643/http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/magazine2.html |archive-date=26 December 2008}}</ref>
Khrushchev initiated '[[Khrushchev Thaw|The Thaw]]', a complex shift in political, cultural, and economic life in the country. This included some openness and contact with other nations and new social and economic policies with more emphasis on commodity goods, allowing a dramatic rise in living standards while maintaining high levels of economic growth. Censorship was relaxed as well. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive. In 1962, he precipitated a [[Cuban Missile Crisis|crisis with the United States]] over the Soviet deployment of [[Nuclear weapons delivery|nuclear missiles]] in [[Cuba]]. An agreement was made with the United States to remove nuclear missiles from both [[Cuba]] and [[Turkey]], concluding the crisis. This event caused Khrushchev much embarrassment and loss of prestige, resulting in his removal from power in 1964.
== Era of Stagnation (1964–1982) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)}}
[[File:Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nikolai Podgorny]] visiting [[Tampere]], [[Finland]] on 16 October 1969]]
[[File:Carter Brezhnev sign SALT II.jpg|thumb|Soviet general secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and US President [[Jimmy Carter]] sign the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II|SALT II arms limitation treaty]] in Vienna on 18 June 1979.]]
The history of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, referred to as the Brezhnev Era, covers the period of [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s rule of the [[Soviet Union|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] (USSR). This period began with high economic growth and soaring prosperity but ended with a much weaker Soviet Union facing social, political, and economic stagnation. The average annual income stagnated because needed economic reforms were never fully carried out.
Following the ousting of [[Nikita Khrushchev]] on 14 October 1964, Brezhnev replaced him as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|First Secretary]], and [[Alexei Kosygin]] took over as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. [[Anastas Mikoyan]], and later [[Nikolai Podgorny]], became Chairmen of the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]]. Alongside [[Andrei Kirilenko (politician)|Andrei Kirilenko]] as organisational secretary, and [[Mikhail Suslov]] as chief ideologue, this group formed a reinvigorated [[collective leadership]], which contrasted in form with the autocracy that characterized Khrushchev's rule.
The collective leadership initially focused on stabilizing the Soviet Union and calming [[Soviet society]]. They also sought to accelerate economic growth, which had slowed considerably during Khrushchev's final years in power. In 1965, Kosygin initiated several economic reforms aimed at decentralizing the Soviet economy. These reforms initially spurred economic growth, but hard-liners within the Party halted them, fearing that they would undermine the Party's prestige and power. As a result, no further radical economic reforms were implemented during the Brezhnev era, leading to economic stagnation by the early-to-mid-1970s. By Brezhnev's death in 1982, Soviet economic growth had nearly come to a standstill.
During this period, Brezhnev consolidated power, and by the early 1970s, he had established himself as the preeminent Soviet leader. The stabilization policy established a ruling [[gerontocracy]], and [[political corruption]] became increasingly prevalent. Despite this, Brezhnev never launched any large-scale anti-corruption campaigns. The Soviet Union, thanks to the military buildup of the 1960s, solidified its status as a [[superpower]] during Brezhnev's rule. However, this era was also marked by the [[Era of Stagnation]], a period characterized by economic, political, and social decline, which persisted under Brezhnev's successors, [[Yuri Andropov]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]].
The Brezhnev Era also witnessed significant international actions, including the 1968 [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] to suppress the [[Prague Spring]] reforms. Brezhnev justified this and future interventions with the [[Brezhnev Doctrine]], which stated that any threat to Soviet rule in a Warsaw Pact state was a threat to all Warsaw Pact states, thus justifying military intervention.
Brezhnev presided over a period of ''[[détente]]'' with the West, leading to treaties on arms control such as [[SALT I]], [[SALT II]], and the [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]], while simultaneously building up Soviet military might. In 1977, the [[1977 Soviet Constitution|third Soviet Constitution]] was unanimously adopted. One of the Soviet economy's key strengths during this period was its vast oil and gas reserves. The quadrupling of world oil prices during the [[1973 oil crisis]] and another rise in the late 1970s made the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy. This revenue was used to offset multiple economic weaknesses. Former Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] once remarked that "things are bad with bread. Give me 3 million tons [of oil] over the plan."<ref>Yergin, ''The Quest'' (2011) p 23</ref> The revenue from oil exports helped to mitigate a growing food supply crisis, fund the import of equipment and consumer goods, and sustain the arms race with the US. It also underpinned risky foreign policy actions, such as the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] beginning in 1979, which effectively ended the period of détente with the West.<ref>{{cite book|author=Yegor Gaidar|title=Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102|date= 2007|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|page=102|isbn=9780815731153 }}</ref>
The long period of Brezhnev's rule culminated in his death on 10 November 1982. By this time, the Soviet Union had become increasingly stagnant, with an ageing leadership resistant to change and a deteriorating economy. Moreover, the Soviet Union's failure to modernize its economy, particularly in the field of computerization, further hindered its competitiveness with Western powers.<ref>James W. Cortada, "Public Policies and the Development of National Computer Industries in Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, 1940—80." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (2009) 44#3 pp: 493-512, especially page 509-10.</ref><ref>Frank Cain, "Computers and the Cold War: United States restrictions on the export of computers to the Soviet Union and Communist China." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (2005) 40#1 pp: 131-147. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036313 in JSTOR]</ref>
== Reforms and dissolution (1982–1991) ==
{{Main|History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)|Cold War (1985–1991)|1991 Soviet coup attempt}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at the first Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.jpg|thumb|[[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in one-to-one discussions with US President [[Ronald Reagan]] (''left''), 1985]]
Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. Kenneth S. Deffeyes argued in ''[[Beyond Oil]]'' that the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] encouraged [[Saudi Arabia]] to [[1980s oil glut|lower the price of oil]] to the point where the Soviets could not make a profit selling their oil, and resulted in the depletion of the country's [[hard currency]] reserves.<ref>Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak.</ref>
Brezhnev's next two successors, transitional figures with deep roots in his tradition, did not last long. [[Yuri Andropov]] was 68 years old and [[Konstantin Chernenko]] 72 when they assumed power; both died in less than two years. In an attempt to avoid a third short-lived leader, in 1985, the Soviets turned to the next generation and selected [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]. In addition to the failing economy, the prolonged war in Afghanistan led to increased public dissatisfaction with the Communist government.<ref name=":1" />
In the [[Chernobyl disaster]] of 26 April 1986, at the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] in [[Pripyat]], Ukraine, one of the plant's [[Nuclear reactor|nuclear reactors]] exploded, spreading [[Radioactive contamination|radioactive contaminants]] across Europe and forcing tens of thousands of people to permanently evacuate from the [[Chernobyl exclusion zone|Chernobyl Exclusion Zone]] around Pripyat. At least two dozen people died from being at the plant and many more died from [[radiation exposure]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-23 |title=Chernobyl disaster {{!}} Causes, Effects, Deaths, Videos, Location, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Chernobyl-disaster |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
The Chernobyl disaster added motive force to Gorbachev's reforms.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Zimmerman |first1=William |last2=Axelrod |first2=Robert |title=The "Lessons" of Vietnam and Soviet Foreign Policy |journal=World Politics |date=October 1981 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.2307/2010148|jstor=2010148 |s2cid=155025896 }}</ref> He made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called ''[[perestroika]]''. His policy of ''[[glasnost]]'' freed public [[access to information]] after decades of heavy government censorship. Gorbachev also moved to end the Cold War. In 1988, the USSR abandoned its [[Soviet–Afghan War|war in Afghanistan]] and began to withdraw its forces. In the following year, [[Sinatra Doctrine|Gorbachev refused to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet satellite states]], which paved the way for the [[Revolutions of 1989]]. In particular, the standstill of the Soviet Union at the [[Pan-European Picnic]] in August 1989 then set a peaceful chain reaction in motion, at the end of which the Eastern Bloc collapsed. With the tearing down of the [[Berlin Wall]] and with East and West Germany pursuing re-unification, the [[Iron Curtain]] between [[Western world|the West]] and Soviet-occupied regions came down.<ref>Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</ref><ref>Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</ref><ref>Otmar Lahodynsky: Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: Profil 9 August 2014.</ref><ref>"Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows" (German – 19 August 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), in: FAZ 19 August 2009.</ref>[[File:00 Páneurópai Piknik emlékhely.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Pan-European Picnic]] took place in August 1989 on the Hungarian-Austrian border.]]At the same time, the Soviet republics started legal moves towards potentially declaring [[sovereignty]] over their territories, citing the freedom to secede in Article 72 of the USSR constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crozier |first=Brian |date=25 June 1990 |title=National Review: The red blues - Soviet politics |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050324050607/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705 |archive-date=2005-03-24 |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=[[National Review]]}}</ref> On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for it in a referendum.<ref>[http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html Origins of Moral-Ethical Crisis and Ways to Overcome it] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928104220/http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html |date=28 September 2007 }} by V.A.Drozhin Honoured Lawyer of Russia.</ref> Many held their first free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in 1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as the '[[War of Laws]]'. In 1989, the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. [[Boris Yeltsin]] was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress [[Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory]] and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the Soviet laws. After a landslide victory of [[Sąjūdis]] in Lithuania, that country declared its independence restored on 11 March 1990, citing the illegality of the [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Soviet occupation of the Baltic states]]. Soviet forces attempted to halt the secession by crushing popular demonstrations in Lithuania ([[January Events (Lithuania)|Bloody Sunday]]) and Latvia ([[The Barricades]]), as a result of which numerous civilians were killed or wounded. However, these actions only bolstered international support for the secessionists.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004464896/BP000014.xml|title=Chapter 3 The Baltic States Between 1940 and 1991: Illegality and/or Prescription|publisher=Brill|author=Lauri Mälksoo|year=2022|doi=10.1163/9789004464896_005 |isbn=978-90-04-46489-6 }}</ref>
[[File:Image0 ST.jpg|thumb|[[T-80]] tank on [[Red Square]] during the [[1991 August Coup|August Coup]]]]
A [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum for the preservation of the USSR]] was held on 17 March 1991 in nine republics (the remainder having boycotted the vote), with the majority of the population in those republics voting for preservation of the Union in the form of a new federation. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost. In the summer of 1991, the [[New Union Treaty]], which would have turned the country into a much looser Union, was agreed upon by eight republics. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August Coup]]—an attempted coup d'état by hardline members of the government and the KGB who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. After the coup collapsed, Russian president Yeltsin was seen as a hero for his decisive actions, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared the restoration of their full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example). Gorbachev resigned as general secretary in late August, and soon afterwards, the party's activities were indefinitely suspended—effectively ending its rule. By the fall, Gorbachev could no longer influence events outside Moscow, and he was being challenged even there by Yeltsin, who had been elected [[President of Russia]] in July 1991.
== Dissolution and aftermath ==
{{Main|Commonwealth of Independent States|Dissolution of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War.jpg|thumb|Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War]]
[[File:Refugeesaz.jpg|thumb|Internally displaced Azerbaijanis from [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], 1993]]
[[File:USSR - Then and Now.png|thumb|Country emblems of the Soviet Republics before and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic]] (fifth in the second row) no longer exists as a political entity of any kind and the emblem is unofficial.)]]
The remaining 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. However, by December all except Russia and [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakhstan]] had formally declared independence. During this time, Yeltsin took over what remained of the Soviet government, including the [[Moscow Kremlin]]. The final blow was struck on 1 December when Ukraine, the second-most powerful republic, [[1991 Ukrainian independence referendum|voted overwhelmingly for independence]]. Ukraine's secession ended any realistic chance of the country staying together even on a limited scale.
On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and [[Belarus]] (formerly Byelorussia), signed the [[Belavezha Accords]], which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS) in its place. While doubts remained over the authority of the accords to do this, on 21 December 1991, the representatives of all Soviet republics except [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]] signed the [[Alma-Ata Protocol]], which confirmed the accords. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as the President of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers that had been vested in the presidency over to Yeltsin. That night, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the [[Flag of Russia|Russian tricolour]] was raised in its place.
The following day, the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]], the highest governmental body, voted both itself and the country out of existence. This is generally recognized as marking the official, final [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] as a functioning state, and the end of the Cold War.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt5OLD3vp4UC&q=26+december+1991+ussr&pg=PR5 |title=Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States: Documents, Data, and Analysis |last1=Brzezinski |first1=Zbigniew K. |author-link1=Zbigniew Brzezinski |last2=Sullivan |first2=Paige |year=1997 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-1-56324-637-1 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=17 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217230805/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt5OLD3vp4UC&q=26+december+1991+ussr&pg=PR5 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Soviet Army initially remained under overall CIS command but was soon absorbed into the different military forces of the newly independent states. The few remaining Soviet institutions that had not been taken over by Russia ceased to function by the end of 1991.
Following the dissolution, Russia was internationally recognized<ref name="uk">[http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019744935436 Country Profile: Russia] Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311123046/http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019744935436 |date=11 March 2008 }}</ref> as the USSR's [[Succession of states|legal successor]] on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed Soviet overseas properties as its own. Under the 1992 [[Lisbon Protocol]], Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since then, the Russian Federation has [[Russia and the United Nations|assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations]], and is widely viewed as the USSR's successor state.<ref name="Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo">{{cite journal|url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/from-russianisation-to-legalisation-russia-and-the-question-of-successor-state-to-the-soviet-union|title=From Russianisation to legalisation: Russia and the question of successor state to the Soviet Union|author=Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo|journal=Журнал Сибирского Федерального Университета. Гуманитарные Науки |year=2017 |volume=10 |issue=12 |pages=1840–1855 |publisher=Cyberleninka}}</ref> [[Ukraine]] has refused to recognize exclusive Russian claims to succession of the USSR and claimed such status for Ukraine as well, which was codified in Articles 7 and 8 of its 1991 law [[On Legal Succession of Ukraine]]. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has continued to pursue claims against Russia in foreign courts, seeking to recover its share of the foreign property that was owned by the USSR.
In summing up the international ramifications of these events, [[Vladislav Zubok]] stated: 'The collapse of the [[Soviet empire]] was an event of epochal geopolitical, military, ideological, and economic significance.'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zubok |first=Vladislav M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3j2VJj1hs1EC&pg=PR9 |title=A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev |year= 2009 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-9905-2 |page=ix |access-date=1 December 2017 |via=Google Books |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309161344/https://books.google.com/books?id=3j2VJj1hs1EC&pg=PR9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Before the dissolution, the country had maintained its status as one of the world's two superpowers for four decades after World War II through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, military strength, economic strength and scientific research, especially in space technology and weaponry.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |date=15 June 1992 |title=The Soviet Union and the United States – Revelations from the Russian Archives {{!}} Exhibitions – Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915012329/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html |archive-date=15 September 2017 |access-date=12 November 2017 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>
=== Post-Soviet states ===
{{Main|Post-Soviet states}}
[[File:RIAN archive 41059 CIS heads of state.jpg|thumb|On 21 December 1991, the leaders of 11 former Soviet republics, including Russia and Ukraine, agreed to the [[Alma-Ata Protocol]]s, formally establishing the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS).]]
The analysis of the [[succession of states]] for the 15 post-Soviet states is complex.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml|title=INFCIRC/397 – Note to the Director General from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation|date=23 November 2003|access-date=7 February 2023|archive-date=23 November 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031123143520/http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Russian Federation is widely seen as the legal ''continuator'' state and is for most purposes the heir to the Soviet Union. It retained ownership of all former Soviet embassy properties, inheriting the full [[Russia and weapons of mass destruction|Soviet nuclear arsenal]], and also inherited the [[Soviet Union and the United Nations|Soviet Union's UN membership]], with its permanent seat on the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]].<ref name="Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo"/>
Of the two other co-founding states of the USSR at the time of the dissolution, [[Ukraine]] was the only one that had passed laws, similar to Russia, claiming it is a state-successor of both the [[Ukrainian SSR]] and the USSR.<ref>[https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1543-12 "ЗАКОН УКРАЇНИ Про правонаступництво України"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004257/https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1543-12 |date=23 November 2019 }} (in Ukrainian).</ref> Soviet treaties laid groundwork for Ukraine's future foreign agreements as well as leading to the country agreeing to undertake 16.37% of debts of the Soviet Union for which it was going to receive its share of the USSR's foreign property. Russia's position as the 'only continuation of the USSR' that became widely accepted in the West, as well as constant pressure from the Western countries, allowed Russia to inherit Soviet state property abroad and conceal information about it. Due to that Ukraine never ratified 'zero option' agreement that Russian Federation had signed with other former Soviet republics, as it denied disclosing of information about Soviet Gold Reserves and its Diamond Fund.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSwstF6SEAkC&pg=PA924 |title=The Former Soviet Union in Transition |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-56324-318-9 |editor-last=Kaufman |editor-first=Richard F. |page=924 |editor-last2=Hardt |editor-first2=John P. |access-date=28 November 2020 |archive-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819033956/https://books.google.com/books?id=JSwstF6SEAkC&pg=PA924 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zadorozhnii |first=Oleksandr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lMokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=International Law in the Relations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation |publisher=Yuri Marchenko |year=2016 |isbn=978-617-684-146-3 |page=98 |access-date=28 November 2020 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817025957/https://books.google.com/books?id=lMokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |url-status=live }}</ref> The dispute over former Soviet property and assets between the two former republics is still ongoing:
{{Blockquote|text=The conflict is unsolvable. We can continue to poke Kiev handouts in the calculation of 'solve the problem', only it won't be solved. Going to a trial is also pointless: for a number of European countries this is a political issue, and they will make a decision clearly in whose favor. What to do in this situation is an open question. Search for non-trivial solutions. But we must remember that in 2014, with the filing of the then Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, litigation with Russia resumed in 32 countries.|author=[[Sergei Markov]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Ни по-честному, ни по-братски – Москва и Киев не могут поделить советскую собственность за рубежом |url=https://news.rambler.ru/ukraine/43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom/ |website=Рамблер/новости |date=9 March 2020 |access-date=14 July 2020 |archive-date=15 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715131651/https://news.rambler.ru/ukraine/43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Similar situation occurred with restitution of cultural property. Although on 14 February 1992 Russia and other former Soviet republics signed agreement 'On the return of cultural and historic property to the origin states' in [[Minsk]], it was halted by the Russian State Duma that eventually passed '[[Russian cultural property law|Federal Law on Cultural Valuables Displaced to the USSR as a Result of the Second World War and Located on the Territory of the Russian Federation]]' which made restitution currently impossible, effectively barring the return of looted cultural heritage by Soviet troops during the Second World War to its original owners.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Николаевич |first=Касатенко Александр |date=21 September 2013 |title=История и теория реституции культурных ценностей |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey |journal=Вестник Таганрогского института управления и экономики |volume=1 |issue=17 |via=cyberleninka.ru |access-date=14 July 2020 |archive-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716201711/https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Image:GDP of Russia since 1989.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Russian [[Gross domestic product|GDP]] since the end of the Soviet Union]]
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania consider themselves as [[State continuity of the Baltic states|revivals of the three independent countries]] that existed prior to their [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union]] in 1940. They maintain that the process by which they were incorporated into the Soviet Union violated both international law and their own law, and that in 1990–1991 they were reasserting an independence that still legally existed.
Nearly all of the post-Soviet states suffered deep and prolonged [[recession]]s after [[Shock therapy (economics)|shock therapy]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weber |first=Isabella |author-link=Isabella Weber |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1228187814 |title=How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate |date=2021 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-429-49012-5 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=6 |oclc=1228187814}}</ref> with poverty increasing more than tenfold.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E0D8163FF931A25753C1A9669C8B63 Study Finds Poverty Deepening in Former Communist Countries], New York Times, October 12, 2000</ref> In a 2001 study by the economist [[Steven Rosefielde]], he calculated that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he partly blames on the "shock therapy" that came with the [[Washington Consensus]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Rosefielde|first1=Steven|date=2001 |title=Premature Deaths: Russia's Radical Economic Transition in Soviet Perspective|journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]]|volume=53 |issue=8 |pages=1159–1176|doi= 10.1080/09668130120093174|s2cid=145733112}}</ref>
In 2011, ''[[The Guardian]]'' published an analysis of the former Soviet countries twenty years after the fall of the USSR. They found that "GDP fell as much as 50 percent in the 1990s in some republics... as capital flight, industrial collapse, hyperinflation and tax avoidance took their toll," but that there was a rebound in the 2000s, and by 2010 "some economies were five times as big as they were in 1991." Life expectancy has grown since 1991 in some of the countries, but fallen in others; likewise, some held free and fair elections, while others remained authoritarian.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=End of the USSR: visualising how the former Soviet countries are doing, 20 years on {{!}} Russia |url=https://theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/aug/17/ussr-soviet-countries-data |first1=Mark|last1=Rice-Oxley |first2=Ami |last2=Sedghi |first3=Jenny |last3=Ridley |first4=Sasha |last4=Magill |date=17 Aug 2011 |access-date=21 January 2021 |website=The Guardian }}</ref>
There are additionally three states that claim independence from the other internationally recognized post-Soviet states but [[List of states with limited recognition|possess limited international recognition]]: [[Abkhazia]], [[South Ossetia]] and [[Transnistria]]. The [[Armenians|Armenian]] separatist movement of the [[Republic of Artsakh]], [[Chechnya|Chechen]] separatist movement of the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]], the [[Gagauzia|Gagauz]] separatist movement of the [[Gagauz Republic]] and the [[Talysh people|Talysh]] separatist movement of the [[Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic]] are other such cases which have already been resolved.
== See also ==
* [[Foreign relations of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Historiography in the Soviet Union]]
* [[Index of Soviet Union–related articles]]
* [[Islam in the Soviet Union]]
* [[List of Slavic studies journals]]
* [[Ukrainian nationalism]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
{{See also|Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War|Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union|Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Robert|author-link1=Robert William Davies |last2=Wheatcroft |first2=Stephen|author-link2=Stephen G. Wheatcroft |title=The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia Volume 5: The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture 1931–1933 |url=http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780333311073 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0-230-23855-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Fischer |year=1964 |title=The Life of Lenin |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Erik |date=2013 |title=The First World War Peace Settlements, 1919–1925 |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-31-7883-678}}
* {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Stephen J. |year=2003 |title=Lenin and Revolutionary Russia |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-28718-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Leggett |first=George |year=1981 |title=The Cheka: Lenin's Political Police |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-822552-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/chekaleninspolit0000legg}}
* {{cite book |last=Mccauley |first=Martin |author-link=Martin McCauley (historian) |title=The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-86783-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Read |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Read |title=From Tsar to Soviets |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-135-36625-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ryan |first=James |year=2012 |title=Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1138815681 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ6LAgAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |year=2000 |title=Lenin: A Biography |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-72625-9 |title-link=Lenin: A Biography}}
* {{cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |year=2005 |title=A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-01801-3}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wheatcroft |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen G. Wheatcroft |year=1996 |url=http://sovietinfo.tripod.com/WCR-German_Soviet.pdf |title=The Scale and Nature of German and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930–45 |volume=48 |issue=8 |pages=1319–1353 |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]] |jstor=152781 |doi=10.1080/09668139608412415}}
* {{cite book |title=Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution |last=White |first=James D. |year=2001 |series=European History in Perspective |publisher=Palgrave |location=Basingstoke, England |isbn=978-0-333-72157-5}}{{refend}}
== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Soviet Union}}
* [http://soviethistory.msu.edu/ An on-line archive of primary source materials on Soviet history]
{{Soviet Union topics}}
{{Communist Eastern and Central Europe}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:History of the Soviet Union| ]]
[[Category:Modern history by country|Soviet Union]]' |
Unified diff of changes made by edit (edit_diff) | '@@ -1,18 +1,5 @@
-{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
-{{Redirect|Soviet-era|the statues|Soviet-era statues}}
-{{History of the Soviet Union}}
-{{History of Russia}}
-{{Culture of the Soviet Union}}
-
-The history of the [[Soviet Union]] (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the [[Russian Civil War]], the Soviet Union quickly became a one-party state under the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]]. Its early years under [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] were marked by the implementation of socialist policies and the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP), which allowed for market-oriented reforms.
-
-The rise of [[Joseph Stalin]] in the late 1920s ushered in an era of intense centralization and totalitarianism. Stalin's rule was characterized by the forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization of agriculture]], rapid [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|industrialization]], and the [[Great Purge]], which eliminated perceived enemies of the state. The Soviet Union played a crucial role in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied victory]] in [[World War II]], but at a tremendous human cost, with millions of Soviet citizens perishing in the conflict.
-
-The Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, leading the [[Eastern Bloc]] in opposition to the [[Western Bloc]] during the [[Cold War]]. This period saw the USSR engage in an arms race, the [[Space Race]], and [[Proxy war|proxy wars]] around the globe. The post-Stalin leadership, particularly under [[Nikita Khrushchev]], initiated a [[de-Stalinization]] process, leading to a period of liberalization and relative openness known as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]]. However, the subsequent era under [[Leonid Brezhnev]], referred to as the [[Era of Stagnation]], was marked by economic decline, political corruption, and a rigid [[gerontocracy]]. Despite efforts to maintain the Soviet Union's superpower status, the economy struggled due to its centralized nature, technological backwardness, and inefficiencies. The vast military expenditures and burdens of maintaining the Eastern Bloc, further strained the Soviet economy.
-
-In the 1980s, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s policies of [[Glasnost]] (openness) and [[Perestroika]] (restructuring) aimed to revitalize the Soviet system but instead accelerated its unraveling. Nationalist movements gained momentum across the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]], and the control of the Communist Party weakened. The failed [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup attempt]] in August 1991 against Gorbachev by hardline communists hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union, which formally dissolved on December 26, 1991, ending nearly seven decades of Soviet rule. The legacy of the Soviet Union is complex, leaving behind significant industrial achievements, military prowess, cultural influence, and an impact on global politics, but also a record of repression, economic inefficiencies, and the suppression of political and personal freedoms.
-
== Establishment (1917–1927) ==
{{Main|History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)}}
+
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New page size (new_size) | 91880 |
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0 => '{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->',
1 => '{{Redirect|Soviet-era|the statues|Soviet-era statues}}',
2 => '{{History of the Soviet Union}}',
3 => '{{History of Russia}}',
4 => '{{Culture of the Soviet Union}}',
5 => '',
6 => 'The history of the [[Soviet Union]] (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the [[Russian Civil War]], the Soviet Union quickly became a one-party state under the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]]. Its early years under [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] were marked by the implementation of socialist policies and the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP), which allowed for market-oriented reforms.',
7 => '',
8 => 'The rise of [[Joseph Stalin]] in the late 1920s ushered in an era of intense centralization and totalitarianism. Stalin's rule was characterized by the forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization of agriculture]], rapid [[Industrialization in the Soviet Union|industrialization]], and the [[Great Purge]], which eliminated perceived enemies of the state. The Soviet Union played a crucial role in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied victory]] in [[World War II]], but at a tremendous human cost, with millions of Soviet citizens perishing in the conflict.',
9 => '',
10 => 'The Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, leading the [[Eastern Bloc]] in opposition to the [[Western Bloc]] during the [[Cold War]]. This period saw the USSR engage in an arms race, the [[Space Race]], and [[Proxy war|proxy wars]] around the globe. The post-Stalin leadership, particularly under [[Nikita Khrushchev]], initiated a [[de-Stalinization]] process, leading to a period of liberalization and relative openness known as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]]. However, the subsequent era under [[Leonid Brezhnev]], referred to as the [[Era of Stagnation]], was marked by economic decline, political corruption, and a rigid [[gerontocracy]]. Despite efforts to maintain the Soviet Union's superpower status, the economy struggled due to its centralized nature, technological backwardness, and inefficiencies. The vast military expenditures and burdens of maintaining the Eastern Bloc, further strained the Soviet economy.',
11 => '',
12 => 'In the 1980s, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s policies of [[Glasnost]] (openness) and [[Perestroika]] (restructuring) aimed to revitalize the Soviet system but instead accelerated its unraveling. Nationalist movements gained momentum across the [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republics]], and the control of the Communist Party weakened. The failed [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup attempt]] in August 1991 against Gorbachev by hardline communists hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union, which formally dissolved on December 26, 1991, ending nearly seven decades of Soviet rule. The legacy of the Soviet Union is complex, leaving behind significant industrial achievements, military prowess, cultural influence, and an impact on global politics, but also a record of repression, economic inefficiencies, and the suppression of political and personal freedoms.',
13 => ''
] |
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Parsed HTML source of the new revision (new_html) | '<div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Establishment_(1917–1927)"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Establishment (1917–1927)</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="#Treaty_on_the_Creation_of_the_USSR"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Treaty on the Creation of the USSR</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="#Stalinism_(1927–1953)"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Stalinism (1927–1953)</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#World_War_II"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">World War II</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#Cold_War"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Cold War</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="#Khrushchev_Thaw_(1953–1964)"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Khrushchev Thaw (1953–1964)</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#Era_of_Stagnation_(1964–1982)"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Era of Stagnation (1964–1982)</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="#Reforms_and_dissolution_(1982–1991)"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Reforms and dissolution (1982–1991)</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="#Dissolution_and_aftermath"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Dissolution and aftermath</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="#Post-Soviet_states"><span class="tocnumber">6.1</span> <span class="toctext">Post-Soviet states</span></a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">9</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14"><a href="#Sources"><span class="tocnumber">10</span> <span class="toctext">Sources</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">11</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Establishment_(1917–1927)"><span id="Establishment_.281917.E2.80.931927.29"></span>Establishment (1917–1927)</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_Soviet_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union_(1917%E2%80%931927)" title="History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)">History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)</a></div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1237032888/mw-parser-output/.tmulti">.mw-parser-output .tmulti .multiimageinner{display:flex;flex-direction:column}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .trow{display:flex;flex-direction:row;clear:left;flex-wrap:wrap;width:100%;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .tsingle{margin:1px;float:left}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .theader{clear:both;font-weight:bold;text-align:center;align-self:center;background-color:transparent;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbcaption{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .text-align-left{text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .text-align-right{text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .text-align-center{text-align:center}@media all and (max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .tmulti .thumbinner{width:100%!important;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:none!important;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .trow{justify-content:center}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .tsingle{float:none!important;max-width:100%!important;box-sizing:border-box;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .tsingle .thumbcaption{text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .tmulti .trow>.thumbcaption{text-align:center}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .tmulti .multiimageinner img{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .tmulti .multiimageinner img{background-color:white}}</style><div class="thumb tmulti tleft"><div class="thumbinner multiimageinner" style="width:292px;max-width:292px"><div class="trow"><div class="tsingle" style="width:152px;max-width:152px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:199px;overflow:hidden"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Lenin_in_1920_(cropped).jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Lenin_in_1920_%28cropped%29.jpg/150px-Lenin_in_1920_%28cropped%29.jpg" decoding="async" width="150" height="200" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Lenin_in_1920_%28cropped%29.jpg/225px-Lenin_in_1920_%28cropped%29.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Lenin_in_1920_%28cropped%29.jpg/300px-Lenin_in_1920_%28cropped%29.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1835" data-file-height="2447" /></a></span></div><div class="thumbcaption"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin" title="Vladimir Lenin">Vladimir Lenin</a>, founder of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> and the leader of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bolshevik_party" class="mw-redirect" title="Bolshevik party">Bolshevik party</a>.</div></div><div class="tsingle" style="width:136px;max-width:136px"><div class="thumbimage" style="height:199px;overflow:hidden"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068,_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068%2C_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg/134px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068%2C_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg" decoding="async" width="134" height="199" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068%2C_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg/201px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068%2C_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068%2C_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg/268px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R15068%2C_Leo_Dawidowitsch_Trotzki.jpg 2x" data-file-width="632" data-file-height="939" /></a></span></div><div class="thumbcaption"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" title="Leon Trotsky">Leon Trotsky</a>, founder of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Army" title="Red Army">Red Army</a> and a key figure in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution">October Revolution</a>.</div></div></div></div></div>
<p>Modern revolutionary activity in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Empire" title="Russian Empire">Russian Empire</a> began with the 1825 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Decembrist_revolt" title="Decembrist revolt">Decembrist revolt</a>. Although <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia" title="Serfdom in Russia">serfdom</a> was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavourable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/State_Duma_(Russian_Empire)" title="State Duma (Russian Empire)">State Duma</a>, was established in 1906 after the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Revolution_of_1905" class="mw-redirect" title="Revolution of 1905">Russian Revolution of 1905</a>, but <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia" class="mw-redirect" title="Nicholas II of Russia">Emperor Nicholas II</a> resisted attempts to move from <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Absolute_monarchy" title="Absolute monarchy">absolute</a> to a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy" title="Constitutional monarchy">constitutional monarchy</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Rebellion" title="Rebellion">Social unrest</a> continued and was aggravated during <a href="/enwiki/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I">World War I</a> by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.
</p><p>A spontaneous popular demonstration in Petrograd on <a href="/enwiki/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day" title="International Women's Day">8 March</a> 1917, demanding peace and bread, culminated in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/February_Revolution" title="February Revolution">February Revolution</a> and the abdication of Nicholas II and the imperial government.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMccauley201483_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMccauley201483-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Tsarist_autocracy" title="Tsarist autocracy">tsarist autocracy</a> was replaced by the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Social_democracy" title="Social democracy">social-democratic</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Provisional_Government" title="Russian Provisional Government">Russian Provisional Government</a>, which intended to conduct elections to the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Constituent_Assembly" title="Russian Constituent Assembly">Russian Constituent Assembly</a> and to continue fighting on the side of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_I" title="Allies of World War I">Entente</a> in World War I. At the same time, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Workers%27_council" title="Workers' council">workers' councils</a>, known in Russian as '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_(council)" title="Soviet (council)">Soviets</a>', sprang up across the country, and the most influential of them, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Petrograd_Soviet_of_Workers%27_and_Soldiers%27_Deputies" class="mw-redirect" title="Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies">Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies</a>, shared power with the Provisional Government.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMccauley2014487_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMccauley2014487-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-br1_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-br1-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Membership of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bolsheviks" title="Bolsheviks">Bolshevik</a> party had risen from 24,000 members in February 1917 to 200,000 members by September 1917.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 50,000 workers had passed a resolution in favour of the Bolshevik demand for the transfer of power to the Soviets.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg/220px-19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="158" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg/330px-19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg/440px-19191107-lenin_second_anniversary_october_revolution_moscow.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2528" data-file-height="1820" /></a><figcaption><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin" title="Vladimir Lenin">Lenin</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" title="Leon Trotsky">Trotsky</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lev_Kamenev" title="Lev Kamenev">Kamenev</a> celebrating the second anniversary of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution">October Revolution</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>The Bolsheviks, led by <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin" title="Vladimir Lenin">Vladimir Lenin</a>, pushed for <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Communist_revolution" title="Communist revolution">communist revolution</a> in the Soviets and on the streets, adopting the slogan of "All Power to the Soviets" and urging the overthrow of the Provisional Government.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTERead200582–85_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTERead200582–85-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEService200547–49_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEService200547–49-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Guards_(Russia)" title="Red Guards (Russia)">Red Guards</a> stormed the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Winter_Palace" title="Winter Palace">Winter Palace</a> in Petrograd, arresting the Provisional Government leaders and Lenin declared that all power was now transferred to the Soviets.<sup id="cite_ref-BBC1_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-BBC1-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-br1_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-br1-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This event would later be officially known in Soviet bibliographies as the "<a href="/enwiki/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution">Great October Socialist Revolution</a>". Bolshevik figures such as <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Anatoly_Lunacharsky" title="Anatoly Lunacharsky">Anatoly Lunacharsky</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Moisei_Uritsky" title="Moisei Uritsky">Moisei Uritsky</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Dmitry_Manuilsky" title="Dmitry Manuilsky">Dmitry Manuilsky</a> agreed that Lenin's influence on the Bolshevik party was decisive but the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution">October insurrection</a> was carried out according to <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" title="Leon Trotsky">Trotsky's</a>, not to Lenin's plan.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Petrograd" class="mw-redirect" title="Petrograd">Petrograd</a> occurred largely without any human <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Casualty_(person)" title="Casualty (person)">casualties</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Lenin's government instituted a number of progressive measures such as <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Universal_access_to_education" title="Universal access to education">universal education</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Universal_healthcare" class="mw-redirect" title="Universal healthcare">universal healthcare</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Women_in_Russia" title="Women in Russia">equal rights for women</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Conversely, the bloody <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Terror" title="Red Terror">Red Terror</a> was initiated to shut down all opposition, both perceived and real.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The terror also arose in response to a number of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Vladimir_Lenin" title="Assassination attempts on Vladimir Lenin">assassination attempts</a> on Bolshevik senior leaders and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Left_SR_uprising" title="Left SR uprising">organized insurrections</a> against the Soviet government.<sup id="cite_ref-Leninism_Under_Lenin_18-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Leninism_Under_Lenin-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Rabinowitch306_20-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Rabinowitch306-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Federalization" class="mw-redirect" title="Federalization">federalization</a> of Russia was promulgated in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_the_Peoples_of_Russia" title="Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia">Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia</a> in November, not including the detached borderlands.<sup id="cite_ref-federation_21-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-federation-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In December, the Bolsheviks signed an <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Armistice" title="Armistice">armistice</a> with the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Central_Powers" title="Central Powers">Central Powers</a>, though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, the Soviets ended their involvement in the war and signed a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Separate_peace" title="Separate peace">separate peace</a> treaty, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk" title="Treaty of Brest-Litovsk">Treaty of Brest-Litovsk</a>. After the defeat of the Germans in the war, Lenin sought the creation of formally independent <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_republic" title="Soviet republic">Soviet republics</a> in the territories that were being vacated by the German Army.<sup id="cite_ref-federation_21-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-federation-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>A long and bloody <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Civil_War" title="Russian Civil War">civil war</a> ensued between the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Army" title="Red Army">Reds</a> and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/White_movement" title="White movement">Whites</a>, ending in 1921–1922 with the Reds' victory.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It included <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_War" title="Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War">foreign intervention</a>, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Murder_of_the_Romanov_family" title="Murder of the Romanov family">murder of the former emperor and his family</a>, and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1921%E2%80%9322" class="mw-redirect" title="Russian famine of 1921–22">famine of 1921–1922</a>, which killed about five million people.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although Lenin had declared his support for the principle of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Self-determination" title="Self-determination">self-determination</a>, the party became centralized and the independent Soviet republics were subordinated to Soviet Russia.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In March 1921, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Treaty_of_Riga" title="Treaty of Riga">Treaty of Riga</a> was signed with the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Second_Polish_Republic" title="Second Polish Republic">Republic of Poland</a>, splitting territories in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Belarus" title="Belarus">Belarus</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a>, and putting an end to Lenin's westward offensive against capitalism.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Estonian_War_of_Independence" title="Estonian War of Independence">Estonia</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War" title="Finnish Civil War">Finland</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Latvian_War_of_Independence" title="Latvian War of Independence">Latvia</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lithuanian%E2%80%93Soviet_War" title="Lithuanian–Soviet War">Lithuania</a>, the Reds were defeated, while the Red Army managed to occupy <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Army_invasion_of_Armenia" title="Red Army invasion of Armenia">Armenia</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Army_invasion_of_Azerbaijan" title="Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan">Azerbaijan</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Army_invasion_of_Georgia" title="Red Army invasion of Georgia">Georgia</a> in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Caucasus" title="Caucasus">Caucasus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTELee200384,_88_26-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTELee200384,_88-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGoldstein201350_27-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEGoldstein201350-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Additionally, the forced requisition of food by the Soviet government led to substantial resistance, of which the most notable was the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Tambov_Rebellion" title="Tambov Rebellion">Tambov Rebellion</a>, ultimately put down by the Red Army.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFischer1964459Leggett1981330–333Service2000423–424White2001168Ryan2012154–155_28-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFischer1964459Leggett1981330–333Service2000423–424White2001168Ryan2012154–155-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg/220px-Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="281" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg/330px-Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg/440px-Russian_civil_war_in_the_west.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="567" data-file-height="724" /></a><figcaption><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Civil_War" title="Russian Civil War">Russian Civil War</a> in the European part of Russia</figcaption></figure>
<p>The civil war had a devastating impact on the economy. A <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Black_market" title="Black market">black market</a> emerged in Russia, despite the threat of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Martial_law" title="Martial law">martial law</a> against profiteering. The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_ruble" title="Russian ruble">ruble</a> collapsed, with <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bartering" class="mw-redirect" title="Bartering">barter</a> increasingly replacing money as a medium of exchange<sup id="cite_ref-DaviesHarrison1993_29-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-DaviesHarrison1993-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and, by 1921, heavy industry output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels. 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than money.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 70% of locomotives were in need of repair<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (April 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup>, and food requisitioning, combined with the effects of seven years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Coal production decreased from 27.5 million tons (1913) to 7 million tons (1920), while overall factory production also declined from 10,000 million roubles to 1,000 million roubles. According to the noted historian <a href="/enwiki/wiki/David_Christian_(historian)" title="David Christian (historian)">David Christian</a>, the grain harvest was also slashed from 80.1 million tons (1913) to 46.5 million tons (1920).<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Treaty_on_the_Creation_of_the_USSR">Treaty on the Creation of the USSR</h3><span class="mw-editsection">
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<p>On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic" title="Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic">Russian SFSR</a>, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Transcaucasian_Socialist_Federative_Soviet_Republic" title="Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic">Transcaucasian SFSR</a>, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukrainian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic">Ukrainian SSR</a>, and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic">Byelorussian SSR</a> approved the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Creation_of_the_Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics" title="Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics">Treaty on the Creation of the USSR</a><sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Creation_of_the_Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics" title="Declaration of the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics">Declaration of the Creation of the USSR</a>, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> These two documents were confirmed by the first <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Congress_of_Soviets_of_the_USSR" class="mw-redirect" title="Congress of Soviets of the USSR">Congress of Soviets of the USSR</a> and signed by the heads of the delegations,<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Kalinin" title="Mikhail Kalinin">Mikhail Kalinin</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Tskhakaya" title="Mikhail Tskhakaya">Mikhail Tskhakaya</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Frunze" title="Mikhail Frunze">Mikhail Frunze</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Grigory_Petrovsky" title="Grigory Petrovsky">Grigory Petrovsky</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alexander_Chervyakov" title="Alexander Chervyakov">Alexander Chervyakov</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> on 30 December 1922. The formal proclamation was made from the stage of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bolshoi_Theatre" title="Bolshoi Theatre">Bolshoi Theatre</a> in Moscow.
</p><p>An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry, and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was done according to the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bolshevik_Initial_Decrees" class="mw-redirect" title="Bolshevik Initial Decrees">Bolshevik Initial Decrees</a>, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/GOELRO" title="GOELRO">GOELRO plan</a>, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Electrification" title="Electrification">electrification</a> of Russia.<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The plan became the prototype for subsequent <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Five-year_plans_for_the_national_economy_of_the_Soviet_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union">Five-Year Plans</a> and was fulfilled by 1931.<sup id="cite_ref-Kuzbassenergo_38-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Kuzbassenergo-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> After the economic policy of '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/War_communism" title="War communism">War communism</a>' during the Russian Civil War, as a prelude to fully developing <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Socialist_mode_of_production" title="Socialist mode of production">socialism</a> in the country, the Soviet government <a href="/enwiki/wiki/New_Economic_Policy" title="New Economic Policy">permitted some private enterprise to coexist alongside nationalized industry</a> in the 1920s, and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax.
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<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Russia_Famine_Saratov_1921.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Russia_Famine_Saratov_1921.jpg/220px-Russia_Famine_Saratov_1921.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="181" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Russia_Famine_Saratov_1921.jpg/330px-Russia_Famine_Saratov_1921.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Russia_Famine_Saratov_1921.jpg 2x" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="329" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1921%E2%80%9322" class="mw-redirect" title="Russian famine of 1921–22">Russian famine of 1921–22</a> killed an estimated 5 million people.<br /><sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-39"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>39<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></figcaption></figure>
<p>From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/One-party_state" title="One-party state">one-party rule</a> of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Communist Party (Bolsheviks)</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-41"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The stated purpose was to prevent the return of capitalist exploitation, and that the principles of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Democratic_centralism" title="Democratic centralism">democratic centralism</a> would be the most effective in representing the people's will in a practical manner. The debate over the future of the economy provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Collective_leadership" title="Collective leadership">troika</a>' consisting of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Grigory_Zinoviev" title="Grigory Zinoviev">Grigory Zinoviev</a> of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukrainian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic">Ukrainian SSR</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lev_Kamenev" title="Lev Kamenev">Lev Kamenev</a>, of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic" title="Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic">Russian SFSR</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Joseph_Stalin" title="Joseph Stalin">Joseph Stalin</a>, of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Transcaucasian_Socialist_Federative_Soviet_Republic" title="Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic">Transcaucasian SFSR</a>.
</p><p>In February 1924, the USSR was recognized by the United Kingdom.<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-42"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>41<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>42<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The same year, a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1924_Soviet_Constitution" class="mw-redirect" title="1924 Soviet Constitution">Soviet Constitution</a> was approved, legitimizing the December 1922 union.
</p><p>According to <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Archie_Brown_(historian)" title="Archie Brown (historian)">Archie Brown</a> the constitution was never an accurate guide to political reality in the USSR. For example, the fact that the Party played the leading role in making and enforcing policy was not mentioned in it until 1977.<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-44"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The USSR was a federative entity of many constituent republics, each with its own political and administrative entities. However, the term 'Soviet Russia' – formally applicable only to the Russian Federative Socialist Republic – was often applied to the entire country by non-Soviet writers due to its domination by the Russian SFSR.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Stalinism_(1927–1953)"><span id="Stalinism_.281927.E2.80.931953.29"></span>Stalinism (1927–1953)</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Excess_mortality_in_the_Soviet_Union_under_Joseph_Stalin" title="Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin">Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin</a></div>
<p>On 3 April 1922, Stalin was named the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union</a>. Lenin had appointed Stalin the head of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Rabkrin" title="Rabkrin">Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate</a>, which gave Stalin considerable power.<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-45"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>44<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> By <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Rise_of_Joseph_Stalin" class="mw-redirect" title="Rise of Joseph Stalin">gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmaneuvering his rivals within the party</a>, Stalin became the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Dictator" title="Dictator">undisputed leader</a> of the country and, by the end of the 1920s, established a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Totalitarianism" title="Totalitarianism">totalitarian</a> rule. In October 1927, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Grigory_Zinoviev" title="Grigory Zinoviev">Zinoviev</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" title="Leon Trotsky">Leon Trotsky</a> were expelled from the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Central_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Central Committee</a> and forced into exile.
</p><p>In 1928, Stalin introduced the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/First_five-year_plan_(Soviet_Union)" title="First five-year plan (Soviet Union)">first five-year plan</a> for building a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Socialist_economics" title="Socialist economics">socialist economy</a>. In place of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Proletarian_internationalism" title="Proletarian internationalism">internationalism</a> expressed by Lenin throughout the revolution, it aimed to build <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Socialism_in_One_Country" class="mw-redirect" title="Socialism in One Country">Socialism in One Country</a>. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Industrialization_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Industrialization in the Soviet Union">industrialization</a>. In <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Agriculture in the Soviet Union">agriculture</a>, rather than adhering to the 'lead by example' policy advocated by Lenin,<sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>45<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> forced <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Collectivization_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Collectivization in the Soviet Union">collectivization of farms</a> was implemented all over the country.
</p><p><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Droughts_and_famines_in_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union" title="Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union">Famines</a> ensued as a result, causing deaths estimated at three to seven million; surviving <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Kulak" title="Kulak">kulaks</a> (wealthy or middle-class peasants) were persecuted, and many were sent to <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gulag" title="Gulag">Gulags</a> to do <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Forced_labor_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Forced labor in the Soviet Union">forced labor</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEDaviesWheatcroft2004[httpsbooksgooglecombooksid4s1lCwAAQBAJpgPR14_xiv],_401_441_47-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEDaviesWheatcroft2004[httpsbooksgooglecombooksid4s1lCwAAQBAJpgPR14_xiv],_401_441-47"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-48"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>47<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Despite the turmoil of the mid-to-late 1930s, the country developed a robust industrial economy in the years preceding <a href="/enwiki/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a>.
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<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg/220px-Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="153" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg/330px-Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg/440px-Lavrenti_Beria_Stalins_family.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1552" data-file-height="1080" /></a><figcaption>Stalin and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria" title="Lavrentiy Beria">Lavrentiy Beria</a> with Stalin's daughter, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Svetlana_Alliluyeva" title="Svetlana Alliluyeva">Svetlana</a>, on his lap. As head of the NKVD, Beria was responsible for many <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Political_repression_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Political repression in the Soviet Union">political repressions in the Soviet Union</a>.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Closer cooperation between the USSR and the West developed in the early 1930s. From 1932 to 1934, the country participated in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/World_Disarmament_Conference" class="mw-redirect" title="World Disarmament Conference">World Disarmament Conference</a>. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> and the USSR were established when in November, the newly elected President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, chose to recognize Stalin's Communist government formally and negotiated a new trade agreement between the two countries.<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-49"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>48<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In September 1934, the country joined the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/League_of_Nations" title="League of Nations">League of Nations</a>. After the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War" title="Spanish Civil War">Spanish Civil War</a> broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Second_Spanish_Republic" title="Second Spanish Republic">Republican forces</a> against the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Francoist_Spain" title="Francoist Spain">Nationalists</a>, who were supported by <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy" title="Kingdom of Italy">Fascist Italy</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany">Nazi Germany</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-50"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>49<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>In December 1936, Stalin unveiled a new <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1936_Soviet_Constitution" class="mw-redirect" title="1936 Soviet Constitution">constitution</a> that was praised by supporters around the world as the most democratic constitution imaginable, though there was some skepticism. American historian J. Arch Getty concludes: "Many who lauded Stalin's Soviet Union as the most democratic country on earth lived to regret their words. After all, the Soviet Constitution of 1936 was adopted on the eve of the Great Terror of the late 1930s; the "thoroughly democratic" elections to the first Supreme Soviet permitted only uncontested candidates and took place at the height of the savage violence in 1937. The civil rights, personal freedoms, and democratic forms promised in the Stalin constitution were trampled almost immediately and remained dead letters until long after Stalin's death."<sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-51"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>50<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:5marshals_01.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/5marshals_01.jpg/220px-5marshals_01.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="158" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/5marshals_01.jpg/330px-5marshals_01.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/5marshals_01.jpg/440px-5marshals_01.jpg 2x" data-file-width="628" data-file-height="450" /></a><figcaption>Five <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Marshal_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Marshal of the Soviet Union">Marshals of the Soviet Union</a> in 1935. Only two of them—<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Semyon_Budyonny" title="Semyon Budyonny">Budyonny</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Kliment_Voroshilov" title="Kliment Voroshilov">Voroshilov</a>—survived the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Great_Purge" title="Great Purge">Great Purge</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Vasily_Blyukher" title="Vasily Blyukher">Blyukher</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alexander_Yegorov_(soldier)" title="Alexander Yegorov (soldier)">Yegorov</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Tukhachevsky" title="Mikhail Tukhachevsky">Tukhachevsky</a> were executed.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Stalin's <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Great_Purge" title="Great Purge">Great Purge</a> resulted in the detainment or execution of many '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Old_Bolshevik" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Bolshevik">Old Bolsheviks</a>' who had participated in the October Revolution. According to declassified Soviet archives, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/NKVD" title="NKVD">NKVD</a> arrested more than one and a half million people in 1937 and 1938, of whom 681,692 were shot.<sup id="cite_ref-Thurston_52-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Thurston-52"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>51<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Over those two years, there were an average of over one thousand executions a day.<sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-53"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>52<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn1_57-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn1-57"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>b<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Scholars estimate the total death toll for the Great Purge (1936–1938), including fatalities attributed to prison conditions, to be roughly 700,000-1.2 million.<sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-58"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>56<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-59" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-59"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>57<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-60" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-60"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>58<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-61" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-61"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>59<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-62" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-62"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>60<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>In 1939, after attempts to form a military alliance with Britain and France against Germany failed, the Soviet Union made a dramatic shift towards Nazi Germany.<sup id="cite_ref-63" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-63"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>61<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Almost a year after Britain and France had concluded the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Munich_Agreement" title="Munich Agreement">Munich Agreement</a> with Germany, the Soviet Union made agreements with Germany as well, both militarily and economically during <a href="/enwiki/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks" title="German–Soviet Axis talks">extensive talks</a>. Unlike the case of Britain and France, the Soviet Union's agreement with Germany, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact" title="Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact">Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact</a> (signed on 23 August 1939), included a secret protocol that paved the way for the Soviet invasion of Eastern European states and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Military_occupations_by_the_Soviet_Union" title="Military occupations by the Soviet Union">occupation of their territories</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-64" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-64"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>62<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The pact made possible the Soviet occupation of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Baltic_states" title="Occupation of the Baltic states">Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_occupation_of_Bessarabia_and_northern_Bukovina" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina">Bessarabia, northern Bukovina</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland" title="Soviet invasion of Poland">eastern Poland</a>.
</p><p>In the far east, the Soviet military won several decisive victories during <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_border_conflicts" title="Soviet–Japanese border conflicts">border clashes</a> with the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Empire_of_Japan" title="Empire of Japan">Empire of Japan</a> in 1938 and 1939. However, in April 1941, the USSR signed the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_Neutrality_Pact" title="Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact">Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact</a> with Japan, which the Soviets would unilaterally break in 1945, recognizing the territorial integrity of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Manchukuo" title="Manchukuo">Manchukuo</a>, a Japanese <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Puppet_state" title="Puppet state">puppet state</a>. The pact ensured Japan would not enter the World War II against the USSR on the side of Germany later.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="World_War_II">World War II</h3><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union_in_World_War_II" title="Soviet Union in World War II">Soviet Union in World War II</a></div>
<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Further information: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)" title="Eastern Front (World War II)">Eastern Front (World War II)</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Great_Patriotic_War_(term)" title="Great Patriotic War (term)">Great Patriotic War (term)</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/World_War_II_casualties_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="World War II casualties of the Soviet Union">World War II casualties of the Soviet Union</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_war_crimes" title="Soviet war crimes">Soviet war crimes</a></div>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg/290px-RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg" decoding="async" width="290" height="104" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg/435px-RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg/580px-RIAN_archive_44732_Soviet_soldiers_attack_house.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2163" data-file-height="776" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad" title="Battle of Stalingrad">Battle of Stalingrad</a>, considered by many historians as a decisive turning point of World War II</figcaption></figure>
<p>On 1 September, Germany <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland" title="Invasion of Poland">invaded Poland</a> and on the 17th the Soviet Union invaded Poland as well. On 6 October, Poland fell and part of the Soviet occupation zone was then handed over to Germany. On 10 October, the Soviet Union and Lithuania signed an agreement whereby the Soviet Union transferred Polish sovereignty over the Vilna region to Lithuania, and on 28 October the boundary between the Soviet occupation zone and the new territory of Lithuania was officially demarcated. On 1 November, the Soviet Union <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_annexation_of_Eastern_Galicia_and_Volhynia" title="Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia">annexed Western Ukraine</a>, followed by Western Belarus on the 2nd. In late November, unable to coerce the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Finland" title="Finland">Republic of Finland</a> by diplomatic means into moving its border 25 kilometres (16 mi) back from <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Leningrad</a>, Stalin ordered the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Winter_War" title="Winter War">invasion of Finland</a>. On 14 December 1939, the Soviet Union was expelled from the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/League_of_Nations" title="League of Nations">League of Nations</a> for invading Finland.<sup id="cite_ref-65" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-65"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>63<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa" title="Operation Barbarossa">invaded the Soviet Union</a> on 22 June 1941 starting what is known in Russia and some other post-Soviet states as the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)" title="Eastern Front (World War II)">Great Patriotic War</a>. The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Army" title="Red Army">Red Army</a> stopped the seemingly invincible German Army at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow" title="Battle of Moscow">Battle of Moscow</a>. The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad" title="Battle of Stalingrad">Battle of Stalingrad</a>, which lasted from late 1942 to early 1943, dealt a severe blow to Germany from which they never fully recovered and became a turning point in the war. After Stalingrad, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before <a href="/enwiki/wiki/End_of_World_War_II_in_Europe" title="End of World War II in Europe">Germany surrendered in 1945</a>. The German Army suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front.<sup id="cite_ref-66" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-66"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>64<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Harry_Hopkins" title="Harry Hopkins">Harry Hopkins</a>, a close foreign policy advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke on 10 August 1943 of the USSR's decisive role in the war, saying that "While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving attention of approximately 200 German divisions."<sup id="cite_ref-fn3_68-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn3-68"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>c<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Up to 34 million soldiers served in the Red Army during World War II, 8 million of which were <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Demographics of the Soviet Union">non-Slavic minorities</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Soviet_losses_69-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Soviet_losses-69"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>66<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p>
<figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg/220px-RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="135" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg/330px-RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg/440px-RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2976" data-file-height="1823" /></a><figcaption>Residents of Leningrad leave their homes destroyed by German bombing. About 1 million civilians died during the 871-day <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad" title="Siege of Leningrad">Siege of Leningrad</a>, mostly from starvation.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Teheran_conference-1943.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Teheran_conference-1943.jpg/220px-Teheran_conference-1943.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="176" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Teheran_conference-1943.jpg/330px-Teheran_conference-1943.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Teheran_conference-1943.jpg/440px-Teheran_conference-1943.jpg 2x" data-file-width="5680" data-file-height="4544" /></a><figcaption>From left to right, the Soviet General Secretary <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Joseph_Stalin" title="Joseph Stalin">Joseph Stalin</a>, US President <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt" title="Franklin D. Roosevelt">Franklin D. Roosevelt</a> and British Prime Minister <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill">Winston Churchill</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Tehran_Conference" title="Tehran Conference">confer</a> in Tehran, 1943</figcaption></figure>
<p>The USSR suffered greatly in the war, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/World_War_II_casualties_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="World War II casualties of the Soviet Union">losing around 20 million people</a> (modern Russian sources put the number at 26.6 million).<sup id="cite_ref-1930s_54-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1930s-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>53<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-MOD_Russian_Federation_70-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-MOD_Russian_Federation-70"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>67<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This includes 8.7 million military deaths. The majority of the losses were ethnic <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russians" title="Russians">Russians</a>, followed by ethnic <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukrainians" title="Ukrainians">Ukrainians</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Soviet_losses_69-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Soviet_losses-69"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>66<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Approximately 2.8 million <a href="/enwiki/wiki/German_mistreatment_of_Soviet_prisoners_of_war" class="mw-redirect" title="German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war">Soviet POWs</a> died of starvation, mistreatment, or executions in just eight months of 1941–42.<sup id="cite_ref-71" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-71"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>68<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-72" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-72"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>69<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> More than 2 million people were killed in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic">Belarus</a> during the three years of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/German_occupation_of_Byelorussia_during_World_War_II" title="German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II">German occupation</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-73" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-73"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>70<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> almost a quarter of the region's population, including around 550,000 Jews in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Belarus" title="The Holocaust in Belarus">Holocaust in Belarus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-74" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-74"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>71<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> During the war, the country together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Big_Four_in_World_War_II" class="mw-redirect" title="Big Four in World War II">Big Four</a> Allied powers,<sup id="cite_ref-75" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-75"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>72<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and later became the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Four_Policemen" title="Four Policemen">Four Policemen</a> that formed the basis of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council" title="United Nations Security Council">United Nations Security Council</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-76" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-76"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>73<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It emerged as a superpower in the post-war period. Once denied <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Diplomatic_recognition" title="Diplomatic recognition">diplomatic recognition</a> by the Western world, the USSR had official relations with practically every country by the late 1940s. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the country <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union_and_the_United_Nations" title="Soviet Union and the United Nations">became</a> one of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Permanent_members_of_the_United_Nations_Security_Council" title="Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council">five permanent members</a> of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council" title="United Nations Security Council">United Nations Security Council</a>, which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions.
</p><p>The USSR, in fulfillment of its agreement with the Allies at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yalta_Conference" title="Yalta Conference">Yalta Conference</a>, broke the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945 which Japan had been honoring despite their alliance with Germany,<sup id="cite_ref-denunciation_77-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-denunciation-77"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>74<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Manchuria" title="Soviet invasion of Manchuria">invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories</a> on 9 August 1945.<sup id="cite_ref-declarationofwar_78-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-declarationofwar-78"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>75<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_War" title="Soviet–Japanese War">This conflict</a> ended with a decisive Soviet victory, contributing to the unconditional <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan" title="Surrender of Japan">surrender of Japan</a> and the end of World War II.
</p><p>Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_occupation_zone_of_Germany" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet occupation zone of Germany">Germany</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-79" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-79"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>76<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence" title="Wartime sexual violence">wartime rapes</a> were followed by decades of silence.<sup id="cite_ref-80" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-80"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>77<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-The_Independent_81-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-The_Independent-81"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>78<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Susanne_Beyer_82-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Susanne_Beyer-82"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>79<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to historian <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Antony_Beevor" title="Antony Beevor">Antony Beevor</a>, whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/NKVD" title="NKVD">NKVD</a> (Soviet secret police) files have revealed that the leadership knew what was happening, but did little to stop it.<sup id="cite_ref-Bird_83-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Bird-83"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>80<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It was often <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rear_echelon" class="extiw" title="wikt:rear echelon">rear echelon</a> units who committed the rapes. According to professor Oleg Rzheshevsky, "4,148 Red Army officers and many privates were punished for committing atrocities".<sup id="cite_ref-:0_84-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-84"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>81<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million.<sup id="cite_ref-:4_85-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:4-85"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>82<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The Soviet Union was greatly assisted in its wartime effort by the United States via <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lend-Lease" title="Lend-Lease">Lend-Lease</a>. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1,000,000,000_(number)" class="mw-redirect" title="1,000,000,000 (number)">billion</a> in materials: over 400,000 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Jeep" title="Jeep">jeeps</a> and trucks; 12,000 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Armored_vehicle" class="mw-redirect" title="Armored vehicle">armored vehicles</a> (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386<sup id="cite_ref-86" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-86"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>83<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> of which were <a href="/enwiki/wiki/M3_Lee" title="M3 Lee">M3 Lees</a> and 4,102 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lend-Lease_Sherman_tanks" title="Lend-Lease Sherman tanks">M4 Shermans</a>);<sup id="cite_ref-87" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-87"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>84<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bell_P-39_Airacobra" title="Bell P-39 Airacobra">Bell P-39 Airacobras</a>, 3,414 were <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Douglas_A-20_Havoc" title="Douglas A-20 Havoc">Douglas A-20 Havocs</a> and 2,397 were <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bell_P-63_Kingcobra" title="Bell P-63 Kingcobra">Bell P-63 Kingcobras</a>)<sup id="cite_ref-88" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-88"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>85<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and 1.75 million tons of food.<sup id="cite_ref-89" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-89"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>86<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> As Soviet soldiers were bearing the brunt of the war, Roosevelt's advisor <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Harry_Hopkins" title="Harry Hopkins">Harry Hopkins</a> felt that American aid to the Soviets would hasten the war's conclusion.<sup id="cite_ref-90" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-90"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>87<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line.<sup id="cite_ref-91" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-91"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>88<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-92" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-92"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>89<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Cold_War">Cold War</h3><span class="mw-editsection">
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<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Soviet_empire_1960.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Soviet_empire_1960.png/220px-Soviet_empire_1960.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="220" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Soviet_empire_1960.png/330px-Soviet_empire_1960.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Soviet_empire_1960.png/440px-Soviet_empire_1960.png 2x" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="1000" /></a><figcaption>Map showing the greatest territorial extent of the Soviet Union and the sovereign states that it dominated politically, economically and militarily in 1960, after the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cuban_Revolution" title="Cuban Revolution">Cuban Revolution</a> of 1959 but before the official <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split" title="Sino-Soviet split">Sino-Soviet split</a> of 1961 (total area: c. 35,000,000 km<sup>2</sup>)<sup id="cite_ref-93" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-93"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>d<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></figcaption></figure>
<p>During the immediate post-war period, the Soviet Union rebuilt and expanded its economy, while maintaining its <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Command_economy" class="mw-redirect" title="Command economy">strictly centralized control</a>. It took effective control over most of the countries of Eastern Europe (except <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Tito%E2%80%93Stalin_split" title="Tito–Stalin split">Yugoslavia</a> and later <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet-Albanian_split" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet-Albanian split">Albania</a>), turning them into <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Satellite_state" title="Satellite state">satellite states</a>. The USSR bound its satellite states in a military alliance, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Warsaw_Pact" title="Warsaw Pact">Warsaw Pact</a>, in 1955, and an economic organization, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Comecon" title="Comecon">Comecon</a>, a counterpart to the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/European_Economic_Community" title="European Economic Community">European Economic Community</a> (EEC), from 1949 to 1991.<sup id="cite_ref-fas.org_94-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fas.org-94"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>90<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although nominally a "defensive" alliance, the Warsaw Pact's primary function was to safeguard the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Empire" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet Empire">Soviet Union's hegemony</a> over its <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Bloc" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet Bloc">Eastern European</a> satellites, with the Pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away.<sup id="cite_ref-history.com_95-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-history.com-95"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>91<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted <a href="/enwiki/wiki/World_War_II_reparations" title="World War II reparations">war reparations</a> from <a href="/enwiki/wiki/East_Germany" title="East Germany">East Germany</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_Hungary" class="mw-redirect" title="People's Republic of Hungary">Hungary</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_Romania" class="mw-redirect" title="People's Republic of Romania">Romania</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_Bulgaria" title="People's Republic of Bulgaria">Bulgaria</a> using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Marshall_Plan" title="Marshall Plan">Marshall Plan</a>."<sup id="cite_ref-96" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-96"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>92<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Later, the Comecon supplied aid to the eventually victorious <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party" title="Chinese Communist Party">Chinese Communist Party</a>, and its influence grew elsewhere in the world. Fearing its ambitions, the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, became its enemies. In the ensuing Cold War, the two sides clashed indirectly in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Proxy_war" title="Proxy war">proxy wars</a>.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Khrushchev_Thaw_(1953–1964)"><span id="Khrushchev_Thaw_.281953.E2.80.931964.29"></span>Khrushchev Thaw (1953–1964)</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:John_Kennedy,_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/John_Kennedy%2C_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg/220px-John_Kennedy%2C_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="176" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/John_Kennedy%2C_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg/330px-John_Kennedy%2C_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/John_Kennedy%2C_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg/440px-John_Kennedy%2C_Nikita_Khrushchev_1961.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2894" data-file-height="2315" /></a><figcaption>Soviet leader <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev" title="Nikita Khrushchev">Nikita Khrushchev</a> (left) with US President <a href="/enwiki/wiki/John_F._Kennedy" title="John F. Kennedy">John F. Kennedy</a> in Vienna, 3 June 1961</figcaption></figure>
<p>Stalin died on 5 March 1953. Without a mutually agreeable successor, the highest Communist Party officials initially opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly through a troika headed by <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Georgy_Malenkov" title="Georgy Malenkov">Georgy Malenkov</a>. This did not last, however, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev" title="Nikita Khrushchev">Nikita Khrushchev</a> eventually won the ensuing power struggle by the mid-1950s. In 1956, he <a href="/enwiki/wiki/On_the_Cult_of_Personality_and_Its_Consequences" title="On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences">denounced Joseph Stalin</a> and proceeded to ease controls over the party and society. This was known as <a href="/enwiki/wiki/De-Stalinization" title="De-Stalinization">de-Stalinization</a>.
</p><p>Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a critically vital buffer zone for the forward defence of its western borders, in case of another major invasion such as the German invasion of 1941. For this reason, the USSR sought to cement its control of the region by transforming the Eastern European countries into satellite states, dependent upon and subservient to its leadership. As a result, Soviet military forces were used to suppress an anti-communist uprising in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956" title="Hungarian Revolution of 1956">Hungary</a> in 1956.
</p><p>In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the Soviet rapprochement with the West, and what <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mao_Zedong" title="Mao Zedong">Mao Zedong</a> perceived as Khrushchev's <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Revisionism_(Marxism)" title="Revisionism (Marxism)">revisionism</a>, led to the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sino%E2%80%93Soviet_split" class="mw-redirect" title="Sino–Soviet split">Sino–Soviet split</a>. This resulted in a break throughout the global Marxist–Leninist movement, with the governments in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/People%27s_Socialist_Republic_of_Albania" title="People's Socialist Republic of Albania">Albania</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Democratic_Kampuchea" title="Democratic Kampuchea">Cambodia</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Somali_Democratic_Republic" title="Somali Democratic Republic">Somalia</a> choosing to ally with China.
</p><p>During this period of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the USSR continued to realize scientific and technological exploits in the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Space_Race" title="Space Race">Space Race</a>, rivaling the United States: launching the first artificial satellite, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sputnik_1" title="Sputnik 1">Sputnik 1</a> in 1957; a living dog named <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Laika" title="Laika">Laika</a> in 1957; the first human being, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin" title="Yuri Gagarin">Yuri Gagarin</a> in 1961; the first woman in space, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova" title="Valentina Tereshkova">Valentina Tereshkova</a> in 1963; <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alexei_Leonov" title="Alexei Leonov">Alexei Leonov</a>, the first person to walk in space in 1965; the first soft landing on the Moon by spacecraft <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Luna_9" title="Luna 9">Luna 9</a> in 1966; and the first Moon rovers, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lunokhod_1" title="Lunokhod 1">Lunokhod 1</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lunokhod_2" title="Lunokhod 2">Lunokhod 2</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-lunokhod_97-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-lunokhod-97"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>93<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Khrushchev initiated '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Khrushchev_Thaw" title="Khrushchev Thaw">The Thaw</a>', a complex shift in political, cultural, and economic life in the country. This included some openness and contact with other nations and new social and economic policies with more emphasis on commodity goods, allowing a dramatic rise in living standards while maintaining high levels of economic growth. Censorship was relaxed as well. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive. In 1962, he precipitated a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis" title="Cuban Missile Crisis">crisis with the United States</a> over the Soviet deployment of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_delivery" title="Nuclear weapons delivery">nuclear missiles</a> in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cuba" title="Cuba">Cuba</a>. An agreement was made with the United States to remove nuclear missiles from both <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cuba" title="Cuba">Cuba</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Turkey" title="Turkey">Turkey</a>, concluding the crisis. This event caused Khrushchev much embarrassment and loss of prestige, resulting in his removal from power in 1964.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Era_of_Stagnation_(1964–1982)"><span id="Era_of_Stagnation_.281964.E2.80.931982.29"></span>Era of Stagnation (1964–1982)</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1964%E2%80%931982)" title="History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)">History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)</a></div>
<figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg/220px-Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="148" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg/330px-Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg/440px-Nikolai-Podgornyi-1969-in-Tampere.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1920" data-file-height="1291" /></a><figcaption><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nikolai_Podgorny" title="Nikolai Podgorny">Nikolai Podgorny</a> visiting <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Tampere" title="Tampere">Tampere</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Finland" title="Finland">Finland</a> on 16 October 1969</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg/220px-Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="148" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg/330px-Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg/440px-Carter_Brezhnev_sign_SALT_II.jpg 2x" data-file-width="630" data-file-height="425" /></a><figcaption>Soviet general secretary <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev" title="Leonid Brezhnev">Leonid Brezhnev</a> and US President <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter">Jimmy Carter</a> sign the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Strategic_Arms_Limitation_Treaty_II" class="mw-redirect" title="Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II">SALT II arms limitation treaty</a> in Vienna on 18 June 1979.</figcaption></figure>
<p>The history of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, referred to as the Brezhnev Era, covers the period of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev" title="Leonid Brezhnev">Leonid Brezhnev</a>'s rule of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Union of Soviet Socialist Republics</a> (USSR). This period began with high economic growth and soaring prosperity but ended with a much weaker Soviet Union facing social, political, and economic stagnation. The average annual income stagnated because needed economic reforms were never fully carried out.
</p><p>Following the ousting of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev" title="Nikita Khrushchev">Nikita Khrushchev</a> on 14 October 1964, Brezhnev replaced him as <a href="/enwiki/wiki/General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">First Secretary</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alexei_Kosygin" title="Alexei Kosygin">Alexei Kosygin</a> took over as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Anastas_Mikoyan" title="Anastas Mikoyan">Anastas Mikoyan</a>, and later <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nikolai_Podgorny" title="Nikolai Podgorny">Nikolai Podgorny</a>, became Chairmen of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Presidium_of_the_Supreme_Soviet" title="Presidium of the Supreme Soviet">Presidium of the Supreme Soviet</a>. Alongside <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Andrei_Kirilenko_(politician)" title="Andrei Kirilenko (politician)">Andrei Kirilenko</a> as organisational secretary, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Suslov" title="Mikhail Suslov">Mikhail Suslov</a> as chief ideologue, this group formed a reinvigorated <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Collective_leadership" title="Collective leadership">collective leadership</a>, which contrasted in form with the autocracy that characterized Khrushchev's rule.
</p><p>The collective leadership initially focused on stabilizing the Soviet Union and calming <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_society" class="mw-redirect" title="Soviet society">Soviet society</a>. They also sought to accelerate economic growth, which had slowed considerably during Khrushchev's final years in power. In 1965, Kosygin initiated several economic reforms aimed at decentralizing the Soviet economy. These reforms initially spurred economic growth, but hard-liners within the Party halted them, fearing that they would undermine the Party's prestige and power. As a result, no further radical economic reforms were implemented during the Brezhnev era, leading to economic stagnation by the early-to-mid-1970s. By Brezhnev's death in 1982, Soviet economic growth had nearly come to a standstill.
</p><p>During this period, Brezhnev consolidated power, and by the early 1970s, he had established himself as the preeminent Soviet leader. The stabilization policy established a ruling <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gerontocracy" title="Gerontocracy">gerontocracy</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Political_corruption" title="Political corruption">political corruption</a> became increasingly prevalent. Despite this, Brezhnev never launched any large-scale anti-corruption campaigns. The Soviet Union, thanks to the military buildup of the 1960s, solidified its status as a <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Superpower" title="Superpower">superpower</a> during Brezhnev's rule. However, this era was also marked by the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation" title="Era of Stagnation">Era of Stagnation</a>, a period characterized by economic, political, and social decline, which persisted under Brezhnev's successors, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yuri_Andropov" title="Yuri Andropov">Yuri Andropov</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko" title="Konstantin Chernenko">Konstantin Chernenko</a>.
</p><p>The Brezhnev Era also witnessed significant international actions, including the 1968 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia" title="Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia">Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia</a> to suppress the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Prague_Spring" title="Prague Spring">Prague Spring</a> reforms. Brezhnev justified this and future interventions with the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Brezhnev_Doctrine" title="Brezhnev Doctrine">Brezhnev Doctrine</a>, which stated that any threat to Soviet rule in a Warsaw Pact state was a threat to all Warsaw Pact states, thus justifying military intervention.
</p><p>Brezhnev presided over a period of <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/D%C3%A9tente" title="Détente">détente</a></i> with the West, leading to treaties on arms control such as <a href="/enwiki/wiki/SALT_I" class="mw-redirect" title="SALT I">SALT I</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/SALT_II" class="mw-redirect" title="SALT II">SALT II</a>, and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Anti-Ballistic_Missile_Treaty" title="Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty">Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty</a>, while simultaneously building up Soviet military might. In 1977, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1977_Soviet_Constitution" class="mw-redirect" title="1977 Soviet Constitution">third Soviet Constitution</a> was unanimously adopted. One of the Soviet economy's key strengths during this period was its vast oil and gas reserves. The quadrupling of world oil prices during the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1973_oil_crisis" title="1973 oil crisis">1973 oil crisis</a> and another rise in the late 1970s made the energy sector the chief driver of the Soviet economy. This revenue was used to offset multiple economic weaknesses. Former Soviet Premier <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alexei_Kosygin" title="Alexei Kosygin">Alexei Kosygin</a> once remarked that "things are bad with bread. Give me 3 million tons [of oil] over the plan."<sup id="cite_ref-98" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-98"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>94<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The revenue from oil exports helped to mitigate a growing food supply crisis, fund the import of equipment and consumer goods, and sustain the arms race with the US. It also underpinned risky foreign policy actions, such as the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War" title="Soviet–Afghan War">Soviet–Afghan War</a> beginning in 1979, which effectively ended the period of détente with the West.<sup id="cite_ref-99" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-99"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>95<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The long period of Brezhnev's rule culminated in his death on 10 November 1982. By this time, the Soviet Union had become increasingly stagnant, with an ageing leadership resistant to change and a deteriorating economy. Moreover, the Soviet Union's failure to modernize its economy, particularly in the field of computerization, further hindered its competitiveness with Western powers.<sup id="cite_ref-100" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-100"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>96<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-101" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-101"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>97<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Reforms_and_dissolution_(1982–1991)"><span id="Reforms_and_dissolution_.281982.E2.80.931991.29"></span>Reforms and dissolution (1982–1991)</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1982%E2%80%931991)" title="History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)">History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cold_War_(1985%E2%80%931991)" title="Cold War (1985–1991)">Cold War (1985–1991)</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_attempt" title="1991 Soviet coup attempt">1991 Soviet coup attempt</a></div>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva,_Switzerland.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva%2C_Switzerland.jpg/220px-President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva%2C_Switzerland.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="146" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva%2C_Switzerland.jpg/330px-President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva%2C_Switzerland.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva%2C_Switzerland.jpg/440px-President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Soviet_General_Secretary_Mikhail_Gorbachev_at_the_first_Summit_in_Geneva%2C_Switzerland.jpg 2x" data-file-width="4000" data-file-height="2651" /></a><figcaption><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev" title="Mikhail Gorbachev">Mikhail Gorbachev</a> in one-to-one discussions with US President <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> (<i>left</i>), 1985</figcaption></figure>
<p>Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. Kenneth S. Deffeyes argued in <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Beyond_Oil" title="Beyond Oil">Beyond Oil</a></i> that the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Presidency_of_Ronald_Reagan" title="Presidency of Ronald Reagan">Reagan administration</a> encouraged <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Saudi_Arabia" title="Saudi Arabia">Saudi Arabia</a> to <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1980s_oil_glut" title="1980s oil glut">lower the price of oil</a> to the point where the Soviets could not make a profit selling their oil, and resulted in the depletion of the country's <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Hard_currency" title="Hard currency">hard currency</a> reserves.<sup id="cite_ref-102" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-102"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>98<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Brezhnev's next two successors, transitional figures with deep roots in his tradition, did not last long. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yuri_Andropov" title="Yuri Andropov">Yuri Andropov</a> was 68 years old and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko" title="Konstantin Chernenko">Konstantin Chernenko</a> 72 when they assumed power; both died in less than two years. In an attempt to avoid a third short-lived leader, in 1985, the Soviets turned to the next generation and selected <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev" title="Mikhail Gorbachev">Mikhail Gorbachev</a>. In addition to the failing economy, the prolonged war in Afghanistan led to increased public dissatisfaction with the Communist government.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_103-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-103"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>99<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>In the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster" title="Chernobyl disaster">Chernobyl disaster</a> of 26 April 1986, at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plant" title="Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant">Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant</a> in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Pripyat" title="Pripyat">Pripyat</a>, Ukraine, one of the plant's <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nuclear_reactor" title="Nuclear reactor">nuclear reactors</a> exploded, spreading <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Radioactive_contamination" title="Radioactive contamination">radioactive contaminants</a> across Europe and forcing tens of thousands of people to permanently evacuate from the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chernobyl_exclusion_zone" title="Chernobyl exclusion zone">Chernobyl Exclusion Zone</a> around Pripyat. At least two dozen people died from being at the plant and many more died from <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Radiation_exposure" title="Radiation exposure">radiation exposure</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-104" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-104"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>100<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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The Chernobyl disaster added motive force to Gorbachev's reforms.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_103-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-103"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>99<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Perestroika" title="Perestroika">perestroika</a></i>. His policy of <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Glasnost" title="Glasnost">glasnost</a></i> freed public <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Access_to_information" class="mw-redirect" title="Access to information">access to information</a> after decades of heavy government censorship. Gorbachev also moved to end the Cold War. In 1988, the USSR abandoned its <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War" title="Soviet–Afghan War">war in Afghanistan</a> and began to withdraw its forces. In the following year, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sinatra_Doctrine" title="Sinatra Doctrine">Gorbachev refused to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet satellite states</a>, which paved the way for the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989" title="Revolutions of 1989">Revolutions of 1989</a>. In particular, the standstill of the Soviet Union at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Pan-European_Picnic" title="Pan-European Picnic">Pan-European Picnic</a> in August 1989 then set a peaceful chain reaction in motion, at the end of which the Eastern Bloc collapsed. With the tearing down of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Berlin_Wall" title="Berlin Wall">Berlin Wall</a> and with East and West Germany pursuing re-unification, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Iron_Curtain" title="Iron Curtain">Iron Curtain</a> between <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Western_world" title="Western world">the West</a> and Soviet-occupied regions came down.<sup id="cite_ref-105" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-105"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>101<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-106" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-106"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>102<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-107" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-107"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>103<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-108" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-108"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>104<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p><figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-left" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg/170px-00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg" decoding="async" width="170" height="261" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg/255px-00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg/340px-00_P%C3%A1neur%C3%B3pai_Piknik_eml%C3%A9khely.jpg 2x" data-file-width="416" data-file-height="638" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Pan-European_Picnic" title="Pan-European Picnic">Pan-European Picnic</a> took place in August 1989 on the Hungarian-Austrian border.</figcaption></figure><p>At the same time, the Soviet republics started legal moves towards potentially declaring <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sovereignty" title="Sovereignty">sovereignty</a> over their territories, citing the freedom to secede in Article 72 of the USSR constitution.<sup id="cite_ref-109" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-109"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>105<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for it in a referendum.<sup id="cite_ref-110" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-110"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>106<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Many held their first free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in 1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as the '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/War_of_Laws" title="War of Laws">War of Laws</a>'. In 1989, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic" title="Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic">Russian SFSR</a> convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin" title="Boris Yeltsin">Boris Yeltsin</a> was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Declaration_of_State_Sovereignty_of_the_Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic" title="Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic">declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory</a> and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the Soviet laws. After a landslide victory of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/S%C4%85j%C5%ABdis" title="Sąjūdis">Sąjūdis</a> in Lithuania, that country declared its independence restored on 11 March 1990, citing the illegality of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Baltic_states" title="Occupation of the Baltic states">Soviet occupation of the Baltic states</a>. Soviet forces attempted to halt the secession by crushing popular demonstrations in Lithuania (<a href="/enwiki/wiki/January_Events_(Lithuania)" class="mw-redirect" title="January Events (Lithuania)">Bloody Sunday</a>) and Latvia (<a href="/enwiki/wiki/The_Barricades" title="The Barricades">The Barricades</a>), as a result of which numerous civilians were killed or wounded. However, these actions only bolstered international support for the secessionists.<sup id="cite_ref-111" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-111"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>107<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Image0_ST.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Image0_ST.jpg/220px-Image0_ST.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="165" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Image0_ST.jpg/330px-Image0_ST.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Image0_ST.jpg/440px-Image0_ST.jpg 2x" data-file-width="565" data-file-height="424" /></a><figcaption><a href="/enwiki/wiki/T-80" title="T-80">T-80</a> tank on <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Square" title="Red Square">Red Square</a> during the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1991_August_Coup" class="mw-redirect" title="1991 August Coup">August Coup</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>A <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1991_Soviet_Union_referendum" title="1991 Soviet Union referendum">referendum for the preservation of the USSR</a> was held on 17 March 1991 in nine republics (the remainder having boycotted the vote), with the majority of the population in those republics voting for preservation of the Union in the form of a new federation. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost. In the summer of 1991, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/New_Union_Treaty" title="New Union Treaty">New Union Treaty</a>, which would have turned the country into a much looser Union, was agreed upon by eight republics. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt" class="mw-redirect" title="1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt">August Coup</a>—an attempted coup d'état by hardline members of the government and the KGB who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. After the coup collapsed, Russian president Yeltsin was seen as a hero for his decisive actions, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared the restoration of their full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example). Gorbachev resigned as general secretary in late August, and soon afterwards, the party's activities were indefinitely suspended—effectively ending its rule. By the fall, Gorbachev could no longer influence events outside Moscow, and he was being challenged even there by Yeltsin, who had been elected <a href="/enwiki/wiki/President_of_Russia" title="President of Russia">President of Russia</a> in July 1991.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Dissolution_and_aftermath">Dissolution and aftermath</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States" title="Commonwealth of Independent States">Commonwealth of Independent States</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Dissolution of the Soviet Union">Dissolution of the Soviet Union</a></div>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg/220px-Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="211" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg/330px-Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg/440px-Changes_in_national_boundaries_after_the_end_of_the_Cold_War.jpg 2x" data-file-width="4096" data-file-height="3921" /></a><figcaption>Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Refugeesaz.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Refugeesaz.jpg/220px-Refugeesaz.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="128" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Refugeesaz.jpg/330px-Refugeesaz.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Refugeesaz.jpg/440px-Refugeesaz.jpg 2x" data-file-width="720" data-file-height="420" /></a><figcaption>Internally displaced Azerbaijanis from <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh" title="Nagorno-Karabakh">Nagorno-Karabakh</a>, 1993</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png/220px-USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="238" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png/330px-USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png/440px-USSR_-_Then_and_Now.png 2x" data-file-width="3608" data-file-height="3904" /></a><figcaption>Country emblems of the Soviet Republics before and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Transcaucasian_Socialist_Federative_Soviet_Republic" title="Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic">Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic</a> (fifth in the second row) no longer exists as a political entity of any kind and the emblem is unofficial.)</figcaption></figure>
<p>The remaining 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. However, by December all except Russia and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Kazakh_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic">Kazakhstan</a> had formally declared independence. During this time, Yeltsin took over what remained of the Soviet government, including the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Moscow_Kremlin" class="mw-redirect" title="Moscow Kremlin">Moscow Kremlin</a>. The final blow was struck on 1 December when Ukraine, the second-most powerful republic, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/1991_Ukrainian_independence_referendum" title="1991 Ukrainian independence referendum">voted overwhelmingly for independence</a>. Ukraine's secession ended any realistic chance of the country staying together even on a limited scale.
</p><p>On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Belarus" title="Belarus">Belarus</a> (formerly Byelorussia), signed the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Belavezha_Accords" class="mw-redirect" title="Belavezha Accords">Belavezha Accords</a>, which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States" title="Commonwealth of Independent States">Commonwealth of Independent States</a> (CIS) in its place. While doubts remained over the authority of the accords to do this, on 21 December 1991, the representatives of all Soviet republics except <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Georgian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic">Georgia</a> signed the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alma-Ata_Protocol" title="Alma-Ata Protocol">Alma-Ata Protocol</a>, which confirmed the accords. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as the President of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers that had been vested in the presidency over to Yeltsin. That night, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Flag_of_Russia" title="Flag of Russia">Russian tricolour</a> was raised in its place.
</p><p>The following day, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Supreme_Soviet_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union">Supreme Soviet</a>, the highest governmental body, voted both itself and the country out of existence. This is generally recognized as marking the official, final <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Dissolution of the Soviet Union">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> as a functioning state, and the end of the Cold War.<sup id="cite_ref-112" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-112"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>108<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Soviet Army initially remained under overall CIS command but was soon absorbed into the different military forces of the newly independent states. The few remaining Soviet institutions that had not been taken over by Russia ceased to function by the end of 1991.
</p><p>Following the dissolution, Russia was internationally recognized<sup id="cite_ref-uk_113-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-uk-113"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>109<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> as the USSR's <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Succession_of_states" title="Succession of states">legal successor</a> on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed Soviet overseas properties as its own. Under the 1992 <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lisbon_Protocol" title="Lisbon Protocol">Lisbon Protocol</a>, Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since then, the Russian Federation has <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russia_and_the_United_Nations" title="Russia and the United Nations">assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations</a>, and is widely viewed as the USSR's successor state.<sup id="cite_ref-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo_114-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo-114"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>110<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a> has refused to recognize exclusive Russian claims to succession of the USSR and claimed such status for Ukraine as well, which was codified in Articles 7 and 8 of its 1991 law <a href="/enwiki/wiki/On_Legal_Succession_of_Ukraine" class="mw-redirect" title="On Legal Succession of Ukraine">On Legal Succession of Ukraine</a>. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has continued to pursue claims against Russia in foreign courts, seeking to recover its share of the foreign property that was owned by the USSR.
</p><p>In summing up the international ramifications of these events, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Vladislav_Zubok" class="mw-redirect" title="Vladislav Zubok">Vladislav Zubok</a> stated: 'The collapse of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_empire" title="Soviet empire">Soviet empire</a> was an event of epochal geopolitical, military, ideological, and economic significance.'<sup id="cite_ref-115" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-115"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>111<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Before the dissolution, the country had maintained its status as one of the world's two superpowers for four decades after World War II through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, military strength, economic strength and scientific research, especially in space technology and weaponry.<sup id="cite_ref-auto_116-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-auto-116"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>112<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Post-Soviet_states">Post-Soviet states</h3><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Post-Soviet_states" title="Post-Soviet states">Post-Soviet states</a></div>
<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg/220px-RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="134" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg/330px-RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg/440px-RIAN_archive_41059_CIS_heads_of_state.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1920" data-file-height="1172" /></a><figcaption>On 21 December 1991, the leaders of 11 former Soviet republics, including Russia and Ukraine, agreed to the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Alma-Ata_Protocol" title="Alma-Ata Protocol">Alma-Ata Protocols</a>, formally establishing the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States" title="Commonwealth of Independent States">Commonwealth of Independent States</a> (CIS).</figcaption></figure>
<p>The analysis of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Succession_of_states" title="Succession of states">succession of states</a> for the 15 post-Soviet states is complex.<sup id="cite_ref-117" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-117"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>113<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Russian Federation is widely seen as the legal <i>continuator</i> state and is for most purposes the heir to the Soviet Union. It retained ownership of all former Soviet embassy properties, inheriting the full <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russia_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction" title="Russia and weapons of mass destruction">Soviet nuclear arsenal</a>, and also inherited the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union_and_the_United_Nations" title="Soviet Union and the United Nations">Soviet Union's UN membership</a>, with its permanent seat on the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council" title="United Nations Security Council">Security Council</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo_114-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo-114"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>110<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Of the two other co-founding states of the USSR at the time of the dissolution, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a> was the only one that had passed laws, similar to Russia, claiming it is a state-successor of both the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukrainian_SSR" class="mw-redirect" title="Ukrainian SSR">Ukrainian SSR</a> and the USSR.<sup id="cite_ref-118" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-118"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>114<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Soviet treaties laid groundwork for Ukraine's future foreign agreements as well as leading to the country agreeing to undertake 16.37% of debts of the Soviet Union for which it was going to receive its share of the USSR's foreign property. Russia's position as the 'only continuation of the USSR' that became widely accepted in the West, as well as constant pressure from the Western countries, allowed Russia to inherit Soviet state property abroad and conceal information about it. Due to that Ukraine never ratified 'zero option' agreement that Russian Federation had signed with other former Soviet republics, as it denied disclosing of information about Soviet Gold Reserves and its Diamond Fund.<sup id="cite_ref-119" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-119"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>115<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-120" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-120"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>116<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The dispute over former Soviet property and assets between the two former republics is still ongoing:
</p>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The conflict is unsolvable. We can continue to poke Kiev handouts in the calculation of 'solve the problem', only it won't be solved. Going to a trial is also pointless: for a number of European countries this is a political issue, and they will make a decision clearly in whose favor. What to do in this situation is an open question. Search for non-trivial solutions. But we must remember that in 2014, with the filing of the then Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, litigation with Russia resumed in 32 countries.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sergei_Markov" title="Sergei Markov">Sergei Markov</a><sup id="cite_ref-121" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-121"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>117<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></cite></div></blockquote>
<p>Similar situation occurred with restitution of cultural property. Although on 14 February 1992 Russia and other former Soviet republics signed agreement 'On the return of cultural and historic property to the origin states' in <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Minsk" title="Minsk">Minsk</a>, it was halted by the Russian State Duma that eventually passed '<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_cultural_property_law" title="Russian cultural property law">Federal Law on Cultural Valuables Displaced to the USSR as a Result of the Second World War and Located on the Territory of the Russian Federation</a>' which made restitution currently impossible, effectively barring the return of looted cultural heritage by Soviet troops during the Second World War to its original owners.<sup id="cite_ref-122" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-122"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>118<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg/290px-GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg.png" decoding="async" width="290" height="136" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg/435px-GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg/580px-GDP_of_Russia_since_1989.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1130" data-file-height="530" /></a><figcaption>Russian <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gross_domestic_product" title="Gross domestic product">GDP</a> since the end of the Soviet Union</figcaption></figure>
<p>Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania consider themselves as <a href="/enwiki/wiki/State_continuity_of_the_Baltic_states" title="State continuity of the Baltic states">revivals of the three independent countries</a> that existed prior to their <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_occupation_of_the_Baltic_states_(1940)" title="Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)">occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union</a> in 1940. They maintain that the process by which they were incorporated into the Soviet Union violated both international law and their own law, and that in 1990–1991 they were reasserting an independence that still legally existed.
</p><p>Nearly all of the post-Soviet states suffered deep and prolonged <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Recession" title="Recession">recessions</a> after <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Shock_therapy_(economics)" title="Shock therapy (economics)">shock therapy</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-123" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-123"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>119<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> with poverty increasing more than tenfold.<sup id="cite_ref-124" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-124"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>120<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In a 2001 study by the economist <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Steven_Rosefielde" title="Steven Rosefielde">Steven Rosefielde</a>, he calculated that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he partly blames on the "shock therapy" that came with the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Washington_Consensus" title="Washington Consensus">Washington Consensus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-125" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-125"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>121<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>In 2011, <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/The_Guardian" title="The Guardian">The Guardian</a></i> published an analysis of the former Soviet countries twenty years after the fall of the USSR. They found that "GDP fell as much as 50 percent in the 1990s in some republics... as capital flight, industrial collapse, hyperinflation and tax avoidance took their toll," but that there was a rebound in the 2000s, and by 2010 "some economies were five times as big as they were in 1991." Life expectancy has grown since 1991 in some of the countries, but fallen in others; likewise, some held free and fair elections, while others remained authoritarian.<sup id="cite_ref-:22_126-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:22-126"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>122<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>There are additionally three states that claim independence from the other internationally recognized post-Soviet states but <a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_states_with_limited_recognition" title="List of states with limited recognition">possess limited international recognition</a>: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Abkhazia" title="Abkhazia">Abkhazia</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/South_Ossetia" title="South Ossetia">South Ossetia</a> and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Transnistria" title="Transnistria">Transnistria</a>. The <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Armenians" title="Armenians">Armenian</a> separatist movement of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Republic_of_Artsakh" title="Republic of Artsakh">Republic of Artsakh</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chechnya" title="Chechnya">Chechen</a> separatist movement of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chechen_Republic_of_Ichkeria" title="Chechen Republic of Ichkeria">Chechen Republic of Ichkeria</a>, the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gagauzia" title="Gagauzia">Gagauz</a> separatist movement of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gagauz_Republic" title="Gagauz Republic">Gagauz Republic</a> and the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Talysh_people" title="Talysh people">Talysh</a> separatist movement of the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Talysh-Mughan_Autonomous_Republic" title="Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic">Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic</a> are other such cases which have already been resolved.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Foreign relations of the Soviet Union">Foreign relations of the Soviet Union</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Historiography_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Historiography in the Soviet Union">Historiography in the Soviet Union</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Index_of_Soviet_Union%E2%80%93related_articles" title="Index of Soviet Union–related articles">Index of Soviet Union–related articles</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Islam_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Islam in the Soviet Union">Islam in the Soviet Union</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_Slavic_studies_journals" title="List of Slavic studies journals">List of Slavic studies journals</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukrainian_nationalism" title="Ukrainian nationalism">Ukrainian nationalism</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<li id="cite_note-41"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The consolidation into a one-party state took place during the first three and a half years after the revolution, which included the period of <a href="/enwiki/wiki/War_communism" title="War communism">War communism</a> and an election in which multiple parties competed. See <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFSchapiro1955" class="citation book cs1">Schapiro, Leonard (1955). <i>The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cambridge,_Massachusetts" title="Cambridge, Massachusetts">Cambridge, Massachusetts</a>: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Harvard_University_Press" title="Harvard University Press">Harvard University Press</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Origin+of+the+Communist+Autocracy%3A+Political+Opposition+in+the+Soviet+State%2C+First+Phase+1917%E2%80%931922&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+Massachusetts&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=1955&rft.aulast=Schapiro&rft.aufirst=Leonard&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-fn1-57"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn1_57-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">According to British historian <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Geoffrey_Hosking" title="Geoffrey Hosking">Geoffrey Hosking</a>, "excess deaths during the 1930s as a whole were in the range of 10–11 million."<sup id="cite_ref-1930s_54-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1930s-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>53<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> American historian <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Timothy_D._Snyder" class="mw-redirect" title="Timothy D. Snyder">Timothy D. Snyder</a> claims that archival evidence suggests maximum excess mortality of nine million during the entire Stalin era.<sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-55"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Australian historian and archival researcher <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Stephen_G._Wheatcroft" title="Stephen G. Wheatcroft">Stephen G. Wheatcroft</a> asserts that around a million "purposive killings" can be attributed to the Stalinist regime, along with the premature deaths of roughly two million more amongst the repressed populations (i.e. in camps, prisons, exiles, etc.) through criminal negligence.<sup id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEWheatcroft19961334,_1348_56-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWheatcroft19961334,_1348-56"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>55<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span>
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<li id="cite_note-fn3-68"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn3_68-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"In War II Russia occupies a dominant position and is the decisive factor looking toward the defeat of the Axis in Europe. While in Sicily the forces of Great Britain and the United States are being opposed by 2 German divisions, the Russian front is receiving attention of approximately 200 German divisions. Whenever the Allies open a second front on the Continent, it will be decidedly a secondary front to that of Russia; theirs will continue to be the main effort. Without Russia in the war, the Axis cannot be defeated in Europe, and the position of the United Nations becomes precarious. Similarly, Russia's post-war position in Europe will be a dominant one. With Germany crushed, there is no power in Europe to oppose her tremendous military forces."<sup id="cite_ref-67" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-67"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>65<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span>
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<li id="cite_note-93"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-93">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">34,374,483 km<sup>2</sup></span>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEMccauley201483-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMccauley201483_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFMccauley2014">Mccauley 2014</a>, p. 83.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEMccauley2014487-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMccauley2014487_2-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFMccauley2014">Mccauley 2014</a>, p. 487.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-br1-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-br1_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-br1_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDewdneyConquestPipesMcCauley" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">Dewdney, John C.; Conquest, Robert; Pipes, Richard E.; McCauley, Martin. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union">"Soviet Union"</a>. <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">27 December</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Soviet+Union&rft.btitle=Encyclop%C3%A6dia+Britannica&rft.aulast=Dewdney&rft.aufirst=John+C.&rft.au=Conquest%2C+Robert&rft.au=Pipes%2C+Richard+E.&rft.au=McCauley%2C+Martin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fplace%2FSoviet-Union&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Stephen Cohen, <i>Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography 1888–1938</i> (Oxford University Press: London, 1980) p. 46.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHead2007" class="citation book cs1">Head, Michael (12 September 2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PYGNAgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PT83"><i>Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal</i></a>. Routledge. pp. <span class="nowrap">1–</span>288. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-135-30787-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-135-30787-5"><bdi>978-1-135-30787-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Evgeny+Pashukanis%3A+A+Critical+Reappraisal&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E288&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2007-09-12&rft.isbn=978-1-135-30787-5&rft.aulast=Head&rft.aufirst=Michael&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DPYGNAgAAQBAJ%26dq%3Doctober%2Brevolution%2B50%2B000%2Bworkers%26pg%3DPT83&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFShukman1994" class="citation book cs1">Shukman, Harold (5 December 1994). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PA21"><i>The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution</i></a>. John Wiley & Sons. p. 21. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-631-19525-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-631-19525-2"><bdi>978-0-631-19525-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Blackwell+Encyclopedia+of+the+Russian+Revolution&rft.pages=21&rft.pub=John+Wiley+%26+Sons&rft.date=1994-12-05&rft.isbn=978-0-631-19525-2&rft.aulast=Shukman&rft.aufirst=Harold&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DScabEAAAQBAJ%26dq%3Doctober%2Brevolution%2B50%2B000%2Bworkers%26pg%3DPA21&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTERead200582–85-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERead200582–85_7-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFRead2005">Read 2005</a>, pp. 82–85.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEService200547–49-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEService200547–49_8-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFService2005">Service 2005</a>, pp. 47–49.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-BBC1-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-BBC1_9-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140805155250/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/october/revision/4">"The causes of the October Revolution"</a>. BBC. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/russia/october/revision/4">the original</a> on 5 August 2014<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">31 December</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=The+causes+of+the+October+Revolution&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fbitesize%2Fhigher%2Fhistory%2Frussia%2Foctober%2Frevision%2F4&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDeutscher2015" class="citation book cs1">Deutscher, Isaac (5 January 2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YGznDwAAQBAJ&q=isaac+deutscher+trotsky+the+prophet"><i>The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky</i></a>. Verso Books. p. 1283. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78168-721-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-78168-721-5"><bdi>978-1-78168-721-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Prophet%3A+The+Life+of+Leon+Trotsky&rft.pages=1283&rft.pub=Verso+Books&rft.date=2015-01-05&rft.isbn=978-1-78168-721-5&rft.aulast=Deutscher&rft.aufirst=Isaac&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DYGznDwAAQBAJ%26q%3Disaac%2Bdeutscher%2Btrotsky%2Bthe%2Bprophet&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFShukman1994" class="citation book cs1">Shukman, Harold (5 December 1994). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA343"><i>The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution</i></a>. John Wiley & Sons. p. 343. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-631-19525-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-631-19525-2"><bdi>978-0-631-19525-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Blackwell+Encyclopedia+of+the+Russian+Revolution&rft.pages=343&rft.pub=John+Wiley+%26+Sons&rft.date=1994-12-05&rft.isbn=978-0-631-19525-2&rft.aulast=Shukman&rft.aufirst=Harold&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DScabEAAAQBAJ%26dq%3Doctober%2Brevolution%2Bbloodless%26pg%3DPA343&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBergman2019" class="citation book cs1">Bergman, Jay (2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5UKjDwAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA224"><i>The French Revolutionary Tradition in Russian and Soviet Politics, Political Thought, and Culture</i></a>. Oxford University Press. p. 224. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-884270-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-884270-5"><bdi>978-0-19-884270-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+French+Revolutionary+Tradition+in+Russian+and+Soviet+Politics%2C+Political+Thought%2C+and+Culture&rft.pages=224&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=2019&rft.isbn=978-0-19-884270-5&rft.aulast=Bergman&rft.aufirst=Jay&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D5UKjDwAAQBAJ%26dq%3Doctober%2Brevolution%2Bbloodless%26pg%3DPA224&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMcMeekin2017" class="citation book cs1">McMeekin, Sean (30 May 2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=aXmZDgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PT155"><i>The Russian Revolution: A New History</i></a>. Basic Books. pp. <span class="nowrap">1–</span>496. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-465-09497-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-465-09497-4"><bdi>978-0-465-09497-4</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Russian+Revolution%3A+A+New+History&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E496&rft.pub=Basic+Books&rft.date=2017-05-30&rft.isbn=978-0-465-09497-4&rft.aulast=McMeekin&rft.aufirst=Sean&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DaXmZDgAAQBAJ%26dq%3Doctober%2Brevolution%2Bbloodless%26pg%3DPT155&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAdamsKeene2014" class="citation book cs1">Adams, Katherine H.; Keene, Michael L. (10 January 2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oyaxYvSG6gAC&dq=lenin+universal+literacy+after+the+vote+was+won&pg=PA109"><i>After the Vote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists</i></a>. McFarland. p. 109. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7864-5647-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7864-5647-5"><bdi>978-0-7864-5647-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=After+the+Vote+Was+Won%3A+The+Later+Achievements+of+Fifteen+Suffragists&rft.pages=109&rft.pub=McFarland&rft.date=2014-01-10&rft.isbn=978-0-7864-5647-5&rft.aulast=Adams&rft.aufirst=Katherine+H.&rft.au=Keene%2C+Michael+L.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DoyaxYvSG6gAC%26dq%3Dlenin%2Buniversal%2Bliteracy%2Bafter%2Bthe%2Bvote%2Bwas%2Bwon%26pg%3DPA109&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFUgri͡umov1976" class="citation book cs1">Ugri͡umov, Aleksandr Leontʹevich (1976). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gXknAQAAMAAJ&q=lenin+universal+literacy"><i>Lenin's Plan for Building Socialism in the USSR, 1917–1925</i></a>. Novosti Press Agency Publishing House. p. 48.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lenin%27s+Plan+for+Building+Socialism+in+the+USSR%2C+1917%E2%80%931925&rft.pages=48&rft.pub=Novosti+Press+Agency+Publishing+House&rft.date=1976&rft.aulast=Ugri%CD%A1umov&rft.aufirst=Aleksandr+Leont%CA%B9evich&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DgXknAQAAMAAJ%26q%3Dlenin%2Buniversal%2Bliteracy&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFService1985" class="citation book cs1">Service, Robert (24 June 1985). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ntiuCwAAQBAJ&q=universal+education&pg=PA98"><i>Lenin: A Political Life: Volume 1: The Strengths of Contradiction</i></a>. Springer. p. 98. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-349-05591-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-349-05591-3"><bdi>978-1-349-05591-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lenin%3A+A+Political+Life%3A+Volume+1%3A+The+Strengths+of+Contradiction&rft.pages=98&rft.pub=Springer&rft.date=1985-06-24&rft.isbn=978-1-349-05591-3&rft.aulast=Service&rft.aufirst=Robert&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DntiuCwAAQBAJ%26q%3Duniversal%2Beducation%26pg%3DPA98&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210222175025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union">"How Lenin's Red Terror set a macabre course for the Soviet Union"</a>. <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/National_Geographic_Society" title="National Geographic Society">National Geographic Society</a></i>. 2 September 2020. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union">the original</a> on 22 February 2021.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=National+Geographic+Society&rft.atitle=How+Lenin%27s+Red+Terror+set+a+macabre+course+for+the+Soviet+Union&rft.date=2020-09-02&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalgeographic.com%2Fhistory%2Farticle%2Fred-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Leninism_Under_Lenin-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Leninism_Under_Lenin_18-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLiebman1985" class="citation book cs1">Liebman, Marcel (1985). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OQjzAAAAMAAJ"><i>Leninism Under Lenin</i></a>. Merlin Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">1–</span>348. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-85036-261-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-85036-261-9"><bdi>978-0-85036-261-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Leninism+Under+Lenin&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E348&rft.pub=Merlin+Press&rft.date=1985&rft.isbn=978-0-85036-261-9&rft.aulast=Liebman&rft.aufirst=Marcel&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DOQjzAAAAMAAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSmith2011" class="citation book cs1">Smith, Scott Baldwin (15 April 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5ueUEE8jVRsC&dq=anarchist+assassination+attempt+lenin&pg=PA74"><i>Captives of Revolution: The Socialist Revolutionaries and the Bolshevik Dictatorship, 1918–1923</i></a>. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. <span class="nowrap">75–</span>85. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8229-7779-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-8229-7779-7"><bdi>978-0-8229-7779-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Captives+of+Revolution%3A+The+Socialist+Revolutionaries+and+the+Bolshevik+Dictatorship%2C+1918%E2%80%931923&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E75-%3C%2Fspan%3E85&rft.pub=University+of+Pittsburgh+Pre&rft.date=2011-04-15&rft.isbn=978-0-8229-7779-7&rft.aulast=Smith&rft.aufirst=Scott+Baldwin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D5ueUEE8jVRsC%26dq%3Danarchist%2Bassassination%2Battempt%2Blenin%26pg%3DPA74&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Rabinowitch306-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Rabinowitch306_20-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRabinowitch2007" class="citation book cs1">Rabinowitch, Alexander (2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=BEoBCGJ4VqYC&q=The+bolsheviks+in+power.+The+first+year+of+Soviet+rule+in+Petrograd"><i>The bolsheviks in power. The first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd</i></a>. Indiana University Press. p. 306. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780253349439" title="Special:BookSources/9780253349439"><bdi>9780253349439</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+bolsheviks+in+power.+The+first+year+of+Soviet+rule+in+Petrograd&rft.pages=306&rft.pub=Indiana+University+Press&rft.date=2007&rft.isbn=9780253349439&rft.aulast=Rabinowitch&rft.aufirst=Alexander&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBEoBCGJ4VqYC%26q%3DThe%2Bbolsheviks%2Bin%2Bpower.%2BThe%2Bfirst%2Byear%2Bof%2BSoviet%2Brule%2Bin%2BPetrograd&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-federation-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-federation_21-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-federation_21-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRaffass2012" class="citation book cs1">Raffass, Tania (2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=P4E7WSecBakC"><i>The Soviet Union: Federation Or Empire?</i></a>. Routledge. p. 64. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-68833-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-68833-8"><bdi>978-0-415-68833-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Soviet+Union%3A+Federation+Or+Empire%3F&rft.pages=64&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2012&rft.isbn=978-0-415-68833-8&rft.aulast=Raffass&rft.aufirst=Tania&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DP4E7WSecBakC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFReese2012" class="citation journal cs1">Reese, Roger (6 February 2012). "Russian Civil War, 1918–1921". <i>Military History</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2FOBO%2F9780199791279-0051">10.1093/OBO/9780199791279-0051</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-979127-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-979127-9"><bdi>978-0-19-979127-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Military+History&rft.atitle=Russian+Civil+War%2C+1918%E2%80%931921&rft.date=2012-02-06&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2FOBO%2F9780199791279-0051&rft.isbn=978-0-19-979127-9&rft.aulast=Reese&rft.aufirst=Roger&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMawdsley2007" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Evan_Mawdsley" title="Evan Mawdsley">Mawdsley, Evan</a> (2007). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/russiancivilwar00evan"><i>The Russian Civil War</i></a></span>. Pegasus Books. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/russiancivilwar00evan/page/287">287</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-933648-15-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-933648-15-6"><bdi>978-1-933648-15-6</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Russian+Civil+War&rft.pages=287&rft.pub=Pegasus+Books&rft.date=2007&rft.isbn=978-1-933648-15-6&rft.aulast=Mawdsley&rft.aufirst=Evan&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Frussiancivilwar00evan&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFJones2016" class="citation book cs1">Jones, Robert A. (27 July 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=KuW-DAAAQBAJ"><i>The Soviet Concept of 'Limited Sovereignty' from Lenin to Gorbachev: The Brezhnev Doctrine</i></a>. Springer. p. 42. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-349-20491-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-349-20491-5"><bdi>978-1-349-20491-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Soviet+Concept+of+%27Limited+Sovereignty%27+from+Lenin+to+Gorbachev%3A+The+Brezhnev+Doctrine&rft.pages=42&rft.pub=Springer&rft.date=2016-07-27&rft.isbn=978-1-349-20491-5&rft.aulast=Jones&rft.aufirst=Robert+A.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DKuW-DAAAQBAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLee2012" class="citation book cs1">Lee, Stephen J. (12 November 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gLXkGLDxSkAC"><i>European Dictatorships 1918–1945</i></a>. Routledge. pp. <span class="nowrap">89–</span>90. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-135-69011-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-135-69011-3"><bdi>978-1-135-69011-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=European+Dictatorships+1918%E2%80%931945&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E89-%3C%2Fspan%3E90&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2012-11-12&rft.isbn=978-1-135-69011-3&rft.aulast=Lee&rft.aufirst=Stephen+J.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DgLXkGLDxSkAC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTELee200384,_88-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELee200384,_88_26-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFLee2003">Lee 2003</a>, pp. 84, 88.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEGoldstein201350-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGoldstein201350_27-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFGoldstein2013">Goldstein 2013</a>, p. 50.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEFischer1964459Leggett1981330–333Service2000423–424White2001168Ryan2012154–155-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFischer1964459Leggett1981330–333Service2000423–424White2001168Ryan2012154–155_28-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFFischer1964">Fischer 1964</a>, p. 459; <a href="#CITEREFLeggett1981">Leggett 1981</a>, pp. 330–333; <a href="#CITEREFService2000">Service 2000</a>, pp. 423–424; <a href="#CITEREFWhite2001">White 2001</a>, p. 168; <a href="#CITEREFRyan2012">Ryan 2012</a>, pp. 154–155.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-DaviesHarrison1993-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-DaviesHarrison1993_29-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFR._W._DaviesMark_HarrisonS._G._Wheatcroft1993" class="citation book cs1">R. W. Davies; Mark Harrison; S. G. Wheatcroft (1993). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7ULWRnskfr4C&pg=PA6"><i>The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. p. 6. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-45770-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-45770-5"><bdi>978-0-521-45770-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Economic+Transformation+of+the+Soviet+Union%2C+1913%E2%80%931945&rft.pages=6&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1993&rft.isbn=978-0-521-45770-5&rft.au=R.+W.+Davies&rft.au=Mark+Harrison&rft.au=S.+G.+Wheatcroft&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D7ULWRnskfr4C%26pg%3DPA6&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft796nb4mj&chunk.id=d0e9364&toc.id=&brand=ucpress">"Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921"</a>. <i>publishing.cdlib.org</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-10-27</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=publishing.cdlib.org&rft.atitle=Bread+and+Authority+in+Russia%2C+1914%E2%80%931921&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fpublishing.cdlib.org%2Fucpressebooks%2Fview%3FdocId%3Dft796nb4mj%26chunk.id%3Dd0e9364%26toc.id%3D%26brand%3Ducpress&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#RCW">"Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls"</a>. <i>necrometrics.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-12-12</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=necrometrics.com&rft.atitle=Twentieth+Century+Atlas+%E2%80%93+Death+Tolls&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fnecrometrics.com%2F20c5m.htm%23RCW&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFChristian1997" class="citation book cs1">Christian, David (1997). <i>Imperial and Soviet Russia</i>. London: Macmillan Press Ltd. p. 236. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-333-66294-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-333-66294-6"><bdi>978-0-333-66294-6</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Imperial+and+Soviet+Russia&rft.place=London&rft.pages=236&rft.pub=Macmillan+Press+Ltd&rft.date=1997&rft.isbn=978-0-333-66294-6&rft.aulast=Christian&rft.aufirst=David&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSakwa1999" class="citation book cs1">Sakwa, Richard (1999). <i>The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917–1991: 1917–1991</i>. Routledge. pp. <span class="nowrap">140–</span>143. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-12290-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-12290-0"><bdi>978-0-415-12290-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Rise+and+Fall+of+the+Soviet+Union%2C+1917%E2%80%931991%3A+1917%E2%80%931991&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E140-%3C%2Fspan%3E143&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0-415-12290-0&rft.aulast=Sakwa&rft.aufirst=Richard&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTowster1948" class="citation book cs1">Towster, Julian (1948). <i>Political Power in the U.S.S.R., 1917–1947: The Theory and Structure of Government in the Soviet State</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>. p. 106.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Political+Power+in+the+U.S.S.R.%2C+1917%E2%80%931947%3A+The+Theory+and+Structure+of+Government+in+the+Soviet+State&rft.pages=106&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1948&rft.aulast=Towster&rft.aufirst=Julian&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><span class="languageicon">(in Russian)</span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://region.adm.nov.ru/pressa.nsf/0c7534916fcf6028c3256b3700243eac/4302e4941fb6a6bfc3256c99004faea5!OpenDocument">Voted Unanimously for the Union.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091204132112/http://region.adm.nov.ru/pressa.nsf/0c7534916fcf6028c3256b3700243eac/4302e4941fb6a6bfc3256c99004faea5%21OpenDocument">Archived</a> 4 December 2009 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><span class="languageicon">(in Russian)</span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hronos.km.ru/sobyt/cccp.html">Creation of the USSR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070529132218/http://www.hronos.km.ru/sobyt/cccp.html">Archived</a> 29 May 2007 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> at Khronos.ru.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLapin2000" class="citation journal cs1">Lapin, G. G. (2000). "70 Years of Gidroproekt and Hydroelectric Power in Russia". <i>Hydrotechnical Construction</i>. <b>34</b> (8/9): <span class="nowrap">374–</span>379. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000PTE....34..374L">2000PTE....34..374L</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1004107617449">10.1023/A:1004107617449</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0018-8220">0018-8220</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:107814516">107814516</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Hydrotechnical+Construction&rft.atitle=70+Years+of+Gidroproekt+and+Hydroelectric+Power+in+Russia&rft.volume=34&rft.issue=8%2F9&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E374-%3C%2Fspan%3E379&rft.date=2000&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1023%2FA%3A1004107617449&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A107814516%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.issn=0018-8220&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2000PTE....34..374L&rft.aulast=Lapin&rft.aufirst=G.+G.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Kuzbassenergo-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Kuzbassenergo_38-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><span class="languageicon">(in Russian)</span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.kuzbassenergo.ru/goelro/">On GOELRO Plan – at Kuzbassenergo.</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081226190310/http://www.kuzbassenergo.ru/goelro">Archived</a> 26 December 2008 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-39"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1921-2/famine-of-1921-22/">"Famine of 1921–22"</a>. <i>Seventeen Moments in Soviet History</i>. 17 June 2015. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190115171429/http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1921-2/famine-of-1921-22/">Archived</a> from the original on 15 January 2019<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 July</span> 2018</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Seventeen+Moments+in+Soviet+History&rft.atitle=Famine+of+1921%E2%80%9322&rft.date=2015-06-17&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fsoviethistory.msu.edu%2F1921-2%2Ffamine-of-1921-22%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-40"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-40">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCourtoisWerthPannéPaczkowski1999" class="citation book cs1">Courtois, Stéphane; Werth, Nicolas; Panné, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartošek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/TheBlackBookofCommunism10/the-black-book-of-communism-jean-louis-margolin-1999-communism#page/n71/"><i>The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression</i></a>. Harvard University Press. p. 123. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-07608-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-07608-2"><bdi>978-0-674-07608-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Black+Book+of+Communism%3A+Crimes%2C+Terror%2C+Repression&rft.pages=123&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0-674-07608-2&rft.aulast=Courtois&rft.aufirst=St%C3%A9phane&rft.au=Werth%2C+Nicolas&rft.au=Pann%C3%A9%2C+Jean-Louis&rft.au=Paczkowski%2C+Andrzej&rft.au=Barto%C5%A1ek%2C+Karel&rft.au=Margolin%2C+Jean-Louis&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fstream%2FTheBlackBookofCommunism10%2Fthe-black-book-of-communism-jean-louis-margolin-1999-communism%23page%2Fn71%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-42"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/formation-of-the-soviet-union/#:~:text=On%20February%201%2C%201924%2C%20the,of%20Soviet%20power%20in%201917.">"Formation of the Soviet Union"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">30 May</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Formation+of+the+Soviet+Union&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fcourses.lumenlearning.com%2Fsuny-hccc-worldhistory2%2Fchapter%2Fformation-of-the-soviet-union%2F%23%3A~%3Atext%3DOn%2520February%25201%252C%25201924%252C%2520the%2Cof%2520Soviet%2520power%2520in%25201917.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-43"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-43">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67122375">"Recognition of Britain"</a>. <i>Advocate</i>. 4 February 1924<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">30 May</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Advocate&rft.atitle=Recognition+of+Britain&rft.date=1924-02-04&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Ftrove.nla.gov.au%2Fnewspaper%2Farticle%2F67122375&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-44"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-44">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Archie Brown, <i>The rise and fall of Communism</i> (2009) p, 518.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-45">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin">"Joseph Stalin – Biography, World War II & Facts – History"</a>. 12 November 2009. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180912144422/https://www.history.com/topics/russia/joseph-stalin">Archived</a> from the original on 12 September 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 December</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Joseph+Stalin+%E2%80%93+Biography%2C+World+War+II+%26+Facts+%E2%80%93+History&rft.date=2009-11-12&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Ftopics%2Frussia%2Fjoseph-stalin&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-46">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLenin" class="citation book cs1">Lenin, V.I. <i>Collected Works</i>. pp. <span class="nowrap">152–</span>164, Vol. 31. <q>The proletarian state must effect the transition to collective farming with extreme caution and only very gradually, by the force of example, without any coercion of the middle peasant.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Collected+Works&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E152-%3C%2Fspan%3E164%2C+Vol.+31&rft.aulast=Lenin&rft.aufirst=V.I.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEDaviesWheatcroft2004[httpsbooksgooglecombooksid4s1lCwAAQBAJpgPR14_xiv],_401_441-47"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEDaviesWheatcroft2004[httpsbooksgooglecombooksid4s1lCwAAQBAJpgPR14_xiv],_401_441_47-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFDaviesWheatcroft2004">Davies & Wheatcroft 2004</a>, pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4s1lCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14">xiv</a>, 401 441.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-48"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-48">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCourtoisMark_Kramer1999" class="citation book cs1">Courtois, Stéphane; Mark Kramer (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206"><i>Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression</i></a>. Harvard University Press. p. 206. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-07608-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-07608-2"><bdi>978-0-674-07608-2</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200622213827/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206">Archived</a> from the original on 22 June 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">25 May</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Livre+noir+du+Communisme%3A+crimes%2C+terreur%2C+r%C3%A9pression&rft.pages=206&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0-674-07608-2&rft.aulast=Courtois&rft.aufirst=St%C3%A9phane&rft.au=Mark+Kramer&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DH1jsgYCoRioC%26pg%3DPA206&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-49"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-49">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html">Ukrainian 'Holodomor' (man-made famine) Facts and History</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130424093532/http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html">Archived</a> 24 April 2013 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>. Holodomorct.org (28 November 2006). Retrieved on 29 July 2013.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-50"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-50">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCasanova2007" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Juli%C3%A1n_Casanova_Ruiz" class="mw-redirect" title="Julián Casanova Ruiz">Casanova, Julián</a> (2007). <i>República y Guerra Civil. Vol. 8 de la Historia de España, dirigida por Josep Fontana y Ramón Villares</i> (in Spanish). Barcelona: Crítica/Marcial Pons. pp. <span class="nowrap">271–</span>274. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-84-8432-878-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-84-8432-878-0"><bdi>978-84-8432-878-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Rep%C3%BAblica+y+Guerra+Civil.+Vol.+8+de+la+Historia+de+Espa%C3%B1a%2C+dirigida+por+Josep+Fontana+y+Ram%C3%B3n+Villares&rft.place=Barcelona&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E271-%3C%2Fspan%3E274&rft.pub=Cr%C3%ADtica%2FMarcial+Pons&rft.date=2007&rft.isbn=978-84-8432-878-0&rft.aulast=Casanova&rft.aufirst=Juli%C3%A1n&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-51"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-51">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGetty1991" class="citation journal cs1">Getty, J. Arch (1991). "State and Society Under Stalin: Constitutions and Elections in the 1930s". <i>Slavic Review</i>. <b>50</b> (1): <span class="nowrap">18–</span>35. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2500596">10.2307/2500596</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2500596">2500596</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:163479192">163479192</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Slavic+Review&rft.atitle=State+and+Society+Under+Stalin%3A+Constitutions+and+Elections+in+the+1930s&rft.volume=50&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E18-%3C%2Fspan%3E35&rft.date=1991&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A163479192%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F2500596%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F2500596&rft.aulast=Getty&rft.aufirst=J.+Arch&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-Thurston-52"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Thurston_52-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFThurston1998" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Robert_W._Thurston" title="Robert W. Thurston">Thurston, Robert W.</a> (1998). <i>Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934–1941</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yale_University_Press" title="Yale University Press">Yale University Press</a>. p. 139. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-07442-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-300-07442-0"><bdi>978-0-300-07442-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Life+and+Terror+in+Stalin%27s+Russia%2C+1934%E2%80%931941&rft.pages=139&rft.pub=Yale+University+Press&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=978-0-300-07442-0&rft.aulast=Thurston&rft.aufirst=Robert+W.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-53"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-53">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGleason2009" class="citation book cs1">Gleason, Abbott (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373"><i>A companion to Russian history</i></a>. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 373. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4051-3560-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-4051-3560-3"><bdi>978-1-4051-3560-3</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175409/https://books.google.com/books?id=JyN0hlKcfTcC&pg=PA373">Archived</a> from the original on 5 September 2015<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">25 May</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+companion+to+Russian+history&rft.pages=373&rft.pub=Wiley-Blackwell&rft.date=2009&rft.isbn=978-1-4051-3560-3&rft.aulast=Gleason&rft.aufirst=Abbott&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DJyN0hlKcfTcC%26pg%3DPA373&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-1930s-54"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-1930s_54-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-1930s_54-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHosking2001" class="citation book cs1">Hosking, Geoffrey A. (2001). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk"><i>Russia and the Russians: a history</i></a></span>. Harvard University Press. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/russiarussianshi00hosk/page/469">469</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-00473-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-00473-3"><bdi>978-0-674-00473-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Russia+and+the+Russians%3A+a+history&rft.pages=469&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=2001&rft.isbn=978-0-674-00473-3&rft.aulast=Hosking&rft.aufirst=Geoffrey+A.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Frussiarussianshi00hosk&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-55"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-55">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/">Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171012090945/http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/01/27/hitler-vs-stalin-who-was-worse/">Archived</a> 12 October 2017 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, <i>The New York Review of Books</i>, 27 January 2011</span>
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<li id="cite_note-FOOTNOTEWheatcroft19961334,_1348-56"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEWheatcroft19961334,_1348_56-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="#CITEREFWheatcroft1996">Wheatcroft 1996</a>, pp. 1334, 1348.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-58"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-58">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002">"Introduction: the Great Purges as history"</a>, <i>Origins of the Great Purges</i>, Cambridge University Press, pp. <span class="nowrap">1–</span>9, 1985, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fcbo9780511572616.002">10.1017/cbo9780511572616.002</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0521259217" title="Special:BookSources/978-0521259217"><bdi>978-0521259217</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">, retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-12-02</span></span></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Origins+of+the+Great+Purges&rft.atitle=Introduction%3A+the+Great+Purges+as+history&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E9&rft.date=1985&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1017%2Fcbo9780511572616.002&rft.isbn=978-0521259217&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1017%2Fcbo9780511572616.002&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-59"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-59">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHomkes2004" class="citation journal cs1">Homkes, Brett (2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mcnair">"Certainty, Probability, and Stalin's Great Purge"</a>. <i>McNair Scholars Journal</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=McNair+Scholars+Journal&rft.atitle=Certainty%2C+Probability%2C+and+Stalin%27s+Great+Purge&rft.date=2004&rft.aulast=Homkes&rft.aufirst=Brett&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fscholarworks.gvsu.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1032%26context%3Dmcnair&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-60"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-60">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFEllman2002" class="citation journal cs1">Ellman, Michael (2002). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/826310">"Soviet Repression Statistics: Some Comments"</a>. <i>Europe-Asia Studies</i>. <b>54</b> (7): <span class="nowrap">1151–</span>1172. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F0966813022000017177">10.1080/0966813022000017177</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0966-8136">0966-8136</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/826310">826310</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Europe-Asia+Studies&rft.atitle=Soviet+Repression+Statistics%3A+Some+Comments&rft.volume=54&rft.issue=7&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1151-%3C%2Fspan%3E1172&rft.date=2002&rft.issn=0966-8136&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F826310%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F0966813022000017177&rft.aulast=Ellman&rft.aufirst=Michael&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F826310&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-61"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-61">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFShearer2023" class="citation book cs1">Shearer, David R. (11 September 2023). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=CCHMEAAAQBAJ&dq=great+purge+1.2+million&pg=PR7"><i>Stalin and War, 1918-1953: Patterns of Repression, Mobilization, and External Threat</i></a>. Taylor & Francis. p. vii. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-000-95544-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-000-95544-6"><bdi>978-1-000-95544-6</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Stalin+and+War%2C+1918-1953%3A+Patterns+of+Repression%2C+Mobilization%2C+and+External+Threat&rft.pages=vii&rft.pub=Taylor+%26+Francis&rft.date=2023-09-11&rft.isbn=978-1-000-95544-6&rft.aulast=Shearer&rft.aufirst=David+R.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DCCHMEAAAQBAJ%26dq%3Dgreat%2Bpurge%2B1.2%2Bmillion%26pg%3DPR7&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-62"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-62">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFNelson2019" class="citation book cs1">Nelson, Todd H. (16 October 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oJGyDwAAQBAJ&dq=stalin+great+purge+1.2+million&pg=PA7"><i>Bringing Stalin Back In: Memory Politics and the Creation of a Useable Past in Putin's Russia</i></a>. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 7. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4985-9153-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-4985-9153-9"><bdi>978-1-4985-9153-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Bringing+Stalin+Back+In%3A+Memory+Politics+and+the+Creation+of+a+Useable+Past+in+Putin%27s+Russia&rft.pages=7&rft.pub=Rowman+%26+Littlefield&rft.date=2019-10-16&rft.isbn=978-1-4985-9153-9&rft.aulast=Nelson&rft.aufirst=Todd+H.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DoJGyDwAAQBAJ%26dq%3Dstalin%2Bgreat%2Bpurge%2B1.2%2Bmillion%26pg%3DPA7&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-63"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-63">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFYegorov2019" class="citation web cs1">Yegorov, Oleg (26 September 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii">"Why didn't the USSR join Allies in 1939?"</a>. <i>Russia Beyond</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220206011636/https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii">Archived</a> from the original on 6 February 2022<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 February</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Russia+Beyond&rft.atitle=Why+didn%27t+the+USSR+join+Allies+in+1939%3F&rft.date=2019-09-26&rft.aulast=Yegorov&rft.aufirst=Oleg&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rbth.com%2Fhistory%2F331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-64"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-64">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAndrew_Roth2019" class="citation web cs1">Andrew Roth (23 August 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/moscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry">"Molotov-Ribbentrop: why is Moscow trying to justify Nazi pact?"</a>. <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/The_Guardian" title="The Guardian">The Guardian</a></i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Guardian&rft.atitle=Molotov-Ribbentrop%3A+why+is+Moscow+trying+to+justify+Nazi+pact%3F&rft.date=2019-08-23&rft.au=Andrew+Roth&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2019%2Faug%2F23%2Fmoscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-65"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-65">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV">USSR expelled from the League of Nations</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210914013927/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV">Archived</a> 14 September 2021 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-66"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-66">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDuiker2009" class="citation book cs1">Duiker, William J. (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC"><i>Contemporary World History</i></a>. Wadsworth Pub Co. p. 128. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-495-57271-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-495-57271-8"><bdi>978-0-495-57271-8</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200622200541/https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC">Archived</a> from the original on 22 June 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">25 May</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Contemporary+World+History&rft.pages=128&rft.pub=Wadsworth+Pub+Co&rft.date=2009&rft.isbn=978-0-495-57271-8&rft.aulast=Duiker&rft.aufirst=William+J.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DuqvgYtJHGSMC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-67"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-67">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d317">"The Executive of the Presidents Soviet Protocol Committee (Burns) to the President's Special Assistant (Hopkins)"</a>. <i>www.history.state.gov</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Office_of_the_Historian" title="Office of the Historian">Office of the Historian</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180821062622/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d317">Archived</a> from the original on 21 August 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">21 August</span> 2018</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.history.state.gov&rft.atitle=The+Executive+of+the+Presidents+Soviet+Protocol+Committee+%28Burns%29+to+the+President%27s+Special+Assistant+%28Hopkins%29&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.state.gov%2Fhistoricaldocuments%2Ffrus1943%2Fd317&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Soviet_losses-69"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Soviet_losses_69-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Soviet_losses_69-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFКривошеев" class="citation cs2 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Кривошеев, ГФ, <i>Россия и СССР в войнах XX века: потери вооруженных сил. Статистическое исследование</i> [<i>Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century: losses of the Armed Forces. A Statistical Study</i>] (in Russian)</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F+%D0%B8+%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A0+%D0%B2+%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%85+XX+%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0%3A+%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8+%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D1%85+%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB.+%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B5+%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5&rft.aulast=%D0%9A%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2&rft.aufirst=%D0%93%D0%A4&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span>.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-MOD_Russian_Federation-70"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-MOD_Russian_Federation_70-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFМинистерство_обороны_Российской_Федерации" class="citation web cs1">Министерство обороны Российской Федерации, MOD Russian Federation. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/history/more.htm?id=11359251@cmsArticle">"On Question of war Losses (in Russian)"</a>. MOD Russian Federation<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 November</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=On+Question+of+war+Losses+%28in+Russian%29&rft.pub=MOD+Russian+Federation&rft.aulast=%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE+%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%8B+%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%A4%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8&rft.aufirst=MOD+Russian+Federation&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fencyclopedia.mil.ru%2Fencyclopedia%2Fhistory%2Fmore.htm%3Fid%3D11359251%40cmsArticle&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-71"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-71">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGoldhagen" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Daniel_Goldhagen" title="Daniel Goldhagen">Goldhagen, Daniel</a>. <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Hitler%27s_Willing_Executioners" title="Hitler's Willing Executioners">Hitler's Willing Executioners</a></i>. p. 290. <q>2.8 million young, healthy Soviet POWs" killed by the Germans, "mainly by starvation<span class="nowrap"> </span>... in less than eight months" of 1941–42, before "the decimation of Soviet POWs<span class="nowrap"> </span>... was stopped" and the Germans "began to use them as laborers.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Hitler%27s+Willing+Executioners&rft.pages=290&rft.aulast=Goldhagen&rft.aufirst=Daniel&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-72"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-72">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942">"The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941 – January 1942"</a>. <i>encyclopedia.ushmm.org</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181106204101/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942">Archived</a> from the original on 6 November 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">9 March</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=encyclopedia.ushmm.org&rft.atitle=The+Treatment+of+Soviet+POWs%3A+Starvation%2C+Disease%2C+and+Shootings%2C+June+1941+%E2%80%93+January+1942&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fencyclopedia.ushmm.org%2Fcontent%2Fen%2Farticle%2Fthe-treatment-of-soviet-pows-starvation-disease-and-shootings-june-1941january-1942&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-73"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-73">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://countrystudies.us/belarus/10.htm">"Belarus – World War II"</a>. <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Country_Studies" title="Library of Congress Country Studies">Library of Congress Country Studies</a></i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Library+of+Congress+Country+Studies&rft.atitle=Belarus+%E2%80%93+World+War+II&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fcountrystudies.us%2Fbelarus%2F10.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-74"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-74">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWaitman_Wade_Beorn2014" class="citation book cs1">Waitman Wade Beorn (2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=S8cXAgAAQBAJ"><i>Marching into Darkness</i></a>. Harvard University Press. p. 28. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-72660-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-72660-4"><bdi>978-0-674-72660-4</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Marching+into+Darkness&rft.pages=28&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=978-0-674-72660-4&rft.au=Waitman+Wade+Beorn&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DS8cXAgAAQBAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-75"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-75">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBrinkley2003" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Douglas_Brinkley" title="Douglas Brinkley">Brinkley, Douglas</a> (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HymSg_Pp7X0C&q=big+four+world+war+2&pg=PA223"><i>The New York Times Living History: World War II, 1942–1945: The Allied Counteroffensive</i></a>. Macmillan. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8050-7247-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-8050-7247-1"><bdi>978-0-8050-7247-1</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162717/https://books.google.com/books?id=HymSg_Pp7X0C&q=big+four+world+war+2&pg=PA223">Archived</a> from the original on 15 August 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 October</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+New+York+Times+Living+History%3A+World+War+II%2C+1942%E2%80%931945%3A+The+Allied+Counteroffensive&rft.pub=Macmillan&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-8050-7247-1&rft.aulast=Brinkley&rft.aufirst=Douglas&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DHymSg_Pp7X0C%26q%3Dbig%2Bfour%2Bworld%2Bwar%2B2%26pg%3DPA223&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-76"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-76">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFUrquhart" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Brian_Urquhart" title="Brian Urquhart">Urquhart, Brian</a>. <i>Looking for the Sheriff</i>. New York Review of Books, 16 July 1998.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Looking+for+the+Sheriff&rft.pub=New+York+Review+of+Books%2C+16+July+1998&rft.aulast=Urquhart&rft.aufirst=Brian&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-denunciation-77"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-denunciation_77-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp">Denunciation of the neutrality pact</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092519/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp">Archived</a> 20 May 2011 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> 5 April 1945. (<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Avalon_Project" title="Avalon Project">Avalon Project</a> at <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yale_University" title="Yale University">Yale University</a>)</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-declarationofwar-78"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-declarationofwar_78-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp">Soviet Declaration of War on Japan</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092513/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp">Archived</a> 20 May 2011 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, 8 August 1945. (<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Avalon_Project" title="Avalon Project">Avalon Project</a> at <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Yale_University" title="Yale University">Yale University</a>)</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-79"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-79">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lyZYS_GxglIC&pg=PA480"><i>Women and War</i></a>. ABC-CLIO. 2006. pp. 480–. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-85109-770-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-85109-770-8"><bdi>978-1-85109-770-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Women+and+War&rft.pages=480-&rft.pub=ABC-CLIO&rft.date=2006&rft.isbn=978-1-85109-770-8&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DlyZYS_GxglIC%26pg%3DPA480&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-80"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-80">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAllan_Hall2008" class="citation web cs1">Allan Hall (24 October 2008). <span class="id-lock-subscription" title="Paid subscription required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html">"German women break their silence on horrors of Red Army rapes"</a></span>. <i>Telegraph.co.uk</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3255081/German-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html">Archived</a> from the original on 12 January 2022<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 December</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Telegraph.co.uk&rft.atitle=German+women+break+their+silence+on+horrors+of+Red+Army+rapes&rft.date=2008-10-24&rft.au=Allan+Hall&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworldnews%2Feurope%2Fgermany%2F3255081%2FGerman-women-break-their-silence-on-horrors-of-Red-Army-rapes.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-The_Independent-81"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-The_Independent_81-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/raped-by-the-red-army-two-million-german-women-speak-out-1669074.html">"Raped by the Red Army: Two million German women speak out"</a>. <i>The Independent</i>. 15 April 2009<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 December</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Independent&rft.atitle=Raped+by+the+Red+Army%3A+Two+million+German+women+speak+out&rft.date=2009-04-15&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Fraped-by-the-red-army-two-million-german-women-speak-out-1669074.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Susanne_Beyer-82"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Susanne_Beyer_82-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSusanne_Beyer2010" class="citation news cs1">Susanne Beyer (26 February 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,680354,00.html">"Harrowing Memoir: German Woman Writes Ground-Breaking Account of WW2 Rape"</a>. <i>Der Spiegel</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 December</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Der+Spiegel&rft.atitle=Harrowing+Memoir%3A+German+Woman+Writes+Ground-Breaking+Account+of+WW2+Rape&rft.date=2010-02-26&rft.au=Susanne+Beyer&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Finternational%2Fgermany%2F0%2C1518%2C680354%2C00.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-Bird-83"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Bird_83-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBird2002" class="citation journal cs1">Bird, Nicky (October 2002). "Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor". <i>International Affairs</i>. <b>78</b> (4). Royal Institute of International Affairs: <span class="nowrap">914–</span>916.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=International+Affairs&rft.atitle=Berlin%3A+The+Downfall+1945+by+Antony+Beevor&rft.volume=78&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E914-%3C%2Fspan%3E916&rft.date=2002-10&rft.aulast=Bird&rft.aufirst=Nicky&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-:0-84"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-:0_84-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Television documentary from CC&C Ideacom Production, "Apocalypse Never-Ending War 1918–1926", part 2, aired at Danish DR K on 22 October 2018.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-:4-85"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-:4_85-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFNaimark1995" class="citation book cs1">Naimark, Norman M. (1995). <i>The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949</i>. Cambridge: Belknap Press. p. 70.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Russians+in+Germany%3A+A+History+of+the+Soviet+Zone+of+Occupation%2C+1945%E2%80%931949&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pages=70&rft.pub=Belknap+Press&rft.date=1995&rft.aulast=Naimark&rft.aufirst=Norman+M.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-86"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-86">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) pp. 28, 30, 31.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#What_information_to_include" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources"><span title="A complete citation is needed. (August 2023)">full citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-87"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-87">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Lend-Lease Shipments: World War II</i>, Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, December 31, 1946, p. 8.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-88"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-88">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHardesty1991" class="citation book cs1">Hardesty, Von (1991). "Appendix 10: Lend-Lease Aircraft to USSR June 22, 1941 – September 20, 1945". <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6"><i>Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941–1945</i></a></span>. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/redphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6/page/253/mode/1up">253</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-56098-071-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-56098-071-1"><bdi>978-1-56098-071-1</bdi></a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1319584971">1319584971</a> – via Internet Archive.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Appendix+10%3A+Lend-Lease+Aircraft+to+USSR+June+22%2C+1941+%E2%80%93+September+20%2C+1945&rft.btitle=Red+Phoenix%3A+The+Rise+of+Soviet+Air+Power%2C+1941%E2%80%931945&rft.place=Washington%2C+D.C.&rft.pages=253&rft.pub=Smithsonian+Institution+Press&rft.date=1991&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F1319584971&rft.isbn=978-1-56098-071-1&rft.aulast=Hardesty&rft.aufirst=Von&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fredphoenixriseof0000hard_d8o6&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-89"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-89">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170506174749/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf">"World War II: The War Against Germany And Italy"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>American Military History</i>. US Army Center of Military History. p. 158. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 6 May 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=World+War+II%3A+The+War+Against+Germany+And+Italy&rft.btitle=American+Military+History&rft.pages=158&rft.pub=US+Army+Center+of+Military+History&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.army.mil%2Fbooks%2FAMH-V2%2FPDF%2FChapter05.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-90"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-90">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">David Roll (2012) <i>The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler</i>, ch. 6.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-91"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-91">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20031212063805/http://www.o5m6.de/routes.html">"The five Lend-Lease routes to Russia"</a>. <i>Engines of the Red Army</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.o5m6.de/Routes.html">the original</a> on December 12, 2003<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">July 12,</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Engines+of+the+Red+Army&rft.atitle=The+five+Lend-Lease+routes+to+Russia&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.o5m6.de%2FRoutes.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-92"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-92">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMotter1952" class="citation book cs1">Motter, T.H. Vail (1952). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/index.htm"><i>The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia</i></a>. Center of Military History. pp. <span class="nowrap">4–</span>6<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">July 12,</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Persian+Corridor+and+Aid+to+Russia&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E4-%3C%2Fspan%3E6&rft.pub=Center+of+Military+History&rft.date=1952&rft.aulast=Motter&rft.aufirst=T.H.+Vail&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.army.mil%2Fbooks%2Fwwii%2Fpersian%2Findex.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-fas.org-94"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fas.org_94-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/">"Main Intelligence Administration (GRU) Glavnoye Razvedovatel'noye Upravlenie – Russia / Soviet Intelligence Agencies"</a>. Fas.org. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081226090607/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/">Archived</a> from the original on 26 December 2008<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">24 November</span> 2008</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Main+Intelligence+Administration+%28GRU%29+Glavnoye+Razvedovatel%27noye+Upravlenie+%E2%80%93+Russia+%2F+Soviet+Intelligence+Agencies&rft.pub=Fas.org&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Ffas.org%2Firp%2Fworld%2Frussia%2Fgru%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-history.com-95"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-history.com_95-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/warsaw-pact-ends">"Warsaw Pact ends"</a>. <i>HISTORY</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=HISTORY&rft.atitle=Warsaw+Pact+ends&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Fthis-day-in-history%2Fwarsaw-pact-ends&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-96"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-96">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Mark Kramer, "The Soviet Bloc and the Cold War in Europe", in <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLarresm2014" class="citation book cs1">Larresm, Klaus, ed. (2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EyNcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT174"><i>A Companion to Europe Since 1945</i></a>. Wiley. p. 79. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-118-89024-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-118-89024-0"><bdi>978-1-118-89024-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Companion+to+Europe+Since+1945&rft.pages=79&rft.pub=Wiley&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=978-1-118-89024-0&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DEyNcCwAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPT174&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-lunokhod-97"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-lunokhod_97-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation episode cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081226123643/http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/magazine2.html">"Tank on the Moon"</a>. <i>The Nature of Things with David Suzuki</i>. 6 December 2007. CBC-TV. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/magazine2.html">the original</a> on 26 December 2008.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=The+Nature+of+Things+with+David+Suzuki&rft.date=2007-12-06&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnatureofthings%2Fmagazine2.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-98"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-98">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Yergin, <i>The Quest</i> (2011) p 23</span>
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<li id="cite_note-99"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-99">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFYegor_Gaidar2007" class="citation book cs1">Yegor Gaidar (2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bDSfnxYjVwAC&pg=PA102"><i>Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia</i></a>. Brookings Institution Press. p. 102. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780815731153" title="Special:BookSources/9780815731153"><bdi>9780815731153</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Collapse+of+an+Empire%3A+Lessons+for+Modern+Russia&rft.pages=102&rft.pub=Brookings+Institution+Press&rft.date=2007&rft.isbn=9780815731153&rft.au=Yegor+Gaidar&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DbDSfnxYjVwAC%26pg%3DPA102&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-100"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-100">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">James W. Cortada, "Public Policies and the Development of National Computer Industries in Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, 1940—80." <i>Journal of Contemporary History</i> (2009) 44#3 pp: 493-512, especially page 509-10.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-101"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-101">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Frank Cain, "Computers and the Cold War: United States restrictions on the export of computers to the Soviet Union and Communist China." <i>Journal of Contemporary History</i> (2005) 40#1 pp: 131-147. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036313">in JSTOR</a></span>
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<li id="cite_note-102"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-102">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Kenneth S. Deffeyes, Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-:1-103"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_103-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_103-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZimmermanAxelrod1981" class="citation journal cs1">Zimmerman, William; Axelrod, Robert (October 1981). "The "Lessons" of Vietnam and Soviet Foreign Policy". <i>World Politics</i>. <b>34</b> (1): <span class="nowrap">1–</span>24. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2010148">10.2307/2010148</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2010148">2010148</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:155025896">155025896</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=World+Politics&rft.atitle=The+%22Lessons%22+of+Vietnam+and+Soviet+Foreign+Policy&rft.volume=34&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1-%3C%2Fspan%3E24&rft.date=1981-10&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A155025896%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F2010148%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F2010148&rft.aulast=Zimmerman&rft.aufirst=William&rft.au=Axelrod%2C+Robert&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-104"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-104">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Chernobyl-disaster">"Chernobyl disaster | Causes, Effects, Deaths, Videos, Location, & Facts | Britannica"</a>. <i>www.britannica.com</i>. 2024-11-23<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2024-11-28</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.britannica.com&rft.atitle=Chernobyl+disaster+%7C+Causes%2C+Effects%2C+Deaths%2C+Videos%2C+Location%2C+%26+Facts+%7C+Britannica&rft.date=2024-11-23&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fevent%2FChernobyl-disaster&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-105"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-105">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-106"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-106">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-107"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-107">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Otmar Lahodynsky: Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: Profil 9 August 2014.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-108"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-108">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows" (German – 19 August 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), in: FAZ 19 August 2009.</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-109"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-109">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCrozier1990" class="citation web cs1">Crozier, Brian (25 June 1990). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050324050607/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705">"National Review: The red blues - Soviet politics"</a>. <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/National_Review" title="National Review">National Review</a></i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n12_v42/ai_9119705">the original</a> on 2005-03-24<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2023-10-03</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=National+Review&rft.atitle=National+Review%3A+The+red+blues+-+Soviet+politics&rft.date=1990-06-25&rft.aulast=Crozier&rft.aufirst=Brian&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Ffindarticles.com%2Fp%2Farticles%2Fmi_m1282%2Fis_n12_v42%2Fai_9119705&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-110"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-110">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html">Origins of Moral-Ethical Crisis and Ways to Overcome it</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070928104220/http://www.rspp.su/sobor/conf_2006/istoki_duh_nrav_crisis.html">Archived</a> 28 September 2007 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> by V.A.Drozhin Honoured Lawyer of Russia.</span>
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<li id="cite_note-111"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-111">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLauri_Mälksoo2022" class="citation book cs1">Lauri Mälksoo (2022). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://brill.com/display/book/9789004464896/BP000014.xml"><i>Chapter 3 The Baltic States Between 1940 and 1991: Illegality and/or Prescription</i></a>. Brill. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004464896_005">10.1163/9789004464896_005</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-90-04-46489-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-90-04-46489-6"><bdi>978-90-04-46489-6</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Chapter+3+The+Baltic+States+Between+1940+and+1991%3A+Illegality+and%2For+Prescription&rft.pub=Brill&rft.date=2022&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1163%2F9789004464896_005&rft.isbn=978-90-04-46489-6&rft.au=Lauri+M%C3%A4lksoo&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbrill.com%2Fdisplay%2Fbook%2F9789004464896%2FBP000014.xml&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-112"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-112">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBrzezinskiSullivan1997" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski" title="Zbigniew Brzezinski">Brzezinski, Zbigniew K.</a>; Sullivan, Paige (1997). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt5OLD3vp4UC&q=26+december+1991+ussr&pg=PR5"><i>Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States: Documents, Data, and Analysis</i></a>. M.E. Sharpe. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-56324-637-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-56324-637-1"><bdi>978-1-56324-637-1</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201217230805/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt5OLD3vp4UC&q=26+december+1991+ussr&pg=PR5">Archived</a> from the original on 17 December 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 October</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Russia+and+the+Commonwealth+of+Independent+States%3A+Documents%2C+Data%2C+and+Analysis&rft.pub=M.E.+Sharpe&rft.date=1997&rft.isbn=978-1-56324-637-1&rft.aulast=Brzezinski&rft.aufirst=Zbigniew+K.&rft.au=Sullivan%2C+Paige&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DVt5OLD3vp4UC%26q%3D26%2Bdecember%2B1991%2Bussr%26pg%3DPR5&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-uk-113"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-uk_113-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019744935436">Country Profile: Russia</a> Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080311123046/http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1019744935436">Archived</a> 11 March 2008 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span>
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<li id="cite_note-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo-114"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo_114-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Ojo_Emmanuel_Oladipo_114-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFOjo_Emmanuel_Oladipo2017" class="citation journal cs1">Ojo Emmanuel Oladipo (2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/from-russianisation-to-legalisation-russia-and-the-question-of-successor-state-to-the-soviet-union">"From Russianisation to legalisation: Russia and the question of successor state to the Soviet Union"</a>. <i>Журнал Сибирского Федерального Университета. Гуманитарные Науки</i>. <b>10</b> (12). Cyberleninka: <span class="nowrap">1840–</span>1855.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=%D0%96%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB+%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE+%D0%A4%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE+%D0%A3%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0.+%D0%93%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5+%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%B8&rft.atitle=From+Russianisation+to+legalisation%3A+Russia+and+the+question+of+successor+state+to+the+Soviet+Union&rft.volume=10&rft.issue=12&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1840-%3C%2Fspan%3E1855&rft.date=2017&rft.au=Ojo+Emmanuel+Oladipo&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fcyberleninka.ru%2Farticle%2Fn%2Ffrom-russianisation-to-legalisation-russia-and-the-question-of-successor-state-to-the-soviet-union&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-115"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-115">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZubok2009" class="citation book cs1">Zubok, Vladislav M. (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=3j2VJj1hs1EC&pg=PR9"><i>A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev</i></a>. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. ix. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8078-9905-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-8078-9905-2"><bdi>978-0-8078-9905-2</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170309161344/https://books.google.com/books?id=3j2VJj1hs1EC&pg=PR9">Archived</a> from the original on 9 March 2017<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">1 December</span> 2017</span> – via Google Books.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Failed+Empire%3A+The+Soviet+Union+in+the+Cold+War+from+Stalin+to+Gorbachev&rft.pages=ix&rft.pub=Univ+of+North+Carolina+Press&rft.date=2009&rft.isbn=978-0-8078-9905-2&rft.aulast=Zubok&rft.aufirst=Vladislav+M.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D3j2VJj1hs1EC%26pg%3DPR9&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-auto-116"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-auto_116-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html">"The Soviet Union and the United States – Revelations from the Russian Archives | Exhibitions – Library of Congress"</a>. <i>www.loc.gov</i>. 15 June 1992. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170915012329/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html">Archived</a> from the original on 15 September 2017<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 November</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.loc.gov&rft.atitle=The+Soviet+Union+and+the+United+States+%E2%80%93+Revelations+from+the+Russian+Archives+%7C+Exhibitions+%E2%80%93+Library+of+Congress&rft.date=1992-06-15&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.loc.gov%2Fexhibits%2Farchives%2Fsovi.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-117"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-117">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20031123143520/http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml">"INFCIRC/397 – Note to the Director General from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation"</a>. 23 November 2003. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf397.shtml">the original</a> on 23 November 2003<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">7 February</span> 2023</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=INFCIRC%2F397+%E2%80%93+Note+to+the+Director+General+from+the+Ministry+of+Foreign+Affairs+of+the+Russian+Federation&rft.date=2003-11-23&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iaea.org%2FPublications%2FDocuments%2FInfcircs%2FOthers%2Finf397.shtml&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-118"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-118">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1543-12">"ЗАКОН УКРАЇНИ Про правонаступництво України"</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191123004257/https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/main/1543-12">Archived</a> 23 November 2019 at the <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> (in Ukrainian).</span>
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<li id="cite_note-119"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-119">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKaufmanHardt1993" class="citation book cs1">Kaufman, Richard F.; Hardt, John P., eds. (1993). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JSwstF6SEAkC&pg=PA924"><i>The Former Soviet Union in Transition</i></a>. M.E. Sharpe. p. 924. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-56324-318-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-56324-318-9"><bdi>978-1-56324-318-9</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210819033956/https://books.google.com/books?id=JSwstF6SEAkC&pg=PA924">Archived</a> from the original on 19 August 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">28 November</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Former+Soviet+Union+in+Transition&rft.pages=924&rft.pub=M.E.+Sharpe&rft.date=1993&rft.isbn=978-1-56324-318-9&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DJSwstF6SEAkC%26pg%3DPA924&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-120"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-120">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFZadorozhnii2016" class="citation book cs1">Zadorozhnii, Oleksandr (2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lMokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98"><i>International Law in the Relations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation</i></a>. Yuri Marchenko. p. 98. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-617-684-146-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-617-684-146-3"><bdi>978-617-684-146-3</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210817025957/https://books.google.com/books?id=lMokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98">Archived</a> from the original on 17 August 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">28 November</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=International+Law+in+the+Relations+of+Ukraine+and+the+Russian+Federation&rft.pages=98&rft.pub=Yuri+Marchenko&rft.date=2016&rft.isbn=978-617-684-146-3&rft.aulast=Zadorozhnii&rft.aufirst=Oleksandr&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DlMokDwAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPA98&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-121"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-121">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://news.rambler.ru/ukraine/43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom/">"Ни по-честному, ни по-братски – Москва и Киев не могут поделить советскую собственность за рубежом"</a>. <i>Рамблер/новости</i>. 9 March 2020. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200715131651/https://news.rambler.ru/ukraine/43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom/">Archived</a> from the original on 15 July 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">14 July</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%80%2F%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8&rft.atitle=%D0%9D%D0%B8+%D0%BF%D0%BE-%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%D1%83%2C+%D0%BD%D0%B8+%D0%BF%D0%BE-%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8+%E2%80%93+%D0%9C%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B2%D0%B0+%D0%B8+%D0%9A%D0%B8%D0%B5%D0%B2+%D0%BD%D0%B5+%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%82+%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C+%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%8E+%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C+%D0%B7%D0%B0+%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%BC&rft.date=2020-03-09&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.rambler.ru%2Fukraine%2F43812763-ni-po-chestnomu-ni-po-bratski-moskva-i-kiev-ne-mogut-podelit-sovetskuyu-sobstvennost-za-rubezhom%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-122"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-122">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFНиколаевич2013" class="citation journal cs1">Николаевич, Касатенко Александр (21 September 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey">"История и теория реституции культурных ценностей"</a>. <i>Вестник Таганрогского института управления и экономики</i>. <b>1</b> (17). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200716201711/https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey">Archived</a> from the original on 16 July 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">14 July</span> 2020</span> – via cyberleninka.ru.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=%D0%92%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA+%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE+%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B0+%D1%83%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F+%D0%B8+%D1%8D%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8&rft.atitle=%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F+%D0%B8+%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F+%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%83%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8+%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%8B%D1%85+%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9&rft.volume=1&rft.issue=17&rft.date=2013-09-21&rft.aulast=%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87&rft.aufirst=%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE+%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fcyberleninka.ru%2Farticle%2Fn%2Fistoriya-i-teoriya-restitutsii-kulturnyh-tsennostey&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-123"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-123">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWeber2021" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Isabella_Weber" title="Isabella Weber">Weber, Isabella</a> (2021). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1228187814"><i>How China escaped shock therapy : the market reform debate</i></a>. Abingdon, Oxon: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Routledge" title="Routledge">Routledge</a>. p. 6. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-429-49012-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-429-49012-5"><bdi>978-0-429-49012-5</bdi></a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1228187814">1228187814</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=How+China+escaped+shock+therapy+%3A+the+market+reform+debate&rft.place=Abingdon%2C+Oxon&rft.pages=6&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2021&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F1228187814&rft.isbn=978-0-429-49012-5&rft.aulast=Weber&rft.aufirst=Isabella&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldcat.org%2Foclc%2F1228187814&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-124"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-124">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E0D8163FF931A25753C1A9669C8B63">Study Finds Poverty Deepening in Former Communist Countries</a>, New York Times, October 12, 2000</span>
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<li id="cite_note-125"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-125">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRosefielde2001" class="citation journal cs1">Rosefielde, Steven (2001). "Premature Deaths: Russia's Radical Economic Transition in Soviet Perspective". <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Europe-Asia_Studies" title="Europe-Asia Studies">Europe-Asia Studies</a></i>. <b>53</b> (8): <span class="nowrap">1159–</span>1176. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F09668130120093174">10.1080/09668130120093174</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145733112">145733112</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Europe-Asia+Studies&rft.atitle=Premature+Deaths%3A+Russia%27s+Radical+Economic+Transition+in+Soviet+Perspective&rft.volume=53&rft.issue=8&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1159-%3C%2Fspan%3E1176&rft.date=2001&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F09668130120093174&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A145733112%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Rosefielde&rft.aufirst=Steven&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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<li id="cite_note-:22-126"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-:22_126-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRice-OxleySedghiRidleyMagill2011" class="citation web cs1">Rice-Oxley, Mark; Sedghi, Ami; Ridley, Jenny; Magill, Sasha (17 Aug 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/aug/17/ussr-soviet-countries-data">"End of the USSR: visualising how the former Soviet countries are doing, 20 years on | Russia"</a>. <i>The Guardian</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">21 January</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Guardian&rft.atitle=End+of+the+USSR%3A+visualising+how+the+former+Soviet+countries+are+doing%2C+20+years+on+%7C+Russia&rft.date=2011-08-17&rft.aulast=Rice-Oxley&rft.aufirst=Mark&rft.au=Sedghi%2C+Ami&rft.au=Ridley%2C+Jenny&rft.au=Magill%2C+Sasha&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Ftheguardian.com%2Fnews%2Fdatablog%2F2011%2Faug%2F17%2Fussr-soviet-countries-data&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></span>
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</ol></div></div>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sources">Sources</h2><span class="mw-editsection">
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<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bibliography_of_the_Russian_Revolution_and_Civil_War" title="Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War">Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War</a>, <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bibliography_of_Stalinism_and_the_Soviet_Union" title="Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union">Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union</a>, and <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Bibliography_of_the_Post_Stalinist_Soviet_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union">Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union</a></div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin refbegin-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em">
<ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDaviesWheatcroft2004" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Robert_William_Davies" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert William Davies">Davies, Robert</a>; <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Stephen_G._Wheatcroft" title="Stephen G. Wheatcroft">Wheatcroft, Stephen</a> (2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780333311073"><i>The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia Volume 5: The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture 1931–1933</i></a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Palgrave_Macmillan" title="Palgrave Macmillan">Palgrave Macmillan</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-230-23855-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-230-23855-8"><bdi>978-0-230-23855-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Industrialisation+of+Soviet+Russia+Volume+5%3A+The+Years+of+Hunger%3A+Soviet+Agriculture+1931%E2%80%931933&rft.pub=Palgrave+Macmillan&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=978-0-230-23855-8&rft.aulast=Davies&rft.aufirst=Robert&rft.au=Wheatcroft%2C+Stephen&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palgrave.com%2Fus%2Fbook%2F9780333311073&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFischer1964" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Louis_Fischer" title="Louis Fischer">Fischer, Louis</a> (1964). <i>The Life of Lenin</i>. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Life+of+Lenin&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Weidenfeld+and+Nicolson&rft.date=1964&rft.aulast=Fischer&rft.aufirst=Louis&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGoldstein2013" class="citation book cs1">Goldstein, Erik (2013). <i>The First World War Peace Settlements, 1919–1925</i>. London: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Routledge" title="Routledge">Routledge</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-31-7883-678" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-31-7883-678"><bdi>978-1-31-7883-678</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+First+World+War+Peace+Settlements%2C+1919%E2%80%931925&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2013&rft.isbn=978-1-31-7883-678&rft.aulast=Goldstein&rft.aufirst=Erik&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLee2003" class="citation book cs1">Lee, Stephen J. (2003). <i>Lenin and Revolutionary Russia</i>. London: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Routledge" title="Routledge">Routledge</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-28718-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-28718-0"><bdi>978-0-415-28718-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lenin+and+Revolutionary+Russia&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-415-28718-0&rft.aulast=Lee&rft.aufirst=Stephen+J.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLeggett1981" class="citation book cs1">Leggett, George (1981). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/chekaleninspolit0000legg"><i>The Cheka: Lenin's Political Police</i></a></span>. Oxford: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-822552-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-822552-2"><bdi>978-0-19-822552-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Cheka%3A+Lenin%27s+Political+Police&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1981&rft.isbn=978-0-19-822552-2&rft.aulast=Leggett&rft.aufirst=George&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fchekaleninspolit0000legg&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMccauley2014" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Martin_McCauley_(historian)" title="Martin McCauley (historian)">Mccauley, Martin</a> (2014). <i>The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Taylor_%26_Francis" title="Taylor & Francis">Taylor & Francis</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-317-86783-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-317-86783-8"><bdi>978-1-317-86783-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Rise+and+Fall+of+the+Soviet+Union&rft.pub=Taylor+%26+Francis&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=978-1-317-86783-8&rft.aulast=Mccauley&rft.aufirst=Martin&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRead2005" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Christopher_Read" title="Christopher Read">Read, Christopher</a> (2005). <i>From Tsar to Soviets</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Taylor_%26_Francis" title="Taylor & Francis">Taylor & Francis</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-135-36625-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-135-36625-4"><bdi>978-1-135-36625-4</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=From+Tsar+to+Soviets&rft.pub=Taylor+%26+Francis&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-1-135-36625-4&rft.aulast=Read&rft.aufirst=Christopher&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRyan2012" class="citation book cs1">Ryan, James (2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ6LAgAAQBAJ"><i>Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence</i></a>. London: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Routledge" title="Routledge">Routledge</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1138815681" title="Special:BookSources/978-1138815681"><bdi>978-1138815681</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lenin%27s+Terror%3A+The+Ideological+Origins+of+Early+Soviet+State+Violence&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2012&rft.isbn=978-1138815681&rft.aulast=Ryan&rft.aufirst=James&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DXJ6LAgAAQBAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFService2000" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Robert_Service_(historian)" title="Robert Service (historian)">Service, Robert</a> (2000). <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Lenin:_A_Biography" title="Lenin: A Biography"><i>Lenin: A Biography</i></a>. London: Macmillan. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-333-72625-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-333-72625-9"><bdi>978-0-333-72625-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lenin%3A+A+Biography&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Macmillan&rft.date=2000&rft.isbn=978-0-333-72625-9&rft.aulast=Service&rft.aufirst=Robert&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFService2005" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Robert_Service_(historian)" title="Robert Service (historian)">Service, Robert</a> (2005). <i>A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin</i>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Harvard_University_Press" title="Harvard University Press">Harvard University Press</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-01801-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-01801-3"><bdi>978-0-674-01801-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+History+of+Modern+Russia+from+Nicholas+II+to+Vladimir+Putin&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=2005&rft.isbn=978-0-674-01801-3&rft.aulast=Service&rft.aufirst=Robert&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWheatcroft1996" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Stephen_G._Wheatcroft" title="Stephen G. Wheatcroft">Wheatcroft, Stephen</a> (1996). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://sovietinfo.tripod.com/WCR-German_Soviet.pdf">"The Scale and Nature of German and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930–45"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Europe-Asia_Studies" title="Europe-Asia Studies">Europe-Asia Studies</a></i>. <b>48</b> (8): <span class="nowrap">1319–</span>1353. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F09668139608412415">10.1080/09668139608412415</a>. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/152781">152781</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Europe-Asia+Studies&rft.atitle=The+Scale+and+Nature+of+German+and+Soviet+Repression+and+Mass+Killings%2C+1930%E2%80%9345&rft.volume=48&rft.issue=8&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1319-%3C%2Fspan%3E1353&rft.date=1996&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F09668139608412415&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F152781%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Wheatcroft&rft.aufirst=Stephen&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fsovietinfo.tripod.com%2FWCR-German_Soviet.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li>
<li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWhite2001" class="citation book cs1">White, James D. (2001). <i>Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution</i>. European History in Perspective. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave. <a href="/enwiki/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-333-72157-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-333-72157-5"><bdi>978-0-333-72157-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Lenin%3A+The+Practice+and+Theory+of+Revolution&rft.place=Basingstoke%2C+England&rft.series=European+History+in+Perspective&rft.pub=Palgrave&rft.date=2001&rft.isbn=978-0-333-72157-5&rft.aulast=White&rft.aufirst=James+D.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AHistory+of+the+Soviet+Union" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul></div>
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topics</div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a class="mw-selflink selflink">History</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Index_of_Soviet_Union%E2%80%93related_articles" title="Index of Soviet Union–related articles">Index of Soviet Union–related articles</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Revolution" title="Russian Revolution">Russian Revolution</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/February_Revolution" title="February Revolution">February</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/October_Revolution" title="October Revolution">October</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Civil_War" title="Russian Civil War">Russian Civil War</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic" title="Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic">Russian SFSR</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Creation_of_the_Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics" title="Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics">Creation treaty</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/New_Economic_Policy" title="New Economic Policy">New Economic Policy</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Stalinism" title="Stalinism">Stalinism</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Great_Purge" title="Great Purge">Great Purge</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union_in_World_War_II" title="Soviet Union in World War II">Great Patriotic War</a> (World War II)
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Evacuation_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Evacuation in the Soviet Union">Evacuation</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="The Holocaust in the Soviet Union">The Holocaust</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Khrushchev_Thaw" title="Khrushchev Thaw">Khrushchev Thaw</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split" title="Sino-Soviet split">Sino-Soviet split</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_space_program" title="Soviet space program">Soviet space program</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/1965_Soviet_economic_reform" title="1965 Soviet economic reform">1965 economic reform</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation" title="Era of Stagnation">Stagnation</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War" title="Soviet–Afghan War">Soviet–Afghan War</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Perestroika" title="Perestroika">Perestroika</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Glasnost" title="Glasnost">Glasnost</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989" title="Revolutions of 1989">Revolutions of 1989</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Dissolution of the Soviet Union">Dissolution</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Post-Soviet_states" title="Post-Soviet states">Post-Soviet states</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Nostalgia_for_the_Soviet_Union" title="Nostalgia for the Soviet Union">Nostalgia</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Geography_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Geography of the Soviet Union">Geography</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Subdivisions_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Subdivisions of the Soviet Union">Subdivisions</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Republics_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Republics of the Soviet Union">Republics</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republics" title="Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics">Autonomous</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Krais_of_Russia" title="Krais of Russia">Krais</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Oblasts_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Oblasts of the Soviet Union">Oblasts</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Autonomous_oblasts_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union">Autonomous</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Autonomous_okrugs_of_Russia" title="Autonomous okrugs of Russia">Autonomous okrugs</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Closed_city" title="Closed city">Closed city</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Regions</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Caspian_Sea" title="Caspian Sea">Caspian Sea</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Caucasus_Mountains" title="Caucasus Mountains">Caucasus Mountains</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/European_Russia" title="European Russia">European Russia</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/North_Caucasus" title="North Caucasus">North Caucasus</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Siberia" title="Siberia">Siberia</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ural_Mountains" title="Ural Mountains">Ural Mountains</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/West_Siberian_Plain" title="West Siberian Plain">West Siberian Plain</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Politics_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Politics of the Soviet Union">Politics</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">General</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Constitution of the Soviet Union">Constitution</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/1936_Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union">1936</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/1977_Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union">1977</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Elections_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Elections in the Soviet Union">Elections</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Foreign relations of the Soviet Union">Foreign relations</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Brezhnev_Doctrine" title="Brezhnev Doctrine">Brezhnev Doctrine</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gun_control_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Gun control in the Soviet Union">Gun control</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Government_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Government of the Soviet Union">Government</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_governments_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="List of governments of the Soviet Union">List</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Human rights in the Soviet Union">Human rights</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_post-Soviet_states" class="mw-redirect" title="LGBT rights in the post-Soviet states">LGBT</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Law_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Law of the Soviet Union">Law</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Capital punishment in the Soviet Union">Capital punishment</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="List of leaders of the Soviet Union">Leaders</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Collective_leadership_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Collective leadership in the Soviet Union">Collective leadership</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/National_delimitation_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="National delimitation in the Soviet Union">National delimitation</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Passport_system_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Passport system in the Soviet Union">Passport system</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Propiska_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Propiska in the Soviet Union">Propiska</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="List of political parties in the Soviet Union">Political parties</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ideology_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">State ideology</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism" title="Marxism–Leninism">Marxism–Leninism</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Leninism" title="Leninism">Leninism</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Stalinism" title="Stalinism">Stalinism</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_anti-Zionism" title="Soviet anti-Zionism">Soviet anti-Zionism</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Bodies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Communist Party</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Organization_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Organization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">organisation</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Congress</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Central_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Central Committee</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Politburo_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Presidium/Politburo</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Secretariat_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Secretariat</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/General_Secretary_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union">General Secretary</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Congress_of_Soviets_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union">Congress of Soviets</a> (1922–1936)</li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Supreme_Soviet_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union">Supreme Soviet</a> (1938–1991)</li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Congress_of_People%27s_Deputies_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union">Congress of People's Deputies</a> (1989–1991)</li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Supreme Court of the Soviet Union">Supreme Court</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Military_Collegium_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union">Military Collegium</a></li></ul></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Offices</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_heads_of_state_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="List of heads of state of the Soviet Union">Heads of state</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/President_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="President of the Soviet Union">President</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Premier_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Premier of the Soviet Union">Premier</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Deputy_Premier_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union">Deputy Premier</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/First_Deputy_Premier_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union">First Deputy Premier</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Chronology_of_Soviet_secret_police_agencies" title="Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies">Security services</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cheka" title="Cheka">Cheka</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/State_Political_Directorate" title="State Political Directorate">GPU</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/NKVD" title="NKVD">NKVD</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Destruction_battalions" class="mw-redirect" title="Destruction battalions">Destruction battalions</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ministry_of_Internal_Affairs_(Soviet_Union)" title="Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)">MVD</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Militsiya" title="Militsiya">Militsiya</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ministry_of_State_Security_(Soviet_Union)" title="Ministry of State Security (Soviet Union)">MGB</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/KGB" title="KGB">KGB</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_chairmen_of_the_KGB" title="List of chairmen of the KGB">Chairmen</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Border_Troops" title="Soviet Border Troops">Soviet Border Troops</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Armed_Forces" title="Soviet Armed Forces">Soviet Armed Forces</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Army" title="Soviet Army">Soviet Army</a>/<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Spetsnaz_GRU" title="Spetsnaz GRU">Spetsnaz GRU</a> • <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Navy" title="Soviet Navy">Soviet Navy</a> • <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Air_Forces" title="Soviet Air Forces">Soviet Air Forces</a>/<a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Airborne_Forces" title="Soviet Airborne Forces">Soviet Airborne Forces</a></li></ul></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Political_repression_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Political repression in the Soviet Union">Political repression</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Red_Terror" title="Red Terror">Red Terror</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Collectivization_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Collectivization in the Soviet Union">Collectivization</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Great_Purge" title="Great Purge">Great Purge</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Population_transfer_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Population transfer in the Soviet Union">Population transfer</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Forced_labor_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Forced labor in the Soviet Union">Forced labor</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gulag" title="Gulag">Gulag</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_Gulag_camps" title="List of Gulag camps">List</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Holodomor" title="Holodomor">Holodomor</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union">Political abuse of psychiatry</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ideological_repression_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Ideological repression in the Soviet Union">Ideological repression</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Religion_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Religion in the Soviet Union">Religion</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Repression_of_science_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Repression of science in the Soviet Union">Science</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Censorship_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Censorship in the Soviet Union">Censorship</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Censorship of images in the Soviet Union">Censorship of images</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Economy of the Soviet Union">Economy</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Agriculture in the Soviet Union">Agriculture</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Gosbank" class="mw-redirect" title="Gosbank">Central Bank</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet-type_economic_planning" title="Soviet-type economic planning">Economic planning</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Energy_policy_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Energy policy of the Soviet Union">Energy policy</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Five-year_plans_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Five-year plans of the Soviet Union">Five-year plans</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/.su" title=".su">Internet domain</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_innovation#Soviet_Union" title="Timeline of Russian innovation">Inventions</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Net_material_product" title="Net material product">Net material product</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/OGAS" title="OGAS">OGAS</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Science and technology in the Soviet Union">Science and technology</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_ruble" title="Soviet ruble">Rouble <span style="font-size:85%;">(currency)</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Transport_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Transport in the Soviet Union">Transport</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Railway_system_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Railway system of the Soviet Union">Railway system</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Rail transport in the Soviet Union">Rail transport</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/List_of_metro_systems_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="List of metro systems in the Soviet Union">List of metro systems</a></li></ul></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Science and technology in the Soviet Union">Science</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Communist_Academy" title="Communist Academy">Communist Academy</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cybernetics_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Cybernetics in the Soviet Union">Cybernetics</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Academy_of_Sciences#In_the_Soviet_Union" title="Russian Academy of Sciences">Academy of Sciences</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/USSR_Academy_of_Medical_Sciences" title="USSR Academy of Medical Sciences">Academy of Medical Sciences</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/VASKhNIL" title="VASKhNIL">Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sharashka" title="Sharashka">Sharashkas</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Naukograd" title="Naukograd">Naukograds</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Category:Naukograds" title="Category:Naukograds">List</a></li></ul></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Category:Society_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Category:Society of the Soviet Union">Society</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Antisemitism in the Soviet Union">Antisemitism</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Crime_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Crime in the Soviet Union">Crime</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Demographics of the Soviet Union">Demographics</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_people" title="Soviet people">Soviet people</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_working_class" title="Soviet working class">Working class</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/1989_Soviet_census" title="1989 Soviet census">1989 census</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Drug_policy_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Drug policy of the Soviet Union">Drug policy</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Family_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Family in the Soviet Union">Family</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Languages_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Languages of the Soviet Union">Languages</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Linguistics_of_the_Soviet_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Linguistics of the Soviet Union">Linguistics</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cyrillisation_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Cyrillisation in the Soviet Union">Cyrillisation</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_Russian_Empire_and_the_Soviet_Union" title="Prohibition in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union">Prohibition</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Racism_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Racism in the Soviet Union">Racism</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Culture_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Culture of the Soviet Union">Culture</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_ballet" title="Russian ballet">Ballet</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Cinema_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Cinema of the Soviet Union">Cinema</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Fashion_in_the_Soviet_Union" class="mw-redirect" title="Fashion in the Soviet Union">Fashion</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_literature#20th_century" title="Russian literature">Literature</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Music_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Music of the Soviet Union">Music</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_opera#20th_century" title="Russian opera">Opera</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_phraseology" title="Soviet phraseology">Phraseology</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Printed_media_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Printed media in the Soviet Union">Printed media</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Propaganda_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Propaganda in the Soviet Union">Propaganda</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Radio_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Radio in the Soviet Union">Radio</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Sport_in_Russia" title="Sport in Russia">Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Stalinist_architecture" title="Stalinist architecture">Stalinist architecture</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Television_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Television in the Soviet Union">Television</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Anti-Sovietism" title="Anti-Sovietism">Opposition</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_dissidents" title="Soviet dissidents">Soviet dissidents</a> and their groups
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Category:Soviet_opposition_groups" title="Category:Soviet opposition groups">List</a></li></ul></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Symbols</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/State_Anthem_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="State Anthem of the Soviet Union">Anthem</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Anthems_of_the_Soviet_Republics" title="Anthems of the Soviet Republics">Republics</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/State_Emblem_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="State Emblem of the Soviet Union">Emblem</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Emblems_of_the_Soviet_Republics" title="Emblems of the Soviet Republics">Republics</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Flag of the Soviet Union">Flag</a>
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Flags_of_the_Soviet_Republics" title="Flags of the Soviet Republics">Republics</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Hammer_and_sickle" title="Hammer and sickle">Hammer and sickle</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2" style="font-weight:bold;"><div>
<ul><li><b><span class="nowrap"><span class="mw-image-border noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="flag" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg/32px-Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg.png" decoding="async" width="32" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg/48px-Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg/64px-Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1200" data-file-height="600" /></span></span> </span><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Portal:Soviet_Union" title="Portal:Soviet Union">Soviet Union portal</a></b></li>
<li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Category"><img alt="" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/23px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/31px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185" /></span></span> <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Category:Soviet_Union" title="Category:Soviet Union">Category</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
<div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Countries_of_Eastern_and_Central_Europe_during_their_Communist_period" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="4"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Template:Communist_Eastern_and_Central_Europe" title="Template:Communist Eastern and Central Europe"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Template_talk:Communist_Eastern_and_Central_Europe" title="Template talk:Communist Eastern and Central Europe"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Communist_Eastern_and_Central_Europe" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Communist Eastern and Central Europe"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Countries_of_Eastern_and_Central_Europe_during_their_Communist_period" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em">Countries of Eastern and Central Europe during their <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Communism" title="Communism">Communist</a> period</div></th></tr><tr><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="4" style="width:1px;padding:0 2px 0 0"><div><span class="mw-image-border" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Warsaw Pact Logo"><img alt="Warsaw Pact Logo" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg/90px-Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="90" height="107" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg/135px-Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg/180px-Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="721" data-file-height="860" /></a></span></div></td><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/People%27s_Socialist_Republic_of_Albania" title="People's Socialist Republic of Albania">Albania</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_Bulgaria" title="People's Republic of Bulgaria">Bulgaria</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic" title="Czechoslovak Socialist Republic">Czechoslovakia</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/East_Germany" title="East Germany">East Germany</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Hungarian_People%27s_Republic" title="Hungarian People's Republic">Hungary</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Polish_People%27s_Republic" title="Polish People's Republic">Poland</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_Romania" title="Socialist Republic of Romania">Romania</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia" title="Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia">Yugoslavia</a><br /></li></ul>
</div></td><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="4" style="width:1px;padding:0 0 0 2px"><div><span class="mw-image-border" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/File:NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Map of Cold War Europe"><img alt="Map of Cold War Europe" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg/90px-NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg.png" decoding="async" width="90" height="91" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg/135px-NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg/180px-NATO_and_the_Warsaw_Pact_1973.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="450" data-file-height="456" /></a></span></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic" title="Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic">Soviet Russia</a> / <a href="/enwiki/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a>: <a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_Soviet_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union_(1917%E2%80%931927)" title="History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927)">1917–1927</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1927%E2%80%931953)" title="History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)">1927–1953</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1953%E2%80%931964)" title="History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)">1953–1964</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1964%E2%80%931982)" title="History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)">1964–1982</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1982%E2%80%931991)" title="History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)">1982–1991</a><br /></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic">Byelorussia</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Ukrainian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic">Ukraine</a><br /></li></ul>
</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">
<ul><li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Eastern_Bloc" title="Eastern Bloc">Eastern Bloc</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Warsaw_Pact" title="Warsaw Pact">Warsaw Pact</a></li>
<li><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Comecon" title="Comecon">Comecon</a></li></ul>
</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
<div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319">.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1038841319"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox authority-control" aria-label="Navbox" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/enwiki/wiki/Help:Authority_control" title="Help:Authority control">Authority control databases</a>: National <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q462252#identifiers" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="/upwiki/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" srcset="/upwiki/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, /upwiki/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" /></a></span></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"><ul><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="Soviet Union--History"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85125764">United States</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="URSS -- Histoire"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb11933726t">France</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="URSS -- Histoire"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://data.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb11933726t">BnF data</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nli.org.il/en/authorities/987007560864905171">Israel</a></span></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>' |
Whether or not the change was made through a Tor exit node (tor_exit_node) | false |
Unix timestamp of change (timestamp) | '1735465272' |