The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), better known as the Soviet Union, was a socialist federal state characterized by strongly establishing a regime of communist-Marxist-Leninist thought .

The Soviet Union was a socialist bloc superpower that existed in most of Eastern Europe and North Asia, from 1922 to 1991.

Along with the United States, the Soviet Union had a great participation in global economic and cultural policy, and was the protagonist of great wars in history, such as World War II , the Cold War and the Missile Crisis .

Its capital was in Moscow, present-day Russia, and its main language was Russian. The Soviet Union had more than 22.4 million square kilometers and more than 290 million inhabitants .

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Origin

Its origin dates back to 1917, during the Russian Revolution , when Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Bolshevik revolution and a socialist state was established in the regions that had belonged to the Russian Empire.

It was formally created on December 29, 1922 , when a confederation of delegations sent from Russia, Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Belarus, approved the treaty and the declaration of creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). 

Thus, on December 30, 1922, these 2 documents were ratified by the first Soviet Congress of the USSR and signed by the heads of the delegations. In this way the enormous Soviet Union was officially created , which had as its first leader the revolutionary Marxist Vladimir Lenin .

Lenin was a communist politician, philosopher, and revolutionary who led the Russian Revolution to later become the ultimate leader of the USSR . His school of thought is known as “Leninism” or “Marxism-Leninism.”

Countries that made up the Soviet Union

In total there were 15 countries that made up the Soviet Union:

These were also joined by the following unrecognized states: Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Crimea .

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Characteristics of the Soviet Union

Among the main characteristics of the Soviet Union we can highlight that:

• It was a socialist state, the main political defender of communism .
• Their main language was Russian .
• Its center of power and capital was in Moscow , present-day Russia.
• It was made up of 15 different republics .
• It came to have more than 22.4 million square kilometers of surface and almost 300 million inhabitants.
• It was considered one of the great political powers.
• It was the main competitor of capitalism.

End of the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union collapsed and finally dissolved in 1991 .

Since 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev , head of state of the USSR, had tried to transform the regime by launching some political changes that clashed with the old guard.

This promoted a series of reforms punctuated by 2 keywords: Perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (transparency, openness). Due to these reforms, the Soviet Union fell apart economically and territorially . On the other hand, society increasingly became aware of corruption and mismanagement by the government.

Although Gorbachev tried to negotiate a new union treaty, hoping to rebuild the former Soviet Union, it was rejected and a coup attempt soon emerged . Gradually, several countries left the USSR, which was greatly weakened.

Because of this, Gorbachev was forced to resign and e l December 25, 1991 the announced collapse of the Soviet Union. A confederation of independent states was then created and the Russian flag replaced, in the Kremlin, the red flag of the Soviet Union.