Soviet Union

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Союз Советских Социалистических Республик Soyuz Sovyetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik[a][1]
1922–1991
Flag (1955–1991) State Emblem (1956–1991)
Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! "Workers of the world, unite!"
Anthem:  Интернационал "The Internationale" (1922–1944) Государственный гимн СССР[b] "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" (1944–1991)
The Soviet Union during the Cold War
Capital and largest city	Moscow 55°45′N 37°37′E / 55.750°N 37.617°E / 55.750; 37.617
Official languages	Russian[c]
Recognised regional languages	Ukrainian Belarusian Uzbek Kazakh Georgian Azerbaijani Lithuanian Moldavian (Romanian) Latvian Kyrgyz Tajik Armenian Turkmen Estonian
Ethnic groups (1989)	70% East Slavs 17% Turkic 13% other
Religion	Secular state (de jure) State atheism (de facto)
Demonym(s)	Soviet
Government	Federal Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic
Leader
• 1922–1924 (first)	Vladimir Lenin[d]
• 1924–1953	Joseph Stalin[e]
• 1953[g]	Georgy Malenkov[f]
• 1953–1964	Nikita Khrushchev[h]
• 1964–1982	Leonid Brezhnev[i]
• 1982–1984	Yuri Andropov
• 1984–1985	Konstantin Chernenko
• 1985–1991 (last)	Mikhail Gorbachev[j]
• 1991[l]	Gennady Yanayev (acting, disputed)[k]
Head of State
• 1922–1946 (first)	Mikhail Kalinin[m]
• 1988–1991 (last)	Mikhail Gorbachev[n]
Premier
• 1922–1924 (first)	Vladimir Lenin[o]
• 1991 (last)	Ivan Silayev[p]
Legislature	Congress of Soviets (1922–1936)[q] Supreme Soviet (1936–1991)
• Upper house	Soviet of Nationalities (1936–1991) Soviet of Republics (1991)
• Lower house	Soviet of the Union (1936–1991)
Historical era	Interwar period World War II Cold War
• October Revolution	7 November 1917
• Treaty of Creation	30 December 1922
• First constitution	31 January 1924
• Second constitution	5 December 1936
• Westward expansion	1939–1940
• Great Patriotic War	1941–1945
• De-Stalinization	25 February 1956
• Last constitution	9 October 1977
• Parade of sovereignties	1988–1991
• August Coup	19–22 August 1991
• Belovezha Accords	8 December 1991[r]
• Formal dissolution	26 December 1991[s]
Area
• Total	22,402,200 km2 (8,649,500 sq mi) (1st)
• Water	2,767,198 km2 (1,068,421 sq mi)
• Water (%)	12.3
Population
• 1989 census	286,730,819[2] (3rd)
• Density	12.7/km2 (32.9/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	1990 estimate
• Total	$2.7 trillion (2nd)
• Per capita	$9,000
GDP (nominal)	1990 estimate
• Total	$2.7 trillion[3] (2nd)
• Per capita	$9,000 (28th)
Gini (1989)	0.275 low inequality
HDI (1990 formula)	0.920[4] very high
Currency	Soviet ruble (Rbl) (SUR)
Time zone	(UTC+2 to +12)
Drives on	right
Calling code	+7
ISO 3166 code	SU
Internet TLD	.su[t]
Preceded by Succeeded by 1922: Russian SFSR Ukrainian SSR Byelorussian SSR Transcaucasian SFSR 1940: Estonia Latvia Lithuania 1990: Lithuania Latvia Estonia 1991: Georgia Ukraine Belarus Moldova Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Tajikistan Armenia Azerbaijan Turkmenistan Russian Federation Kazakhstan CIS
With the exception of the CIS – an intergovernmental organization and legal successor to the Soviet Union – only states that are former Soviet republics, now members of the United Nations, are listed as successors.

Part of a series on the
History of the Soviet Union
Background Communism Bolshevism World revolution Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Bolshevik split Bolshevik Party Russian Empire World War I February Revolution
1917–1927: Establishment October Revolution Russian Civil War Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Red Terror War communism New Economic Policy Treaty on the Creation of the USSR National delimitation Death and funeral of Lenin
1927–1953: Stalinism Socialism in one country Collectivization Soviet famine of 1932–1933 Holodomor Kazakhstan famine of 1932–1933 Industrialization Cultural Revolution Great Purge Moscow trials World War II Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact Great Patriotic War Operation Barbarossa Occupation of the Baltic states Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Battle of Berlin Soviet invasion of Manchuria Soviet deportations Soviet famine of 1946–1947 Cold War Berlin Blockade Korean War First Indochina War Death and funeral of Stalin
1953–1964: Khrushchev Thaw East German uprising of 1953 Virgin Lands campaign 1954 transfer of Crimea Khrushchev Thaw De-Stalinization ""On the Cult of Personality" We will bury you 1956 Georgian demonstrations Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Wage reforms Peaceful coexistence Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution Sino-Soviet split Space program Cuban Missile Crisis
1964–1982: Era of Stagnation Brezhnev Doctrine Era of Stagnation 50th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide protests Six-Day War Détente Vietnam War Laotian Civil War Operation Menu Cambodian Civil War Fall of Saigon Yom Kippur War Prague Spring Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Wars in Africa Angolan War of Independence Angolan Civil War Mozambican War of Independence Mozambican Civil War South African Border War Rhodesian Bush War Cambodian–Vietnamese War Soviet–Afghan War 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic boycotts 1980 Olympic boycott 1984 Olympic boycott Polish strike Death and funeral of Brezhnev
1982–1991: Decline and collapse Invasion of Grenada Glasnost Perestroika Chernobyl disaster Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Singing Revolution Estonian Sovereignty Declaration Baltic Way Lithuanian independence Economic blockade Latvian independence Revolutions of 1989 Pan-European Picnic Peaceful Revolution Fall of the Berlin Wall Velvet Revolution End of communist rule in Hungary Romanian Revolution German reunification Dissolution of the Soviet Union Jeltoqsan First Nagorno-Karabakh War April 9 tragedy Black January Osh riots War of Laws Dushanbe riots January Events The Barricades Referendum New Union Treaty August Coup Ukrainian revolution independence declaration referendum Belovezha Accords Alma-Ata Protocol
Soviet leadership Lenin Stalin Malenkov Khrushchev Brezhnev Andropov Chernenko Gorbachev List of troikas
Related topics Culture Economy Education Geography History Leadership Politics Soviet Empire Russia Soviet republics Post-Soviet states
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The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics^[u] (USSR),^[v] commonly known as the Soviet Union,^[w] was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area, extending across eleven time zones and sharing borders with twelve countries, and the third-most populous country.^[x] An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR.^[y] In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was a flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin, established the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR),^[z] the world's first constitutionally socialist state. The revolution was not accepted by all within the Russian Republic, resulting in the Russian Civil War. The RSFSR and its subordinate republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant economic growth but contributed to a famine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. The Soviet forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin's government conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents, resulting in mass death, imprisonment, and deportation. In 1939, the USSR and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact, but in 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening the Eastern Front of World War II. The Soviets played a decisive role in defeating the Axis powers, suffering an estimated 27 million casualties, which accounted for most Allied losses. In the aftermath of the war, the Soviet Union consolidated the territory occupied by the Red Army, forming satellite states, and undertook rapid economic development which cemented its status as a superpower.

Geopolitical tensions with the US led to the Cold War. The American-led Western Bloc coalesced into NATO in 1949, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. Neither side engaged in direct military confrontation, and instead fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars. In 1953, following Stalin's death, the Soviet Union undertook a campaign of de-Stalinization under Nikita Khrushchev, which saw reversals and rejections of Stalinist policies. This campaign caused tensions with Communist China. During the 1950s, the Soviet Union expanded its efforts in space exploration and took a lead in the Space Race with the first artificial satellite, the first human spaceflight, the first space station, and the first probe to land on another planet. In 1985, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform the country through his policies of glasnost and perestroika. In 1989, various countries of the Warsaw Pact overthrew their Soviet-backed regimes, and nationalist and separatist movements erupted across the Soviet Union. In 1991, amid efforts to preserve the country as a renewed federation, an attempted coup against Gorbachev by hardline communists prompted the largest republics—Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus—to secede. On December 26, Gorbachev officially recognized the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin, the leader of the RSFSR, oversaw its reconstitution into the Russian Federation, which became the Soviet Union's successor state; all other republics emerged as fully independent post-Soviet states.

During its existence, the Soviet Union produced many significant social and technological achievements and innovations. It had the world's second-largest economy and largest standing military. An NPT-designated state, it wielded the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. As an Allied nation, it was a founding member of the United Nations as well as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Before its dissolution, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, global diplomatic and ideological influence (particularly in the Global South), military and economic strengths, and scientific accomplishments.

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