47 Facts About The Soviet Union

1.

Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.

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2.

The Soviet Union's rule saw the expansion of the labour camp system under the Gulag.

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3.

The Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race with the first artificial satellite, the first human spaceflight, and the first probe to land on another planet .

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4.

Alongside the United States, the Soviet Union maintained its status as one of the two superpowers of the world until its dissolution; it exercised global influence through its hegemony in the Eastern Bloc, military and economic strengths, various forms of aid to the Third World, and scientific research.

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5.

The Soviet Union Russia had to resolve similar conflicts with the newly established republics of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

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6.

One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country.

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7.

From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party .

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8.

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 extensive talks.

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9.

On 14 December 1939 the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.

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10.

The Soviet Union made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called perestroika.

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11.

On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States in its place.

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12.

The Soviet Union turned the powers that had been vested in the presidency over to Yeltsin.

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13.

That night, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time, and the Russian tricolor was raised in its place.

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14.

Dissolution was followed by a severe drop in economic and social conditions in post-The Soviet Union states, including a rapid increase in poverty, crime, corruption, unemployment, homelessness, rates of disease, infant mortality and domestic violence, as well as demographic losses, income inequality and the rise of an oligarchical class, along with decreases in calorie intake, life expectancy, adult literacy, and income.

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15.

The Soviet Union treaties laid groundwork for Ukraine's future foreign agreements as well as they led to Ukraine agreeing to undertake 16.

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16.

Supreme Soviet was nominally the highest state body for most of the Soviet history, at first acting as a rubber stamp institution, approving and implementing all decisions made by the party.

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17.

The Supreme The Soviet Union elected a Presidium to wield its power between plenary sessions, ordinarily held twice a year, and appointed the Supreme Court, the Procurator General and the Council of Ministers, headed by the Chairman and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society.

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18.

The Congress now elected the Supreme The Soviet Union, which became a full-time parliament, and much stronger than before.

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19.

In 1990, Gorbachev introduced and assumed the position of the President of the Soviet Union, concentrated power in his executive office, independent of the party, and subordinated the government, now renamed the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, to himself.

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20.

The coup failed, and the State Council of the Soviet Union became the highest organ of state power "in the period of transition".

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21.

The Soviet Union used the inquisitorial system of Roman law, where the judge, procurator, and defence attorney collaborate to establish the truth.

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22.

The Soviet Union'storian Matthew White wrote that it was an open secret that the country's federal structure was "window dressing" for Russian dominance.

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23.

Until the early 1960s, the Soviet navy was a rather small military branch, but after the Caribbean crisis, under the leadership of Sergei Gorshkov, it expanded significantly.

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24.

The Soviet Union participated in the war in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989.

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25.

Soviet Union adopted a command economy, whereby production and distribution of goods were centralized and directed by the government.

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26.

The Soviet Union's policies relaxed state control over enterprises but did not replace it by market incentives, resulting in a sharp decline in output.

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27.

For most of the period after World War II until its collapse, The Soviet Union GDP was the second-largest in the world, and third during the second half of the 1980s, although on a per-capita basis, it was behind that of First World countries.

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28.

The Soviet Union's theory did not come to fruition because of the USSR's collapse.

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29.

The Soviet Union authorities proved their commitment to Lenin's belief by developing massive networks, research and development organizations.

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30.

The Soviet government opposed and persecuted geneticists in favour of Lysenkoism, a pseudoscience rejected by the scientific community in the Soviet Union and abroad but supported by Stalin's inner circles.

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31.

Under the Reagan administration, Project Socrates determined that the Soviet Union addressed the acquisition of science and technology in a manner that was radically different from what the US was using.

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32.

The Soviet Union authorities were unable to meet the growing demand for transport infrastructure and services.

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33.

The Soviet Union Europe moved towards sub-replacement fertility, while The Soviet Union Central Asia continued to exhibit population growth well above replacement-level fertility.

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34.

The epidemic of divorces and extramarital affairs created social hardships when The Soviet Union leaders wanted people to concentrate their efforts on growing the economy.

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35.

Soviet Union was an ethnically diverse country, with more than 100 distinct ethnic groups.

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36.

Article 42 of the 1977 The Soviet Union Constitution gave all citizens the right to health protection and free access to any health institutions in the USSR.

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37.

The immediate period following the establishment of the Soviet state included a struggle against the Orthodox Church, which the revolutionaries considered an ally of the former ruling classes.

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38.

In practice, the Soviet system subscribed to a narrow interpretation of this right, and in fact used a range of official measures to discourage religion and curb the activities of religious groups.

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39.

Soviet Union was officially a secular state, but a "government-sponsored program of forced conversion to atheism" was conducted under the doctrine of state atheism.

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40.

The opinions on the USSR are complex and have changed over time, with different generations having different views on the matter as well as on The Soviet Union policies corresponding to separate time periods during its history.

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41.

Many Russians and other former Soviet citizens have nostalgia for the USSR, pointing towards most infrastructure being built during Soviet times, increased job security, increased literacy rate, increased caloric intake and supposed ethnic pluralism enacted in the Soviet Union as well as political stability.

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42.

In some post The Soviet Union republics, there is a more negative view of the USSR, although there is no unanimity on the matter.

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43.

Culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the USSR's existence.

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44.

The Soviet Union was the biggest rival to the United States at the Summer Olympics, winning six of its nine appearances at the games and topping the medal tally at the Winter Olympics six times.

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45.

The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession – in reality, the state paid many of these competitors to train on a full-time basis.

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46.

The Soviet Union media has always focused on the vast expanse of land and the virtually indestructible natural resources.

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47.

The Soviet authorities had an almost unwavering belief that man could transcend nature.

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