A Short History of the Soviet Union

By Encyclopaedia Britannica, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.20.17
Word Count 846
Level 700L

A Soviet propaganda poster from 1922 dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the October Revolution and Fourth Congress of the Communist International. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) was also known as the Soviet Union. It was the first country to form a government based on the system known as communism. It only existed from 1922 to 1991, or about 70 years. However, it was a very powerful country.

Land

The Soviet Union was the largest country that ever existed. It covered more than 8 million square miles in Europe and Asia. That's more than two times the size of the United States.

The Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics. They were like countries. The largest and most powerful was the Russian republic. Today, it is called Russia. The other 14 countries are now independent. They are called Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

People

In its last years, the Soviet Union had the world's third-largest population. More than 290 million people lived there. The country had more than 100 groups of different peoples. The largest group was Ethnic Russians. Russian was the official language, but more than 200 other languages existed in the country.

The Soviet government did not believe in religion. Still, some religions survived there.

During the time the Soviet Union existed, millions of people moved from farms to cities. By 1991, two out of every three Soviet people lived in a city. The rest lived on farms or in smaller towns.

Image 1. Map showing the republics of the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution. Map: Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Culture

The government of the Soviet Union controlled all parts of life in the country. The people were not allowed to say anything bad about the government. Many people who did speak out were sent to prison. Others left the country.

Economy

During its most powerful period, the Soviet Union had one of the world's strongest economies. It had plenty of money. Farming and factories helped make the country successful.

Communists believe people should not own businesses. That's why the government owned almost all businesses and factories in the Soviet Union. Under this system, many people did not have the products they needed. The government took farmers' land and made giant farms that didn't grow crops well. By the 1970s, the Soviet Union could not feed its people. It had to buy food from other countries.

History

Before the Soviet Union, there was the Russian Empire. Its leader was known as the czar. One hundred years ago, the tsar was overthrown in a revolution and a group called the Bolsheviks came to power. This group was later renamed the Communist Party. They fought other Russians in a civil war that lasted two years. Vladimir Lenin led the communists. The communists won the war.

Early years

In 1922, the communists created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Russia was one of its republics. The other republics were mostly regions of the former Russian Empire.

Lenin died in 1924. A few years later, a Communist Party leader named Joseph Stalin came to power. Stalin was one of the cruelest rulers who ever lived. He killed farmers who did not agree with him and let his own people starve. During the 1930s, he caused as many as 10 million people in the Soviet Union to die.

World War II

World War II began about 75 years ago. The Soviet Union and the United States were on the same side. With the help of other countries, they fought against Nazi Germany.

The Soviet Union suffered terribly during the war. By the time Germany surrendered, more than 20 million Soviet people had died.

Cold War

After World War II, the Soviet Union was still the greatest power in Europe. It had set up communist governments in many Eastern European countries.

This activity worried many people in other countries, particularly the United States. Both the U.S and the Soviet Union began to build up their militaries. The tension between them came to be known as the Cold War. In addition to building up their armies, both countries developed nuclear weapons. These are very dangerous weapons. Many people were afraid the countries would use the weapons, but they never did.

After Stalin died, conditions improved for the Soviet people. Over the next few years Nikita Khrushchev came to power. Khrushchev introduced some changes that were good for people, but they angered other Communist Party leaders. In 1964 he was removed from power.

Breakup

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as the last leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev wanted to build a stronger economy. He also wanted people to have more freedom. Soon, people in some of the Soviet republics began to demand their independence. They did not want to be ruled by the Soviets.

In 1989, several peaceful revolutions began. The eastern European countries gained independence from Soviet control. Two years later, the Soviet republics also gained their independence. In 1991, the Soviet Union came to an end. It was replaced by 15 separate countries.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.