Occupied a sixth of the planet. The area of the USSR is forty percent of Eurasia. The Soviet Union was 2.3 times larger than the United States and quite a bit smaller than the continent of North America. The area of the USSR is most of northern Asia and eastern Europe. About a quarter of the territory was in the European part of the world, the remaining three quarters lay in Asia. The main area of the USSR was occupied by Russia: three quarters of the entire country.
The largest lakes
In the USSR, and now in Russia, there is the deepest and cleanest lake in the world - Baikal. This is the largest fresh water reservoir created by nature, with unique fauna and flora. It’s not for nothing that people have long called this lake the sea. It is located in the center of Asia, where the border of the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region passes, and stretches for six hundred and twenty kilometers like a giant crescent. The bottom of Lake Baikal is 1167 meters below ocean level, and its surface is 456 meters higher. Depth - 1642 meters.
Another Russian lake, Ladoga, is the largest in Europe. It belongs to the Baltic (sea) and Atlantic (ocean) basins, its northern and eastern shores are in the Republic of Karelia, and its western, southern and southeastern shores are in the Leningrad region. The area of Lake Ladoga in Europe, like the area of the USSR in the world, has no equal - 18,300 square kilometers.
The largest rivers
The longest river in Europe is the Volga. It is so long that the peoples who inhabited its shores gave it different names. It flows in the European part of the country. This is one of the largest waterways on earth. In Russia, a huge part of the territory adjacent to it is called the Volga region. Its length was 3690 kilometers, and its drainage area was 1,360,000 square kilometers. On the Volga there are four cities with a population of more than a million people - Volgograd, Samara (in the USSR - Kuibyshev), Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod (in the USSR - Gorky).
In the period from the 30s to the 80s of the twentieth century, eight huge hydroelectric power stations were built on the Volga - part of the Volga-Kama cascade. The river flowing in Western Siberia, the Ob, is even fuller, although a little shorter. Starting in Altai, it runs across the entire country into the Kara Sea for 3,650 kilometers, and its drainage basin is 2,990,000 square kilometers. In the southern part of the river there is the man-made Ob Sea, formed during the construction of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station, an amazingly beautiful place.
Territory of the USSR
The western part of the USSR occupied more than half of all Europe. But if we take into account the entire area of the USSR before the collapse of the country, then the territory of the western part was barely a quarter of the entire country. The population, however, was significantly higher: only twenty-eight percent of the country's inhabitants settled throughout the vast eastern territory.
In the west, between the Ural and Dnieper rivers, the Russian Empire was born and it was here that all the prerequisites for the emergence and prosperity of the Soviet Union appeared. The area of the USSR changed several times before the collapse of the country: some territories were annexed, for example, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, the Baltic states. Gradually, the largest agricultural and industrial enterprises were organized in the eastern part, thanks to the presence of diverse and rich mineral resources there.
Borderland in length
The borders of the USSR, since our country is now, after the separation of fourteen republics from it, the largest in the world, are extremely long - 62,710 kilometers. From the west, the Soviet Union stretched eastward for ten thousand kilometers - ten time zones from the Kaliningrad region (Curonian Spit) to Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait.
From south to north, the USSR ran for five thousand kilometers - from Kushka to Cape Chelyuskin. It had to border on land with twelve countries - six of them in Asia (Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China and North Korea), six in Europe (Finland, Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania). The territory of the USSR had maritime borders only with Japan and the USA.
The borderland is wide
From north to south, the USSR stretched for 5000 km from Cape Chelyuskin in the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug of the Krasnoyarsk Territory to the Central Asian city of Kushka, Mary region of the Turkmen SSR. The USSR bordered by land with 12 countries: 6 in Asia (North Korea, China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey) and 6 in Europe (Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway and Finland).
By sea, the USSR bordered on two countries - the USA and Japan. The country was washed by twelve seas of the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The Thirteenth Sea is the Caspian, although in all respects it is a lake. That is why two thirds of the borders were located along the seas, because the area of the former USSR had the longest coastline in the world.
Republics of the USSR: unification
In 1922, at the time of the formation of the USSR, it included four republics - the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and the Transcaucasian SFSR. Then there were disengagements and replenishments. In Central Asia, the Turkmen and Uzbek SSRs were formed (1924), and there were six republics within the USSR. In 1929, the autonomous republic located in the RSFSR was transformed into the Tajik SSR, of which there were already seven. In 1936, Transcaucasia was divided: three union republics were separated from the federation: the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Georgian SSR.
At the same time, two more Central Asian autonomous republics, which were part of the RSFSR, were separated as the Kazakh and Kyrgyz SSR. There were eleven republics in total. In 1940, several more republics were admitted to the USSR, and there were sixteen of them: the Moldavian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR and Estonian SSR joined the country. In 1944, Tuva joined, but the Tuva Autonomous Region did not become an SSR. The Karelo-Finnish SSR (ASSR) changed its status several times, so there were fifteen republics in the 60s. In addition, there are documents according to which in the 60s Bulgaria asked to join the ranks of the union republics, but Comrade Todor Zhivkov’s request was not granted.
Republics of the USSR: collapse
From 1989 to 1991, the so-called parade of sovereignties took place in the USSR. Six of the fifteen republics refused to join the new federation - the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics and declared independence (Lithuanian SSR, Latvian, Estonian, Armenian and Georgian), and the Moldavian SSR declared the transition to independence. Despite all this, a number of autonomous republics decided to remain part of the union. These are Tatar, Bashkir, Checheno-Ingush (all Russia), South Ossetia and Abkhazia (Georgia), Transnistria and Gagauzia (Moldova), Crimea (Ukraine).
Collapse
But the collapse of the USSR took on a landslide character, and in 1991 almost all the union republics declared independence. It was also not possible to create a confederation, although Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus decided to conclude such an agreement.
Then Ukraine held a referendum on independence and the three founding republics signed the Belovezhskaya agreements to dissolve the confederation, creating the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) at the level of an interstate organization. The RSFSR, Kazakhstan and Belarus did not declare independence and did not hold referendums. Kazakhstan, however, did this later.
Georgian SSR
It was formed in February 1921 under the name of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Since 1922, it was part of the Transcaucasian SFSR as part of the USSR, and only in December 1936 directly became one of the republics of the Soviet Union. The Georgian SSR included the South Ossetian Autonomous Region, the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 70s, the dissident movement under the leadership of Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Mirab Kostava intensified in Georgia. Perestroika brought new leaders to the Georgian Communist Party, but they lost the elections.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared independence, but Georgia was not satisfied with this, and the invasion began. Russia took part in this conflict on the side of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In 2000, the visa-free regime between Russia and Georgia was abolished. In 2008 (August 8), a “five-day war” occurred, as a result of which the Russian President signed decrees recognizing the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign and independent states.
Armenia
The Armenian SSR was formed in November 1920, at first it was also part of the Transcaucasian Federation, and in 1936 it was separated and directly became part of the USSR. Armenia is located in the south of Transcaucasia, bordering Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. The area of Armenia is 29,800 square kilometers, the population is 2,493,000 people (1970 census). The capital of the republic is Yerevan, the largest city among twenty-three (by comparison with 1913, when there were only three cities in Armenia, one can imagine the volume of construction and the scale of development of the republic during its Soviet period).
In addition to cities, twenty-eight new urban-type settlements were built in thirty-four districts. The terrain is mostly mountainous and harsh, so almost half of the population lived in the Ararat Valley, which makes up only six percent of the total territory. The population density is very high everywhere - 83.7 people per square kilometer, and in the Ararat Valley - up to four hundred people. In the USSR, there was greater crowding only in Moldova. Also, favorable climatic and geographical conditions attracted people to the shores of Lake Sevan and the Shirak Valley. Sixteen percent of the territory of the republic is not covered by a permanent population at all, because it is impossible to live for a long time at altitudes above 2500 above sea level. After the collapse of the country, the Armenian SSR, already a free Armenia, experienced several very difficult (“dark”) years of blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey, the confrontation with which has a centuries-old history.
Belarus
The Belarusian SSR was located in the west of the European part of the USSR, bordering on Poland. The area of the republic is 207,600 square kilometers, the population is 9,371,000 people as of January 1976. National composition according to the 1970 census: 7,290,000 Belarusians, the rest was divided into Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Jews and a very small number of people of other nationalities.
Density - 45.1 people per square kilometer. The largest cities: the capital - Minsk (1,189,000 inhabitants), Gomel, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, Bobruisk, Baranovichi, Brest, Borisov, Orsha. In Soviet times, new cities appeared: Soligorsk, Zhodino, Novopolotsk, Svetlogorsk and many others. In total, there are ninety-six cities and one hundred and nine urban-type settlements in the republic.
The nature is mainly of the flat type, in the north-west there are moraine hills (Belarusian ridge), in the south under the swamps of the Belarusian Polesie. There are many rivers, the main ones are the Dnieper with Pripyat and Sozh, Neman, Western Dvina. In addition, there are more than eleven thousand lakes in the republic. The forest occupies a third of the territory, mostly coniferous.
History of the Byelorussian SSR
It was established in Belarus almost immediately after the October Revolution, after which occupation followed: first German (1918), then Polish (1919-1920). In 1922, the BSSR was already part of the USSR, and in 1939 it was reunited with Western Belarus, separated from Poland in connection with the treaty. In 1941, the socialist society of the republic fully rose up to fight the Nazi-German invaders: partisan detachments operated throughout the territory (there were 1,255 of them, almost four hundred thousand people took part in them). Since 1945, Belarus has been a member of the UN.
Communist construction after the war was very successful. The BSSR was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of Friendship of Peoples and the Order of the October Revolution. From an agrarian poor country, Belarus has transformed into a prosperous and industrial one, having established close ties with the rest of the union republics. In 1975, the level of industrial production exceeded the level of 1940 by twenty-one times, and the level of 1913 by one hundred and sixty-six. Heavy industry and mechanical engineering developed. The following power stations were built: Berezovskaya, Lukomlskaya, Vasilevichskaya, Smolevichskaya. Peat (the oldest in the industry) has grown into oil production and processing.
Industry and standard of living of the population of the BSSR
By the seventies of the twentieth century, mechanical engineering was represented by machine tool building, tractor manufacturing (the well-known Belarus tractor), automobile manufacturing (the giant Belaz, for example), and radio electronics. The chemical, food, and light industries developed and strengthened. The standard of living in the republic has increased steadily; in the ten years since 1966, national income has grown two and a half times, and real income per capita has almost doubled. Retail turnover of cooperative and state trade (including public catering) has increased tenfold.
In 1975, the amount of deposits reached almost three and a half billion rubles (in 1940 it was seventeen million). The republic has become educated, moreover, education has not changed to this day, since it has not departed from the Soviet standard. The world highly appreciated such fidelity to principles: colleges and universities of the republic attract a huge number of foreign students. Two languages are used here equally: Belarusian and Russian.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) is a state that existed from December 1922 to December 1991 on the territory of the former Russian Empire. Was the largest state in the world. Its area was equal to 1/6 of the land. Now on the territory of the former USSR there are 15 countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova and Turkmenistan.
The country's territory was 22.4 million square kilometers. The Soviet Union occupied vast territories in Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia, stretching from west to east for almost 10 thousand km and from north to south for almost 5 thousand km. The USSR had land borders with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, Czechoslovakia and only sea borders with the USA, Sweden and Japan. The Soviet Union's land border was the longest in the world, measuring over 60,000 km.
The territory of the Soviet Union had five climate zones and was divided into 11 time zones. Within the USSR there was the largest lake in the world - the Caspian and the deepest lake in the world - Baikal.
The natural resources of the USSR were the richest in the world (their list included all the elements of the periodic table).
Administrative division of the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics positioned itself as a single union multinational state. This norm was enshrined in the 1977 Constitution. The USSR included 15 allied - Soviet socialist - republics (RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Latvian SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR , Estonian SSR), 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous regions, 10 autonomous okrugs, 129 territories and regions. All of the above administrative-territorial units were divided into districts and cities of regional, regional and republican subordination.
The population of the USSR was (millions):
in 1940 - 194.1,
in 1959 - 208.8,
in 1970 - 241.7,
in 1979 - 262.4,
in 1987 -281.7.
The urban population (1987) was 66% (for comparison: in 1940 - 32.5%); rural - 34% (in 1940 - 67.5%).
More than 100 nations and nationalities lived in the USSR. According to the 1979 census, the most numerous of them were (in thousands of people): Russians - 137,397, Ukrainians - 42,347, Uzbeks - 12,456, Belarusians - 9463, Kazakhs - 6556, Tatars - 6317, Azerbaijanis - 5477, Armenians - 4151, Georgians - 3571, Moldovans - 2968, Tajiks - 2898, Lithuanians - 2851, Turkmen - 2028, Germans - 1936, Kyrgyz - 1906, Jews - 1811, Chuvash - 1751, peoples of the Republic of Dagestan - 1657, Latvians - 1439 , Bashkirs - 1371, Mordovians - 1192, Poles - 1151, Estonians - 1020.
The 1977 Constitution of the USSR proclaimed the formation of “a new historical community - the Soviet people.”
The average population density (as of January 1987) was 12.6 people. per 1 square km; in the European part the density was much higher - 35 people. per 1 square km., in the Asian part - only 4.2 people. per 1 square km. The most densely populated regions of the USSR were:
- Center. areas of the European part of the RSFSR, especially between the Oka and Volga rivers.
- Donbass and Right Bank Ukraine.
- Moldavian SSR.
- Certain regions of Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
The largest cities of the USSR
The largest cities of the USSR, the number of inhabitants in which exceeded one million people (as of January 1987): Moscow - 8815 thousand, Leningrad (St. Petersburg) - 4948 thousand, Kiev - 2544 thousand, Tashkent - 2124 thousand, Baku - 1741 thousand, Kharkov - 1587 thousand, Minsk - 1543 thousand, Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) - 1425 thousand, Novosibirsk - 1423 thousand, Sverdlovsk - 1331 thousand, Kuibyshev (Samara) - 1280 thousand, Tbilisi - 1194 thousand, Dnepropetrovsk - 1182 thousand, Yerevan - 1168 thousand, Odessa - 1141 thousand, Omsk - 1134 thousand, Chelyabinsk - 1119 thousand, Almaty - 1108 thousand, Ufa - 1092 thousand, Donetsk - 1090 thousand, Perm - 1075 thousand, Kazan - 1068 thousand, Rostov-on-Don - 1004 thousand.
Throughout its history, the capital of the USSR was Moscow.
Social system in the USSR
The USSR declared itself as a socialist state, expressing the will and protecting the interests of the working people of all nations and nationalities inhabiting it. Democracy was officially declared in the Soviet Union. Article 2 of the 1977 USSR Constitution proclaimed: “All power in the USSR belongs to the people. The people exercise state power through the Soviets of People's Deputies, which form the political basis of the USSR. All other government bodies are controlled and accountable to the Councils of People’s Deputies.”
From 1922 to 1937, the All-Union Congress of Soviets was considered the collective governing body of the state. From 1937 to 1989 Formally, the USSR had a collective head of state - the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In the intervals between its sessions, power was exercised by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1989-1990 The head of state was considered the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; in 1990-1991. - President of the USSR.
Ideology of the USSR
The official ideology was formed by the only party allowed in the country - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which, according to the 1977 Constitution, was recognized as “The leading and directing force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations.” The leader - the General Secretary - of the CPSU actually owned all the power in the Soviet Union.
Leaders of the USSR
The actual leaders of the USSR were:
- Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars: V.I. Lenin (1922 - 1924), I.V. Stalin (1924 - 1953), G.M. Malenkov (1953 - 1954), N.S. Khrushchev (1954-1962).
- Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Council: L.I. Brezhnev (1962 - 1982), Yu.V. Andropov (1982-1983), K.U. Chernenko (1983 - 1985), M.S. Gorbachev (1985-1990).
- President of the USSR: M.S. Gorbachev (1990 - 1991).
According to the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, signed on December 30, 1922, the new state included four formally independent republics - the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan);
In 1925, the Turkestan ASSR was separated from the RSFSR. On its territories and on the lands of the Bukhara and Khiva People's Soviet Republics the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed;
In 1929, the Tajik SSR, which had previously been an autonomous republic, was separated from the Uzbek SSR as part of the USSR;
In 1936, the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was abolished. The Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, and Armenian SSR were formed on its territory.
In the same year, two more autonomies were separated from the RSFSR - the Cossack Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. They were transformed, respectively, into the Kazakh SSR and the Kirghiz SSR;
In 1939, Western Ukrainian lands (Lvov, Ternopil, Stanislav, Dragobych regions) were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR, and Western Belarusian lands (Grodno and Brest regions), obtained as a result of the division of Poland, were annexed to the BSSR.
In 1940, the territory of the USSR expanded significantly. New union republics were formed:
- Moldavian SSR (created from part of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was part of the Ukrainian SSR, and part of the territory transferred to the USSR by Romania),
- Latvian SSR (formerly independent Latvia),
- Lithuanian SSR (formerly independent Lithuania),
- Estonian SSR (formerly independent Estonia).
- Karelo-Finnish SSR (formed from the Autonomous Karelian ASSR, which was part of the RSFSR, and part of the territory annexed after the Soviet-Finnish War);
- The territory of the Ukrainian SSR increased due to the inclusion of the Chernivtsi region, formed from the territory of Northern Bukovina transferred by Romania, into the republic.
In 1944, the Tuva Autonomous Region (formerly independent Tuva People's Republic) became part of the RSFSR.
In 1945, the Kaliningrad region (East Prussia, separated from Germany) was annexed to the RSFSR, and the Transcarpathian region, voluntarily transferred by socialist Czechoslovakia, became part of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1946, new territories became part of the RSFSR - the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, recaptured from Japan.
In 1956, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was abolished, and its territory was again included in the RSFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Main stages of the history of the USSR
1. New economic policy (1921 - 1928). The reform of state policy was caused by a deep socio-political crisis that gripped the country as a result of miscalculations in the policy of “war communism”. X Congress of the RCP(b) in March 1921 on the initiative of V.I. Lenin decided to replace the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind. This marked the beginning of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Other reforms include:
- small industry was partially denationalized;
- private trade is allowed;
- free hiring of labor in the USSR. In industry, labor conscription will be abolished;
- reform of economic management - weakening of centralization;
- transition of enterprises to self-financing;
- introduction of the banking system;
- monetary reform is being carried out. The goal is to stabilize the Soviet currency against the dollar and pound sterling at the gold parity level;
- cooperation and joint ventures based on concessions are encouraged;
- In the agricultural sector, renting land using hired labor is allowed.
The state left only heavy industry and foreign trade in its hands.
2. “The Great Leap Forward Policy” of I. Stalin in the USSR. Late 1920-1930s Includes industrial modernization (industrialization) and collectivization of agriculture. The main goal is to rearm the armed forces and create a modern, technically equipped army.
3. Industrialization of the USSR. In December 1925, the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) proclaimed a course towards industrialization. It provided for the start of large-scale industrial construction (power plants, Dnieper hydroelectric power station, reconstruction of old enterprises, construction of giant factories).
In 1926-27 - gross output exceeded the pre-war level. Growth of the working class by 30% compared to 1925
In 1928, a course towards accelerated industrialization was proclaimed. The 1st 5-year plan was approved in its maximum version, but the planned increase in production of 36.6% was fulfilled by only 17.7%. In January 1933, the completion of the first 5-year plan was solemnly announced. It was reported that 1,500 new enterprises were put into operation and unemployment was eliminated. The industrialization of industry continued throughout the history of the USSR, but it was accelerated only during the 1930s. It was as a result of the successes of this period that it was possible to create a heavy industry, which in its indicators exceeded those of the most developed Western countries - Great Britain, France and the USA.
4. Collectivization of agriculture in the USSR. Agriculture lagged behind the rapid development of industry. It was the export of agricultural products that the government considered as the main source of attracting foreign currency for industrialization. The following measures have been taken:
1) On March 16, 1927, a decree “On collective farms” was issued. The need to strengthen the technical base on collective farms and eliminate equalization in wages was declared.
2) Exemption of the poor from agricultural taxes.
3) Increase in the amount of tax for kulaks.
4) The policy of limiting the kulaks as a class, and then its complete destruction, a course towards complete collectivization.
As a result of collectivization in the USSR, a failure was recorded in the agro-industrial complex: the gross grain harvest was planned at 105.8 million poods, but in 1928 it was possible to collect only 73.3 million, and in 1932 - 69.9 million.
Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. On June 23, 1941, the Soviet leadership established the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. On June 30, the State Defense Committee was created, headed by Stalin. During the first month of the war, 5.3 million people were drafted into the Soviet army. In July they began to create units of the people's militia. A partisan movement began behind enemy lines.
At the initial stage of the war, the Soviet army suffered defeat after defeat. The Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine were abandoned, and the enemy approached Leningrad and Moscow. On November 15, a new offensive began. In some areas, the Nazis came within 25-30 km of the capital, but were unable to advance further. On December 5-6, 1941, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive near Moscow. At the same time, offensive operations began on the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts. During the offensive in the winter of 1941/1942. The Nazis were thrown back in a number of places to a distance of up to 300 km. from the capital. The first stage of the Patriotic War (June 22, 1941 - December 5-6, 1941) ended. The plan for a lightning war was thwarted.
After an unsuccessful offensive near Kharkov at the end of May 1942, Soviet troops soon left Crimea and retreated to the North Caucasus and Volga. . On November 19-20, 1942, the counter-offensive of Soviet troops began near Stalingrad. By November 23, 22 fascist divisions numbering 330 thousand people were surrounded at Stalingrad. On January 31, the main forces of the encircled German troops, led by Field Marshal Paulus, surrendered. On February 2, 1943, the operation to completely destroy the encircled group was completed. After the victory of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad, a great turning point in the Great Patriotic War began.
In the summer of 1943, the Battle of Kursk took place. On August 5, Soviet troops liberated Oryol and Belgorod, on August 23, Kharkov was liberated, and on August 30, Taganrog. At the end of September, the crossing of the Dnieper began. On November 6, 1943, Soviet units liberated Kyiv.
In 1944, the Soviet Army launched an offensive on all sectors of the front. On January 27, 1944, Soviet troops lifted the blockade of Leningrad. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army liberated Belarus and most of Ukraine. The victory in Belarus opened the way for an offensive into Poland, the Baltic states and East Prussia. On August 17, Soviet troops reached the border with Germany.
In the fall of 1944, Soviet troops liberated the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. On September 4, Germany's ally Finland withdrew from the war. The result of the offensive of the Soviet Army in 1944 was the complete liberation of the USSR.
On April 16, 1945, the Berlin operation began. On May 8, Germany capitulated. The hostilities in Europe ended.
The main result of the war was the complete defeat of Nazi Germany. Humanity was freed from slavery, world culture and civilization were saved. As a result of the war, the USSR lost a third of its national wealth. Almost 30 million people died. 1,700 cities and 70 thousand villages were destroyed. 35 million people were left homeless.
The restoration of Soviet industry (1945 - 1953) and the national economy took place in the USSR under difficult conditions:
1) Lack of food, difficult working and living conditions, high morbidity and mortality rates. But an 8-hour working day, annual leave were introduced, and forced overtime was abolished.
2) Conversion was completely completed only by 1947.
3) Labor shortage in the USSR.
4) Increased migration of the population of the USSR.
5) Increased transfer of funds from villages to cities.
6) Redistribution of funds from the light and food industries, agriculture and social sphere in favor of heavy industry.
7) The desire to implement scientific and technical developments in production.
There was a drought in the village in 1946, which led to large-scale famine. Private trade in agricultural products was allowed only to those peasants whose collective farms fulfilled state orders.
A new wave of political repression began. They affected party leaders, the military, and the intelligentsia.
Ideological thaw in the USSR (1956 - 1962). Under this name, the reign of the new leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, went down in history.
On February 14, 1956, the 20th Congress of the CPSU took place, at which the personality cult of Joseph Stalin was condemned. As a result, partial rehabilitation of the enemies of the people was carried out, and some repressed peoples were allowed to return to their homeland.
Investments in agriculture increased 2.5 times.
All debts from collective farms were written off.
MTS - material and technical stations - were transferred to collective farms
Taxes on personal plots are increasing
The course for the development of the Virgin Lands is 1956; it is planned to develop and sow grain on 37 million hectares of land in Southern Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan.
The slogan appeared - “Catch up and overtake America in the production of meat and milk.” This led to excesses in livestock farming and agriculture (the sowing of large areas with corn).
1963 - The Soviet Union purchases grain for gold for the first time since the revolutionary period.
Almost all ministries were abolished. The territorial principle of management was introduced - the management of enterprises and organizations was transferred to economic councils formed in economic administrative regions.
Period of stagnation in the USSR (1962 - 1984)
Followed Khrushchev's thaw. Characterized by stagnation in socio-political life and lack of reforms
1) A steady decline in the rate of economic and social development of the country (industrial growth decreased from 50% to 20%, in agriculture - from 21% to 6%).
2) Stage lag.
3) A slight increase in production is achieved by increasing the production of raw materials and fuel.
In the 70s, there was a sharp lag in agriculture, and a crisis in the social sphere was emerging. The housing problem has become extremely acute. There is a growth of the bureaucratic apparatus. The number of all-Union ministries increased from 29 to 160 over 2 decades. In 1985, they employed 18 million officials.
Perestroika in the USSR (1985 - 1991)
A set of measures to solve the accumulated problems in the Soviet economy, as well as the political and social system. The initiator of its implementation was the new General Secretary of the CPSU M.S. Gorbachev.
1.Democratization of public life and the political system. In 1989, elections of people's deputies of the USSR took place, in 1990 - elections of people's deputies of the RSFSR.
2.Transition of the economy to self-financing. Introduction of free market elements in the country. Permit for private entrepreneurship.
3. Glasnost. Pluralism of opinions. Condemnation of the policy of repression. Criticism of communist ideology.
1) A deep socio-economic crisis that has engulfed the entire country. Economic ties between republics and regions within the USSR gradually weakened.
2) The gradual destruction of the Soviet system on the ground. Significant weakening of the union center.
3) The weakening of the influence of the CPSU on all aspects of life in the USSR and its subsequent ban.
4) Exacerbation of interethnic relations. National conflicts undermined state unity, becoming one of the reasons for the destruction of the union statehood.
The events of August 19-21, 1991 - the attempted coup d'etat (GKChP) and its failure - made the process of collapse of the USSR inevitable.
The V Congress of People's Deputies (held on September 5, 1991) surrendered its powers to the USSR State Council, which included the highest officials of the republics, and the Supreme Council of the USSR.
September 9 - The State Council officially recognized the independence of the Baltic states.
On December 1, the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian population approved the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in a national referendum (August 24, 1991).
On December 8, the Belovezhskaya Agreement was signed. The Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus B. Yeltsin, L. Kravchuk and S. Shushkevich announced the unification of their republics into the CIS - the Commonwealth of Independent States.
By the end of 1991, 12 former republics of the Soviet Union joined the CIS.
On December 25, 1991, M. Gorbachev resigned, and on December 26, the Council of Republics and the Supreme Council officially recognized the dissolution of the USSR.
These cities were not on the maps. Their residents signed non-disclosure agreements. Before you are the most secret cities of the USSR.
Classified as "secret"
Soviet ZATOs received their status in connection with the location there of objects of national importance related to the energy, military or space spheres. It was practically impossible for an ordinary citizen to get there, and not only because of the strict access control regime, but also due to the secrecy of the location of the settlement. Residents of closed cities were ordered to keep their place of residence strictly secret, and even more so not to disclose information about secret objects.
Such cities were not on the map, they did not have a unique name and most often bore the name of the regional center with the addition of a number, for example, Krasnoyarsk-26 or Penza-19. What was unusual in ZATO was the numbering of houses and schools. It began with a large number, continuing the numbering of the locality to which the residents of the secret city were “assigned”.
The population of some ZATOs, due to the proximity of dangerous objects, was at risk. Disasters also happened. Thus, a large leak of radioactive waste that occurred in Chelyabinsk-65 in 1957 endangered the lives of at least 270 thousand people.
However, living in a closed city had its advantages. As a rule, the level of improvement there was noticeably higher than in many cities in the country: this applies to the service sector, social conditions, and everyday life. Such cities were very well supplied, scarce goods could be obtained there, and the crime rate there was practically reduced to zero. For the costs of “secrecy”, residents of ZATOs received an additional bonus to the base salary.
Zagorsk-6 and Zagorsk-7
Sergiev Posad, which was called Zagorsk until 1991, is known not only for its unique monasteries and temples, but also for its closed towns. In Zagorsk-6 the Virology Center of the Research Institute of Microbiology was located, and in Zagorsk-7 the Central Institute of Physics and Technology of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
Behind the official names, the essence is a little lost: in the first, in Soviet times, they were developing bacteriological weapons, and in the second, radioactive weapons.
Once in 1959, a group of guests from India brought smallpox to the USSR, and our scientists decided to use this fact for the benefit of their homeland. In a short time, a bacteriological weapon was created based on the smallpox virus, and its strain called “India-1” was placed in Zagorsk-6.
Later, endangering themselves and the population, scientists at the research institute developed deadly weapons based on South American and African viruses. By the way, this is where tests were carried out with the Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus.
It was difficult to get a job in Zagorsk-6, even in a “civilian” specialty - the impeccable purity of the biography of the applicant and his relatives was required, almost to the 7th generation. This is not surprising, since attempts have been made to get to our bacteriological weapons more than once.
The military stores of Zagorsk-7, which were easier to get to, always had a good selection of goods. Residents from neighboring villages noted the stark contrast to the half-empty shelves of local stores. Sometimes they created lists to centrally purchase food. But if it was not officially possible to enter the town, then they climbed over the fence.
The status of a closed city was removed from Zagorsk-7 on January 1, 2001, and Zagorsk-6 is closed to this day.
Arzamas-16
After the Americans used atomic weapons, the question arose about the first Soviet atomic bomb. They decided to build a secret facility for its development, called KB-11, on the site of the village of Sarova, which later turned into Arzamas-16 (other names Kremlev, Arzamas-75, Gorky-130).
The secret city, built on the border of the Gorky region and the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, was quickly put under enhanced security and surrounded along the entire perimeter by two rows of barbed wire and a control strip laid between them. Until the mid-1950s, everyone lived here in an atmosphere of extreme secrecy. KB-11 employees, including family members, could not leave the restricted area even during the holiday period. An exception was made only for business trips.
Later, when the city grew, residents had the opportunity to travel to the regional center on a specialized bus, and also receive relatives after they received a special pass.
Residents of Arzamas-16, unlike many fellow citizens, learned what real socialism is.
The average salary, which was always paid on time, was about 200 rubles. The store shelves of the closed city were bursting with abundance: a dozen varieties of sausages and cheeses, red and black caviar, and other delicacies. Residents of neighboring Gorky never dreamed of this.
Now the nuclear center of Sarov, former Arzamas-16, is still a closed city.
Sverdlovsk-45
Another city “born by order” was built around plant No. 814, which was engaged in uranium enrichment. At the foot of Mount Shaitan, north of Sverdlovsk, Gulag prisoners and, according to some sources, Moscow students worked tirelessly for several years.
Sverdlovsk-45 was immediately conceived as a city, and therefore was built very compactly. It was distinguished by the orderliness and characteristic “squareness” of the buildings: it was impossible to get lost there. “Little Peter,” one of the city’s guests once put it, although to others his spiritual provincialism reminded him of patriarchal Moscow.
By Soviet standards, life was very good in Svedlovsk-45, although it was inferior in supply to the same Arzamas-16. There was never a crowd or flow of cars, and the air was always clean. Residents of the closed city constantly had conflicts with the population of neighboring Nizhnyaya Tura, who were jealous of their well-being. It happened that they would waylay townspeople leaving the watch and beat them, purely out of envy.
It is interesting that if one of the residents of Sverdlovsk-45 committed a crime, then there was no way back to the city, despite the fact that his family remained there.
The city's secret facilities often attracted the attention of foreign intelligence. So, in 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down not far from it, and its pilot was captured.
Svedlovsk-45, now Lesnoy, is still closed to casual visitors.
Peaceful
Mirny, originally a military town in the Arkhangelsk region, was transformed into a closed city in 1966 due to the nearby Plesetsk test cosmodrome. But the level of closure of Mirny turned out to be lower than that of many other Soviet ZATOs: the city was not fenced with barbed wire, and document checks were carried out only on access roads.
Thanks to its relative accessibility, there have been many cases where a lost mushroom picker or an illegal immigrant who had entered the city to buy a scarce commodity suddenly turned up near secret facilities. If no malicious intent was seen in the actions of such people, they were quickly released.
Many residents of Mirny call the Soviet period nothing more than a fairy tale. “A sea of toys, beautiful clothes and shoes,” one of the city residents recalls her visits to Children’s World. In Soviet times, Mirny acquired the reputation of a “city of strollers.” The fact is that every summer graduates of military academies came there, and in order to cling to a prosperous place, they quickly got married and had children.
Mirny still retains its status as a closed city.
Russians take a long time to harness, but travel quickly
Winston Churchill
USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), this form of statehood replaced the Russian Empire. The country began to be ruled by the proletariat, which achieved this right by carrying out the October Revolution, which was nothing more than an armed coup within the country, bogged down in its internal and external problems. Nicholas 2 played an important role in this state of affairs, who actually drove the country into a state of collapse.
Education of the country
The formation of the USSR took place on November 7, 1917 according to the new style. It was on this day that the October Revolution occurred, which overthrew the Provisional Government and the fruits of the February Revolution, proclaiming the slogan that power should belong to the workers. This is how the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was formed. It is extremely difficult to unambiguously assess the Soviet period of Russian history, since it was very controversial. Without a doubt, we can say that at this time there were both positive and negative aspects.
Capital Cities
Initially, the capital of the USSR was Petrograd, where the revolution actually took place, bringing the Bolsheviks to power. At first there was no talk of moving the capital, since the new government was too weak, but later this decision was made. As a result, the capital of the union of Soviet socialist republics was moved to Moscow. This is quite symbolic, since the creation of the Empire was conditioned by the transfer of the capital to Petrograd from Moscow.
The fact of moving the capital to Moscow today is associated with economics, politics, symbolism and much more. In fact, everything is much simpler. By moving the capital, the Bolsheviks saved themselves from other contenders for power in the conditions of the civil war.
Leaders of the country
The foundations of the power and prosperity of the USSR are connected with the fact that the country had relative stability in leadership. There was a clear, unified party line, and leaders who had been at the head of the state for a long time. It is interesting that the closer the country came to collapse, the more often the General Secretaries changed. In the early 80s, leapfrog began: Andropov, Ustinov, Chernenko, Gorbachev - the country did not have time to get used to one leader before another appeared in his place.
The general list of leaders is as follows:
- Lenin. Leader of the world proletariat. One of the ideological inspirers and implementers of the October Revolution. Laid the foundations of the state.
- Stalin. One of the most controversial historical figures. With all the negativity that the liberal press pours into this man, the fact is that Stalin raised industry from its knees, Stalin prepared the USSR for war, Stalin began to actively develop the socialist state.
- Khrushchev. He gained power after the assassination of Stalin, developed the country and managed to adequately resist the United States in the Cold War.
- Brezhnev. The era of his reign is called the era of stagnation. Many people mistakenly associate this with the economy, but there was no stagnation there - all indicators were growing. There was stagnation in the party, which was disintegrating.
- Andropov, Chernenko. They didn’t really do anything, they pushed the country towards collapse.
- Gorbachev. The first and last president of the USSR. Today everyone blames him for the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his main fault was that he was afraid to take active action against Yeltsin and his supporters, who actually staged a conspiracy and a coup.
Another interesting fact is that the best rulers were those who lived through the times of revolution and war. The same applies to party leaders. These people understood the price of a socialist state, the significance and complexity of its existence. As soon as people came to power who had never seen a war, much less a revolution, everything went to pieces.
Formation and achievements
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began its formation with the Red Terror. This is a sad page in Russian history, a huge number of people were killed by the Bolsheviks who sought to strengthen their power. The leaders of the Bolshevik Party, realizing that they could only retain power by force, killed everyone who could somehow interfere with the formation of the new regime. It is outrageous that the Bolsheviks, as the first people's commissars and people's police, i.e. those people who were supposed to keep order were recruited from thieves, murderers, homeless people, etc. In a word, all those who were disliked in the Russian Empire and tried in every possible way to take revenge on everyone who was somehow connected with it. The apogee of these atrocities was the murder of the royal family.
After the formation of the new system, the USSR, headed until 1924 Lenin V.I., got a new leader. He became Joseph Stalin. His control became possible after he won the power struggle with Trotsky. During Stalin's reign, industry and agriculture began to develop at a tremendous pace. Knowing about the growing power of Hitler's Germany, Stalin paid great attention to the development of the country's defense complex. In the period from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was involved in a bloody war with Germany, from which it emerged victorious. The Great Patriotic War cost the Soviet state millions of lives, but this was the only way to preserve the freedom and independence of the country. The post-war years were difficult for the country: hunger, poverty and rampant banditry. Stalin brought order to the country with a harsh hand.
International situation
After Stalin's death and until the collapse of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics developed dynamically, overcoming a huge number of difficulties and obstacles. The USSR was involved by the United States in an arms race that continues to this day. It was this race that could become fatal for all of humanity, since both countries were in constant confrontation as a result. This period of history was called the Cold War. Only the prudence of the leadership of both countries managed to keep the planet from a new war. And this war, taking into account the fact that both nations were already nuclear at that time, could have become fatal for the whole world.
The country's space program stands apart from the entire development of the USSR. It was a Soviet citizen who was the first to fly into space. He was Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. The United States responded to this manned space flight with its first manned flight to the Moon. But the Soviet flight into space, unlike the American flight to the moon, does not raise so many questions, and experts do not have a shadow of doubt that this flight really took place.
Population of the country
Every decade the Soviet country showed population growth. And this despite the multimillion-dollar casualties of the Second World War. The key to increasing the birth rate was the social guarantees of the state. The diagram below shows data on the population of the USSR in general and the RSFSR in particular.
You should also pay attention to the dynamics of urban development. The Soviet Union was becoming an industrialized country, whose population gradually moved from villages to cities.
By the time the USSR was formed, Russia had 2 cities with a population of over a million (Moscow and St. Petersburg). By the time the country collapsed, there were already 12 such cities: Moscow, Leningrad Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Perm. The union republics also had cities with a population of one million: Kyiv, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Donetsk.
USSR map
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed in 1991, when in White Forest the leaders of the Soviet republics announced their secession from the USSR. This is how all the Republics gained independence and independence. The opinion of the Soviet people was not taken into account. A referendum held just before the collapse of the USSR showed that the overwhelming majority of people declared that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics should be preserved. A handful of people, led by the Chairman of the CPSU Central Committee M.S. Gorbachev, decided the fate of the country and the people. It was this decision that plunged Russia into the harsh reality of the “nineties.” This is how the Russian Federation was born. Below is a map of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Economy
The economy of the USSR was unique. For the first time, the world was shown a system in which the focus was not on profit, but on public goods and employee incentives. In general, the economy of the Soviet Union can be divided into 3 stages:
- Before Stalin. We are not talking about any economics here - the revolution has just died down in the country, there is a war going on. Nobody seriously thought about economic development; the Bolsheviks held power.
- Stalin's economic model. Stalin implemented a unique idea of economics, which made it possible to raise the USSR to the level of the leading countries of the world. The essence of his approach is total labor and the correct “pyramid of distribution of funds.” The correct distribution of funds is when workers receive no less than managers. Moreover, the basis of the salary was bonuses for achieving results and bonuses for innovations. The essence of such bonuses is as follows: 90% was received by the employee himself, and 10% was divided between the team, workshop, and supervisors. But the worker himself received the main money. That's why there was a desire to work.
- After Stalin. After Stalin's death, Khrushchev overturned the economic pyramid, after which a recession and a gradual decline in growth rates began. Under Khrushchev and after him, an almost capitalist model was formed, when managers received much more workers, especially in the form of bonuses. Bonuses were now divided differently: 90% to the boss and 10% to everyone else.
The Soviet economy is unique because before the war it was able to actually rise from the ashes after the civil war and revolution, and this happened in just 10-12 years. Therefore, when today economists from different countries and journalists insist that it is impossible to change the economy in one election term (5 years), they simply do not know history. Stalin's two five-year plans turned the USSR into a modern power that had a foundation for development. Moreover, the basis for all this was laid in 2-3 years of the first five-year plan.
I also suggest looking at the diagram below, which presents data on the average annual growth of the economy as a percentage. Everything we talked about above is reflected in this diagram.
Union republics
The new period of the country's development was due to the fact that several republics existed within the framework of the single state of the USSR. Thus, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had the following composition: Russian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belorussian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR SSR, Estonian SSR.