The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics^{[lower-alpha 21]} (USSR),^{[lower-alpha 22]} commonly known as the Soviet Union,^{[lower-alpha 23]} 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.^{[lower-alpha 24]} 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.^{[lower-alpha 25]} 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.

Quick Facts Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicsСоюз Советских Социалистических РеспубликSoyuz Sovyetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, Capitaland largest city ...

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Союз Советских Социалистических Республик
Soyuz Sovyetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik^{[lower-alpha 1]}^[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^{[lower-alpha 2]}
"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

Official languages

Russian^{[lower-alpha 3]}

Recognised regional languages

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^{[lower-alpha 4]}

• 1924–1953

Joseph Stalin^{[lower-alpha 5]}

• 1953^{[lower-alpha 6]}

Georgy Malenkov^{[lower-alpha 7]}

• 1953–1964

Nikita Khrushchev^{[lower-alpha 8]}

• 1964–1982

Leonid Brezhnev^{[lower-alpha 9]}

• 1982–1984

Yuri Andropov

• 1984–1985

Konstantin Chernenko

• 1985–1991 (last)

Mikhail Gorbachev^{[lower-alpha 10]}

• 1991^{[lower-alpha 11]}

Gennady Yanayev (acting, disputed)^{[lower-alpha 12]}

Head of State

• 1922–1946 (first)

Mikhail Kalinin^{[lower-alpha 13]}

• 1988–1991 (last)

Mikhail Gorbachev^{[lower-alpha 14]}

Premier

• 1922–1924 (first)

Vladimir Lenin^{[lower-alpha 15]}

• 1991 (last)

Ivan Silayev^{[lower-alpha 16]}

Legislature

Congress of Soviets
(1922–1936)^{[lower-alpha 17]}
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

• 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^{[lower-alpha 18]}

• Formal dissolution

26 December 1991^{[lower-alpha 19]}

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)

right

+7

.su^{[lower-alpha 20]}

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.

Close

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),^{[lower-alpha 26]} 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 subordinate Soviet 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 forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin 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.