Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetskiy Soyuz), officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik), was a federal socialist state in Northern Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991.
Pronunciation
- Russian: [sɐˈvʲetskʲɪj sɐˈjus]
- English: /ˈsoʊviːt ˈjuːnjən/
Etymology
The term "Soviet Union" derives from "Soviet" which is derived from the Russian word "sovét" (совет) meaning "council", "assembly", "advice", ultimately deriving from the proto-Slavic verbal stem of "vět-iti", related to Slavic "věst" ("news"), English "wise", the root in "ad-vis-or" (which came to English through French), or the Dutch "weten" (to know; cf. "wetenschap" science).
Related Terms
The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government which had replaced Tsar Nicholas II. This led to the Russian Civil War, which was won by the Red Army. The USSR was established in 1922 with the union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics, each ruled by local Bolshevik parties.
Despite initial ideological support for collectivism and rejection of capitalism, the Soviet Union continued to have a centralized economy with extensive plans for economic growth and development. It had a diverse multiethnic and multicultural society, with over 100 distinct ethnic groups. The USSR was one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possessed the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leading to the emergence of the Russian Federation and 14 other independent countries. The period of its existence from 1922 to 1991 is often referred to as the Soviet era in history.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Soviet Union
- Wikipedia's article - Soviet Union
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