Soviet Union

Introduction
The Russian Revolution
- Late tsarist Russia
- The February Revolution
- Lenin and the Bolsheviks
- The Bolshevik coup
- The Bolshevik dictatorship
- Brest-Litovsk
- “War Communism”
- The Civil War and the creation of the U.S.S.R.
- The Communist International
- Culture and religion under communism
- Foreign policy
- The communist regime in crisis: 1920–21
- Lenin’s disillusionment
- The struggle for succession
The U.S.S.R. from the death of Lenin to the death of Stalin
- The NEP and the defeat of the Left
- Toward the “second Revolution”: 1927–30
- The Party versus the peasants
- Industrialization, 1929–34
- Internal, 1930–37
- Foreign policy, 1928–40
- Into the war: 1940–45
- Postwar
The U.S.S.R. from 1953 to 1991
- The Khrushchev era
  - The transition
  - The 20th Party Congress and after
  - Nationality policy
  - The cultural Thaw
  - Economic problems
  - Khrushchev’s fall
- The Brezhnev era
  - Collective leadership
  - Economic policy
  - Cultural retrenchment
  - Nationality policy
  - Foreign policy
- The Interregnum: Andropov and Chernenko
- The Gorbachev era
  - Gorbachev’s succession
  - Economic and social reforms
  - Political restructuring
  - Economic policy
  - Foreign policy
  - The attempted coup

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1922–91

Map of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) showing physical features such as mountain ranges, seas, and major rivers, along with the boundaries of union republics and autonomous republics. Union republics are outlined in red and labeled, while autonomous republics are shaded in orange and identified by name. Neighboring countries and bodies of water are also labeled.

Nicholas II of Russia stands facing forward in a double-breasted military uniform and cap, with a full beard and mustache.

Map of Europe and parts of Asia showing Soviet territorial gains after 1922, highlighted in orange, including regions such as the Baltic states, parts of Finland, Poland, Romania, and territories in East Prussia, South Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. Green shading marks Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe, and striped areas indicate temporary Soviet occupation. The map also shows 1923 borders and subsequent boundary changes.

Operation Barbarossa: Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union

Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin stands holding a paper and speaks at a table with microphones, while Andrei Gromyko sits beside him, during a 1970 press conference in Moscow.

Mikhail Gorbachev seated in a formal setting, wearing a dark pinstripe suit and striped tie with a Soviet lapel pin, attending a meeting in Paris, October 1985.

Mikhail Gorbachev's legacy: What are glasnost and perestroika?

At a Glance

Soviet demonstration

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics summary

Soviet Union

historical state, Eurasia

Also known as: Russia, Sovetsky Soyuz, Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, U.S.S.R., Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(Show More)

Written by

John C. DewdneyAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 10, 2026 •History

Soviet Union, former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22–1991) stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (S.S.R.’s): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The capital was Moscow, then and now the capital of Russia. During the period of its existence, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...

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