Soviet Union

By: Eddie & Juan11-23-13Period 3

Background

• Name: Soviet Union or USSR (Soviet Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

• Founded in 1917 and took 5 years to unify• Established in Eurasia between 1922-1991• Capital was Moscow• Governed by a single party state known as

the Communist Party.• Wanted a country that is classless, stateless,

and has productions run by its own people.

Leaders

• Russian peasantry got sick of the monarchy ruled by Czar Nicholas II.

• Vladimir Lenin found the Soviet Union with his Bolshevik Party.

• The country was then ruled as only one country (Communist Party)

• Lenin died in 1924 and was replaced by Josef Stalin

Rule of Stalin

• Soviet Union was in a terrible time• Millions forced into labor camps

called gulags• Stalin’s actions killed more than 60

million.• His 5 Year Plans was later a

foundation for World War II

World War II

• Signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany before war began

• Germany invaded and treaty was ignored• Allies with France, US, and UK against

Germany, Italy, Japan (Axis Powers)• Hitler’s forces were eventually beaten

Iron Curtain

• An ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe

• Lasted from the end of World War II to the end of Cold War (1945-1991)

• East side had countries that were influenced by the former Soviet Union

• Both sides developed international economics and military alliances

Space Race

• Soviet Union and the US competed with each other to see who could achieve more space “firsts” than the other

• Soviet was the first to launched the satellite and the first man into Space

• US had the first man on the Moon

Cold War

• The contributors to the defeat of Nazi Germany decided to split Germany and Berlin

• Hostility erupted between US’s capitalist and Soviet Union’s communism ideas

• Berlin wall was built to avoid all communism ideas from contact

• Cuba nearly started a nuclear war• Berlin walls were taken down and Soviet

Union accepted the fact that communism doesn’t work

Collapse

• Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 • Citizens preferred capitalism• Moscow stopped controlling several

states• Russian Federation and the West

have a strained relation with each other

Key Points

• Soviet Union with communism ideas established in 1922

• Reign of Stalin killed millions of people• World War II began, going against Axis

Powers• Iron Curtain divided Europe• Space Race began between US and USSR• Cold War almost made a nuclear war

breakout• Soviet Union collapsed in 1991