Questions tagged [soviet-union]
The Soviet Union or USSR (1922–1991) was a socialist state in Eurasia. After the 1924 death of founding leader Lenin (who led the October Revolution in 1917), Stalin established a planned economy and suppressed political opposition. After World War II, the Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, opposing the USA in the Cold War. 1980s leader Gorbachev attempted reform with perestroika and glasnost but the country collapsed in 1991.
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Did the US stop using the U-2 spy plane for USSR after the shoot-down event in 1960?
The shoot-down of Powers is a famous event in the history of modern military.
Did US stop using U-2 afterwards on USSR?
It is known that this event stimulated the US spy satellite program.
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Were there any female soldiers in the Soviet army who partook in the mass rapes in Eastern Germany?
Were there female Soviet soldiers that partook in the mass rapes in Eastern Germany?
The only source I found on any reaction of female soldiers on the mass rapes was in a testimony of a veteran:
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Is Wikipedia's identification of Lebed an error?
Speaking of the Alexander Yakovlev's conflict with the hardcore communists, the Wikipedia article says:
In the early 1980s, Yakovlev returned to the Soviet Union, and became a prominent supporter of ...
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(Why) did the PRC not [ever] recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the USSR?
I'm aware that the relationship between the PRC and the USSR was rocky at times, but it seems a little odd the PRC never recognized the three Baltic states as part of the USSR, that is according to ...
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Did Comecon [even] fail to standardize container sizes?
This is from a 1983 NYT article:
Other obstacles to the bloc's growth include a wider railway gauge in the Soviet Union than that in most other countries of Eastern Europe, the absence of modern ...
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Did Stalin describe Beria as his Himmler?
The Wikipedia article on Lavrentiy Beria states:
At the Yalta Conference, Stalin introduced Beria to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt as “my Himmler”.
However, the only reference given there is an ...
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How were Soviet-Afghanistan War casualties distributed between the Soviet Republics? Were they disproportionately non-Russian?
It's frequently asserted that the impact of the Soviet-Afghanistan War disproportionately fell on Soviet Republics outside Russia, as non-Russians were overrepresented in the Red Army. The resultant ...
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Did Western governments object to repression of western communists during Stalinism? [closed]
I am interested in the repression of western communists (traveling to or residing in the USSR) during the Stalin era. How extensive was it? What were the justifications from the Soviet point of view? ...
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Did the USSR attempt to broker peace negotiations between Japan and USA?
I ran across a remark in the German Wikipedia, in the article about the Tokyo War tribunals. They discuss the points 35 and 36 of the charges (waging war against the USSR) :
Von besonderem Interesse ...
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To what extent did Russian bourgeoisie and capitalism continued to exist through the Soviet rule in the USSR? [closed]
During the Communist rule in Russia, the industry and land were mostly nationalized, and many of the previous landowners or industrialist were either exiled or physically exterminated. However, the ...
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Why did the Patrice Lumumba University eject Carlos the Jackal?
According to Michael Ray,
Carlos the Jackal, byname of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, (born October 12, 1949, Caracas, Venezuela), Venezuelan militant who orchestrated some of the highest-profile terrorist ...
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How much did the production of the Tsar Bomba cost to the Soviets?
The Tsar Bomba, also known as the "King of Bombs," was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. Developed and tested by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, this ...
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Was the KGB, at least after 1975, actually an effective institution? [closed]
There were several major events that the KGB either failed to predict or misjudged, e.g., it
underestimated the Solidarity movement in Poland
failed to predict the fall of the Berlin Wall
did not ...
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When did McFaul & Sechin first meet?
According to David Remnick,
In 1991, McFaul was in St. Petersburg, trying to organize a seminar on local government. He found himself doing business with a man from the mayor’s office named Igor ...
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Who said, "Freedom to do what?"
I read a quote recently, it was either Lenin or Stalin, one of their aides said, "Now, comrade, we will have freedom!" and Lenin (or Stalin) replied, "Freedom to do what?" The ...
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Identification of Stalingrad memorabilia medallions
Some time in the 1970s, an academic from Riga, Latvia, visited my grandfather (a physicist) in the UK and gave these Stalingrad "medals" (for want of a better word) to his sons. 50 years on, ...
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How did US, and the Western world's people react when USSR suddenly became an ally during WWII?
Before the USSR's participation in WWII with the West, it had a non-aggression pact with Germany, invaded Poland, and is basically the super-villain of the Red Scare. But suddenly, after USSR became ...
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Did Nazi propaganda about the USSR change after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact?
I'm well-aware that Soviet propaganda completely changed its orientation after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, starting a much more positive portrayal of the Nazis in many aspects up until the German ...
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Was Lassalism persecuted in the USSR during the Stalin period?
Background
Ferdinand Lassalle was the founder of the General German Workers Association (ADAV), which is considered as the first organized labor movement (at least in Germany) and would later evolve ...
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What's the proxy war that the USSR spent most resources on?
Off the top of my head it might be Afghanistan, but I'm not totally sure despite direct troop participation. They also sent substantial aid to Vietnam, North Korea, and various Arab countries fighting ...
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What led to the abandonment of the word "canton" for RSFSR subdivisions?
The RSFSR had "cantons" as subdivisions of some of its constituent Republics in the 1920s. What led to the abandonment of this term, later on? (I'm guessing the word (which is probably a ...
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Are there other examples of sustainable propaganda besides USSR: several generations, several leaders
From my understanding of the history of USSR, it was successful enough to dominate in the ideology about events of 1910s-1920s on its territory. In particular, the official party doctrine, the books, ...
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Where can I find statistics on Soviet education of foreign students and in foreign countries?
I'm looking for statistics on soviet education of the foreign students and in foreign countries. In particular, I am trying to find numbers on:
How many foreigners were educated in Soviet Union (e.g. ...
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Did Soviet propaganda assert that the Jews lived badly/poorly in Israel?
To my knowledge, there was a lot of anti-Israel propaganda that emphasized
Israeli militarism.
Suppression of the Arab locals.
Israel being a puppet of the US.
Israel being friendly with the former ...
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Why would this word have been an unsuitable name in Communist Poland? Is it because it's a racial slur?
In Marek Hłasko's The Graveyard (set in communist-occupied Poland) there is a scene where, in a political party meeting one of the party members (Nowak) is forced to change the name of his dog. This ...
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Is "Lenin’s Testament" authentic?
Context
In 1922, the Communist Party was firmly in control of the USSR (or at least the Russia part of it), and Vladimir Lenin was the undisputed leader of the Party. Lenin was seriously ill and had ...
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Why did Women's Day never really catch on in the US, even though it started there?
The roots of International Women's Day (March 8th) go all the way back to New York City in 1909 and the Socialist Party of America. However, from what I have learned the International Women's Day is ...
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What are the grenades and artillery cited in this testimony?
In the testimony of a Soviet officer of the raid on Tatsinskaya cited by Wikipedia, the Soviet officer speaks of two elements faced by Soviet tanks:
Enemy artillery
Germans "launching grenades [...
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Why was the Budjak annexed to Ukraine in 1940?
In 1940, the USSR pressured Romania to surrender its eastern-most province of Bessarabia. The majority of it was given to the newly formed Moldavian SSR, but the Budjak was made part of Ukraine ...
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Are there some concrete examples of the pre-1962 Soviet complaints in re CORONA spy satellites?
According to Pat Norris' book Spies in the Sky (p. 111)
until the first successful Zenit flight in summer 1962 the Soviets complained bitterly to America about the CORONA flights.
However he does ...
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Why did the Soviets not shoot down US spy satellites during the Cold War?
The USSR was not happy with unauthorised overflights, shooting down everything it could, from spy balloons to U-2s. Also, despite repeated US proposals, something like the Open Skies treaty was only ...
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When was the official cover of Project Genetrix abandoned? Did the Soviets show (or threaten to show) any of the balloons' equipment?
I've read the Wikipedia page on Project_Genetrix (and one of its sources) but one aspect that's not clear to me is when the official cover the project was abandoned. According to the declassified ...
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What was the true extent of German losses at Prokhorovka?
Recently I came accross what seemed to be a new thesis about the battle of Prokhorovka. I read the book Kursk of the German author and historian Roman Töppel, who explains alongside other "new ...
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Why did the Red Army change uniforms in 1943?
In 1943, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Rabóče-krestʹjánskaja Krásnaja ármija, RKKA) of the Soviet Union decided to adopt shoulder boards instead of collar tabs for rank identification. This is ...
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Why did Pakistan get involved in Soviet-Afghan war from 1979 to 1989?
Soviet-Afghan War
Afghan-Pakistan Relations >> Contemporary Era
I was reading this Wikipedia article and couldn't understand why Pakistan got itself involved in Soviet-Afghan War from 1979 to ...
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What are the reasons for the failure of Soviet Union at agriculture? [closed]
The failure at agriculture is known to everybody. The Soviet Union became one of the main importer of grain whereas till sixties was one the main exporters. Does anyone know more on this or can ...
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Were there any recorded accidents in the USSR (after 1945) involving gas pipelines?
Are there any recorded accidents in the USSR (after 1945) involving gas pipelines? Was there any suspicion that some of them might have been an act of sabotage?
I am not asking about a particular gas ...
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How did the Soviet press talk about the opposing forces (mujahideens) during the Soviet-Afghan war?
I've watched and read a fair bit of material on the Soviet war in Afghanistan, but this [in my humble experience] is a topic that's not touched upon much if at all in Western coverage of that war. For ...
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Which Soviet resolution rejected "laughter for laughter's sake"?
George Counts (1949):
During the past two and one-half years the Central Committee has issued a series of "ideological resolutions" ... These resolutions not only reject "art for art's ...
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Where can I read the 1966 letters opposing Stalin's rehabilitation?
On 14 February 1966, 25 notable Soviet scientists and cultural figures sent a letter to CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev urging against the rehabilitation of Joseph Stalin. Another similar ...
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What is the origin of the claim of the 27 million Soviets dead in WWII? [closed]
All throughout the existence of the USSR, there was always the claim that the number of USSR citizens who died in WWII was 20 million.
Lately, I am seeing a persistent claim that that number was 27 ...
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Were the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan officially volunteers?
I always thought they were conscripts, who were ordered to go there, but recently saw a mention that they all were volunteers. So, I wonder whether they signed any paper of consent before being sent ...
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What heavy industrial work, if any, was done in USSR 1923-1927?
In the USSR, the first five-year Plan began in 1928. The Revolution and Civil War ended in 1922 Oct (the "main phase" according to wikipedia). That's, coincidentally, a five-year gap.
So I ...
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What was the extent of Kohl's government opposition to the independence of Ukraine?
There's a (paywalled) piece in Der Spiegel summarized as
In 1991, the Helmut Kohl government wanted to prevent the eastward expansion of NATO and the independence of Ukraine - this is shown by ...
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Could the leader of the Soviet Union have been removed legally?
The list of Soviet Union's leaders shows that usually leaders remained in office until their death, I'd like to know:
What was the legal status of the Soviet Union's leader? How was he elected or ...
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Were there written (draft) Soviet proposals that would have effectively restricted the US navy from (parts of) Europe?
I'm pretty sure that if one trawls the Soviet propaganda, one can find something asking Americans to bugger off from Europe altogether (ok, on a more serious note--Gorbatchev did propose the ...
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Why was Stalin OK with the UN's headquaters being placed in the US?
It feels like Stalin should have objected to this because this gives the US some extra influence. Why not insist on placing the headquaters somewhere more neutral?
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Did (other) PRC or Soviet leaders give 3+ hour congress speeches?
Fidel Castro is well-known for giving 4- or even 7-hour speeches. Xi Jinping gave a 3h 20min communist party congress speech. How does the latter compare to typical PRC or Soviet leaders speeches at ...
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How did the accounting and capital organization system work in communist countries like the USSR? Did ideology justify or undermine the system? [closed]
It's difficult to see how the leaders could have kept track of such a complex system, in such a big country as the Soviet Union (USSR), without recognizing the existence of capital relations, the ...
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Was there a Cold War era Russian safe haven city for politicians and scientists?
I remember learning about a Russian city where, during the Cold War, top politicians and scientists and their families would be evacuated to. It would have existed as a normal city outside of Cold War ...
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