All Questions
Tagged with soviet or soviet-union
569 questions
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What happened to people's houses during the Soviets' reign?
With the adoption of Communism in the Soviet Union, what happened to private property and those who occupied it? Did landowners (including the oligarchy and simpler land owners) retain any rights to "...
- 41
3
votes
3
answers
5k
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Income versus living expense in USSR during the 1980's and 1990's
My understanding of life in the USSR was that both the salaries and living costs were more or less state controlled and fixed with very little variation.
I wanted to ask about the sizes of peoples ...
- 286
-4
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2
answers
390
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Was there a "European Balance of Power Strategy" for Anglo-American interests in between 1925 and 1935?
There is a meme in the US about British meddling in Europe. It says, basically, that the British didn't want a single power to dominate the continent, so it would support the second strongest power to ...
- 7,519
3
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1
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789
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Did the Soviets have an alternate source of oil in Iran during World War II?
Much has been made of the fact that the area around the Caspian Sea was oil rich. Specifically, west of the Caspian Sea, with Soviet oilfields at Maikop, Grozny, and Baku, which were threatened by the ...
- 104k
12
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2
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889
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Where and how did the allies scrounge enough food for the Soviets AND the British?
In many ways Hitler's push into the Soviet Union was similar to Napoleon's into Imperial Russia. Britain was happy a war was fought abroad, not on home soil and this sentiment was shared by the US. ...
- 807
8
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1
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586
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Participation of Jewish Red Army Soldiers in Rape/Atrocities in Germany?
I recall reading but not where I read it that soldiers of Jewish extraction or actual Jews tended to avoid the excesses of the Red Army once German civilians were encountered. Is there any evidence of ...
- 3,801
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4
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2k
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How does Louise Bryant's assessment of how the Soviet Union would fall hold up at the beginning of the 21st century?
Louise Bryant, an American bohemian spent six months in Russia during the turbulent times that presaged the October Revolution - and which she wrote up as Six Red Months in Russia. In her conclusion ...
- 2,610
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2
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709
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Political opposition groups in the Russian revolution?
Ok, so I do understand that there were the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. In school we learned that Soviets consisted of the peasantry, the industrial workers, and the soldiers. But later on, the ...
- 121
11
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2
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821
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Were children in Soviet Union commonly expected to thank Stalin for food, even when he was not present?
I recently read an article in a Finnish newspaper about the persecution of Finnish people in Soviet Union during 1930's.
According to the article (here in Finnish), most of the victims were either ...
user10356
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3
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3k
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GULAG vs the US prison system [closed]
From my memory the GULAG was abolished, because it was not economical. The prison guards cost much more than the inmates produced and were corrupt as a rule. Yet, for decades, we can read about the ...
- 807
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3
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839
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How did the Soviet Union officially justify the need for foreign travel and emigration restrictions?
As discussed on this question the Soviet Union heavily regulated the travel and emigration of its citizens to foreign countries, with the border heavily fortified with machine guns in some areas to ...
- 4,375
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5
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13k
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Was the Wehrmacht a mechanized army?
I read random descriptions of Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, and I got the impression that besides tanks, the armies carried with them millions of horses and that the bulk of the soldiers were ...
- 459
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2
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7k
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In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
The Cheka was the secret police of the USSR. Wikipedia maintains a list of the Cheka and its subsequent renamings:
1917: Cheka
1922: GPU
1923: OGPU
1934: NKVD
1941: NKGB
1941: NKVD (again)
1943: NKGB ...
- 17.3k
3
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2
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218
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What was the first fossil fuel pipeline in the Soviet Union?
I recently searched for any pipelines that might have existed in the Soviet Union before WW2. I did not find any. I also looked into the 5-year plans starting in 1928 and did not find any mention of a ...
- 17.3k
7
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2
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1k
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How big were the two German pockets at the end of the battle of Stalingrad?
I've often read about Stalingrad, but one piece of info eludes me. At the time of their surrender, the Germans were reduced to 2 'pockets'. How big were they in terms of area?
- 71
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2
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3k
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Was there an embargo of Soviet gold in 1932, and was grain the primary exportable good?
In this article, the author and leader of "The Great Fatherland Party" Nikolai Starikov, claims one of the causes of the Holodomor may have been that the USSR was unable to export anything other than ...
- 979
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2
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896
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What kind of ID Number, if any, did the Soviets institute for all their citizens?
In the United States, every citizen has a social security number for income purposes. It's a 9-digit number. This began in 1935, though I was surprised to learn from wikipedia that until 1986, most ...
- 17.3k
8
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1
answer
980
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During WW2, did the USSR re-gauge railways in conquered areas?
Basically, Germany uses 1435 mm gauge train track while Russia used 1524 mm. I recently came across this question about the Germans re-gauging the track that they could during their invasion of Russia....
- 17.3k
2
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1
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457
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Does anyone know the name of the student who died during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956? If not, why not?
I'm reading up on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and it seems that if that one student hadn't died, the revolution never would have started.
The revolt began as a student demonstration, which ...
- 581
4
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2
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386
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Why did the Hungarians protest and react so much about Khrushchevs secret speech? [closed]
I know that Khrushchev made a secret speech but I don't really understand what the speech was about and why it made the Hungarians so angry to protest.
I know that the protest was about the lack of ...
- 57
14
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2
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2k
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What did Yuri Gagarin do while waiting for his ride?
So I found out from a post on skeptics:SE that when Yuri Gagarin landed from being the first human in space during the Vostok 1 mission, he parachuted down and landed in the Soviet Union near the ...
- 7,519
4
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1
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2k
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Did the USSR pledge support to Czechoslovakia before the Munich Agreement?
Did the USSR pledge support to Czechoslovakia before the Munich Agreement (1938 Sep 29 - 30)? If so, what kind of support did it pledge?
The reason I ask is because I recently came across this ...
- 17.3k
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9
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5k
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Who taught Russian in Eastern-bloc satellite countries?
After the USSR gained many satellites countries in central/eastern Europe in 1945, Russian became obligatory at school. It seems those Russian courses were highly unpopular and only a small minority ...
- 5,344
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3
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682
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What was the reason for the ubiquitous pigeon farms in Soviet cities?
They were in just any district.
- 32.7k
2
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0
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156
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Who was the general Ivan Tscherniakowski? [closed]
I have been reading Ian Kershaw's Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis. At a certain point, he writes: “On 16 October, the ‘3rd White Russian Front’, led by General Ivan Tscherniakowski, had broken through into ...
- 4,590
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3
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632
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How did Kolmogorov help protect Moscow in WW2?
I have been reading this blog post which mentions that:
during World War II Kolmogorov applied his mathematical gifts to
artillery problems, helping to protect Moscow from German bombardment.
So,...
- 161
12
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4
answers
1k
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Is there documentary evidence that Stalin intended/prepared to fight Germany after the Nazi-Soviet pact?
It's often said the peace was only both sides buying time. There's ample evidence Hitler always intended to break the pact. Did Stalin?
Suvorov's thesis that Stalin was preparing for an offensive ...
- 14k
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2
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1k
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Why did India sign the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation?
India had a policy of non-alignment during the cold war. But just before war broke out between India and Pakistan in December 1971, India signed the treaty in August 1971.
What were the reasons that ...
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5
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5k
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Was Russia the only country in WWII that succeeded in expansionist war aims?
Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan all initiated combat against peaceful countries for the clear purpose of territorial expansion. Of these only Russia ended the war with more territory than it started ...
- 421
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3
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14k
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Did Yuri Gagarin really hear a ticking sound during his journey into outer space?
In the movie, Another Earth, Rhoda told John that Yuri Gagarin heard a ticking sound during his journey into outer space. He couldn't find the source, and eventually came to love that ticking sound.
...
- 161
4
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3
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509
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Did the Soviet Union investigate greenhouses in the early 1920's?
The Soviet Union had major food problems in the 1920's, what with the civil war and an attempt at forced requisitions. Their solution was the NEP, which used grain taxes instead of total requisition, ...
- 17.3k
9
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3
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1k
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Why was the capital of Ukraine moved in 1934?
The Russian Revolution is fairly famous for moving the capital from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to Moscow. But I was surprised to learn that the capital of Ukraine was Kharkiv until it was switched to ...
- 17.3k
3
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1
answer
323
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Did Moscow have natural gas in the early era of the Soviet Union (1917 - 1930)?
Did apartments in Moscow have natural gas in the years 1917 to 1930? If so, were they supplied by utility pipelines underground?
I am curious because underground utility pipes are expensive to build ...
- 17.3k
4
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1
answer
209
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How was it possible for the Ukrainian SSR to be one of the founding members of the UN if it was basically a Province of the USSR? [closed]
This one thing was always troubling me. How and why could the Belorussian and Ukranian SSRs gain so much of theoretical autonomy so as to have their own autonomous Foreign Policies while other states ...
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3
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What is this SSR of the USSR in 1923?
USSR was created Dec 30 1922. I could only find a list of 4 SSR's: Russian, Belorussian, Ukranian, and Transcaucasian. The Central Asian region was largely a part of Russian SSR, or RSFSR at this time....
- 17.3k
6
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3
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542
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Is there evidence people outside USSR were involved in attacks, within Soviet borders, between c.1928 and Stalin's death in 1953?
As is well known, the Soviet system under Stalin confected countless false reports of sabotage, insurrection, and things of a like kind. It also committed innumerable acts of oppression and violence ...
- 14k
29
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7
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14k
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Why did Stalin and the Soviet leadership have Leon Trotsky assassinated?
Leon Trotsky was killed with a mountaineering ice axe in Mexico. The method of murder chosen was interesting. If he was a political fugitive in far off Mexico, why bother dealing with him? What about ...
- 659
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2
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1k
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What was the lowest available population to the Soviet Union in WW2?
According to official census data, Soviet Union had around 168 million people in 1939, and around 196 million in 1941 (annexation of Baltic states and part of Poland). Germany (Third Reich) had around ...
- 11.3k
1
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1
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458
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Allied assistance of the Soviets during WW2 [closed]
Why did the Allies share Ultra intel with the Soviets about the imminent Battle of Kursk, and why did the US support the USSR through "Lend Lease".
I understand that at the time it wasn't very clear ...
- 245
3
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2
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719
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Did the Chief of Soviet General Staff really say this?
The quotation, appearing in a 1992 New York Times opinions article, is as follows:
"We cannot equal the quality of U.S. arms for a generation or two. Modern military power is based upon technology,...
- 139
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2
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774
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Was Brezhnev's rule an "era of stagnation" [closed]
Reading my IB textbooks, they say Brezhnev's rule was an "era of stagnation". However they are only able to cite evidence of economic stagnation when claiming that would require "stagnation" in ...
- 600
3
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2
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415
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What was the basic structure of power in the CPSU and how were the politicians at each level chosen?
I'm aware of the very-basics like the General Secretary, the Politburo and Central Commitee, but could someone give me a simple rundown of the lower levels to the bottom? Also, I'm particularly ...
- 181
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3
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2k
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What do Marxists mean by "class basis of law"? As seen in linked article
R. Judson Mitchell's article The Brezhnev Doctrine and Communist Ideology uses the term "class basis of law".
I'm not sure but I think:
Because this concept almost always appears hand in ...
- 600
3
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1
answer
633
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Did Joseph Stalin ever attempt to assassinate or launch a coup against Josip Broz Tito?
Did Joseph Stalin ever attempt to assassinate or launch a coup against Josip Broz Tito? If so, which of these coup or assassination attempts almost succeeded? How did Tito respond to Stalin's ...
- 1,113
5
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1
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497
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What was the Soviet response to accusations surrounding the Lin Biao incident?
According to the official Chinese narrative, Lin was planning to topple Mao with Soviet military help. When this failed, he tried to escape to the USSR.
Did the Soviets bother to respond to these ...
- 14k
20
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1
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4k
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When did the Soviets get the ability to drop a nuclear bomb on the United States?
I'm researching the history of the Cold War and I have the impression that the Soviets failed to develop a bomber capable of flying from Russia to the United States until 1956, when the Tu-95 bomber ...
user23839
2
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2
answers
595
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Is there evidence that Stalin stopped religious persecution during WW2? [closed]
I read in some articles that during WW2 the Soviets reopened the churches and allowed their people to do their religious practices.
Is there any evidence to confirm such things?
If yes up to which ...
- 1,061
-1
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3
answers
3k
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Is Russia a direct successor of the USSR? Could the USSR be considered to continue existing under a different name? [closed]
Consider this: before WWII, France controlled a vast number of colonies around the globe. They have since lost most of their territory, however their official name remains as French Republic and they'...
- 4,375
1
vote
1
answer
162
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Did any intelligence agents defect to the Cheka before 1921? [closed]
Did any intelligence agents defect to the Cheka (USSR secret police) before 1921? Does that have any historical precedent? If not, 1926.
Either former Czarist agents, or spies working for other ...
user15163
3
votes
1
answer
4k
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How much impact did US Policy of containment have?
This will border dangerously close to a discussion rather than question/answer, but I would like to know whether there exists any consensus regarding the effects of the United States' policy of ...
- 31