The largest cities of the USSR. About the population of the USSR

In the Scandinavian sagas, Ancient Rus', which had not yet experienced the pogrom of the Tatar-Mongol invasion, was called Gardarikia - the country of cities. Nowadays the Soviet Union is rightly called the country of new cities. Young cities are growing next to veterans - Novgorod, Kiev, Moscow, Minsk, Yerevan, Samarkand and the like. Now more than half of all cities in the USSR were formed after 1917. Their emergence occurred in two ways: by maturing from rural settlements and by creating them in a clean place.

Cities that arose from scratch began from scratch. Their names - Magnitogorsk, Komsomolsk, Norilsk, Angarsk, Bratsk, Rustavi, Sumgait... - sound like a hymn to selfless work.

The emergence of new cities is natural, since it is associated with the development of new areas and new resources. After all, old cities most often cannot be miners due to their distance from mineral deposits.

In addition, they make it difficult for city planners to act. With the help of new standard cities, we seem to be looking into the future.

The birth of a city is a significant event. Previously, when laying it, they fired from cannons. Nowadays, the custom of installing a memorial stone with an inscription in honor of this has become part of life. Many cities that arose during the pre-war five-year plans began with tents. For example, the monument to the first tent erected in Magnitogorsk reminds us of this. These are different times: the cities of Novaya Kakhovka and Volzhsky immediately received major development, Zelenograd near Moscow does not know barracks.

There are exactly 11 years between the two population censuses - 1959 and 1970. During this time, 274 new names appeared on the lists of cities. Dozens of settlements, having passed the stage of an urban-type settlement, as if successfully completing their “candidate's experience”, entered the ranks of cities. The names of some “newcomers” sometimes betray their rural origin: Sergeevka, Zimogorye, Nosovka, Alekseevka, Berezovka, Snegirevka, Chernushka, Zhukovka, Kovylkino, Shemonaikha... Other of the emerging cities took care of new names: Suetikha became Biryusinsky, and the workers’ village The Mikhailovsky farm is the town of Druzhba.

Among the new cities there are also those experiencing a rebirth. For example, quiet, green Oster in the Chernigov region in 1961 again became a city, and its first birth dates back to 1008; then, under Vladimir Monomakh, it was known as a formidable fortress. But perhaps the most famous of these cities is Surgut, which was in the 16th century. an active city on the main route from the capital Siberian Tobolsk to the east to the legendary Mangazeya, Tomsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk and which played an outstanding role in the era of the annexation of Siberia. But already from the middle of the 17th century. it discovered its economic irrelevance and two centuries later ceased to be a city. In our time, with the discovery of West Siberian oil, Surgut has bright prospects. The Ust-Balyk - Tyumen - Omsk oil pipeline begins nearby; the railway from the city of Tobolsk comes here, making its way through forest thickets and swamps.

Among the young cities there are also those that grew out of ancient industrial centers, which for decades, and sometimes centuries, lived as a factory or factory. One of them is Abaza, which became a city in 1966. This is an old village that arose in 1867 at the Abakan Metallurgical Plant. His name Abaza was made up of the first syllables of the name “Abakan Plant”.

The professions of the new cities are diverse. Most of them begin their lives in industrial centers. Among them there are especially many so-called resource cities, the location of which is determined by the geography of resources. Therefore, some of them climb high into the mountains, others cling to the sea coasts, and others bravely walk into the taiga or into the sultry desert.

Many new cities arose near mineral deposits. Others were based on powerful hydraulic and thermal power plants. Thus, the city of Stuchka arose with the largest hydroelectric power station on the Daugava, the Bukhtarma hydroelectric station on the Irtysh, and Serebryansk, the most powerful in the world, the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station, with Divnogorsk.

A special kind of resources contributed to the emergence of new resort towns: Jurmala on the coast of the Gulf of Riga, Neringa on the Curonian Spit, Birštonas on the banks of the Neman. New resort towns have appeared in Transcarpathia - Yaremcha, in Armenia - Jermuk, in the North Caucasus - Krasnaya Polyana.

Along with resource cities, there is a significant group of new-build cities based on the manufacturing industry. Some of them gravitate towards large economic centers, becoming their satellites. Among such cities, Zelenograd should be especially noted. It began to be built in 1960, 40 km from Moscow, and 10 years later it already had 73 thousand inhabitants. Currently, a satellite city of the capital of the Soviet Union - Moscow - Zelenograd is developing as a center of progressive branches of science. Its production part is separated from the residential part by green space. New building materials - aluminum alloys and plastic - are widely used in Zelenograd. The city is not separated from nature. The once tiny Skhodnya has been transformed with the help of a dam into a large reservoir. Satellite cities also include Olaine (near Riga), Zavolzhye (near Gorky), Zhodino (near Minsk), etc.

Chemistry also served as the basis for the emergence of cities. For example, Kirishi near Leningrad and Novopolotsk in Belarus grew up near new giant oil refineries. Coke chemistry laid the foundation for the town of Vidnoe near Moscow. In different regions of the country, new cities emerged, large centers for the production of cement - the “bread of construction”: Akhangaran in Uzbekistan, Bezmein in Turkmenistan, Naueyi-Akmyan in Lithuania, Gornozavodsk in the Urals.

The role of transport is also great in the birth of cities. With its development, more and more nodal points with city-forming potential appear. Such are Oktyabrsk, located at the intersection of the roads Guryev - Orsk and Orenburg - Tashkent, Yesil, where the path to the bauxite mines of Arkalyk branches off from Yuzhsib. Ob, Lenek, Anadyr, Pevek, Sovetabad, Grebenka, Rybnoye, Chu, Vorozhba, Druzhba are also transport cities.

Due to their youth, new cities tend to have one profession. However, such highly specialized centers have some disadvantages. Therefore, they gradually strive for “part-time work”, acquiring additional professions. Vivid examples of this are the city of Tchaikovsky, born of the Botkin hydroelectric power station, where a silk fabric factory was built and a synthetic rubber plant was being built, as well as Charentsavan, which arose at the Gyumush hydroelectric power station and at the same time became a center for the production of machine tools, tools and the construction materials industry. The most numerous among new cities are city-regional centers that directly interact with their rural district. They are a kind of “jack of all trades” who serve the surrounding area. Reflecting the economic appearance of their region, they often form regional types. Pallasovka and Krasny Kut in the Saratov Trans-Volga region, Izobilny in the North Caucasus mainly provide bread. In the Moldovan cities of Edinet and Kotovsk, surrounded by gardens and vineyards. Winemaking and canning of vegetables and fruits are developed. And located in the fertile Kakheti region, Kvareli is a wine-growing city. It houses a huge wine storage facility: 13 tunnels, each half a kilometer long, where about 2 million deciliters of wine are aged.

New cities are pushing the boundaries of the developed territory. In the Far North, in the deserts of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and the mountains of Southern Siberia, they continue the work begun by Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Norilsk, Magadan.

One of the remarkable features of the territorial distribution of new cities that have arisen in recent years is their more intensive formation in the southern regions of the country, which, as a rule, have better natural conditions for settlement.

New cities are rising as milestones on the path of our Motherland's movement towards communism - centers of science and large-scale industry, health resorts and transport hubs, satellites of large cities. The Soviet Union entered the 9th Five-Year Plan. Behind the lines of the Directives of the XXIV Congress of the Communist Party are new cities that will appear in the coming years.

With the permission of the Government, the Central Statistical Office of the USSR developed voter lists for the elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 14, 1954 by gender and age, counting children and youth under 17 years of age in cities on April 1, 1954, as well as recording the rural population on January 1, 1954 .

Carrying out this work makes it possible, at least approximately, to understand the question of the population of the USSR.

In connection with this, the USSR Central Statistical Office reports:

1 According to data as of January 1, 1955, the population of the USSR is approximately 195.7 million people. *)

The last population census of the USSR was carried out according to the state on January 17, 1939. The population of the USSR, according to census data (within the boundaries of that time), was 170.6 million people.

In August 1240, at the UP session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Comrade Molotov stated: “As population estimates show, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will now be able to speak with a powerful voice on behalf of the 193 million population, not counting the population growth of the USSR in 1939 and 1940.”

The figure of 193 million is the last figure about the population of the USSR that was officially published in the Soviet press. It should be noted that the population of the USSR, excluding areas west of the Soviet-Polish border established by the 1945 treaty (excluding areas west of the Curzon Line), was 191.7 million in 1940.

_____________________________

*) This calculation of the total population, as well as the data given below on the urban and rural population of the USSR and the population of individual union republics at the beginning of 1955, can be further clarified on the basis of annual reports on the registration of births and deaths by civil registry offices for 1954. annual reports on registration by police authorities in the cities of arrival and departure of the population, as well as reports from village councils on the size of the rural population. recorded in the household books as of January 1, 1955.

2. Below is a comparison of the estimated population of the USSR as of January 1, 1955 with data from 1940;

When determining the total population, an adjustment was made for the incompleteness of the census of the population aged 18 years and older, obtained on the basis of voter lists, mainly due to the following persons:

a) living in cities without registration and therefore not included in the list of voters;

c) those who left their place of permanent residence and did not take part in the elections because for some reason they did not receive a certificate of voting rights.

The undercount also occurred due to the exclusion from the voter lists of some sectarians who did not take part in the elections for religious reasons and at the expense of persons who did not enjoy the right to vote, according to the Regulations on elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

The adjustment for undercounting of these persons is determined in the amount of 3.3 million people or 2.8% in relation to the number of voters included in the voter lists. In addition, the total population includes the approximate number of incarcerated persons.

The adjustment for inaccuracy of records of children and youth under the age of 18 in house books and in household books of village soviet accounting amounted to 2.7 million people or 4.2% of direct accounting data.

The amount of adjustment for under-registration of children was partially verified on the basis of data on the registration by civil registry offices of born and deceased children of the corresponding birth years. As for the adjustment for undercounting of persons 18 years of age and older, it is very approximate.

The correctness of this amendment can be partially determined during the upcoming elections to the Supreme Soviets of the Union Republics, by obtaining from the election commissions data on the number of voters who were issued certificates for the right to vote, and the number of those who actually voted using these certificates, as well as on the number of those who were eliminated and excluded from voting. lists of voters who have not received voting certificates.

3. By gender, the population of the USSR is distributed as follows:

4. There is a sharp difference in the change in the population under the age of 18 and older, which is associated with the low birth rate during the war years. This can be seen from the following data:

5. A sharp reduction in the number of children, especially children aged 7-13 years, will affect changes in the adult population in the coming years.

If we assume that the mortality rate remains unchanged, then the population of the USSR for individual age groups will change as follows:

The number of young people aged 14-17 will decrease until 1961. The population aged 15-49 years, although it will increase, but the annual increase in the number of this group is declining from 2.3 million people in 1955 to 1.2 million in 1959 and to 0.2 million people in 1960, in in which those born in 1942 enter the age group of 18 years.

6. In the territory where the population census was conducted on January 17, 1939, the population was 170.6 million people in 1939, and 176.3 million people in 1955.

In the western regions of the BSSR, Ukrainian SSR, Moldavian SSR and the Baltic republics in 1940 there was a population of 21.1 million people, in 1955 19.2 million people.

For individual union republics the population is:

7. Below are data on the population of the largest cities of the USSR (with a population of over 400 thousand people) compared to 1939:

8. When distributing the population across the territory, the following convention was allowed, as was customary during the 1939 population census: the population aged 18 years and older, included in the electoral lists of precincts at military units and military formations, and persons in prison, are distributed by territory in proportion to the population,

In this regard, in some republics, regions and cities the population will be greater, and in others less than when including the military personnel actually located in them. For example, the following are given:

Proportional distribution is more appropriate, since the deployment of the army remains unknown. The population calculated in this way for areas with a large number of military personnel differs relatively little from the civilian population. Therefore, when using population data, according to the CSO, the procedure adopted during the 1939 census should be preserved.

9. After the war, data on the population of the USSR were not published and, according to Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 1, 1948 No. 535-204os, were considered top secret and included in the list of the most important information constituting state secrets. This was due to the fact that it was considered inappropriate to publish a population size less than the pre-war one, especially since the official size of losses in an interview with I.V. Stalin with a correspondent of the newspaper "Pravda" on March 13, 1946 was named only 7 million people:

“As a result of the German invasion, the Soviet Union irrevocably lost about seven million people in battles with the Germans, as well as thanks to the German occupation and the deportation of Soviet people to German penal servitude.”

The figure of 7 million obviously did not take into account that during the war, along with significant acute population losses, there was also a sharp decrease in the birth rate and a relative increase in the death rate of the population, especially in areas subject to enemy occupation and in cities such as Leningrad .

Our press published only the size of the urban population of the USSR - about 80 million people. As for the total population of the USSR, it was indirectly and roundedly (200 million) named in the speech of Comrade N. S. Khrushchev. at a meeting of Komsomol members and youth of Moscow and the Moscow region on January 7, 1955.

The foreign press cited a number of different figures for the population of the USSR, usually more than 200 million. Recently the figure of 210 million people at the beginning of 1954 was published in the West German journal World Economy Archives, in an article by Dr. Max Biel (Volume 72, Part 2, 1954). The author of this article obtained the population of the USSR by multiplying the published number of electoral districts for elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 14, 1954 (700 districts) by the average population of the electoral district (300 thousand people according to the norm provided for elections to the Council of the Union.

In connection with the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, the population figure of the Ukrainian SSR was given. At the same time, in the theses on the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, approved by the Central Committee of the CPSU and published on January 12, 1954, it is stated “that the Ukrainian SSR now has more than 40 million people,” and in the report of Comrade Kirichenko at the anniversary session of the Supreme Sonnet of the Ukrainian SSR On May 22, 1954 it was said that “The Ukrainian SSR currently has a population of over 42 million.” The figure for the population of the Ukrainian SSR, given in the report of Comrade Kirichenko and later repeated in the report of Comrade Puzanov, is exaggerated; according to the calculations of the Central Statistical Office, the population of the Ukrainian SSR is 40 million people.

Based on the population data presented in this report, the CSO believes that it is advisable to conduct a census of the population of the USSR no earlier than in 3-4 years, when the population of the USSR should significantly exceed 200 million people.

In this regard, it should be recalled that the Statistical Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council, at its eighth session held in April 1954, considered it desirable for as many countries as possible to conduct a population census in 1960 or 1961.

Until now, the CSO has not provided information on the population for use by ministries, departments and other organizations, which creates great difficulties for them in planning work.

The Central Statistical Office of the USSR requests permission to provide ministries, departments and local governing bodies for official use in secret, estimated population data for the USSR, republics, territories, regions and individual cities, abolishing the existing procedure by which these data are considered top secret.

Proposals that population data should not be considered a state secret were also submitted to the Council of Ministers of the USSR by the commission of Comrade Serov.

HEAD of the Central Statistical Office of the USSR
(B.CTAPOBCKY)

<от руки>signature<А. Вострикова>signature<С. Бекунова>

RGAE. F.1562. Op.33. D.2990. L.L.49-56

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich (1894-1971) - in 1955, first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
Kirichenko Alexey Illarionovich (1908-1975) – in 1954, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine
Puzanov Alexander Mikhailovich (1906-1998) – in 1954 Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR
Serov Ivan Aleksandrovich (1905-1990) - in 1956 chairman of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

Russians take a long time to harness, but travel quickly

Winston Churchill

USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), this form of statehood replaced the Russian Empire. The country began to be ruled by the proletariat, which achieved this right by carrying out the October Revolution, which was nothing more than an armed coup within the country, bogged down in its internal and external problems. Nicholas 2 played an important role in this state of affairs, who actually drove the country into a state of collapse.

Education of the country

The formation of the USSR took place on November 7, 1917 according to the new style. It was on this day that the October Revolution occurred, which overthrew the Provisional Government and the fruits of the February Revolution, proclaiming the slogan that power should belong to the workers. This is how the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was formed. It is extremely difficult to unambiguously assess the Soviet period of Russian history, since it was very controversial. Without a doubt, we can say that at this time there were both positive and negative aspects.

Capital Cities

Initially, the capital of the USSR was Petrograd, where the revolution actually took place, bringing the Bolsheviks to power. At first there was no talk of moving the capital, since the new government was too weak, but later this decision was made. As a result, the capital of the union of Soviet socialist republics was moved to Moscow. This is quite symbolic, since the creation of the Empire was conditioned by the transfer of the capital to Petrograd from Moscow.

The fact of moving the capital to Moscow today is associated with economics, politics, symbolism and much more. In fact, everything is much simpler. By moving the capital, the Bolsheviks saved themselves from other contenders for power in the conditions of the civil war.

Leaders of the country

The foundations of the power and prosperity of the USSR are connected with the fact that the country had relative stability in leadership. There was a clear, unified party line, and leaders who had been at the head of the state for a long time. It is interesting that the closer the country came to collapse, the more often the General Secretaries changed. In the early 80s, leapfrog began: Andropov, Ustinov, Chernenko, Gorbachev - the country did not have time to get used to one leader before another appeared in his place.

The general list of leaders is as follows:

• Lenin. Leader of the world proletariat. One of the ideological inspirers and implementers of the October Revolution. Laid the foundations of the state.
• Stalin. One of the most controversial historical figures. With all the negativity that the liberal press pours into this man, the fact is that Stalin raised industry from its knees, Stalin prepared the USSR for war, Stalin began to actively develop the socialist state.
• Khrushchev. He gained power after the assassination of Stalin, developed the country and managed to adequately resist the United States in the Cold War.
• Brezhnev. The era of his reign is called the era of stagnation. Many people mistakenly associate this with the economy, but there was no stagnation there - all indicators were growing. There was stagnation in the party, which was disintegrating.
• Andropov, Chernenko. They didn’t really do anything, they pushed the country towards collapse.
• Gorbachev. The first and last president of the USSR. Today everyone blames him for the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his main fault was that he was afraid to take active action against Yeltsin and his supporters, who actually staged a conspiracy and a coup.

Another interesting fact is that the best rulers were those who lived through the times of revolution and war. The same applies to party leaders. These people understood the price of a socialist state, the significance and complexity of its existence. As soon as people came to power who had never seen a war, much less a revolution, everything went to pieces.

Formation and achievements

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began its formation with the Red Terror. This is a sad page in Russian history, a huge number of people were killed by the Bolsheviks who sought to strengthen their power. The leaders of the Bolshevik Party, realizing that they could only retain power by force, killed everyone who could somehow interfere with the formation of the new regime. It is outrageous that the Bolsheviks, as the first people's commissars and people's police, i.e. those people who were supposed to keep order were recruited from thieves, murderers, homeless people, etc. In a word, all those who were disliked in the Russian Empire and tried in every possible way to take revenge on everyone who was somehow connected with it. The apogee of these atrocities was the murder of the royal family.

After the formation of the new system, the USSR, headed until 1924 Lenin V.I., got a new leader. He became Joseph Stalin. His control became possible after he won the power struggle with Trotsky. During Stalin's reign, industry and agriculture began to develop at a tremendous pace. Knowing about the growing power of Hitler's Germany, Stalin paid great attention to the development of the country's defense complex. In the period from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was involved in a bloody war with Germany, from which it emerged victorious. The Great Patriotic War cost the Soviet state millions of lives, but this was the only way to preserve the freedom and independence of the country. The post-war years were difficult for the country: hunger, poverty and rampant banditry. Stalin brought order to the country with a harsh hand.

International situation

After Stalin's death and until the collapse of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics developed dynamically, overcoming a huge number of difficulties and obstacles. The USSR was involved by the United States in an arms race that continues to this day. It was this race that could become fatal for all of humanity, since both countries were in constant confrontation as a result. This period of history was called the Cold War. Only the prudence of the leadership of both countries managed to keep the planet from a new war. And this war, taking into account the fact that both nations were already nuclear at that time, could have become fatal for the whole world.

The country's space program stands apart from the entire development of the USSR. It was a Soviet citizen who was the first to fly into space. He was Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. The United States responded to this manned space flight with its first manned flight to the Moon. But the Soviet flight into space, unlike the American flight to the moon, does not raise so many questions, and experts do not have a shadow of doubt that this flight really took place.

Population of the country

Every decade the Soviet country showed population growth. And this despite the multimillion-dollar casualties of the Second World War. The key to increasing the birth rate was the social guarantees of the state. The diagram below shows data on the population of the USSR in general and the RSFSR in particular.

You should also pay attention to the dynamics of urban development. The Soviet Union was becoming an industrialized country, whose population gradually moved from villages to cities.

By the time the USSR was formed, Russia had 2 cities with a population of over a million (Moscow and St. Petersburg). By the time the country collapsed, there were already 12 such cities: Moscow, Leningrad Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Perm. The union republics also had cities with a population of one million: Kyiv, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Donetsk.

USSR map

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed in 1991, when in White Forest the leaders of the Soviet republics announced their secession from the USSR. This is how all the Republics gained independence and independence. The opinion of the Soviet people was not taken into account. A referendum held just before the collapse of the USSR showed that the overwhelming majority of people declared that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics should be preserved. A handful of people, led by the Chairman of the CPSU Central Committee M.S. Gorbachev, decided the fate of the country and the people. It was this decision that plunged Russia into the harsh reality of the “nineties.” This is how the Russian Federation was born. Below is a map of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Economy

The economy of the USSR was unique. For the first time, the world was shown a system in which the focus was not on profit, but on public goods and employee incentives. In general, the economy of the Soviet Union can be divided into 3 stages:

1. Before Stalin. We are not talking about any economics here - the revolution has just died down in the country, there is a war going on. Nobody seriously thought about economic development; the Bolsheviks held power.
2. Stalin's economic model. Stalin implemented a unique idea of ​​economics, which made it possible to raise the USSR to the level of the leading countries of the world. The essence of his approach is total labor and the correct “pyramid of distribution of funds.” The correct distribution of funds is when workers receive no less than managers. Moreover, the basis of the salary was bonuses for achieving results and bonuses for innovations. The essence of such bonuses is as follows: 90% was received by the employee himself, and 10% was divided between the team, workshop, and supervisors. But the worker himself received the main money. That's why there was a desire to work.
3. After Stalin. After Stalin's death, Khrushchev overturned the economic pyramid, after which a recession and a gradual decline in growth rates began. Under Khrushchev and after him, an almost capitalist model was formed, when managers received much more workers, especially in the form of bonuses. Bonuses were now divided differently: 90% to the boss and 10% to everyone else.

The Soviet economy is unique because before the war it was able to actually rise from the ashes after the civil war and revolution, and this happened in just 10-12 years. Therefore, when today economists from different countries and journalists insist that it is impossible to change the economy in one election term (5 years), they simply do not know history. Stalin's two five-year plans turned the USSR into a modern power that had a foundation for development. Moreover, the basis for all this was laid in 2-3 years of the first five-year plan.

I also suggest looking at the diagram below, which presents data on the average annual growth of the economy as a percentage. Everything we talked about above is reflected in this diagram.

Union republics

The new period of the country's development was due to the fact that several republics existed within the framework of the single state of the USSR. Thus, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had the following composition: Russian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belorussian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR SSR, Estonian SSR.

USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union for short) - a former state that existed in Eastern Europe and Asia.
The USSR was a superpower-empire (in a figurative sense), a stronghold of socialism in the world.
The country existed from 1922 to 1991.
The Soviet Union occupied one-sixth of the total surface area of ​​the Earth. It was the largest country in the world.
The capital of the USSR was Moscow.
There were many large cities in the USSR: Moscow, Leningrad (modern St. Petersburg), Sverdlovsk (modern Yekaterinburg), Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Ufa, Kuibyshev (modern Samara), Gorky (modern Nizhny Novgorod), Omsk, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, Saratov, Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Minsk, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Baku, Alma-Ata.
The population of the USSR before its collapse was about 250 million people.
The Soviet Union had land borders with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, and Czechoslovakia.
The length of the land borders of the Soviet Union was 62,710 kilometers.
By sea, the USSR bordered the USA, Sweden and Japan.
The size of the former empire of socialism was impressive:
a) length - more than 10,000 km from the extreme geographical points (from the Curonian Spit in the Kaliningrad region to Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait);
b) width - more than 7,200 km from the extreme geographical points (from Cape Chelyuskin in the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug of the Krasnoyarsk Territory to the city of Kushka in the Mary region of the Turkmen SSR).
The shores of the USSR were washed by twelve seas: the Kara, Barents, Baltic, Laptev Sea, East Siberian, Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, Black, Caspian, Azov, Aral.
There were many mountain ranges and systems in the USSR: the Carpathians, the Crimean Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, the Pamir Range, the Tien Shan Range, the Sayan Range, the Sikhote-Alin Range, the Ural Mountains.
The Soviet Union had the largest and deepest lakes in the world: Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, Lake Baikal (the deepest in the world).
There were as many as five climate zones on the territory of the Soviet Union.
On the territory of the USSR there were areas where there was a polar day and a polar night for four months a year and only polar moss grew in the summer, and areas where there was never snow all year round and palm trees and citrus trees grew.
The Soviet Union had eleven time zones. The first zone differed from universal time by two hours, and the last by as much as thirteen hours.
The administrative-territorial division of the USSR rivaled in its complexity only the modern administrative-territorial division of Great Britain. The administrative units of the first level were the union republics: Russia (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), Belarus (Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic), Ukraine (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), Kazakhstan (Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic), Moldova (Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic), Georgia (Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic), Armenia (Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic), Azerbaijan (Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic), Turkmenistan (Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic), Tajikistan (Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic), Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic), Uzbekistan (Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic), Lithuania (Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic), Latvia (Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic), Estonia (Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic).
The republics were divided into administrative units of the second level - autonomous republics, autonomous okrugs, autonomous regions, territories and regions. In turn, autonomous republics, autonomous okrugs, autonomous regions, territories and regions were divided into administrative units of the third level - districts, and those, in turn, were divided into administrative units of the fourth level - city, rural and township councils. Some republics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Moldova) were immediately divided into second-level administrative units - into districts.
Russia (RSFSR) had the most complex administrative-territorial division. It included:
a) cities of union subordination - Moscow, Leningrad, Sevastopol;
b) autonomous Soviet socialist republics - Bashkir ASSR, Buryat ASSR, Dagestan ASSR, Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR, Kalmyk ASSR, Karelian ASSR, Komi ASSR, Mari ASSR, Mordovian ASSR, North Ossetian ASSR, Tatar ASSR, Tuva ASSR, Udmurt ASSR, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic;
c) autonomous regions - Adygea Autonomous Okrug, Gorno-Altai Autonomous Okrug, Jewish Autonomous Okrug, Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug, Khakass Autonomous Okrug;
d) regions - Amur, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Gorky, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kalinin, Kaluga, Kamchatka, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kuibyshev, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Oryol, Penza, Perm, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan Saratov, Sakhalin, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk, Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Yaroslavl:
e) autonomous districts: Aginsky Buryat Autonomous District, Komi-Permyak Autonomous District, Koryak Autonomous District, Nenets Autonomous District, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous District, Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous District, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District, Chukotka Autonomous District, Evenki Autonomous District, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.
f) territories - Altai, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorsky, Stavropol, Khabarovsk.
Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) included only regions. Its members included: Vinnitskaya. Volyn, Voroshilovgrad (modern Lugansk), Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhitomir, Transcarpathian, Zaporozhye, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kiev, Kirovograd, Crimean (until 1954 part of the RSFSR), Lviv, Nikolaev, Odessa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil , Kharkov, Kherson, Khmelnitsky, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv regions.
Belarus (BSSR) consisted of regions. It included: Brest, Minsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Vitebsk regions.
Kazakhstan (KazSSR) consisted of regions. It included: Aktobe, Alma-Ata, East Kazakhstan, Guryev, Dzhambul, Dzhezkazgan, Karaganda, Kzyl-Orda, Kokchetav, Kustanai, Mangyshlak, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Semipalatinsk, Taldy-Kurgan, Turgai, Ural, Tselinograd , Shymkent region.
Turkmenistan (TurSSR) included five regions: Chardzhou, Ashgabat, Krasnovodsk, Mary, Tashauz;
Uzbekistan (UzSSR) included one autonomous republic (Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), the city of republican subordination of Tashkent and the regions: Tashkent, Fergana, Andijan, Namangan, Syrdarya, Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khorezm.
Georgia (GrSSR) consisted of the city of republican subordination of Tbilisi, two autonomous republics (Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and one autonomous region (South Ossetian Autonomous Okrug).
Kyrgyzstan (KyrSSR) consisted of only two regions (Osh and Naryn) and the city of republican subordination of Frunze.
Tajikistan (Tad SSR) consisted of one autonomous region (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Okrug), three regions (Kulyab, Kurgan-Tube, Leninabad) and the city of republican subordination - Dushanbe.
Azerbaijan (AzSSR) consisted of one autonomous republic (Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), one autonomous region (Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Okrug) and the city of republican subordination of Baku.
Armenia (Armenian SSR) was divided only into districts and a city of republican subordination - Yerevan.
Moldova (MSSR) was divided only into districts and the city of republican subordination - Chisinau.
Lithuania (Lithuanian SSR) was divided only into districts and the city of republican subordination - Vilnius.
Latvia (LatSSR) was divided only into districts and the city of republican subordination - Riga.
Estonia (ESSR) was divided only into districts and the city of republican subordination - Tallinn.
The USSR has gone through a difficult historical path.
The history of the empire of socialism begins with the period when the autocracy collapsed in tsarist Russia. This happened in February 1917, when a Provisional Government was formed in place of the defeated monarchy.
The provisional government failed to restore order in the former empire, and the ongoing First World War and the failures of the Russian army only contributed to the further escalation of unrest.
Taking advantage of the weakness of the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik Party led by V.I. Lenin organized an armed uprising in Petrograd at the end of October 1917, which led to the elimination of the power of the Provisional Government and the establishment of Soviet power in Petrograd.
The October Revolution led to an escalation of violence in a number of regions of the former Russian Empire. A bloody Civil War began. The fire of war engulfed all of Ukraine, the western regions of Belarus, the Urals, Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus and Turkestan. For about four years, Bolshevik Russia waged a bloody war against supporters of the restoration of the old regime. Part of the territories of the former Russian Empire was lost, and some countries (Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) declared their sovereignty and unwillingness to accept the new Soviet government.
Lenin pursued the single goal of creating the USSR - the creation of a powerful power capable of resisting any manifestation of counter-revolution. And such a power was created on December 29, 1922 - Lenin’s Decree on the formation of the USSR was signed.
Immediately after the formation of the new state, it initially included only four republics: Russia (RSFSR), Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR), Belarus (BSSR) and Transcaucasia (Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (ZSFSR)).
All government bodies of the USSR came under the strict control of the Communist Party. No decision was made on the spot without the approval of the party leadership.
The highest authority in the USSR during the time of Lenin was the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
After Lenin's death, a struggle for power in the country broke out in the highest echelons of power. With equal success, I.V. Stalin, L.D. Trotsky,
G.I. Zinoviev, L.B. Kamenev, A.I. Rykov. The future dictator-tyrant of the totalitarian USSR, J.V. Stalin, turned out to be the most cunning of all. Initially, in order to destroy some of his competitors in the struggle for power, Stalin teamed up with Zinoviev and Kamenev into the so-called “troika”.
At the XIII Congress, the question of who would become the leaders of the Bolshevik Party and the country after Lenin’s death was decided. Zinoviev and Kamenev managed to rally most of the communists around themselves and most of them voted for I.V. Stalin. So a new leader appeared in the country.
Having led the USSR, Stalin first began to strengthen his power and get rid of his recent supporters. This practice was soon adopted by the entire Stalinist circle. Now, after the elimination of Trotsky, Stalin took Bukharin and Rykov as his allies in order to jointly oppose Zinoviev and Kamenev.
This struggle of the new dictator continued until 1929. This year, all of Stalin’s strong competitors were exterminated; there were no more competitors to him in the struggle for power in the country.
In parallel with the internal party struggle, until 1929, Lenin’s NEP (New Economic Policy) was carried out in the country. During these years, private enterprise was not yet completely prohibited in the country.
In 1924, the new Soviet ruble was introduced into circulation in the USSR.
In 1925, at the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a course was set for collectivization and industrialization of the entire country. The first five-year plan is being developed. Dispossession of lands began, millions of kulaks (rich landowners) were exiled to Siberia and the Far East, or were driven away from good fertile lands and received in return waste lands that were not suitable for agriculture.
Forced collectivization and dispossession caused an unprecedented famine in 1932-1933. Ukraine, the Volga region, Kuban, and other parts of the country were starving. Cases of theft in the fields have become more frequent. A notorious law was adopted (popularly called the “Law of Three Ears”), according to which anyone caught with even a handful of grain was sentenced to long prison terms and long-term exile to the regions of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East.
1937 was marked by a year of mass repressions. The repressions primarily affected the leadership of the Red Army, which seriously weakened the country's defense in the future and allowed the army of Nazi Germany to reach almost unhindered almost all the way to Moscow.
The mistakes of Stalin and his leadership cost the country dearly. However, there were also positive aspects. As a result of industrialization, the country has reached second place in the world in terms of industrial production.
In August 1939, just before the start of World War II, a non-aggression treaty and the division of Eastern Europe (the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) was concluded between Nazi Germany and the USSR.
After World War II began, the USSR and Germany divided the territory of Poland between themselves. The USSR included Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, and subsequently Bessarabia (became part of the Moldavian SSR). A year later, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were included in the USSR, which were also turned into union republics.
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany, violating the non-aggression pact, began bombing Soviet cities from the air. Hitler's Wehrmacht crossed the border. The Great Patriotic War began. The main production facilities were evacuated to the Far East, Siberia and the Urals, and the population was evacuated. At the same time, a complete mobilization of the male population into the active army was carried out.
The initial stage of the war was affected by the strategic mistakes made by the Stalinist leadership in previous years. There were few new weapons in the army, and the fact that
there was, inferior in its characteristics to the German. The Red Army was retreating, many people were captured. Headquarters threw more and more units into battle, but this did not have much success - the Germans stubbornly advanced towards Moscow. In some sectors of the front, the distance to the Kremlin was no more than 20 kilometers, and on Red Square, according to eyewitnesses of those times, artillery cannonade and the roar of tanks and airplanes could already be heard. German generals could observe the center of Moscow through their binoculars.
Only in December 1941 did the Red Army go on the offensive and push the Germans back 200-300 kilometers to the west. However, by spring, the Nazi command managed to recover from defeat and changed the direction of the main attack. Now Hitler’s main goal was Stalingrad, which opened up further advance to the Caucasus, to the oil fields in the area of ​​​​Baku and Grozny.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans came close to Stalingrad. And by the end of autumn, fighting was already taking place in the city itself. However, the German Wehrmacht was unable to advance beyond Stalingrad. In the middle of winter, a powerful offensive of the Red Army began, a 100,000-strong group of Germans under the command of Field Marshal Paulus was captured, and Paulus himself was captured. The German offensive failed, moreover, it ended in complete defeat.
Hitler planned to take his last revenge in the summer of 1943 in the Kursk region. The famous tank battle took place near Prokhorovka, in which a thousand tanks from each side took part. The Battle of Kursk was lost again, and from that moment the Red Army began its rapid advance westward, liberating more and more territories.
In 1944, all of Ukraine, the Baltic states and Belarus were liberated. The Red Army reached the state border of the USSR and rushed to Europe, to Berlin.
In 1945, the Red Army liberated most of the countries of Eastern Europe from the Nazis and entered Berlin in May 1945. The war ended with the complete victory of the USSR and their allies.
In 1945, Transcarpathia became part of the USSR. A new Transcarpathian region was formed.
After the war, the country was again gripped by famine. Factories and factories did not work, schools and hospitals were destroyed. The first five post-war years were very difficult for the country, and only in the early fifties the situation in the country of the Soviets began to improve.
In 1949, the atomic bomb was invented in the USSR as a symmetrical response to the US attempt at nuclear dominance in the world. Relations with the United States deteriorate and the Cold War begins.
In March 1953, J.V. Stalin dies. The era of Stalinism in the country is ending. The so-called “Khrushchev thaw” is coming. At the next party congress, Khrushchev sharply criticized the former Stalinist regime. Tens of thousands of political prisoners are being released from numerous camps. Mass rehabilitation of the repressed begins.
In 1957, the world's first artificial Earth satellite was launched in the USSR.
In 1961, the world's first manned spacecraft was launched in the USSR with the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin.
During the time of Khrushchev, in contrast to the NATO bloc created by Western countries, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created - a military alliance of Eastern European countries that had taken the socialist path of development.
After Brezhnev came to power, the first signs of stagnation began to appear in the USSR. Industrial production growth has slowed. The first signs of party corruption began to appear in the country. The Brezhnev leadership and Brezhnev himself did not realize that the country was facing the need for fundamental changes in politics, ideology, and economics.
With Mikhail Gorbachev coming to power, the so-called “perestroika” began. A course was taken towards the wholesale eradication of domestic drunkenness, towards the development of private
entrepreneurship. However, all the measures taken did not produce positive results - in the late eighties it became clear that the huge empire of socialism had cracked and was beginning to fall apart, and the final collapse was only a matter of time. In the Union republics, especially in the Baltic states and Ukraine, a massive growth of nationalist sentiments began, associated with the declaration of independence and separation from the USSR.
The first impetus for the collapse of the USSR was the bloody events in Lithuania. This republic was the first of all the union republics to declare its secession from the USSR. Lithuania was then supported by Latvia and Estonia, which also declared their sovereignty. Events in these two Baltic republics developed more peacefully.
Then Transcaucasia began to boil. Another hot spot has emerged - Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia announced the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan responded by launching a blockade. A war began that lasted for five years, now the conflict is frozen, but tensions between the two countries remain.
Around the same time, Georgia separated from the USSR. A new conflict begins on the territory of this country - with Abkhazia, which wished to secede from Georgia and become a sovereign country.
In August 1991, a putsch begins in Moscow. The so-called State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was created. This was the last attempt to save the dying USSR. The putsch failed, Gorbachev was actually removed from power by Yeltsin. Immediately after the failure of the putsch, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the Central Asian republics and Moldova declared their independence and were proclaimed sovereign states. The most recent countries to proclaim their sovereignty are Belarus and Russia.
In December 1991, a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, held in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus, stated that the USSR as a state no longer exists and annulled Lenin’s decree on the formation of the USSR. An agreement was signed to create the Commonwealth of Independent States.
So the empire of socialism ceased to exist, just one year short of its 70th anniversary.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) is a state that existed from December 1922 to December 1991 on the territory of the former Russian Empire. Was the largest state in the world. Its area was equal to 1/6 of the land. Now on the territory of the former USSR there are 15 countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova and Turkmenistan.

The country's territory was 22.4 million square kilometers. The Soviet Union occupied vast territories in Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia, stretching from west to east for almost 10 thousand km and from north to south for almost 5 thousand km. The USSR had land borders with Afghanistan, Hungary, Iran, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Finland, Czechoslovakia and only sea borders with the USA, Sweden and Japan. The Soviet Union's land border was the longest in the world, measuring over 60,000 km.

The territory of the Soviet Union had five climate zones and was divided into 11 time zones. Within the USSR there was the largest lake in the world - the Caspian and the deepest lake in the world - Baikal.

The natural resources of the USSR were the richest in the world (their list included all the elements of the periodic table).

Administrative division of the USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics positioned itself as a single union multinational state. This norm was enshrined in the 1977 Constitution. The USSR included 15 allied - Soviet socialist - republics (RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Latvian SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR , Estonian SSR), 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous regions, 10 autonomous okrugs, 129 territories and regions. All of the above administrative-territorial units were divided into districts and cities of regional, regional and republican subordination.

The population of the USSR was (millions):
in 1940 - 194.1,
in 1959 - 208.8,
in 1970 - 241.7,
in 1979 - 262.4,
in 1987 -281.7.

The urban population (1987) was 66% (for comparison: in 1940 - 32.5%); rural - 34% (in 1940 - 67.5%).

More than 100 nations and nationalities lived in the USSR. According to the 1979 census, the most numerous of them were (in thousands of people): Russians - 137,397, Ukrainians - 42,347, Uzbeks - 12,456, Belarusians - 9463, Kazakhs - 6556, Tatars - 6317, Azerbaijanis - 5477, Armenians - 4151, Georgians - 3571, Moldovans - 2968, Tajiks - 2898, Lithuanians - 2851, Turkmen - 2028, Germans - 1936, Kyrgyz - 1906, Jews - 1811, Chuvash - 1751, peoples of the Republic of Dagestan - 1657, Latvians - 14 39, Bashkirs - 1371, Mordovians - 1192, Poles - 1151, Estonians - 1020.

The 1977 Constitution of the USSR proclaimed the formation of “a new historical community - the Soviet people.”

The average population density (as of January 1987) was 12.6 people. per 1 square km; in the European part the density was much higher - 35 people. per 1 square km., in the Asian part - only 4.2 people. per 1 square km. The most densely populated regions of the USSR were:
- Center. areas of the European part of the RSFSR, especially between the Oka and Volga rivers.
- Donbass and Right Bank Ukraine.
- Moldavian SSR.
- Certain regions of Transcaucasia and Central Asia.

The largest cities of the USSR

The largest cities of the USSR, the number of inhabitants in which exceeded one million people (as of January 1987): Moscow - 8815 thousand, Leningrad (St. Petersburg) - 4948 thousand, Kiev - 2544 thousand, Tashkent - 2124 thousand, Baku - 1741 thousand, Kharkov - 1587 thousand, Minsk - 1543 thousand, Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) - 1425 thousand, Novosibirsk - 1423 thousand, Sverdlovsk - 1331 thousand, Kuibyshev (Samara) - 1280 thousand, Tbilisi - 1194 thousand, Dnepropetrovsk - 1182 thousand, Yerevan - 1168 thousand, Odessa - 1141 thousand, Omsk - 1134 thousand, Chelyabinsk - 1119 thousand, Almaty - 1108 thousand, Ufa - 1092 thousand, Donetsk - 1090 thousand, Perm - 1075 thousand, Kazan - 1068 thousand, Rostov-on-Don - 1004 thousand.

Throughout its history, the capital of the USSR was Moscow.

Social system in the USSR

The USSR declared itself as a socialist state, expressing the will and protecting the interests of the working people of all nations and nationalities inhabiting it. Democracy was officially declared in the Soviet Union. Article 2 of the 1977 USSR Constitution proclaimed: “All power in the USSR belongs to the people. The people exercise state power through the Soviets of People's Deputies, which form the political basis of the USSR. All other government bodies are controlled and accountable to the Councils of People’s Deputies.”

From 1922 to 1937, the All-Union Congress of Soviets was considered the collective governing body of the state. From 1937 to 1989 Formally, the USSR had a collective head of state - the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In the intervals between its sessions, power was exercised by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1989-1990 The head of state was considered the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; in 1990-1991. - President of the USSR.

Ideology of the USSR

The official ideology was formed by the only party allowed in the country - the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), which, according to the 1977 Constitution, was recognized as “The leading and directing force of Soviet society, the core of its political system, state and public organizations.” The leader - the General Secretary - of the CPSU actually owned all the power in the Soviet Union.

Leaders of the USSR

The actual leaders of the USSR were:
- Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars: V.I. Lenin (1922 - 1924), I.V. Stalin (1924 - 1953), G.M. Malenkov (1953 - 1954), N.S. Khrushchev (1954-1962).
- Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Council: L.I. Brezhnev (1962 - 1982), Yu.V. Andropov (1982-1983), K.U. Chernenko (1983 - 1985), M.S. Gorbachev (1985-1990).
- President of the USSR: M.S. Gorbachev (1990 - 1991).

According to the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR, signed on December 30, 1922, the new state included four formally independent republics - the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan);

In 1925, the Turkestan ASSR was separated from the RSFSR. On its territories and on the lands of the Bukhara and Khiva People's Soviet Republics the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR were formed;

In 1929, the Tajik SSR, which had previously been an autonomous republic, was separated from the Uzbek SSR as part of the USSR;

In 1936, the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was abolished. The Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, and Armenian SSR were formed on its territory.

In the same year, two more autonomies were separated from the RSFSR - the Cossack Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. They were transformed, respectively, into the Kazakh SSR and the Kirghiz SSR;

In 1939, Western Ukrainian lands (Lvov, Ternopil, Stanislav, Dragobych regions) were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR, and Western Belarusian lands (Grodno and Brest regions), obtained as a result of the division of Poland, were annexed to the BSSR.

In 1940, the territory of the USSR expanded significantly. New union republics were formed:
- Moldavian SSR (created from part of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was part of the Ukrainian SSR, and part of the territory transferred to the USSR by Romania),
- Latvian SSR (formerly independent Latvia),
- Lithuanian SSR (formerly independent Lithuania),
- Estonian SSR (formerly independent Estonia).
- Karelo-Finnish SSR (formed from the Autonomous Karelian ASSR, which was part of the RSFSR, and part of the territory annexed after the Soviet-Finnish War);
- The territory of the Ukrainian SSR increased due to the inclusion of the Chernivtsi region, formed from the territory of Northern Bukovina transferred by Romania, into the republic.

In 1944, the Tuva Autonomous Region (formerly independent Tuva People's Republic) became part of the RSFSR.

In 1945, the Kaliningrad region (East Prussia, separated from Germany) was annexed to the RSFSR, and the Transcarpathian region, voluntarily transferred by socialist Czechoslovakia, became part of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1946, new territories became part of the RSFSR - the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, conquered from Japan.

In 1956, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was abolished, and its territory was again included in the RSFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Main stages of the history of the USSR

1. New economic policy (1921 - 1928). The reform of state policy was caused by a deep socio-political crisis that gripped the country as a result of miscalculations in the policy of “war communism”. X Congress of the RCP(b) in March 1921 on the initiative of V.I. Lenin decided to replace the surplus appropriation system with a tax in kind. This marked the beginning of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Other reforms include:
- small industry was partially denationalized;
- private trade is allowed;
- free hiring of labor in the USSR. In industry, labor conscription will be abolished;
- reform of economic management - weakening of centralization;
- transition of enterprises to self-financing;
- introduction of the banking system;
- monetary reform is being carried out. The goal is to stabilize the Soviet currency against the dollar and pound sterling at the gold parity level;
- cooperation and joint ventures based on concessions are encouraged;
- In the agricultural sector, renting land using hired labor is allowed.
The state left only heavy industry and foreign trade in its hands.

2. “The Great Leap Forward Policy” of I. Stalin in the USSR. Late 1920-1930s Includes industrial modernization (industrialization) and collectivization of agriculture. The main goal is to rearm the armed forces and create a modern, technically equipped army.

3. Industrialization of the USSR. In December 1925, the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) proclaimed a course towards industrialization. It provided for the start of large-scale industrial construction (power plants, Dnieper hydroelectric power station, reconstruction of old enterprises, construction of giant factories).

In 1926-27 - gross output exceeded the pre-war level. Growth of the working class by 30% compared to 1925

In 1928, a course towards accelerated industrialization was proclaimed. The 1st 5-year plan was approved in its maximum version, but the planned increase in production of 36.6% was fulfilled by only 17.7%. In January 1933, the completion of the first 5-year plan was solemnly announced. It was reported that 1,500 new enterprises were put into operation and unemployment was eliminated. The industrialization of industry continued throughout the history of the USSR, but it was accelerated only during the 1930s. It was as a result of the successes of this period that it was possible to create a heavy industry, which in its indicators exceeded those of the most developed Western countries - Great Britain, France and the USA.

4. Collectivization of agriculture in the USSR. Agriculture lagged behind the rapid development of industry. It was the export of agricultural products that the government considered as the main source of attracting foreign currency for industrialization. The following measures have been taken:
1) On March 16, 1927, a decree “On collective farms” was issued. The need to strengthen the technical base on collective farms and eliminate equalization in wages was declared.
2) Exemption of the poor from agricultural taxes.
3) Increase in the amount of tax for kulaks.
4) The policy of limiting the kulaks as a class, and then its complete destruction, a course towards complete collectivization.

As a result of collectivization in the USSR, a failure was recorded in the agro-industrial complex: the gross grain harvest was planned at 105.8 million poods, but in 1928 it was possible to collect only 73.3 million, and in 1932 - 69.9 million.

Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. On June 23, 1941, the Soviet leadership established the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. On June 30, the State Defense Committee was created, headed by Stalin. During the first month of the war, 5.3 million people were drafted into the Soviet army. In July they began to create units of the people's militia. A partisan movement began behind enemy lines.

At the initial stage of the war, the Soviet army suffered defeat after defeat. The Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine were abandoned, and the enemy approached Leningrad and Moscow. On November 15, a new offensive began. In some areas, the Nazis came within 25-30 km of the capital, but were unable to advance further. On December 5-6, 1941, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive near Moscow. At the same time, offensive operations began on the Western, Kalinin and Southwestern fronts. During the offensive in the winter of 1941/1942. The Nazis were thrown back in a number of places to a distance of up to 300 km. from the capital. The first stage of the Patriotic War (June 22, 1941 - December 5-6, 1941) ended. The plan for a lightning war was thwarted.

After an unsuccessful offensive near Kharkov at the end of May 1942, Soviet troops soon left Crimea and retreated to the North Caucasus and Volga. . On November 19-20, 1942, the counter-offensive of Soviet troops began near Stalingrad. By November 23, 22 fascist divisions numbering 330 thousand people were surrounded at Stalingrad. On January 31, the main forces of the encircled German troops, led by Field Marshal Paulus, surrendered. On February 2, 1943, the operation to completely destroy the encircled group was completed. After the victory of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad, a great turning point in the Great Patriotic War began.

In the summer of 1943, the Battle of Kursk took place. On August 5, Soviet troops liberated Oryol and Belgorod, on August 23, Kharkov was liberated, and on August 30, Taganrog. At the end of September, the crossing of the Dnieper began. On November 6, 1943, Soviet units liberated Kyiv.

In 1944, the Soviet Army launched an offensive on all sectors of the front. On January 27, 1944, Soviet troops lifted the blockade of Leningrad. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army liberated Belarus and most of Ukraine. The victory in Belarus opened the way for an offensive into Poland, the Baltic states and East Prussia. On August 17, Soviet troops reached the border with Germany.
In the fall of 1944, Soviet troops liberated the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. On September 4, Germany's ally Finland withdrew from the war. The result of the offensive of the Soviet Army in 1944 was the complete liberation of the USSR.

On April 16, 1945, the Berlin operation began. On May 8, Germany capitulated. The hostilities in Europe ended.
The main result of the war was the complete defeat of Nazi Germany. Humanity was freed from slavery, world culture and civilization were saved. As a result of the war, the USSR lost a third of its national wealth. Almost 30 million people died. 1,700 cities and 70 thousand villages were destroyed. 35 million people were left homeless.

The restoration of Soviet industry (1945 - 1953) and the national economy took place in the USSR under difficult conditions:
1) Lack of food, difficult working and living conditions, high morbidity and mortality rates. But an 8-hour working day, annual leave were introduced, and forced overtime was abolished.
2) Conversion was completely completed only by 1947.
3) Labor shortage in the USSR.
4) Increased migration of the population of the USSR.
5) Increased transfer of funds from villages to cities.
6) Redistribution of funds from the light and food industries, agriculture and social sphere in favor of heavy industry.
7) The desire to implement scientific and technical developments in production.

There was a drought in the village in 1946, which led to large-scale famine. Private trade in agricultural products was allowed only to those peasants whose collective farms fulfilled state orders.
A new wave of political repression began. They affected party leaders, the military, and the intelligentsia.

Ideological thaw in the USSR (1956 - 1962). Under this name, the reign of the new leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, went down in history.

On February 14, 1956, the 20th Congress of the CPSU took place, at which the personality cult of Joseph Stalin was condemned. As a result, partial rehabilitation of the enemies of the people was carried out, and some repressed peoples were allowed to return to their homeland.

Investments in agriculture increased 2.5 times.

All debts from collective farms were written off.

MTS - material and technical stations - were transferred to collective farms

Taxes on personal plots are increasing

The course for the development of the Virgin Lands is 1956; it is planned to develop and sow grain on 37 million hectares of land in Southern Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan.

The slogan appeared - “Catch up and overtake America in the production of meat and milk.” This led to excesses in livestock farming and agriculture (the sowing of large areas with corn).

1963 - The Soviet Union purchases grain for gold for the first time since the revolutionary period.
Almost all ministries were abolished. The territorial principle of management was introduced - the management of enterprises and organizations was transferred to economic councils formed in economic administrative regions.

Period of stagnation in the USSR (1962 - 1984)

Followed Khrushchev's thaw. Characterized by stagnation in socio-political life and lack of reforms
1) A steady decline in the rate of economic and social development of the country (industrial growth decreased from 50% to 20%, in agriculture - from 21% to 6%).
2) Stage lag.
3) A slight increase in production is achieved by increasing the production of raw materials and fuel.
In the 70s, there was a sharp lag in agriculture, and a crisis in the social sphere was emerging. The housing problem has become extremely acute. There is a growth of the bureaucratic apparatus. The number of all-Union ministries increased from 29 to 160 over 2 decades. In 1985, they employed 18 million officials.

Perestroika in the USSR (1985 - 1991)

A set of measures to solve the accumulated problems in the Soviet economy, as well as the political and social system. The initiator of its implementation was the new General Secretary of the CPSU M.S. Gorbachev.
1.Democratization of public life and the political system. In 1989, elections of people's deputies of the USSR took place, in 1990 - elections of people's deputies of the RSFSR.
2.Transition of the economy to self-financing. Introduction of free market elements in the country. Permit for private entrepreneurship.
3. Glasnost. Pluralism of opinions. Condemnation of the policy of repression. Criticism of communist ideology.

1) A deep socio-economic crisis that has engulfed the entire country. Economic ties between republics and regions within the USSR gradually weakened.
2) The gradual destruction of the Soviet system on the ground. Significant weakening of the union center.
3) The weakening of the influence of the CPSU on all aspects of life in the USSR and its subsequent ban.
4) Exacerbation of interethnic relations. National conflicts undermined state unity, becoming one of the reasons for the destruction of the union statehood.

The events of August 19-21, 1991 - the attempted coup d'etat (GKChP) and its failure - made the process of collapse of the USSR inevitable.
The V Congress of People's Deputies (held on September 5, 1991) surrendered its powers to the USSR State Council, which included the highest officials of the republics, and the Supreme Council of the USSR.
September 9 - The State Council officially recognized the independence of the Baltic states.
On December 1, the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian population approved the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in a national referendum (August 24, 1991).

On December 8, the Belovezhskaya Agreement was signed. The Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus B. Yeltsin, L. Kravchuk and S. Shushkevich announced the unification of their republics into the CIS - the Commonwealth of Independent States.

By the end of 1991, 12 former republics of the Soviet Union joined the CIS.

On December 25, 1991, M. Gorbachev resigned, and on December 26, the Council of Republics and the Supreme Council officially recognized the dissolution of the USSR.