Proper noun

Singular the Soviet Union

Plural -

the Soviet Union

1. The name for a constitutionally socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991.

Assigned on September 19, 1990, existing onwards. The governments of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania view themselves as continuous and unrelated to the respective Soviet republics. Russia views the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian SSRs as legal constituent republics of the USSR and predecessors of the modern Baltic states. The Government of the United States and a number of other countries did not recognize the legal inclusion of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the USSR.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (help·info), tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, IPA [sɐˈjʊs sɐˈvʲeʦkʲɪx səʦɪəlʲɪˈstʲiʨɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpʊblʲɪk], abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from Советский Союз, Sovetskiy Soyuz. A soviet is a local council, the theoretical basis for the socialist society of the USSR. The Soviet Union was a Commonwealth of 15 autonomous republics on paper, with Russian SFSR as the largest and dominant republic. The Russian Soviet Republic's major dominance meant that the USSR was often referred to as "Russia" or "Soviet Russia" in the West.

The Soviet Union emerged in the wake of World War I, when the Russian Empire collapsed during the Russian Revolution. After a chaotic period known as the Russian Civil War, Vladimir Lenin, a Bolshevik, gained power over most of the Russian Empire. After Lenin's death, the power eventually went to Josef Stalin, who with his command economy and brutal methods got the country through a large-scale industrialization. The Soviet Union led an aggressive and expansionist foreign policy and attacked a number of countries. After the Soviet Union had attacked Poland, Finland and the Baltic countries in 1939-1940, the Soviet Union itself was attacked in 1941 by Germany, a country the Soviet Union had a non-aggression-pact and divided Poland with. After four years of war, the Soviet Union once again emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, and occupied most of Eastern Europe and installed totalitarian, Soviet-loyal dictatorships there. The postwar period was marked by the cold war, an ideological and political struggle between the USSR and the communist countries on the one side and the United States and the West on the other side.Throughout the 1980s, it became apparent that the Soviet bloc had lost this fight, and when Mikhail Gorbachev took power in the Soviet Union in 1985, it was clear that fundamental reforms in the social structure was necessary.

The Soviet Union was regarded as a totalitarian state, and conducted extensive abuse, both against its own citizens and in the occupied countries. Millions were sent to concentration camp, the Gulag, and exterminated. The USSR also conducted genocide and ethnic cleansing in various countries in Europe, especially during and after World War II. Estimates of the death toll during the leadership of Stalin alone are estimated at 20 million people.

The Soviet social system was dominated by the Communist Party, a party based on Marxist-Leninist principles. The Communist Party was the country's state-bearing party, and was the only permitted party. The Secretary of the party was the Soviet Union's most powerful person, and had far more power and influence than the government and parliament. Soviet Union was the world's largest planned economy, where all aspects of economic life were controlled centrally from the capital Moscow, among other things, through the so-called five-year plans. The country was characterized by little political freedom; among other things, the KGB actively oversaw much of the community. The country was in its heyday a well developed social system with a well-developed health care and social support.

From 1945 until dissolution in 1991—a period known as the Cold War—the Soviet Union and the United States of America were the two world superpowers that dominated the global agenda of economic policy, foreign affairs, military operations, cultural exchange, scientific advancements including the pioneering of space exploration, and sports (including the Olympic Games and various world championships). The Russian Federation is the so called continuation state in exercising the rights and fulfilling the obligations of the former USSR. Russia is the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States and a recognised global power, inheriting former Soviet foreign representatives and much of Soviet military.