Красное знамя [Krasnoye znamya]? - the Red Banner, State flag of the Soviet Union
"Si demain l'URSS devait sombrer sous les eaux de l'océan, l'établissement militaro-industriel occidental devra continuer, pratiquement inchangée, jusqu'à ce qu'un autre adversaire pourrait être inventé. Tout le reste serait un choc inacceptable pour nos économies." (If, tomorrow, the USSR were to sink beneath the waters of the ocean, the Western military-industrial complex would continue, essentially unchanged, until such time as another adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to our economies.) - Henri Louis VI de Plantagenet-Bourgogne, King-Emperor of the United Kingdom & the Commonwealth of Nations
The Soviet Union or USSR [Сове́тский Сою́з, Sovétskiy Soyúz / CCCP, SSSR] - officially, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, Soyúz Sovétskikh Sotsialistícheskikh Respúblik] - is a state occupying most of continental Asia and the eastern extremes of Europe, as well as the northwestern edge of North America [Alaska].
The USSR was borne out of the 1917 "February Revolution", which arose following decades of popular discontent with the government of the Russian Empire. This brewing social powderkeg was finally ignited by the defeat of Russian forces in the Great War, exploding into an uprising of Republican and Radical Leftist forces that toppled Tsar Nicholas II from his ancient throne. In his wake, a nominally-democratic provisional Republic was declared. The reality, however, was quite different: a political deadlock quickly arose as the Leftists, disciples of Karl Marx calling themselves the "Bolsheviks", turned on their former allies. In November later that year, these radical Communists - led by Vladimir Lenin & Leon Trotsky - seized power for themselves in what they would come to call the "Great October Socialist Revolution" (because Russia still used the old-style Julian Calendar, rather than the more modern and precise Gregorian Calendar).
Through a succession of conflicts - first a bloody civil war, then a series of attempts to "export" the Communist Revolution to neighboring countries - Russia transformed itself into a multinational federation of states: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In the late 1920s and early-to-mid '30s, they would carry their revolutionary Marxism as far south as China, fighting and defeating Japan to gain control of most of continental Asia. Then, finally, in 1941, under the leadership of visionary general Mikhail Tukhachevsky, they invaded Europe itself: storming the borders of the Confederation of the Rhine and triggering a second, even bloodier, global war that would become the defining geopolitical event of the 20th century. This series of conflicts, from the Russian Civil War to the Second World War, is collectively referred to by Western Historians as the "Russian Revolutionary Wars".
Following an eventual stalemate and the Peace of Philadelphia in 1949, much of the world has been divided into two power blocs that remain in place to this day: ComIntern (the Communist International), comprising the USSR, the Bolivarian Republic & the People's Republic of South Africa on one side, and the Commonwealth of Nations, led by the United Kingdom and the Federation of North America, along with its allies, on the other. The remaining states which have not chosen a side - led by the Byzantine Empire - collectively refer to themselves as the "3rd Column". The ongoing Commonwealth-ComIntern conflict continues to this day indirectly through arms races, proxy wars and international competition in what has been termed the "Great Standoff".
Today, the USSR is the world's most populous and economically powerful nation, and on its own would be capable of taking on the entire Commonwealth with a significant chance of victory.
Overview[]
Capital: Москва [Moskva] (Moscow)
Anthem: Государственный гимн СССР [Gosudarstvennyy gimn SSSR] (State Anthem of the USSR)
Official Languages: Russian, Chinese & many others
Religion: None, State Atheism
National Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! [Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes'!] (Workers of all Nations, Unite!)
Demonym: Soviet (often simply 'Russian' in the West)
Largest City: Moscow
Government: Union of republics; centralized Marxist-Leninist single-party state
Legislature: Supreme Soviet
- Soviet of the Union
- Soviet of Nationalities
Population: ~1.9 billion
GDP: ~42 trillion Soviet Rubles / 56 trillion NAD (North American Dollars)
HDI [Human Development Index]: 8.2
Currency: Soviet Ruble (R)