Soviet Union (1922-1991, People's Republic)

The formal name of the Soviet Union is the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR). The first republics were established shortly after the October Revolution of 1917. At that time they were still independent of each other. In 1922 four republics came together to form the Soviet Union. During World War II, the Soviet Union consisted of the Russian SFSR and the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, Kazakh, Georgian, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz, Armenian, Lithuanian, Moldavian, Latvian, Estonian and Karelo-Finnish SSR. The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.

In 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, Soviet troops fought on the Republican side. In May 1939 a force of Soviet and Mongolian troops attacked the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol (a river in Manchuria). This battle was won by the Soviet and Mongolian troops. In September 1939 the Soviet Union really became involved in World War II when she invaded Poland. This took place shortly after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the German-Soviet non-agression pact, in which the capture of the Baltic States, Finland and parts of Romania by the Soviet Union was laid down. All these countries were invaded, but...

Read more