Synopsis and key event of the Soviet Union/USSR

1. Soviet Union
By: Eddie & Juan
11-23-13
Period 3

2. Background
• Name: Soviet Union or USSR (Soviet Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics)
• Founded in 1917 and took 5 years to unify
• Established in Eurasia between 1922-1991
• Capital was Moscow
• Governed by a single party state known as the
Communist Party.
• Wanted a country that is classless, stateless, and
has productions run by its own people.

3. Leaders
• Russian peasantry got sick of the monarchy ruled by
Czar Nicholas II.
• Vladimir Lenin found the Soviet Union with his
Bolshevik Party.
• The country was then ruled as only one country
(Communist Party)
• Lenin died in 1924 and was replaced by Josef Stalin

4. Rule of Stalin
• Soviet Union was in a terrible time
• Millions forced into labor camps called
gulags
• Stalin’s actions killed more than 60 million.
• His 5 Year Plans was later a foundation for
World War II

5. World War II
• Signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi
Germany before war began
• Germany invaded and treaty was ignored
• Allies with France, US, and UK against
Germany, Italy, Japan (Axis Powers)
• Hitler’s forces were eventually beaten

6. Iron Curtain
• An ideological conflict and physical boundary
dividing Europe
• Lasted from the end of World War II to the end of
Cold War (1945-1991)
• East side had countries that were influenced by
the former Soviet Union
• Both sides developed international economics
and military alliances

7. Space Race
• Soviet Union and the US competed with
each other to see who could achieve more
space “firsts” than the other
• Soviet was the first to launched the
satellite and the first man into Space
• US had the first man on the Moon

8. Cold War
• The contributors to the defeat of Nazi Germany
decided to split Germany and Berlin
• Hostility erupted between US’s capitalist and
Soviet Union’s communism ideas
• Berlin wall was built to avoid all communism
ideas from contact
• Cuba nearly started a nuclear war
• Berlin walls were taken down and Soviet Union
accepted the fact that communism doesn’t work

9. Collapse
•
•
•
•
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991
Citizens preferred capitalism
Moscow stopped controlling several states
Russian Federation and the West have a
strained relation with each other

10. Key Points
• Soviet Union with communism ideas established
in 1922
• Reign of Stalin killed millions of people
• World War II began, going against Axis Powers
• Iron Curtain divided Europe
• Space Race began between US and USSR
• Cold War almost made a nuclear war breakout
• Soviet Union collapsed in 1991