The States of the Old USSR

The socialist state that was the USSR has now been consigned to history. Formed in 1922, it would become one of the world’s two superpowers throughout the Cold War, until political upheaval saw its demise in 1991.

The USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was, as the name suggests, a grouping of fifteen socialist states in Europe and Asia, although it originally grew from just four. It is common to see the USSR also referred to as the CCCP due to the Cyrillic script used in the Russian Alphabet.

The Russian Empire had disintegrated in 1917 in the face of political upheaval. In Russia the October Revolution would see the rise of the Bolsheviks and communism, resulting in the formation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. This period though was also marked with a Civil War within Russia as the communists fought against the anti-communists. Elsewhere in the old Empire, three other republics had formed; the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic; and the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In 1922 these four republics would join in union, creating the USSR.

Soviet Union Administrative Divisions 1989 - Public Domain

From 1922 through to 1956 changes occurred in boundaries, partially through armed conflict, but also through political manoeuvring, and other Soviet Socialist Republics were formed, whilst others disappeared. From 1956 through to the end of the 1980s and early 1990s there were 15 member republics, although politics were dominated by the Politburo in Moscow.

The 15 member countries of the USSR were the Russian SFSR, Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Kazakh SSR, Turkmen SSR, Uzbek SSR, Tajik SSR, and Kirghiz SSR.
Other countries, including Poland and East Germany, were also heavily influenced by the USSR without being part of the Soviet Union.

Political and economic might had a lot to do in keeping the USSR together but eventually the individual Soviet Socialist Republics sought for more independence from Moscow, and starting with the Baltic states, the USSR started to crumble.

After the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, fifteen independent countries became recognised. These were Russia, Estonia, Lativa, Lithuania, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikstan. Despite the passing though of more than twenty years, many of the regions that were once part of the USSR still face political upheaval, and armed conflicts still occur as other regions attempt to become their own independent countries.

Copyright - First Published 22nd May 2012