Soviet Union

noun
1.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Can be confused
Russia, Soviet Union.

Soviet of the Union

noun
1.
See under Supreme Soviet.

Supreme Soviet

noun
1.
the legislature of the former Soviet Union and its successor states, consisting of an upper house (Soviet of the Union or Council of the Union) whose delegates are elected on the basis of population, and a lower house (Soviet of Nationalities or Council of Nationalities) whose delegates are elected to represent the various nationalities.
Also called Supreme Council.
Origin
translation of Russian Vérkhniĭ sovét
British Dictionary definitions for Soviet Union

Soviet Union

noun
1.
a former federal republic in E Europe and central and N Asia: the revolution of 1917 achieved the overthrow of the Russian monarchy and the Soviet Union (the USSR) was established in 1922 as a Communist state. It was the largest country in the world, occupying a seventh of the total land surface. The collapse of Communist rule in 1991 was followed by declarations of independence by the constituent republics and the consequent break-up of the Soviet Union Official name Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Also called Russia, Soviet Russia, USSR

Supreme Soviet

noun (in the former Soviet Union)
1.
the bicameral legislature, comprising the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of the Nationalities; officially the highest organ of state power
2.
a similar legislature in each former Soviet republic
Word Origin and History for Soviet Union

informal name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; in use in U.S. newspapers by October 1919.

Soviet Union in Culture

Soviet Union definition


Officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a nation formerly located in eastern Europe and northwestern Asia. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

In 1917 the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized the government of Russia, and in 1922 Russia merged with the Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Transcaucasian republics to form the USSR. Joseph Stalin emerged as the Soviet leader after Lenin's death in 1924. Under Stalin, the 1930s were marked by political repression and terror (see Stalin's Purge Trials). After the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939, the Soviet Union added parts of Finland, Poland, and Romania to its territory and annexed the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Invaded by Germany in 1941, the Soviet Union suffered vast losses but emerged from World War II on the winning side and soon became a nuclear superpower.

Postwar American-Soviet relations saw the start of the cold war, as the Soviet Union extended its control over the Eastern Bloc. The Cuban missile crisis was provoked by the buildup of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

In the 1970s the Soviet Union entered a period of détente with the United States. The reforms (glasnost and perestroika) introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev weakened the Communist party's control, which suffered a mortal blow when hard-liners tried unsuccessfully in 1991 to overthrow Gorbachev.

As Communist dominance faded, nationalism rose within the republics that made up the Soviet Union. The Baltic republics of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and various republics of the Caucasus Mountains — Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — declared their independence. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved in 1991. A loose federation, known as the Commonwealth of Independent States and made up of some former Soviet republics, succeeded it, but the Commonwealth is not recognized as a nation. Russia took the former Soviet Union's seat on the Security Council of the United Nations.