russian president vladimir putin's
actions of the past few years have led
some to suggest he may be trying to
reinstate the former soviet union
so how exactly did the soviet union rise
to power
well the history of the union of soviet
socialist republics begins with the end
of the russian
zardom for hundreds of years russia was
ruled by a series of monarchs called
czars who wielded absolute authority but
in the early 20th century russia
suffered a series of demoralizing
military defeats both in the
russia-japanese war
and during world war one these failures
were coupled with brutality from
tsar nicholas ii the state of affairs
eventually prompted a revolt from
revolutionary groups
who rejected rule by elites instead
encouraging rule by the working class
the most notable of these were the
bolsheviks led by vladimir lenin
in 1917 two back-to-back revolutions
first ousted the tsar
then replaced the interim government
with local groups of workers known as
soviets
the following year the tsar and his
entire family were summarily executed
shortly thereafter a civil war between
loyalists known as the whites and
revolutionaries called the reds broke
out
the reds won and unified under the
communist ideology creating the first
socialist state the union of soviet
socialist republics
in 1922. vladimir lenin was instituted
as the leader of the state
and the bolsheviks were renamed the
communist party
lenin nationalized the country's
industries particularly manufacturing
and banking
and distributed land amongst its
citizens those who opposed him
were either executed or imprisoned in
concentration camps
in a campaign known as the red terror
although lenin died just two years after
the formation of the ussr
his cult of personality was used
throughout its history to promote a
political ideology known as marxism
leninism
a derivation of communism after lenin's
death another revolutionary bolshevik
joseph stalin
gained power despite serious opposition
from lenin in his final years
this opposition was kept secret from the
public and stalin effectively became a
dictator in the soviet union
he focused on rapid industrialization
and turning the country into a major
economic power
although stalin's series of five-year
plans to transform the state were
generally successful
they came at a severe cost millions were
unjustly imprisoned in labor camps
called gulaks
an intentional famine killed millions
more in short because workers were
unable to eat their own grain
as it was considered state property
under socialism
in the 1930s stalin implemented a
campaign known as the great purge
to execute or exile anyone who is a
potential threat to communism
including intellectuals and politicians
as the ruler during world war ii
stalin made a peace pact with nazi
germany when germany broke the pact and
attempted to invade in 1941
stalin sent millions of citizens to
their deaths to defend the country
successfully pushing back the siege in
the aftermath of world war
ii stalin's regime funded communist
uprisings in other countries
creating conditions for the cold war
against the western and capitalist
united states
stalin died in 1953 and at the time was
revered as a nationalist hero
who'd fought back the nazis and brought
russia into the industrial age
which is considered by some the peak of
the ussr's power
the following years brought efforts to
destalinize and reverse the power of the
dictatorship
and purges and gulags still within a
decade the country began slipping into
decline and despite efforts to
revitalize it while competing with the
united states
the ussr eventually fell apart we can't
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during the onset of the cold war the
soviet union was an economic and
political superpower rivaled only by the
united states
so what led to its eventual decline find
out in the second part of the series
the fall of the soviet union although
different theories have been proposed
one suggests that the soviet union was
desperate to outperform the united
states in two major regions
military and space flight this led to
excessive spending with the soviet union
establishing a self-contained
military-industrial complex
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