soviet union

Since the end of World War II in 1945 and victory over the Axis powers, two new superpowers USSR and USA are locked in open yet restricted geopolitical rivalry which involves both countries and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. Aside from the nuclear arsenal...

I've heard it argued, I think persuasively, that even without lend lease the Soviets would likely have beat the Nazis back. It would have taken longer and would have exacted a much larger toll on the Soviets, but in the end they probably would have fended off Germany. I'm curious what would...

As Leonid Brezhnev is escorted by Richard Nixon for a state dinner, a bomb suddenly explodes in which Brezhnev dies. After the explosion is made broadcasted and made public knowledge across the whole world, soon after, key supporters and the people who make up Brezhnev's power base start...

Stalin during the final days of Nikolai Yezhov's downfall as NKVD chief gets a brain haemorrhage and is out of action for a week, after said week in which a doctors assessment states that no further medical conditions are present, is physically fine, and is in full control of his mental...

During Stalin's funeral as his inner circle is making their speeches, Stalin suddenly wakes up, in full view of everyone. So after being driven to the nearest hospital after which a doctors assessment states that his health problems are all gone and he seems to be in full control of his mental...

Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet delegation in attendance of the bilateral talks with the Czechoslovakian representatives from the 29th of July to 1st of August comes to an agreement with the Czechs that he will not interfere with nor try to stop the reforms of Alexander Dubček and the reformist...

I'm new here on the site, so sorry in advance if there are any mistakes, I'm not very good at English or American politics and I don't know how to make an infobox (if someone makes an infobox in my place kudos to him), but if there's a subject I really like it's the Cold War and its history, so...

As Beria is mulling over Stalins death and the socio-political aftermath, he suddenly receives a surprise visitor, it's deputy defence minister Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov , Zhukov states to Beria that he is here to propose behind Beria to form a duumvirate between themselves and is willing to...

Ever since its inception, the Soviet Union has been plagued with an agricultural crisis that it could never shake off. Various soviet leaders, starting with Georgy Malenkov, tried to rectify it with varying degrees of results. The most radical being Nikita Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign in...

IOTL the USSR underwent rapid demographic transition coupled with catastrophic events that stripped its population to levels well below its potential, given Russia's vast land and resources. With a POD after the second world war, is it possible for the Soviet Union to encourage rural settlement...

For example, since the RSFSR in our timeline had no anthem nor a branch party of the CPSU and KGBT of its own, and most of the institutions were under direct control of the central state of the USSR, what if Khrushchev or Brezhnev had introduced them, would it have influenced the course of USSR...

Let's say that rather than Gorbachev a hardliner takes over (say Ligachyov) who clamps down on liberalism and in a last ditch attempt to avoid instability embraces neo-stalinist totalitarianism. This fails and order completely breaks down into the Second Russian Civil War that lasts until the...

"1941 was not the worst, oh no. And 1945 was not the end. All we went through together was meaningless. Those desperate, brutal battles against the fascists in the long first summer of the war, the bitter cold outside Moscow and Stalingrad, and our heroic march to Berlin- none of it mattered...

Although many people think that Rosa Luxemburg is German,in fact she was born in Poland,in the then Russian empire.What would have happened if she had remained connected to Russia and not moved to Germany and participated in the October Revolution?Would she have collaborated with Lenin?And let's...

What I mean is let's say that after the Bolsheviks decisively win the Russian Civil War, they content themselves with the borders of modern day Russia and Kazakhstan with the addition of Crimea and the Donestk so that the Sea of Azov becomes a Russian lake and there's a natural land bridge to...

Title. What would be the long-term ramifications of a Soviet-aligned Israel on the web of political alliances in the Middle East? How would the nascent Jewish state's alignment with the Soviet Union affect its public image in the West, and how would it reflect on Jewish politics in Israel as...

IOTL the Sino-Soviet split had a huge impact on the Cold War, with the USSR having to contend with dissent in their own corner (which they couldn't brush off as easily as Tito), and the US courting China to counter Soviet influence. But what if the split didn't happen, or was delayed at least...

So I stumbled upon this this interesting piece from RAND corporation about ethnic relations within the Soviet military. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2008/R2787.1.pdf As this was made back in 1982, they obviously cannot rely on hard data, and thus relied on tons of...

what if Anastas Mikoyan became premier of the soviet union? would he reform the USSR into semi capitalism? would the soviets avoid collapse? what would armenia be like? how would this alternate USSR and world develop?

So the way I understand it, Soviet armed forces were seeing some serious innovation as regards military theory during the 1920s-30s. Not only was the Red Army rapidly modernizing, Soviet commanders were also theorizing how to best make use of it, and they came up with Deep Operation/Deep Battle...