Page 130 - Olympism in Socialism

USSR

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was
a federal socialist state in Northern Eurasia that
existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of
multiple national Soviet republics, it was a one-
party state prior to 1990 governed by
the Communist Party, with Moscow as its capital
in its largest republic, the Russian SFSR. Other
major urban centers were Leningrad (Russian
SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian,SSR), Minsk (Byelorussia
n SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-
Ata (Kazakh SSR) and Novosibirsk (Russian
SFSR). It was the largest country in the world by
surface area, spanning over 10,000 kilometers
(6,200 mi) east to west across 11 time zones and
over 7,200 kilometers (4,500 mi) north to south.
Its territory included much of Eastern Europe,
parts of Northern Europe and Western Asia, and
all of Central and North Asia. Its
five biomes were tundra, taiga, steppes, desert,
and mountains. Its diverse population was
officially known as the Soviet people.
The Soviet Union had its roots in the October
Revolution of 1917 when the Bolsheviks, headed
by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional
Government that had earlier
replaced the monarchy of the Russian Empire.
They established the Russian Soviet
Republic, beginning a civil war between the
Bolshevik Red Army and many anti-Bolshevik
forces across the former Empire, among whom
the largest faction was the White Guard, which
engaged in violent anti-communist repression
against the Bolsheviks and their worker and
peasant supporters known as the White Terror.
The Red Army expanded and helped local
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