Why and how the Soviet Union was formed. Education of the USSR

December 26, 1991 is the official date of the collapse of the USSR. A day earlier, President Gorbachev announced that, for “reasons of principle,” he was resigning from his post. On December 26, the Supreme USSR adopted a declaration on the collapse of the state.

The collapsed Union included 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. The legal successor of the USSR became Russian Federation. Russia declared sovereignty on June 12, 1990. Exactly a year and a half later, the country's leaders announced secession from the USSR. Legal "independence" December 26, 1991.

The Baltic republics were the first to declare their sovereignty and independence. Already on 16 1988, the Estonian SSR declared its sovereignty. A few months later in 1989, the Lithuanian SSR and the Latvian SSR also declared sovereignty. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania even received legal independence somewhat earlier than the official collapse of the USSR - on September 6, 1991.

On December 8, 1991, the Union of Independent States was created. In fact, this organization failed to become a real Union, and the CIS turned into a formal meeting of the leaders of the participating states.

Among the Transcaucasian republics, Georgia wanted to secede from the Union the fastest. The independence of the Georgian Republic was declared on April 9, 1991. The Republic of Azerbaijan declared independence on August 30, 1991, and the Republic of Armenia on September 21, 1991.

From August 24 to October 27, Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan declared their withdrawal from the Union. Besides Russia, Belarus (left the Union on December 8, 1991) and Kazakhstan (withdrew from the USSR on December 16, 1991) took the longest to declare their secession from the USSR.

Failed attempts at independence

Some Autonomous Regions and Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics also previously tried to secede from the USSR and declare independence. They eventually succeeded, albeit together with the republics that these autonomies were part of.

On January 19, 1991, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which was part of the Azerbaijan SSR, tried to secede from the Union. After some time, the Nakhichevan Republic, as part of Azerbaijan, managed to leave the USSR.

Currently, a new union is being formed in the post-Soviet space. The unsuccessful project of the Union of Independent States is being replaced by integration in a new format - the Eurasian Union.

Tatarstan and Checheno-Ingushetia, which had previously tried to leave the USSR on their own, left the Soviet Union as part of the Russian Federation. The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic also failed to gain independence and left the USSR only together with Ukraine.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was a significant event for the whole world. With the disappearance of the USSR, the confrontation between the two superpowers, which affected almost the entire rest of the world, ended. Because of the enormous significance of this event, it is important to understand the reasons and course of the division of the USSR into independent states.

Prerequisites for the collapse of the USSR

The collapse of the USSR was associated with a complex of political and economic problems. From a political point of view, the problem of independence in the allied countries had been brewing for a long time. Formally, all republics of the union had the right to self-determination, but this was not observed in practice. Although the country pursued a policy of internationalism, the weakening of the central government during perestroika led to an increase in the popularity of nationalist sentiments.

Residents of small republics pinned their hopes for the future not only on reforms, but also on independence. This was especially true for the Baltic countries. Another political component was the desire of local elites to gain more power and influence, which was only possible in an independent state.

There were also economic reasons. As perestroika progressed, the economic insolvency of the latter became increasingly obvious. The shortage began to become more and more widespread: in 1989, a card system for some essential products was introduced even in Moscow.

In 1990-1991, a crisis of power was added to these problems - it became increasingly difficult to collect financial revenues from the outskirts of the state, they increasingly switched to self-sufficiency. Thus, for a significant part of the population, one of the ways out of the economic crisis was the separation of the republics from the RSFSR.

A number of experts believe that one of the reasons for the crisis of the Soviet economy was the sharp decline in oil prices.

The process of division of the USSR

The Soviet Union began to disintegrate even before the official declaration of independence of the republics. First of all, the crisis was expressed in interethnic clashes. In 1986, the first major conflict in Kazakhstan. In 1988, a crisis began in Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended in war. Ethnic conflicts also arose in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Ethnic conflicts in some former republics continued after the collapse of the USSR.

After liberal elections in 1990, supporters of self-determination came to power in many republics. Georgia and Lithuania were the first to declare their sovereignty. The remaining Baltic republics, as well as Moldova and Armenia, expressed their reluctance to join the renewed union of states that the government envisioned.

The legal disintegration of the USSR began in September 1991 - Western countries recognized the independence of the Baltic states. On December 26, the USSR finally ceased to exist - the union republics became independent states, and the RSFSR became the legal successor of the USSR.

The collapse of the USSR is one of the most important events of the 20th century. Until now, the meaning and reasons for the collapse of the Union cause heated discussions and various kinds of disputes among both political scientists and ordinary people.

Reasons for the collapse of the USSR

Initially, the highest officials of the largest state in the world planned to preserve the Soviet Union. To do this, they had to take timely measures to reform it, but in the end it happened. There are various versions that convey in some detail possible reasons. For example, researchers believe that initially, when the state was created, it should have become entirely federal, but over time the USSR turned into a state and this gave rise to a series of inter-republican problems that were not given due attention.

During the years of perestroika, the situation became quite tense and became extremely violent. Meanwhile, contradictions became increasingly widespread, economic difficulties became insurmountable, and it became absolutely clear that disintegration could not be avoided. It is also worth noting that in those days the most important role in the life of the state was played by the Communist Party, which in some sense was even a more significant bearer of power than the state itself. It was the crisis that occurred in the Communist system of the state that became one of the reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed.

The Soviet Union collapsed and ceased to exist at the end of December 1991. The consequences of the collapse took on an economic nature, because it caused the collapse of a large number of established connections that were established between the subjects economic activity, and also led to a minimum production value and its reduction. At the same time, access to foreign markets ceased to have a guaranteed status. The territory of the collapsed state also decreased significantly, and the problems associated with the insufficient development of infrastructure became more noticeable.

The collapse of the Soviet Union affected not only economic relations and the position of the state, but also had political consequences. Russia's political potential and influence decreased significantly, and a problem arose concerning small segments of the population who at that time lived in territory that did not belong to their national fatherlands. This is only a small part of the negative consequences that befell Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“The indestructible union of free republics,” began the anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. For decades, citizens of the largest state on the globe sincerely believed that the Union was eternal, and no one could even imagine the possibility of its collapse.

The first doubts about the inviolability of the USSR appeared in the mid-80s. 20th century. In 1986, a protest demonstration took place in Kazakhstan. The reason was the appointment to the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic of a person who had nothing to do with Kazakhstan.

In 1988 there followed a conflict between Azerbaijanis and Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, in 1989 - clashes between Abkhazians and Georgians in Sukhumi, a conflict between Meskhetian Turks and Uzbeks in the Fergana region. The country, which until now was in the eyes of its inhabitants “a family of fraternal peoples,” is turning into an arena of interethnic conflicts.

To a certain extent, this was facilitated by the crisis that hit the Soviet economy. For ordinary citizens, this meant a shortage of goods, including food.

Parade of sovereignties

In 1990, competitive elections were held for the first time in the USSR. In republican parliaments, nationalists dissatisfied with the central government gain an advantage. The result was events that went down in history as the “Parade of Sovereignties”: the authorities of many republics began to challenge the priority of all-Union laws and established control over the republican economies to the detriment of the all-Union one. In the conditions of the USSR, where each republic was a “workshop,” the collapse of economic ties between the republics aggravates the crisis.

The first union republic to declare its secession from the USSR was Lithuania, this happened in March 1990. Only Iceland recognized the independence of Lithuania, the Soviet government tried to influence Lithuania through an economic blockade, and in 1991 used military force. As a result, 13 people died and dozens of people were injured. The reaction of the international community forced a stop to the use of force.

Subsequently, five more republics declared their independence: Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia and Moldova, and on June 12, 1990, the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR was adopted.

Union Treaty

The Soviet leadership seeks to preserve the disintegrating state. In 1991, a referendum was held on the preservation of the USSR. It was not carried out in the republics that had already declared their independence, but in the rest of the USSR the majority of citizens were in favor of preserving it.

A draft union treaty is being prepared, which was supposed to transform the USSR into a Union of Sovereign States, in the form of a decentralized federation. The signing of the agreement was planned on August 20, 1991, but was thwarted as a result of a coup attempt undertaken by a group of politicians from the inner circle of Soviet President M. Gorbachev.

Bialowieza Agreement

In December 1991, a meeting took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus), in which the leaders of only three union republics - Russia, Belarus and Ukraine - took part. It was planned to sign a union treaty, but instead the politicians stated the demise of the USSR and signed an agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It was not or even a confederation, but an international organization. The Soviet Union as a state ceased to exist. The liquidation of his power structures after that was a matter of time.

The Russian Federation became the successor of the USSR in the international arena.

Sources:

• Collapse of the USSR

Tip 5: Moldovan group Ozon: history of creation, composition and reason for collapse

O-Zone is a Moldovan pop group that has made a splash all over the world with such hits as Dragostea Din Tei, Despre Tine and many others. The team, consisting of three members, existed from 1999 to 2005.

History of the group

The O-Zone group was founded in 1999 by Dan Balan and Petru Zhelikhovsky, members of the Moldovan rock band Inferialis. They explained the choice of the name by the fact that ozone is a substance that makes the air clean and fresh, and their music should have an equally positive effect on listeners. Additionally, the number "0" is used to represent Moldova on mobile networks.

The first album "Dar, unde eşti", consisting of 11 compositions, was released the same year and won considerable success in its homeland. After this, Dan Balan decided to take the group to a whole new level and make it popular in Europe and beyond. Petru, who did not share his partner’s ambitions, refused to participate in future fate team, and in 2001 a casting took place for his place. It turned out to be difficult to choose just one candidate, and in the end the final composition of O-Zone included:

• Dan Balan;
• Arseniy Todirash;
• Radu Sirbu.

In 2002, the trio released the album "Number 1", which made the group incredibly popular in Romania and even abroad. Listeners especially liked the single "Despre Tine". A year later, the Romanian artists released their third and final album, "DiscO-Zone", which took the leading position in sales throughout Europe for several years in a row.

The single "Dragostea Din Tei" brought the group maximum fame and worldwide success. The composition with the memorable phrase “nu mă, nu mă iei” held a leading position in the charts for a long time and is still associated with the group. Compositions such as:

• "Numai Tu";
• "De Ce Plang Chitarele";
• "Crede-Ma".

At the beginning of 2005, Dan decides to go solo and refuses to renew his contract with Arseniy and Radu. The group broke up, but unexpectedly revived in 2017, giving concerts in Bucharest and Chisinau. The future of the group remains unknown as the members continue to focus on solo work.

Biography of Dan Balan

The founder of O-Zone was born on February 6, 1979 in Chisinau. At the age of 11 he began to get involved in music and subsequently graduated music school. After school, he entered the Faculty of Law and during his university years founded the band Inferialis, which played gothic-doom metal. This played a decisive role in his fate, and Dan dropped out of school, deciding to devote his life entirely to music.

Thanks to the full-length album “Dar, unde eşti” and constant concerts, Inferialis’s popularity in Moldova grew, but Dan realized that to go beyond the borders of his country he would have to change direction in music and create a full-fledged “boy band”. In 2001, he met Arseniy Todiras and Radu Sarbu and created the O-Zone group.

After O-Zone disbanded in 2005, Dan moved to Los Angeles and began recording a solo rock album under the name Crazy Loop. The album "The Power of Shower" was released in 2007, and in 2009 the next album called "Crazy Loop Mix" was released. Experiments with electronic and rock sounds did not bring the artist the desired result, and he began a solo pop career. From 2010 to 2018, he released many solo compositions (including in Russian), which became worldwide and European hits. Among them:

• "Chica Bomb";
• "Justify Sex";
• "Petals of tears";
• "Freedom";
• "Only until the morning";
• "Love."

Biography of Arseniy Todirash

The second member of the O-Zone team was born on July 22, 1983 in Chisinau. Since childhood, he was fond of singing, and at the age of 15 he began composing music. He performed with his compositions at school concerts, and later on the big stage of Moldova, becoming a member of the Moldovan folk group Stejareii. In 2001, Arseniy entered the Chisinau Conservatory, where he studied piano and singing in depth.

At the age of 18, Arseniy took part in the casting for the role of a member of the Moldovan group O-Zone. Despite little experience in professional singing, he managed to win over Dan Balan. Radu Sarbu became a competitor in the casting, but Balan decided to give both candidates a chance. The group has become the embodiment of the ideal “boy band”: young and beautiful in appearance members, talented in performing songs and collective dances.

After the release of the single "Dragostea Din Tei" and its video, the group and each of its members gained enormous popularity. CDs are sold in millions of copies, and cover versions of the song are released for 12 different languages. In 2005, the group received many offers to hold concerts around the world. Arseniy Todiras and Radu Sirbu expressed their readiness to organize them, but disagreements arose between them and Dan Balan, mainly regarding the amount of fees. The founder of the group refused to renew the contract with his partners, and the team broke up at the peak of its popularity.

In 2005, Arseny created the solo project Arsenium and released the single “Love me… Love me”, and a year later his own album “The 33rd Element” was released. In 2008, the artist released the single "Rumadai", which became a real European hit. In 2014, the artist teamed up with Russian pop singer Sati Kazanova, recording the song “Before Dawn,” which also became very successful and received wide rotation on European radio stations, and the video posted on YouTube has several tens of millions of views.

Biography of Radu Sarbu

The third member of the O-Zone group was born on December 14, 1978 in the village of Peresechina, Moldavian SSR. At the age of 16, he began to get involved in music, writing songs and playing the guitar. In high school, he worked as a DJ at discos and later, with the support of his parents, opened the children's creative studio Artshow, which staged musical performances. Radu himself was the director, sound engineer and soloist.

After graduating from school, Sirbu entered the Chisinau Music Conservatory, studying at the faculty of vocal art and music pedagogy. His specialization was academic singing. During this period, he became a member of an indie rock band and began teaching vocals to young performers at the House of Children's Creativity. In 2001, Radu took part in the qualifying competition for the O-Zone group and was eventually chosen as the second soloist in the group. After the trio disbanded in 2005, Radu Sarbu focused on solo work, releasing the albums "Alone" and "Heartbeat", which were warmly received in Europe.

Russians take a long time to harness, but travel quickly

Winston Churchill

USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), this form of statehood replaced the Russian Empire. The country began to be ruled by the proletariat, which achieved this right by committing October revolution, which was nothing more than an armed coup within the country, bogged down in its internal and external problems. Nicholas 2 played an important role in this state of affairs, who actually drove the country into a state of collapse.

Education of the country

The formation of the USSR took place on November 7, 1917 according to the new style. It was on this day that the October Revolution occurred, which overthrew the Provisional Government and the fruits of the February Revolution, proclaiming the slogan that power should belong to the workers. This is how the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was formed. It is extremely difficult to unambiguously assess the Soviet period of Russian history, since it was very controversial. Without a doubt, we can say that at this time there were both positive and negative aspects.

Capital Cities

Initially, the capital of the USSR was Petrograd, where the revolution actually took place, bringing the Bolsheviks to power. At first there was no talk of moving the capital, because new government was too weak, but later this decision was made. As a result, the capital of the union of Soviet socialist republics was moved to Moscow. This is quite symbolic, since the creation of the Empire was conditioned by the transfer of the capital to Petrograd from Moscow.

The fact of moving the capital to Moscow today is associated with economics, politics, symbolism and much more. In fact, everything is much simpler. By moving the capital, the Bolsheviks saved themselves from other contenders for power in the conditions of the civil war.

Leaders of the country

The foundations of the power and prosperity of the USSR are connected with the fact that the country had relative stability in leadership. There was a clear, unified party line, and leaders who had been at the head of the state for a long time. I wonder what closer country was approaching collapse, the more often the General Secretaries changed. In the early 80s, leapfrog began: Andropov, Ustinov, Chernenko, Gorbachev - the country did not have time to get used to one leader before another appeared in his place.

The general list of leaders is as follows:

• Lenin. Leader of the world proletariat. One of the ideological inspirers and implementers of the October Revolution. Laid the foundations of the state.
• Stalin. One of the most controversial historical figures. With all the negativity that the liberal press pours into this man, the fact is that Stalin raised industry from its knees, Stalin prepared the USSR for war, Stalin began to actively develop the socialist state.
• Khrushchev. He gained power after the assassination of Stalin, developed the country and managed to adequately resist the United States in the Cold War.
• Brezhnev. The era of his reign is called the era of stagnation. Many people mistakenly associate this with the economy, but there was no stagnation there - all indicators were growing. There was stagnation in the party, which was disintegrating.
• Andropov, Chernenko. They didn’t really do anything, they pushed the country towards collapse.
• Gorbachev. The first and last president of the USSR. Today everyone blames him for the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his main fault was that he was afraid to take active action against Yeltsin and his supporters, who actually staged a conspiracy and a coup.

Another interesting fact is that the best rulers were those who lived through the times of revolution and war. The same applies to party leaders. These people understood the price of a socialist state, the significance and complexity of its existence. As soon as people came to power who had never seen a war, much less a revolution, everything went to pieces.

Formation and achievements

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began its formation with the Red Terror. This is a sad page in Russian history, a huge number of people were killed by the Bolsheviks who sought to strengthen their power. The leaders of the Bolshevik Party, realizing that they could only retain power by force, killed everyone who could somehow interfere with the formation of the new regime. It is outrageous that the Bolsheviks, as the first people's commissars and people's police, i.e. those people who were supposed to keep order were recruited from thieves, murderers, homeless people, etc. In a word, all those who were disliked in the Russian Empire and tried in every possible way to take revenge on everyone who was somehow connected with it. The apogee of these atrocities was the murder of the royal family.

After the formation of the new system, the USSR, headed until 1924 Lenin V.I., got a new leader. He became Joseph Stalin. His control became possible after he won the power struggle with Trotsky. During Stalin's reign, industry and agriculture began to develop at a tremendous pace. Knowing about the growing power of Hitler's Germany, Stalin paid great attention to the development of the country's defense complex. In the period from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was involved in a bloody war with Germany, from which it emerged victorious. The Great Patriotic War cost the Soviet state millions of lives, but this was the only way to preserve the freedom and independence of the country. The post-war years were difficult for the country: hunger, poverty and rampant banditry. Stalin brought order to the country with a harsh hand.

International situation

After Stalin's death and until the collapse of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics developed dynamically, overcoming a huge number of difficulties and obstacles. The USSR was involved by the United States in an arms race that continues to this day. It was this race that could become fatal for all of humanity, since both countries were in constant confrontation as a result. This period of history was called the Cold War. Only the prudence of the leadership of both countries managed to keep the planet from new war. And this war, taking into account the fact that both nations were already nuclear at that time, could have become fatal for the whole world.

The country's space program stands apart from the entire development of the USSR. It was a Soviet citizen who was the first to fly into space. He was Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. The United States responded to this manned space flight with its first manned flight to the Moon. But the Soviet flight into space, unlike the American flight to the moon, does not raise so many questions, and experts do not have a shadow of doubt that this flight really took place.

Population of the country

Every decade the Soviet country showed population growth. And this despite the multimillion-dollar casualties of the Second World War. The key to increasing the birth rate was the social guarantees of the state. The diagram below shows data on the population of the USSR in general and the RSFSR in particular.

You should also pay attention to the dynamics of urban development. The Soviet Union was becoming an industrialized country, whose population gradually moved from villages to cities.

By the time the USSR was formed, Russia had 2 cities with a population of over a million (Moscow and St. Petersburg). By the time the country collapsed, there were already 12 such cities: Moscow, Leningrad Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Perm. The union republics also had cities with a population of one million: Kyiv, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Donetsk.

USSR map

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed in 1991, when in White Forest the leaders of the Soviet republics announced their secession from the USSR. This is how all the Republics gained independence and independence. The opinion of the Soviet people was not taken into account. A referendum held just before the collapse of the USSR showed that the overwhelming majority of people declared that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics should be preserved. A handful of people, led by the Chairman of the CPSU Central Committee M.S. Gorbachev, decided the fate of the country and the people. It was this decision that plunged Russia into the harsh reality of the “nineties.” This is how the Russian Federation was born. Below is a map of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Economy

The economy of the USSR was unique. For the first time, the world was shown a system in which the focus was not on profit, but on public goods and employee incentives. In general, the economy of the Soviet Union can be divided into 3 stages:

1. Before Stalin. We are not talking about any kind of economics here - the revolution has just died down in the country, there is a war going on. Nobody seriously thought about economic development; the Bolsheviks held power.
2. Stalin's economic model. Stalin implemented a unique idea of ​​economics, which made it possible to raise the USSR to the level of the leading countries of the world. The essence of his approach is total labor and the correct “pyramid of distribution of funds.” The correct distribution of funds is when workers receive no less than managers. Moreover, the basis of the salary was bonuses for achieving results and bonuses for innovations. The essence of such bonuses is as follows: 90% was received by the employee himself, and 10% was divided between the team, workshop, and supervisors. But the worker himself received the main money. That's why there was a desire to work.
3. After Stalin. After Stalin's death, Khrushchev overturned the economic pyramid, after which a recession and a gradual decline in growth rates began. Under Khrushchev and after him, an almost capitalist model was formed, when managers received much more workers, especially in the form of bonuses. Bonuses were now divided differently: 90% to the boss and 10% to everyone else.

The Soviet economy is unique because before the war it was able to actually rise from the ashes after the civil war and revolution, and this happened in just 10-12 years. Therefore, when today economists different countries and journalists insist that it is impossible to change the economy in one election term (5 years) - they simply do not know history. Stalin's two five-year plans turned the USSR into a modern power that had a foundation for development. Moreover, the basis for all this was laid in 2-3 years of the first five-year plan.

I also suggest looking at the diagram below, which presents data on the average annual growth of the economy as a percentage. Everything we talked about above is reflected in this diagram.

Union republics

The new period of the country's development was due to the fact that several republics existed within the framework of the single state of the USSR. Thus, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had the following composition: Russian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belorussian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR SSR, Estonian SSR.

Chronology

• 1921, February - March Uprising of soldiers and sailors in Kronstadt. Strikes in Petrograd.
• 1921, March The 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) adopted a decision on the transition to a new economic policy.
• 1922, December Education of the USSR
• 1924, January Adoption of the USSR Constitution at the II All-Union Congress of Soviets.
• 1925, December XIV Congress of the RCP (b). Adopting a course towards industrialization National economy THE USSR.
• 1927, December XV Congress of the RCP (b). The course towards collectivization of agriculture of the USSR.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics— which existed from 1922 to 1991 in Europe and Asia. The USSR occupied 1/6 of the inhabited landmass and was the largest country in the world by area on the territory that by 1917 was occupied by the Russian Empire without Finland, part of the Polish Kingdom and some other territories (the land of Kars, now Turkey), but with Galicia and Transcarpathia , part of Prussia, Northern Bukovina, Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

According to the 1977 Constitution, The USSR was proclaimed a single union multinational and socialist state.

Education USSR

On December 18, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee adopted the draft Union Treaty, and on December 30, 1922, the First Congress of Soviets was convened. At the Congress of Soviets, a report on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was made by Secretary General Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party I.V. Stalin, reading the text of the Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR.

The USSR included the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR (Ukraine), the BSSR (Belarus) and the ZSFSR (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan). The heads of delegations of the republics present at the congress signed the Treaty and Declaration. The creation of the Union was formalized by law. The delegates elected a new composition of the USSR Central Executive Committee.

On January 31, 1924, the Second Congress of Soviets approved the Constitution of the USSR. Allied People's Commissariats were created in charge of foreign policy, issues of defense, transport, communications, planning. In addition, the issues of the borders of the USSR and the republics and admission to the Union were subject to the jurisdiction of the supreme authorities. The republics were sovereign in resolving other issues.

During the 1920-1930s. The USSR included: Kazakh SSR, Turkmen SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR. From the TSFSR (Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), the Georgian SSR, the Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijan SSR emerged and formed independent republics within the USSR. The Moldavian Autonomous Republic, which was part of Ukraine, received union status. In 1939, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were included in the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR. In 1940, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became part of the USSR.

The collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which united 15 republics, occurred in 1991.

Formally, the Soviet Union was a confederation. Let me explain. Confederation is a special form of government in which individual independent states are united into a single whole, while retaining a significant part of the powers and the right to secede from the confederation. Shortly before the formation of the united Soviet state, there were debates about the basis on which to unite the union republics: whether to grant them some kind of autonomy (I.V. Stalin) or to give them the opportunity to freely secede from the state (V.I. Lenin). The first idea was called autonomization, the second - federalization. The Leninist concept won, the right to secede from the USSR was clearly stated in the Constitution. Which republics were included at the time of its formation, that is, on November 12, 1922? The agreement was signed by the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR and ZSFSR on December 27 of the same year, and approved three days later. It is clear that the first three union republics are Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. What is hidden under the fourth abbreviation? TSFSR stands for Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Socialist Republic, which consisted of the following states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia.

The Bolsheviks were internationalists; they took into account the national specificity of the regions of the former Russian Empire to take power and hold it. While A.I. Denikin, A.V. Kolchak and other White Guard leaders proclaimed the concept of “United and indivisible Russia”, that is, they did not even accept the existence of autonomous state entities within a united Russia; the Bolsheviks to a certain extent supported nationalism for reasons of political expediency. Example: in 1919, Anton Ivanovich Denikin led a large-scale attack on Moscow, the Bolsheviks were even preparing to go underground. An important reason for the failure of A.I. Denikin - refusal to recognize the sovereignty or at least autonomy of the Ukrainian People's Republic led by Symon Petlyura.

The communists took into account what largely destroyed the white movement, and listened to the identity of each individual people that makes up the single Soviet state. But we should not forget the main thing: the Bolsheviks are internationalists by nature, the goal of their activities is to build a classless communist society. The “dictatorship of the proletariat” (power relations in which the working class sets the vector of social movement) was a temporary measure; in the end, the state would die out, and the eternal era of communism would begin.

But the realities turned out to be somewhat different. The revolutionary fire did not break out in neighboring states. M.N. Tukhachevsky, who promised to “bring happiness and peace to working humanity at bayonets,” was unable to overcome the resistance of the Polish state. The Bavarian, Slovak, and Hungarian Soviet republics in Europe fell because the Red Army soldiers could not come to the aid of the Soviet governments. The Bolsheviks had to come to terms with the fact that the flames of the world revolution could not engulf the entire capitalist and imperialist world.

In 1924, the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR became parts of the Soviet state. In 1929, the Tajik SSR was formed.

In 1936, the Soviet government made a reasonable decision to divide the TSFSR into three separate state entities: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This action can be considered correct. Armenians and Georgians are Christians, and each state has its own Orthodox Church, while Azerbaijanis are Muslims. Also, the peoples are by no means ethnically united: Armenians are a distinctive and unique ethnic group, Georgians belong to the Kartvelian language family, and Azerbaijanis are Turks. We should not forget that conflicts have repeatedly occurred between these peoples, which, unfortunately, are still ongoing (Nagorno-Karabakh).

In the same year, the autonomous Kazakh and Kyrgyz republics acquired the status of union states. Subsequently, they were transformed into union republics from the RSFSR. Adding up the above figures, it turns out that by 1936 the USSR already included 11 states that de jure had the right to leave.

In 1939, the Winter War broke out between the Soviet Union and Finland. The Karelo-Finnish SSR was created in the occupied Finnish territories, which existed for 16 years (1940 - 1956).

The subsequent territorial expansion of the USSR was carried out on the eve of the Second World War. September 1, 1939 is the day that marked the beginning of the Second World War, the bloodiest action in human history, which claimed tens of millions of lives. The war would end almost 6 years later - on September 2, 1945.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence between the USSR and the Third Reich. Discussions about whether this agreement was to protect one’s own interests or whether it was a “deal with the devil” are still ongoing. On the one hand, the USSR significantly secured its own western borders, and on the other hand, it nevertheless agreed to cooperate with the Nazis. With the pact, the USSR expanded the territory of Ukraine and Belarus to the west, and also created the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940.

In the same year, the Soviet state expanded by three more union republics due to the annexation of three Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In them, Soviet governments “came to power” through “democratic elections.” Perhaps the de facto forced annexation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union gave rise to the negativity that periodically manifests itself between modern independent Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia.

The maximum number of union republics that were part of a single Soviet state is 16. But in 1956, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was disbanded, liquidated, and the “classical” number of Soviet republics was formed, equal to 15.

Upon coming to power, Mikhail Gorbachev announced a policy of glasnost. After many years of political vacuum, it became possible to express one's opinion. This is also aggravated economic crisis led to the growth of separatist sentiments in the union republics. Centrifugal forces began to act intensely, and the process of disintegration could no longer be stopped. Perhaps the federalization proposed by V.I. Lenin back in the early 20s, was beneficial. The Soviet republics were able to become independent states without shedding much blood. Conflicts in the post-Soviet space are still ongoing, but who knows what scale they would have taken if the republics had to gain their independence from the center in their hands?

Lithuania gained its independence back in 1990; the remaining states left the Soviet Union later, in 1991. The Bialowieza Agreement finally formalized the end of the Soviet period in the history of many states. Let us recall which republics were part of the USSR:

• Azerbaijan SSR.
• Armenian SSR.
• Byelorussian SSR.
• Georgian SSR.
• Kazakh SSR.
• Kirghiz SSR.
• Latvian SSR.
• Lithuanian SSR.
• Moldavian SSR.
• RSFSR.
• Tajik SSR.
• Turkmen SSR.
• Uzbek SSR.
• Ukrainian SSR.
• Estonian SSR.