History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
The history of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953 covers the period in Soviet history from the establishment of Stalinism through victory in the Second World War and down to the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. He sought to destroy his enemies while transforming Soviet society with aggressive economic planning, in particular a sweeping collectivization of agriculture and rapid development of heavy industry. Stalin consolidated his power within the party and the state and fostered an extensive cult of personality. Soviet secret-police and the mass-mobilization Communist Party served as Stalin's major tools in molding Soviet society. Stalin's methods in achieving his goals, which included party purges, political repression of the general population, and forced collectivization, led to millions of deaths: in Gulag labor camps and during famine.
World War II, known as "the Great Patriotic War" by Soviet historians, devastated much of the USSR, with about one out of every three World War II deaths representing a citizen of the Soviet Union. After World War II, the Soviet Union's armies occupied Eastern Europe, where they established or supported Communist puppet governments. By 1949, the Cold War had started between the Western Bloc and the Eastern (Soviet) Bloc, with the Warsaw Pact (created 1955) pitched against NATO (created 1949) in Europe. After 1945, Stalin did not directly engage in any wars, continuing his totalitarian rule until his death in 1953.
See also
- Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union
- Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies
- Collective farming
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin
- Eastern Front (World War II)
- Economy of the Soviet Union
- Great Purge
- Gulag
- History of Russia
- Historiography in the Soviet Union
- Islam in the Soviet Union
- Russia
- Russian Orthodox Church
- Secret police
- Soviet art
- Soviet calendar
- Political repression in the Soviet Union
- Politics of the Soviet Union
- Soviet Union
- Superpower
- Timeline of Russian history
- World War II
- X Article}}