Epstein Files Full PDF

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Soviet Union article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed Article policies Neutral point of view No original research Verifiability

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives (index): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20Auto-archiving period: 3 months

This article is written in British English with Oxford spelling (colour, realize, organization, analyse; note that -ize is used instead of -ise) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

	Soviet Union was one of the good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones Date Process Result August 2, 2005 Peer review Reviewed August 13, 2006 Good article reassessment Delisted
	Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on December 8, 2004, and December 26, 2006.
Current status: Delisted good article

This  level-3 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Soviet Union Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Soviet Union, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Soviet UnionWikipedia:WikiProject Soviet UnionTemplate:WikiProject Soviet UnionSoviet Union Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Socialism Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Socialism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of socialism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SocialismWikipedia:WikiProject SocialismTemplate:WikiProject Socialismsocialism Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Politics Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Atheism Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Atheism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of atheism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AtheismWikipedia:WikiProject AtheismTemplate:WikiProject AtheismAtheism Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. For more information and how you can help, click the [Show] link opposite: If you would like to participate, you can edit this article and visit the project page. Quick help Project's main talk page Article layout Links to atheism-related information · List of free online resources Writing about religion · Article development Citing sources · Verifying sources · About original research Assume good faith · Be civil Recent activity Core articles the "Atheism" article Articles recently added to Category:Atheism To do edit history watch purge Join WikiProject atheism and be bold. Add a userbox to your page ({{User WikiProject Atheism}} or {{User WPA2}}) and attract potential members. Help with articles. See this month's adopt-an-article. Help out with this to-do list. Be consistent Use a "standard" layout for atheism-related articles (see layout style, "The perfect article" and Featured articles). Add Atheism info box to all atheism related talk pages (use {{WikiProject Atheism}} or see info box) Ensure atheism-related articles are members of Atheism by checking whether [[Category:Atheism]] has been added to atheism-related articles – and, where it hasn't, adding it. Maintenance, etc. Find sources for all positions of an article (see Citing sources and atheism references). Try to expand stubs. Ideas and theories about life, however, are prone to generating neologisms, so some stubs may be suitable for deletion (see deletion process). Watch the list of atheism-related articles and add to accordingly. Always write for an encyclopedia. Articles to improve Agnosticism Create Articles on notable atheists Expand an atheism stub Immediate attention State atheism needs a reassessment of its Importance level, as it has little to do with atheism and is instead an article about anti-theist/anti-religious actions of governments. False choice into False dilemma: discuss whether you are for or against this merge here Clarify references in Atheism using footnotes. Secular movement defines it as a being restricted to America in the 21st century. Russia: History / Human geography Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Russia, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of Russia on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.RussiaWikipedia:WikiProject RussiaTemplate:WikiProject RussiaRussia Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the history of Russia task force. This article is supported by the human geography of Russia task force. Former countries This article is within the scope of WikiProject Former countries, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of defunct states and territories (and their subdivisions). If you would like to participate, please join the project.Former countriesWikipedia:WikiProject Former countriesTemplate:WikiProject Former countriesformer country History Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the subject of History on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject HistoryTemplate:WikiProject Historyhistory Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. European history High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

The contentious topics procedure applies to this article. This article relates to the Balkans or Eastern Europe. Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator.

Section sizes Section size for Soviet Union (46 sections) Section name Byte count Prose size (words) Header Total Header Total (Top) 18,306 18,306 692 692 Etymology 5,566 5,566 445 445 History 3,144 3,144 358 358 Geography 3,125 3,125 258 258 Government and politics 735 44,721 68 2,417 Communist Party 5,979 5,979 330 330 Highest organ of state authority 6,258 6,258 315 315 Unified power and reform 7,514 7,514 364 364 Judicial system 1,178 1,178 76 76 Human rights 3,008 3,008 78 78 Foreign relations 7,318 16,527 131 955 Early policies (1919–1939) 6,671 6,671 616 616 World War II (1939–1945) 1,348 1,348 76 76 Cold War (1945–1991) 1,190 1,190 132 132 Administrative divisions 3,522 3,522 231 231 Military 3,411 3,411 342 342 Economy 18,049 36,012 1,306 2,526 Energy 2,895 2,895 259 259 Science and technology 5,690 5,690 323 323 Space program 5,423 5,423 369 369 Transport 3,955 3,955 269 269 Demographics 7,829 46,880 388 3,012 Urbanism 2,323 2,323 127 127 Women and fertility 3,107 3,107 218 218 LGBTQ rights 1,885 1,885 126 126 Education 7,473 7,473 283 283 Nationalities and ethnic groups 5,293 5,293 430 430 Health 3,073 4,278 310 349 Dentistry 1,205 1,205 39 39 Language 2,116 2,116 196 196 Religion 12,576 12,576 895 895 Culture 3,390 3,390 380 380 Sport 6,354 6,354 519 519 Environment 10,979 10,979 329 329 Legacy 22,421 43,281 946 2,311 In the former Soviet republics 2,617 2,617 138 138 For China 2,952 2,952 292 292 For the political left 32 14,414 0 858 Criticism 9,100 9,100 466 466 Praise 5,282 5,282 392 392 For the political right 877 877 77 77 See also 450 450 0 0 Notes 49 49 0 0 References 30 30 0 0 Bibliography 8,646 8,646 0 0 External links 1,385 1,385 0 0 Total 235,729 235,729 13,589 13,589

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 2 times. The weeks in which this happened: February 20 to 26, 2022 February 27 to March 5, 2022

Disintegration of USSR with special focus on Mikhail Gorbachev. ~2025-35978-60 (talk) 15:09, 24 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@EarthDude: I agree that the infobox is cluttered, however, I don't see why a link to the Eastern Front of WWII should be trimmed instead of any of the three iterations of the Constitution. The August Coup is different from January 6 because it led to a series of declarations of independence, while the latter was inconsequential. Kelob2678 (talk) 15:07, 11 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate the discussion. I don't see how the Great Patriotic War is consequential enough to be included in this Infobox. No other major country, be it the United States or even Japan include WWII. The only big exceptions I see are of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy but even they include only major events of the war and not the war themselves. Even Finland doesn't include their inclusion in the war even though the war led to major land concessions. Also, including the August Coup attempt would be pretty redundant considering that the Parade of Sovereignties is already in the infobox. — EarthDude (Talk) 15:37, 11 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE states that the infobox should include key facts about the topic of the article. The Great Patriotic War is a key event in the history of the Soviet Union and should be included. This is preferable to inclusion of relatively minor events such as individual battles, but if you prefer that we can include the German invasion of the Soviet Union instead. I don't have a strong opinion on the August Coup. Kelob2678 (talk) 15:44, 11 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I am not saying that the Eastern Front was not important. I am just saying it is not important enough to be included in the infobox. For example, why make an exception for this one article when WWII is not included in the infobox for Japan's article or Finland's article? — EarthDude (Talk) 10:26, 12 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Because this article is not about Russia, it is about the Soviet Union, a historical polity. An article on the Empire of Japan contains World War II and other related events in the infobox. Kelob2678 (talk) 10:28, 12 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. If we do include the Great Patriotic War though, we would need to remove some other entries from the infobox, because as it currently stands, it is way too cluttered. — EarthDude (Talk) 10:31, 12 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Kelob2678, I would appreciate if you replied here. — EarthDude (Talk) 14:16, 12 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that the infobox is too large. However, I am not sure what to remove. Kelob2678 (talk) 14:57, 12 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Roman Empire an example of a state with a much longer historical significance with an infobox that is factual and to the point and not a scrolling nightmare.....deterring mobile view readers to not read beyond the first paragraph.Moxy🍁 22:35, 12 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

the lead stands at almost 800 words. it is also lacking any mention of history of the brezhnev era and even relations with the us under khrushchev. the space achievements should go in the final paragraph alongside other industrial achievements. i made these changes in this edit, but this brings the lead to 900 words which is also not good. i will try to trim the lead while waiting for approval or disapproval of these additions. Doeze (talk) 17:15, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for starting a discussion. What do you think should be removed/replaced? Mellk (talk) 17:31, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I have made some trims to the lead but its quite difficult to know what to cut. My proposed new text was:

Geopolitical tensions with the United States led to the Cold War. The American-led Western Bloc coalesced into NATO in 1949, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. Neither side engaged in direct military combat, instead clashing via proxy wars, arms races, espionage, and ideology. In 1949, the Soviet Union became the second country to test a nuclear weapon, and in 1957 tested the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. In 1953, following Stalin's death, the Soviet Union undertook a campaign of de-Stalinization under Nikita Khrushchev, which saw reversals and rejections of Stalinist policies. This campaign caused ideological tensions with the PRC led by Mao Zedong, culminating in the acrimonious Sino-Soviet split. The Soviet Armed Forces suppressed uprisings in its satellite nations of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis saw the narrow aversion of war between the two superpowers. Under the 18-year rule of Leonid Brezhnev, the country's prosperity turned toward stagnation and corruption, while Cold War relations saw a temporary easing. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, starting a decade-long war which returned a military, economic, and political defeat. Doeze (talk) 18:56, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, I am finding it difficult to find out which details should be removed because they all cover fairly important events but your proposed additions also cover some important events as well. I was about to suggest that we should compare the weight given to them in the history section, but I just remembered that the history section was split off not too long ago and there is only a brief summary. Mellk (talk) 19:03, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Based on my trims the new additions could read like:

Geopolitical tensions with the United States led to the Cold War. The American-led Western Bloc coalesced into the NATO military alliance in 1949, prompting the Eastern Bloc to form its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. Neither side engaged in direct military combat, instead clashing via proxy wars, arms races, espionage, and ideology. In 1949, the Soviet Union became the second nuclear-armed state, testing the world's first intercontinental missile in 1957. In 1953, following Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev led a campaign of de-Stalinization, reversing many Stalinist policies. This caused ideological tensions with China led by Mao Zedong, culminating in the acrimonious Sino-Soviet split. The Soviet military suppressed uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. Resolution of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis narrowly averted a global conflict. Under the 18-year rule of Leonid Brezhnev, prosperity turned toward stagnation and corruption, while Cold War relations eased. In 1979, the Soviet Union began a decade-long war in Afghanistan, which returned military and economic defeat. Doeze (talk) 19:07, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I would also propose:

During its existence, the Soviet Union was one of the most advanced industrial states, producing many significant social and technological achievements and innovations. It had the world's second-largest economy and largest standing military. It wielded the world's largest arsenals of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Its space program made extensive achievements in the Space Race, including the first artificial satellite, and first human spaceflight., the first space station, and the first probe to land on another planet. Doeze (talk) 19:15, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I've made some more aggressive trims getting it down a bit over 600 words, which happens to be in line with leads of United States, China, and United Kingdom. I think the four above suggested sentences beginning "The Soviet military suppressed" are probably the most important yet to be included. Doeze (talk) 20:36, 3 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

also for the final paragraph we definitely need a bit more on the legacy. could have like two to four clauses representing historical views of anti-soviet former states, pro-soviet former states, anti-soviet political left plus right, and pro-soviet left. albeit the body refs arent there yet. Doeze (talk) 03:55, 4 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@Kelob2678 If the infobox is too bloated, we can remove other parameters (such as History, for example, since we have another infobox below related to the history of the Soviet Union; or the two anthems), but removing the list of successors, when every former country has one (and when we are talking about one of the most important list of successors) is not appropiate. Besides, adding Post-Soviet States does not provide information (it is obvious that the successors of the Soviet Uniot are post-Soviet states); is just an extra step to access the list.

Furthermore, it is important to say that the infobox seems to bloated only in desktop (where we have two infoboxes). The mobile version is actually shorter than other infoboxes that have more than one map, such as the one from the United States article. YoshiTeArde (talk) 22:12, 25 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the infobox should be trimmed, it is not a reason to bloat it further. Providing a link to Post-Soviet states allows interested readers to click on it to read further; there is no need to list all 15 of them together with the flags. Kelob2678 (talk) 22:17, 25 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Under that logic, all the data in the infobox could be removed. We could put links to History of the Soviet Union, Economy of the Soviet Union, Leaders of the Soviet Union, the anthem, etc. The thing is, among all the data we could remove, the successors are the “least removable.” It is one of the things that most people want to know when they check an infobox of a former country, since every infobox of a former country has a successors list. Besides, the infobox has already been trimmed. As I mentioned, it is now as long as many other infoboxes, and it is shorter than average in mobile. YoshiTeArde (talk) 00:22, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The thing is, among all the data we could remove, the successors are the “least removable.” It is one of the things that most people want to know. How do you know that? Nikkimaria (talk) 00:25, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Because the successor states are one of the most taught topics related to the Soviet Union (the Russian Revolution, World War II, the Cold War, and its dissolution), and they are even more important today due to conflicts such as the Russo-Ukrainian War. It is objectively more probable that a secondary school student will be asked about the successor states of the Soviet Union than about the different names adopted by the Soviet Congress. YoshiTeArde (talk) 00:47, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

This is information that is provided within the context of the linked article on post-Soviet states. But I certainly wouldn't object to discussing other items that might help to reduce bloat. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:13, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I know that. What I am arguing is that we should not add an extra step to access one of the most important pieces of information in the infobox when every other article about a former country has its successor states in a proper list. If you are concerned about bloat, you can remove other information that is less important. However, as I said, the infobox has already been trimmed and is now as long as the average infobox of a country, and it even looks shorter than average on mobile. YoshiTeArde (talk) 01:25, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

is now as long as the average infobox of a country, and it even looks shorter than average on mobile. This template is almost four full screens on my laptop. I recognize that different people have different setups, but I've just checked a selection of other contemporary and modern countries (Nazi Germany, Russia, Italy, France, United Kingdom...) and none come close to that length. I'm sure longer examples exist, but I don't think "average" is likely to be correct, and "shorter than average" definitely not. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:34, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

We can only compare the infobox with those of modern countries, since it contains a lot of statistics that are not available for older states. I have just tested this by taking screenshots on mobile (6,1 “) and the infobox of the Soviet Union is as large as, or even shorter than, the infoboxes of the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia, and other countries. Although this is probably due to the fact that mobile Wikipedia shows all the maps at the same time. However, on desktop it looks even larger because the article has another infobox below the main one, and no country has that.

If you think that the infobox is too long, we could make it shorter by making it somewhat wider, like the infobox of Nazi Germany. We would have to change the name parameter from “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” to “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” (and do the same for the Russian name). Then the name of the country would not be divided into two lines (as it is now), making the infobox wider. This is sometimes used with countries that have a long name, just as the USSR. Besides, it would help with parameters like “Religion”, which now use three lines when they could use two.

Anyway, I keep my point: if we are going to remove information, we should take a look at other parameters less important than the successor states. YoshiTeArde (talk) 02:28, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Roman Empire is the example used most often in discussions for former political entities on how an infobox should appear. Moxy🍁 03:10, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Roman Empire has a list of successor states (the Western and Eastern empires). I have checked the Western Roman Empire and it has a successor list as well. YoshiTeArde (talk) 18:13, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Point of the link is to show that only the most relevant data is in it. Moxy🍁 19:35, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]