Five years after the Russian Revolution first erupted in 1917, its ultimate outcome took shape: on December 30, 1922, the Soviet Union officially came into existence. The ripple effects of this momentous development would profoundly alter the political landscape of the twentieth century.
At the dawn of the 1900s, the Russian Empire found itself in dire straits. A devastating wave of widespread famine — one that struck only the working classes — had fueled deep resentment toward the Russian aristocratic classes. When authorities launched a harsh crackdown on food riots, violence erupted across the entire country. In response, the Russian working people banded together into "Soviet" forces, channeling that unrest into an organized and effective revolution. (The word "Soviet" comes from Russian and translates to "governing committee.") The vision these Soviets championed was bold: tear down the corrupt Russian Empire and replace it with a communist republic grounded in the ideas of Karl Marx, the author of The Communist Manifesto.
Once the revolutionaries had seized complete control, the many Soviets set about restructuring the former Russian Empire into what became known as the Soviet Union. At the helm sat the Communist Party, which governed the new state and held ownership of all industry and agriculture on behalf of its citizens.
Rooted in communist ideals, the Soviet Union stood in sharp ideological opposition to America, Britain, and the other Western capitalist nations. This fundamental clash gave rise to the Cold War — an era of perpetual near war pitting the Soviets against America and its allies. Though the two sides never engaged in direct military confrontation, they waged countless indirect battles, funneling arms and money to opposing factions in global conflicts as each sought to broaden its political and economic influence. Throughout it all, the specter of nuclear war loomed constantly. Yet this tense standoff finally came to an end in 1991, when a financial collapse led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.