Soviet Union

The Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR) was a communist entity which dissolved in 1991 into its former captive nations.

(The USSR was also known as Russia.)

Some of those nations are now members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Soviet Union in Days of Infamy
The Soviet Union was locked in death-struggle with Germany by December, 1941, while Germany's ally Japan attacked and conquered the American territory of Hawaii. Despite their alliance with Germany, Japan remained neutral to the Soviet Union, which in turn was actively allied with the United States. More than a few Japanese military leaders wondered about the wisdom of this decision, as Soviet ships, probably containing supplies and arms, were allowed to flow through Japanese-controlled waters without being molested.

Soviet Union in The Gladiator
In one alternate visited by Crosstime Traffic, the Soviet Union won the Cold War after the United States backed down during the Cuban Missile Crisis and withdrew its troops from the Vietnam War in 1968. Leftists (mostly communists and socialists) formed popular fronts in the face of the United States perceived weakness. With the USSR's support, these Popular Fronts were able to successfully topple Western Europe's capitalist and democratic governments and establish people's republics. The United States was the last to fall. By the end of the twentieth century, the whole world was communist, with the Soviet Union at the center. Only the People's Republic of China had the clout to stand up to the USSR. The Vatican was not communist; despite communism's taboo on religion, the USSR recognized the importance of religion to most countries' sense of national identity, and left it alone.

Soviet Union in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
The Soviet Union was a defeated power under the rule of the Greater German Reich following World War II. Germany's empire stretched deep into Siberia and included the Caucasus.

The Reich genocided the Slavs along with the other races in Russia considered inferior. The remaining handful of Russians were enslaved by the Reich while the former Russia, now called the Ostlands, were settled by German settlers.

Russians were used along with Polish, Ukrainian, Serbs and Arab slave laborers by German industry for "dirty" or dangerous work, without regard for the safety and well-being of the workers.

Soviet Union in A World of Difference
The Soviet Union was one of two countries to send a manned space mission to the planet Minerva. The other was the Soviet Union's rival, the United States. The Soviets found themselves supporting the Skarmer in the Skarmer-Omalo War. Despite the fact that they had become involved only reluctantly (with the exception of KGB agent Oleg Lopatin, who had enthusiastically pushed for Soviet support of the Skarmer), Hogram blamed the Soviets for his grandson's defeat at the hands of Reatur's forces. Relations between the Soviet mission and the Skarmer chilled significantly.

Soviet Union in Worldwar
The Soviet Union was a communist nation established by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.

Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union rapidly industrialized its economy at great cost to the quality of life of the people. This proved fortuitous in World War II when the Soviet Union became one of the world's strongest military powers. Beginning in 1939, the USSR helped Germany divide Poland, then conquered the Baltic states and invaded but did not conquer Finland before being invaded by Germany in 1941. Over the next year, Soviet forces were steadily pushed back. The Soviet Union was nonetheless the most important member of the Allied Forces.

In 1942, World War II came grinding to a halt when the Race's Conquest Fleet arrived. The Race had a particularly difficult time conquering the USSR because of its climate and its geography, and the USSR was thus one of the few countries to survive the Conquest Fleet's initial onslaught. It became a member of the Big Five. Vyacheslav Molotov, foreign commisar of the USSR, met with Atvar aboard the 127th Emperor Hetto and informed him that during the Revolution the Soviets' founding fathers--himself included--had practiced regicide against Tsar Nicholas II. This horrified Atvar and first alerted him to the nature of Tosevite not-empires.

Using uranium captured by the NKVD in a raid on a destroyed a Race starship, the USSR was able to build the first human atomic bomb, though it could not build its own bombs from scratch until after Germany and the United States had already done so. This technology forced the Race to recognize Soviet independence and invite the Soviets to a peace conference in Cairo in 1944.

After the death of Stalin, Molotov became the new Soviet premier. Under his leadership the Soviet Union embraced its role as one of the leading human powers. Molotov would rule for over thirty years despite an attempted coup by Lavrenty Beria in 1963 and a subsequent rise in influence of Georgy Zhukov.

The Soviet Union did not support Germany in its invasion of Poland and subsequent war with the Race, though Molotov did mediate a ceasefire agreement between the two governments. In 1966, the Soviets, fearful of becoming the only major human power on a Race-dominated globe, vowed support for the United States when it seemed likely that the Race would go to war with that country after discovering that President Earl Warren had ordered nuclear attacks on the Colonization Fleet four years earlier. As the US and the Race came to an agreement which involved the destruction of Indianapolis, the Soviet Union never had to make good on its promise.

In the early 21st century, the Soviet Union launched the starship Molotov on a mission to visit Home and establish a permanent Soviet diplomatic and military presence there.

Soviet Union in "Joe Steele"
The Soviet Union, under the rule of Leon Trotsky, had sought to reach accomidations with Nazi Germany throughout the 1930s. In 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union, beginning the Eastern Front of World War II. United States President Joe Steele, who hated Trotsky, waited six weeks before he began sending arms and finances to the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union took most of the Germany war effort, expending the lives of its soldiers in horrifying numbers. Trotsky demanded the U.S. and Britain open up a second front to relieve the pressure. Steele paid lip service to the idea, until the Soviet Union won a decisive victory at Trotskygrad in 1943. From there, Germany fell into a retreat, and it appeared that the Soviet Union might "liberate" occupied Europe. Thus, Steele ordered the Normandy invasion in 1944. The war in Europe ended early in 1945. Later that year, when the United State successfully attacked and invaded its enemy Japan, the Soviet Union invaded the northern island of Hokkaido. It established a communist puppet state informally known as North Japan. The U.S. established South Japan in the territory it occupied.

In 1946, both the United States and Soviet Union learned of the theoretical possibilty of the atomic bomb, and both began projects to build the bomb. In 1948, North Japan's army invaded South Japan, touching off the Japanese War. The war ended a year later after a mutual exchange of atomic bombs.

Soviet Union in "The Phantom Tolbukhin
The Soviet Union fell to the German invasion during World War II. Moscow was destroyed. However, pockets of resistance fighters remained, including Fyodor Tolbukhin's band.

Soviet Union in "Ready for the Fatherland"
The Soviet Union accepted Germany's offer for peace in 1943 after Erich von Manstein killed Adolf Hitler. Germany was able to redeploy its troops and keep the United States and Britain from invading Europe. When the United States invaded Japan, the Soviet Union also invaded from the north, conquering Hokkaido. In the 1950s, the Soviet government sent a freighter into Tokyo Bay with a sunbomb aboard. The resulting explosion killed thousands. The United States destroyed Hokkaido in response. Erich von Manstein of Germany negotiated a peace; Joseph Stalin's death made peace that much easier.