+ USSR Fact Sheet

In addition to key statistics on the population, geography and economy of the Soviet Union, this briefing note features a synopsis of Russian/Soviet history dating back to 862. Wartime ally Joseph Stalin might have “made the USSR a world power,” but at the cost of “brutal” collectivization and “severe” political purges. Nikita Khrushchev was noteworthy for the failure of his “erratic” reforms, while Leonid Brezhnev’s legacy was “stability” through repression. Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko merit brief mentions of their very brief tenures leading the Soviet Union.