Soviet Empire

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The maximum territorial extent of countries in the world under Soviet influence, after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and before the official Sino-Soviet split of 1961

During the Cold War, the informal term "Soviet Empire" referred to the Soviet Union's influence over a number of smaller nations.

Though the Soviet Union was not ruled by an emperor and declared itself anti-imperialist, critics argue that it exhibited certain tendencies common to historic empires. Most scholars hold that the Soviet Union was a hybrid entity containing elements common to both multinational empires and modernizing nation states.^[1] It has also been argued that the USSR practiced colonialism as did other imperial powers.^[2] Supporters of the Soviet Union, meanwhile, rejected such claims and argued that the relationship of the Soviet Union and its satellites was of voluntary cooperation.

[edit] Influence

The Soviet Empire was said to consist of the following:

[edit] Member states of the Soviet Union

Over time the number of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union varied. The late Soviet Union included the following 15 republics.

• Russian SFSR (which in turn included several autonomous republics)
• Ukrainian SSR
• Byelorussian SSR
• Uzbek SSR
• Kazakh SSR
• Georgian SSR
• Azerbaijan SSR
• Lithuanian SSR
• Moldavian SSR
• Latvian SSR
• Kirghiz SSR
• Tajik SSR
• Armenian SSR
• Turkmen SSR
• Estonian SSR

[edit] Members of Comecon

States in red were members of the USSR, while states in light pink were satellites, and Yugoslavia, a communist country, but not a Soviet ally is in purple.

These countries were the closest allies of the Soviet Union. They were members of the Comecon, a Soviet-led economic community founded in 1949. In addition, the ones located in Eastern Europe were also members of the Warsaw Pact. They were sometimes called the Eastern bloc in English and were widely viewed as Soviet satellite states.

• Bulgaria
• Cuba
• Czechoslovakia
• East Germany
• Hungary
• Mongolia
• Poland
• Romania
• North Vietnam/Vietnam (after 1975)
• Albania (ended participation in Comecon after 1961 due to Sino-Soviet Split)

North Korea was a Soviet ally, but always followed a highly isolationist foreign policy and therefore it did not join the Comecon or any other international organization of Communist states.

[edit] Soviet involvement in other countries

A number of countries had pro-Soviet governments for shorter periods of time during the Cold War. In the political terminology of the Soviet Union, these were "countries moving along the socialist road of development", as opposed to the "countries of developed socialism", listed above. Most received some aid, either military or economic, from the Soviet Union, and were influenced by it to varying degrees. Their support for the Soviet Union was short lived for various reasons; in some cases the pro-Soviet government lost power, while in other cases the same government remained in power but changed its relations with the Soviet Union.

States that had overtly communist governments in red, and states that the USSR believed at one point to be "moving toward socialism" in orange. Not all of the bright red states remained Soviet allies.

Some of these countries were not Communist states. They are marked in italic.

• Egypt (1954–1973)
• Syria (1955–1991)
• Iraq (1958–1963, 1972–1991)
• Guinea (1960–1978)
• Somalia (1961–1976)
• Ghana (1964–1966)
• Peru (1968–1975)
• Sudan (1968–1972)
• Libya (1969–1991)
• People's Republic of Congo (1969–1991)
• Chile (1970–1973)
• People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1970–1990)
• Uganda (1971–1979)
• Madagascar (1972-?)
• People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1974–1991)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic (1975–1991)
• Benin (1975–1979)
• Mozambique (1975–1990)
• Angola (1977–1991)
• Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1991)
• Grenada 1979-1983
• Nicaragua (1979–1990)
• People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989)

[edit] Communist states opposed to the Soviet Union

Some Communist states were openly opposed to the Soviet Union and many of its policies. Though their forms of government may have been similar, they were completely sovereign from the USSR and held only formal ties. Relations were often tense, sometimes even to the point of armed conflict.

• Yugoslavia (Informbiro 1948)
• Albania (following the Sino-Soviet split)
• People's Republic of China (following the Sino-Soviet split)
• Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979, under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge)
• Somali Democratic Republic (1977–1991, due to the Ogaden War)

[edit] See also

• American Empire
• Cominform
• Communist state
• Evil empire
• Sino-Soviet split
• Soviet republic

[edit] References

v • d • e Soviet occupations Soviet Union Europe Austria · Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina · Bornholm · Baltic states (including Latvia) · Czechoslovakia · Finland · Germany · Hungary · Poland · Romania Asia Afghanistan · Northern Iran Italics indicate countries occupied while Soviet Union was a member of the Allies of World War II.