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Prisoners Of Power

Prisoners of Power

Inhabited Island (a.k.a Prisoner of Power in British translations) is a science fiction novel written by Russian science fiction authors Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Originally it was published in 1971, after modifications by Soviet censors to remove possible allusions to the Soviet Union. In 1992 the book was published again in the original uncensored version although many original character names were lost.

Book Setting

In the time of the 22nd century cycle, humanity has already achieved rapid interstellar travel; a number of non-human species exist in this universe, two of them having also built space ships and established diplomatic ties with Earth, but only humans are depicted as aggressively exploring and seeking new horizons. Human social organization is presumably Communist (the novels having been written and published in the USSR), however it can be better explained as a post-industrial technocracy based on superabundance due to automatic production. It is a society that has effectively solved all of its material problems, feels no existential threats (except possibly from unknown alien civilizations), and spends much of its efforts on scientific research and space exploration. One of their more controversial projects are the Progressors, agents embedded to the less developed humanoid civilizations in order to "speed up" their development (by means ranging from helping out or protecting scholars and scientists to overthrowing the local governments, depending on the situations and people involved). Kammerer will eventually encounter some of these Progressors on planet Saraksh, albeit too late.

Plot Summary

The story evolves around the adventures of Maxim Kammerer. He is then a young man who, failing achieving an interesting career on Earth, gets an unprestigious job in space exploration. He finds an uncharted planet (Saraksh) inhabited by a humanoid species similar to humanity of the mid 20th century, living with the dire consequences of a recent nuclear war. His ship shot down by the abandoned, yet functional, air defense system, he settles in the society of the Land of the Fathers nation (becoming a "robinson" of an "inhabited island"; hence the title). The society of the Land of the Fathers is controlled by a totalitarian, militaristic, avowedly fascist, regime headed by the Fathers, an oligarchy of high officials and business leaders. The nation is in the state of constant war against the rival Island Empire, whose incessant seaborne attacks seek to pave way for conquest and wholesale extermination of the people of the continent. Somewhat less justifiably, the propaganda regularly portrays the states to the north, in truth divided and weak, as constituting a military threat. The most significant feature of the Land of the Fathers is its use of mind control through special frequecies of electromagnetic waves broadcast throughout the territory of the country. A vast network of rebroadcast towers are claimed to be a ballistic missile defense network of unspecified nature, while in actuality serving to broadcast mind-altering transmissions. The primary, constant, broadcasts suppress ability to evaluate information critically, hence making the omnipresent regime propaganda much more effective. Of course, these broadcasts by themselves carry no information, hence making effective any kind of propaganda; thus, for example, Kammerer encounters a state research institute where employees are intentionally shielded from official propaganda (newspapers and radio) and are exposed only to internal publications, assuring their loyalty to their superiors rather then the state in general. An additional, intense, broadcast, turned on twice a day, serves to relieve mental stress caused by the diffrence between the propaganda and the observed reality by provoking a strong outburst of blinding enthusiasm. Indeed, Strugatsky gives a masterful description of this process at work, delineating the train of thought of a character as it rapidly switches from a state of peeved boredom and disdain for his superiors to one of rapture about people around him and life in general. The people are divided into the majority, susceptible to the broadcasts and a minority of "mutants"(выродки)who are not affected by the regular broadcasts and who experience strong pain due to the intense periodic enthusiasm-inducing ones. The mutant minority (easily distinguished by their induced epileptic seizures) is actively persecuted by the regime, dubbed traitors and a biological threat to the species, and most of them are imprisoned in concentration camps. Nevertheless, the high officials of the government (the Fathers) are themselves mutants, paying for the power of mind control over the people with great personal suffering during intense broadcasts. The arrival of Kammerer, a human, brings in a third alternative to this picture: he is not susceptible to any effect of these waves. Kammerer fairly rapidly acquaints himself with the reality of life on Saraksh, at first being merely repelled by the brutality of the regime (which he experiences firsthand having enlisted in the military and receiving orders to execute mutants), and later exposed to the truth about the mind control system. He tries out several failed schemes to overthrow the regime, including trying to foment an invasion by barbarian tribes from the inhospitable jungle to the south, as well as contacting the Island Empire. He abandons the latter project after perusing photos in a destroyed submarine off the coast which suggest that the Islanders are guilty of genocidal atrocities and are by far the bigger of the two evils. Eventually, he is captured, nearly gets killed in an abortive invasion of the north carried out by the Fathers (he is conscripted for the service on the frontlines along with other concentration camp inmates), and is eventually discovered by agents of one of the factions within the oligarchy. A Father known as Smartie (Умник) realized that his lack of susceptibility to mind control transmissions may allow him to seize control of the central broadcast station that is protected primarily by local intense emissions that would incapacitate any normal inhabitant of Saraksh who might attempt a break-in. Expecting a purge at the hands of their political enemies for the failure of the northern war, he decided to use him to take control of the center, temporarily incapacitate the population (and their enemies) with appropriate broadcasts, and then use the radio propaganda apparatus to establish Kammerer as the head of a new regime, a new focus of loyalty like the Fathers have been. Sure enough, Kammerer takes over the center and then blows it up. Hence, he effectively eliminates the mind control technology from Saraksh because, as is suggested, Saraksh scientists used components acquired from the Wanderers, and would not be able to rebuild the center. The book ends with all of the people of the Land of the Fathers having a collective hangover due to lack of accustomed-to trasmissions, and Kammerer being caught and lambasted by the resident human Progressor, Rudolf Sikorski, (who works with a cover of being one of the Fathers and running the main research institute of the state) for totally messing up the situation the Progressors were trying to improve gradually. It is said that Kammerer remains on Saraksh for awhile to work with Sikorski to deal with the resulting chaos (political, social, and possibly military, since a major invasion from the Islands is in the offing).

Thoughts on Inhabited Island

It merits noting that "Inhabited Island", while portraying an evil, venal, and fascist society, in a sense an epitomy of what "Western imperialism" has stood for in the Soviet propaganda, is actually a thinly veiled satire of the Soviet system itself. A global, inescapable propaganda system, close state control of the economy, extreme militarism coupled with opportunism and ineptitude in military planning, rule by faceless cliques of party leaders who do not believe the official ideology themselves, a huge prison camps population (which is conscripted in war in a distinct reference to Stalin's wartime policy), all these are very suggestive to readers who have lived in the USSR, or at least grown up within the post-Soviet Russian culture. Hence, the destruction of the center becomes a metaphor, eventually a prophetic one, for an end to the Soviet propaganda system leading to the collapse of the regime. The parallels were quite apparent to the Soviet censors, who allowed the publication but required a large number of cosmetic changes in wordings to make the Land of the Fathers feel less identifiably Soviet, and preferably more German. Some of these changes included replacement of modern military ranks (lieutenant, major) with archaic or made up ones (brigadier), giving Fathers identifiably German nicknames (Chancellor, Baron), and renaming the internal security military service, that Kammerer served in, from "Guard" (which is appellation of some of the divisions in the Russian army) to the decidedly non-Russian "Legion". The German last names of the characters themseleves have also resulted from this editing: it was hoped to give a sense of having a German Communist freedom fighter battling a loosely-German fascist state. In latter, post-Perestroika, editions many of these changes were undone as decidedly aesthetically ugly to the Russian ear, and indeed as running counter to the intent of the authors, but quite a few remained, such as Kammerer's last name which, by then, has already shown up in a number of other books of the cycle.

Overall Summary

Overall, the novel is not generally considered as influential, in terms of the scope of social problems discussed with, as Strugatskys' other major works, such as The Final Circle of Paradise or Roadside Picnic. Indeed, it may well be just too action-packed, uncharacteristically for Strugatsky fiction, for the taste of the more serious literary critic. Nevertheless, it has a captivating plot, is an easy and enjoyable reading (in Russian, at least), and is very popular among the fans of Strugatskys and of Russian science fiction. Category:1971 books

Science Fiction

Science fiction

Boris and Arkady Strugatsky

The two brothers Arkady (Арка́дий, August 28, 1925 – October 12, 1991) and Boris (Бори́с, born April 14, 1933) Strugatsky (Струга́цкий; alternate spelling: Strugatski) are Russian science fiction authors who collaborated on their fiction.

Life and work

science fiction author science fiction author The Strugatsky brothers (Бра́тья Струга́цкие), as they are usually called, became the best-known Soviet science fiction writers with a well developed fan base. Their early work was influenced by Ivan Yefremov. Their most famous novel Piknik na obochine has been translated into English as Roadside Picnic in 1977 and was filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky under the title Stalker. Several other works have been translated into English, but did not receive even a fraction of the critical acclaim of Russian audiences. This can be attributed primarily due to failings that inevitably arise when an attempt is made to translate colloquial Russian into a language that does not very well support its grammatical structure; the second reason is that a basic understanding of the rigid mindset promoted by the Stalinist regime is an absolute prerequisite to being able to see the contrast and rejection of uniformity that is evident in every one of the Strugatskys' works. Finally, much of the humor of works such as Monday Begins on Saturday comes from hundreds of years' worth of cultural and literary allusions. It should be noted, however, that the Strugatsky brothers were and still are popular in many countries, including Poland and Germany, where most of their works were available in both East and West Germany. The brothers were Guests of Honour at the 1987 World Science Fiction Convention, held in Brighton, England.

Noon Universe

Several of the books written by the Strugatskys take part in the same universe, unofficially known as the Wanderers universe (Russian: мир Странников, English transliteration: mir Strannikov) or The World of Noon (Russian: Мир Полдня, English transliteration: Mir Poldnya), which is another, perhaps better known, name for the fictional universe serving as a base for many of Strugatskys' texts. The name is due to the title of one of their texts, Полдень, XXII век (English transliteration: Polden', XXII vek; literal translation: Noon, XXII century), which relates several stories from the universe in question, while providing the background "feel" for its style of life. Among the main characteristics of Noon Universe are a very high level of social, scientific, and technological development, high creativity of the general population, and very significant increase in the level of societal maturity compared to either the modern world, or any of those known to exist. For instance, this world knows no monetary stimulation (indeed, money does not exist), yet every person is engaged in a profession that interests him or her. The Earth of Noon Universe is a governed by a global technocratic council composed of the world's leading scientists, philosophers. One of the important story arcs of those books is how the advanced human civilisation covertly steers the development of those considered less advanced. Agents of humans are known as Progressors. At the same time, some humans suspect that a very advanced spacefaring race called Wanderers exists and is 'progressing' humanity itself. The idea of Progressors is similar to the idea of Special Circumstances organisation in The Culture set of novel by Iain M. Banks. Not all of Strugatsky's stories occur in the World of Noon; few (most notably Понедельник начинается в субботу (Ponedel'nik nachinaetsya v subbotu / Monday Begins on Saturday) and its continuation, Сказка о Тройке (Skazka o Troyke / The Tale of the Troika) take place in the Soviet times, presumably those (or close to those) during which they were written, and some occur in unspecified realms.

Tributes

Several writers have to a varying degree paid their tribute to the works of Strugatsky brothers. Sergey Lukyanenko in his dylogy The Stars Are Cold Toys has the main character visit a world that is in many aspects strikingly similar to Earth from Noon Universe but in truth is revealed to be fundamentally different and oppressive. Kir Bulychev used an alien race called "Wanderers" (Странники) in one of his Alice, Girl from the Future stories. They share many attributes with the Wanderers from Noon Universe including a near-mystical reputation, comparatively high levels of technology and zealous tendency to preserve their secrets. Unlike Strugatsky's Wanderers, who let the world believe that they vanished centuries ago, Buluchyov's Wanderers appear to be truly extinct. They never appeared in any of Kir Buluchyov's other books. In late 1990s, a three-volume collection of fiction by notable contemporary Russian sci-fi authors, titled The Time of the Apprentices (Время учеников), was published with an endorsement of Boris Strugatsky. Each piece in the collection was a sequel to one of Strugatskys' books.

Selected bibliography

- The Way to Amalthea (Путь на Амальтею), 1960
- Six Matches (Шесть спичек), a collection of short stories, 1960
- The Land of Crimson Clouds (Страна багровых туч ), 1960
- Noon: 22nd Century (Полдень, 22-й век), 1961
- Space Apprentice (Стажеры), 1962
- An Attempt to Escape (Попытка к бегству), 1962
- Faraway Rainbow (Далекая Радуга), 1963
- Monday Begins on Saturday (Понедельник начинается в субботу), 1964
- The Final Circle of Paradise (Хищные вещи века) 1965
- Hard to Be a God (Трудно быть богом), 1966
- Snail on a Mountanside (Улитка на склоне), 1966-1968
- Tale of the Troika (Сказка о Тройке), 1968
- Inhabited Island (Обитаемый остров) a.k.a. Prisoners of Power, 1969
- Roadside Picnic (Пикник на обочине), 1972
- Definitely Maybe (За миллиард лет до конца света), 1976
- Beetle in an Anthill (Жук в муравейнике), 1981
- The Time Wanderers (Волны гасят ветер) a.k.a. or Waves Put Out Wind, 1985
- The Ugly Swans (Гадкие лебеди), 1987
- Overburdned with evil (Отягощённые злом), 1988

External links

- [http://rusf.ru/abs in Russian. Includes an ongoing interview with Boris Strugatsky]
- [http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/bibliography.txt Detailed bibliography, in Russian]
- [http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/ in Russian. Includes the complete works in Russian and selected translations]
- [http://www.rusf.ru/abs/english/index.htm in English. Includes free library, bibliography of their books translated in English and other languages and awards sections]
- [http://www.rusf.ru/abs/english/e-22-0.htm Noon Universe History and Timeline]
- [http://tarkovskyzone.proboards27.com/ 'Stalker: we're now into the Zone' - the one and only Fan Forum] Strugatsky Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Arkady ja:ストルガツキー兄弟 Category:multiple people

1971

1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar).

Events

January

- January 1 - British Divorce Reform Act comes into force
- January 2 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster.
- January 2 - A ban on television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
- January 3 - BBC Open University begins in the United Kingdom
- January 7 - Howard Hughes breaks his silence to announce that his supposed biography is a forgery.
- January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo; they keep him captive until September
- January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings and receives them the next day
- January 14 – 70 Brazilian political prisoners released in Santiago. Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released January 16
- January 15 - Aswan Dam officially opened
- January 18 – Strikes in Poland demand resignation of interior minister Kazimierz Switala. He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic
- January 19 – Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices. February 14 they sign a treaty with six Persian Gulf countries
- January 19 - No, No Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City)
- January 24 – Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the failed landing attempts in November 1970. 72 are sentenced to hard labor for life. 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day
- January 25 - Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty of the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate and others at Sharon's house
- January 25 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president
- January 25 - Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state
- January 31 - Apollo program: US spaceflight Apollo 14, commanded by Alan Shepard, lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission

February

- February 2 - Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote and assumes power in Uganda
- February 4 - In Britain, Rolls Royce goes bankrupt - state takes over
- February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
- February 7 - Tuscany, Italy, wrecked in an earthquake
- February 7 - Men of Switzerland vote for giving voting rights to women in state elections - but not in all canton-specific ones.
- February 7 – Wladyslaw Gomulka is expelled from central council of the Polish communist party
- February 8 - A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts
- February 9 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
- February 9 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
- February 9 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing
- February 11 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
- February 11-12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in Amman
- February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- February 15 - "Decimalisation Day" - United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency. See also decimalisation.
- February 15 – Angry Belgian farmers crash the EEC meeting in Brussels with three live cows with them
- February 16 – In Italy, local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria – residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for five days because of the decision
- February 20 – 50 tornadoes rage in Mississippi – 74 dead
- February 20 - US Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning - many radio stations just ignore it
- February 21 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- February 26 - Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
- February 27 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus

March

- March 1 - Bomb explodes in men's room in the White House - Weather Underground claims responsibility.
- March 1 - Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postponed the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
- March 1 - Canadian John Robarts ends his term of office as 17th premier of Ontario
- March 5 – Pakistani army occupies the East Pakistan
- March 7 – Strike of British postal workers ends after 47 days
- March 10 - Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.
- March 12 - Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
- March 16 – Government of Trygve Bratteli in Norway
- March 18 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing 200
- March 23 – Military coup in Argentina – general Alejandro Lanusse takes power
- March 25 – Pakistani army starts massive killing in East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh, after an open, non-democratic denial by Pakistani president Yahiya Khan, a military ruler, of election results that gave Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
- March 26 - The Independence Day of Bangladesh.
- March 29 - Filming begins on The Godfather. Shooting starts on Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The movie, released in 1972, won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
- March 29 - William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in My Lai massacre and sentenced to life in prison. He is later pardoned.
- March 29 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.

April

- April 1 - United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership
- April 5 – In Ceylon, group calling himself People’s Liberation Front begins a rebellion against Bandaranaike government
- April 5 – Chile and East Germany form diplomatic relations
- April 5 - Mount Etna erupts
- April 7 – Greece releases 261 political prisoners, 50 of which are sent to internal exile
- April 8 – Right-wing coup attempt exposed in Laos
- April 9 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death but the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
- April 12 – Palestinians retreat from Amman to north of Jordan
- April 17 – Bangladesh makes official declaration of independence but Pakistani troops continue the fighting
- April 17 - Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
- April 19 – Government of Bangladesh flees to India
- April 19 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic
- April 19 – Unemployment in UK is 3.4%
- April 19 - Soviet Union launches Saljut I.
- April 19 - Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to gas chamber.
- April 20 - Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
- April 20 – Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns
- April 21 – Siaka Stevens is elected the first president of Sierra Leone
- April 21 – François Duvalier, president of Haiti, dies—his son Jean-Claude Duvalier follows him as president-for-life
- April 24 – Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1
- April 24 – 500,000 people in Washington DC and 125,000 in San Francisco march against the Vietnam War
- April 24 - Tsunami 85 m high rises over Ryukyu Islands in Japan. It throws a 750-ton block of coral 2.5 km inland
- April 25 – Todor Zhivkov re-elected as the leader of the Bulgarian communist party
- April 25 – Franz Jonas re-elected as the new chancellor of Austria
- April 26 – Government of Turkey declares the state of siege in 11 provinces, Ankara included, because of violent demonstrations
- April 29 – Bolivia nationalizes American-owned zinc mine of Matilde
- April 29 - The third anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair was celebrated with a concert at a Central Park bandshell.

May

- May 1 - Amtrak begins operation of intercity rail passenger service in the United States
- May 1 – Ceylonese government promises amnesty for those guerillas who surrender before April 5
- May 2 – in Ceylon left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings
- May 3 – Harris public opinion poll claims that 60% of Americans are against the war in Vietnam
- May 3 – East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as a party leader but retains the positions of the head of state
- May 3 - Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
- May 3 - All Things Considered, National Public Radio's flagship news program, broadcasts for the first time.
- May 5 – US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark – Central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading
- May 6 – Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front
- May 9 – Launch of Mariner 8 fails
- May 12 – Earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur
- May 15 – Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Efraim Elrom, is kidnapped. He is found killed in Istanbul May 25
- May 16 – Coup attempt exposed and foiled in Egypt
- May 19 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union
- May 26 – Austria and People's Republic of China form diplomatic relations
- May 26 - Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to Bomb hoaxer-extortionist Mr Brown (Peter Marcini) (Later Arrested)
- May 27 – Six armed passengers hijack Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna
- May 27 - Christie's auctions diamond later known as Deepdene - it is later found to be artificially colored
- May 28 – Portugal resigns from UNESCO
- May 30 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars
- May 31 - The birth of a new country, Bangladesh, is declared by the government in exile from territory formerly part of Pakistan.

June

- June 1 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in southeast Asia, speak against war protests
- June 6 - Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 launches.
- June 6 - A midair collision between a Hughes Airwest Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California claims 50 lives.
- June 10 – USA ends trade embargo of China.
- June 13 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/48.htm].
- June 13 - Gijs van Lennep wins the 24 hours of Le Mans together with Helmet Marko.
- June 14 - Norway begins oil production in North Sea.
- June 17 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.[http://www.niraikanai.wwma.net/pages/archive/rev71.html]
- June 20 – Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedosejev has been granted asylum.
- June 21 – Britain begins new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg.
- June 25 – Madagascar accuses USA of being connected to the plot to oust the current government – USA recalls its ambassador.
- June 28 - Assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots Joe Colombo to the head in a middle of a Italian-American rally. Colombo goes into coma.
- June 30 - After a successful mission aboard Salyut 1, the world's first manned space station, the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.

July

- July 3 - Doors musician Jim Morrison in found dead in his Paris apartment.
- July 5 - Right to vote: The voting age in the United States is reduced from 21 to 18 (provision of the 26th Amendment formally certified by President Richard Nixon on this day).
- July 9 - United Kingdom increases its troops in Northern Ireland to 11,000.
- July 10-11 – Coup attempt in Morocco - 1400 cadets take over the king's palace for three hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when king's troops storm the palace. Ten high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement.
- July 13 – Ólafur Jóhannesson's government in Iceland.
- July 13 – Jordanian army troops launch offensive against Palestinian guerillas in Jordan.
- July 14 – Libya severs its diplomatic ties to Morocco.
- July 14 – Yugoslavian government allows foreign companies to take their profits from the country.
- July 16 - Francisco Franco makes Prince Juan Carlos his successor.
- July 16 - The four billionth baby was born. (see World Population).
- July 17 – Italy and Austria sign a treaty that ends the schism about South Tyrol.
- July 18 – Trucial States formed in the Persian Gulf.
- July 19-23 – Military coup in Sudan ousts Jaafar Muhammad al-Nemieri and major Hashem al-Atta takes over. Fighting continues until on July 22 pro-Nimeiri troops win. Al-Atta and 3 officers are executed July 23. Nimeiri launches an anti-communist campaign.
- July 26 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15. On July 31 the Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover a day after landing on the surface.
- July 28 - Abdel Madgoub, Sudanese communist leader, is hanged.
- July 29 - The United Kingdom opts out of the Space Race with the cancellation of its Black Arrow launch vehicle.
- July 30 – In Japan, an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 collides with a Japanese fighter jet – 162 dead.

August

- August 9 - India signs a twenty year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
- August 9 - British security forces in Northern Ireland detain hundreds of guerilla suspects and put them into Long Kesh - the beginning of an internment without trial policy. 20 die in riots that follow.
- August 12 – 3000 people from Belfast and Londonderry flee to Ireland because of the violence
- August 12 – Syria severs diplomatic relations to Jordan because of border clashes
- August 14 – British troops stationed on Ireland border to stop arms smuggling
- August 14 - Emirate of Bahrain declares independence
- August 15 – Number of British troops in Northern Ireland rises to 12,500
- August 15 - President Richard Nixon announces that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system
- August 18 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam
- August 18 – British troops in firefight in Londonderry
- August 19-22 – Right-wing coup ignites a rebellion in Bolivia. Miners and students join troops to support president Juan Jose Torres but eventually Hugo Banzer takes over
- August 25 – Border clashes between Tanzania and Uganda
- August 25 – Large flood in Bangladesh and eastern Bengal – thousands flee the area
- August 26 - Civilian government in Greece.
- August 30 - The Alberta Progressive Conservatives under Peter Lougheed defeat the Social Credit government under Harry E. Strom in a general election, ending 36 years of uninterrupted power for Social Credit in Alberta.

September

- September 3 - Qatar regains independence from the United Kingdom
- September 3 - Manlio Brosio resigns as secterary general of NATO
- September 4 - A Boeing 727 carrying Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska killing all 111 people on board
- September 8 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass
- September 9 - 13 - Attica Prison riots - Revolt at the maximum-security prison in Attica, New York. In the end, state police and National Guard storm the facility - 42 dead, 10 of them hostages
- September 21 - Pakistan declares state of emergency
- September 24 - Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials and 15 are not allowed to return
- September 27 - October 11 - Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
- September 28 - Cardinal Mindszenty, who has resided in US embassy in Budapest from 1956 is allowed to move out of Hungary.
- September 29 - Cyclone and tsunami in the Bay of Bengal in Orissa State in India kills 10,000.

October

- October 1 - Walt Disney World opens.
- October 20 - Dannii Minogue born.
- October 21 - President Nixon nominated Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- October 21 - Gas explosion in Clarkston, Glasgow kills 20 people.
- October 25 - The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (on Taiwan).
- October 27 - Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
- October 28 - British House of Commons votes in favour of joining the EEC by 356-244.
- October 28 - The United Kingdom becomes the 6th nation to launch a satellite into orbit, the Prospero X-3.
- October 29 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (lowest since January 1966)
- October 30 - Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party founded in Northern Ireland.
- October 31 - A bomb explodes at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.

November

- November 3 - The UNIX Programmer's Manual is published
- November 6 - US nuclear bomb test in Aleuts.
- November 10 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine airplanes.
- November 12 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
- November 13 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to enter Mars orbit successfully
- November 15 - Intel releases world's first microprocessor, the 4004.
- November 23 - The People's Republic of China is given the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations)
- November 24 - During a severe thunderstorm over Washington, a man calling himself D.B. Cooper parachutes from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane he hijacked with US$200,000 in ransom money (he was never heard from again)
- November 24 - Brussels court sentences would-be-pretender Alexis Brimeyer to 18 months in jail for falsely using a noble title; Brimeyer has already fled to Greece

December

- December 1 - Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh
- December 2 - Six Sheikdoms in Persian Gulf founds United Arab Emirates.
- December 3 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks eight India airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
- December 3- 4 night - Indian navy destroyer INS Rajput sinks Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi (former USS Diablo)
- December 8 - US President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
- December 14 - Facing defeat in the war, Pakistan Army kills hundreds of Bangladeshi Intellectuals.
- December 16 - Victory Day of Bangladesh (Pakistan Army surrenders to the Mitro Bahini, ending Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 simultaneously).
- December 18 - US dollar devalued for the second time in US history.
- December 18 - World's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, begins operations.
- December 29 - The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in Malta.

unknown dates

- Don't Make A Wave Committee changes its name to Greenpeace.
- Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail.
- Libertarian party established in USA.
- Free State of Christiania is founded.
- Intelsat IV
- Seychelles International Airport in Victoria, Seychelles (Mahe) is completed.
- Knapp Commission
- Johnny Cash, the American country and western singer, writes a song titled The Man in Black.
- US 48 continental states crude oil production peaks at approximately 4.5 million barrels/day.
- Center for Science in the Public Interest established.
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism established.

Births

January-April

- January 2 - Lisa Harrison, American basketball player
- January 7 - Chavo Guerrero Jr., American professional wrestler
- January 8 - Jason Giambi, baseball player
- January 9 - Scott Thornton, Canadian hockey player
- January 11 - Mary J. Blige, American singer
- January 17 - Leonardo Ciampa, American composer
- January 17 - Kid Rock, American singer
- January 18 - Jon Davis, American singer (Korn)
- January 19 - Shawn Wayans, American actor, writer, and producer
- January 19 - John Wozniak, American singer and songwriter (Marcy Playground)
- January 21 - Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
- January 25 - Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
- January 27 - Fann Wong, Chinese actress, model, and singer (Shanghai Knights)
- February 1 - Jill Kelly, American actress
- February 3 - Sarah Kane, English playwright (d. 1999)
- February 5 - Sara Evans, American singer
- February 10 - Lisa Marie Varon, American professional wrestler
- February 17 - Denise Richards, American actress
- February 25 - Sean Astin, American actor
- February 26 - Erykah Badu, American singer
- February 28 - Tristan Louis, Internet entrepreneur
- March 5 - John Frusciante, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- March 10 - Ugonna Wachuku, Nigerian writer
- March 11 - Johnny Knoxville, American television personality
- March 23 - Karen McDougal, American model
- March 26 - Behzad Ghorbani, Iranian scientist
- March 27 - David Coulthard, Scottish race car driver
- March 31 - Pavel Bure, Russian hockey player
- March 31 - Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
- April 1 - Method Man, American rapper
- April 2 - Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player
- April 12 - Shannon Doherty, American actress
- April 16 - Selena Quintanilla, American singer (d. 1995)
- April 20 - Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer

May-August

- May 8 - Candice Night, American singer
- May 20 - Tony Stewart, American race car driver
- May 25 - Sonya Smith, American actress
- May 26 - Matt Stone, American television producer
- May 27 - Paul Bettany, British actor
- June 2 - Anthony Montgomery, American actor
- June 5 - Mark Wahlberg, American actor and singer
- June 8 - Troy Vincent, American football player
- June 10 - Joel Hailey, American singer (Jodeci)
- June 16 - Derek R. Audette, Canadian musician, artist, and poet
- June 16 - Tupac Shakur, American rapper, poet, and actor (d. 1996)
- June 22 - Kurt Warner, American football player
- June 27 - Dipendra of Nepal, King of Nepal (d. 2001)
- June 28 - Norika Fujiwara, Japanese actress and television-personality
- July 1 - Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, American singer
- July 9 - Marc Andreessen, American software developer
- July 12 - Kristi Yamaguchi, American figure skater
- July 17 - Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
- July 23 - Dalvin DeGrate, American singer and producer (Jodeci)
- July 22 - Kristine Lilly, American soccer player
- August 4 - Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
- August 6 - Merrin Dungey, American actress
- August 10 - Roy Keane, Irish footballer
- August 10 - Mario César Kindelán Mesa, Cuban amateur boxer
- August 12 - Pete Sampras, American tennis player
- August 17 - Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- August 18 - Richard D James, Irish musician
- August 26 - Thalía, Mexican actress
- August 28 -

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, abbreviated USSR ( (СССР) ; tr.: Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik [SSSR])), more commonly known as the Soviet Union (; tr.: Sovetsky Soyuz) was an officially socialist state founded in 1922, centered on Russia, and dissolved in 1991. From 1945 until its dissolution it was historically notable as one of the world's two superpowers. The formation of the Soviet Union was the culmination of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which overthrew short-lived Provisional Government (established after Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 15, 1917), and later the Red Army victory in the violent Russian Civil War from 1918-1920. The geographic boundaries of the Soviet Union varied with time, but by 1945 it approximately corresponded to that of historic Imperial Russia, with the notable exclusions of Poland and Finland. The geographic size of the Soviet Union remained from 1945 until its dissolution. The Soviet Union, founded three decades before the Cold War, became a primary model for future Communist states; the socialist government and the political organization of the country were defined by the only permitted political party, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

History

The Soviet Union is traditionally considered to be the successor of the Russian Empire. The last Russian monarch, Tsar Nicholas II, ruled until March 1917 and was eventually executed. The Soviet Union was established in December 1922 as the union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics ruled by Bolshevik parties. By Soviet historiography, revolutionary activity in Russia began with the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, and although serfdom was abolished in 1861, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament, the State Duma, was established in 1906, after the 1905 Revolution but political and social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages. A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's physical well-being and morale, culminated in the toppling of the imperial government in March 1917 (see February Revolution). The autocracy was replaced by the Provisional Government, whose leaders intended to establish democracy in Russia and to continue participating on the side of the Allies in World War I. At the same time, to ensure the rights of the working class, workers' councils, known as soviets, sprang up across the country. The radical Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, agitated for socialist revolution in the soviets and on the streets. They seized power from the Provisional Government in November 1917 (see October Revolution). Only after the long and bloody Russian Civil War of (1918-1921), which included combat between government forces and foreign troops in several parts of Russia, was the new communist regime secure. In a related conflict, the "Peace of Riga" in early 1921 split disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between Poland and Soviet powers. From its first years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party, as the Bolsheviks called themselves beginning in March 1918. After the extraordinary economic policy of war communism during the Civil War the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist with nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax (see New Economic Policy). Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for Soviet leaders to contend for power in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating his rivals within the party, notably Lenin's more obvious heir Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin became the sole leader of the Soviet Union by the end of the 1920s. In 1928 Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a socialist economy. In industry the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization; in agriculture collective farms were established all over the country (see Collectivisation in the USSR). The Soviet Union became a major industrial power; but the plan's implementation produced widespread misery for some segments of the population. Collectivization met widespread resistance from peasants, resulting in a bitter struggle against the authorities in many areas, famine, and estimated millions of casualties. Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s, when Stalin began a purge of the party (see Great Purges). Yet despite this turmoil, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II. Although Stalin tried to avert war with Germany by concluding the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which involved the invasion of Poland, in 1939, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. It has been debated that the Soviet Union had the intention of invading Germany once it was strong enough. The Red Army stopped the Nazi offensive, with the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943 being the major turning point, and drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945 (see Great Patriotic War). Although ravaged by the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as an acknowledged superpower. superpower after the fall of Nazi Germany]] During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first rebuilt and then expanded its economy, while maintaining its strictly centralized control. The Soviet Union aided postwar reconstruction in Eastern Europe, set up the Warsaw Pact and Comecon, supplied aid to the eventually victorious communists in the People's Republic of China, and saw its influence grow elsewhere in the world. Meanwhile, the Cold War, turned the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, into foes. Joseph Stalin died on March 5 1953. In the absence of an acceptable successor, the highest Communist Party officials opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly, although a struggle for power took place behind the facade of collective leadership. Nikita Khrushchev, who won the power struggle by the mid-1950s, denounced Stalin's use of repression and eased repressive controls over party and society (see de-Stalinization). During this period the Soviet Union launched the first satellite Sputnik 1 and man Yuri Gagarin into orbit. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy toward China and the United States suffered reverses. Khrushchev's colleagues in the leadership removed him from power in 1964. Following the ouster of Khrushchev, another period of rule by collective leadership ensued, lasting until Leonid Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in Soviet political life. Brezhnev presided over a period of Détente with the West while at the same time building up Soviet military strength; the arms buildup contributed to the demise of Détente in the late 1970s. Another contributing factor was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. After some experimentation with economic reforms in the mid-1960s, the Soviet leadership reverted to established means of economic management. Industry showed slow but steady gains during the 1970s, while agricultural development continued to lag. Throughout the period the Soviet Union maintained parity with the United States in the areas of military technology but this expansion ultimately crippled the economy. In contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change. Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. After the rapid succession of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, transitional figures with deep roots in Brezhnevite tradition, the energetic Mikhail Gorbachev made significant changes in the economy (see Perestroika) and the party leadership. His policy of glasnost freed public access to information after decades of government regulations. In late 1980s constituent republics of the Soviet Union started declaring sovereignty over their territories or even independence citing Article 72 of USSR Constitution, which stated that any constituent republic was free to secede. Many republics proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as "The War of Laws." In 1989 Russian SFSR, which was then the largest constituent republic (with about 2/3 of population and territory) convened a Congress of Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected the chairman of the Congress. On June 12, 1989 the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the USSR's laws. The period of legal uncertainty continued for the next three years as constituent republics slowly growing de-facto independent. A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on March 17, 1991, with the population voting for preservation of the Union in most republics. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost, and in the summer of 1991 an new Union Treaty was designed and agreed upon by most republics which would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser federation. The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the August Coup - an attempted coup d'état against Mikhail Gorbachev by conservative members of the Communist Party, referred to as "Hardliners" by the Western media. After the coup was defeated, Yeltsin came out as a hero while Gorbachev's power was greatly reduced. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were immediately granted independence, while the other 12 republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union. On December 8 1991 Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed Belavezha Accords which declared the Union dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States in its place. While doubts remained over their authority to dissolve the Union, on 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as the president of the USSR and turned the powers of his office over to Boris Yeltsin. The following day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body of the Soviet Union, dissolved itself. This is generally recognized as the official, final dissolution of the Soviet Union as a functioning nation. Many organizations such as the Red Army and Police forces continued to remain in place in the early months of 1992, but were slowly phased out or absorbed by the newly independent nations.

Politics

Supreme Soviet] The government of the Soviet Union administered the country's economy and society. It implemented decisions made by the leading political institution in the country, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). In the late 1980s, the government appeared to have many characteristics in common with democratic political systems. For instance, a constitution established all organs of government and granted to citizens a series of political and civic rights. A legislative body, the Congress of People's Deputies, and its standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, represented the principle of popular sovereignty. The Supreme Soviet, which had an elected chairman who functioned as head of state, oversaw the Council of Ministers, which acted as the executive branch of the government. The chairman of the Council of Ministers, whose selection was approved by the legislative branch, functioned as head of government. A constitutionally based judicial branch of government included a court system, headed by the Supreme Court, that was responsible for overseeing the observance of Soviet law by government bodies. According to the 1977 Soviet Constitution, the government had a federal structure, permitting the republics some authority over policy implementation and offering the national minorities the appearance of participation in the management of their own affairs. In practice, however, the government differed markedly from Western systems. In the late 1980s, the CPSU performed many functions that governments of other countries usually perform. For example, the party decided on the policy alternatives that the government ultimately implemented. The government merely ratified the party's decisions to lend them an aura of legitimacy. The CPSU used a variety of mechanisms to ensure that the government adhered to its policies. The party, using its nomenklatura authority, placed its loyalists in leadership positions throughout the government, where they were subject to the norms of democratic centralism. Party bodies closely monitored the actions of government ministries, agencies, and legislative organs. The content of the Soviet Constitution differed in many ways from typical Western constitutions. It generally described existing political relationships, as determined by the CPSU, rather than prescribing an ideal set of political relationships. The Constitution was long and detailed, giving technical specifications for individual organs of government. The Constitution included political statements, such as foreign policy goals, and provided a theoretical definition of the state within the ideological framework of Marxism-Leninism. The CPSU leadership could radically change the constitution or remake it completely, as it did several times throughout its history. The Council of Ministers acted as the executive body of the government. Its most important duties lay in the administration of the economy. The council was thoroughly under the control of the CPSU, and its chairman - the Soviet prime minister - was always a member of the Politburo. The council, which in 1989 included more than 100 members, was too large and unwieldy to act as a unified executive body. The council's Presidium, made up of the leading economic administrators and led by the chairman, exercised dominant power within the Council of Ministers. According to the Constitution, as amended in 1988, the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union was the Congress of People's Deputies, which convened for the first time in May 1989. The main tasks of the congress were the election of the standing legislature, the Supreme Soviet, and the election of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, who acted as head of state. Theoretically, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet wielded enormous legislative power. In practice, however, the Congress of People's Deputies met infrequently and only to approve decisions made by the party, the Council of Ministers, and its own Supreme Soviet. The Supreme Soviet, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, and the Council of Ministers had substantial authority to enact laws, decrees, resolutions, and orders binding on the population. The Congress of People's Deputies had the authority to ratify these decisions. The judiciary was not independent. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts and applied the law, as established by the Constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union lacked an adversarial court procedure known to common law jurisdictions. Rather, Soviet law utilised the system derived from Roman law, where judge, procurator and defense attorney worked collaboratively to establish the truth. The Soviet Union was a federal state made up of fifteen republics joined together in a theoretically voluntary union. In turn, a series of territorial units made up the republics. The republics also contained jurisdictions intended to protect the interests of national minorities. The republics had their own constitutions, which, along with the all-union Constitution, provide the theoretical division of power in the Soviet Union. In 1989, however, the CPSU and the central government retained all significant authority, setting policies that were executed by republic, provincial, oblast, and district governments.

Leaders of the Soviet Union

The official leader of the Soviet Union was the First/General Secretary of the CPSU. The head of government was considered the Premier, and the head of state was considered the President. The Soviet leader could also have one (or both) of these positions, along with the position of General-Secretary of the party. :List of Soviet Premiers :(Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (1923-1946); Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1946-1990); Prime Minister of the USSR (1991)) :List of Soviet Presidents :(Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets (1917-1922); Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1922-1938); Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1938-1989); Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1989-1990); President of the Soviet Union (1990-1991))

Foreign relations

:Main article: Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Foreign relations of the Soviet Union] Once denied diplomatic recognition by the capitalist world, the Soviet Union had official relations with the majority of the nations of the world by the late 1980s. The Soviet Union also had progressed from being an outsider in international organizations and negotiations to being one of the arbiters of Europe's fate after World War II. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the Soviet Union became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions (see Soviet Union and the United Nations). The Soviet Union emerged from World War II as one of the two major world powers, a position maintained for four decades through its hegemony in Eastern Europe (see Eastern Bloc), military strength, aid to developing countries, and scientific research, especially into space technology and weaponry. The Soviet Union's growing influence abroad in the postwar years helped lead to a socialist system of states in Eastern Europe united by military and economic agreements. Established in 1949 as an economic bloc of communist countries led by Moscow, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) served as a framework for cooperation among the planned economies of the Soviet Union, and, later, for trade and economic cooperation with the Third World. The military counterpart to the Comecon was the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet economy was also of major importance to Eastern Europe because of imports of vital natural resources from Russia, such as natural gas. Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone for the forward defense of its western borders and ensured its control of the region by transforming the East European countries into stable allies. Soviet troops intervened in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and cited the Brezhnev Doctrine, the Soviet counterpart to the U.S. Johnson Doctrine and later Nixon Doctrine, and helped oust the Czechoslovak government in 1968, sometimes referred to as the Prague Spring. In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China led to the Sino-Soviet split and a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The KGB (Committee for State Security), served in a fashion as the Soviet counterpart to both the FBI and the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) in the U.S. It ran a massive network of informants throughout the Soviet Union, which was used to monitor violations in law. The foreign wing of the KGB was used to gather intelligence in countries around the globe. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was replaced in Russia by the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service). The KGB was not without substantial oversight. The GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate), not publicized by Russia until the end of the Soviet era during perestroika, was created by Lenin in 1918 and served both as a centralized handler of military intelligence and as an institutional check-and-balance for the otherwise relatively unrestricted power of the KGB. Effectively, it served to spy on the spies, and, not surprisingly, the KGB served a similar function with the GRU. As with the KGB, the GRU operated in nations around the world, particularly in Soviet bloc and client states. The GRU continues to operate in Russia today, with resources estimated by some to exceed those of the SVR [http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/] [http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/svr/c103-gb.htm]. military intelligence]] In the 1970s, the Soviet Union achieved rough nuclear parity with the United States. It perceived its own involvement as essential to the solution of any major international problem. Meanwhile, the Cold War gave way to Détente and a more complicated pattern of international relations in which the world was no longer clearly split into two clearly opposed blocs. Less powerful countries had more room to assert their independence, and the two superpowers were partially able to recognize their common interest in trying to check the further spread and proliferation of nuclear weapons (see SALT I, SALT II, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty). By this time, the Soviet Union had concluded friendship and cooperation treaties with a number of states in the non-communist world, especially among Third World and Non-Aligned Movement states like India and Egypt. Notwithstanding some ideological obstacles, Moscow advanced state interests by gaining military footholds in strategically important areas throughout the Third World. Furthermore, the Soviet Union continued to provide military aid for revolutionary movements in the Third World. For all these reasons, Soviet foreign policy was of major importance to the non-communist world and helped determine the tenor of international relations. Although myriad bureaucracies were involved in the formation and execution of Soviet foreign policy, the major policy guidelines were determined by the Politburo of the Communist Party. The foremost objectives of Soviet foreign policy had been the maintenance and enhancement of national security and the maintenance of hegemony over Eastern Europe. Relations with the United States and Western Europe were also of major concern to Soviet foreign policy makers, and relations with individual Third World states were at least partly determined by the proximity of each state to the Soviet border and to Soviet estimates of its strategic significance. When Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary of the CPSU in 1985, it signalled a dramatic change in Soviet foreign policy. Gorbachev pursued conciliatory policies toward the West instead of maintaining the Cold War status quo. The Soviet Union ended its occupation of Afghanistan, signed strategic arms reduction treaties with the United States, and allowed its allies in Eastern Europe to determine their own affairs. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 25 December, 1991, the Russian Federation claimed to be the legal successor to the Soviet state on the international stage despite its loss of superpower status. Russian foreign policy repudiated Marxism-Leninism as a guide to action, soliciting Western support for capitalist reforms in post-Soviet Russia.

Republics

Russian Federation)]] The Soviet Union was a federation of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR). The first Republics were established shortly after the October Revolution of 1917. At that time, republics were technically independent from one another but their governments acted in closely coordinated confederation, as directed by the CPSU leadership. In 1922, four Republics (Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belarusian SSR, and Transcaucasian SFSR) joined into the Soviet Union. Between 1922 and 1940, the number of Republics grew to sixteen. Some of the new Republics were formed from territories acquired, or reacquired by the Soviet Union, others by splitting existing Republics into several parts. The criteria for establishing new republics were as follows: # to be located on the periphery of the Soviet Union so as to be able to exercise their alleged right to secession; # be economically strong enough to survive on their own upon secession; and # be named after the dominant ethnic group which should consist of at least one million people. The system remained almost unchanged after 1940. No new Republics were established. One republic, Karelo-Finnish SSR, was disbanded in 1956. The remaining 15 republics lasted until 1991. Secession remained theoretic