The Soviet Union was a massive political experiment that spanned much of the 20th century. It covered one-sixth of the Earth's land surface. Furthermore, it competed fiercely with the United States for global dominance. Consequently, this superpower left behind a legacy of strange history and scientific achievements. Explore these fascinating details about the USSR.
The Soviet Union
The Soviet Union spanned eleven different time zones. Thus, when people on the western border went to sleep, citizens in the east were waking up.
Pepsi briefly owned the sixth-largest navy in the world. Surprisingly, the USSR paid for soda syrup with 17 submarines and three warships because their currency was worthless.
Music fans printed bootleg records on old x-rays. Because the government banned Western jazz and rock, locals etched grooves onto discarded hospital scans to listen to “bone music.”
The game Tetris originated in a Soviet computer lab. Alexey Pajitnov created the famous puzzle game in 1984 while working for the Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Scientists in the Soviet Union drilled the deepest hole in the world. Specifically, the Kola Superdeep Borehole reached 40,230 feet into the Earth’s crust before the project ended.
The Moscow Metro looks like an underground museum. Stalin ordered architects to build “palaces for the people.” Therefore, the stations feature marble walls, chandeliers, and mosaics.
They built entire cities that did not appear on any maps. The government created these “closed cities” for secret military research. Consequently, citizens needed special permits to enter or leave.
Soviet censors banned the movie The Grapes of Wrath. Initially, they allowed it to show the failures of capitalism. However, they pulled it because audiences noticed that even poor Americans owned cars.
Vladimir Lenin’s body remains on display today. After he died in 1924, scientists embalmed him. Subsequently, the government placed him in a mausoleum in Red Square.
Blue jeans served as a valuable black market currency. Soviet youth craved Western denim. Thus, smugglers sold Levi’s for massive sums of money on street corners.
The USSR detonated the most powerful nuclear weapon in history. The Tsar Bomba exploded with the force of 50 megatons. This blast was 3,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb.
They sent the first dog into space. Tragically, a stray dog named Laika flew aboard Sputnik 2. She proved that living things could survive launch, though she died in orbit.
Soviet female snipers were incredibly deadly. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, known as “Lady Death,” confirmed 309 kills during World War II. This record makes her the most successful female sniper ever.
Stalin routinely edited people out of photographs. If a politician fell out of favor, the leader ordered artists to airbrush them from official history.
Finally, the country had no official language. Although Russian was the dominant language of business and government, the union actually consisted of many republics with their own native tongues.
