What was the U.S.S.R. or Soviet Union?
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as the U.S.S.R. or Soviet Union for short) consisted of Russia and surrounding countries that today make up Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldovia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.The Soviet Union was founded in 1924, seven years after the Russian Revolution overthrew the monarchy of the czar, and was dissolved in late 1991.
The Commonwealth of Independent States was a somewhat unsuccessful an effort by Russia to keep the U.S.S.R. together in an economic alliance.
