Soviet Union facts

While investigating facts about Soviet Union Flag and Soviet Union Countries, I found out little known, but curios details like:

A small town in West Virginia asked the Soviet Union and East Germany for help with replacing a bridge after being ignored by the West Virginian goverment. The Soviets sent a journalist to investigate and within one hour the state finally agreed to pay for it.

how soviet union collapsed?

The Soviet Union had an internationally televised song contest. As few viewers had phones, they would turn their lights on if they liked a song and off if they didn’t. The power spikes were recorded by the state energy company and the reports sent to the station to pick the winner.

What soviet union means?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what caused the fall of the soviet union. Here are 50 of the best facts about Soviet Union Anthem and Soviet Union Map I managed to collect.

what's soviet union?

The 1990s PBS game show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" was created in response to a National Geographic survey stating that 1 in 4 Americans could not locate the Soviet Union or The Pacific Ocean
When the Soviet Union was pushing towards Berlin, an SS soldier was forced to play a piano for his captors. They made it clear in sign language that he would be executed the moment he stopped. He played for 22 hours, after which he collapsed in tears. They congratulated him, then shot him.
John Anthony Walker, a US Navy officer who reported secrets to the Soviet Union for 18 years. He got his son involved, and even tried to involve his daughter. He was finally exposed when his ex-wife reported him. When asked about his spying, he said "KMart has better security than the Navy".
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Lithuanian basketball team couldn't afford to participate in the 1992 Olympics, so the Grateful Dead funded the team's expenses, and the team wore tie-dye uniforms.
A woman, whose husband died fighting the Nazis, requested to be allowed to drive a tank to avenge her husband. She proved herself a skilled tank driver, died from injuries obtained in battle, and was posthumously named Hero of the Soviet Union.
During the Cold War the CIA considered dropping dropping enormous condoms labeled "medium" over the Soviet Union to demoralize the Soviet male population.
During the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, McDonalds ran a nationwide promotion offering free products every time a US athlete won a medal. It turned into their most costly promotion ever when the Soviet Union, the powerhouse team of the time, boycotted the event, letting the USA win big.
In 1982, the CIA successfully tricked the Soviet Union into stealing sabotaged software that oversaw pump valves in gas lines. The CIA used it to close off a massive Soviet gas line, leading to a massive pressure build up and “the most monumental non-nuclear explosion ever seen from space.”
In 1977 the mayor of Vulcan, WV requested foreign aid from the Soviet Union after two years of requests to the state about repairing the town's only bridge. Within an hour of a Russian journalist's arrival, the state agreed to help repair the bridge.
80% of males born in the Soviet Union in 1923 did not survive World War II.

soviet union facts — What countries were in the soviet union?

Why soviet union fell?

You can easily fact check why soviet union invaded afghanistan by examining the linked well-known sources.

There was a Russian woman named Mariya Oktyabryskaya whose husband was killed by Nazi's in WW2, so she sold her house for a tank. With permission from the Soviet union, she went to kill Nazi's with her own tank, avenging her husband death.

There was a comic book series chronicling an alternate Superman timeline where he lands in the Soviet Union instead of the United States. - source

In 1989, the Soviet Union traded PepsiCo seventeen submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer for almost $3 billion worth of Pepsi, making PepsiCo the sixth most powerful military at the time. - source

About the "Dumbest Member of Congress" William L. Scott, US Senator from Virginia who being briefed by members of the military about missile silos in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, reportedly said "Wait a minute! I'm not interested in agriculture. I want the military stuff."

Tracksuits, particularly Adidas, are so popular in Russia because after the fall of the Soviet Union, cheap tracksuit clothing flooded the Russian market. The Russian people, who were unaware of western fashion norms, loved the comfortable and cheap clothing, leading to huge popularity. - source

When soviet union collapsed?

During his Presidency Richard Nixon established the EPA & OSHA, ended the Vietnam War, signed into law the Clean Air Act, desegregated southern schools, presided over Apollo 11 lunar landings, opened diplomatic relations with communist China, and initiated a detente with the Soviet Union

How soviet union fell?

In 1984 Mcdonalds offered free Big Macs,Fries, or a Coke for each Gold Silver or Bronze in the Olympics. During that year the Soviet Union boycotted the US olympics and therefore the US got many more medals than expected which became a huge failure for Mcdonalds

Whataboutism, a propaganda tactic used in the Soviet Union to discredit critics. When a criticism was posed, they would respond with "What about..." followed by an event from the western world.

In 1946 the Soviet Union built a secret city called City 40 to house workers of a nearby nuclear plant and their families. For decades the fenced city and its 100k inhabitants were officially non existent. Today the city is called Ozersk and it's been exposed to 5x the radiation of Chernobyl.

The term "Third World" does not refer to poor countries, but rather countries that did not align with either the West (the "First World") or the Soviet Union (the "Second World") during the Cold War. This includes wealthy nations like Switzerland.

Jazz on bones" or "Ribs" were bootleg vinyl recordings made from old x-rays with holes burned in the middle from cigarettes. In the 50's and 60's they were a black market method for smuggling banned music into the Soviet Union such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Elvis.

When soviet union fell?

On 23 August 1989, around 2 million people joined hands in a human chain that stretched 600 kilometres across the 3 Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. They did this to protest their countries forced inclusion in the Soviet Union.

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev launched into space as a Soviet citizen, but returned to earth as a Russian citizen - he was in orbit when the Soviet Union dissolved on December 26, 1991.

The Soviet Union held elections seeking the appearance of democracy, but only one candidate appeared on the ballot. In 1949, Ivan Burylov, protested this absurd ritual by writing the word 'Comedy' on his secret ballot. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison camps for his 'crime'.

Georgy Zhukov, Marshall of the Soviet Union, loved Coca-Cola but didn't want to be seen drinking a symbol of American imperialism. Through Harry S. Truman, he had a chemist make a colorless version that looked like vodka.

In 1945, 57% the French population thought the Soviet Union contributed the most to the defeat of the Nazis. The same poll in 2004 resulted in 58% thinking America contributed the most.

How soviet union was formed?

During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis a second U2 Spy Plane had strayed into Soviet Airspace. When radioing for directions an unknown voice told him to turn right 35 degrees which would have taken him deeper into the Soviet Union. When asked for an identifying code there was no response.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had two missiles pointed at an area they thought was the entrance to a secret bunker, since many high-ranked officials went there. It turns out that the area was a hot dog stand.

In 1933 6000 people were deported by the Soviet Union to an island in the middle of Siberia and were abandoned there without food or shelter. Within three weeks most of the prisoners were dead due to the widespread episodes of cannibalism. The island became known as “Cannibal Island”.

After being deposed by the Soviet Union in 1940, the President of Estonia was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Russia for "persistent claiming of being the President of Estonia".

During the Battle of Moscow, despite German forces closing to within 50 kilometers of the city, the Soviet Union still held the annual military parade marking the revolution. Soviet troops who paraded past the Kremlin, then marched directly to the front line and into battle.

As an act of psychological warfare the US army planned to drop extra large condoms labeled as medium in the Soviet Union to demoralize the Soviets.

During the Cold War, Chairman Mao held meetings in his swimming pool to embarrass Nikola Khrushchev, who had to wear a floaty as he couldn’t swim. Khrushchev felt insulted and the incident furthered the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and China

The Soviet Union and the United States were originally in talks to go to the moon together during the Cold War. Nikita Khruschev was poised to accept the plan but then President Kennedy was assassinated. The Soviets did not trust Vice President Johnson, so Khruschev rejected the plan.

While Richard Nixon was on a trip to the Soviet Union in 1959, high levels of radiation were detected the room he was staying in. Secret Service purposely argued about the radiation and how to handle it in an area they knew the Soviets had bugged. Three hours later, the radiation disappeared.

After WWII, the Soviet Union presented a wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States to Ambassador Averell Harriman who hung it in his office. Seven years later, a routine inspection revealed the gift contained a bugging device the Soviets had used to spy on the ambassador.

During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a single Russian tank delayed the advance of an entire division for one day

The Soviet Union refused to host the 1980 Paralympics, stating that none of their citizens had disabilities.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Soviet Union. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Soviet Union so important!