The word sovietis derived from the Russian word sovet (Russian: совет), meaning "council", "assembly", "advice", ultimately deriving from the proto-Slavic verbal stem of vět-iti ("to inform"), related to Slavic věst ("news"),

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The Soviet Union covered an area of over 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,500 sq mi), and was the world's largest country, a status that is retained by its successor state, Russia. It covered a sixth of Earth's land surface, and its size was comparable to the

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Revolution and foundation (1917–1927)
Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the 1825 Decembrist revolt. Although serfdomwas abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries.

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There were three power hierarchies in the Soviet Union: the legislature represented by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the government represented by the Council of Ministers,

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Constitutionally, the USSR was a federation of constituent Union Republics, which were either unitary states, such as Ukraine or Byelorussia (SSRs), or federations, such as Russia or Transcaucasia(SFSRs), all four being the founding republics who

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Under the Military Law of September 1925, the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of the Land Forces, the Air Force, the Navy, Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU), and the Internal Troops.

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During his rule, Stalin always made the final policy decisions. Otherwise, Soviet foreign policy was set by the commission on the Foreign Policy of

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