Soviet Empire
Soviet Empire was a term used to critically describe the actions and nature of the Soviet Union. It gained popularity after US President Ronald Reagan famously denounced the USSR as an "evil empire" in a 1982 speech to the United Kingdom House of Commons.
Motivation of the term
Though it was not ruled by an Emperor and never formally considered itself to be an Empire (indeed, it officially loathed the very notion of "empire"), the Soviet Union exhibited certain imperialistic tendencies common to historic empires:
- Territorial expansion through invasion or subversion (e.g.: Poland, Baltic States, Finland, Afghanistan).
- Strong central government controlling the governments of all subsidiary and satellite territories.
- Interference (including through the use of military force) in the internal politics of its allies (see histories of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland).
For these reasons and others, the Soviet Union is sometimes considered by certain historians to be one of the main empires of history, equal to such notables as the British Empire and the Roman Empire, and borrowing some of the foreign policy of the Tsarist Russian Empire that it replaced.
The Soviet sphere of influence
At the height of its existence, the "Soviet Empire" consisted of the following nations:
Member states of the Soviet Union
Allies of the Soviet Union
These countries are also known as members of the Comecon, a Soviet-led economic community. In addition, the ones located in Eastern Europe were also members of the Warsaw Pact.
Countries friendly towards the Soviet Union for brief periods
In the political terminology of the Soviet Union, these were "countries moving along the socialist way of development", as opposed to the "countries of developed socialism", listed above. Most received some aid, either military or economic, from the Soviet Union.
Communist states opposed to the Soviet Union
Present-day communist states
All other countries listed above either no longer exist or are no longer communist states.
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