The Soviet Union has always been an intriguing country. Whether you support its political, economic, or religious beliefs, their leaders, and the way of life, you have to admit that this Union gave us some of the most important people and discoveries. It was formed in 1917 from the Russian Revolution and was the largest country in the world. The Soviet Union formally dissolved in 1991.
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1. Scientist starved to death
The Soviet Union was the birth country for a lot of important scientists. Some of them even won a few Nobel prizes for their crucial projects.
Those people created amazing things, but did you know that they were very self-sacrificing, too? Well, they were! Several Soviet scientists died during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II while protecting the world’s largest seed bank.
They refused to eat because they saw that food as their country’s future. The Siege of Leningrad started on 8 September 1941 and terminated 872 days later. It was known as one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history. Many soldiers and civilians have lost their lives. Some data says that battle took 3,436.066 casualties.
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2. The „Night Witches“
Have you ever heard about “Night Witches”? No, I don’t mean witches of Salem or something like that. These witches were pretty successful soldiers during World War II.
They were woman-only Soviet bombardiers that had the ability to release their bombs before the enemy even knew they were there. They had pretty archaic and noisy air crafts, but they used to drive crazy young German soldiers.
This regiment flew harassment bombing and precision bombing missions against Germans from 1942 to the end of WW II. Those ladies flew over 24.000 missions and dropped 23.000 tons of bombs. Pretty impressive if you know that at its largest, it had 42 person crews. Yevdokia Bershanskaya, Yevgeniya Zhigulenko, Tat’yana Makarova, and Nina Ul’yanenko become the heroes of the Soviet Union.
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3. Lenin and Stalin tattoos
Be a prisoner isn’t easy no matter in which part of the planet you live. But being a prisoner in Soviet Russia and stay alive during that period is sort of piece of art!
Even guards weren’t allowed to shoot the prisoners, it happened a lot. That is way prisoners would get tattoos of Lenin and Stalin on their chests because guards won’t shoot at images of national leaders. Was that necessarily? We believe so!
And that is not so strange in the country that made The Gulag. It was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during 30’s and 40’s. The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union.
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4. George Koval’s Manhattan project
The Soviet Union had the best spies on the world. They worked quietly and effective and they betrayed their country’s secrets very rare.
But one of them, master spy George Koval, truly was the best. He has infiltrated the Manhattan project, stole nearly all of USAs nuclear secrets, single-handedly provided the key technology for Russian nuclear arsenal.
What do you think, when he was discovered to be a spy?! In 2002! Impressive man, you have to admit! Koval was born in Iowa, as a young man, he and his parents moved to Russia. He was recruited by the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate, trained, and assigned the code name Delmar. In 2007 Koval was posthumously awarded as the Hero of the Russian Federation.
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5. Yuri Gagarin – hero or faker?
Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. On April 12, 1961 he got into Soviet Vostok 1 spaceship capsule and made a history!
But did you know that Gagarin did not pilot the Vostok capsule? He was effectively locked out of controlling his capsule; because psychologists that worked with the Soviet Space Program were worried that exposure to weightlessness would impact the pilot’s decision-making faculties.
Of course, the authorities never confirmed this theory. Gagarin stayed a hero in Russian people’s eyes. They even changed the name of his birth town to Gagarin. What to say, hero stays a hero no matter anyone says! On the other hand, what if angry Americans made this story just to defy Russians? Rivalry takes for centuries!
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6. What happened to Laika?
As we already said the Soviet Union had a lot of amazing scientists, they traveled in space many times, and even for the very first time, they send an animal into space.
Remember Laika, the first dog that traveled to space? It was a huge project! But, what happened with Laika after that voyage? Well, she was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow. Why?
Because scientists assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger. That is just cruel! Before she went to space, Laika was the stray dog from the streets of Moscow. On November 3, 1957, she has been on the incredible journey, but soon she Russians returned her to the street. That’s the way it goes!
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7. Banned Sherlock Holmes
Soviet had their own heroes; Sherlock Holmes wasn’t one of them. In fact “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” was banned for its alleged “occultism”!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle didn’t count on it when he wrote a collection of twelve short stories about the most famous fictional detective. We are not sure what forced the authorities to make that decision, at that time, Russians couldn’t enjoy it.
The book “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” published in October 1892 by George Newnes. The initial print run of the book was for 10.000 copies in the United Kingdom, and a further 4.500 copies in the United States, which were published by Harper Brothers the following day. This book was the inspiration for many movie makers to record some of the most popular blockbusters.
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8. Soviets DON’T have disabilities
Strange rules were applied in U.S.S.R. through 80’s. One of them was refused host the 1980 Paralympics, stating that none of their citizens has disabilities.
Who would know?! Especially, if we know how many medals on the Olympics and Paralympics go to Russia every four years. Well, that changed a lot, and the Russian Federation heiress of U.S.S.R. was the host of XI Winter Paralympics in 2014. Time changes, people change, rules, too.
Today we can imagine any competition in any sport without Russians. No matter they have some disabilities or not. Every country of the former Soviet Union, today is more open, friendly, and less repressive, and that is normal considering that Union has ceased to exist 25 years ago. And athletes from today Russia still many and many medals.
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9. Direct military confrontation between US and U.S.S.R.
US and U.S.S.R. never had the direct military confrontation. Are you sure? Well, in October 1944 over the Serbian town of Niš, Americans and Soviets started a war, and the exact number of casualties is unknown.
These consider itself as a top-secret by both governments. After joint offensive in October 1944 and the banishment of Germans to the north, the military units of the Red Army moved from Niš towards Belgrade.
Suddenly three groups of American P-38 Lightning fighter planes arrived and the first group immediately started to strafe the leading vehicles. General G.P. Kotov, commander of the Russian corps, was also killed in this attack. Why that happened and who stopped this operation none knows. The rest of the story is top secret!
Photo by Enrico Webers
10. Gay is (not) OK!
The Soviet Union was the world’s first country that decriminalized homosexuality and abortion! Are you surprised? However, Lenin and Trotsky decided that homosexuality and abortion shouldn’t be considered as the crimes.
In 1917. Vladimir Lenin repealed the Tsarist laws, thus decriminalizing divorce, abortion, and homosexuality. Sixteen years later, Joseph Stalin decriminalized it, labeling it as a disease. Well, that was not a surprise! This law withstood until the breakdown of the Soviet Union.
Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation repealed it in 1993. Even today, in many former Soviet republics, homosexuality and abortion are taboo themes. In fact, many of them respect strict Islamic rules, but in Russian orthodox religion also forbid both those things. That is the reason why many young people protest against the government and their strict laws.
