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171-528: The fortifications had a significant impact in the fighting for the defence of the city in 1941. According to Order No 90 of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, dated 19 March 1928, a program of fortifications on the country's borders was to be carried out, and in 1928, construction began on the first thirteen fortified regions, including Kiev. Building started in 1929. The defence zone

342-588: A famine between 1930 and 1933 that killed millions. The Soviet forced labour camp system of the Gulag was expanded. During the late 1930s, Stalin's government conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents, resulting in mass death, imprisonment, and deportation. In 1939, the USSR and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact , but in 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, opening

513-571: A 200 km front line. Stavka also formed the Soviet 37th Army under Major General Andrey Vlasov six days later, after the Soviet 6th and 12th Armies were officially disbanded, and stationed it on the line of the Dnieper River between Kiev and Kremenchuk . The most advanced elements of the German 6th Army reached the outskirts of Kiev on 6 August, but were stopped by the Soviet 37th Army. Two days later,

684-533: A closer relationship with France and Britain. In 1939, half a year after the Munich Agreement , the USSR attempted to form an anti-Nazi alliance with France and Britain. Adolf Hitler proposed a better deal, which would give the USSR control over much of Eastern Europe through the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . In September, Germany invaded Poland, and the USSR also invaded later that month, resulting in

855-635: A depth of 500 km. The long flanks of this front were attacked from the north by the German Panzer Armored Group 2 and the 2nd Army, from the west by the German 6th Army, and from the south by the German Panzer Group 1 and the 17th Army. Even before the start of the new German operation, the Soviet Southwestern front was in a precarious position and already semi-encircled. The most powerful formations of Kirponos, being deployed in

1026-581: A front line of 230 kilometers from south of Roslavl in the north to Novgorod-Sversky in the south. Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov , the commander of the Central Front, decided to abandon Gomel on 15 August. The Soviet rearguard left behind to protect the retreat of the rest of the Central Front forces defended Gomel against the Germans. On 16 August, Bock ordered the German Second Army to leave only

1197-515: A greater union which he initially named as the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (Russian: Союз Советских Республик Европы и Азии , romanized : Soyuz Sovyetskikh Respublik Evropy i Azii ). Joseph Stalin initially resisted Lenin's proposal but ultimately accepted it, and with Lenin's agreement he changed the name to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), although all republics began as socialist soviet and did not change to

1368-479: A heavy blow on the right (north) flank of the Bryansk front. Therefore, Shaposhnikov ordered Yeryomenko to reinforce this part with the 50th Army. This action caused this army to move from the threatened area to an area where there was no danger, and the counterattack of the Bryansk front was greatly weakened at a vital point. Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ), commonly known as

1539-693: A hole in the centre of the Southern Front 's defences, and on 9 July, thinking that Kiev was there for the taking, General von Kleist issued orders for III Panzer Corps to capture the city and establish a deep bridgehead east of the Dnieper. There are reports that the 37th Army drew some of its initial staff from the Fortified Region staff. Battle of Kiev (1941) German victory Total: 128,670 700,544 men Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Air war The First Battle of Kiev

1710-511: A large area in eastern Ukraine, with Kiev being the focal point of Soviet defenses, and of the German encirclement. Adolf Hitler , the leader of the Third Reich , described the Battle of Kiev as "the biggest battle in the history of the world", while Joseph Goebbels , the German minister of propaganda , called it "the greatest battle of annihilation of all time". Historian Evan Mawdsley described

1881-418: A new operation on 25 August. However, due to the difficult geographical conditions east of the Dnieper River and north of Kiev, Rundstedt was worried about the escape of the Soviet forces to the east. The strong resistance of the Soviet 5th Army and the logistical problems of the German 2nd and 6th Armies intensified this concern. On 28 and 29 August, he ordered Panzer Group 1 and the 6th and 17th armies to cross

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2052-592: A new profitable market. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin ordered Marxist-Leninist parties across the world to strongly oppose non-Marxist political parties, labour unions or other organizations on the left, which they labelled social fascists . In the usage of the Soviet Union, and of the Comintern and its affiliated parties in this period, the epithet fascist was used to describe capitalist society in general and virtually any anti-Soviet or anti-Stalinist activity or opinion. Stalin reversed himself in 1934 with

2223-624: A series of new fortified regions. The old defences of the Stalin Line were neglected. Only in June 1940 did Stalin finally agree with Zhukov that the old Stalin Line should be partially manned, but the troops found the fortifications 'overgrown with grass' and completely lacking in fixed defences. The poor state of the Kiev defences was not unknown to the Soviet leadership: a NKVD report from 1939 stated that 'Only 5 of

2394-615: A status that is retained by the Russian Federation . Covering a sixth of Earth's land surface, its size was comparable to that of North America . Two other successor states, Kazakhstan and Ukraine , rank among the top 10 countries by land area, and the largest country entirely in Europe, respectively. The European portion accounted for a quarter of the country's area and was the cultural and economic center. The eastern part in Asia extended to

2565-469: A union of equals, in practice the Soviet Union was dominated by Russians . The domination was so absolute that for most of its existence, the country was commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as 'Russia'. While the Russian SFSR was technically only one republic within the larger union, it was by far the largest (both in terms of population and area), most powerful, and most highly developed. The Russian SFSR

2736-593: A weakness in Soviet defenses, and the German III Motorized Corps managed to break through the line and open the road to Kiev on 10 July. On the same day, the 13th Panzer Division of the III Motorized Corps created a defensive gap known as the "Zhitomir Corridor" that reached the Irpen River, just 15 kilometers west of Kiev. Red Army counterattacks again caused significant damage to the mobile forces of

2907-556: Is 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'), English wise . The word sovietnik means 'councillor'. Some organizations in Russian history were called council (Russian: совет ). In the Russian Empire ,

3078-627: Is his background, his education , his profession . These are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror ." During his rule, Stalin always made the final policy decisions. Otherwise, Soviet foreign policy was set by the commission on the Foreign Policy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , or by

3249-611: The Axis invasion of the Soviet Union . Much of the Southwestern Front of the Red Army, commanded by Mikhail Kirponos , was encircled, but small groups of Red Army troops managed to escape the pocket in the days after the German panzers attacked east of the city, including the forces of Marshal Semyon Budyonny , Marshal Semyon Timoshenko and Commissar Nikita Khrushchev . Kirponos

3420-510: The Council of People's Commissars ), headed by the Chairman (Premier) and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society. State and party structures of the constituent republics largely emulated the structure of the central institutions, although the Russian SFSR, unlike the other constituent republics, for most of its history had no republican branch of

3591-501: The Desna River . The Desna River was considered a major natural obstacle in front of Guderian's forces on their way to Ukraine. On 25 August, the 3rd Panzer Division reached Novgorod-Sversky on the bank of the river. Panzer Group 2 initially received reports about the destruction of a vital bridge across the Desna. However, it was revealed that the 800-meter bridge had been captured intact by

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3762-624: The Dnieper river in an enveloping movement by breaking the Soviet border defense and penetrating 650 kilometers deep into Soviet territory, and encircling the main forces of the Red Army in Ukraine west of the river. Soviet High Command knew that the main focus of German forces in their invasion would be north of the Pripyat marshes , but Soviet leader Joseph Stalin insisted that the Soviet emphasis should be on

3933-494: The Eastern Front of World War II . The Soviets played a decisive role in defeating the Axis powers , suffering an estimated 27 million casualties , which accounted for most Allied losses. In the aftermath of the war , the Soviet Union consolidated the territory occupied by the Red Army , forming satellite states , and undertook rapid economic development which cemented its status as a superpower . Geopolitical tensions with

4104-729: The Land Forces , the Air Force , the Navy , Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) and the Internal Troops . The OGPU later became independent and in 1934 joined the NKVD secret police, and so its internal troops were under the joint leadership of the defense and internal commissariats. After World War II, Strategic Missile Forces (1959), Air Defense Forces (1948) and National Civil Defense Forces (1970) were formed, which ranked first, third, and sixth in

4275-518: The Moscow State Institute of International Relations . The Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Soviet Union intensely debated foreign policy issues and changed directions several times. Even after Stalin assumed dictatorial control in the late 1920s, there were debates, and he frequently changed positions. During the country's early period, it was assumed that Communist revolutions would break out soon in every major industrial country, and it

4446-644: The Pacific Ocean to the east and Afghanistan to the south, and, except some areas in Central Asia , was much less populous. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) east to west across 11 time zones , and over 7,200 kilometres (4,500 mi) north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra , taiga , steppes , desert and mountains . The USSR, like Russia , had the world's longest border , measuring over 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi), or 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 circumferences of Earth. Two-thirds of it

4617-761: The Popular Front program that called on all Marxist parties to join with all anti-Fascist political, labour, and organizational forces that were opposed to fascism , especially of the Nazi variety. The rapid growth of power in Nazi Germany encouraged both Paris and Moscow to form a military alliance, and the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed in May 1935. A firm believer in collective security, Stalin's foreign minister Maxim Litvinov worked very hard to form

4788-404: The Soviet Union , was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area , extending across eleven time zones and sharing borders with twelve countries , and the third-most populous country . An overall successor to the Russian Empire , it was nominally organized as a federal union of national republics ,

4959-566: The Soviet republics , and the control of the Communist Party weakened. The failed coup attempt in August 1991 against Gorbachev by hardline communists hastened the end of the Soviet Union , which formally dissolved on December 26, 1991, ending nearly seven decades of Soviet rule. With an area of 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,500 sq mi), the Soviet Union was the world's largest country,

5130-739: The State Council , which functioned from 1810 to 1917, was referred to as a Council of Ministers. The Soviets as workers' councils first appeared during the 1905 Russian Revolution . Although they were quickly suppressed by the Imperial army, after the February Revolution of 1917 , workers' and soldiers' Soviets emerged throughout the country and shared power with the Russian Provisional Government . The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin , demanded that all power be transferred to

5301-616: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), saying that it was "overly juridical" and potentially infringed on national sovereignty. The Soviet Union later signed legally-binding human rights documents, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1973 (and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ), but they were neither widely known or accessible to people living under Communist rule, nor were they taken seriously by

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5472-736: The largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world . As an Allied nation, it was a founding member of the United Nations as well as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . Before its dissolution, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, global diplomatic and ideological influence (particularly in the Global South ), military and economic strengths, and scientific accomplishments. The word soviet

5643-485: The right to food , the right to work , and the right to education . The Soviet conception of human rights was very different from international law . According to Soviet legal theory , "it is the government who is the beneficiary of human rights which are to be asserted against the individual". The Soviet state was considered as the source of human rights. Therefore, the Soviet legal system considered law an arm of politics and it also considered courts agencies of

5814-408: The 17th Army were also ordered to hold the rest of the encirclement ring from Lubny to the south, while its other six infantry divisions were to move towards Kharkov in the east. The start date of the new operation was set on 11 September. Before Halder left the meeting, Rundstedt asked him to put Panzer Group 2 and the 2nd Army under his command in order to create unity in the command of operations in

5985-683: The 1920s, it refused to rubber stamp proposals from the party and Council of Ministers. In 1990, Gorbachev introduced and assumed the position of the President of the Soviet Union , concentrated power in his executive office, independent of the party, and subordinated the government, now renamed the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR , to himself. Tensions grew between the Union-wide authorities under Gorbachev, reformists led in Russia by Boris Yeltsin and controlling

6156-476: The 1950s, the Soviet Union expanded its efforts in space exploration and took a lead in the Space Race with the first artificial satellite , the first human spaceflight , the first space station , and the first probe to land on another planet . In 1985, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev , sought to reform the country through his policies of glasnost and perestroika . In 1989, various countries of

6327-585: The 1990s, people in the West were also interested in the radioactive hazards of nuclear facilities, decommissioned nuclear submarines , and the processing of nuclear waste or spent nuclear fuel . It was also known in the early 1990s that the USSR had transported radioactive material to the Barents Sea and Kara Sea , which was later confirmed by the Russian parliament. The crash of the K-141 Kursk submarine in 2000 in

6498-409: The 257 structures in the area were prepared for combat' and went on to list a host of deficiencies ranging from uncleared forests limiting fields of fire , no communication or support equipment, and old seals which had decayed. The report went on to state that although the deficiencies had been reported, nothing had been done about them. Restoration of the Kiev fortified area began on June 24, 1941, when

6669-502: The 38th Soviet Army and the 8th Mechanized Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Dmitry Ryabyshev , and ordered all available units in the Cherkasy region to cover the gap created as a result of the loss of the Uman region armies. This army had a total strength of 40,000 men in five rifle and four cavalry divisions, which had mostly recently arrived in the region, and were tasked to defend

6840-414: The 3rd Panzer Division on the morning of 26 August. Guderian called this news "surprising and the most pleasant". After this success, the 3rd Panzer Division expanded its front eight kilometers beyond the river to protect the bridgehead. The next day, Soviet forces attempted to take back the eastern bank of the river and destroy the bridge. The German front was pushed back, but the Germans eventually repulsed

7011-409: The 6th Army was forced to take a defensive position and was pushed back from some positions by the 37th Army's counterattack from 12 August. On the same day, Hitler ordered Rundstedt to stop the assault on Kiev. Rundstedt issued his Order No. 5 on 10 August, ordering his forces to capture the west bank of the Dnieper River. As part of this operation, Nikolaev was captured by Germans on 16 August, and

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7182-659: The Army Group Center and have enough readiness and mobility for combat". In order to counter the Soviet 5th Army, Halder ordered the capture of the parts of Gomel and Chernigov that could be reached. By the beginning of the execution of Hitler's directive No. 34 on 6 August by the Central Army Group, the German Second Army and the XXIV Motorized Corps of the Panzer Group 2 attacked in the direction of Gomel in

7353-544: The Bryansk front against Guderian's eastern flank in order to preserve the forces of the front to stop the future advance of Army Group Center towards Moscow. The Western Front was under the command of General Semyon Timoshenko , the Reserve Front under the command of General Zhukov, and the Bryansk Front under the command of General Yeryomenko. On 25 August, Stavka ordered them to carry out concentrated counter-attacks in

7524-519: The CPSU, being ruled directly by the union-wide party until 1990. Local authorities were organized likewise into party committees , local Soviets and executive committees . While the state system was nominally federal, the party was unitary. The state security police (the KGB and its predecessor agencies ) played an important role in Soviet politics. It was instrumental in the Red Terror and Great Purge , but

7695-518: The Communist authorities. Under Joseph Stalin , the death penalty was extended to adolescents as young as 12 years old in 1935. Sergei Kovalev recalled "the famous article 125 of the Constitution which enumerated all basic civil and political rights" in the Soviet Union. But when he and other prisoners attempted to use this as a legal basis for their abuse complaints, their prosecutor's argument

7866-419: The Desna river against the attack of four enemy divisions. This assault weakened the 3rd Panzer Division and the 10th Motorized Infantry Division of the XXIV Motorized Corps to such an extent that these divisions took a defensive position for a while. By the end of August, the Soviet Southwestern Front, consisting of more than 50 divisions in 6 armies, was in a triangular formation with its apex west of Kiev at

8037-412: The Dnieper River area. On 19 August, some units of the 3rd Panzer Division were surrounded by Red Army forces near Oncha , 30 kilometers north of Starodub. As the situation became serious, some forward forces of the 3rd Panzer Division returned to Oncha, disengaging from Starodub. Despite the settlement of the situation in Oncha, the infantry of the German 2nd Army was still far away from this place due to

8208-621: The Dnieper River in as many places as possible. On 1 September, Panzer Group 1 received an order to end their period of rebuilding and return to the front line. This meant that the command of Army Group South decided to use its worn-out forces with "the last of their remaining strength" and without rest. The LII Army Corps of the German 17th Army seized a crossing on the Dnieper in Drifka, south of Kremenchuk, 280 kilometers southeast of Kiev, on 31 August. The Panzer forces of Army Group South expanded this bridgehead by reinforcing it on 4 September. Facing this danger, Marshal Budyonny immediately ordered

8379-417: The Dnieper River. Hitler expressed his consent to this, provided that the northern flank of Panzer Group 1 would be protected. Brauchich took advantage of the ambiguity of this order, and concluded that the capture of Kiev would secure the Panzer Group's northern flank, but left the final decision to the commander of the Army Group South. Meanwhile, Rundstedt and Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau , commander of

8550-415: The Dnieper on 11 September. By 12 September, Army Group South concentrated 20 divisions in this area against 5 rifle and 4 cavalry divisions of the 38th Army in the southern flank of the Soviet southwestern front. Rain, muddy roads, logistical problems and local counter-attacks of the Red Army delayed the advance of the Army Group South to some extent. 16th Panzer Division was used as the armored spearhead of

8721-432: The Dnieper to the east on 23 August. The command of the German 6th Army did not expect the withdrawal of the Soviet 5th Army until 18 August. Halder and the command of the Army Group South ordered to quickly pursue these Soviet forces. Bad roads in the area delayed the German 6th Army. The Soviet 5th Army was not able to destroy the wooden bridge over the Dnieper behind itself, and the bridge was assaulted by LI Army Corps of

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8892-423: The General Staff of the Red Army, upon receiving information from the front line, concluded that the movement of the Army Group Center to the east had stopped and that the biggest strategic threat to the Soviet forces was to the Central Front, where the movement of German mechanized forces to the south could cause the Soviet Southwestern Front to become in danger of being encircled. Zhukov told Stalin on 29 July that

9063-410: The German 6th Army and 11th Panzer Division forces, leading to its capture. Kirponos ordered all air assets at his disposal to destroy the bridge, and Soviet Il-2 aircraft destroyed the bridge with incendiary bombs, cutting off the German troops who had crossed the Dnieper River form behind. These forces were isolated from other German units in the marshes between the Dnieper and Desna for ten days until

9234-425: The German 6th Army, who had previously supported the assault on Kiev, now doubted it. Finally, Generaloberst Ewald von Kleist , commander of Panzer Group 1, was advised that if his offensive in coordination with the 6th Army provided a suitable opportunity to capture this city without the risk of being pushed back, then he was free to do so. Finally, the reconnaissance forces of the Wehrmacht determined on 13 July that

9405-408: The German army general staff, called the headquarters of the Army Group South and prohibited the use of panzer forces in the direction of Kiev, except for reconnaissance and security purposes. By approving this order, Hitler made the III Motorized Corps only responsible for protection against attacks from the direction of Kiev, and ordered them to avoid assaulting the city. He further pointed out that if

9576-419: The German engineers repaired the bridge by 2 September. On 26 August, the XVII Army Corps of the German 6th Army in the northern flank of the Army Group South captured Chernobyl , 110 km north of Kiev. On 1 September, Generalleutnant Georg von Sudenstern , the Chief of Staff of Army Group South, communicated with the Army Group Center's 2nd Army in order to coordinate his left wing. He stated that due to

9747-406: The Germans advance by filling the gap between the Western and Reserve Fronts and the weak Soviet Central Front by forming the Bryansk Front , under the command of Lieutenant General Andrey Yeryomenko , with the 3rd and 13th Armies and the newly formed 50th Army. This front, with a total of 15 rifle divisions, three cavalry divisions, one tank division and one airborne corps, was tasked with covering

9918-463: The Kiev area, which was rejected. The V Air Corps Luftwaffe was deployed to new bases in Kirovgrad and Uman to provide air support to Army Group South. The LII, LV and parts of the XI Army Corps of the German 17th Army crossed the Dnieper in the center of the front line of the Southern Army Group on 10 September. Panzer Group 1, led by the forces of Major-General Hans-Valentin Hube in the 16th Panzer Division of XLVIII Motorized Corps, began crossing

10089-409: The Mirgorod-Lubny general line in order to encircle the enemy forces in the Middle Dnieper region and Kiev. Panzer Group 1 was to cover the right flank of this movement by advancing towards Poltava via Krasnograd in a northerly direction. After a meeting on 8 September at the headquarters of Army Group South in presence of Brauchich and Halder, it was decided to reverse the roles of the 17th Army and

10260-402: The Panzer Group 1. The purpose of this change was to complete the encirclement of the enemy as quickly as possible. In addition, it was decided that the Panzer Group 1 would advance to Romny , 200 km to the north, and hold a 100 km line from Lubny in the south in order to block the path of possible strong enemy attacks from this area to open an escape route. Four infantry divisions of

10431-427: The Panzer Group 2 in the right (southern) flank of the Army Group Center, informed the Army Group commander that his units would not be ready to undertake any new operations before 5 August. Facing a high number of enemy forces and logistical problems, on 30 July, Hitler issued directive No. 34, ordering Army Group Center to pull its two panzer groups out of the front line to rebuilt and refit in order to transfer them to

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10602-481: The Politburo after the deaths of Lenin and Stalin, as well as after Khrushchev's dismissal, itself due to a decision by both the Politburo and the Central Committee. All leaders of the Communist Party before Gorbachev died in office, except Georgy Malenkov and Khrushchev, both dismissed from the party leadership amid internal struggle within the party. Between 1988 and 1990, facing considerable opposition, Mikhail Gorbachev enacted reforms shifting power away from

10773-431: The Pripyat Marshes. On 21 August, Hitler ordered the German 2nd Army and Panzer Group 2 to advance to the south, deeper into Ukraine. However, on 23 August, the German Army High Command, in planning to pursue a simultaneous offensive towards the south and Moscow, split the Panzer Group 2 and ordered XLVIII Motorized Corps to remain in the Smolensk region as a mobile reserve. On the same day, Guderian, without knowing about

10944-445: The Red Army forces did not evacuate the bulge in time. Due to the German Army High Command's emphasis on Moscow, in order to preserve the necessary resources for the future advance to the east, the number of units initially assigned to Panzer Group 2 for the new operation was limited. By Halder's order, despite Guderian's opposition and protest, only units of the Panzer Group 2 were to be used, which "are not needed in other missions of

11115-407: The Red Army forces piecemeal. There was also a large gap between the main part of the Bryansk Front and the reinforcements from the former Central Front, and only the Soviet 50th Army was fresh and capable of sustained offensive operations. Stavka insisted on continuing these counterattacks despite these problems. False information led the Red Army to believe that the Germans were planning to inflict

11286-499: The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the world's first constitutionally socialist state . The revolution was not accepted by all within the Russian Republic , resulting in the Russian Civil War . The RSFSR and its subordinate republics were merged into the Soviet Union in 1922. Following Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power, inaugurating rapid industrialization and forced collectivization that led to significant economic growth but contributed to

11457-420: The Russian name of the Soviet Union as СС has been taboo, the reason being that СС as a Russian Cyrillic abbreviation is associated with the infamous Schutzstaffel of Nazi Germany , as SS is in English. In English-language media, the state was referred to as the Soviet Union or the USSR. The Russian SFSR dominated the Soviet Union to such an extent that, for most of the Soviet Union's existence, it

11628-402: The SS panzer division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler reached Kherson on 19 August. Meanwhile, the German 22nd Infantry Division of the III Army Corps captured a 650-metre bridge over the Dnieper in Breslav for the 11th Army, the 9th Panzer Division secured a crossing over the Dnieper in Zaporozhye , and the 13th Panzer Division captured a 900-meter bridge in Dnipropetrovsk on 25 August. On

11799-413: The Smolensk- Yelnia -Novozibkov axis to repel Guderian's invasion, and in the process to confront the entirety of Army Group Center. Accordingly, after the dissolution of the Soviet Central Front and addition of the Soviet 21st Army under its command, the Bryansk Front was ordered to defeat the Panzer Group 2 by conducting a direct attack and to bolster the strong defense of the north of Kiev. This operation

11970-454: The Southwestern and Southern Fronts to disrupt the German offensive, and prevent more of them from reaching the Dnieper River. In response, the Southwestern Front had to re-organize its forces and prepare to attack towards Radomyshl and Zhitomir to connect with the Southern Front. However, Germans completed their encirclement of Soviet forces in Uman region on 4 August, trapping the Soviet 6th and 12th Armies in it. Stavka reorganised troops;

12141-399: The Soviet 38th Army under the command of Major General Feklenko, to destroy the German forces that had crossed the river. However, this army was too weak to do so, and its planned counterattack for 8 September was not executed. The intensification of the Soviet resistance, and the knowledge that the Red Army was redistributing its best troops, caused the Germans to change their assessment of

12312-508: The Soviet 5th Army received the 1st Airborne Corps, the 15th and 31st Rifle Corps, and the 9th and 22nd Mechanized Corps, and was ordered to attack the same day. The 5th Army's counterattack was stopped on 8 August with little gain and heavy casualties. On the same day, Korosten, 150 kilometers northwest of Kiev, was captured by the German XVII Army Corps, forcing the Soviet 5th Army to retreat towards Kiev. On 4 August, Stavka placed

12483-489: The Soviet 5th Army, mandated the German forces to "prevent escape of large amounts of enemy forces by crossing the Dnieper River deep into the Russian territories and destroy them". On this basis, the left wing of the Army Group South, in cooperation with the right wing of the Army Group Center, moved to destroy the Soviet 5th Army. Army Group Center continued its advance towards Moscow only with its infantry. Joint command

12654-536: The Soviet Southwestern Front, such that only 7 BT and 25 T-26 tanks of the 9th Mechanized Corps, 4 KV-1 , 7 T-34 and 22 T-26 tanks of the 19th Mechanized Corps and 2 BT and 28 T-26 tanks of the 22nd Mechanized Corps remained out of their initial strength. Due to some parts of the German forces lagging 100 km behind, the decision of whether to attack Kiev immediately was left to the higher levels of German command. At this time, Nikita Khrushchev ,

12825-613: The Soviet Union and turned into SSRs, which was not recognized by most of the international community and was considered an illegal occupation . After the Soviet invasion of Finland , the Karelo-Finnish SSR was formed on annexed territory as a Union Republic in March 1940 and then incorporated into Russia as the Karelian ASSR in 1956. Between July 1956 and September 1991, there were 15 union republics (see map below). While nominally

12996-525: The Soviet Union . Boris Yeltsin , the leader of the RSFSR, oversaw its reconstitution into the Russian Federation , which became the Soviet Union's successor state; all other republics emerged as fully independent post-Soviet states . During its existence, the Soviet Union produced many significant social and technological achievements and innovations . It had the world's second-largest economy and largest standing military. An NPT-designated state , it wielded

13167-636: The Soviet Union's priorities changed. Despite previous conflict with the United Kingdom , Vyacheslav Molotov dropped his post war border demands. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc , which began following World War II in 1945. The term cold war is used because there

13338-535: The Soviet Union's superpower status, the economy struggled due to its centralized nature, technological backwardness, and inefficiencies. The vast military expenditures and burdens of maintaining the Eastern Bloc, further strained the Soviet economy. In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev 's policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) aimed to revitalize the Soviet system but instead accelerated its unraveling. Nationalist movements gained momentum across

13509-533: The Soviet authorities admitted. The Soviet Union was the world's second largest producer of harmful emissions. In 1988, total emissions in the Soviet Union were about 79% of those in the United States. But since the Soviet GNP was only 54% of that of the United States, this means that the Soviet Union generated 1.5 times more pollution than the United States per unit of GNP. The Soviet Chernobyl disaster in 1986

13680-555: The Soviet forces west of the Dnieper as the main objective of the operation. Seeing as the Soviet South-West Front was close to collapsing, capturing Kiev was considered to be a secondary goal. At this time Hitler did not want to assault Kiev, and prioritised the capture of a bridgehead on the Dnieper, subject to the destruction of large formations of Soviet forces west of the river. However, German Army senior commanders were still interested in capturing Kiev. Repeated attacks by

13851-773: The Soviets, and gained support from the workers and soldiers. After the October Revolution , in which the Bolsheviks seized power from the Provisional Government in the name of the Soviets, Lenin proclaimed the formation of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic (RSFSR). During the Georgian Affair of 1922, Lenin called for the Russian SFSR and other national Soviet republics to form

14022-524: The Supreme Soviet were members of the CPSU. Of the party heads themselves, Stalin (1941–1953) and Khrushchev (1958–1964) were Premiers. Upon the forced retirement of Khrushchev, the party leader was prohibited from this kind of double membership, but the later General Secretaries for at least some part of their tenure occupied the mostly ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ,

14193-699: The US led to the Cold War . The American-led Western Bloc coalesced into NATO in 1949, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact , in 1955. Neither side engaged in direct military confrontation, and instead fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars . In 1953, following Stalin's death , the Soviet Union undertook a campaign of de-Stalinization under Nikita Khrushchev , which saw reversals and rejections of Stalinist policies. This campaign caused tensions with Communist China . During

14364-430: The USSR. Moscow eventually stopped threatening other states, and instead worked to open peaceful relationships in terms of trade, and diplomatic recognition. The United Kingdom dismissed the warnings of Winston Churchill and a few others about a continuing Marxist-Leninist threat, and opened trade relations and de facto diplomatic recognition in 1922. There was hope for a settlement of the pre-war Tsarist debts, but it

14535-463: The Warsaw Pact overthrew their Soviet-backed regimes , and nationalist and separatist movements erupted across the Soviet Union. In 1991, amid efforts to preserve the country as a renewed federation , an attempted coup against Gorbachev by hardline communists prompted the largest republics—Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus—to secede. On December 26, Gorbachev officially recognized the dissolution of

14706-477: The XLVIII Motorized Corps and initially achieved success, but after running out of fuel, stopped to resupply. At this time, Panzer Group 1 had a total of 331 tanks, which was equivalent to 53% of its initial strength on 22 June. After collecting the necessary supplies and building a suitable bridge, XLVIII Motorized Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Werner Kempf , resumed the attack. Beyond

14877-464: The XXIV Motorized Corps to advance towards Gomel from the east, this unit was unable to do so. The lack of coordination between the German divisions created a difficult situation in the Gomel region. The diaries of the logistics officer of 3rd Panzer Division on 18 August stated: "The advance of the division is so rapid that the [supply] columns are unable to keep themselves coordinated." The supply columns of

15048-421: The XXIV Motorized Corps were moving at an average speed of only 12 kilometers per hour during this advance. The next day, the lack of fuel forced Generel der Panzertruppen Leo Geyr von Schwepenburg , the commander of the XXIV Motorized Corps, to inform Guderian's headquarters that the capture of Novozibkov, 70 kilometers east of Gomel, was not feasible. Guderian, in turn, reported this issue to Bock. In addition to

15219-498: The accident, but this led to a relatively low number of deaths (WHO data, 2005). Another major radioactive accident was the Kyshtym disaster . The Kola Peninsula was one of the places with major problems. Around the industrial cities of Monchegorsk and Norilsk , where nickel , for example, is mined, all forests have been destroyed by contamination, while the northern and other parts of Russia have been affected by emissions. During

15390-461: The attacks. The German 10th Motorized Infantry Division also captured another crossing on the Desna River near Kurup, 50 km southwest of Novgorod-Sversky. On 30 August, this division tried to continue advancing south alone, but directly contacted Yeryomenko's offensive front line and was repulsed. According to diaries of Bock and Guderian, this division was unable to protect its bridgehead south of

15561-700: The battle as the Ostheer 's "greatest triumph of the war in the East and the Red Army’s greatest single disaster", while historian Michael Jones dubbed the battle to be "the Wehrmacht’s greatest victory of the war". According to Barbarossa's operational plan, the Wehrmacht's Army Group South , under the command of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt , was supposed to dominate the strategic area of Ukraine . This force planned to reach

15732-537: The battle. The 5th , 37th , 26th , 21st , and 38th armies, consisting of 43 divisions, were almost annihilated and the 40th Army suffered many losses. Like the Western Front before it, the Southwestern Front had to be recreated almost from scratch. Despite being referred to as the "Battle of Kiev", the city of Kiev itself played a small and peripheral role in the overall battle. The battle took place over

15903-600: The chief of the Red Army General Staff, and for Zhukov to command the Soviet reserve front. Despite the stubborn resistance of the Red Army forces and unexpectedly heavy rain, the German 17th Army managed to break through in the Vinnytsia region, and the 11th Army advanced to the Dniester River. Panzer Group 1 was able to reach the Dnieper River and create a bridgehead on it south of Kiev. On 28 July, Stavka ordered

16074-482: The city from the west and north, leading to intense house-to-house clashes. By evening, the Red Army troops were pushed to the southern part of the city, where they attempted to destroy all the bridges over the Sozh River in the city. The fighting continued for another day in Gomel. Despite the strong resistance of the Soviet 21st Army, Panzer Group 2 and the 2nd Army completely captured Gomel by 21 August. The clearing of

16245-420: The city of remaining Red Army elements was done by the German 131st Infantry Division. A third of the Soviet defenders of Gomel were encircled and efeated. About 50,000 soldiers were captured by the Germans in this position. After the capture of Gomel, the Soviet 5th Army, enduring heavy pressure in its northern flank from the German 2nd Army, began to retreat eastward from the area north of Mosir , southwest of

16416-600: The clashes in the Zhlobin area, and the Red Army still blocked the Meglin-Oncha road. The Wehrmacht's supply lines were unable to keep up with the advance of its panzer forces on the bad roads of the region. The poor mechanical condition of the panzer divisions and the proneness of their tanks to break down further hampered Guderian's advance. Thus, during this period, despite the order of the German Army High Command to

16587-423: The commander of the Southwestern Front , Mikhail Kirponos , gave an order for the rehabilitation of the fortified area, including equipping and arming the pillboxes and the construction of field fortifications. For these tasks, the population of Kiev was mobilized. By 30 June 50,000 people were involved in the construction, by 2 July 160,000; in the last days of construction, 200,000 workers were involved. Since

16758-499: The connection between the Soviet 13th and 21st Armies and cause a break between the Soviet Central and Reserve Fronts. On the same day, Stavka formed the 40th Army, under the command of Major General Kuzma Podlas , as part of the Southwestern Front, specifically to block Guderian's advance. This force was weak however, only consisting of two rifle divisions and an airborne corps, which had been severely weakened by previous battles in

16929-429: The country was limited. The state restricted rights of citizens to private property . According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , human rights are the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." including the right to life and liberty , freedom of expression , and equality before the law ; and social, cultural and economic rights, including the right to participate in culture ,

17100-683: The creation of new state commissions and committees. It gained additional powers relating to the approval of the Five-Year Plans and the government budget . The Supreme Soviet elected a Presidium (successor of the Central Executive Committee ) to wield its power between plenary sessions, ordinarily held twice a year, and appointed the Supreme Court , the Procurator General and the Council of Ministers (known before 1946 as

17271-571: The degree of power consolidation, it was either the Politburo as a collective body or the General Secretary, who always was one of the Politburo members, that effectively led the party and the country (except for the period of the highly personalized authority of Stalin, exercised directly through his position in the Council of Ministers rather than the Politburo after 1941). They were not controlled by

17442-541: The duty of the Russian Bolsheviks to protect what they had in Russia, and avoid military confrontations that might destroy their bridgehead. Russia was now a pariah state, along with Germany. The two came to terms in 1922 with the Treaty of Rapallo that settled long-standing grievances. At the same time, the two countries secretly set up training programs for the illegal German army and air force operations at hidden camps in

17613-444: The encirclement of the Soviet forces up to the southern Bug River was not achieved, the whole of the 1st Armored Group would advance towards Kiev and the Dnieper River in the southeast. Meanwhile, Rundstedt believed that with the retreat of many units of the Red Army to the east, it was no longer practical to encircle them up to the southern Bug River, and together with Halder, he wanted to encircle them around Bila Tserkva , west of

17784-483: The expectations of the Red Army, Guderian continued to attack to the south with little resistance, taking the Soviets by surprise. However, Stalin still insisted that Kirponos should continue to defend Kiev at any cost and believed that the Bryansk front, in addition to protecting the Bryansk axis, was also capable of defeating the enemy forces that were threatening the northern and southwestern fronts, and destroying them as well. Stalin refused to order an all-out attack by

17955-580: The fate of Kiev in this case, Zhukov stated that it could be abandoned. Stalin became upset and rebuked Zhukov in a harsh tone and called his words "worthless". He stated his intention was to preserve Kiev at all costs, like Leningrad. Zhukov told Stalin that if he thought the Chief of the General Staff was talking "nonsense", he should be dismissed and sent to the front line. Stalin agreed to this request and appointed Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov to replace Zhukov as

18126-416: The flanks, while also taking a defensive posture in the best positions along with limited offensive operations. The purpose was to focus the German advance on Leningrad in the north and Kiev and Ukraine in the south. The movement of Army Group Center to the south created the possibility that, considering the battlefield conditions and the bulge on the front line, a very large encirclement would be created if

18297-532: The forces of the Soviet 5th Army from the Pripyat region kept the German 6th Army occupied and unable to be used for this purpose. Rundstedt was confident that Kiev would be captured by the III Motorized Corps in its rapid advance, but Hitler, after consulting with Field marshal Walter von Brauchitsch , commander in chief of the German army, felt that such a move would "unnecessarily sacrifice" panzer forces. Finally, at 1am on 10 July, Generaloberst Franz Halder , chief of

18468-511: The fortifications and concentration of the Soviet forces in Kiev left no chance for a surprise attack. In early July, after the end of the battle of Smolensk , German Army Group Center planned to attack Moscow from three axes, commencing in the beginning of September. The Soviet 5th Army held its previous positions in the Pripyat Marshes until mid-July, and this caused the creation of an additional front line of more than 250 kilometers in

18639-625: The fortified areas of Korosten , Novgorod-Volynski and Letychiv along the 1939 Soviet-Polish border, known as the Stalin Line . Despite the delay in the advance of the German III Motorized Corps due to the Kirponos counterattack, by the arrival of the 11th Panzer Division at Berdichev on 7 July, the Stalin line was also broken and a gap was created between the Soviet 5th and 6th Armies south of Novgorod-Volynski. With Kiev under threat and

18810-742: The founding republics who signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR in December 1922. In 1924, during the national delimitation in Central Asia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were formed from parts of Russia's Turkestan ASSR and two Soviet dependencies, the Khorezm and Bukharan PSPs . In 1929, Tajikistan was split off from the Uzbekistan SSR. With the constitution of 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR

18981-465: The fuel issue, the lack of spare parts brought the number of operational tanks of the 4th Panzer Division to only 44, and on 22 August in 3rd Panzer Division to only 60 tanks. Finally, on 21 August, the XXIV Motorized Corps was resupplied with fuel by air, and Starodub was captured on 22 August. The final German attack on Gomel began on 19 August, with XIII Army Corps attacking it from the northwest and northeast. The 17th Infantry Division penetrated into

19152-410: The general party membership, as the key principle of the party organization was democratic centralism , demanding strict subordination to higher bodies, and elections went uncontested, endorsing the candidates proposed from above. The Communist Party maintained its dominance over the state mainly through its control over the system of appointments . All senior government officials and most deputies of

19323-515: The globe. The post-Stalin leadership, particularly under Nikita Khrushchev , initiated a de-Stalinization process, leading to a period of liberalization and relative openness known as the Khrushchev Thaw . However, the subsequent era under Leonid Brezhnev , referred to as the Era of Stagnation , was marked by economic decline, political corruption, and a rigid gerontocracy . Despite efforts to maintain

19494-491: The government. Extensive extrajudicial powers were given to the Soviet secret police agencies . In practice, the Soviet government significantly curbed the rule of law , civil liberties , protection of law and guarantees of property , which were considered as examples of "bourgeois morality" by Soviet law theorists such as Andrey Vyshinsky . The USSR and other countries in the Soviet Bloc had abstained from affirming

19665-402: The highest bodies of the party and making the Supreme Soviet less dependent on them. The Congress of People's Deputies was established, the majority of whose members were directly elected in competitive elections held in March 1989, the first in Soviet history. The Congress now elected the Supreme Soviet, which became a full-time parliament, and much stronger than before. For the first time since

19836-463: The implementation of socialist policies and the New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed for market-oriented reforms. The rise of Joseph Stalin in the late 1920s ushered in an era of intense centralization and totalitarianism. Stalin's rule was characterized by the forced collectivization of agriculture , rapid industrialization , and the Great Purge , which eliminated perceived enemies of

20007-414: The lack of equipment required to cross the river, the 6th Army of the Army Group South is dependent on the help of the German 2nd Army to do so. Due to a lack of supplies, the motorized corps of Panzer Group 1 rested and rebuilt for several days from 27 to 28 August. Meanwhile, the XXIV Motorized Corps, as Guderian's armored spearhead in the northern part of the Wehrmacht operation in the Kiev region, began

20178-471: The largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR . In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized . As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , it was a flagship communist state . Its capital and largest city was Moscow . The Soviet Union's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917. The new government, led by Vladimir Lenin , established

20349-405: The losses inflicted to the Red Army as a result of the Army Group Center actions in the northern ( Velikye Luki area) and southern (Roslavl, Krychev, Zhlobin, and then Gomel) flanks, Soviet command believed these attacks were merely tactical measures to divert attention or resources from the vital Smolensk-Moscow axis. Until this time, the Soviet senior commanders thought that Guderian's movement to

20520-438: The manoeuvres of the southern Wehrmacht group. After the start of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, Army Group South attacked Ukraine. The Red Army forces in this area put up a strong defense and despite a shortage of fuel and ammunition, they were ordered by the high command to carry out immediate counter-attacks. The 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions overcame this defense, and captured Lutsk on 26 June. Panzer Group 1

20691-504: The mass of armored forces, contributed to the failure of this counter-attack, and resulted in destruction of many Soviet reserves in the region. German forces also sustained heavy casualties however, and thus Army Group South lagged behind the rest of the advancing German forces. On 30 June, Lvov was captured by the German 17th Army. On the same day, due to the ineffectiveness of earlier counter-attacks, Stavka ordered Kirponos to withdraw his forces to new defensive positions by 9 July, in

20862-527: The most common Russian initialization is Союз ССР (transliteration: Soyuz SSR ) which essentially translates to Union of SSRs in English. In addition, the Russian short form name Советский Союз (transliteration: Sovyetsky Soyuz , which literally means Soviet Union ) is also commonly used, but only in its unabbreviated form. Since the start of the Great Patriotic War at the latest, abbreviating

21033-644: The necessary forces in the Zhlobin area and with the rest of its forces to attack Gomel in the south. However, the resistance and attacks of the Red Army in the Gomel region on the same day stopped the advance of the XLIII and XIII Army Corps of the German 2nd Army to the south. In order to prevent the escape of Soviet forces from the Gomel area, Guderian ordered the XXIV Motorized Corps to Starodub , 120 km east of Gomel. The road junction in Meglin , 60 kilometers north of Starodub,

21204-417: The newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR , and communist hardliners. On 19–21 August 1991, a group of hardliners staged a coup attempt . The coup failed, and the State Council of the Soviet Union became the highest organ of state power 'in the period of transition'. Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary, only remaining President for the final months of the existence of the USSR. The judiciary

21375-568: The next day, the German 60th Motorized Infantry Division reinforced this bridgehead, and was joined within a week by the 198th Infantry Division and SS Viking Division. The heavy counterattacks of the Red Army on this position targeted the Germans from three sides, but the Wehrmacht forces, with the support of the Luftwaffe aircraft, including the 22nd Italian fighter group, repelled them. Rundstedt tried to create another bridgehead in Cherkasy to reduce

21546-400: The nominal head of state . The institutions at lower levels were overseen and at times supplanted by primary party organizations . However, in practice the degree of control the party was able to exercise over the state bureaucracy, particularly after the death of Stalin, was far from total, with the bureaucracy pursuing different interests that were at times in conflict with the party, nor

21717-603: The official Soviet system of importance (ground forces were second, Air Force fourth, and Navy fifth). The army had the greatest political influence. In 1989, there served two million soldiers divided between 150 motorized and 52 armored divisions. Until the early 1960s, the Soviet navy was a rather small military branch, but after the Caribbean crisis , under the leadership of Sergei Gorshkov , it expanded significantly. It became known for battlecruisers and submarines. In 1989, there served 500 000 men. The Soviet Air Force focused on

21888-479: The only legal party and the final policymaker in the country. At the top of the Communist Party was the Central Committee , elected at Party Congresses and Conferences. In turn, the Central Committee voted for a Politburo (called the Presidium between 1952 and 1966), Secretariat and the general secretary (First Secretary from 1953 to 1966), the de facto highest office in the Soviet Union. Depending on

22059-413: The open southern and northern flanks of the German army groups Center and South. In the face of this situation and following the strong resistance of the Soviet forces around Smolensk, German army High Command changed its strategy for the continuation of the operation from mid-July. Hitler's directive No. 33 on 19 July, while criticizing the performance of the northern flank of the Army Group South against

22230-532: The order, in his meeting with Hitler in Wolfschanze, was promised that his panzer group would remain united reaffirmed. The next day, Guderian learned about the order from High Command and immediately requested the return of the corps, which was scheduled to join the 4th Army. However, he was turned down by Bock. Panzer Group 2 resumed its advance to the south on 25 August, attacking the Soviet central front through Gomel and Starodub, driving it back in disarray towards

22401-420: The original construction had not anticipated tank attack, no specific measures had been incorporated into the defence system. To eliminate this drawback, 30 km and 15 km long anti-tank ditches were dug. Also installed were metal hedgehogs and anti-personnel obstacles, among them 16 km of electrified barbed wire and a large number of minefields . By early July, the German advance had punched

22572-677: The other order until 1936 . In addition, in the regional languages of several republics, the word council or conciliar in the respective language was only quite late changed to an adaptation of the Russian soviet and never in others, e.g. Ukrainian SSR . СССР (in the Latin alphabet: SSSR ) is the abbreviation of the Russian-language cognate of USSR, as written in Cyrillic letters . The Soviets used this abbreviation so frequently that audiences worldwide became familiar with its meaning. After this,

22743-560: The partition of Poland. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II . Up until his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin controlled all foreign relations of the Soviet Union during the interwar period . Despite the increasing build-up of Germany 's war machine and the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , the Soviet Union did not cooperate with any other nation, choosing to follow its own path. However, after Operation Barbarossa ,

22914-529: The party's highest body the Politburo . Operations were handled by the separate Ministry of Foreign Affairs . It was known as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (or Narkomindel), until 1946. The most influential spokesmen were Georgy Chicherin (1872–1936), Maxim Litvinov (1876–1951), Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986), Andrey Vyshinsky (1883–1954) and Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989). Intellectuals were based in

23085-493: The political commissar of the Southwestern Front, was in charge of the Kiev garrison, which included three rifle divisions, an airborne brigade, a tank regiment, some NKVD motorized forces, students of the 1st Artillery College of Kiev, two anti-tank battalions, and about 29,000 militiamen . On 9 July, Army Group South command and the German Army High Command (OKH) re-emphasized the encirclement and destruction of

23256-565: The pressure on the bridgeheads. When this succeeded, Marshal Semyon Budyonny , commander of the Soviet Southwestern Front, counter-attacked against Cherkasy. According to the 29 July report, out of the initial 953 tanks of the Army Group Center's Panzer Group 2 at the beginning of the operation, only 263 tanks remained serviceable as of 25 July. This unit also lost about 20,000 men out of its initial strength of 113,000 troops up to this time, while receiving only 10,000 soldiers as replacements. Therefore, Generaloberst Heinz Guderian , commander of

23427-444: The risk of the Southwestern Front splitting in half between the Soviet 5th Army in Kiev and 6th Army south of Berdychiv, Stavka ordered a new series of counter-attacks on the same day to destroy the enemy spearhead, stop the advance of the Germans towards Kiev and maintain communication between these two armies. However, before these counterattacks began between 11 and 14 July, the capture of Zhitomir by German forces on 8 July created

23598-524: The situation after the end of August, and made it clear that Stalin had ordered Soviet forces to preserve the Dnieper river line. Initially, Rundstedt planned to send the 17th Army towards Guderian to the north through the Kremenchuk bridgehead, so the 1st Panzer Group would attack through the Dnipropetrovsk bridgehead to the east. Accordingly, on 4 September, Army Group South ordered the 17th Army to attack

23769-581: The south by crossing the Suzh River. Guderian's forces, along with air support of the 3rd and 53rd bomber, 210th heavy fighter and 51st fighters wings, pushed back the 21st Army of the Soviet Central Front to the south, threatening Red Army front line by creating a gap between its Southern Front around Kiev and the units of the Western and Reserve Fronts east of Smolensk. On 14 August, Stavka tried to block

23940-602: The south objective was attacking to Bryansk and then Moscow. Therefore, the Bryansk Front was generally responsible for defending the Moscow axis from the southwest and was not responsible for preventing the penetration of the Panzer Group 2 in the northern flank of the Soviet Southwestern Front. Moreover, by keeping troops in the Kiev area, the Soviet High Command hoped to use them against the southern flank of Army Group Center as it advanced towards Moscow. However, contrary to

24111-403: The south. The Soviet Southwestern Front under the command of General Mikhail Kirponos in Ukraine was the most powerful front in the western border region of the Soviet Union, possessing a total of four field armies, with the support of three mechanized corps in the front line, one mechanized corps in reserve and two mechanized corps in strategic reserve position. The Pripyat marshes separated

24282-481: The southern part of the operational area of the German forces from the northern part, and eliminated the possibility of receiving help from other German units until after the Kiev area had been secured. The operational area in Ukraine had a greater depth and width than those of the Wehrmacht's other two army groups, and as Kiev was 600 km away from the border, it was considered a farther objective. These issues complicated

24453-529: The state. The Soviet Union played a crucial role in the Allied victory in World War II , but at a tremendous human cost, with millions of Soviet citizens perishing in the conflict. The Soviet Union emerged as one of the world's two superpowers, leading the Eastern Bloc in opposition to the Western Bloc during the Cold War . This period saw the USSR engage in an arms race, the Space Race , and proxy wars around

24624-469: The struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare , propaganda campaigns, espionage , far-reaching embargoes , rivalry at sports events and technological competitions such as the Space Race . 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

24795-482: The success of any German advance toward Leningrad and Moscow seemed unlikely, but that the Gomel region was the Red Army's key strategic weakness. Therefore, Zhukov recommended that three armies, including one army from the strategic reserve and two armies from the Western and Southwestern Fronts, and larger amounts of artillery, be assigned to the Central Front. He also recommended that Lieutenant General Nikolai Vatutin be appointed as its commander. Stalin stated that

24966-431: The transfer of those forces would weaken the defenses of Moscow. In response, Zhukov stated that it was possible to transfer nine fully equipped divisions from the Far East within two weeks to strengthen these defenses, but Stalin expressed concern that the Far East would then be vulnerable to Japanese attack. Zhukov suggested that the Soviet Southwestern Front be pulled back behind the Dnieper River. When Stalin asked about

25137-492: The truth". Human rights in the Soviet Union were severely limited. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian state from 1927 until 1953 and a one-party state until 1990. Freedom of speech was suppressed and dissent was punished. Independent political activities were not tolerated, whether these involved participation in free labour unions , private corporations , independent churches or opposition political parties . The freedom of movement within and especially outside

25308-403: The west further raised concerns. In the past, there were accidents involving submarines K-19 , K-8 , a K-129 , K-27 , K-219 and K-278 Komsomolets . 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 , and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),

25479-417: The western areas, were not facing the danger of the German Panzer forces on the outer flanks. Kirponos was aware of these conditions, but the approach of the Soviet High Command did not allow him to take effective action. After Budyonny and Kirponos's repeated requests to Stavka to withdraw the Soviet 5th Army to shorter lines, and the Soviet High Command's agreement to that on 19 August, German forces crossed

25650-406: The world's largest lakes; the Caspian Sea (shared with Iran ), and Lake Baikal , the world's largest (by volume) and deepest freshwater lake that is also an internal body of water in Russia. Neighbouring countries were aware of the high levels of pollution in the Soviet Union but after the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was discovered that its environmental problems were greater than what

25821-452: Was a coastline . The country bordered Afghanistan , the People's Republic of China , Czechoslovakia , Finland , Hungary , Iran , Mongolia , North Korea , Norway , Poland , Romania , and Turkey from 1945 to 1991. The Bering Strait separated the USSR from the United States . The country's highest mountain was Communism Peak (now Ismoil Somoni Peak ) in Tajikistan , at 7,495 metres (24,590 ft). The USSR also included most of

25992-408: Was also the industrial center of the Soviet Union. Historian Matthew White wrote that it was an open secret that the country's federal structure was 'window dressing' for Russian dominance. For that reason, the people of the USSR were usually called 'Russians', not 'Soviets', since 'everyone knew who really ran the show'. Under the Military Law of September 1925, the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of

26163-434: Was brought under strict party control after Stalin's death. Under Yuri Andropov , the KGB engaged in the suppression of political dissent and maintained an extensive network of informers, reasserting itself as a political actor to some extent independent of the party-state structure, culminating in the anti-corruption campaign targeting high-ranking party officials in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The constitution , which

26334-448: Was captured by the 3rd Panzer Division of this corps on 16 August. The next day, despite enduring heavy pressure from the west, the German 10th Motorized Infantry and 3rd Panzer Divisions captured and destroyed a section of the Gomel-Bryansk railway. Guderian's panzer forces and the infantry of the Second Army occupied Pochep , 60 km northeast of Starodub, and reached the outskirts of Gomel and Starodub by 18 August, in order to sever

26505-419: Was carried out within the terms of the Soviet Civil Code. Some Soviet legal scholars even said that "criminal repression" may be applied in the absence of guilt. Martin Latsis , chief of Soviet Ukraine 's secret police explained: "Do not look in the file of incriminating evidence to see whether or not the accused rose up against the Soviets with arms or words. Ask him instead to which class he belongs, what

26676-404: Was colloquially, but incorrectly, referred to as Russia . The history of the Soviet Union began with the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War , the Soviet Union quickly became a one-party state under the Communist Party . Its early years under Lenin were marked by

26847-404: Was dissolved, resulting in its constituent republics of Armenia , Georgia and Azerbaijan being elevated to Union Republics, while Kazakhstan and Kirghizia were split off from the Russian SFSR, resulting in the same status. In August 1940, Moldavia was formed from parts of Ukraine and Soviet-occupied Bessarabia , and Ukrainian SSR. Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania were also annexed by

27018-409: Was identified, and in it were built 120 long-term machine gun emplacements and 45 artillery observation and observation points in a construction program lasting 4 years, from 1929 to 1933. But in 1932, further construction of the fortified area was discontinued. After the annexation of the Poland's eastern territories in 1939, Stalin wanted to push the Soviet defences up to the new borders, creating

27189-424: Was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers , but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars . The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment,

27360-402: Was not established for the parts of both army groups that were to cooperate in the new operation. On 23 July, Stavka formed the Central Front under the command of General Fyodor Kuznetsov , consisting of the severely weakened 13th and 21st Armies, to protect the Gomel and the Sozh River regions on the southern flank of the German Army Group Center. General Georgy Zhukov , the Chief of

27531-450: Was not independent of the other branches of government. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts ( People's Court ) and applied the law as established by the constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union used the inquisitorial system of Roman law , where the judge, procurator , and defence attorney collaborate to "establish

27702-433: Was promulgated in 1924 , 1936 and 1977 , did not limit state power. No formal separation of powers existed between the Party, Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers that represented executive and legislative branches of the government. The system was governed less by statute than by informal conventions, and no settled mechanism of leadership succession existed. Bitter and at times deadly power struggles took place in

27873-477: Was repeatedly postponed. Formal recognition came when the new Labour Party came to power in 1924. All the other countries followed suit in opening trade relations. Henry Ford opened large-scale business relations with the Soviets in the late 1920s, hoping that it would lead to long-term peace. Finally, in 1933, the United States officially recognized the USSR, a decision backed by the public opinion and especially by US business interests that expected an opening of

28044-482: Was that "the Constitution was written not for you, but for American Negroes, so that they know how happy the lives of Soviet citizens are". Crime was determined not as the infraction of law, instead, it was determined as any action which could threaten the Soviet state and society. For example, a desire to make a profit could be interpreted as a counter-revolutionary activity punishable by death. The liquidation and deportation of millions of peasants in 1928–31

28215-404: Was the German name for the major battle that resulted in an encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II , the capital and most populous city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . This encirclement is the largest encirclement in the history of warfare by number of troops. The battle occurred from 7 July to 26 September 1941 as part of Operation Barbarossa ,

28386-506: Was the Russian responsibility to assist them. The Comintern was the weapon of choice. A few revolutions did break out, but they were quickly suppressed (the longest lasting one was in Hungary)—the Hungarian Soviet Republic —lasted only from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919. The Russian Bolsheviks were in no position to give any help. By 1921, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin realized that capitalism had stabilized itself in Europe and there would not be any widespread revolutions anytime soon. It became

28557-408: Was the armored spearhead of Army Group South, and was thought to be in an ideal position to advance towards Kiev via Rivne . Meanwhile, Kirponos was trying to mount a concentrated counterattack. Commencement of his counter-attack on 26 June led to an armored battle of unprecedented scale between more than 2,000 tanks on a 70-kilometer front line. The inexperience of the Red Army officers in controlling

28728-404: Was the first major accident at a civilian nuclear power plant . Unparalleled in the world, it resulted in a large number of radioactive isotopes being released into the atmosphere. Radioactive doses were scattered relatively far. Although long-term effects of the accident were unknown, 4,000 new cases of thyroid cancer which resulted from the accident's contamination were reported at the time of

28899-431: Was the party itself monolithic from top to bottom, although factions were officially banned . The Supreme Soviet (successor of the Congress of Soviets ) was nominally the highest state body for most of the Soviet history, at first acting as a rubber stamp institution, approving and implementing all decisions made by the party. However, its powers and functions were extended in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including

29070-403: Was to take place on a very wide front line from Zhukovka in the north to Yampol in the south. On 26 August, Stavka asked the Bryansk front to encircle and destroy Guderian's forces in Starodub, and bring the flanks of the Soviet 13th and 21st armies closer to each other. This order was issued while the assembly of the Bryansk Front was not yet completed, and its implementation would cause the use of

29241-478: Was trapped behind German lines and was killed while trying to break out. The battle was an unprecedented defeat for the Red Army, and was more damaging than the Battle of Białystok–Minsk of June–July 1941. The encirclement trapped 452,700 Soviet soldiers, 2,642 guns and mortars, and 64 tanks, of which only 15,000 soldiers escaped from the encirclement by 2 October. The Southwestern Front suffered 700,544 casualties, including 616,304 killed, captured, or missing during

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