Northern Eurasia 1945: Soviet Post-War Power
21 November 1945
21 Nov 1945
Great Patriotic War: Germany at Bay
1816–1914 Late Tsarist Russia
1914–1918 Great War and the Revolution
1918–1921 Russian Civil War: The White Phase
1921–1927 Russian Civil War: The Green Phase
1927–1941 Soviet Union under Stalin
1941–1943 Great Patriotic War: Germany Invades
1943–1945 Great Patriotic War: Germany at Bay
1945–1991 Soviet Superpower
1991–pres Successors of the Soviet Union
Soviet Post-War Power
In the aftermath of World War II, Soviet-occupied territory stretched from central and eastern Europe to northern China, North Korea, and the Kuril Islands. However, its population and economy had been devastated by the war and it was surrounded on all sides by an increasingly hostile alliance led by the United States, the world's only nuclear power.