The Soviet Union as a Super Power

The Soviet Union was one the biggest powers that emerged in the twentieth century and was able to dominate large parts of the world for a significant amount of time. It brought with it the application of a new ideology that seeped through into its political, economic and social fabric and in turn also spread into the developing world (Goldstein, 1991). The USSR as it was known became so powerful that it was able to play a crucial role in one of the biggest wars that the world has even seen along with being able to play a significant role in global conflicts and being a crucial part of the direction of certain technological innovation. For the greater part of the century, it was embroiled in a dormant conflict with the United States, along with which it shared the status of being one of the worlds superpowers. Exploring this achievement and the factors that led to the Soviet Union becoming a super power requires taking a look at the history of the emergence of the USSR on the world stage.

The Soviet Union emerged from the ashes of the Russian Empire at the close of the nineteenth century. The rule under the Tsars had been slow, and to some extent oppressive for the Russians who had seen such exploitative institutions as serfdom flourish at the time. Discontent had been growing when the empire was eventually overthrown with the formation of a provisional government after the last Tsar had resisted efforts for the formation of a constitutional monarchy. This government however was short lived as the Bolsheviks, a party led by Vladimir Lenin and inspired by Karl Marx emerged as a powerful entity (Mooney, 1982). Once the civil war that plagued the region following the downfall of the Tsar had finished, the Bolsheviks were able to bring about a revolution in the October of 1917, coming to power and forming the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with Lenin as its first Premier. The Bolshevik party espoused the rights of the workers and the laborers and via their communist ideology, aimed to create a centrally planned economy in Russia. Soon after, the representatives of the socialist republics of Russia, Ukraine, and Transcaucasia and Byelorussian region came together and decided to form a combined Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (Goldstein, 1982).

This was followed by a restructuring of the economy as well as the political system and the industrial base. The planning for future developments was carried out by the centre along with economic policies being dictated by the bank at the centre under a single party rule of the Bolsheviks with the aim of keeping capitalist exploitation at bay. The USSR was rapidly able to develop a strong industrial economy through a series of five year plans that laid out economic goals. While success began to be achieved in heavy industry, the agricultural sector suffered leading to famines, notably in Ukraine, along with a lag in development of consumer durables and other goods in demand (Mooney, 1982). Lenin was followed by Stalin who quickly established a position for himself in the party and after claiming power, initiated a program of purging the old Bolshevik guard and removing all competition. Following a series of political dealings with Germany and Japan that established commercial relationships and treaties of neutrality, the USSR became embroiled in the Second World War as Germany invaded its territories. A string of initial losses was followed by eventual victory over the Nazis at Stalingrad and a push towards Germany that not only proved the superiority of the Soviet military but also allowed it to extend its influence to broader regions of Europe. With the conclusion of the war, the USSR had established itself as a power to be reckoned with commanding global influence and this initiated the period of Cold War with the United States as both became firmly established as the two super powers of the world. The victory further helped to accelerate the influence USSR already enjoyed in different spheres of international relations.

A super power has been defined differently by various authors. Alice Lyman of the naval school in the United States defined a super power as a country that has global influence and hence is able to have an impact on occurrences at multiple corners of the globe. Lyman and Kim Richards work on the concept can be used to extract guidelines for certain defining characteristics of a super power. Generally, they are agreed to possess a significant amount of political, military and economic power. There is also a connection with being able to have control over the resources of a large land mass of the world that boasts a considerable population thus providing access to labor (Gray, 1988). The power should be able to enjoy a great degree of self sufficiency with access to mineral and other resources and should have considerable nuclear capability. Finally, a super power should have a certain universal ideology through which it is able to command influence from a cultural perspective as well, being able to extract cooperation and cooptation from other countries. These criterion need to be analyzed in the context of the USSR to determine when and how it achieved the status of super power.

The Soviet Union can be seen to meet most of these criteria by the end of the Second World War which can help support its claim of being a world super power. Politically speaking, the USSR wielded considerable power on the world stage. It was the strongest socialist state in the world being able to export its political ideology to multiple parts of the world such as Cuba, Vietnam, and North Korea and also making inroads into Latin America as well as acquiring support in the Middle East. It also held a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, enjoying a veto power over decisions taken at its proceedings. Political influence further spread deeply into Eastern Europe and the worlds most populous country, China emerged as a socialist state based on the Communist model of the USSR following provision of support during Stalins time. Apart from the governmental level support, the USSR also wielded far reaching influence over a range of communist parties and labor unions that arose in the developing and developed world which were supported by the Soviet Union due to ideological similarities (Mooney, 1982). The extent of the political influence can be gathered by the fact that the West and the allies of the United States got involved in conflicts in Asia themselves in a bid to stem the tide of political expansion of the Soviet Union and also began a program of development for the countries in the region so that unemployment is reduced and countries are less susceptible to influence by the Soviets. Thus the country fulfilled the criteria of commanding significant political influence on the globe.

From a geographic perspective, the Soviet Union formed the largest land bloc in the world covering the greater portion of Europe as well as large parts of Asia and the enormous region of Russia itself. The land mass was approximately 22.27 million squared kilometers which provided access to substantial amounts of mineral and energy resources to the country (Dibb, 1986). This not only served to provide a degree of self sufficiency as the country was sustainable with the resources it already possessed but also allowed to it meet energy requirements and engage in exports based on multiple sectors. The geographic position was complimented by the large population of the region which effectively made the Soviet Union the third most populous bloc in the world following the Asian giants. The abundance of labor not only carried benefits for the industry and different sectors of the economy but also allowed technological innovation to take place as more minds entered science and research. In an age when the oil prices were constantly fluctuating and energy was getting scarcer, the enormous oil resources of the USSR in Siberia allowed it to remain self sufficient in energy production but it was also a net exporter of oil, thus benefitting from the spikes in oil prices as well (Mitchell, 1982).

The economic power of the USSR was sublime in terms of its sheer size and the growth that it enjoyed following the formation of the centrally planned economy. It was the second largest economy in the world, only being led by its rival the United States, and enjoyed a position of economic self sufficiency. There were some drawbacks in smaller sectors such as in agriculture where production could not always be made coherent with demand, but industrial production reached great heights. On the back of its five year plans laid out by the centre, the Soviet Union became very strong in heavy industry, although the consumer durables sector was still backward and inefficiencies in terms of resource allocation and outdated information persisted. However, the population benefitted through guarantees by the socialist government pertaining to employment, education and provision of health care. The USSR was also powerful enough to hand out loans and grants to its allies in the developing world as well as invest heavily in their infrastructure development so as to develop their capabilities against potential competition with allies of the Western powers. Thus it can be said that although there were problems with the Soviet economic model which were not particularly addressed by the government, the rapid progress and growth in most sectors, particularly in terms of industrial production, allowed the Soviet Union to become an economic super power (Mooney, 1982).

The military power of the USSR was strongly established by the end of the Second World War. Not only was it able to inflict defeat on the formidable German forces and bear the brunt of the attack, but it also overwhelmed the Japanese presence in China and acquired territorial gains against the principal military powers of the era. Further than that, it commanded substantial land power, complimented with a strong navy and air force, which was although not up to the mark of the United States which relied on its navy as a counterweight to the USSR possessing the largest numerical force of the globe. Its strong linkages and alliances with a large number of countries such as those in the Warsaw Pact as well as on almost every continent of the world extended military influence to most parts of the world. Its intelligence gathering was done by one of the largest networks created by the KGB that became legendary in its operations and a force to be feared not just in Europe but also in the United States which was involved in a constant tussle with the intelligence outfit using the CIA (Mooney, 1982). Complimenting all this conventional weapons capability were close linkages with paramilitary and rebel groups such as the Vietcong in Vietnam and others based in Latin America and Cuba. To cater to this large military presence, the USSR had the greatest armament production of any other power in the world. Finally, considering the issue of nuclear capability, the Soviet Union was able to invest its own warheads and started expanding its nuclear arsenal at the close of the Second World War, slowly overtaking the US and eventually acquiring the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world.

The technological advances of the Soviet Union and their achievements in this regard also point to it being a super power. The Union invested heavily in its scientists and research facilities and became very adept at mechanical development. The auspicious space program gave it a lot of soft power as well as bore testament to the progress of the USSR as it was able to launch the first man into space, introduced the first station in space with docking capability as well as transferring that technology to its military through intercontinental ballistic missiles (Mitchell, 1982). Its air force witnessed the creation of such aircrafts as the Mig 25 which could fly in the stratosphere and provided reconnaissance capability. The nuclear submarines also bear testament to the engineering capability of the masterminds in the ranks of the Union. Soviet advances such as these point to the technological superiority over the major part of the world and thus complemented their claim to be a world super power.

Culturally, the Soviet Union emerged as a sizable behemoth that brought with it an ideology based on the writings of Karl Marx that effectively divided the world into opposing view points and still carries weight today after the fall of the USSR (Dibb, 1986). Communism and the ideology of socialist values permeated societies in the developing world leading to rhetoric of greater equality, more opportunity for the lower classes, a clampdown on the exploitation by the rich and the entrepreneurial class and a sharing of resources. Soft power was acquired through attraction for these notions, especially in the lower classes as well as among idealists (Mooney, 1982). The important advantage that the Soviet Union acquired after the Second World War due to its victories over the Germans was rapidly destroyed by the measures against Hungary and the region of Czechoslovakia. However, the ideology that it espoused served to keep its status as a so called promised land of socialist values and equality as well as opportunity with people wanting to migrate to the USSR and many going to universities in Moscow and Leningrad to study Marxism and other subjects. The Lenin Peace Prize became a well sought after award for those agreeable to the Soviets ideology and rose to prominence. Although this took further hits in the 1970s with the rise of economic problems and the unpopular invasion of Afghanistan as well as the period of conflict with China, the lure of the Soviet Union still demonstrated its cultural influence and power on the world stage that is worthy of the title of a super power.

According to Professor Dreyer the final characteristic of a global superpower is the ability to project its hard and soft power around the world. This the Soviet Union was actively able to do through the decades following the Second World War. Is demonstrated hard power in Europe against Hungary and also against Finland later on (Mirchell, 1982). The lure of the Communist system allowed the Chinese to choose the socialist system. Students from Latin America came to universities in Moscow to study Marxism while notable literary figures from Pakistan received the Lenin Peace Prize. The USSR further was involved in the Vietnam conflict indirectly by providing support to the Vietcong and its notable absence from Korea resulted in different dynamics emerging from that region. Furthermore, the lure of the socialist system and the awe of the Soviets won it many supporters in the Middle East such as Syria and Egypt who preferred the atheist USSR despite their strong Islamic religious beliefs. The exploits of the Comintern had become legendary at one time as it was able to permeate into Asia and establish roots as well as spread their ideology that won local support against capitalist exploitation among the working classes (Dibb, 1986). Even Cuba, right at the backyard of the United States, chose to get Soviet support rather than American and became a region of influence for the Union, particularly at the time of the Cuban Missile crisis. Finally, the United Kingdom at one time faced a tough time with labor unions springing up that increased the threat of a Soviet style revolution and required immediate action for workers rights and greater benefits to appease the working class, not to be allured by the communist ideals. Thus the USSR was able to project its hard and soft power at a global scale.

In conclusion we can say that the Soviet Union became a super power because it fulfilled all the criterions of influence that were defined by academics and outlined through international relations. They rose to political prominence, introduced a ground breaking ideology and spread it to all corners of the world. Their military domination was incomparable for the most part and the growth in the economy allowed massive investment to be made in science and technology which saw them launch an ambitious space program. Furthermore, they were a cultural power that influenced thought in many countries and required active response from the West to be kept at bay. It has to be said though that they did have certain problems which led to their eventual decline. However, the Soviet Union definitely did achieve the status of a global super power at one point.

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