Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

in the 1940s led to the creation of the

term flying saucers. It then became

popular to call all UFOs flying saucers.

The U.S. government has kept records

of thousands of UFO sightings. These

records include photos of UFOs and

recordings of interviews with people

who claim to have seen them. In the

1950s scientists chosen by the government

studied hundreds of sightings.

Most of the sightings turned out to be

space objects, such as stars, bright planets,

or meteors. Many other sightings

were aircraft, birds, or hot gases. Often

these sightings happened in unusual

weather conditions.

The scientists’ findings did not stop

UFO reports, however. By the mid–

1960s UFO sightings were more numerous

than ever. The U.S. government

continued to say that UFOs were not

evidence of alien life. Most scientists

agreed. But some UFO sightings

remained unexplained. Even today a few

scientists believe that some UFOs could

be visitors from outer space.

Union of Soviet

Socialist

Republics

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

(U.S.S.R.), or Soviet Union, was the

first country to form a government and

an economy based on the system known

as Communism. The Soviet Union was

in existence for only about 70 years,

from 1922 to 1991. For much of that

time, however, it was one of the most

powerful countries in the world.

Clouds can often form strange shapes.

Some people may see such a cloud and

think that it looks like a flying saucer.

10 Unicorn BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Land

The Soviet Union was the largest country

that ever existed. It covered more

than 8.6 million square miles (22.3 million

square kilometers) in Europe and

Asia—almost two and one half times the

area of the United States.

The Soviet Union was made up of 15

states. The states were called republics.

The largest and most powerful republic

was the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist

Republic, which is now called Russia.

The modern names for the other republics

are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,

Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan,

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and

Kyrgyzstan. The capital of the Soviet

Union was Moscow, which was also the

capital of Russia.

People

In its last years, the Soviet Union had

the world’s third-largest population—

more than 290 million people. The

country had more than 100 groups of

different peoples. Ethnic Russians made

up the largest group by far. The nextlargest

groups were Ukrainians, Uzbeks,

Belarusians, and Kazakhs. Russian was

the official language, but more than 200

other languages existed in the country.

The Soviet government did not approve

of religion. Even so, the Russian Orthodox

Christian church survived. There

were also many Muslims, or followers of

Islam, in some republics.

During the time the Soviet Union

existed, millions of people moved from

farms to cities. By 1991, two out of

The Russian republic was by far the largest of the 15 republics that made up the Soviet

Union.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 11

 

every three Soviet citizens lived in a city.

Moscow, Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg),

and Kiev (now in Ukraine) were

the largest cities.

Culture

The government of the Soviet Union

controlled all parts of life in the country.

The people were not allowed to speak

openly to oppose the government. During

the late 1920s and 1930s the government

even put a stop to free artistic

expression. Artists and writers were

allowed to say only good things about

the Soviet system. The government put

many artists and writers in prison. Others

left the country.

A few Soviet writers still produced great

work. Boris Pasternak won the Nobel

prize for literature in 1958, and Aleksandr

Solzhenitsyn won it in 1970. Pasternak

had to refuse the award, and

Solzhenitsyn was forced to leave the

country.

Economy

During its most powerful period, the

Soviet Union had one of the world’s

strongest economies. Agriculture, mining,

and heavy industry all made big

contributions to national wealth. The

government completed many large

projects such as dams and canals.

According to Communist teachings,

individuals should not be allowed to

own businesses. So the government

owned almost all businesses and factories

in the Soviet Union. Communist

Party leaders decided what kinds of

products would be made and how much

the people would pay for them. The

system led to shortages of many of the

products that people needed.

The Communist system was also supposed

to give farmers and workers a fair

share of the country’s wealth. However,

farmers suffered greatly when the gov-

The Soviet government built plain high-rise

apartment buildings in Moscow and other

big cities. The buildings were needed to

house the many people who moved to the

cities from farms.

“For the Defense of the U.S.S.R.”

is the message of a 1929 poster.

It shows factories, warplanes,

and soldiers on the march.

12 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

ernment took their land and created

large farms called collective farms. By

the 1970s the Soviet Union had to buy

food from other countries to feed its

people.

History