Soviet empire

The term "Soviet empire" collectively refers to the world's territories that the Soviet Union dominated politically, economically, and militarily. This phenomenon, particularly in the context of the Cold War, is also called Soviet imperialism by Sovietologists to describe the extent of the Soviet Union's hegemony over the Second World. In a wider sense, the term refers to Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War, which has been characterized as imperialist: the countries that comprised the Soviet empire were nominally independent with native governments that set their own policies, but those policies had to stay within certain limits decided by the Soviet government. These limits were enforced by the threat of forceful regime change and/or by the threat of direct action by the Soviet Armed Forces (and later by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact). Major Soviet military interventions of this nature took place in East Germany in 1953, in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968, in Poland from 1980 until 1983, and in Afghanistan from 1979 until 1989. Countries in the Eastern Bloc were widely regarded as Soviet satellite states rather than as independent allies of the Soviet Union. Characteristics Although the Soviet Union was not ruled by an emperor, and declared itself anti-imperialist and a people's democracy, it exhibited tendencies common to historic empires. The notion of "Soviet empire" often refers to a form of "classic" or "colonial" empire with communism only replacing conventional imperial ideologies such as Christianity or monarchy, rather than creating a revolutionary state. Academically the idea is seen as emerging with Richard Pipes' 1957 book The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism, 1917–1923, but it has been reinforced, along with several other views, in continuing scholarship. Several scholars hold that the Soviet Union was a hybrid entity containing elements common to both multinational empires and nation-states. The Soviet Union practiced colonialism similar to conventional imperial powers.