Sovjetrepublieken

Sovietrepublieken refers to the constituent republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The USSR, formed in 1922, was a federal socialist state that eventually comprised fifteen union republics. These republics were theoretically sovereign states with their own governments, constitutions, and symbols, but in practice, power was heavily centralized in Moscow. The concept of a union republic was intended to grant a degree of autonomy and recognition to different nationalities within the vast Soviet territory.

The fifteen Sovietrepublieken were: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Each republic had a specific ethnic and cultural identity that the Soviet government aimed to manage, often through policies of titular nationalities and the promotion of national languages alongside Russian. While they possessed formal governmental structures, major political, economic, and foreign policy decisions were made by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The dissolution of the USSR in 1991 saw these Sovietrepublieken emerge as independent nations.