In 1897, only 33%t of men and 14% of women were literate. By 1929, it rose to 66.5% and 37.2%, and 90.8$ and 72.5% by 1939, reaching a total of 99.7% in the 1970s and 80s.
During the Cold War, the USSR mapped the whole world to such precise detail that the US still uses them, among other sources, due to their accuracy.
There is a propaganda tactic known as “whataboutism” used in the Soviet Union to discredit the critics by responding with “What about…” followed by an event from the Western world
It was the Soviet’s Red Army that liberated the concentration camp at Auschwitz and also captured Hitler’s headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair, on the day the world celebrates as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day: January 27, 1945.
Between 1929 and 1940, the Soviet Union introduced a five- and six-day work week calendar in a deliberate attempt to eliminate religion.
Two-thirds of males born in the Soviet Union in 1923 did not survive World War II.
From 1970 to 1992, the Soviets drilled the world’s deepest borehole known as the “Kola Superdeep Borehole” that reached 12,262 meters (40,230 feet). The project’s aim was to drill as deep as possible.
The Soviet Union had an internationally televised song contest. As few viewers had phones, they would turn their lights on if they liked a song and off if they didn’t. The power spikes were recorded by the state energy company and the reports sent to the station to pick the winner.
The Soviet Union lasted long enough to have its own country code domain “.su” on the Internet, which it received a mere 15 months before its dissolution
The Soviet Union was the first to send a human into space as part of the Vostok Program featuring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. They were also the first to launch a space station
On a lighter note, Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, starred in a 60-second Pizza Hut commercial in 1997.
The Soviet Union loved Bollywood Bollywood offered respite from the frequent hardships of day-to-day life for many Soviet citizens, and an opportunity to escape into vibrant musical worlds filled with elaborate drama and dramatic love stories.
