Answer:
the devastation it experienced in World War II
Explanation:
The period of World War II (1941-1945) is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. During this conflict, which included many of the most lethal combat operations in human history, the deaths of Soviet civilians and military personnel were 10.6 million and 15.9 million, respectively, representing about a third of all casualties conflict. The total demographic loss of the Soviet peoples was even greater. The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation, but the USSR emerged as a recognized military superpower after the war ended.
The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe after the war, including East Germany. Socialist Soviet-dependent governments were installed in puppet states in the so-called East Block. By becoming the second nuclear power in the world, the Soviet Union created the alliance of the Warsaw Pact and entered into a struggle for global domination with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a period known as the Cold War . The Soviet Union supported revolutionary movements throughout the world, including the newly formed People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and, later, the Republic of Cuba. Significant amounts of Soviet resources were allocated in aid to other socialist states.
