1. The Rise of the Soviet Union
WHAP - DUEZ -- CH 22 - World of Communism

2. YouTube: Vladimir Lenin Biography (3:00)

3. Map 22.3 The Global Cold War
The cold war sharply divided the world as a whole as well the continent of Europe; the countries of Korea, Vietnam, and Germany; and the city of Berlin. In many places, it also sparked crises that brought the nuclear-armed superpowers of the United States and the USSR to the brink of war, although in every case they managed to avoid direct military conflict between themselves.

4. Tsar Bomba (Царь-бомба), literally “Tsar-bomb”, is the nickname for the AN602 hydrogen bomb — the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, and currently the most powerful explosive device ever created.
Developed by the Soviet Union, the bomb was originally designed to have a yield of about 100 megatons of TNT (420 PJ); however, the bomb yield was reduced to only 50 Megatons — one quarter of the estimated yield of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa — in order to reduce nuclear fallout. Only one bomb of this type was ever built and it was tested on October 30, 1961, in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

5. YouTube: Tzar Bomba - Biggest Nuclear Weapon Ever Tested - by USSR Oct

6. Mushroom-shaped cloud and water column from the underwater US "Baker" nuclear explosion of July 25, Photo taken from a tower on Bikini Island, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) away. Its purpose was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval ships. "Operation Crossroads" consisted of two detonations. This is the second of the set called "Baker." The first was called "Able."

7. Canopus (also Opération Canopus in French) was the code name for France's first two-stage thermonuclear test, conducted on August 24, 1968 at Fangataufa atoll. The test made France the fifth country to test a thermonuclear device after the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and China.

8. Mobilizing Women for Communism
As the Soviet Union mobilized for rapid economic development in the 1930s, women entered the workforce in great numbers. Here two young women are mastering the skills of driving a tractor on one of the large collective farms that replaced the country’s private agriculture. (Sovfoto/Eastfoto)

9. YouTube: Joseph Stalin Biography (3:00)

10. YouTube: Stalin - Man of Steel, Documentary (1 hour)

12. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
In 1950, the infamous husband and wife were accused by the FBI of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. They were found guilty in a trial that helped fuel the red scare. Despite doubts as to Julius' and especially Ethel's guilt, the pair were executed for espionage at Sing Sing prison in New York on June 19, 1953.

13. YouTube: McDonalds Opening in Moscow, Soviet Union 1990 (2:00)

14. YouTube: 20 Years Ago McDonalds Arrives in USSR - 35,000 Customers in 1 day!

15. YouTube: Russia Today Documentary - "Step Motherland"
Many of the former Soviet republics are still very much a part of Russia.

20. Two ladies in traditional Russian clothes pose after the Alpine Skiing World Cup men's Downhill in Krasnaya Polyana, some 50km from Sochi, Russia, 11 February 2012.