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Map showing states that had Communist governments during the Cold War in bright red, and temporary allies of the Soviet Union in dark red. Note that several of these countries were only Communist or pro-Soviet for a few years (see below for specific dates).

Soviet Empire was a controversial, politically charged and pejorative term used to critically describe the actions and nature of the Soviet Union. It gained popularity after U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously denounced the USSR as an "evil empire" in a 1982 speech to the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Though the Soviet Union was not ruled by an emperor and declared itself anti-imperialist, critics argue that it exhibited certain tendencies common to historic empires:

• Territorial expansion through invasion or subversion (e.g.: Poland, Finland, Baltic States, Afghanistan).
• Strong central government controlling the governments of subsidiary and satellite territories.
• Interference (including through the use of military force) in the internal politics of its allies (see histories of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland).

For these reasons and others, the Soviet Union is sometimes considered by certain historians^{[citation needed]} to be one of the main empires of history, equal to such notables as the British Empire and the Roman Empire, and borrowing some of the foreign policy of the Tsarist Russian Empire that it replaced. Supporters of the Soviet Union, meanwhile, reject such claims and argue that the relationship between the Soviet Union and countries within its "empire" was in fact one of voluntary cooperation.

Though there never was any formal "Soviet Empire", the Soviet Union did exert a strong influence over a number of nations. Thus, the Soviet Empire was said to consist of the following:

See also Republics of the Soviet Union

• Russian SFSR (which in turn included of several autonomous republics)
• Ukrainian SSR
• Byelorussian SSR
• Uzbek SSR
• Kazakh SSR
• Georgian SSR
• Azerbaijan SSR
• Lithuanian SSR
• Moldavian SSR
• Latvian SSR
• Kyrgyz SSR
• Tajik SSR
• Armenian SSR
• Turkmen SSR
• Estonian SSR

These countries were the closest allies of the Soviet Union. They were members of the Comecon, a Soviet-led economic community founded in 1949. In addition, the ones located in Eastern Europe were also members of the Warsaw Pact. They were sometimes called the Eastern bloc in English and were widely viewed as Soviet satellite states.

• Bulgaria
• Cuba
• Czechoslovakia
• East Germany
• Hungary
• Mongolia
• Poland
• Romania
• North Vietnam/Vietnam (after 1975)
• Albania

North Korea was a Soviet ally, but always followed a highly isolationist foreign policy and therefore it did not join the Comecon or any other international organization of Communist states.

A number of countries had pro-Soviet governments for shorter periods of time during the Cold War. In the political terminology of the Soviet Union, these were "countries moving along the socialist road of development", as opposed to the "countries of developed socialism", listed above. Most received some aid, either military or economic, from the Soviet Union, and were influenced by it to varying degrees. Their support for the Soviet Union was short lived for various reasons; in some cases the pro-Soviet government lost power, while in other cases the same government remained in power but changed its relations with the Soviet Union.

Some of these countries were not Communist states. They are marked in italic.

• Egypt (1954-1973)
• Syria (1955-1991)
• Iraq (1958-1963, 1972-1991)
• Somalia (1961-1976)
• Ghana (1964-1966)
• Peru (1968-1975)
• Sudan (1968-1972)
• Libya (1969-1991)
• People's Republic of Congo (1969-1991)
• Chile (1970-1973)
• People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1970-1990)
• Uganda (1971-1979)
• India (1971-1991)
• Madagascar (1972-?)
• People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1974-1991)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic (1975-1991)
• Benin (1975-1979)
• Mozambique (1975-1990)
• Angola (1976-1991)
• Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-1991)
• Grenada 1979-1983
• Nicaragua (1979-1990)
• People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989)
• Guinea (?)

Some Communist states were openly opposed to the Soviet Union and many of its policies. Though their forms of government may have been similar, they were completely sovereign from the USSR and held only formal ties. Relations were often tense, sometimes even to the point of armed conflict.

• Yugoslavia (Informbiro 1948)
• Albania (following the Sino-Soviet split)
• People's Republic of China (following the Sino-Soviet split)
• Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979, under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge)

The Red states represent Communist governments aligned with the Soviet Union. The Yellow states represents Communist governments aligned with the People's Republic of China. The Black states (North Korea and Yugoslavia) represent the Communist governments that were not aligned with either.

The Sino-Soviet split greatly ruptured the international Communist movement, as the two largest Communist states - China and the Soviet Union - broke ties and became hostile to each other. Before the split, in the late 1950s, the People's Republic of China was considered one of the Soviet Union's closest and most powerful allies, despite China being a developing nation. The Sino-Soviet split complicated the Cold War by opening a possible new front for the Soviet Union, and creating a triangular relationship between the Soviet Union, the United States, and China. The Communist great powers were no longer united against their capitalist enemies. Although Albania and Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia decided to side with China, most of the Communist nations stuck with the Soviet Union. The Chinese-inspired Maoist faction was nowhere near as powerful as the Soviet faction in the Communist world, but was a significant threat the Soviets had to contend with.

http://www.soviet-empire.com

• American Empire
• Cominform
• Communist state
• Soviet republic