Editing Soviet Union (section)

== Military ==
{{Main|Soviet Armed Forces}}
{{See also|Red Army|Soviet Army|Soviet Navy|Soviet Air Forces|Lists of Heroes of the Soviet Union|Military history of the Soviet Union}}
[[File:RSD-10 2009 G1.jpg|thumb|A medium-range [[RSD-10|SS-20]] non-[[ICBM]] ballistic missile, the deployment of which by the Soviet Union in the late 1970s launched a new [[arms race]] in Europe when NATO responded by deploying [[Pershing II]] missiles in [[West Germany]], among other things]]
Under the Military Law of September 1925, the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] consisted of the [[Soviet Army|Land Forces]], the [[Soviet Air Forces|Air Force]], the [[Soviet Navy|Navy]], [[Joint State Political Directorate]] (OGPU) and the [[Internal Troops]].<ref>Scott and Scott, The Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, Westview Press, 1979, p.13</ref> The OGPU later became independent and in 1934 joined the [[NKVD]] secret police, and so its internal troops were under the joint leadership of the defense and internal commissariats. After World War II, [[Strategic Missile Forces]] (1959), [[Soviet Air Defence Forces|Air Defense Forces]] (1948) and National Civil Defense Forces (1970) were formed, which ranked first, third, and sixth in the official Soviet system of importance (ground forces were second, Air Force fourth, and Navy fifth).

The army had the greatest political influence. In 1989, there served two million soldiers divided between 150 motorized and 52 armored divisions. Until the early 1960s, the Soviet navy was a rather small military branch, but after the [[Caribbean crisis]], under the leadership of [[Sergei Gorshkov]], it expanded significantly. It became known for [[battlecruiser]]s and submarines. In 1989, there served 500 000 men. The [[Soviet Air Force]] focused on a fleet of [[strategic bomber]]s and during war situation was to eradicate enemy infrastructure and nuclear capacity. The air force also had a number of [[Fighter aircraft|fighters]] and tactical bombers to support the army in the war. Strategic missile forces had more than 1,400 [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs), deployed between 28 bases and 300 command centers.

In the post-war period, the Soviet Army was directly involved in several military operations abroad.<ref name="GDP" /><ref>Scott and Scott (1979) p. 305</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=October 30, 1961 – The Tsar Bomba: CTBTO Preparatory Commission |url=https://www.ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/30-october-1961-the-tsar-bomba |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319201753/http://ctbto.org/specials/testing-times/30-october-1961-the-tsar-bomba/ |archive-date=19 March 2016 |access-date=29 August 2018}}</ref> These included the suppression of the [[East German uprising of 1953|uprising in East Germany]] (1953), [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian revolution]] (1956) and the [[invasion of Czechoslovakia]] (1968). The Soviet Union also participated in the [[Soviet–Afghan War|war in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989]].

In the Soviet Union, general [[conscription]] applied, meaning all able-bodied males aged 18 and older were drafted in the armed forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.prlib.ru/history/619624 |title=Принят закон "О всеобщей воинской обязанности" |translator-last=A law on the mandatory military draft |publisher=prlib.ru |date=12 October 1967}}</ref>