Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The Definition of a SNAFU

In military jargon, a SNAFU is an acronym which stands for “Systems Normal: All F***ed Up.” This acronym perfectly sums up the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, for several reasons. But how did the entire situation come about? As described by the Seventeen Moments module, the invasion was prompted by a sort of “domino-esque” executions of

The Battle of Kursk: Fields of Destruction

On July 5, 1943, the German Army launched Operation Citadel. It was an attempt to encircle and crush a bulge of Soviet troops concentrated in and around the city of Kursk. This bulge stretched for 150 miles from north to south, and jutted 100 miles west into German lines(https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Kursk). The Germans attempted to drive behind

The Most Interesting Soviet Man in the World

Despite my featured image having its origins later in Soviet history, I could not leave it out of the post which I hope captures the cult of personality who was, and in many ways still is, Joseph Stalin. As the Seventeen Moments module states, “historians rewrote party history ” at his command, and did so

Miass Station from the Mountain

Background Info The Ural mountains are a range that spans from the northern tip of western Russia to the southern tip and form a border between the continents of Europe and Asia. The town of Miass, which this photograph overlooks, is situated in the Miass River Valley and has its origins in copper smelting dating