35 Historical Facts about the Soviet Union

In 1976, the Soviet Union developed keyloggers for IBM Selectric typewriters tracking the ball motion and transmitting content from American Embassy typewriters for years.

27. In 1940, the Soviet Union shot down a civilian Finnish flight traveling from Helsinki to Tallinn. To help preserve peace the Finnish government hid the fact for over a year.

28. The Soviet Union built chemical, nuclear, and biological defenses into its T55 battle tank. This would allow the crew to survive nuclear fallout if required.

29. USSR's first nuclear submarine was morbidly nicknamed 'Hiroshima' due to its accident-prone nature and the fact that 10 people died during its construction.

30. In the Soviet Union under Stalin, being more than 20 minutes late for work was a criminal offense.

During World War 2, the Soviet Union trained dogs to blow up German tanks. Their usage was later discontinued, as the dogs tended to ran back to the familiar smell of Soviet soldiers and tanks, killing them instead.

32. In the USSR, vodka produced by the state-owned brands used to come in half-liter bottles which once opened couldn't be recapped.

33. In 1972, Soviet Union’s eavesdropping of communications calls between American wheat farmers and the Department of Agriculture led to “The Great Grain Robbery” that enabled the Russians to covertly buy record amounts of wheat at low prices, causing a U.S. grain shortage 18 months later.

34. The Soviet Union disguised their flamethrowers to avoid sniper targeting during World War 2.

35. The Soviet Union built a laser pistol for it's cosmonauts to use in space.