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"Soyuz nerushimy respublik svobodnykh

Splotila naveki velikaya Rus'.

Da zdravstvuyet sozdanny voley narodov

Yediny, moguchy Sovetsky Soyuz!"

"An unbreakable union of free republics,

The Great Russia has welded forever to stand.

Long live the creation of the will of the people,

The united, mighty Soviet Union!"

Perhaps there are only few people who would not recognise these legendary lines. These are the first few lines from the anthem of the USSR. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, more popularly known, simply as the Soviet Union to all and to some more learned people, perhaps by the official name of CCCP which stands for CоюзСоветскихСоциалистическихРеспублик (Soyuz SovetskikhSotsialisticheskikhRespublik). It was a state that pioneered a completely new form of society never before seen on Earth. Heralded as the very first communist state in the world, the creators of the Soviet Union, the "Bolsheviks", who were tired of the oppression of the nobles and the wealthy, dreamt of a state where everything would belong to the people as a whole, and no one would be able to amass wealth and power for his own greed.

Inspired by the legendary "Communist Manifesto" written by ‎Karl Marx‎ and ‎Friedrich Engels, the Bolsheviks under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin (whose real name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov), envisioned for the freedom and power to the working classes which throughout history had been oppressed and exploited by the wealthy and the nobility.As a result of his efforts and that of the millions following him, the great empire of Russia fell, with its Tsarist royalty overthrown in the infamous October revolution. In its place, appeared a united state comprising of 15 different republics, all united under the ideals of socialsm, equality, freedom and power to the masses. Their symbol being the mighty hammer and sickle, signifying the workers and farmers respectively. The Soviet Union was officially established on 30th of December 1922, and it became the first and the largest ever Socialist state of the world.

When the fires of World War II were burning Europe, it was the Soviet Union that had turned the tide of world war 2. When the Wehrmacht was conquering Europe under the impetus of the Nazi Regime, Adolf Hitler hada not so brilliant idea which was to invade and conquer the Soviet Union with the now infamous"Operation Barbarossa". Although initially, the defending Red armysuffered devastating losses due to poor training and lack of capable leaders, and a huge area of the Soviet Union was taken over by the Third Reich, the Soviets never gave up on their struggles to defend their motherland. By the time the Germans had arrived at the gates of Moscow, the momentum of the blitzkrieg had been crushed into a halt, and with the defeat of the 6th army at Stalingrad, Hitler's dreams of conquering the Soviet Union were crushed forever.

Finally, it would be the Red army to march into Berlin and defeat the Reich once and for all. However, the Soviet Union had paid adreary price for the victory, and they had paid it in blood. All in all, around 27 million people;including both military servicemen and civilians;perished in the Soviet Union, as a result of the war. Although Western nations have alwaysclaimed that "America and its allies won the war", the truth is that if Germany had not invaded the Soviet Union and without the Soviet troops fighting Hitler, most historians agree that Germany might have conquered most if not all of Europe including Britain itself.Had Hitler honoured the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and not invaded the Soviet Union;if the 200 divisions that stormed the Soviet Union were instead there to greet the American landings at Normandy, life then would not have been so easy for the Americans.

In its golden hour, the Soviet Union was a Global power no one dared trifle with, not even the USA and Europe combined. It had many great scientific achievements such as being the first to send an artificial satellites into space, the first to send a man into space, etc.Throughout its life, the Soviet Union was a strong militaristic state, with the largest army of its time. It had such a strong impacton the world, that all the powerful European nations had to ally under the USA, forming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in order to deter what they believed to be a "Soviet Invasion of Europe".However, as mighty as it was, the fate of the Soviet Union was ultimately a tragic one. On the 26th of December 1991, after less than 70 years of its establishment,the Soviet Unioncollapsed, never to rise again. As a powerful state that had once dominated the politics of the world, it still was not without its flaws. It was a global superpower that unfortunately, because of pitiful reasons fell apart, and left behind a group of weakened nations which were nowhere near its strength, and probably would never again be.

Opinions differ as to why that happened but most historians would point to a few main causes. First and perhaps the most prominent cause would be the huge economic crisis. Ever since its foundation in 1922, the Soviet Union had faced the challenge of poverty and economic backwardness. Lenin had plans to try to solve these issues but unfortunately he died just after two years in 1924. His successor, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin(whose real name was IosebBesarionisdzeJughashvili), and popularly known as simply Joseph Stalin made matters worse. No doubt his intentions were to make the Soviet union an industrialized world power in the shortest time possible, and which he would ultimately succeed in. But the way he chose to do all that would forever taint the ideals of socialism and communism. He ran a de facto dictatorship, oppressing the masses and forcing his orders and wishes upon all. The 5 year plans he made to modernize the nation were implemented with such brutalities, that they caused deaths of millions of Soviet citizens, mostly by starvation. The abundant purges, executions and assassinations are among the other blunders he did.His successors also followed similar policies and Communism which was supposed to become a system for the people was hijacked and became just another dictatorship, andauthoritarian regime where the Communist party as whole was became the dictator. The lives of the common people never really changed and became worse in some aspects.

The rulers became drunk on power and the government was filled with corruption. While regular civilians had to queue for a single loaf of bread, the members of the communist party were living in a life of lavishness and splendour. This huge disparity caused much resentment among the masses. Treachery is what killed the Soviet Union, so believe many of its former citizens. The government failed at addressing the critical problems of the citizens and the economy began to stagnate and the thoughtless spending during the global arms race of the cold war did not help at all. The Afghanistan campaign and the Chernobyl nuclear incident also put a lot of strain on the already fragile economy. The government of the Soviet Union had always wanted to suppress their neighbouring countries, which led to those countries harbouring distrust and resentment for the USSR. As a result, with the efforts of USA the Soviet Union was gradually isolated from the world, and soon even its close allies like China and the Warsaw pact countries stopped supporting it. The USSR was left all alone.

Secondly, there was the isolation from the world. Ever since the time of Stalin, the soviet governments had been too cautious of their interactions with the rest of the world, especially the west. So much so that they prevented almost all interaction between their people and the rapidly modernizing western nations, which resulted in mass dissatisfaction. The NATO countries also always tried to block the Soviet Union in whatever it did, causing further decline in its trade and commerce. But perhaps the greatest weapon of the west was the propaganda which they spread across the world. The USA and European countries which had their systems built on capitalism, felt greatly threatened by the presence of ideas like Socialism and communism. Their shows, documentaries, books etc. all showed the Soviet Union to be a poor, underdeveloped place which reeked of poverty, while the west was the centre of good life, wealth and development. They cursed socialism and communism and aggressively stated the capitalism was the only way to development . This was so effective that even the Soviet citizens themselves began thinking of themselves as backward and undeveloped people; the desire to live the so called "prosperous" lives of westerners was growing in their hearts.

The final nail on the coffin which ensured the end of the soviet union were the decisions of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR. He tried to solve the economic and political problems, by making significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called "perestroika". His policy of "glasnost" freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship. He effectively went trying to turn the soviet union into a partial democracy. However that was a big mistake. The USSR was forged of 15 different states with each having their own culture and interests. Ever since the founding of the Soviet Union, what had kept these states together was the strict centralized control, the government had never really tried to integrate all these states into a single consolidated Union properly. As a result, the people of these states were very dissatisfied and felt oppressed by the government. They never felt a true sense of belonging to the union, rather, being enslaved by it. Not surprisingly, removing that central control paved the way for the revolutions of 1989. With the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and East and West Germany pursuing unification, the Iron Curtain between the West and Soviet-controlled regions came down.At the same time, the Soviet republics started legal moves towards potentially declaring sovereignty over their territories and soon, the Great USSR dissolved.

But when the sun sets in one part of the world, it also rises in another. No one would know, but the USSR would rise again, and its might would sake the heaven and earth itself. As to where it would rise…only time would tell….

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The year 20XX.

Tensions had been high in the Eurasian lands ever since the early years of the 21st century. Many of the post soviet states and Europe, afraid of the re-emergence of Russia as a strong military power, had all aligned with USA to deter them. By the later years of the 21st century, a fragile equilibrium had been established, which could crumble by the slightest of events. And crumble it did. When USA was busy waging a war against Iran, China decided to use this opportunity to forcefully recapture Taiwan which it had wanted to retake for years, and sent its troops landing onto the shores of Taiwan. This led to the USA immediately declaring war against China. The entire south china sea would soon be enveloped by the flames of war. Russia also joined in to help China followed by North Korea, Syria and Iran who had enoughof the USA meddling with their affairs. This marked the beginning of world war III.

There were many reasons for the war, but perhaps the most important reason was the human hunger for power. Also the thirst of resources which could not be quenched. Every country wanted more of the ever declining resources. And as the developed countries ran out of their own, they targeted the weak countries in the name of freedom and liberation taking over their resources.

What began as a war between two neighbours soon pulled in the whole world. Fortunately for humanity, the use of Nuclear weaponry had been banned a few years prior or all hell would have broken loose. As such the war turned into a battle of skill, resources and attrition, whose flames began spreading across the world. This war would see the emergence of many new and deadlier forms of weaponry, as it would see unprecedented development in bio-technological sciences. The war would give rise to many inventions which were only seen or heard of in fiction before this. For a time industries related to weapons, medicine, construction etc, flourished as the war demanded these in large and ever increasing numbers. Millions of soldiers would be inducted and sent out to fight for their nations and ultimately most of them would die or go missing, never to be seen again, dead or alive.

Years had gone by since the third world war had started. It was a war the likes of which had never been seen before. Estimates made later, showed that even the two previous world wars put together caused only a minor fraction of deaths this one caused. Deaths were in the hundreds of millions. The war waged on for over two decades, varying in intensity before coming to an end. The death toll was so large that the global population which had been over 10 billion before the war had fallen to little more than 5 billion. Ironically, a vast majority of these people died from starvation, diseases, lack of resources, and poverty.

Even the industries which had initially bloomed because of the war, such as arms and munitions industries, vehicle industries etc., now faced ruin and bankruptcy as the prices of the most basic of things reached sky high. It was quickly realised that a war of this scale was no longer affordable. Every single nation in the world had lost its assets on a devastating scale, and it was likely that they would never completely recover. The world economy was as good as gone, and life as it now appeared, was in a state of utter shambles. Fortunately, late but still, the war finally came to a close. It would take over a century for the world to recover from the destruction, and yet, a lot of priceless things would forever be lost, never to return again.

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City of Dresden, Germany.

A few months before the end of war.

A great city, which was once a flourishing hub, now lay in ruins. Before the war it was thriving centre for commerce and business, as well as residence for millions of people. But now, it was but, a ruined remnant of a bygone age of peace, with it's beautiful buildings all burnt and razed to ground while its skyscrapers were now hugging the ground, turned to piles of dirt and rubble. The once cheery and lively neighbourhoods now clusters of broken and dilapidated buildings, where no signs of life could be found.

Rusting cars and large bomb craters could be seen all over the city, while destroyed tanks, crashed planes and many other destroyed military and civilian vehicles could be found all over the place. Occasionally, the rattling of machine guns, the explosions of bombs and the buzz of fighter aircraft could be heard echoing across the barren cityscape. While smoke and fire were common place, one could also frequently hear the screams of dying and wounded men and women.

As the dreary sun slowly set beyond the horizon, welcoming the darkness of the night, a Mil Mi – 17 – V89, transport helicopter optimised for special operations, flew over the destructed cityscape. Coloured in full black, with high tech radar absorbing paints and its engines and rotors making little sound , it was nigh invisible to the enemy radars and observation posts. It didn't even sport any light; the pilots solely using their night vision helmets and skill to fly the giant chopper. Aside from the two pilots and two flight staff, there were 15 men onboard. Each one of them was armed from head to toe, covered in black tactical gear and state-of-the-art-armour and weapons. These men belonged to the 'Spetsnaz'; the Russian special forces.

A red coloured band of cloth was circling around the upper left arms of each of them, and it had the symbol of a white rifle pointing barrel down, with a white helmet hanging on top of its stock, with a black shield in the background. This was the coat of arms, the symbol of his unit, what was officially known as the 7th division of the Spetsnaz. They were the people whose sole purpose was to go beyond enemy lines and inflict maximum damage to the enemy in minimum time and using minimum lives. The 7th Division had terrorised their enemies so much that they came to be known as the "Reaper Unit" or simply "Reapers". Wherever they went, death and massacre was all that remained. They were truly deserving of the name.

Their country had dispatched them to retrieve a certain piece of equipment, at all costs. They had to get to it before the enemy did, dead or Alive. It was a secret operation and they would have no back up. It was supposed be another recovery mission, but they had no idea that the enemy had also obtained the information and had dispatched a whole company of fully armed troops to obtain the same asset. As they reached near the Landing Zone, the men nodded to each other , and then parachuted off the chopper which was hovering at 10,000 feet. 15 circular parachutes opened successively, as the men descended slowly and stealthily towards the ground.

As they landed just before enemy lines, it would take them about a 5 mile walk across enemyterritory to get to the target location. On the way, they also had to constantly avoid enemy drones, patrols and other possible things which may expose them. Fortunately, because of the cover of the night coupled by the active conflict a few kilometres away from them, which made investing in high grade surveillance difficult, they were not discovered. As they reached the target, twelve people surrounded the area, taking positions within the broken buildings, hiding in dried up drains, crawling behind rubble, and using wreckages of vehicles as potential cover, keeping watch. The remaining three went to retrieve their prize. If everything went as per plan, they would be back across to the safe zone by daybreak .

Alas, as is often seen in war, things less than seldom, go exactly as planned.

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"So this is how it ends…."

A lone man muttered as he looked at the dark sky which was slowly getting brighter as the sun gradually rose. The dull brownish sky was always cloaked in a layer dust and smoke, making the scene even gloomier. The first rays of the sun which were peeking from within the dense clouds of dust and smoke, were illuminating the sky at a visible pace, paving way to a dull morning. At the horizon, however, through this brownish sky, a trail of lights could be seen fast approaching his location. These were JM-A62 Surface-To-Surface missiles, known for their deadliness across the world, and currently they were aiming at his location.

The man looked to be around 40 years old. He was dressed in a black military combat gear. His gear was fully black, pointing to his role being that of a nocturnal killer. This was the captain, the leader of the 15 man team send to the mission. Sadly, of the 15, now only he remained.

The man was not in a good shape however. Blood slowly, but continuously trickled down the corner of his lips. His once silver hair was now mostly white with a gray strand here and there. his face was slightly wrinkled and full of scars, yet his eyes showed a cold glint which could freeze the hearts of ordinary people. He was mortally wounded, his left arm was loosely hanging from his shoulder, his body had over ten bullet wounds, one had even damaged his heart, grazing it as it tore through into his body. He was, without any mistake, on his last breaths. He had long since lost the feeling of pain, which for him was a good thing.

"Still, for them to send so many missiles just to kill me….such an unneeded overkill…."

He sighed and looked around. The corpses of his comrades and his enemies lay around. The comrades he spent over two decades with, were now all dead bodies. Yet he didn't feel any pain or sorrow, no…he had long since chose not to. The man looked up once again as he rested his broken body by a damaged tank. He reminisced his life from as early he could remember. From the orphanage he was raised in to entering the military. The countless battles he had been through, the various people he had seen and worked with. And lastly the faces of his comrades who died serving the motherland beside him. He still remembered everything.

He coughed up blood as his injuries were taking their toll. He smiled. This mission really went downhill. His platoon of 15 was sent to retrieve a hard drive which stored critical data about the enemy army's deployment patterns in Germany and tactical operations as well as aerial shots of important military assets. It was onboard an enemy aircraft which was shot down by their air defences over the city which was an active war zone, with much of the city within enemy control. The mission was to go beyond enemy lines and retrieve the data at all costs. The group of 15 had secured the drive as per plan but were trapped by the enemies.

Just as they had finished retrieving the hard drive, they had been surrounded by over 200 men from the enemy side who had the support of heavy machine guns and recoilless rifles. Luckily, the heavier units like tanks and armed gunships of the enemy were busy dealing with the offensive launched by their side to divert the enemy's attention, still it was a hopeless battle. But nonetheless a battle they had to fight. Most of them had already taken good positions so they had some leeway against the enemy fire. The captain had ordered the two snipers of the team to take high terrain positions and they were at a good advantage. A long and bloody battle was due.

Intense gunfire occurred between the two sides, with bullets tearing through flesh and armour as well as steel and concrete. Grenades , mortars and RPGs were also used. Blood kept flowing through the night. Across a brutal battle he and his comrades managed to secure the hard drive and send the data back to their base through a satellite link before destroying the drive. The mission was completed perfectly. But they had to pay a heavy price for this.

Having been surrounded by enemies on all sides, they fought till the last man and the last round, but in the face of overwhelming enemy force there was only so much they could do. They kept dying one after the other, and soon all his comrades were dead, leaving only him alive. And now, he too would soon be joining them. Perhaps, the only good point was that they had managed to kill over a hundred of their enemies, and the rest had retreated hurriedly.

In his dying moments Add smiled. Add, that was the name this man was know by to his acquaintances and colleagues. Captain Add, the commanding officer of the 17th platoon of the "Reapers". It was a smile of relief, and freedom, as if he had been freed from a massive load that had been crushing him all this time. In his eyes there was, however a tinge of regret. He looked at the sky, the missiles were now less than 5 kilometres away now.

"I wonder…..once the war ends….what kind of world would it become…..it's a shame I won't be able to see that…..Well….at least the rising sun is so beautiful…." Looking at his dead comrades, he sighed"…sadly you all can't see it…."

The last thing he saw was the long missiles arriving within metres from him, and then, it all turned white.

A few months later the war would gradually reach a stalemate and the various nations would finally declare a ceasefire, bringing the war would to an end. However it would be too late by then, for the scars of this war would never heal and the world would be much difficult of a place to survive in from then on. Much of the world would be polluted and contaminated so badly that it would take Nature decades if not centuries to mend those damages, and many places would never really be habitable again. Beautiful forests, grasslands and valleys were now little more than desserts and the great cities which were razed to the ground would be abandoned with countless corpses buried under the rubble and dust; forgotten sacrifices of a war which harmed all and benefited none. Many countries would be erased from the maps, and few would appear to take their place. But at the end people would ask, "what did we pay for ? what did we get ?", the answer forever buried, just like the countless dead.

As for him, no one would know that the deaths of 15 men in that city that day helped stall the enemy advance. And if the data in that drive didn't reach where it should have, that night, much would have been different for Russia then. And also, no one would get to know of the many others like them who gave their lives before and after. No one would remember them, no one would know of Add, the man who led them. After all, to the world, he like his comrades, never existed.

Only a few lines by a poet unknown, published years after the war came to an end, would remind humans of those, "people who never existed":

"Let me tell you of our story, a tale of which no one will ever say,

For we're the people whom none would remember, whatever occasion be it may.

So you will never see us, because we did not exist,

But when duty called us, we smiled, we did not resist.

You will never hear of us, because we never happened,

We went to war because our motherland was threatened.

You will never know the things we did, because we were never there,

And that is what was then, is now and shall be forever.

Our names will not be remembered by history and be etched in gold,

Nor would our statues, like those of heroic men, stand proud and bold.

Bards will not sing songs of our glories,

Nor will Legends preserve our trophies.

Yet, my countrymen! We were the ones who did what no one could,

We lived, we fought where no one would.

We will not see the springs of tomorrow,

But we made sure that you see them, with prosperity not sorrow.

We burned our bodies in hell, so that our motherland could be heaven,

And such was, and always shall be, because we never existed, not now, not then,

Forever shall stand safe, our great motherland, and you my dear countrymen."

-The words of those, who never existed.

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