In 1917, Russian communists (Bolsheviks) took power and turned Russia into the first-ever socialist one-party state. In the Russian Civil War, anti-Bolshevik forces were defeated, although they were supported by the U.S. and western European powers. In 1922, the party renamed the country the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the Soviet Union). Under the repressive leadership of Joseph Stalin (1924-53), the USSR defeated Nazi Germany in WWII and became a global superpower, engaging in a conflict with the U.S. and its allies, known as the Cold War. Later in the course, we will learn that The Cold War featured numerous proxy wars, such as in Korea and Vietnam, in which the U.S. tried to stop the spread of communism.