What major Soviet Communist projects changed the landscape of Russia?

Question: What major Soviet Communist projects changed the landscape of Russia!?

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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

There were many, but the really big ones were:

1) The Virgin Lands Project
This was an attempt to turn steppe country into farmland!. It was quite extensive, and was headed by Nikita Khrushchev (later head of the USSR)!. It produced crops for a few years, then land exhaustion set in and created a huge dustbowl!.

2) The Aral Sea area cotton growing schemes
The two rivers that feed the Aral Sea were extensively tapped for water to irrigate cotton plantations around their courses!. Over several decades, this resulted in the Aral Sea shrinking to a fraction of its former size (it still has not recovered)!.

3) The Soviet Nuclear Programme
Originally, this was based in the Urals area, near the Techa river!. Careless dumping of wastes, plus an explosion at a waste storage facility (Kyshtym 40) turned the Techa river and surrounding area into a radioactive desert!. Other less spectacular pollution incidents finally culminated in the explosion in reactor no!. 4 at Chernobyl!. Tracts of Russian and Ukrainian land are still radioactive!.

4) Dams
The Soviets initiated a number of hydro-electric power projects, building dams across several major rivers without regard to the effects of back-flooding or depleted river flow!.

5) Industrialisation
The Soviets created industry seemingly for industry's sake; this was accompanied by extensive mining (for coal and iron ore) and country-wide pollution!. Huge scars and slag-heaps were left to mar the landscape!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

OK, dunno for sure if you mean "landscape" literally!. Collective farming was a major project, with all land being owned by the state (yes, by the "people", but for all practical purposes, by the state)!. This meant that all farmers, landholders and renters, had to give up everything and go to work at the collective farms instead!. These projects were famous for extending a bureaucracy from the premier right down to the former serfs hoeing the fields and every point in-between!. This, of course, was present everywhere in their economy, not just farming!. Very unwieldy! No wonder they couldn't feed themselves during most of their history or provide even the most basic needs of their population!.

I ask that you research my answer a little more thoroughly, I'm just talking off the top of my head! lolWww@QuestionHome@Com

Don't forget about canals!. It is written in the book!. Good luck taking quiz this weekend!. Www@QuestionHome@Com