Soviet empire

English

(historical) The Soviet Union along with the nominally independent nations in its sphere of influence.
- 1989 November 21, A[braham] M[ichael] Rosenthal, “ON MY MIND; Helping the Revolution”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 December 2017:
  Almost from the moment the Soviet empire swallowed the captive nations, the fight against it began.
- 2017 June 12, “’Tear down this wall’: How Reagan’s forgotten line became a defining moment”, in The Washington Post‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 June 2023:
  The very idea of Ronald Reagan standing before the most powerful symbol of the Cold War and demanding that the leader of the Soviet empire "tear down this wall" threw two governments into conniptions.