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Countries that Bordered the USSR

There were 12 countries that had a land border with the Soviet Union in the post-WWII era. How many can you name?
Quiz by KoljiVriVoda
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Last updated: December 10, 2019
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First submittedFebruary 9, 2015
Times taken104,085
Average score83.3%
Rating4.92
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Country
Afghanistan
China
Czechoslovakia
Finland
Hungary
Iran
Country
Mongolia
North Korea
Norway
Poland
Romania
Turkey
+14
Level 75
Dec 5, 2015
No idea if this make any sense, but would East Berlin count as USSR, creating a border with East Germany, and maybe West Germany?
+31
Level 75
Dec 5, 2015
There was just an occupation zone, but still capital of East Germany.
+1
Level 44
Aug 17, 2022
Actually Bonn, Germany was the capital. Common mistake, though, so no offence.
+2
Level 60
Sep 2, 2022
Actually, no. Bonn was the capital city of West Germany, not East Germany. Maybe you read wrong. The capital city of East Germany was indeed East-Berlin.
+17
Level 88
Dec 11, 2015
Ridiculous suggestion, unless you wish to claim the French, British and American sectors of West Berlin as parts of France, Britain and the USA.
+55
Level 33
Jan 23, 2019
Relax there, cowboy...
+7
Level 30
Jul 25, 2019
Kaliningrad is next to east germany so, not that ridiculous...
+6
Level 88
Jul 25, 2019
It was traditionally German, but the USSR took it for Russia and gave the surrounding area to Poland.
+4
Level 73
May 13, 2021
Kaliningrad is not next to any part of Germany, it's like 200 miles away from Germany...
+2
Level 49
Sep 30, 2021
Kaliningrad was part of Germany, it was Königsberg.
+2
Level 55
May 19, 2022
emphasis on "was"
+1
Level 55
May 19, 2022
Konigsburg (or east prussia) was taken by the USSR and Poland after the Second World War. The USSR never bordered East Germany.
+1
Level 52
Nov 30, 2022
Before any of that it was part of the Teutonic order, Poland, Poland with a Teutonic order fiefdom then it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth followed by Sweden for a year then the Duchy of Prussia then the Kingdom of Prussia then it was annexed by the Russian empire in the Seven Year's War but went back to the Kingdom of Prussia for a while followed by the German Empire, a Weimar Germany, a not sure if I'm allowed to say that on here Germany, then the USSR and now the Russian federation. So saying who or where it came from is too complicated.
+4
Level 24
Oct 7, 2021
East Germany was communist, but not a member of the Soviet Union. East Germany was a member of the Eastern BLOC, not the USSR.
+12
Level 67
Mar 16, 2016
Almost forgot Norway due to its very tiny common border, but got it with 30 secs. to spare.
+21
Level 73
May 19, 2017
Still 10x the length of the North Korean border :)
+11
Level 58
Aug 22, 2020
and 1310x longer than the Zambia-Botswana border
+6
Level 63
Mar 5, 2021
And infinity times longer than the Namibia-Zimbabwe border.
+8
Level 61
May 19, 2021
Also infinity times more than the Japan-El Salvador border.
+2
Level 28
May 20, 2021
I don't think you get chailattee's comment.
+1
Level 66
May 24, 2021
And probably (not that I'm sure about the Norway-Russia/USSR border) 3 hours shorter than the Botswana-Zambia border!
+8
Level 51
Oct 20, 2017
Norway and USSR were (and Norway and Russia are) neighbors just because USSR stole Petsamo area from Finland in WW2.
+11
Level 88
Jul 25, 2019
Finland shouldn't have put the swastika on all their military stuff.
+9
Level 46
Jul 27, 2019
By that logic USA shouldn't have put the star on all their military stuff. French shouldn't have put the cockade on theirs etc.
+10
Level 58
Oct 26, 2019
Yeah, the swastika was used by Finland long before Hitler was even born, let alone when the 3rd Reich was born, That's like saying that because Communist China and the Soviet Union have (or had) stars on their flag, They are like the US or the other way around.
+5
Level 69
May 18, 2020
Wayyyyy before that, it was a Hindu symbol. Oh, why did Hitler have to bring a bad name to that...
+2
Level 72
Sep 21, 2020
Apparently it was bost of a broken cross or something. Nothing to do with the Buddhism thing.
+1
Level 49
Mar 12, 2021
It was originally the symbol for Jainism, similar to Buddhism
+1
Level 44
Aug 23, 2022
swastika was never used by finns even before ww2, i am native finn so i know
+17
Level 83
Apr 29, 2016
What a lucky bunch of countries...
+26
Level 57
May 1, 2016
The bunch that was inside was even "luckier".
+8
Level 49
Jul 25, 2019
Considering most were puppets, they were probably forced to feel lucky
+11
Level 67
Jul 21, 2020
Luckier by far than Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Korea, Iran, and pretty much every single central and south American country (with the notable exception of Cuba), along with countless other countries that were victims of brutal US foreign policy in the Cold War period alone.
+10
Level 83
Aug 20, 2020
I used to live in South Korea. They were quite happy to have had the help from the USA to maintain their independence. You think they would have been better off taken over by the Soviet-backed North? Really? You'd rather have been born in Afghanistan than in Seoul? My god you're a whacko. Iran was better off under the Shah than the Ayatollahs, too. I'm not arguing that the US is unimpeachable, but seriously, how out of touch and biased can a person get? Have you ever even been to any of these places and talked to them about how they feel about Russia and the Soviets? Your map shows you've been to Ukraine. Are your blinders that thick?
+14
Level 75
Aug 20, 2020
kalbahamut, you showed us here many times that your judgments about many countries are not realistic.
+4
Level 83
Aug 20, 2020
Thanks, Voda. So you're saying that Afghanistan is a nicer place to live than South Korea. Yeah you must know what you're talking about. Thanks for weighing in.
+11
Level 75
Aug 20, 2020
I am not saying that. I can not say opposite eather because I never visited those countries. There is a very big chance to meet many Afghani people who would say that their homeland is also their favourite place for living. I love Serbia and I do not care when you say that we are racist, like you did before, because I know that it is not the truth. This and many other examples are the main reason I do not believe people who say bad things about other countries and different ethnicities.
+5
Level 83
Aug 20, 2020
Okay well I didn't say anything about Serbia here. And though I don't recall the specific comment you are referencing, there are racist people everywhere, including Serbia. My negative opinion of Serbia has a lot to do with my negative experiences there and how I was treated, but I realize that's anecdotal evidence and not worth very much. I don't think that discredits anything I said above, or makes canadry's view any less biased or more credible.
+1
Level 74
Dec 7, 2021
Actually, there seems to be a significant number of people in former soviet countries that look back fondly to those times. It's partly a matter of nationalism, partly the security of having their basic needs covered, partly conservatism (and likely other factors as well). The issue is a lot more complex than your "commie bad, murica awesome" mindset seems able to grasp.

Also, it's ironic that you talk about bias, when you have time and again demonstrated near blind support for US exceptionalism ("pax americana", interventionism and stuff like that).

+1
Level 83
Feb 25, 2022
"commie bad, murica awesome" ... tells us everything we need to know about what you are able to grasp, and how worthwhile trying to have a conversation with you would be.
+13
Level 42
May 1, 2016
Whenever the size of Russia impresses(or scares) you, remember that Soviet Union was 30% bigger.... :)
+17
Level 66
May 13, 2016
And the Russian Empire was even bigger than that
+14
Level 13
Jul 25, 2016
And the British Empire was even bigger :)
+39
Level 31
Aug 29, 2016
And the St Vincent and the Grenadines Empire was even bigger than that!
+20
Level 69
Sep 17, 2016
Don't forget the Tuvaluan Empire, that was 50 billion times larger than the puny British Empire!
+14
Level 71
Nov 18, 2016
And the Vatican beats the lot!
+5
Level 77
Jan 23, 2019
St Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu (part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands) were part of the British Empire
+6
Level 60
Jun 10, 2019
Y’all can’t forget the biggest: SEALAND
+11
Level 66
Jul 25, 2019
JackintheBox, I don’t think many people care, as it’s this thing you would commonly call, a joke.
+3
Level 77
Dec 12, 2019
@ABritishCat I know. I was just stating a fact amongst a whole comment section of jokes. Another fact (again, many people wouldn't care, but a fact nevertheless) is that St Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu are both Commonwealth realms, so they retain the British monarch as head of state.
+1
Level 69
May 18, 2020
How could you forget the Alien empire...
+1
Level 66
Aug 20, 2020
You've all forgotten about the EMPIRE OF ATLANTIUM!
+5
Level 83
Jan 22, 2019
what about Emperor Xenu's Galactic Empire?
+1
Level 28
Jan 22, 2019
What about the empire of my bedroom?
+1
Level 69
May 18, 2020
That must be remarkably small.
+1
Level 52
Dec 8, 2020
Now, now... the Monowi Empire was the largest in history.
+1
Level 71
Dec 6, 2021
No, it's definitely the empire of Paul Atreides. With a death toll of 60 billion, no one has killed more than him!
+1
Level 50
Apr 13, 2023
what happened is that someone took over the world (and that was Saturn)
+1
Level 46
Jan 23, 2019
What is going on?
+7
Level 58
Oct 26, 2019
What's going on is the Empire of Jupiter has brainwashed the inhabitants of this Solar System that there are no aliens, every once and a while you come in contact and we have to start the process over again, ever wonder why your 2 puny world wars happened? that was you being discovered by Mars and Venus respectively.
+8
Level 40
May 1, 2016
I missed czechoslovakia... Tried slovakia many times hahaha didnt remember it was WWII naming
+1
Level 58
Sep 14, 2022
me too
+1
Level 38
May 1, 2016
Thank you for 5 points!
+1
Level 64
May 1, 2016
Only now did I realize those monthly "happening" quizzes don't appear every calends! :P
+8
Level 65
May 16, 2016
Technically, all of the countries that formed the USSR (except Russia) bordered it as they declared their independence before the USSR was dissolved (26.12.1991). Even if you'd like to count only countries which independence USSR has officially recognised, it would still be three more than there are now in the answers: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been recognised as independent by the Soviet government on 06.09.1991
+3
Level 75
May 16, 2016
Interesting fact...
+6
Level 63
Aug 12, 2016
I guess post WWII means directly after.
+2
Level 49
Aug 20, 2020
but wouldnt north korea and eastern germany then also be counted as USSR territory?
+11
Level 71
Apr 3, 2018
Kazakhstan was the last country that left the USSR, even after Russia
+2
Level 69
May 18, 2020
Then the USSR must have been a significant lot smaller.
+1
Level 36
Dec 6, 2021
Kazakhstan left later than Russia so you are wrong all countries except Kazakhstan.
+2
Level 30
Jul 22, 2016
Almost forgot North Korea.
+5
Level 46
Aug 5, 2016
czechoslavakia didn't work. that's frustrating
+15
Level 75
Aug 5, 2016
Why CzechoslAvakia?
+9
Level 59
Apr 4, 2017
Oh yes, that lesser known country that borders the Czech Republic, Slavakia...
+2
Level 46
May 23, 2018
dont forget the Inited States of America XD
+4
Level 61
May 19, 2021
Don't forget Ni- oh wait, I might get cancelled.
+1
Level 56
Jan 3, 2017
Couldn't for the life of me figure out the spelling of Czechoslovakia with only 15 secs left...
+6
Level 69
May 18, 2020
First put Czech, then an o, then a Slovakia. Done!
+7
Level 72
Jan 11, 2017
there was not any official north korea before 1948 (3 years after ww2). so maybe accept both "north korea" and "korea"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea#Soviet_occupation_and_division_of_Korea_.281945.E2.80.9350.29

+2
Level 44
Jan 20, 2017
Kazakhstan?
+3
Level 59
Mar 14, 2017
Kazakhstan was one of the 15 republics that made up the USSR.
+2
Level 71
Aug 13, 2020
Those Soviets really needed their potassium...
+9
Level 88
Jul 21, 2018
How about Googlestan?
+2
Level 16
Aug 20, 2018
Lol

.

+5
Level 58
Oct 26, 2019
Excuse me... did you just say Googlestan? we only allow Yahoostan and Bingastan on this site, it's not at all like I'm using the G word right now.
+2
Level 69
May 18, 2020
I think the Googlestan empire rules.
+1
Level 36
Jan 17, 2022
lol
+1
Level 36
Jan 17, 2022
Well, I don't know but Kazakhstan was a part of Sovietstan
+1
Level 34
Aug 5, 2022
You forgot Firefoxstan! It's a very important country for the world (wide web)!
+6
Level 43
Feb 1, 2017
If this is post WW2, wouldn't North Korea just be Korea?
+3
Level 62
Feb 10, 2017
Because North Korea is best Korea
+1
Level 65
May 1, 2017
YES
+1
Level 16
Aug 20, 2018
Agreed
+2
Level 58
Oct 26, 2019
North Korea is only the Korea
+1
Level 36
Jan 17, 2022
but South Korea is also Korea, and North Korea is a democratic Korea
+1
Level 49
Jul 26, 2019
i thought of this too
+1
Level 53
Mar 6, 2017
Is there another way to spell Czechoslavakia?
+7
Level 59
Mar 14, 2017
Yes, wrongly :-)
+6
Level 73
Apr 4, 2017
It's CzechoslOvakia, my brainless friend.
+8
Level 71
Apr 22, 2017
Unlike you ChaosLord, some of us are not perfect.
+1
Level 48
Dec 5, 2017
Well, we would expect him to be, he is a pretty high level, and has been taking these quizzes for a while.
+2
Level 69
May 18, 2020
First put a Czech, then an o, then a Slovakia.
+2
Level 26
Mar 29, 2017
Before World War 2 Japan took over the Korean peninsula and Manchuria, so wouldn't Japan be a option?
+4
Level 59
Apr 4, 2017
The instructions ask for those countries around after the war, not before, during, or imagined.
+1
Level 46
May 23, 2018
'imagined' you mean not official because it was an occupation
+2
Level 49
Jul 25, 2019
And the sharing of Sakhaline island... Was this after the war?
+1
Level 49
Jul 25, 2019
That's it!

USSR attacked Japan AFTER WW2.

Before that, they had a common border in Sakhaline.

+3
Level 60
Apr 22, 2017
I wonder how close Pakistan was to bordering the USSR.
+3
Level 66
Aug 1, 2017
I think it's about 20km, that's the narrowest bit of Afghanistan between Pakistan and Tajikistan.
+1
Level 36
Dec 6, 2021
And also India if you consider the POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) region as India which 20% of the world's population does.
+1
Level 36
Dec 6, 2021
and also India if you consider the POK region as India which 20% of the world's population does.
+3
Level 32
May 10, 2017
I forgot about Czechoslovakia
+1
Level 40
May 26, 2017
12/12 with 2:14 remaining
+2
Level 76
Aug 24, 2017
*Guesses Czech Republic and Slovakia* Hmmm, I wonder what it could be? Not Yugoslavia, not India... Wait a minute, could it be Czechoslovakia?

YES 100%

+2
Level 62
Nov 27, 2017
Korea and North Korea should be accepted as both bordered the USSR after WWII
+2
Level 67
May 23, 2018
Korea wasn't unified at any point after the Second World War. The Japanese empire conquered Korea and when the empire was dissolved Korea was split between the USA and the USSR. It is arguable that at this stage neither North not South Korea were really countries yet, but they were occupied by two different countries and were certainly not one country.
+3
Level 58
May 23, 2018
What about Tanna Tuva?
+2
Level 48
Mar 25, 2019
That was a state just before world war 2, this is after ww2
+4
Level 66
Dec 23, 2018
Dprk should be accepted for north korea
+1
Level 58
Oct 26, 2019
That's like saying Ukgbni for the United Kingdom, there is already a defining difference between the 2 Koreas as in North and South.
+2
Level 77
Dec 12, 2019
Ukgbni doesn't have to be accepted for the United Kingdom, as the first two letters are already accepted for it.
+2
Level 57
Jan 22, 2019
Could you put in the title post WWII didn't notice that thing until i finished it, confused me at the beginning why didn't it accept baltic nations and japan.
+1
Level 21
May 10, 2023
The baltic nations were a part of the unites soviet socialist republic.
+1
Level 37
Jan 23, 2019
how did i forget about mongolia???
+2
Level 48
Mar 25, 2019
OH MY GOD WHY DID I FORGET CHINA AND MOMGOLIa
+2
Level 52
Dec 8, 2020
I don't understand China, but you just misspelled Mongolia; hence you didn't get it.
+1
Level 62
Jun 4, 2023
Momgolia sounds like a brand of women's hiking clothes.
+2
Level 42
May 20, 2019
Forgets Mongolia and Finland after getting all the less obvious ones.
+2
Level 58
Oct 26, 2019
Well Finland and Mongolia were both part of the USSR at one point so maybe you just subconsciously thought of it as part of it already.
+2
Level 63
Apr 2, 2020
What?
+2
Level 63
Apr 21, 2020
No they weren't
+2
Level 69
May 18, 2020
Wasn't Finland part of the Russian Empire and Mongolia part of Qing Dynasty China?
+1
Level 62
Jun 4, 2023
Russian Empire != Soviet Union
+1
Level 69
Jul 25, 2019
0:45 left
+3
Level 49
Jul 26, 2019
As north korea was only officially formed in 1948, i think korea and even south korea are also good answers for that question, even though all the three are somewhat wrong
+1
Level 49
Jul 26, 2019
nice and interesting quiz by the way! :)
+1
Level 46
Aug 1, 2019
please allow Slovakia or Czechia or Czech Republic to count as Czechoslovakia
+10
Level 75
Aug 1, 2019
No.
+2
Level 77
Dec 12, 2019
Good.
+2
Level 67
Dec 12, 2019
Slovakia maybe, Czechia definitely not. But no, the USSR bordered a country called Czechoslovakia.
+1
Level 29
Oct 6, 2019
turkey???? if you see armenia, azerbaijan and georgia. Where is Turkey?
+2
Level 75
Oct 6, 2019
It is on the list.
+1
Level 69
May 18, 2020
Turkey bordered Armenia, which was part of the USSR with Georgia and Azerbaijan.
+2
Level 59
Nov 30, 2019
Does Japan count with Sakhalin Island?
+3
Level 75
Nov 30, 2019
No.
+2
Level 60
Apr 17, 2020
Gahhhh only missed Czechoslovakia, tried Czechia and Slovakia but totally forgot that they were the same country after WWII.
+3
Level 69
May 18, 2020
I wonder what would happen if the USSR won the Cold War. Would the USA break up into 50 states? Good thing that didn't happen, otherwise the Countries of the World Quiz would be much harder.
+3
Level 75
May 18, 2020
Nobody won the Cold War.
+4
Level 83
May 18, 2020
The Soviet Union disintegrated. The United States remained the world's only superpower. The US and its allies clearly won. Unless you are saying that the entire exercise was unproductive and wasteful which, if so, fair enough.
+3
Level 83
Aug 20, 2020
If the United States ever broke apart into different successor states I think it's more likely that many of them would form different clusters. I imagine independent states of... Hawaii, Alaska, Texas, California, and Florida. But after that probably New England that would include New York, a new Southern Confederacy, a mountain state centered around Denver or Salt Lake City, a Pacific Northwest state with a capital in Seattle, a midwest farm belt state, Chicago maybe as an independent city-state, and an Eastern seaboard state from Pennsylvania down to Northern Virginia and perhaps extending down the coast as far as Norfolk and Virginia Beach. That would be 12 new countries, not 50. West Virginia and some Native American reservations might declare sovereignty, as well. And maybe Vermont, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Guam, Las Vegas, and Disney World.
+2
Level 83
Dec 6, 2021
The different US states did use to think of themselves as separate sovereign entities, but joined together in a common federation of independent states, probably similar to how different member states of the EU feel today. But that's pretty ancient history, now. Slowly the USA moved closer to something like the UK, where the constituent entities were independent and "states" ("countries") in name only, power was increasingly concentrated at the federal level, and citizens of individual states began to think less of themselves as Virginians or New Yorkers and more as Americans. Until finally we got to the status quo of the day where, in the US, if you hold allegiance to your state or city higher than to your country this is usually seen as quaint or cute but unrealistic, and only kooks and dingbats like Ted Cruz openly talk about secession, and then are publicly ridiculed for it.
+2
Level 71
Dec 6, 2021
Yeah, even in our age of polarization, no one is talking about the breakup of the United States. The difference is that the Soviet Union was really a successor state to the Russian Empire, which was made of dozens of ethnicities with their own histories and geographic regions. The weakening of the Soviet Union in the late '80s was the perfect time for these nations to regain sovereignty and break free of Russian influence. In contrast, most parts of the US have the same acknowledged history, and while we are ethnically diverse, our diversity isn't based around geography or history.

Maybe in the far future, regional cultures in North America will become distinct enough for the US to break up, but I doubt it'll happen anytime this century.

+1
Level 21
May 10, 2023
If the US states broke apart, Most of them would be bought out or invaded.
+2
Level 47
Aug 20, 2020
dang, bro... I put in Czechia and Slovakia but I forgot to combine them lmao. I forgot all about Czechoslovakia.
+1
Level 29
Sep 5, 2020
.. forgot Norway bordered Russia...
+1
Level 55
Nov 27, 2020
Nice quiz. Would perhaps be more of a head-scratcher if you included the whole of the USSR's history.
+1
Level 49
Nov 27, 2020
you need to put post-1949, because until then east germany was still theirs, making a border with the us, france, the uk and denmark i think. dont know when korea got independent tho
+2
Level 23
Mar 3, 2021
@Forestier No, Kaliningrad is next to Poland.
+1
Level 30
Apr 11, 2021
Shouldn’t Sweden be there?
+3
Level 64
Apr 22, 2021
USSR never owned Finland. Russian Empire did
+1
Level 30
Aug 26, 2021
I literally tried Czechia and Slovakia but at the time it was Czechoslovakia, I am sad
+1
Level 51
Dec 6, 2021
Can you please accept Czechia for Czechoslovakia?
+2
Level 69
Dec 6, 2021
It didn't exist at that time.
+1
Level 33
Dec 6, 2021
What about Konigsburg? Wouldn't that make it border East Germany?
+1
Level 79
Dec 6, 2021
No, Königsberg / Kaliningrad was part of USSR, but it borders Poland, not Germany (then East Germany). It also borders Lithuania, but that was just another part of USSR.
+1
Level 59
Dec 6, 2021
I feel like there should be a caveat that some of these countries may not still exist.

I didn't think to type former countries.

+1
Level 31
Dec 8, 2021
Can you accept Czechia for Czechoslovakia?
+1
Level 75
Dec 12, 2021
No, because they are two different countries.
+1
Level 21
May 10, 2023
13..actually
+1
Level 36
Jan 17, 2022
Nice Quiz, Long live our Soviet Motherland
+1
Level 37
Jan 26, 2022
Norway almost got me
+1
Level 33
Dec 23, 2022
It took me so long to figure Afghanistan
+1
Level 43
Jan 19, 2023
Forgot it was czechoslovakia at this time
+1
Level 54
Feb 23, 2023
..nice...but too easy...
+1
Level 21
May 10, 2023
bro i literally put czechoslovakia with a space
+1
Level 62
Jun 4, 2023
I guessed the last country with 1 second Romaning