The Soviet Army was the land-based branch of the Soviet Union's military that existed from 25 February 1946 to December 1991. From the end of World War II in 1945 to the start of the Cold War in 1948, the Soviet Army was reduced from 11,300,000 to 2,800,000 troops, and it was reduced from 33 to 21 military districts. The Soviet Army's first few wars involved putting down Eastern European partisan movements before putting down an anti-Soviet coup in East Germany in 1953, the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, and the Prague Spring in 1968. Further wars included the Sino-Soviet Split in 1969 and the Soviet-Afghan War in 1978-1989.
Soviet troops in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1986
The Soviet army relied only on its own arsenal, which included Mikhail Kalashnikov's weapons (the AK-47, RPK, AK-74u, AKM, etc.), the Sukhoi and Mikoyan-Gurevich aircraft companies, and the GAZ armored vehicle company (BTR-60 and others). The Soviet Army was one of the most feared militaries in the world due to its ruthlessness in putting down rebellions, and it had stations in several allied (Warsaw Pact or Eastern Bloc) countries across the world from Cuba in the Caribbean Sea to Libya in North Africa, East Germany in Central Europe, South Yemen in the Middle East, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia. The Soviet Army and the US Army rivaled each other without directly fighting during the Cold War, but they constantly competed against each other to become the world's strongest army. Unfortunately, the Soviet Army would be disbanded at the Cold War's end in 1991, leaving the United States as the only superpower.