Can someone help with geography??

[mikeTV]

When I was at school we learnt about the USSR - was this ever a continent? Was it part of Asia? I don't remember it being part of Europe.

Am I right in thinking that the USSR broke down following the fall of the Berlin Wall and many Eastern European countries were integrated into Europe. Does this mean Russia is now within Europe? Again this doesn't feel right! I know, for example that it's harder to get in/out of Russia than other European countries.

Can anyone give me a potted history/summary please? I'm feeling a bit stupid!

USSR was a large country that split into a number of smaller countries - Russia and then lots of hard to spell places e.g. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan. Russia lies partly in Russia and partly in Asia and is generally referred to as being in "Eurasia". It is not part of the European Union. That is made up of 28 countries with Norway and Iceland being part of the EEA rather than Europe.

The Berlin was in Germany and the fall of the wall didn't directly cause the split of the USSR but it was one other significant political change at the time and the fall of the USSR was part of the same tide of change. The USSR was dissolved when Gorbachev resigned.

Yes the Stans were known as Soviet Central Asia before the USSR dissolved.

That's helpful - thank you!