This recently unclassified, formerly top secret document released by the Russian State Archives illustrates (quite literally) the lengths the Soviets wanted to go to in order to win the Cold War: not just the defeat of the capitalist USA, but its complete removal off the face of the earth.
The document is dated February 26, 1973 and is signed by Yuri Andropov, then head of the KGB. In the mid-1980s, Andropov rose to be secretary-general of the CPSU (effectively the Guy in Overall Charge), in which post he was the immediate predecessor of Mikhail Gorbachev (*).
It reads, in part: “This is a scheme of assumed changes in geographical structure of Earth continents which may happen as a result of correction of gravity field of the Earth by the A-241/BIS device.”
I’ve never heard of such a device outside the realm of fiction (the Doomsday Machine in the movie Dr Strangelove springs to mind), so I suppose this document is a hoax.
The map is presented at this page of bldgblog, an excellent blog about “architectural conjecture, urban speculation and landscape futures”.
(*): Not. Please check the comments.
The outline of the map seems a lot more regular and solid black in comparison to the lines in the rest of the document, which possibly suggests that it was added to the document after scanning by someone not careful enough to give the whole thing a more uniform look. I think it’s a hoax! By the way, congratulations for your blog, it’s very interesting.
Comment by Stathis — March 27, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
A comment on the site you found it on says it’s a hoax. Heads-up…
Comment by kim — March 27, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
[...] | Strange Maps Entradas relacionadas: Internet hace desaparecer idiomasDreamhost amplia el uso de CPUAhorra 90 [...]
Pingback by El plan soviético para hacer desaparecer Norteamérica | La brujula verde — March 27, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
Just a very small commentary on your very interesting blog: Andropov was not the “immediate predecessor” of Gorbachev. There were the 13 months of Konstantin Chernenko inbetween.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko
Keep up the good work!
Comment by simber — March 27, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
@Simber:
That’s true! I forgot all about him…
Comment by strangemaps — March 27, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
It is amazing to me that the Russians can put the A-241/BIS device together but not find a way to reduce the size of the world map as to fit it onto a sheet of paper without cutting off Australia and NZ (unless that was part of the plan, too)!
Comment by IB a Math Teacher — March 27, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
¿El plan soviético para hacer desaparecer Norteamérica?
"En el documento que reproducimos aquí, procedente de los archivos rusos desclasificados, se ilustra el deseo que tenían los soviéticos de eliminar por completo, geograficamente, Norteamérica. El documento está fechado el 26 de febrero de 197…
Trackback by meneame.net — March 27, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
That was awesome!! hahaha lol
Comment by alex — March 27, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
In fact, the original post was correct. As was widely known in the USSR even at the time, Chernenko was already dead when appointed Secretary General.
Comment by vadim — March 27, 2007 @ 8:42 pm
No Canada but for Baffin Island?
That’s going to raise some eyebrows in Nunavut. :-)
Comment by Dwight Williams — March 27, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
[...] (via Strange Maps) [...]
Pingback by Why We Had to Win the Cold War « Den of Hydralisks — March 28, 2007 @ 1:02 am
Looks like a hoax. Nobody writes a research proposal this way. On the other hand, there’s definitely clear evidence that the Russians had lots of crazy ideas that got funded – maybe because at the time the Soviet Union has already strangled itself economically and people decided that ‘anything goes’.
One can do nothing but laugh at the stupidity of it all.
Comment by Dmitri — March 28, 2007 @ 5:40 am
I think it must be a hoax, but it’s still very interesting. It just serves to show how petty the affair really was…thoroughly enjoy the blog by the way. I never thought maps could be interesting, but how wrong I was.
Comment by duncannichols — March 28, 2007 @ 9:54 am
Of course, the fact that it’s a hoax doesn’t mean the Russians didn’t fall for it and give the guy a million rubles to research it. :)
Comment by syberghost — March 28, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Don’t let Rick Santorum see this map – he’ll have a heart attack! I’m guessing it’s all a ploy by the Chavistas.
Comment by CBH — March 28, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
Is this a joke? I can´t imagine a world without Coca-Cola and Mc Donald´s. Without Brittney spears and Al Gore…
Comment by nikanika — March 28, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
Doesn’t Al Gore’s map look just about the same?
Comment by erkki — March 28, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
Umm… that’s kind of insane.
-Matt
http://www.mattgunn.ca
Comment by mattgunn — March 28, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
erkki is right! The Soviet Plan for the Elimination of North America was to let North Americans build big vehicles, lots of coal-fired power plants, and drown in rising oceans! That’s consistent with the Andropov Modification of the famous Kruschev misquote: “We will watch you be flooded.”
Further research would show that the Soviets determined the plan was impossible, since it required the election of an Ivy League frat boy to the presidency of the U.S. to intentionally ignore all the warning signs of danger along the way until it was too late for the U.S. The Soviets determined that no one could be so disloyal to their own nation.
Comment by Ed Darrell — March 28, 2007 @ 10:47 pm
[...] 92 – Secret Soviet Plans for the Complete Removal of the North American Continent [...]
Pingback by WordPress Wednesday: Hot WordPress Plugins, Slideshows on WordPress.com, Translation Trouble, and More at The Blog Herald — March 28, 2007 @ 11:19 pm
[...] 92 – Secret Soviet Plans for the Complete Removal of the North American Continent [image] This recently unclassified, formerly top secret document released by the Russian State Archives illustrates […] [...]
Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — March 28, 2007 @ 11:58 pm
Did they also shoot the engineers who said it couldn’t be done?
Comment by Markk — March 29, 2007 @ 7:00 am
I don’t believe it.
Comment by Joel Toe — March 29, 2007 @ 9:28 am
[...] Strange Maps reveals a recently declassified Soviet memo from 1973 showing how the world would look without the North American continent, a result “which may happen as a result of correction of gravity field of the Earth by the [...]
Pingback by Super Top Secret Crazy Maps « Organizations and Markets — April 1, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
Hey, what would you expect from a Soviet bloc copier? Maybe they exceeded their monthly toner allotment…
Comment by Steve — April 4, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
It’s a blatant hoax, people. Do a GIS for ‘world map’ and it will be the fifth map on the top row. You can tell it’s the same map by the poorly-drawn Eastern Mediterranean as well as the southern coast of the Arabian peninsula being drawn incorrectly.
A clever, but modern hoax.
Comment by Blue Communist — April 4, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
[...] Flashback: Secret Soviet Plans for the Complete Removal of the North American Continent [...]
Pingback by Complacent Nation » Blog Archive » News items for April 4, 2007 — April 5, 2007 @ 12:08 am
cool!!!
Comment by nikolay — April 5, 2007 @ 6:28 am
Maybe they decited to use this tecknology to make the poler ice caps disapeer instead?
Comment by dauveed — April 5, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
A land bridge from Odessa to Istanbul?
And the poor owners of the Panama Canal!
I lost, btw, my copy of “The Peace Atlas of Europe.” If you can find a copy (I see them used on Amazon), you may have some very interesting sources for immediate post-WWII strange maps.
Comment by jd2718 — April 6, 2007 @ 7:46 pm
[...] Origen: Strange Maps [...]
Pingback by Raul Vera (rojo) » Blog Archive » Plan secreto soviético para eliminar de la faz de la tierra al continente norteamericano — April 6, 2007 @ 10:30 pm
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Pingback by Observations » Blog Archive » Secret Soviet Plans for the Complete Removal of the North American Continent — April 9, 2007 @ 2:51 pm
If not a hoax, I hope it’s still on the boards. What a boon for mankind were it seriously put in action!
Comment by spewford — April 10, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
Hummm funny, a normal person would think it was half a map… but thinking they had a way to whipe out all of North America makes much more sence. OH MY, the cut poor Alstalia in half too…YOU BASTARDS THE AUSSIES WERE INOCENT!
Comment by Noah — April 12, 2007 @ 6:39 am
Да. Вам пиздец.
Comment by Ivan — May 11, 2007 @ 8:34 am
Однозначно, пиздец! И поскорее бы, а то уже метастазы по всей планете пошли…
Comment by Slava — May 11, 2007 @ 9:00 am
русские особенно хороши в составе собачего корма.Самое место для них.
Твари вы безмоглые.
Comment by i_love_you — May 11, 2007 @ 9:12 am
Oh, the good old A-241/BIS device… Nah, it was too big and was supposed to consume too much power. A blackout in Moscow for a whole day was too much to pay for elimination of the North America (half of Australia was an inevitable side effect, you know. We even drafted a “sorry” diplomatic note, and we meant it – we were sorry!). And by the way, the “correction of the Earth gravity field” meant that the landmasses in question were just supposed to take off into the orbit, complete with even atmosphere attached…
Now we have the A-580/M device; it is much more compact, and only needs six AA batteries, just like the ones you use in torches or photo cameras. AND it is much more precise, too! The Aussies can relax now.
Comment by General Grubozaboischikov — May 11, 2007 @ 10:22 am
We may take this issue as a joke or not. The fact is we can hardly obtain the real things that are developed by the governments. And if to remember about such persons like Tesla you begin to realize that nothing is impossible. Including mentioned plan.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a famous russian politician, had already voiced this concept. Calling Bush “shitting arse cowboy” actually.
Comment by Ruffych — May 11, 2007 @ 11:36 am
i’ve heard somewhere smth about using a-580/m nearly 2010. is it true?
Comment by Sergey Ivanov (in reserve) — May 11, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
Source of this picture: http://dirty.ru/news/71594
It’s a joke, from photoshop contest.
Comment by Yuu — May 11, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
The practice continues: while I was studying in Egypt, maps of the Middle East (geographic maps, oil strikes, historical) would often have a big white spot where Israel is. It was the oddest thing speaking with professors who simply wouldn’t acknowlege the existance of Israel, or lack thereof.
Comment by CreidS — June 12, 2007 @ 11:07 pm
I like that fact that the Panama Canal is stil there, even though it wouldn’t be needed any more.
I can just see some Soviet trawlers who didn’t get the memo continuing to chug through the canal
Comment by DKJ — June 14, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Thanks to god!! The human being cannot do it!!
Comment by jdm — February 14, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
I am ROLFLOL! hahahahahahahahaha. It’s cute that they drew the map on the instruction just to be sure. Mere words didn’t suffice. This is the stuff Huckleberry Hound and Loony Toons cartoons are made of!
@ Markkk: LMAO I agree!
Comment by alma mater — March 2, 2009 @ 10:53 am
I’ll just translate some comments from our Russian friends for those who do not speak Russian:
35. “Да. Вам пиздец.” – “Yes! You are f#cked!”
36. “Однозначно, пиздец! И поскорее бы, а то уже метастазы по всей планете пошли…” – “F#cked, positively! And the sooner the better, otherwise there are already metastases all over the planet”.
And a humorous reply to the first two:
37. “русские особенно хороши в составе собачего корма.Самое место для них. Твари вы безмоглые.” – “Russians are especially good as a component of dog food, that’s their right place. Brainless creatures that you are.”
;)
Comment by red.herring — March 3, 2009 @ 3:33 pm
Однажлы в студеную летнюю пору. Бродил Я по нету. Наткнулся на пост. Понравилось очень! Респект выражаю! И даже закладки себе добавляю!
Comment by WiND — March 26, 2009 @ 11:35 am
thanks alot
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 2:34 am
thanks for this map.
good
luck
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 7:21 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 5:10 am
teşekkür ederim
Comment by yory — June 12, 2009 @ 8:47 pm
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 4:01 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 6:49 am