In the 1980's the world was a very different place. Having grown up in this decade I experienced it firsthand. There was no internet like there is today, and computers were still in their infancy and very slow. No one carried around cell phones so if you weren't home no one could call you. There were no text messages. In a lot of ways life was a lot less complicated compared to the world of today since we weren't addicted to smart phones like we all are today. Plus there were a lot of cool rock bands with really big hair!
Something that most of the younger generations don't remember is the cold war. Since the 1950's the US and Europe had been in the heat of the cold war against the USSR and the soviet block countries ruled by the communist party. There was the constant threat of nuclear war on a daily basis. Thank god it never came to fruition.
The Olympic games were a huge point of pride for the Soviet Union. They always did their best to try to show up the western world with their athletic abilities, and when the soviets were awarded the Olympic games in 1980 they were ecstatic! Then in 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan throwing the world into a bit of unbalance. Most western countries supported the freedom fighting resistance (mujahideen) against the Soviets. The war was fought for ten long years before the soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in defeat. But not before leaving an estimated 500,000 to 2,000,000 Afghani's dead.
As a result of the invasion the USA boycotted the 1980 Olympic games. The USSR then boycotted the Los Angeles Olympic games four years later. Cold war tit for tat. Then after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks the USA and NATO invaded Afghanistan, kind of ironic...
The USSR underwent dissolution in 1991 ending the cold war. I have one of the relics of those days of the cold war in this five Roubles silver coin produced in the USSR commemorating their upcoming Olympic games in 1980. I think I picked it up at a coin show a very long time ago.
About the coin:
Country: Soviet Union (USSR)
Mint: Leningrad
Year:1977
Denomination: 5 Roubles
Composition: 90% silver
Weight: 16.67 grams
Diameter: 33 mm
Thickness: 2.4 mm
Demonetized in 1991
Obverse: Arms of Soviet Union (hammer and sickle) and lettering CCCP (USSR) and denomination 5 Roubles
Reverse: Scene of Minsk with lettering: ИГРЫ XXII ОЛИМПИАДЫ · МОСКВА · 1980 МИНСК ЛМД 1977 translation from Numista: Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow · 1980 Minsk LMD
This is the only coin I own produced by the USSR. However it is a nice reminder of the cold war, and hopefully we aren't heading into a second cold war right now. It is a nice coin in good condition, however the oxidation makes me wonder if it was really made with 90 percent silver. Still a very cool coin!
Thanks for stopping by to check out my post. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for all of your support. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments please feel free to leave them below. Thanks again!
References
Numista
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces31602.html
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
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