ABSTRACT
Strela or BESM: Which computer was developed first in the Soviet Union? Such a question is difficult to answer, but recently declassified archival documents may hold the key. The Soviet military itself was content with the mechanical calculators and the analogue machines, provided by the Ministry of Machine-building and Instrument-building, which was familiar to the military elite. Moreover, the artillery part of the military seems to have preferred the special-purpose analogue calculators because they were easier to operate and a lot cheaper. It seems it was a group of scientists and mathematicians, many of whom engaged themselves in the Soviet nuclear project, that felt the real need for general-purpose, electronic, digital computers for advanced and complicated calculations required for nuclear physics. In Soviet bureaucratic culture, in order to eliminate obstacles in the way of computer development, they had to seek patronage from the top political leadership. The Ministry and its design bureau took countermeasures by the means of the development of their own computer, Strela. Even harassing the other competitors, they eventually gained momentary success. All of these processes shaped the Soviet quest for high-speed computers into a complicated and discordant process. Without any doubt, they greatly delayed Soviet computer development.
