Was the Soviet Union Stronger at its peak than the Russian Empire at its peak

[Orser67]

I'd say that the Soviet Union was more powerful at its peak in the middle of the 20th century than Russia ever was in the 19th century or any other period. After WW2, all of Russia's 19th century rivals (save Britain, in part) were badly weakened (Germany, Japan) or completely out of the picture (Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire), with the Soviet Union's influence extending farther than it ever had. Certainly, the post-WW2 Soviet army was more powerful vis-a-vis its land rivals than the Russian army ever was. I'm no economic historian, but I'd also guess that the Russian/Soviet Union share of world GDP peaked at some point during this period, reflecting the extent to which the Soviets had been successful at modernizing (albeit still imperfectly). The development of nuclear weapons also gave the Soviet Union a gigantic military advantage over all but a handful of countries.

I do think there's a counter-argument to be made that, while the Soviet Union was clearly in the top 2 in the middle of the 20th century in a way it wasn't in the 19th century, the distance between it and the #1 power (the U.S.) was greater at that point than it was in the 19th century (at least post-Napoleon). Maybe another argument is that the Russian Empire held up reasonably well for 300 years (from the Time of Troubles to the Russian Revolution) whereas the Soviet Union lasted around 70 years; one might argue that this points to an inherent weakness in the Soviet system.