Russian Tactics During World War II The Russians began the war in a disorganised way as a result of the
purges of officers prior to the outbreak. In addition Stalin ignored
intelligence concerning the German invasion plans. Thus the issue here
is to reflect on just how the Russians managed to become one of the
victor nations. Among the factors one would include: the central
organisation of resources which gave the nation the ability to resist;
the large-scale mobilisation of resources, especially the placing of
women in the workforce to release males for army service; the partial
reconciliation with the Church; Stalin's rapid use of his leadership
and personality to unite the people. Other factors would include
German mistakes and the impact of the Russian climate on the invading
forces
Introduction:
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany began the Operation Barbarossa, the
invasion of the Soviet Union. The Great Patriotic War began
inauspiciously for the Soviet Union as the military forces were caught
unprepared and Stalin ordered the border units not to return fire. "on
the first day of the war 1200 Soviet planes were destroyed" (www.english.pravda.ru)
The German blitzkrieg nearly succeeded in defeating the Russians
within the first months. By November 1941 The German army had seized
the Ukrainian Republic, started the siege of Lennigrad and threatened
the security of Moscow. Whole armies and vast quantities of equipment
had been lost in the first weeks of the war. It seemed that Russia may
not survive and it was imperative for the CPSU to focus on policies to
fight t...
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...tonov - and thereby turned his vast
nation into an irresitable force to win the Patriotic War.
Conclusion
The policies employed in the Great Patriotic War proved to be
successful and resulted in the defeat of the German army. They also
meant that Russia emerged as one of the world's great military powers
with control over most of Eastern Europe but these national
achievements had been bought at great cost. An estimated 25 million
Soviet citizens, military and civilian, perished in the war and severe
material losses were inflicted throughout the war affected areas of
the country. The war was ultimately won by the suffering and efforts
of all the ordinary Soviet people. " were organised, bullied or coaxed
by their political masters and responded to their task with a mixture
of crusading zeal and fatalistic duty"
...ldn’t help but want to get their own revenge on France and Britain that had joined in due to the alliance they had with Russia.
The United States and The Soviet Union were originally joined together by the want to defeat The Nazi army, in 1941-1945. The alliance remained, and strengthened, among the two until the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, a rupture between the two occurred. The differences began earlier, but there was a straw that broke the camels back. The reason The United States and The Soviet Union’s alliance did not work out is because The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The Soviet Union proved to be faulty, and they were never truly allies.
No war is fought without the struggle for resources, and with Russia still rapidly lagging behind in the international industrialisation race by the turn of the 20th century, the stage was set for social unrest and uprising against its already uncoordinated and temporally displaced government. With inconceivable demands for soldiers, cavalry and warfare paraphernalia, Russia stood little chance in the face of the great powers of World War One. Shortages of basic human necessities led to countless subsistence riots and the eventual power struggle between the ruling body and its people. From the beginnings of WWI to 1916, prices of essential goods rose 131 percent in Moscow and more than 150 percent in Petrograd. Additionally, historian Walter G. Moss stated that in September 1915 that “there were 100,000 strikers in Russia; in October 1916, there were 250,000 in Petrograd alone.” Moss continues to exemplify the increasing evidence of social unrest and connects the riots to a lack of resources when he goes on to point out that “subsistence riots protesting high prices and shortages… also increased.” ...
Novikov states that by entering the war at the last minute the United States was able to affect the outcome, ensuring its own interests
Russia in the 1930s By 1928, Stalin had ousted Trotsky and the rest of the Left opposition. In four years, Stalin had single handedly taken major steps away from Lenin’s collective leadership and free inter-party debate and replaced them with his autocratic dictatorship. Stalin began to secure predominant power over the communist party and the state by destroying passive opposition from the peasantry and former Lenin supporters. He won growing support from the working class, who were impressed with the initial five-year plan. It promised increased industrialization, which would lead to socialism in one country within their lifetime.
Russia entered the war when Nazi Germany executed Operation Barbarossa. They missed their start date by 3 months and that would lead to one of the many problems Nazi Germany faced during the war on the Eastern front. Russia delivered Germany their biggest defeats including The Battle of Stalingrad and the battle of Kursk. Without these two battles Germany would not have had the significant personnel and supplies lost they faced for the final 3 years of the war.
“Stalingrad is the scene of the costliest and most stubborn battle in this war. The battle fought there to its desperate finish may turn out to be among the decisive battles in the long history of war…In the scale of its intensity, its destructiveness, and its horror, Stalingrad has no parallel. It engaged the full strength of the two biggest armies in Europe and could fit into no lesser framework than that of a life-and death conflict which encompasses the earth”
(p.20-21) As a result of the war, Russia was severely weakened, which greatly upset the balance of power in Europe. Taylor claims that, “What gave France independence as a Great Power was the alliance with Russia, which automatically halved German strength.” (p. 35) By the end of the war the “German Problem” remained.... ...
The battle of Stalingrad may have very well been the most important battle over the course of World War II. Not necessarily remembered for its course of fighting, the battle is more known for its outcome. Not only did the battle turn out to be a major turning point in the war, it may have saved most of Eastern Europe from incomparable destruction. The battle included two of the biggest political and military icons of their time, Stalin and Hitler.
In 1812, it was a different story, the French invaded Russia. It led to a change of fates.
In April 1945, Russian forces that had been triumphant at Stalingrad had pushed the German forces back into Germany and American and British forces that had been victorious in their invasion of Normandy did the same; they met at the Elbe River in central Germany (Lukacs 17). Europe was separated into two independent halves, one Russian occupied and the other American; from this division, the Cold War emerged. "When a power vacuum separates great powers, as one did the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II, they are unlikely to fill it without bumping up against and bruising each other" (Gaddis). This 'bumping' and 'bruising' caused the tensions and hostilities that surfaced in the years following WWII. There are three doctrines examining the origins of the Cold War: Orthodox, the belief that "the intransigence of Leninist ideology, the sinister dynamics of a totalitarian society, and the madness of Stalin" (McCauley 88) caused the Cold War; Revisionist, the idea that "American policy offered the Russians no real choice...either acquiesce to American proposals or be confronted with American power or hostility" (McCauley 90) and thus, America caused the war; and the
Under a backdrop of systematic fear and terror, the Stalinist juggernaut flourished. Stalin’s purges, otherwise known as the “Great Terror”, grew from his obsession and desire for sole dictatorship, marking a period of extreme persecution and oppression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. “The purges did not merely remove potential enemies. They also raised up a new ruling elite which Stalin had reason to think he would find more dependable.” (Historian David Christian, 1994). While Stalin purged virtually all his potential enemies, he not only profited from removing his long-term opponents, but in doing so, also caused fear in future ones. This created a party that had virtually no opposition, a new ruling elite that would be unstoppable, and in turn negatively impacted a range of sections such as the Communist Party, the people of Russia and the progress in the Soviet community, as well as the military in late 1930 Soviet society.
in the war in between 1939 and the end of 1941, was largely based on a
The Tsar is weak and the war effort is failing, he must be replaced. With
The opening of the Eastern front caused Germany to shift some of its forces from Europe to invade the Soviet Union and the eventual loss of the war. The Siege of Leningrad is a battle between Germany and the Soviet Union, with little involvement from Finland on the side of the Axis Powers. During the start of the Operation, the weather was in favor of the invading German Forces. As the months passed, heavy rains began to slow the German Army due to the mud stopping armor and slowing the troop’s forward movement.