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Recommended: The impact of Stalin
Stalin was a Russian dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Though he grew up poor with an abusive father, under his direction, Russia was transformed from impoverished to a global superpower. He is well known for ruling with fear and violence, having killed millions of his citizens during his reign, but few people realize his great contributions during World War II. Joseph Stalin’s ignorant commands causing thousands of soldiers of the Red Army to be defeated during Operation Barbarossa, his act of signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact thus allowing the beginning of World War Two, and his series of counter-attacks at Stalingrad and Kursk in 1941, diminishing the power of German army forces, make Stalin a defining …show more content…
Though Germany rearmed in 1933, already preparing for a war, other countries were careful not to instigate a fight, even when Germany took over the Rhineland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia throughout 1938-1939 for the reason of appeasement, hope that this would please Hitler and prevent the beginning of a war. For this same reason, Stalin agreed to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact in August of 1939. The Nazi-Soviet Pact, also known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, was a promise between Russia and Germany that they would not harm each other if the war occurred. After Stalin signed the peace agreement, Hitler understood that he would no longer need to fear attacks from the USSR, and could begin getting serious, launching a Blitzkrieg (lightning war) on Poland, consequently beginning World War Two. This demonstrates how Stalin was a major catalyst to World War Two, effectively starting the war. Despite this being a negative action with poor consequences, Stalin’s later contributions helped the effort against …show more content…
When the German troops broke the conditions of the Nazi-Soviet Pact by advancing into Russian territory in June of 1941, Stalin originally froze into a nervous breakdown, unable to command his Red Army, but soon recovered within weeks. The Russian government had fled Moscow, but Stalin remained in the Kremlin, the fortified complex in the heart of Moscow. Regaining control, Stalin moved industrial plants from the European USSR and into the eastern side, far from German invasions. Competent military commanders were allowed to take control of important strategic positions, and Soviet ports accepted increasing qualities of lend-lease products, in which Russia received resources and supplies from the United States and other Western Powers. During this, Stalin also helped forge a strong sense of nationalism in the Russian people. In December of June 1941, Germany was pushed out of their positions around Moscow with counter-offensives at Stalingrad and Kursk. By late 1944, Soviet forces had entered Europe and by April 1945, launched an attack on Berlin.. It was largely due to Stalin’s regained courage that the attacks were launched. This turned the defensive on Germany, and weakening Germany ultimately caused the ending of World War, when they were forced to retreat after the defeat of
As the Soviets fought back the oncoming German army, it was evident that blitzkrieg was unsuccessful. As the Germans had never experienced Russian winters before; they were unaware of the freezing cold temperatures. Without proper clothing and material, this caused devastating effects. With Stalin choosing to stay in Moscow this raised the morale, and was an important aspect that led to the Moscow victory. Christian goes on to state, “A longer, drawn out war allowed Russia to exploit its reserves of raw materials and labour. In this sense, the battle of Moscow was a turning
In conclusion, many soviets citizens appeared to believe that Stalin’s positive contributions to the U.S.S.R. far outweigh his monstrous acts. These crimes have been down played by many of Stalin’s successors as they stress his achievements as collectivizer, industrializer, and war leader. Among those citizens who harbor feelings of nostalgia, Stalin’s strength, authority , and achievement contrast sharply with the pain and suffering of post-revolutionary Russia.
Stalin’s hunger for power and paranoia impacted the Soviet society severely, having devastating effects on the Communist Party, leaving it weak and shattering the framework of the party, the people of Russia, by stunting the growth of technology and progress through the purges of many educated civilians, as well as affecting The Red Army, a powerful military depleted of it’s force. The impact of the purges, ‘show trials’ and the Terror on Soviet society were rigorously negative. By purging all his challengers and opponents, Stalin created a blanket of fear over the whole society, and therefore, was able to stay in power, creating an empire that he could find more dependable.
Joseph Stalin was a realist dictator of the early 20th century in Russia. Before he rose to power and became the leader of Soviet Union, he joined the Bolsheviks and was part of many illegal activities that got him convicted and he was sent to Siberia (Wood, 5, 10). In the late 1920s, Stalin was determined to take over the Soviet Union (Wiener & Arnold 199). The main aspects of his worldview was “socialism
The signing of the pact was a total surprise because everyone knew that Fascist Germany and the Communist Soviet Union were political enemies. In addition Hitler had sworn for years that he was the mortal enemy of Bolshevism, so it was not surprising that the Pact came as a shock. During 1939 Stalin had invited Britain to discuss a possible alliance against Germany to prevent Hitler from carrying out his plans.
Joseph Stalin was a great politician who ingeniously maneuvered his way up the totem pole stratum. Once in power, Stalin wanted to keep it while accomplishing many nationalistic ambitions. He realized Russia was behind other countries in terms of industrialization and imperialistic dreams. Through the implementation of the first five years plan Stalin achieved one of the greatest attributes of his tenure as the head of the Soviet government; he transformed Russia from a widely agricultural country into an industrialized nation. Industrialization at this point was key for Russia in preparation of a future war. Of course, no one can actually say that Stalin saw a great war coming; but we do know that Stalin had imperialistic am...
Stalin is a very interesting man who always changed how he thought of everybody (he also called himself Stalin because “stalin” means steel) (Montefiore 30 “Young Stalin“).He had a huge effect on Russia; in a bad way. When Stalin used to work with Lenin and Trotsky, it wasn’t a competition of who was the best and who should control the country of Russia, but then it all changed. After that, he got people to turn against them and got rid of t...
On June 22, 1941, the Adolf Hitler launched a ruthless attack on his so-called ally, the Soviet Union. In December 1941, after a short five months, Operation Barbarossa, induced by the Nazi’s, failed. The Nazi Party ultimately fell to its demise, through the fail of Operation Barbarossa, from a combination of Hitler’s arrogance towards the Soviets as well as the Soviet response, but most importantly, Hitler’s greatest mistake: spreading his troops too wide across a colossal Russia.
Son of a poverty-stricken shoemaker, raised in a backward province, Joseph Stalin had only a minimum of education. However, he had a burning faith in the destiny of social revolution and an iron determination to play a prominent role in it. His rise to power was bloody and bold, yet under his leadership, in an unexplainable twenty-nine years, Russia because a highly industrialized nation. Stalin was a despotic ruler who more than any other individual molded the features that characterized the Soviet regime and shaped the direction of Europe after World War II ended in 1945. From a young revolutionist to an absolute master of Soviet Russia, Joseph Stalin cast his shadow over the entire globe through his provocative affair in Domestic and Foreign policy.
During the early stages of World War II, Germany won a series of swift victories over Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and France. Then attempted to bomb Great Britain into surrendering, but to no avail. After Hitler took over Czechoslovakia he began to demand land from Poland. Britain and France pledged to help Poland if Germany was to attack. Unfortunately helping Poland would include the invasion of Germany, which neither country was willing to do. Great Britain and France had hoped the Soviet Union would help protect Poland. But Hitler and Stalin shocked the world when they became allies. On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact; in which both agreed not to attack each other. They secretly decided to divide Poland between them. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began Wo...
...rounded in Europe with the British and the U.S. pressing in from the west, and the Russians coming in from the east killing about half the German army in the war. Since Hitler committed suicide on April 30th, 1945 Germany was falling apart and didn’t have a powerful leader to guide them. So, Germany decided to invade Russia, and they were horribly equipped for winter warfare, and had summer equipment when they invaded. This was because Hitler anticipated they would have beaten Russia before winter. Russia kept the German army occupies while the other allies liberated France. On January 12th, 1945 the Soviet Union invaded Berlin, Germany at the Battle of Berlin and succeeded. In late April and early May of 1945 Germany surrendered to the Allies and World War Two came to an end. As General Eisenhower said in 1945, “The world must know what happened, and never forget”.
Germany also signed another pact because Hitler believed that Germany had lost World War I due to the fact that Germany had to fight on two sides. The pact was a ten-year, non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany. The pact was later abolished when the USSR began to help the Allied Powers fight Germany.
In 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed a pact, known as the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression pact (Evans; “German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact”; “The Hitler Stalin Pact”: Woolf). This pact was shortly made before the beginning of World War II, which made half of eastern Europe into the territory of both the Soviet and Germans (“German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact”). Although Stalin was trying to make agreements with France and Britain, he chose to compromise with Germany (Woolf). In doing this, Stalin believed this would keep Germany and the Red Army at peace (“German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact”).
The outbreak of war in 1939 left everyone in shocked. But they were even more shocked when they heard that Germany and Russia had made a pact. On August 23 1939, Russia and Germany had signed the Non- Aggression Pact. The 1939 Non-Aggression Pact with Germany was not motivated by Stalin’s greed for territory, but by necessity. Stalin feared that Russia would be left alone against Germany. It was an agreement made by Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler to invade Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe and divide the countries between them. The Non-Aggression Pact was also agreed not to fight against each other. It also agreed to gain back land that was lost in during WW1. After World War one the Treaty of Versailles was created in order to give back on land to whoever owned it before Hitler claimed it as his own. Hitler felt the Treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany and also put a limit to how many men can be in the German army. It took a large amount of land from Germany to create new countries.
Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929 to 1953. During these years, Stalin had continued to move up the party ladder. In 1922 he became secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, this role enabled him to appoint his allies to government jobs and grow a base of political support. Once Lenin, who had been ruling, died Stalin was able to outsmart his other rivals and soon became the new leader for the Soviet Union. Stalin ruled the Soviet Union by terror. He transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant republic to military and industrial power house in Russia. Millions of people in Russia died during Stalin’s reign.