Joseph Stalin Second World War Essay

Finally, as a result of all this the Soviet Union has been converted from a weak country, unprepared for defense, into a country mighty in defense, a country prepared for every contingency, a country capable of producing on a mass scale all modern weapons of defense and of equipping its army with them in the event of an attack from without….

They sent 409,500 vehicles, 43% of all soviet tyres, 56% of rails and 1900 locomotives and 58% of high octane fuel and 200 fighter planes, 4 million pairs of boots as well as large quantities of rubber, tin and cloth, respectively. This supports the scheme was a ‘sacrifice’ as some of the supplies sent to the USSR negatively impacted Britain’s supplies. Some including Stalin and the USSR criticised the level of assistance given. Overy argues against criticisms of the supplies by showing that the post-war soviet viewpoint that assistance ‘could have no decisive influence’ and concludes that without the aid, the Russian economy would have been ‘severely hampered’. This seems to dismiss claims that the West had neglected Russia’s needs. He argues that even though western aid accounted for only ‘4% of soviet weapons’ the impact was far greater as ‘food, raw materials, machinery and industrial equipment’ were donated. Both Gilbert and Overy are British historians who would have been biased in favour of the wests position and may have been sceptical of Russia’s claims as both historians were raised during the cold war. But when looking at the views in the official ‘soviet history’ of World War Two, the publication’s context should be considered: the Russians had a vested interest in misrepresenting events due to their post-war situation. After the Second World War the Cold War arose and the USSR were keen to distance

In the time that the Soviet Union existed, having a strong military power was an obligation. As the United States was trying to build its military power, the Soviet Union was doing the same. Both the Soviet Union and the United States put money into their military so that It would be very strong. In the 1970s and 1980s the Soviet Union were thought to be one of the most solid political units in the world, but in all reality, the Soviet Union weren’t what they seemed to be. There were many economic problems for the Soviet Stalinist system, such as the lack of acknowledgement for working well and getting the job done.

Many people don’t know about the ruthless battles between Germany and Russia on the Eastern front of World War II. The original peace between those countries turned into hatred at Hitler’s invasion. The battles fought on the Eastern front were some of the biggest and most ferocious battles in history. Those battles left civilians and soldiers dead in the streets and the once fruitful cities reduced to rubble. Russia’s brutal involvement in World War II rivaled that of Hitler’s due to Hitler's betrayal, Operation Barbarossa, and the Battle of Stalingrad.

Hitler and Stalin will probably go down in history as two of the greatest known evil leaders of the 20th Century. You might ask what could bring two men to become the menaces they were. What kind of upbringing would cause someone to turnout the way they did?

“The key to the eventual victory of the Allied states lies here, in the remarkable revival of Soviet military and economic power” (Overy 19).

The Soviet Union was not prepared for war. In the 1930’s, Stalin had cleansed the Soviet military of all those whom he saw as a threat to his power which left the Red Army with few experienced leaders. The Soviet military was also ill-equipped to fight which was evidenced by the difficulties the Soviets had in Finland in 1939. Stalin had signed the non-aggression treaty with Hitler in hopes that the German army would get into a long and drawn-out fight with the French and British, as they had in World War I, leaving Stalin with time to prepare his forces. Stalin simply did not trust the Germans to honor the non-aggression pact and knew Germany would attack eventually.

The consequence of World War Two left the United States and Russia as the prevailing military forces on the planet, yet they had altogether different types of government and economy, the previous an industrialist majority rule government, the last a comrade tyranny. The two countries were adversaries who dreaded each other, each ideologically restricted.

Throughout the two World Wars, Russia had similar obstacles, but varied differently within the culture and governments of the country. For example, in World War I many were dying due to starvation or by being killed in battle and the administration was corrupt and not under a stable rule. Whereas in World War II citizens were being killed in combat and by the government. At this time the dictatorship that Joseph Stalin controlled was paranoid, but was unyielding when it came to war. Although the USSR had similar problems in World War I & II, the first battle created a struggling nation which contradicts to how it changed into a tough, power hungry nation by the time World War II ended.

This book provides an account of the Soviet Union’s air force during the period immediately preceding, through the end of World War II. Hardesty and Grinberg overhaul the original Red Phoenix using declassified Russian sources that have become available within the last thirty years. These primary sources shed new light on the real story behind the mammoth air war between Nazi Germany and Communist Russia during the Second World War. The authors use these statistical documents, as well as first-hand accounts from members of the Soviet Air Force to chronologically tell the story from their side.

Around the world, the Battle of Stalingrad was not portrayed as much as a Soviet victory, but rather as a German defeat. It was a ‘decisive psychological turning point’. Prior to this defeat, German forces had continued to expand and find themselves victorious in battles. However after Stalingrad, the indestructibility presented by the German army and Nazi propaganda was proven wrong. It was a significant loss that would have a large negative influence on German morale and the morale of the Wehrmacht, erode the alliance between the Axis powers, and provide a sizable boost to the Soviets and their allies.

The German’s defeat at the battle of Stalingrad was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime. Hitler’s control over his army and his army’s confidence in him was extremely weakened. All over Germany morale had sunk. During this time, Hitler made many false promises to the people of Germany. One being that they would never be driven out of Stalingrad. After their complete and utter annihilation at Stalingrad, the German public’s opinion of Hitler definitely took a turn for the worse. Hitler lost face both his military supporters and his political

Joseph Stalin's Leadership Through World War Two Stalin (1927-1953) led the Soviet State through the challenges of World War II. Although the war was a terrible drain on the already impoverished and exhausted society, it resulted, paradoxically in strengthening the Soviet dictatorship.

Joseph Stalin’s three decade long dictatorship rule that ended in 1953, left a lasting, yet damaging imprint on the Soviet Union in political, economic and social terms. “Under his inspiration Russia has modernised her society and educated her masses…Stalin found Russia working with a wooden plough and left her equipped with nuclear power” (Jamieson, 1971). Although his policies of collectivisation and industrialisation placed the nation as a leading superpower on the global stage and significantly ahead of its economic position during the Romanov rule, this was not without huge sacrifices. Devastating living and working standards for the proletariat, widespread famine, the Purges, and labour camps had crippling impacts on Russia’s social

The vast majority of Russia’s attacks in Germany were failures; even some of the highest-ranking Generals saw the war as complete chaos. The Army reserves consisted of little or untrained peasants or farm hands who had no idea about being a soldier. The weather was also an unforgettable factor as soldiers had to face freezing winters, and developed sicknesses in the masses such as Typhoid and Cholera.