The Russo-Finnish War, or Winter War, began on 30 November 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. The objectives of the Red Army were simply, conquer and subjugate all of Finland and re-establish the borders that existed prior to the First World War. The Soviet Union held the advantage in manpower, equipment, and resources, but the Finnish Army inflicted casualties on the Red Army that far exceeded their own. Not a single Red Army unit reached its initial objectives and Stalin was forced to come to the negotiation table and make a peace that left Finland as a sovereign state. The Finnish military was successful because the Red Army lacked competent leadership, didn’t have the proper equipment to fight in subzero temperatures, and the Finnish Army was able to adapt to a changing environment and use their smaller numbers to their advantage. The gaping holes in Soviet military capabilities helped fuel Hitler’s willingness to initiate Operation Barbarossa. Additionally, by invading Finland the Soviet Union turned a disinterested and essentially neutral into an enemy that had the capabilities to strike into the heart of Russia. The winter of 1939-1940 was abnormally cold, the temperature rose above freezing only ten times during the entire campaign. Many Russian soldiers lacked basic winter gear and suffered astonishingly high levels of frostbite, some 132,213 of the 900,000 soldiers involved. While some soldiers were issued felt boots or valenki, the vast majority
This contributed to the high death rates of soldiers. Hypothermia was also a problem due to the lack of proper clothing in order to protect soldiers from the extremely cold conditions. In the painting from the National Archives (Document B), the soldiers that are shown, are sick and have torn clothing and no shoes.
Everyday I see people laying on the snow life less because they froze to death. This reason is causing me to not re-enlist because I don’t want to freeze to death because I don’t have warm clothes. It's always sad to see children outside with no warm clothes, in the freezing cold weather.
In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.
1947 through 1991 was the time period of the Cold War; the Cold War was a result caused by the tension of the after math of what had happened with world war 2 .The tension that was there wasn 't just any kind of tension it was military tension between the power of the eastern bloc and the power of the western bloc. The Cold War wasn 't only one war but it was decades of "little"wars and intimidation. Germany was busy after the war, there where so much tension between the Soviet Union and the western allies because they had feared each other because they had thought a new war could arise. Minister Churchill then decided that he would put what would be an iron curtain across Europe. The Cold War had so many little conflicts within it like the Chinese revolution, the Palestine liberation organisation, and so many more hundreds if you would that happened in the Cold War time.
During World War II, the United States, Britain, and Russia all worked together to take down Hitler. Although after the war, the coordination between the U.S. and Russia became extremely tense which inevitably lead to the Cold War. The U.S. was worried that Russia would spread communism after World War II. Russia was concerned with the U.S. arms increase and intervention in international affairs. The distrust between the two nations resulted in the Cold war which lasted until 1991.
The Germans planned on taking Russia before the terrible cold came. But this was not possible because of supply issues and the large resistance from the Red Army. Frostbite became a huge problem with around 15,000 limbs being amputated and over 100,000 cases of frostbite in general (eisenhowerinstitute.org). The cold also had a big toll on German machinery. Tanks and jeeps wouldn’t start and artillery couldn’t fire. The Russian equipment was used to the cold and the Soviets had special camouflage, skis, and rifles to help them in the cold. Another large advantage that the Russians had was their railroads. The Germans used railroads as their main transportation for troops and supplies. The problem with that is German railroads are really close together and Russian railroads are spread apart by a few more inches. That was a huge problem for the Nazis because once they crossed the border the trains had to stop and unload and load back onto another train. Eventually the Germans started tearing up the original railways and replaced them with their own. But this took too much time so supplies were not getting where they needed to be fast
World War 2 was both tragic but also a growing period for Canadians. Germany and The Soviet Union were in a non-aggression pact and were trying to take over Europe. Along with their greed for power, Hitler the leader of Germany did not like the Jewish, and sent almost all of them to concentration camps where they were put to work. Those who were too weak to work were put in gas chambers and put to death. Hitler soon broke his pact with Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. Hitler was then faced with a two front war against the Soviet Union and the Canadian, British and later the United States. At home in Canada many things were happening within society. Women became more involved and became more independent and respected. The government
In addition to an economic crisis, President Obama inherited the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An ardent opponent of Bush 's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, Obama pledged to withdraw American troops as soon as possible. Reagan argued that U.S. leadership was crucial to stop the Soviet Union from expanding. Contrastingly, Obama was eager to end the campaign in Afghanistan by slowly withdrawing troops, declaring that it was time for the U.S. to focus on nation-building at home. Reagan’s strategy was based in large part on his fundamental belief that a free and capitalist economy could outperform a Communist one and force both into an arms race that they could not afford. Obama’s doctrine instead emphasized how the state needed to tax
The cold fell to temperature of minus Forty degrees Celsius; nevertheless, trenches had temperature of minus Fifteen degrees Celsius. Soldiers had to manage with the cold, hard to believe, it was worse than lice. The cold made it impossible to sleep. Frostbite affected many men and frequently directed to infection, decomposition and later on, amputation, along with hypothermia.
Many would eve give up their lives just because their loved ones are gone. However, their sacrifices made a big impact into the war of W.W.2. During World War II, Russia had also made sacrifices for the benefits of the cause (“Russia’s Sacrifices during World War II” 8). They had lost many soldiers while experiencing nearly three years of total war with the red army and the soviet population ( “Russia’s Sacrifices during World War II” 8). They had also encountered the Nazi invasion, the Babi Yar massacre, the 900-day Siege of Leningrad and the battles of Moscow, Kursk and Stalingrad (“Russia’s Sacrifices during World War II” 8).
I really enjoyed reading this book. The author did a great job of reviewing a lot of sources, including interviews with key players on both the US and Soviet side, and wove many threads together into a thorough, and thoroughly enjoyable story. As noted in some of the editorial reviews, at times it feels like you 're reading a spy novel. And at times some of the details - particularly about the Soviet 's germ warfare program - sound almost too lurid to be true. Except that everything in this book is impeccably documented - the bibliography takes up about 15% of the book.
At the commencement of the Soviet Union, there was a grave of food shortages; to improve the agricultural productions; in 1921 Lenin instated the New Economic Plan (NEP). The New Economic Plan gave the opportunity for the farmers or peasants to produce their crops for profit; in the years that followed, some of these farmers were prosperous after the implementation of the NEP. Unfortunately, Stalin abandoned the NEP and replaced it with the Five Year Plan, he also justified the collectivization of Agriculture and lastly Stalin’s statism had an impact on Russian History.
The Zbigniew Brzezinski defined a Soviet victory as entailing “the submissive neutralization of both Western Europe (through the dismantling of NATO) and Japan, and the withdrawal of U.S. political military presence across the oceans. Moreover, victory was also defined as attaining the worldwide economic supremacy of communism over capitalism” . Part of this view is corroborated in the infamous Long Telegram by American diplomat George F. Kennan, which, among other things, claimed that the USSR wanted to further socialism at the cost of Western capitalism. . From both sources, one can assume the terms of victory for the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and, consequently, these can be compared with the actual events of the Cold War to determine how large a defeat the Soviet Union suffered. It is indeed true that the Western capitalism emerged victorious in the end. Western Europe wasn’t “neutralised”; in fact, it was Eastern Europe that submitted to Western politics as the USSR collapsed. Similarly, by the end of the Cold War it was the USSR’s political presence - rather than the US’ - that had collapsed, leaving the US seemingly unopposed as the leading global superpower. In each of these cases, it appears that the Soviet Union suffered a total defeat far removed from any conditions of victory. However, while this paper will begin by examining these areas of defeat, it will then go on to argue that the defeat was not necessarily total. Finally, it will argue that survival and
With the 1960s approaching Americans had to to face the increasing real threat of Cold War and nuclear threat of the Soviet Union. It all started with the election of John F Kennedy in 1960. Kennedy won the 1960 election and became president of the U.S. in 1961. Kennedy defeated Republican candidate Richard Nixon in part because Kennedy played up a socalled “missile gap”, claiming that Republicans under Eisenhower had let the Soviet Union get a missile advantage over the United States. If anything he was believed to be a cold warrior. At the time Cuba leader Fidel Castro was tying his Country to Soviet Communism. The eastern block was sending military support to Cuba and this was considered a major threat to America. As Castro gained power, the relationship between the United States and Cuba worsened. In an effort to stop this alliance Kennedy allowed to the CIA to set up a coup against Castro. The bay of Pigs took place on April 16, 1961 and was a disaster for the Kennedy administration. Castro was fully aware of the rebel invasion put it down easily.
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.