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  Russia 1924-1945  [Revision Cascade]

This Cascade will give you points and ideas for writing an answer about any of the topics in the list.  And, when it comes to revision, you can use it to test your memory of the points and ideas you might want to raise in the exam.

Click on the yellow arrows to reveal the paragraph points, and again to reveal ideas for developing the point.

I have given you five points for every topic but, in practical terms for the exam, you will probably get away with remembering three or four.
  • open section1.   Trotsky: roles and achievements
    • open section a. Pravda
      • As editor of Pravda, Trotsky was a great Communist thinker who defined the nature of the Communist state in Russia; he developed a form of Communism called 'Trotskyism'
    • open section b. November Revolution
      • As leader of the Red Guards, Trotsky led the November Revolution
    • open section c. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
      • As Commissar for Foreign Affairs, it was Trotsky who made the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany
    • open section d. Red Army and Red Terror
      • Trotsky brilliantly organised the Red Army (he personally led the defeat of Yudenich at Petrograd) and the Red Terror which won the Civil War .
    • open section e. NEP
      • Although he ruthlessly defeated the Kronstadt Mutiny in 1921,Trotsky realised that things had to change, and it was Trotsky who devised the NEP
  • open section 2.   Trotsky: background facts
    • open section a. Revolutionary Military Committee
      • As head of the Revolutionary Military Committee, he had organised the November coup
    • open section b. Commissar for Foreign Affairs
      • As Commissar for Foreign Affairs, he had negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
    • open section c. Commissar for War
      • As Commissar for War, he had formed the Red Army, organised the CHEKA, won the civil war and put down the Kronstadt rebellion
    • open section d. World revolution
      • Trotsky believed in ‘world revolution’, encouraging Communists in other countries to rebel .
    • open section e. 13th Party Conference
      • He was Jewish, had been a Menshevik (and at the 13th Party Conference in 1924, he and his 46 main supporters were marked for ‘political annihilation’)
  • open section 3.   Trotsky: weaknesses and mistakes
    • open section a. Malaria
      • Trotsky had malaria, and had to go to the Black Sea to recover just as Lenin died in 1924; this gave Stalin an advantage
    • open section b. Lenin's Funeral
      • Stalin organised Lenin’s funeral; he told Trotsky the wrong date, so Trotsky missed it – this made Trotsky look bad and Stalin, who was chief mourner, look loyal
    • open section c. Trotsky's personal failings
      • Trotsky was arrogant and dictatorial; he was also Jewish, and had been a Menshevik
    • open section d. 13th Party Conference
      • Trotsky supported Lenin’s Testament, but instead, at the 13th Party Conference in 1924, he and his 46 main supporters were marked for ‘political annihilation’ .
    • open section e. World revolution
      • Trotsky believed in ‘world revolution’, encouraging Communists in other countries to rebel – many Communists believed it would bring disaster
  • open section 4.   Stalin: background facts
    • open section a. Party activist
      • He had been a Bolshevik since 1905 – he had issued the very first edition of Pravda; he had twice been imprisoned in Siberia BUT may have been a tsarist informer
    • open section b. Commissar for Nationalities, 1917
      • In 1917, he was made Commissar for Nationalities (with the task of destroying the national identity of the different races); he was ruthlessness and brutal
    • open section c. ‘'Comrade Card-index’, 1922
      • As General Secretary of the Communist Party, he appointed the top Party officials (the 5000 nomenklatura) who appointed the 20,000 apparatchiki (party officials)
    • open section d. Popularity
      • He was genial, pleasant and liked a laugh – this made him popular .
    • open section e. Socialism in one country
      • Stalin argued for ‘Socialism in one country’ – establishing Russia first, and going for world revolution later
  • open section 5.   Stalin and Lenin's death, 1924
    • open section a. Lenin's illness, 1924
      • Lenin died in 1924; during his final illness, he had been cared for by Stalin
    • open section b. Lenin's Testament
      • Lenin wrote a Testament supporting Trotsky and warning against giving Stalin power
    • open section c. Lenin's funeral
      • Stalin organised Lenin’s funeral; he told Trotsky the wrong date, so Trotsky missed it – this made Trotsky look bad and Stalin, who was chief mourner, look loyal
    • open section d. Lenin's ideas
      • Stalin pretended to be a follower of Lenin’s ideas; he wrote a book on Lenin’s ideas which made him popular .
    • open section e. Lenin Levy
      • Stalin organised the enrolment of hundreds of thousands of new members (the ‘Lenin Levy’); they accepted Stalin as the leader
  • open section 6.   The struggle for power: facts
    • open section a. Trotsky supported Lenin’s Testament, 1924
      • Trotsky forced the Politburo to discuss Lenin’s Testament; he wanted Stalin expelled from the Politburo, but Stalin was saved by Kamenev and Zinoviev
    • open section b. Trotsky was defeated, 1925
      • Stalin formed an alliance (the troika) with Kamenev and Zinoviev; they forced Trotsky to resign as Commissar for War and dismissed his 46 supporters
    • open section c. Kamenev and Zinoviev were expelled, 1927
      • Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev formed the ‘United Opposition’, but Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky helped Stalin expelled them and 1500 supporters
    • open section d. Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky denounced, 1929
      • At the 16th Party Conference, Stalin turned against the NEP; when Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky opposed him, he denounced them as ‘deviationists’ .
    • open section e. Trotsky was murdered, 1940
      • Trotsky was exiled in 1929, sentenced to death in a Show Trial in 1936, and was finally murdered in Mexico by a NKVD agent in 1940
  • open section 7.   Why Stalin won: causes
    • open section a. ‘Comrade Card-index’, 1922
      • As General Secretary of the Communist Party, he appointed the top Party officials (the 5000 nomenklatura) who appointed the 20,000 apparatchiki (party officials)
    • open section b. Popularity
      • He was genial, pleasant and liked a laugh – this made him popular
    • open section c. Socialism in one country
      • Stalin argued for ‘Socialism in one country’ – establishing Russia first, and going for world revolution later
    • open section d. Political strategy
      • Stalin formed alliances first with Kamenev and Zinoviev (the troika) then with Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky – and then turned against them .
    • open section e. Stalin was ruthless
      • e.g. as Commissar for Nationalities/telling Trotsky the wrong date for the funeral/exile and murder of Trotsky
  • open section 8.   Stalin's rise to power: milestones
    • open section a. ‘Comrade Card-index’, 1922
      • As General Secretary of the Communist Party, he appointed the top Party officials (the 5000 nomenklatura) who appointed the 20,000 apparatchiki (party officials)
    • open section b. Constitutional Law, 1923
      • Set up the USSR and ensured the ‘Council of People’s Commissars’ (Sovnarkom) – was controlled by the Communist Party’s ruling cabinet (the Politburo)
    • open section c. Vozhd, 1929
      • By his 50th birthday, in December 1929, Stalin had defeated all his rivals and was celebrated as the new vozhd (leader)
    • open section d. Ryutin’s Appeal to all Bolsheviks, 1932
      • Ryutin wrote An Appeal to all Bolsheviks calling for the return of the NEP, the end of collectivisation and ‘the elimination of Stalin’ .
    • open section e. 17th Party Congress, 1934
      • Opposition to Stalin arose – he was sacked as General Secretary, and Kirov (the Leningrad Party leader) was more popular
  • open section 9.   The 1936 Constitution: facts
    • open section a. The Communist Party
      • The Communist Party was 'the leading core of all organisations' – i.e. the Communist Politburo was more powerful than the Sovnarkom (Council of People’s Commissars’)
    • open section b. Stalin the Vozhd
      • Stalin held all power – he was First Secretary of the Communist Party, Chairman of the Politburo and Chairman of the Sovnarkom (the ‘Council of People’s Commissars’)
    • open section c. Freedoms and rights
      • The Constitution gave the vote to everyone over 18, freedom of speech, and the right to work, healthcare, housing and education; “the only fully democratic constitution in the world”
    • open section d. Opposition was banned
      • Since all parties were banned except the Communist Party, none of the promises in the 1936 Constitution affected the Communist control over the government .
    • open section e. Direct voting
      • The new constitution introduced ‘direct voting’ for government members; this reduced the power of the local Communist parties
  • open section 10.   How did Stalin reinforce his dictatorship: ways
    • open section a. Constitution of 1936
      • It guaranteed freedom, but banned opposition parties, reinforced Stalin’s control of government, and reduced the powers of local parties by direct voting
    • open section b. The Great Terror
      • Including the GULAG and NKVD; called the Yezhovshchina after Nikolai Yezhov (nicknamed ‘the Bloody Dwarf’) who organised it
    • open section c. The Purges
      • Stalin’s opponents were purged from the Politburo, the Party and the Red Army
    • open section d. Propaganda
      • Including the ‘cult of personality’ and constant praise for Stalin and Communism .
    • open section e. Censorship
      • All writers were controlled by the government censorship department Glavlit; history was re-written
  • open section 11.   The Purges: causes
    • open section a. Civil War atrocities
      • Some historians think that the brutality of the Civil War made the Bolsheviks particularly ruthless in power
    • open section b. Kirov’s challenge to Stalin
      • Opposition to Stalin arose at the 17th Party Congress – he was sacked as General Secretary, and Kirov (the Leningrad Party leader) was more popular
    • open section c. Kirov was shot
      • Although, historians suggest Kirov was shot on Stalin’s orders, Stalin used it as an excuse to order mass arrests
    • open section d. Stalin’s bloodlust
      • Stalin had always been ruthless (e.g. as Commissar for Nationalities); some historians believe he was paranoid (he personally approved lists of executions) .
    • open section e. The danger from Germany
      • Stalin argued that the USSR had ten years to prepare for an invasion by Nazi Germany, and that it had to make itself strong at all costs
  • open section 12.   The Purges: facts
    • open section a. Leningrad Party, 1934
      • Kirov’s supporters in the Leningrad Party were arrested
    • open section b. Politburo
      • 7 out of 8 of Stalin’s 1934 Politburo were eliminated
    • open section c. Party Congress, 1935
      • Party activists was purged (including 1108 out of 1966 delegates to the Party Congress)
    • open section d. Red Army, 1937
      • The Red Army commander and 81 out of 103 generals and admirals were purged .
    • open section e. Communist Party
      • About a million Party members were expelled or arrested
  • open section 13.   The Great Terror: facts
    • open section a. Nikolai Yezhov
      • The Terror was led by Nikolai Yezhov (nicknamed ‘the Bloody Dwarf’) and enforced by the secret police (OGPU/NKVD)
    • open section b. GULAG
      • The GULAG was a system of labour camps in Siberia; in 1937, 1 million people were imprisoned in the GULAG; there were 790,000 executions
    • open section c. Kulaks
      • 5 million kulaks were ‘eliminated’
    • open section d. Russification
      • National dress and customs were forbidden, and both the Christian and Muslim religions were persecuted; 5 million Ukrainians starved, 1933–34 .
    • open section e. Show trials
      • Public show trials of disgraced Bolsheviks (e.g. Zinoviev and Kamenev, 1936, and Bukharin, Rykov, 1938) for improbable crimes, which they admitted
  • open section 14.   The Great Terror: consequences
    • open section a. Informers and apparatchiks
      • Informers denounced their neighbours to get a flat; loyal ‘apparatchiks’ (party officials) got the best jobs, flats, etc.
    • open section b. Stalin was undisputed leader
      • Stalin was constantly praised and applauded (he wasn’t there, but the NKVD were)
    • open section c. Everyone wore a ‘smiling mask’
      • An atmosphere of fear and intimidation – children informed on parents; Tomsky committed suicide rather than face a show trial
    • open section d. Russification
      • Russification destroyed national identity and attacked religion .
    • open section e. Weakened the Army
      • Some historians have suggested that Stalin’s Purges of the generals weakened the army – hence Hitler’s spectacular victories when he invaded in 1941
  • open section 15.   The cult of personality: features
    • open section a. Statues, paintings and banners
      • Statues, paintings and banners everywhere bore his face; every home had a picture
    • open section b. Places named after Stalin
      • Towns (e.g. Stalingrad), roads and buildings were named after him
    • open section c. Literature in his honour
      • Poems and books were written in his honour
    • open section d. Stalin was almost worshipped
      • He was regarded as almost divine; it was said (e.g.) that he caused spring to come .
    • open section e. Constant praise and applause
      • He was afforded constant praise and applause
  • open section 16.   Censorship: features
    • open section a. Glavlit
      • The Censorship Department, Glavlit, had 70,000 employees
    • open section b. Union of Soviet Writers
      • All writers had to be members of the Union of Soviet Writers
    • open section c. Attacking Capitalism
      • The media had to attack Western capitalism and religion
    • open section d. ‘Bourgeois pseudo-science’
      • Subjects like genetics and sociology were forbidden as ‘bourgeois pseudo-science’ .
    • open section e. Communist stories
      • Novelists had to write Communist stories with a happy ending
  • open section 17.   Propaganda: facts
    • open section a. Cult of personality
      • The media had to glorify Stalin
    • open section b. Supporting communism
      • The media had to celebrate communism, and encourage hard work (e.g. Stakhanov) and informing on traitors
    • open section c. ‘Socialist realism’ in art
      • All art had to follow the rules of ‘Socialist realism’, celebrating the proletariat
    • open section d. History was re-written
      • History was changed to make Stalin look more important; new pages were written and pasted into textbooks to ‘write out’ disgraced leaders from history .
    • open section e. Children were indoctrinated
      • Children were taught that Stalin was the Great Leader; they were encouraged to love Stalin more than their parents, and to inform on them
  • open section 18.   Stalin's economic changes: causes
    • open section a. The New Economic Policy was failing
      • By 1929, the New Economic Policy had only increased production to the 1913 level; the NEP was not improving things quickly enough
    • open section b. ‘Scissor Crisis’
      • Prices of agricultural produce were falling, but the price of industrial goods was rising; this was impoverishing the countryside
    • open section c. Agriculture was backward
      • Not enough food was being produced for the towns (there was a shortfall of 20 million tonnes of grain); Russia needed cash crops to export
    • open section d. NEPmen and kulaks
      • The rich NEPmen and kulaks – capitalists selling at a profit – were hateful to Communists .
    • open section e. The danger from Germany
      • Stalin argued that the USSR had ten years to prepare for an invasion by Nazi Germany, but was 50–100 years behind the West
  • open section 19.   Collectivisation: aims
    • open section a. Kolkhoz
      • All the farms in the village were joined together into one collective (kolkhoz)
    • open section b. Government targets
      • Farming was run by government officials to meet government targets
    • open section c. Production for the towns
      • 90% of production was taken by the government
    • open section d. Motor Tractor Stations
      • Every kolkhoz was supposed to have a Motor Tractor Station (= modernisation) .
    • open section e. Eliminate the kulaks
      • Collectivisation gave Stalin an excuse to eliminate the hateful kulaks
  • open section 20.   Collectivisation: the process
    • open section a. Failed first attempt, 1929
      • Stalin ordered that peasants’ farms had to be united into collectives (kolkhoz); there was opposition and he was forced to stop
    • open section b. Kolkhoz restarted, 1931
      • Stalin restarted collectivisation and seized grain by force
    • open section c. Peasant resistance, 1932
      • More resistance; the peasants killed their animals and burned their crops
    • open section d. War on the Kulaks, 1933
      • Stalin blamed the kulaks and declared war on them; 5 million were sent to the GULAG .
    • open section e. 250,000 kolkhoz, 1939
      • 90% of peasants lived on one of 250,000 kolkhoz or 4000 state farms
  • open section 21.   Collectivisation: the results
    • open section a. 250,000 kolkhoz
      • By 1939, 90% of peasants lived on one of 250,000 kolkhoz or 4000 state farms
    • open section b. Increased grain production
      • In 1937, 97 million tonnes of grain were produced (compared with 73 million in 1928) plus cash crops for export
    • open section c. Peasants migrated to the towns
      • 17 million peasants left the countryside to work in the towns, 1928–1937
    • open section d. Reduced livestock
      • The number of animals fell, 1928–1937 (cattle from 70 million to 50 million; sheep from 150 million to 66 million) .
    • open section e. Famine in the Ukraine
      • Agricultural production fell; there was a famine in the Ukraine 1933–34 (5 million people died)
  • open section 22.   Industrialisation: the Five-Year Plans
    • open section a. GOSPLAN
      • GOSPLAN (the state planning agency) drew up plans; targets were set for every industry, region, mine and factory, foreman and worker.
    • open section b. Three 5-Year Plans, 1928–37
      • The First (1928) and Second (1933) Plans concentrated on heavy industry; the consumer goods promised by the Third (1937) never happened because of the war
    • open section c. Young ‘pioneers’
      • Young ‘pioneers’ with Communist zeal started the projects
    • open section d. Foreign experts
      • Foreign experts and engineers were called in .
    • open section e. Slave labour
      • For projects such as dams or canals, slave labour from the GULAG was used
  • open section 23.   Industrialisation: results
    • open section a. Heavy industry, 1928 & 1933
      • The First (1928) and Second (1933) 5-Year Plans concentrated on heavy industry
    • open section b. Third 5-Year Plan, 1937
      • The Third 5-Year Plan (1937) promised consumer goods and better housing; it never happened – because of the war, later targets were changed to armaments
    • open section c. Increased production, 1928–1937
      • Increased production 1928–1937 (e.g. coal production increased four-fold, electricity seven-fold); by 1940, the USSR was the world’s second-biggest economy
    • open section d. Magnitogorsk
      • Towns grew, including new industrial centres such as Magnitogorsk .
    • open section e. Dnieper Dam and Belomor Canal
      • Achievements such as the Moscow underground, Dnieper Dam and the Belomor Canal
  • open section 24.   Industrialisation: working conditions
    • open section a. Terrible cost in human lives
      • Appalling conditions and a terrible cost in human lives (especially the kulaks) – e.g. some 100,000 people died building the Belomor Canal
    • open section b. Atmosphere of terror
      • Atmosphere of terror – workers were bombarded with propaganda, posters, slogans and radio broadcasts lazy workers were punished, even shot
    • open section c. Stakhanovites
      • Pressure to work harder; medals were awarded for ‘Stakhanovites’
    • open section d. Wages and conditions worsened
      • Wages and conditions worsened .
    • open section e. Increase of alcoholism and crime
      • There was an increase of alcoholism and crime as workers tried to escape the pressure
  • open section 25.   Industrialisation: social consequences
    • open section a. Education and 87% literacy
      • Free universities and training schemes – all children received free state education; literacy had increased to 87% by 1939
    • open section b. Free health care
      • Free health care – by 1940, the USSR had more doctors per person than Britain
    • open section c. Poor industrial housing
      • Industrial housing was overcrowded and rundown
    • open section d. Famine
      • There were food shortages as agricultural production fell; there was a famine in the Ukraine 1933–34 (5 million people died) .
    • open section e. Shortages of consumer goods
      • There were great shortages of consumer goods, especially in the mid-1930s
  • open section 26.   Industrialisation: political consequences
    • open section a. Cult of Stalin
      • The successes were celebrated in Soviet propaganda to reinforce the cult of Stalin
    • open section b. International prestige
      • By 1940, the USSR was the world’s second-biggest economy and there was NO unemployment – this compared favourably to the Depression in the West
    • open section c. Inequality and privilege
      • Higher wages for teachers, engineers, skilled workers, managers and apparatchiks; all pretence of Communist equality was abandoned
    • open section d. The Great Terror
      • Slave labour from the GULAG was used for projects such as dams or canals; it was part of the Great Terror .
    • open section e. War on the Kulaks
      • Stalin declared war on the kulaks; 5 million were sent to the GULAG and used on the construction project
  • open section 27.   Life in Stalin's Russia: working conditions
    • open section a. Terrible cost in human lives
      • Appalling conditions and a terrible cost in human lives (especially the kulaks) – e.g. some 100,000 people died building the Belomor Canal
    • open section b. Atmosphere of terror
      • Atmosphere of terror – workers were bombarded with propaganda, posters, slogans and radio broadcasts lazy workers were punished, even shot
    • open section c. Stakhanovites
      • Pressure to work harder; medals were awarded for ‘Stakhanovites’
    • open section d. Wages and conditions worsened
      • Wages and conditions worsened .
    • open section e. Increase of alcoholism and crime
      • There was an increase of alcoholism and crime and workers tried to escape the pressure
  • open section 28.   Life in Stalin's Russia: living conditions
    • open section a. Education and 87% literacy
      • Free universities and training schemes – all children received free state education; literacy had increased to 87% by 1939
    • open section b. Free health care
      • Free health care – by 1940, the USSR had more doctors per person than Britain
    • open section c. Poor industrial housing
      • Industrial housing was overcrowded and rundown
    • open section d. Famine
      • There were food shortages as agricultural production fell; there was a famine in the Ukraine 1933-34 (5 million people died) .
    • open section e. Shortages of consumer goods
      • There were great shortages of consumer goods, especially in the mid-1930s
  • open section 29.   Women in Stalin’s Russia
    • open section a. Creches were provided
      • Creches were provided so that women could go to work
    • open section b. Universities and doctors
      • Treated as equal to men – sent to universities/became doctors
    • open section c. 40% of industrial workforce
      • By 1937, 40% of industrial workers and 72% of health workers were women
    • open section d. Divorce and abortion prevented
      • Divorce was made more difficult and abortion abolished .
    • open section e. Child-bearing encouraged
      • Medals were awarded to women who had more than ten children
  • open section 30.   Education
    • open section a. Love of Stalin
      • Children were taught that Stalin was the Great Leader; they were encouraged to love Stalin more than their parents, and to inform on them
    • open section b. History was changed
      • History was changed so that Stalin looked more important than he had been, and so that his opponents 'disappeared'
    • open section c. Maths, Science and Technology
      • Discipline was strict, with an emphasis on Maths, Science and Technology
    • open section d. ‘'Bourgeois pseudo-science’
      • Subjects like genetics and sociology were forbidden as ‘bourgeois pseudo-science’ .
    • open section e. Communist youth organisations
      • Children had to join Communist youth organisations such as the Octobrists (8-10 year-olds), Pioneers (10-16) and Komsomol (19-23)
  • open section 31.   Different groups in Stalin's Russia
    • open section a. The elite prospered
      • e.g. higher wages and perks such as better housing, holidays and special shops, for teachers, engineers, skilled workers and apparatchiks
    • open section b. Peasants suffered
      • e.g. they had none of the benefits of the industrial workers (e.g. electricity), and collectivisation caused famines
    • open section c. The kulaks were 'liquidated'
      • Stalin blamed the kulaks for the resistance to collectivisation and declared war on them; 5 million were sent to the GULAG
    • open section d. Nationalities were destroyed
      • e.g. Russian became the language of government, national dress and customs were forbidden; 5 million Ukrainians were allowed to starve, 1933–1934 .
    • open section e. Religion was persecuted
      • e.g. churches were destroyed and priests sent to the GULAG
  • open section 32.   Stalin's successes: facts
    • open section a. Second-biggest economy
      • By 1940, the USSR was the world’s second-biggest economy and there was NO unemployment – this compared favourably to the Depression in the West
    • open section b. Increased grain production
      • In 1937, 97 million tonnes of grain were produced (compared with 73 million in 1928) plus cash crops for export
    • open section c. Magnitogorsk
      • Towns grew, including new industrial centres such as Magnitogorsk
    • open section d. Dnieper Dam and Belomor Canal
      • Achievements such as the Moscow underground, Dnieper Dam and the Belomor Canal .
    • open section e. Some social successes
      • e.g. the role of women, free education, improved literacy, free health care (by 1940, the USSR had more doctors per person than Britain)
  • open section 33.   How powerful was Stalin by 1941?
    • open section a. Vozhd
      • Stalin was First Secretary of the Communist Party, Chairman of the Politburo and Chairman of the Sovnarkom.
    • open section b. Constitutional Law (1923)
      • Ensured the ‘Council of People’s Commissars’ (Sovnarkom) – was controlled by the Communist Party’s ruling cabinet (the Politburo)
    • open section c. Constitution of 1936
      • It guaranteed freedom, but banned opposition parties, reinforced Stalin’s control of government, and reduced the powers of local parties by direct voting
    • open section d. The Great Terror
      • Including the GULAG and NKVD; called the Yezhovshchina after Nikolai Yezhov who organised it; Stalin’s opponents were purged from the Politburo, the Party and the Red Army .
    • open section e. The cult of Stalin
      • Including the cult of personality, manipulation of education, censorship and propaganda
  • open section 34.   Soviet foreign policy before 1941
    • open section a. World Revolution
      • Initially, the Bolsheviks tried to provoke world revolution; there were communist uprisings in Germany, Italy, Hungary and the Baltic States 1919-24
    • open section b. Socialism in One Country
      • Defeat of the 1919-24 uprisings, and defeat in the war with Poland, convinced Stalin that the USSR was not strong enough
    • open section c. Maxim Litvinov
      • From 1930, Maxim Litvinov, Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, negotiated non-aggression pacts with Poland, the Baltic States, France and China.
    • open section d. The USSR joined the League of Nations, 1934
      • Stalin hoped it would restrain Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy; he believed that war with the Nazis was inevitable .
    • open section e. Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939
      • When it was clear that the League was powerless, and that Britain and France were just going to appease Hitler, Stalin made the Nazi-Soviet Pact
  • open section 35.   Great Patriotic War: Events
    • open section a. Operation Barbarossa, 1941
      • The Nazis launch Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the USSR – taking Stalin by surprise. By December the Nazis had conquered huge areas of Russia, but had failed to take Leningrad and Moscow..
    • open section b. Battle Stalingrad, 1942-43
      • The Nazi Sixth Army was stopped at the battle Stalingrad and eliminated
    • open section c. Battle of Kursk, July-Aug 1943
      • Nazis defeated at the Battle of Kursk – the largest tank battle in history
    • open section d. Nazis driven out of Russia, 1944
      • The Nazis were driven out of Russia .
    • open section e. Capture of Berlin, 2 May 1945
      • The Soviets captured Berlin
  • open section 36.   Why the USSR won
    • open section a. Propaganda
      • The Sovinformburo appealed to the nationalism, communism AND religion of the Soviet peoples
    • open section b. Economy
      • The entire economy: was devoted to supplying the army. 1,500 factories were moved to the Urals and central Asia. Labour was mobilised: military discipline/ holidays abolished
    • open section c. Natural factors
      • Russia’s huge size and ‘General Winter’, along with the Soviets’ ‘scorched earth’ tactics.
    • open section d. Red Army
      • Draconian discipline, amazing heroism. 800,000 women recruited PLUS helped by huge amounts of foreign aid .
    • open section e. Stalin’s leadership?
      • ALL decisions had to go through Stalin and he insisted on ‘Not A Step Back’ (Order No. 227), whatever the cost. Millions of Soviet soldiers died as a result, notably in the final attack on Berlin.
  • open section 37.   Great Patriotic War: Results
    • open section a. Death
      • 26 million Soviet citizens died from overwork and malnutrition, enemy action, or fighting in the Red Army.
    • open section b. Destruction
      • Industry and agriculture ruined. 70,000 villages, 100,000 kolkhozy and 40,000 miles of railway track destroyed. Nearly 5 million houses destroyed; 25 million home
    • open section c. Cold War
      • After 1945, Soviet forces stayed in the countries of eastern Europe as a ‘cordon sanitaire’ protecting the Soviet Union … this was the cause of the Cold War.
    • open section d. Orthodox Church
      • Its support for the war effort led to its being given greater toleration .
    • open section e. Remembrance
      • Victory Day is still one of the most important public holidays for Russian citizens.

 

 

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