19.3 The effect of the war on Stalin, the government and people

Question 1

What effect did the GPW have on Stalin?

++ who in particular were impacted by Stalin’s post war decisions?

Answer 1

• Before the war there had been doubts on Stalin’s leadership skills but after the war he became an icon
• Personally Stalin became more sus of opposition real or imagined and ordered the execution of anyone who had supported the Germans

++ Cossacks were virtually wiped out

++ Servicemen abroad interrogated by the NKVD, those even a little sus sent to Gulags those who had good records were given good job opportunities

Question 2

What effect did the GPW have on the Government and Soviet system?

Answer 2

• It became very popular as they won the war
• Policies were not relaxed and Stalin retained the title of Head of Gov and Party Secretary with generally the same people in the Politburo like Andrei Andreyev

Question 3

What did Stalin say the GPW proved and why?

Answer 3

Proved that the Stalinist system’s ‘unquestionable validity’ - they had gained more land during the GPW

Question 4

What effect did the GPW have on the Russian people?

++ Deaths stats

Answer 4

• People had suffered worst as a result of the war, 25m people in the west lived in wooden huts
• DESPITE deaths it brought the state and people together
• The war had allowed for exterior ideas and goods to enter as soldiers had been exposed to the west

++ 19m civilian deaths
++ 9m soldiers
++ 1200 towns and 70k villages destroyed

Question 5

What did the textbook say about the reality of Russia between 1945-1953?

Answer 5

‘In reality, the years between 1945 and 1953 were among the most bleak of the entire Stalinist period’