Chapter 22 - The defeat of the Germans

Question 1

Why did Stalin want the Red Army to gain control of as much of Central Europe and Germany as possible by the end of the war?

Answer 1

To create a buffer zone against any future threats to the USSR
He was willing to accept huge casualty rates in the Red Army in order to advance westwards as fast as possible

Question 2

Why did Eisenhower allow the USSR to win the ‘race to Berlin’?

Answer 2

To reduce Allied casualties and to prevent a confrontation with Soviet forces

Question 3

How did Eisenhower help the USSR win the ‘race to Berlin’?

Answer 3

By slowing the Allies’ advance in Germany from the west

Question 4

What were the losses on both sides of the final battle for Berlin?

Answer 4

USSR: 80,000
Germany: 150,000

Question 5

When did Germany surrender unconditionally to the USSR?

Answer 5

9 May 1945

Question 6

When did Hitler commit suicide?

Answer 6

30 April 1945

Question 7

When did the Red Army win the final battle for Berlin?

Answer 7

2 May 1945

Question 8

What were the 3 reasons for the defeat of the Germans?

Answer 8

• German weaknesses
• Soviet strengths
• The contribution by the Allies

Question 9

What were 5 German weaknesses?

Answer 9

• Hitler’s strategy was based on securing a rapid victory (once this failed the odds were against Germany)
• Had to fight a two-front war from Dec 1941
• Lacked self-sufficiency in raw materials (problem 1943-44)
• Hitler made crucial strategic mistakes
• Harsh German repression in occupied countries increased resistance movements and partisans

Question 10

What were 6 Soviet strengths?

Answer 10

• Vast geographical size
• Size of population
• Natural resource wealth
• The Soviet ‘command economy’
• Military leadership
• Propaganda and patriotism

Question 11

How was the USSR’s vast geographical size an advantage?

Answer 11

• Stretched German supply lines too far by end of 1941
• Enabled whole new armies and industrial base to be built up in the east far beyond Germany’s reach

Question 12

How was the USSR’s big population an advantage?

Answer 12

They could replace losses in a way that was impossible for the Germans

Question 13

How was the USSR’s natural resource wealth an advantage?

Answer 13

From 1942 the USSR could out-produce German war industries

Question 14

How was the Soviet ‘command economy’ an advantage?

Answer 14

Well-suited to total war and the emergency mobilisation of workers and resources

Question 15

How was the USSR’s military leadership an advantage?

Answer 15

Stalin’s Stavka (military command) became ruthlessly effective

Question 16

How was Soviet propaganda and patriotism an advantage?

Answer 16

Motivated the armed forces and civilians to fight and endure
4 million people volunteered for citizens’ defense in 1941

Question 17

What were 4 useful contributions by the Allies?

Answer 17

• Stalin’s allies meant Hitler was fighting on two fronts
• Mass bombing campaigns by the British Americans from 1943 hugely damaged Germany’s war effort
• Allied secret intelligence undermined Germany’s war effort at crucial times
• USSR recieved enourmous amounts of vital military and economic aid

Question 18

What were the 6 results of victory for the USSR?

Answer 18

• It became a superpower
• Communist ideology was vindicated
• Stalin was held up as the USSR’s saviour
• There was a massive territorial expansion of the USSR and its ‘sphere of influence’
• Devastating costs for the USSR
• Cold War tensions developed

Question 19

How did the USSR become a superpower?

Answer 19

• the war unleashed the USSR’s economic potential
• the war badly weakened other European powers

Question 20

How was Communist ideology vindicated?

Answer 20

• Communism was seen to defeat fascism
• Increased the attraction of a ‘socialist road’ to development

Question 21

How was Stalin held up as the USSR’s saviour?

Answer 21

The cult of Stalin was strengthened

Question 22

How was there a massive territorial expansion of the USSR and its ‘sphere of influence’?

Answer 22

• the Baltic states became Soviet republics
• Pro-Soviet regimes were established in Eastern European countries

Question 23

What were the devastating costs for the USSR?

Answer 23

• At least 20 million Soviet citizens were killed
• Much of the economy and infrastructure were destroyed

Question 24

How did the Cold War tensions develop?

Answer 24

• Stalin feared the USA’s influence in Europe
• There were disagreements over the future of Germany

Question 25

When was the fourth 5YP launched?

Answer 25

March 1946

Question 25

What was a particular focus of the fourth 5YP? Why?

Answer 25

Reconstruction of Ukraine
It was an important agricultural and industrial region that had been devastated by the war

Question 26

What were 5 major problems faced by Soviet industry in adjusting back to peacetime conditions?

Answer 26

1. Mining, steel production and electricity levels were ~1/2 of 1940 levels in 1945
2. The transport infrastructure was badly disrupted
3. Workforce exhausted and depleted by wartime sacrifices
4. End of foreign aid added significantly to pressures on industry
5. High military investment as a result of the Cold War meant less investment in other areas (25% of total expenditure 1952)

Question 27

What were 4 ways in which industrial recovery under the fourth 5YP was rapid and successful?

Answer 27

1. Many of the Plan’s targets were met or exceeded
2. By 1950, Ukraine’s industrial output was higher than before the war
3. There was some improved production of consumer goods
4. Average Soviet incomes were back to 1938 levels as early as 1948

Question 28

Describe the production levels of steel, coal, oil, cement and electricity under the fourth 5YP

Answer 28

More being produced in 1950 than 1940

Question 29

Describe the production of consumer goods under the fourth 5YP

Answer 29

Cotton fabrics, wool fabrics and sugar were back to pre-war production figures by 1950
The production of shoes, clothing and furniture lagged behind pre-war levels which had already been inadequate to demand

Question 30

What are 4 reasons for the rapid recovery of industry?

Answer 30

• War reparations transferred masses of material from Germany to the USSR
• Central planning was able to enforce the mass mobilisation of people and resources
• The people were proud of the USSR’s victory and willing to make further sacrifices
• A ‘rebound effect’ enabled rapid rebuilding of essential services

Question 31

What were 6 major challenges faced by agriculture in 1945?

Answer 31

• Large numbers of farms had been destroyed in the war
• Large quantities of farm machinery destroyed
• Livestock numbers seriously depleted
• Food production in 1945 was 60% of 1940 levels
• Deaths and injuries from war meant a major farming labour shortage
• 1946 was the driest year since 1891and famine hit parts of Ukraine and central Russia in 1846-47

Question 32

How many collective farms were destroyed during the war?

Answer 32

98,000

Question 33

How many people did the famine of 1946-47 kill?

Answer 33

An estimated 1.5 million

Question 34

Why was agriculture’s recovery slow and patchy?

Answer 34

• The fourth 5YP brought some increases but failed to reach most of its targets
• The famine highlighted serious problems faced in agriculture
• Stalin’s writing on the Soviet economy (Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR) blocked reform

Question 35

Give examples of how reform was blocked in agriculture

Answer 35

• Payments for farm products kept very low
• Taxes were increased
• The ban on selling food grown on kolkhozniks’ private plots was reintroduced in 1948