Great Patriotic War and Stalins Dictatorship 1941-53 Flashcards
Operation Barbarossa
22nd June 1941, massive German offensive, led to the siege of Leningrad and Battle of Stalingrad.
Broke the Nazi-Soviet pact and led to the Grand Alliance being formed
USSR’s reaction to invasion
Scorched Earth policy-burn any resources as they retreat, factories relocated to Eastern Russia, production shifted towards tanks (t34) and munitions (Kharkiv), foreign aid from Britain and USA (munitions, transport and raw materials).
Siege of Leningrad: dates
September 1941-January 1944
Siege of Leningrad: key events
Sept. 8th 1941- Germans encircle Leningrad.
Dec. 1941- Lake Lagoda freezes forming a new supply route in
July 1st 1942- German offensive
Sept. 25th 1942- offensive abandoned
Jan 12th 1943- Operation Spark- Russia break through German lines and supply the city with rations
Jan 14th 1944- Soviet offensive- defeat the German North Army
Jan 28th 1944- Stalin declares siege is over
Siege of Leningrad: impact
Starvation + 3 years of severe rationing for civilians
Isolation and entrapment
Relatively limited damage to infrastructure
Battle of Stalingrad: dates
August 1942- February 1943
Battle of Stalingrad: key events
Aug. 19th 1942- Hitler orders attack
Sept. 3rd- Germany reach outskirts and met with fierce fighting
Late Sept.- Germany reach city centre
Nov. 19th- Russian offensive- air strikes clear a path in the south and ground troops move in
Nov. 22nd- Germany surrounded- Hitler orders them to stay rather than fight a way out and escape
Dec. 1942-Feb 1943- German forces trapped and rescue missions fail
Feb. 2nd 1943- starving+frozen German forces surrender
Battle of Stalingrad: impact
Majority of infrastructure destroyed
40,000 civilians died
Massive losses on both sides (bloodiest battle of WW2):
Russia: 1.1m dead, missing or captured
Axis: 800,000 dead, missing or captured, 91,000 surrender and sent to Gulags where only 5000 survive
WW2: Total Russian losses
14m Russian soldiers died
20m Russian Civilian deaths
WW2 Victory
May 1945: Battle of Berlin
Reasons for Russian victory in WW2:
Russian strengths
Russias preparedness- 5 year plans, tank production, moving industry beyond Urals, scorched Earth.
Russias size- geographical+population (3x Germanys at 171m) + massive resources
Stalin- strong leader, had good generals, utilised propaganda to motivate soldiers and population
“Command economy” was better suited to war
Condition of Russia Post-War
14% of population, poor harvests and famine in 1946 (98,000 collective farms had been destroyed), infrastructure destroyed, poor working and living conditions, 25m people homeless.
GDP rankings in 1945
USA=First (miles clear)
Russia=Second
UK+Germany=Third
Reasons for Russian victory in WW2:
Allied support
Allies on other front distracting Germany
Mass bombings doing damage
Military+economic aid- USA to USSR with the Lend-Lease in 1941
Codebreaking at a crucial time in 1941
Reasons for Russian Victory in WW2:
Nazi Germany weaknesses
Strategic mistakes of the Nazis- Stalingrad, spreading across both fronts in 1944, not preparing for Winter battle, sacking Generals
Resistance in occupied countries
Poor resources/materials
Post-War industry
1940: 1950: Tractors: 66,200. 242,500
Coal: 166m tons. 262m tons
Electricity: 48m kWhs. 91m kWhs
When did Russia get the atomic bomb and who developed it?
1949, Beria
Post-War agriculture
5 year plans, grain potatoes cotton and cattle recovered by 1952
Famine 1946-47
Post-War Society
“High Stalinism”: cult of personality has Stalin as the war hero
NKVD have another wave of terror- returning PoW’s imprisoned over fears they had been “ideologically contaminated”, gulag population grew to 2.5m.
Zhdanovshchina=cultural purge, writers+poets purged for not representing Socialism
Leningrad affair- 1949 Zhdanov dies and Beria purges 100 party officials and 2000 removed from the party over fears of a plot
Jewish Doctors Plot- 1953, Pravda revealed “the plot” of the 9 doctors accused of treason, espionage and terrorism. Would’ve kickstarted another terror with Anti-Semitism the core. Stalin dies before the show trials and Beria revealed it had all been fabricated.
Post-War international relations:
Potsdam Conference
July 1945:
Stalin, Truman and Churchill discus peace terms and the division of Germany-Stalin and Truman disagree
Post-War International relations:
The Long Telegram
February 1946:
8,000 word telegram sent by Kennan (American Diplomat living in Moscow) to Truman harshly criticising communism and Russia
Post-War International relations:
Churchills Iron Curtain Speech
March 1946:
States: UK and USA need to “defend peace and stability against the menace of Soviet Communism”
Post-War International relations:
Formation of the Eastern Bloc
1947:
USSR forced/influenced all the European countries East of Germany into communism forming a blockade between them and the West
Post-War International relations:
USA’s Policy of Containment
1947:
Kennan advises that the US step in and prevent any further expansion attempts of communism by any means necessary
Post-War International relations:
Marshall Plan
1948:
USA offer $16billion to European nations to improve trade and economy
Post-War International relations:
Berlin Blockade
1948:
Russia blocks road routes from West Germany to West Berlin temporarily starving West Berlin of food and resources
Post-war International relations:
Russia get the atomic bomb
1949:
Beria finally develops the atomic bomb for Russia- they have finally caught up to America and England
Post-War International relations:
NATO
1949:
Western European countries all join NATO (mutual protection agreement) and Russia is excluded from this
