The Defeat of the Germans 1945

Question 1

When did the USSR beat Germany in the Great Patriotic war?

Answer 1

1945 - The final defeat of G took far longer than expected than it appeared in 1944 where victory seemed imminent however it was delayed through the allied assistance on germany’s unconditional offer - there was no possibility for any agreed armistice.

Question 2

State the 4 Key overarching reasons for the German defeat

Answer 2

1 - Geographical reasons
2 - Military reasons
3 - Economical reasons
4 - International reasons (foreign aid/lend lease)

Question 3

Explain why Geographical reasons led to germanys defeat

Answer 3

The USSR’s vast geographical size made it almost impossible for Germany to strike a decisive knock-out blow against it + thus german forces always faced problems of dangerously overstretched lines of communication.

• The size of the USSR as a whole allowed army to build an entirely new industrial base in the east away from german bombs.

Question 4

Explain why Military reasons led to Germanys defeat

Answer 4

After the bad start, the military leadership of the USSR became ruthlessly effective + Stalin proved himself to be very capable of being a wartime leader. Stalin’s generals became highly competent + the war cabinet formed in 1941 the Stavka became very effective.

• Mass propaganda motivated armed forces + civilians.Huge military improvements in vehicles such as tanks. The USSR could withstand the losses of thousands of T-34 tanks because it had the capacity to build thousand more in factories hidden away from the German attacks.
• Hitler made a crucial strategic mistake + sacked many of his best generals replacing them w yes-men + From 1941 Germany had to fight a 2 front war.
• The population of the USSR (171 million in 1941) stood nearly 3 times larger than Germany + thus could replace the losses of force in ways impossible for the Germans.
• In 1941 the Red Army had 4.8 million soldiers. Conscription to the red army over the course of the war added 29.5 million + this rapid + massive conscription was more strength for the USSR.

Question 5

Explain why Economical reasons led to Germans defeat

Answer 5

• The USSR had vast natural resources unleashed by the war
• The soviet ‘command economy’ already established before the war was well suited to the needs of total war and emergency mobilization of workers + resources.
• Germany lacked self-sufficiency in raw materials + by 1943 Germany had dwindling economic + human resources

Question 6

Explain why International reasons (Lend Lease) such as foreign aid + allied support aided in germans Defeat

Answer 6

• The scale of foreign aid was vast w huge quantities of armaments , industrial goods + food being transported to the USSR from America. One vital aspect included over 300,000 American trucks which played significant factor in soviet war effort + Allies supplied the USSR with mass food + fuel between 1941-1945.
• Stalin’s allies thus resented a dangerous threat to Hitler on other fronts preventing him from purely focusing on the war in the far east + Mass bombing campaigns by British + Americans from 1943 inflicted huge damage to Germany’s war effort.
• Allied secret intelligence gained by code-breaking undermined Germany’s war effort at crucial times + enormous amounts of vital military and economic aid poured into the USSR.

Though the USSR downplayed the scale of foreign aid its a pram out factor in the USSRs ability to mobilise for total war + particularly vital in the winter of 1942-3 when the USSR was recovering from heavy losses earlier in the war.

Question 7

What were the key Positive results of Soviet Victory?

Answer 7

The victory established the soviet union as a superpower. + war galvanized the USSR unleashing its huge economic potential. By contrast war badly weakened other foreign powers + Germany the main enemy was economically destroyed + demilitarised leaving the USSR as the far more dominant military power on the continent.

• The war seemed to vindicate communist ideology and offered the road to socialism + an alternative to capitalism.
• Victory also brought the massive territorial expansion of the USSR. Previous independent states like the Baltic, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were incorporated into the USSR as soit republics. Beyond the borders of the USSR, the red army had occupied many had occupied many countries of east-central Europe + in a place to establish pro-soviet regimes there.

Question 8

What were the key Negative results of Soviet Victory?

Answer 8

The Soviet victory resulted in great mass migrations in history - 12 million refugees many of them ethnic Germans fled westward in 1944-45 as the red army advanced.

• Despite the soviet victory fears and insecurity remained + Stalin was anxious about the economic power of the USA + how it could be utilized.
• He also feared the re-emergence of Germany + fearing and distrusting many of his own people led the regime to remain truthful in repressing anti-soviet citizens who had been outside the USSR during wartime.
• The victory was achieved at a terrible price. Approximately 20 million soviet citizens died; 7.5 million in the armed forces and 12 million civilians and the post-war reconstruction of infrastructure of insert and agriculture presented a significant challenge.