The effect of War on Stalin Flashcards
What was the effect of War on Stalin’s reputation?
Stalin’s reputation soared in wartime.
He turned into a national superhero.
Paintings portraying him as the great wartime leader adorned all public buildings.
Who was Stalin paranoid most by?
However, despite his personal triumph, Stalin emerged apparently more paranoid.
This paranoia was most apparent in his attitude to returning prisoners of war, whom Stalin regarded as tainted with Western values.
Many of these were transferred directly from German to Soviet labour camps.
What happened to Soviet citizens who had fought for Germany?
(Cossacks)
Any Soviet citizens who had fought for Germany against the USSR were immediately executed and their communities were made to suffer.
The Cossacks, for example, were wiped out in retribution for their support of German armies.
What happened to servicemen returning to the USSR from abroad?
Other servicemen returning to USSR from abroad were interrogated by the NKVD in ‘filtration camps.
Those believed to have potentially subversive views were sent to the gulags.
Those with a good war record were given access to higher education and rapid promotion to better jobs.
What effect War have on the reputation of the government?
Politically, the war was seen as a triumph for the Stalinist system, which Stalin claimed had ‘proved its unquestionable vitality’.
the Soviet Union emerged from war as a great military power.
It not only retained all the regions it had occupied under the Nazi-Soviet Pact, but it also took more, creating a band of satellite states in eastern Europe.
Did this change the way Stalin choose to rule?
Such achievements might have reduced the need for authoritarian government.
However, Victory was portrayed as a victory for the system, not the people.
Stalin had no desire to run the USSR + retained posts of Head of Government and Party Secretary
he chose the same men to serve in his Politburo as in 1939.
In this way, the last years of Stalin’s life saw a return to the methods of the 1930s
