the great patriotic war and Stalin's dictatorship, 1941-1953

Question 1

why did Hitler invade the USSR in June 1941? x7

Answer 1

lebensraum
believed in upcoming ‘battle of annihilation’ conscious of increased tensions
territorial disputes regarding Balkans and Baltics
Hitler wanted to destroy Bolshevism
Hitler wanted to ‘defeat London via Moscow’
Russia’s failure in the Winter War - seemed easy win

Question 2

operation barbarossa

Answer 2

3 million men invaded the USSR on 22nd June 1941 across 3000km

Question 3

immediate consequences of operation barbarossa for the USSR

Answer 3

lost half of their food production
lost 40% of electrical production
lost 75% of all iron, steel + coal

Question 4

why was the USSR unprepared for the german invasion?

Answer 4

miscalculated effectiveness of Nazi-Soviet Pact - overeliant
didn’t want to provoke Germany by building up forces and flying over Germany
distrusted British even when they provided evidence for German upcoming
Soviet officer corps purged
many divisions had not been fully mobilised or armed by the time of invasion

Question 5

Stalin’s immediate reaction to operation Barbarossa

Answer 5

removed himself from public eye until 3rd July
expected party leadership to turn against him but no challenge came

Question 6

3rd July speech

Answer 6

Stalin appealed to patriotism and religion to unify the nation for a ‘Great Patriotic War’ to protect the motherland

Question 7

situation in Leningrad 1941

Answer 7

3 million people trapped in a 900 day siege
people were starving
-40 degrees
completley isolated other than a precarious route across Lake Lagoda

Question 8

outcome of Leningrad siege

Answer 8

germans bombarded the siege, dropping shells onto streets
600,000 died in total
3-4000 dying daily
children and women evacuated and supplies eventually brought
Germans applied same starvation strategies in Kharkov and Kiev

Question 9

situation in Moscow 1941

Answer 9

german troops pressed towards Kremlin
poor road system

Question 10

outcome of Moscow attack

Answer 10

USSR defending armies had 20x the number of casualties
Germans stopped advance - Operation Typhoon
Stalin ordered counter-attack and later killing 500,000 Russians but only 80,000 Germans

Question 11

situation Stalingrad 1942

Answer 11

Operation Blue reviewed to capture Stalingrad
Hitler intended to murder all men and deport women and children

Question 12

outcome of Operation Blue in Stalingrad 1942

Answer 12

Hilter gor Paulus to lead attack who lacked experience vs Stalin had Zhukov lead who was very experienced
Zhukov managed to deceive Germand about intentions and get rid of outside relief - Luftwaffe couldn’t deliver supplies and supplies and 250,000 men were cut off
Germans who survived were held capti bve for 10 years

Question 13

situation in Kursk 1943

Answer 13

mid march, strong offensive and defensive sides emerged
mutual exhaustion
Soviets prepared for a defensive position before a large counter offensive

Question 14

what was the outcome in Kursk?

Answer 14

Stalin heard about Hitler’s plan early and developed a response quickly
army supplied with good technology
30,000 civillians helped Russian army
communications limited to 10 second to limit chance of interception
British code breakers and german captive told Russians exact time of planned German attack and Germans started 10 minutes earlier

Question 15

success of stage one of patriotic war
1941-1942

Answer 15

Hitler scaled back Operation Typhoon
Pushed Germans back with a counter-attack in Moscow
Stalin stayed in Moscow which was a propaganda success as it showed his patriotism

Question 16

failures of stage one of patriotic war
1941-1942

Answer 16

Germans successful in their attack on Leningrad
inexperienced soldiers
bad communication system
insufficient defensive plans
Order 270 revealed the poor army discipline

Question 17

success of stage two of patriotic war
1942-1943

Answer 17

strong leadership - Zhukov
Hitler’s plan in Stalingrad failed
counter attacked over 100s of km
centre of industry moved from the centre eastward
out performed German production

Question 18

failures of stage two of patriotic war
1942-1943

Answer 18

facing large casualties
germans advancing towards Donbass and Caucuss regions - oil rich
Jewish persecution - 33 to 44,000 killed daily
1 million men lost in battle

Question 19

success of stage three of patriotic war
1943-1945

Answer 19

good technology
better communications
battles well planned
Stalingrad and Kursk well held by army
Leningrad defended by citizens
got berlin
foreign policy success - troops everywhere
Russian victory seemed inevitable by end of 1943

Question 20

what was order 270?

Answer 20

fight to the last

Question 21

what was order 227?

Answer 21

not a step back

Question 22

examples of strong Russian technology

Answer 22

T-34 tanks
fake control towers
500 miles of electrified barbed wire

Question 23

how many Russian villages were affected by the German attack?

Answer 23

70,000 villages
2,000 towns and cities

Question 24

how was factory discipline harsh during the war?

Answer 24

absenteeism classified as a crime
7.5 million convictions

Question 25

what was the response of the Russian civillians to the German attack?

Answer 25

although some viewed them as liberators in Baltic states and Ukraine, most remianed loyal to the motherland and fought to defend their soil rather than to defend Stalin

Question 26

why did the Soviets repress thier own people during the war?

Answer 26

to maintain discipline

Question 27

mobilisation and evacuation of industry

Answer 27

whole factories put on 20,000 trains and moves hundreds of miles East
by the end of 1941, 1525 factories moved
3,500 new factories built
1942 huge new industrial centre built, allowing for Russian production to out perform Germany by 1943

Question 28

foreign aid during war

Answer 28

vast amount of foreign aid
Lend Lease programme from the USA sent huge quantities of arms, industrial goods and food - 5% of USSRs GNP and was critical for avoiding economic collapse
300,000 US trucks
Krushchev “without them our losses would have been colossal”

Question 29

agriculture in the war

Answer 29

stripped of men, horses and machinery
1945 - 4/5 collective farmers were women
1945 - output was only 38% of 1940 level
half of the population did not receive rations as it was reserved for soldiers
private trade revived
peasants managed to keep towns and soldiers fed under appaling conditions

Question 30

resilience of Soviets at the front

Answer 30

Germans astounded at persistence
soldiers feared own officers as much as the Germans
propaganda enforced idea of threat
hated invaders

Question 31

resilience of women at the front line

Answer 31

500,000 women served in armed forces
500,000 women in civillian support staff
Womens School for Sniper Training turned out 1061 snipers - killed 12,000 Germans
3 womens air regiments - ‘night witches’
women made up 25% of active partisans

Question 32

resilience of women on home front

Answer 32

made up 53% of workforce during war
41% of workers who restores Donbass mines were women
80% of agricultural workers were women
66 hour working week and expectation to look after family

Question 33

resilience of partisans

Answer 33

units were established to do guerilla warfare
each unit had NKVD cell attached to it
reduced pro-German collaboration and established one of the most successful guerilla war campaigns in WW2

Question 34

the orthodox church in the war

Answer 34

Stalin abolsihed League of Godless in 1945 as the church supported the USSR in the war
amjority of churches reopened during war

Question 35

examples of SOVIET STRENGTHS in the war

Answer 35

country so vast that blitzkreig tactics didn’t work
Russian population 3x bigger than Germany
as war progress Russian technology and industrial power got stronger
Zhukov good leader
propaganda and patriotism

Question 36

examples of GERMAN WEAKNESSES in the war

Answer 36

no equipped for climate and scale of war
After Dec 1941 had to fight two front war
not self-sufficient
Hitler made strategic mistakes lost experienced general and replaced them with sycophants
brutal invasion increased resistance of partisans and popualtions

Question 37

examples of ALLIED CONTRIBUTION in the war

Answer 37

Stalin’s allies in the West threatened to Hitler’s war
Mass bombings by RAF and USAD
allied secret intelligence eg Bletchley Park codebreakers
Lend Lease programme
D-Day pulled more German forces westwards

Question 38

consequences of the victory for the USSR

Answer 38

victory established the USSR as a superpower
lost legacy of defeat and being vulnerable to other countries
galvanised soviet economy
validated success of communist ideology
expanded territory
Stalin still anxious about security with USA atomic bomb

Question 39

industrial reconstruction post WW2

Answer 39

Fourth five year plan set up with ambitious targets
33% of the plan was set aside for the redevelopment of Ukraine
industrial production shifted from military capability to civillian economy
mining and electricity was down 50%
plan’s targets were met or exceeded due to rebound effect: steel production increased of 12-27 million tonnes, coal from 149-261 million tonnes and electricity production doubled
command economy
economy remained overloaded by military expenditure due to cold war
rate of expansion still behind western europe - more consumer goods such as vacuums and liberalisation of culture

Question 40

agricultural reconstruction post war

Answer 40

food shortages and poverty in rural areas persisted
40% of collective farms were lost during invasion
severe labour shortage and drought in 1946 stopped recovery
phasing out of rationing put more pressure on farmers as demand for food increased
devaluation of the rouble in Dec 1947 made goods cheaper in the cities but wiped out savings in the kolhoz peasantry that they had accumulated through the war
Stalin wrote Economic Problems of Socialism suggesting that there would not be any innovation or reform although it was completely necessary by 1953

Question 41

high stalinism

Answer 41

status elevated as leader who defeated Germany
relying on bureaucratic structures
government subordinates played off against each other
relaxation of social controls ended with the end of the war
Stalin decreased influence of military officials
more ruthless and less predictable
politburo reduced to advisory body
new appointments were obedient bureaucrats

Question 42

terror in the NKVD under Beria

Answer 42

returned prisoners of war or anyone who hahd spent time outside of the USSR during the war was now a class enemy
people in the newly incooperated needed to show unwavering loyalty - could be sent to the gulags
1947 outlawed marriage to foreigners and equipped hoteks and restaurants with surveillance
principles of secret police state were strengthened
Beria in charge from 1938
NKVD split into external and internal sections
12 million in gulags between 1945-1953

Question 43

zhdanovism and cultural purge

Answer 43

giants of russian literature (Dostoyevsky) criticised fro lacking socialist qualities and removed from publication
publishers and writiers purged and expelled from Unions of Soviet Writers
soviet realism continued to be promoted
anti american culture promoted
anti-semitism increased
scientific studies hampered by marxist principles which undermined research
Lysenko used political influence in science and his ideas CCP adopted his ideas and caused the Great Chinese Famine 1959-1962
western influence completely blocked

Question 44

stalins cult of the personality

Answer 44

saviour of the nation
living genius in all fields
“father of the peoples”
“God-like veneration”
cult climaxed at 70th birthday celebrations
towns competed with each other renaming themselves after stalin
stalin prizes replaced noble peace prizes

Question 45

leningrad affair

Answer 45

party rivalry developed between Moscow and Leningrad
Stalin was paranoid about leaders in Leningrad becoming too powerful
Stalin resented the pride the city took in holding out form the German seige nad wanted to take credit
Zhdanov pushed aside in 1948 after he refused to condemn Yugoslavian communism
Stalin purged the Leningrad party

Question 46

doctors plot

Answer 46

stalin resurrected an accusation that the doctors had something to do with the death of zhdanov in 1952 as an excuse to purge doctors for being part on a zionist conspiracy to murder members of the politburo
anti- semitism
excuse for those close to stalin to prove loyalty , threatened with excecution if they did not obtain confessions

Question 47

soviet expansionism

Answer 47

expansion into Eastern Europe major alarm for the west
communist ideology increasingly attractive as economy bad - wanted drastic change
west rejected idea of USSR needing a buffer zone

Question 48

diplomatic reporting

Answer 48

American diplomat in Moscow dispatched Long telegram to Washington urging greater action as the USSR were wanting global expansion and containment

Novikov telegram from the USSR diplomat in America scathing of US ambitions

Question 49

iron curtain speech

Answer 49

Churchill spoke of threat of iron curtain expanding across Europe
increased hostility of communists

Question 50

truman doctrine

Answer 50

1947
truman committed the US to a policy of intevention globally to limit the spread of communism
took over financial responsibilty for supporting anti-communist regimes

Question 51

marshall aid

Answer 51

economic assistance to countries to rebuild their economies to make communism less appealing
$17 billion to Britain, France…
dollar imperialism
Stalin made communist version - COMECON