Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Russian History > The Stalinist Dictatorship and Reaction 1941-65 > Flashcards

The Stalinist Dictatorship and Reaction 1941-65 Flashcards

1
Q

GPW: Stalin’s view of Soviet POWs

A

“There are no Russian POWs, only traitors”
Guilty of high treason and susceptable to execution.
Had to be sent to filtration camps

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

GPW: Name of traitors

A

Hilfswilliger. Minorites (eg Cossacks) defected to Nazis in hopes of getting independence, in reality they were sent to workcamps.
1,000,000 Hilfswilliger

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

GPW: Penal battalions

A

Prisoners used to clear minefields. 420,000.
50% casualties

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

GPW: Two turning-point battles

A

Stalingrad
July - Feb 1942
1,200,000 Russian deaths

Kursk
860,000 Russian deaths
Largest tank battle ever

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

GPW: Total casualties

A

25m (1/4 due to starvation)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

GPW: Winter War casualty ratio

A

3 Russian deaths for each Finnish death

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

GPW: Political Commissars

A

Political branch of military, with the ability to execute officers at a whim.
Power curbed at the start of GPW though

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

GPW: Supplies from West

A

17.5m tonnes of equipment
$11bn

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

GPW: Plight of minorites

A

Volga German autonomous republic dissolved, and they were forced to march West. 1/3 of them died.

1,500,000 were uprooted in total

Chechens, Kalmuks, Karachis and Tartars deported

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

GPW: SS deathsquad in Russia

A

Einsatzgruppen

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

GPW: How many lived in wooden huts after their homes were destroyed?

A

25 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Post-War cabinet of Stalin

A

Molotov, Kaganovich, Khrushchev, Zhdanov, Malenkov

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

GPW: Number of factories moved to Urals

A

1523

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

When did Operation Barbarossa start?

A

22nd June 1941

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

GPW: How soon into war did Minsk fall

A

One week

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

GPW: Not One Step Back order

A

Order 227 - Formed Penal Battalions and Blocking Detachments. Barred doctrine of retreat.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

GPW: Blocking Detachment

A

Units facing backwards in divisions, with orders to shoot any retreating soldiers

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

GPW: Percentage of industry focused on munitions

A

3/4

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

GPW: War Cabinet

A

Stavka

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

GPW: Post-War gains

A

Buffer states in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania
Permanent seat on UNSC

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Zhdanovschina

A

Post-War cultural purge out of fears of war-time Westernisation.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Stalin on Jews

A

After the alignment of Israel with the West he took an Anti-Jewish stance.
Arrest of the Jewish wife of Molotov.
NKVD assassinated the director of the Jewish Theatre.
Doctor’s Plot was aimed at Jews.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Party membership composition after war

A

Army and bureaucrats who had to be in the party to get their job
During the war 2.5m soldiers joined the party
7m by 1952

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Fate of Zhukov

A

Marshal Zhukov (immensely decorated war hero who took Berlin and defended Moscow) was demoted to a low-ranking post in Odessa as he was seen as a potential risk to Stalin

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Name for post-war Stalinist period

A

High Stalinism - Height of his political authority and cult of personality

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

High Stalinism: How many were sent to camps

A

12 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Statistical impacts of GPW

A

19m civilian deaths
9m military deaths
100,000 kolkhozes wasted
70,000 villages destroyed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What Soviet policy caused so much destruction during GPW?

A

Scorched Earth Strategies

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Ideology of Red Army after GPW

A

Became more liberal as the need for modernisation was seen

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

How did Stalin spend his time after GPW

A

In his holiday home drinking with his war-time friends

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

High Stalinism: Fate of Politburo and Orgburo

A

Replaced by the enlarged Presidium in 1952. Not elected, hand-picked by Stalin / Khrushchev

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Stalin attempted resignation

A

Stalin wanted to step down in 1952, but was voted down, as people thought it was a plot to see who wanted him to go

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

When did Stalin die?

A

March 1953

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

Leningrad Case

A

Stalin purged the largely independent Leningrad branch of the CP in 1949

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

Malenkov

A

Emerged from the apparatchiki, part of five-man defence council during GPW, confidant of Stalin. Part of collective leadership with Khrushchev after Stalin’s death, lobbied for a focus on consumer goods, ousted by Khrushchev.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
36
Q

Mingrelian Case

A

Beria purge of Georgia in 1951-2

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
37
Q

Doctor’s Plot

A

Counter-intelligence informant said doctors were purposefully mistreating Zhdanov as part of a Zionist plot. Stalin threatened Ignatiev with execution if he did not get confessions.
Hundreds of doctors arrested and tortured.
Released by Beria

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
38
Q

Was Stalin a man of the people after the war

A

Had not visited a kolkhoz in 25 years

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
39
Q

GPW: Working hours

A

12 hour day, 77h work week

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
40
Q

GPW: Pravda quote

A

“We must not say goodmorning or goodnight, rather Kill the Germans and Kill the Germans”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
41
Q

GPW: How many were sentenced to death under No Step Back?

A

150,000

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
42
Q

GPW: How many GPW soldiers were in the party?

A

1/4 by 1945

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
43
Q

GPW: Was Stalin prepared for the war?

A

Stalin punished intelligence officers who warned him of the threat of a German invasion, and ignored Allied politicians.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
44
Q

GPW: How many German soldiers took part in Operation Barbarossa initially?

A

3m

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
45
Q

GPW: Stalin’s initial response to the war

A

Hid in his dacha (holiday home) for ten days, not talking to anyone.
Probably mental breakdown

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
46
Q

GPW: War Cabinet

A

GKO
5 man defence council
Incredibly powerful during war

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
47
Q

GPW: Percentage of resources occupied by Nazis

A

By 1941:
70% of Iron
40% of Arable land

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
48
Q

GPW: Decrease in grain harvest

A

1942 harvest was half of the 1940 harvest

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
49
Q

GPW: Gulags

A

15% of amunition made by slave labour
25% death rate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
50
Q

GPW: Religion

A

Stalin reopened the churches to encourage morale
Priests were vetted, had to swear an oath to the USSR and had to preach communist and nationalist ideas

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
51
Q

High Stalinism: Role of the Party and Politburo

A

Reduced to essentially advisory bodies as Stalin retained the war-time centralisation of power

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
52
Q

Khrushchev’s Power Struggle

A

Stalin dies
Malenkov becomes GenSec
Khrushchev replaced Malenkov a week later and collective leadership is established
Beria is arrested in June, executed in December
Malenkov is replaced with Bulganin
Anti-Party Group’s coup fails
Bulganin is forced to resign
Power rests with Khrushchev

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
53
Q

What rank did Stalin take after the GPW?

A

Minister of Defence

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
54
Q

Troika

A

After Stalin’s death, Beria, Malenkov and Molotov formed a Triumvirate (Troika), but this fell apart when Malenkov and Molotov turned on Beria when he was arrested

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
55
Q

Youth Survey

A

In 1961, a youth survey showed that most youths were cynical of the ideas of the October Revolution

56
Q

Beria’s manouvreing after Stalin’s death

A

Released 1,000,000 prisoners
Advocated a moderate foreign policy
Denounced the Mingrelian Purge
Forged collective leadership with Malenkov and Molotov

57
Q

Malenkov’s economics

A

Believed that the USSR had been sufficiently industrialised, and economics should now focus on improving living standards through consumer goods and lowered peasant taxes
Shifted FYP5 to focus on consumer goods

58
Q

Anti-Party Group

A

Group of Stalinist hardliners who opposed Khrushchev’s leadership
Launched a coup against him in 1957
Most of Presidium voted for his removal, but he deferred it to CentCom which he as GenSec had been packing who voted down the Anti-Party Group
Bulganin was later said to have helped them and so was ousted

59
Q

Secret Speech

A

Khrushchev’s speech at the 20th Party Congress
Denounced the terror, purges, gulags and Stalin’s war-time leadership
Claimed Stalin killed Kirov
Called for Trotsky’s rehabilitation

60
Q

Real name of the Secret Speech

A

On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences

61
Q

Secret Police under Khrushchev

A

Changed its name to KGB
Brought under state control and weakened after Beria’s execution

62
Q

How did the party under Khrushchev return to the party of the 20s?

A

Less secret police
More collective
Anti-religious
Smaller institutions responsible to parent institutions
Less bureaucratised

63
Q

How did Stalin counter Marshall Aid

A

COMECON (economic union) and COMINFORM (propaganda union)

64
Q

How much did party membership increase under Khrushchev?

A

Up 60%

65
Q

Loss of industrial capacity after GPW?

A

70% lost

66
Q

FYP: Aims of FYP4

A

1946-50

Catch up with USA
Rebuild after war
Revive the Ukraine

67
Q

FYP: Results of FYP4

A

Production doubled
Dniepr Dam rebuilt
USSR became 2nd to US in industrial capacity
Peasants were only allowed 30% of their yield

68
Q

FYP: Aims of FYP5

A

1951-55

Continue building heavy industry
Consumer goods (after Stalin’s death)

69
Q

FYP: Results of FYP5

A

National income up 70%
Malenkov ousted for consumer goods focus
Demobilisation halted by Korean War

70
Q

FYP: Sixth Five Year Plan

A

1956-58

Cancelleds by Khrushchev after 2 years for overenthusiastic goals

71
Q

FYP: Aims of FYP7

A

(1959-)1961-1965
(Began as 7YP but merged into 5YP)

Improve living standards
Overtake USA by 1970
Improve neglected industries (consumer goods and plastic)

72
Q

FYP: Results of FYP7

A

Industrial output up 85%
40% pay rise

73
Q

Economic decentralisation

A

Khrushchev set up 105 sovnarkhoz each with a regional economic council organised by the Supreme Economic Council
Abolished 60 Moscow ministries
11,000 factories transfered to regional bodies

73
Q

Rise in consumerism under Khrushchev

A

Retail doubled to 100m roubles
Fridges up 10x
TVs up 7x to 3.7m

73
Q

When was Sputnik launched

A

1957

73
Q

Which play was banned during High Stalinism and unbanned by Khrushchev

A

Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtensk

73
Q

Which banning did Zhdanovschina start with?

A

The Adventures of a Monkey (monkey was anti-socialist)

74
Q

How did air transport become accessible under Khrushchev?

A

Subsidisation of Aeroflot

74
Q

When did Yuri Gagarin go to space?

A

1961

75
Q

Who was the Soviet biologist?

A

Trofim Lysenko

Pseudoscientist who rejected orthodox plant biologist in favour of coldtreating crops. Stalin put him in power. Caused large decline in harvests.

76
Q

When did Soviet growth start to slow down?

A

1958

77
Q

Growth of consumer goods industry under Khrushchev

A

Only 2% in 1964

78
Q

How many farms were operational after Scorched Earth?

A

1/3

79
Q

What area of the economy did Khrushchev focus on?

A

Agriculture

80
Q

Khrushchev’s policies towards peasants

A
  • Procurement quotas decreaed
  • Peasants paid more for grain
  • Taxes reduced
  • Collectives could set their own targets
  • MTSs turned into repair stations, cancelling peasants’ debts for tractors
81
Q

What did Khrushchev tell CentCom about agricultural production

A

Due to lying, harvests under Stalin were lower than under the Tsarist regime

82
Q

How much did Khrushchev increase grain prices?

A

25% in his first 3 years

83
Q

How did Khrushchev try to increase agricultural proudce?

A
  • Electrify farms
  • Chemical fertiliser campaign in 1962
  • Encouraged kolkhoz to merge (# halved)
84
Q
A
85
Q

What was the Virgin Lands Scheme

A

Khrushchev’s campaign to start farming in Kazakhstan and Siberia

86
Q

How much virgin land had been ploughed for wheat?

A

4m hectares by 1956

87
Q

Increase in non-maize cereal prodution under Khrushchev?

A

80m tonnes -> 130m

87
Q

Which crop did Khrushchev enourage?

A

Maize

Most Russians didn’t like it though so it didn’t work too well

88
Q

Agrocity

A

Huge collective farm towns to bring urban working conditions, destroy conservative villages and increase efficiency

89
Q

Food protest

A

1962 protest in Novocherkassk. KGB fired on them and killed 25

90
Q

Which anti-gulag books were banned by Khrushchev

A
  1. Gulag Archipelago (Solzhenitsyn)
  2. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Book about the repression of workcamps during the Khrushchev Thaw

91
Q

How efficient were private plots

A
  • Half of peasants’ incomes
  • 30% of USSR produce
  • 3% of the total farms were private though
92
Q

Why did the Virgin Land Scheme fail?

A

It didn’t take climate into account
Wheat wasn’t rotated, causing infertile soil
Poor 1963 harvest led to American grain imports

93
Q

How rich were peasants compared to proletarians?

A

Peasants lived on incomes <20% of those of the urban workers

94
Q

Devaluation

A

Rouble was devalued by 90% in 1947 wiping out savings

95
Q

Change in work hours after GPW

A

Remained at war-time levels of 12h days

96
Q

Rise in consumer goods under Khrushchev

A

1955-66:
* 2 cars / thousand -> 5 / k
* 4 TVs / k -> 82 TVs/k

97
Q

Khrushchev’s liberal reforms to work life

A

Bachelors’ tax removed
Peasants became eligable for a state pension
40h work week
Wage equalisation (difference between richest and poorest lower than any other industrial economy)
Improvements in medicine, welfare and transport

98
Q

Limits of Khrushchev’s focus on welfare

A

Non-monetary benfits such as commodities, healthcare and holidays continued to drive inequality
Living standards still lower than any other industrial economy

99
Q

Khruschev Thaw tenets

A
  • Foreign literature and radio allowed
  • Marginal increase in freedom of speech
  • Foreign travel opened up
100
Q

Youth festival

A

World Youth Festival 1957
International festival in Moscow with 35k from 130 countries attending

101
Q

Examples of Western cultural infiltration

A

Jeans, Rock & Roll, Jazz, Stiliagi (teddy boys)

102
Q

First book banned in Zhdanovschina

A

Adventures of a Monkey
-Zoshchenko

103
Q

Oppositional book allowed by Khrushchev

A

Not by Bread Alone

104
Q

Which foreign books were sold in the USSR

A

Hemmingway

105
Q

Which critical book was not allowed by Khrushchev?

A

Dr Zhivago

-Boris Pasternak

106
Q

When were children banned from churches?

A

1961

107
Q

Khrushchev’s antitheistic policies

A
  • Parents not allowed to raise children religiously
  • All seminaries and most churches closed
  • Hajj banned
  • Atheism taugh in schools
  • Children banned from churches
  • Devout individuals could be imprisoned or lose their children
108
Q

Khrushchev on ethnic minorities

A

Annouced in 1961 at the 21st Party Congress that all ethnic differences should be dissolved to create a single nationalism
Forbade Jews moving to Israel

109
Q

How many churches were shut under Khrushchev?

A

20,000 in 1960 -> 8,000 in 1965

110
Q

How much maize was harvested ripe in the Virgin Lands Scheme?

A

14m/85m hectares

111
Q

Tamizdat

A

Printing banned books abroad and smuggling them into USSR (eg Dr Zhivago)

112
Q

Samizdat

A

Duplicating banned material by hand and illegally distributing them

113
Q

Dissident publishing group

A

Youngest Society of Geniuses
-> Published The Sphinxes magasine to spread banned literature

114
Q

Which anti-Stalinist satirist had a statue unveiled?

A

Vlad Mayakovsky

115
Q

How many were identified as leading ‘antisocial, parasitic lives’?

A

130k in 1961
(ie dissident intellectuals)

116
Q

Who were the liberals and hardliners in the Khrushchev era?

A

Liberals:
- Khrushchev
- Bulganin
- Suslov

Hardliners:
- Molotov
- Malenkov
- Kaganovich

117
Q

Fate of Malenkov?

A

Outsted as Chairman
Moved to a HEP station in Kazakhstan
(not shot tho)

118
Q

How many political prisoners had been rehabillitated under Khrushchev?

A

8-9m in 1956

119
Q

How many returned from the gulag during the Thaw?

A

2m

120
Q

How much of the Soviet prison population were political prisoners after Khrushchev’s rehabilitation campaign?

A

2%

121
Q

Khrushchev’s fall from power

A

On Khrushchev’s 70th birthday in 1964, Brezhnev gave a speech praising Khrushchev. Khrushchev was awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union award.

A few months later, Khrushchev was summoned back from holiday and was reprimanded by the Presidium. He was surprised and refused to step down, but was trapped and couldn’t access the media.

Khrushchev then signed his regination the next day and stepped down due to old age and ill health in favour of Brezhnev.

Pravda would soon after denounce Khrushchev

122
Q

When did Khrushchev resign?

A

October 1964

123
Q

Reasons for Khrushchev’s fall

A
  • One-man style of ruling
  • Meddling in affairs he knew little about
  • Decentralisation
  • Failure of Virgin Lands Scheme
  • Promotion of consumer goods
  • Tried to reduce military spending in exchange for nukes
  • Poor handling of Cuban Missile Crisis
  • Deteriorating relationships with China
124
Q

When did USSR get nukes?

A

1949

125
Q

GPW: National Anthem

A

Socialist anthem “The International” replaced with patriotic “Song of the Motherland”

126
Q

Khrushchev and houses

A

Rate of housbuilding doubled under him

127
Q

Decrease in work hours

A

7h work day in 1960

128
Q

Which public figure defected?

A

Ballet dancer Rudolph Nereyev

129
Q

Khrushchev’s quote on the need for consumer welfare

A

“You cannot put theory in your soup or Marxism in your clothes”

130
Q

Examples of factories moved from Germany to Moscow as part of reparations

A

Opel Plant
Zeiss Optical Works

131
Q

Uprisings quashed under Khrushchev

A

Hungarian Revolution, Georgia Demostrations and Polish October

Russian History (4 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions