They also had an advantage because Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet pact with Stalin which took Stalin by surprise. The Russians began destroying factories and farm equipment and burned crops to keep them out of enemies’ hands. But the Germans still managed to make it deep into Russia and were debating whether or not to conquer Moscow and Leningrad. Like Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812, the Germans were stopped by the brutalness of the Russian “General Winter.” This is where Operation Barbarossa fails. They never were able to take complete
The Red Army was less able of highly mobile operations than the German Army; however, the prospect of combat inside a large city area, which would take control by short-range firearms by Germans. Before the German armed forces reached the city itself, the air force had made the Volga River, easy for bringing supplies into the city. Between July 25th and July 31st. Thirty two Russia ships were sunk with another nine not being able to do anything. The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city.
Why, despite the disasters of 1941, was Soviet Russia able to defeat Nazi Germany by 1945? Despite many of the problems Soviet Russia initially faced when joining World War Two in 1939- such as a lack of high quality weaponry and equipment, poor economy and lack of knowledgeable officers due to the extensive purges under The Great Terror- they were able to quickly overcome them and emerge victorious against Nazi Germany in 1945. The reason behind their changing fete came as a result of a culmination of key factors including: Stalin’s leadership; the sheer patriotism and strength of the Russian people; the alliances they, begrudgingly, made; as well as fatal German mistakes. One of the factors behind this victory, which can be deemed as the least influential, was the German mistakes. Despite Hitler’s wealth of well put together weaponry, well trained and seemingly invincible army and a seemingly tactical mind-set (which made him at first so fearful and successful) he eventually made some vital errors which led to the Nazi demise.
Trotsky was given the task of negotiating with the Germans. Russia was to lose a great deal of land which included 60 million people to the Germans. The land also included 25% of her farming land and 75% of her iron ore and coal deposits. But the treaty got Russia out of the war and allowed Lenin the time to concentrate on home issues. The civil war was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party.
By 1942, Hitler had assumed control of the German Army (an army that no longer had the strength and resources seen in Operation Barbarossa) and he listened to his generals much less than he had in previous years. Hitler’s main goals for attacking Stalingrad were to reach the rich oil fields of the Caucasus region; to conquer the main waterway of inner Russia, the Volga River; and to cripple the city so that it could no longer be an industrial or transportation center. These goals were ordered under “directive 41” code named Operation Blue where he ordered all available forces in the southern flank on the long front to destroy the Soviet forces there, allowing the German army to take the oil fields and Volga River . The above reasons were very rational from a strategic stand point, but many argue that Hitler’s obsession with conquering the city named after Stalin clouded his judgment when the battle swung in the favor of the Soviets. His ego forced him to ignore the constant warnings by his generals on more than one occasion.
The blame for the Cold War cannot be placed on one person -- it developed as a series of chain reactions as a struggle for power. It can be argued that the Cold War was inevitable, and therefore no one's fault, due to the differences in the capitalist and communist ideologies. It was only the need for protection that had caused the two countries to sink their differences temporarily during the Second World War. Yet many of the tensions that existed in the Cold War can be attributed to Stalin's policy of Soviet expansion. Stalin's foreign policies contributed an enormous amount to the tensions of the Cold War.
Stalin and the US created a brief alliance because they were both concerned with stopping Hitler. When the war ended, the U.S., Britain, France, and Russia each controlled a portion of Germany. Soviet Russia did not want to allow their portion to be unified into a post-War Germany for fear that the Germans would again be an aggressive and powerful invader. In 1948 the Soviets blockaded East Berlin and the Germans in the West side of the city were starved of food. The Allies (us) started a massive airlift to feed the trapped Germans so they would not starve.
Lenin had also ended the war with Germany by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. However, this was a humiliating treaty for Russia as the Germans had been extremely harsh and the treaty took land, industries and people from Russia. After the Reds’ victory in the civil war, Lenin set about creating the world’s first communist state. He introduced war communism whereby the people saw the rapid nationalization of all industries as well as the requisitioning of all surplus grain from the peasants. Even though this solved all the immediate needs of the communist state, the majority of the peasants were unhappy about the new policies and rebelled against the Bolsheviks.
Lenin was aware that it was the Provisional Government’s unwillingness or inability to act on questions of land and peace that contributed to its unpopularity and allowed the Bolsheviks to take power so easily in October. Lenin’s response to this is represented within the quote by Russian historian Dmitri Olkogonov: “The Russian revolutionaries, including Lenin, rightly exposed the age-old evils of human existence, the exploitation, inequality, lack of freedom”. In response to his Decree on Peace, Lenin created the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that saw the Bolsheviks lose land but ultimately solve external issues with Germany and allowed Lenin to focus all of his efforts on Russia. By acting in ways that the people had demanded from the opposing
However, you shouldn't make the assumption that devotion to ideology was all that was behind Cold War animosity; countries tend to be more complaint trading partners with countries that share their political systems and both Stalin and the Cold War Era presidents in the US knew this. The tension eventually built, but no one wanted to go to actual war again after the colossal massacre of WWII, hence the term Cold War. 2. Describe and explain the ideological differences between the United Stated and the Soviet Union. In 1917, Russia became a communist country with an agenda of converting the world to communism.