One of the greatest ideas introduced was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which effectively ended World War One for Russia. Adam Ulam said “this was the legacy of years of isolation and defiance.” Despite these being opposed to their general ideology specifically to appeal to the masses and generate public support before the introduction of NEP. War communism was an important event that leads to the consolidation of Bolshevik power. Once civil war broke out, the Bolsheviks regime was in a dire situation by the
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.
By October 1905 the most united opposition in Romanov history faced the Tsar. Concession was unavoidable, but by giving ground the government intended to divide the opposition forces, which confronted it. As well as this other factors helped to contribute to the survival of Tsarism. These include the army and elite staying loyal to Tsar Nicholas II and the nature of the revolution, One of the main attributes one could argue to the survival of Nicholas the second is the unorganised nature of the opposition to the tsar. This is shown by one main foe to the tsar the social democrats being split between the Bolsheviks led by the Lenin and the Mensheviks.
Their argument is that Stalin was a totalitarian dictator who was the main planner and architect behind the purges. The structuralist school on the other hand believe that the situation was a consequence of Bolshevik theory. This school includs historians such as J. Arch. Getty and argues that Stalin’s personality is not sufficient to explain the scale and form of the purges. One key piece of evidence in favour of this is the Pravda article “dizzy with success†which suggests that the purges spiralled out of Stalin’s control.
This gave Stalin a most important comeback and it was only the beginning of Stalin’s quest for the power of Russia. Lenin’s testament was send to the CC in May 1924 but it was not released to the party. If it had been it would have ended Stalin’s career. Zinoviev and Kamenev convinced the CC not to release it, because of the following causes it could have; the testament was not very positive about the party, Zinoviev and Kamenev thought that Stalin was no real threat to them and they wanted his help to get rid of Trotsky, and that the testament would help Trotsky. Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin were now ahead in the struggle to conquer the power.
Roosevelt was keen to encourage closer ties with the USSR and although many Americans were skeptical, Roosevelt worked hard to keep the peace between America and the USSR. (Lowe, 2002) Roosevelt had growing concerns about Nazi Germany in 1939 this should have brought about US-Soviet co-operation but the cynical nature of Stalins dictatorship whose vicious qualities were made evident to the US during the show trials, imprisonments and widespread executions, led Stalin to sign a secret Nazi-Soviet pact that allowed Moscow to occupy eastern Poland and the Baltic shores. (Hopkins, 2011) Even though Germany and the USSR were enemies Stalin signed the pact to prevent going to war with Germany. The actions of Stalin worried
Political, economic and social factor will be explained. The government decisions to make concessions was successfully avoided the overthrow of the Tsarist regime in 1905. They made intelligent concessions to two of the main opposition groups, thus isolating the third groups, which was the working class. These concessions granted what the people wanted and the government managed to end the uprisings that occurred in Russia. In fact, the readiness which the oppositions accepted the government’s political and economic bribes, showed that neither of these groups were really serious about revolution.
After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin was not the first choice to take over the leadership of the Soviet Union. However Stalin’s sly manoeuvring and exaggerated lies allowed him step above Lenin’s chosen successor Trotsky. “Lenin wrote a political “testament”...calling for Stalin’s removal from the secretary general ship.” (Hingley). This “testament, which Stalin knew about, could have been the end of his dictatorship before it even began, “but his luck and skill enabled him to have it discounted during his lifetime” (Hingley). At Lenin’s funeral Stalin spoke about losing a great leader.
As said above, luck was definitely a vital part in Stalin’s victory. Had Lenin not died when he did it is extremely likely that Lenin would’ve said what was written in his testament to the party, rather than leaving it to be read later by select members of the party who decided not to make its content public. The major lucky break Stalin had was Trotsky’s position when Lenin died. Trotsky had been ill and was on vacation to recover when it happened and so was far away from Moscow where the funeral was being held. Stalin, seizing this opportunity, convinced Trotsky that he would not be able to make it back in time for the funeral and the stress of trying would just worsen his condition.
In addition it will also examine the human failures; this would be defined as human loss, death and or a decrease in living conditions and quality of life. Stalin’s first economic policy of the 1930’s was to introduce Collectivization. This was the joining of private plots which had been previously divided amongst the peasants by the Tsar, in order to increase the amount of output production altogether. Efficiency of farms and a boost in agriculture was essential in order to support industrialization which Stalin wanted to push forward. He needed enough food to be produced in order to support the working masses that would be turning to industry in cities.