The Axis suffered from 500,000-850,000 casualties. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad#Casualties) The reason the Soviet Union had so many casualties was because of the Germans' Luftwaffe bombing. The Luftwaffe bombing was countless of artillery strikes on Stalingrad before German forces advanced into the city. After the Luftwaffe bombing, the city of Stalingrad was virtually destroyed. With the city destroyed, the Germans had a slight advantage, but the Russians were still in their own city ,and they still had one major advantage besides that.
Eastern Europe, including both the small Eastern nations and Russia, were absolutely devastated by war. The Soviet had 20 million dead. Because of this, the vengeful Soviet Union wanted to lash back at beaten Germany, aiming at both fierce punishments of Nazi leaders and dismantling German factories and basically making German economic recovery impossible. The Soviets' damages were so immense that they were determined to rebuild their shattered land by extracting enormous reparations from the Germans. This is why the Soviet Union sought to take over many of the eastern lands that were once under German control Poland and Hungary became nearly dependent to the Soviets, and the Soviets also began to eye obtaining Greece and later Turkey.
However, there were other factors that came into play that the Bolsheviks hadn’t intended, such as, geographical factors and the lack of unity of the opposition. I believe that the factor which had the biggest impact on the survival of the communists is the lack of unity between the opposition because without one unified front fighting the Bolsheviks during the civil war, it became easy for the skilled soldiers in the red army to pick off smaller, individual ‘white armies’. Lenin introduced the cheka to stamp down on opposition to the government. The cheka were a political police force who used terror tactics to prevent opposition from forming. This proves that the Bolsheviks were brutal because they used force to keep themselves in power.
These reforms made a significant change to the government as a weakened sense of autocracy replaced the traditional span of control the Tsar ruled over, due to freedom of serfs which ultimately creates opposition. Further consequences of war faced by the government can be illustrated in the assassination of Alexander 2nd and the severe social unrest following the Russo-Japanese war. These protests are suggested to be the beginning point of the 1905 revolution. This caused extreme damage to the government as it questioned the strength of leadership and citizens became more and more critical, eventually leading to further reforms and the initiation of changing the way Russian government was formatted. However, it can be argued that
However, the Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive in November 1942, trapping and destroying an entire German army at Stalingrad. Germany proved unable to defeat the Soviet Union, which together with Great Britain and the United States seized the initiative from Germany. Germany became embroiled in a long war, leading ultimately to its defeat in May 1945 But when the Nazis invaded the USSR in June 1941 Blitzkrieg failed because, for the first time, German logistics were unable to maintain their momentum to sufficient depth to achieve ultimate victory. Thereafter German Blitzkrieg was countered by similar methods in which surprise, flexibility, and concentration of force were as potent in defence as
Stalin and his associates in the Politburo and the NKVD influenced the Soviet people with these methods so much that in some cases the lowest class of people would exclaim statements like: “When the woman I love gives me a child, the first word I will teach it shall be 'Stalin'” (A.O. Avidicenko, February 1935) The main methods that Stalin used to maintain his grip on the USSR was the Terror and utter fear that he spread throughout the Soviet union, which was transmitted through the NKVD. These ruthless individuals were Stalin's secret police and were headed by Yakoda and Yeshov in the 1930's. Stalin's great terror was kick started by his secret, well organised murder of Sergie Kirov. A member of the Politburo, who seemed to be in the public spotlight.
Stalin feared the pro Trotsky Red Army and secret police who had a lack of control and could potentially assassinate him. Stalin feared what had happened to his previous rivals who had power and fell would also occur to him further fuelling his paranoia. Stalin was also unable to trust members in his party and his paranoia further increased when he was outvoted by Kirov. Acting on this fear Stalin decided to remove those he saw as a threat and thus the great terror began. Stalin greatly feared older members of the party too as they knew the truth of Stalin’s rise to power and what Lenin’s testament contained which would have ruined Stalin’s career.
Also the state of the country during World War One left a lot to be desired and created a lot of dissatisfaction amongst the Russian people. Tsar Nicholas II was responsible for the fall of the Romanov dynasty, but to a notable extent, as there were other factors more significant to account for the collapse of the Romanovs. It’s reasonable if one states that Nicholas II was responsible for stardom’s collapse. Many criticized the Tsar as a Monarch whose capacity for hard work and commitment wasn’t matched by outstanding intelligence, and had no clear vision for Russia’s future. Nicholas was not suited to his role as Tsar, and would rather spend his time with his family.
What was the significance of the Battle of Stalingrad in the War between Germany and Russia by 1945? The Battle of Stalingrad was potentially the most brutal and devastating conflict on the Eastern Front, with a combined loss of nearly 2 million men. By 1945 it was clear that by failing to capture Stalingrad, Germany not only militarily suffered a tremendous blow, but domestically as well. Hitler had lost all faith and support in his Generals over Stalingrad, and likewise, his Generals started to see through their Fuhrer for what he really was, as did the German public; who no longer believed the lie that Germany was winning on the Eastern Front. For Russia, Stalingrad gave hope to the people, causing a surge of morale and support thereafter.
This was an uprising by a group of communists led by Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht. They tried to start a communist revolution in Germany but it was crushed by the Freikorps, a group of ex-German soldiers hired by the government to put an end to the uprising. This was a problem for the government because it showed that it was under threat and it also made the government look weak because they could not stop the uprising themselves and had to hire the Freikorps to do it for them. This also lead to them becoming more unpopular. Later in 1919 the Weimar government signed the treaty of Versailles.