Great Patriotic War and Stalins Dictatorship 1941-53

Question 1

Operation Barbarossa

Answer 1

22nd June 1941, massive German offensive, led to the siege of Leningrad and Battle of Stalingrad.

Broke the Nazi-Soviet pact and led to the Grand Alliance being formed

Question 2

USSR’s reaction to invasion

Answer 2

Scorched Earth policy-burn any resources as they retreat, factories relocated to Eastern Russia, production shifted towards tanks (t34) and munitions (Kharkiv), foreign aid from Britain and USA (munitions, transport and raw materials).

Question 3

Siege of Leningrad: dates

Answer 3

September 1941-January 1944

Question 4

Siege of Leningrad: key events

Answer 4

Sept. 8th 1941- Germans encircle Leningrad.
Dec. 1941- Lake Lagoda freezes forming a new supply route in
July 1st 1942- German offensive
Sept. 25th 1942- offensive abandoned
Jan 12th 1943- Operation Spark- Russia break through German lines and supply the city with rations
Jan 14th 1944- Soviet offensive- defeat the German North Army
Jan 28th 1944- Stalin declares siege is over

Question 5

Siege of Leningrad: impact

Answer 5

Starvation + 3 years of severe rationing for civilians
Isolation and entrapment
Relatively limited damage to infrastructure

Question 6

Battle of Stalingrad: dates

Answer 6

August 1942- February 1943

Question 7

Battle of Stalingrad: key events

Answer 7

Aug. 19th 1942- Hitler orders attack
Sept. 3rd- Germany reach outskirts and met with fierce fighting
Late Sept.- Germany reach city centre
Nov. 19th- Russian offensive- air strikes clear a path in the south and ground troops move in
Nov. 22nd- Germany surrounded- Hitler orders them to stay rather than fight a way out and escape
Dec. 1942-Feb 1943- German forces trapped and rescue missions fail
Feb. 2nd 1943- starving+frozen German forces surrender

Question 8

Battle of Stalingrad: impact

Answer 8

Majority of infrastructure destroyed
40,000 civilians died
Massive losses on both sides (bloodiest battle of WW2):
Russia: 1.1m dead, missing or captured
Axis: 800,000 dead, missing or captured, 91,000 surrender and sent to Gulags where only 5000 survive

Question 9

WW2: Total Russian losses

Answer 9

14m Russian soldiers died
20m Russian Civilian deaths

Question 10

WW2 Victory

Answer 10

May 1945: Battle of Berlin

Question 11

Reasons for Russian victory in WW2:
Russian strengths

Answer 11

Russias preparedness- 5 year plans, tank production, moving industry beyond Urals, scorched Earth.

Russias size- geographical+population (3x Germanys at 171m) + massive resources

Stalin- strong leader, had good generals, utilised propaganda to motivate soldiers and population

“Command economy” was better suited to war

Question 12

Condition of Russia Post-War

Answer 12

14% of population, poor harvests and famine in 1946 (98,000 collective farms had been destroyed), infrastructure destroyed, poor working and living conditions, 25m people homeless.

Question 13

GDP rankings in 1945

Answer 13

USA=First (miles clear)
Russia=Second
UK+Germany=Third

Question 14

Reasons for Russian victory in WW2:
Allied support

Answer 14

Allies on other front distracting Germany
Mass bombings doing damage
Military+economic aid- USA to USSR with the Lend-Lease in 1941
Codebreaking at a crucial time in 1941

Question 15

Reasons for Russian Victory in WW2:
Nazi Germany weaknesses

Answer 15

Strategic mistakes of the Nazis- Stalingrad, spreading across both fronts in 1944, not preparing for Winter battle, sacking Generals

Resistance in occupied countries

Poor resources/materials

Question 16

Post-War industry

Answer 16

1940: 1950: Tractors: 66,200. 242,500
Coal: 166m tons. 262m tons
Electricity: 48m kWhs. 91m kWhs

Question 17

When did Russia get the atomic bomb and who developed it?

Answer 17

1949, Beria

Question 18

Post-War agriculture

Answer 18

5 year plans, grain potatoes cotton and cattle recovered by 1952

Famine 1946-47

Question 19

Post-War Society

Answer 19

“High Stalinism”: cult of personality has Stalin as the war hero

NKVD have another wave of terror- returning PoW’s imprisoned over fears they had been “ideologically contaminated”, gulag population grew to 2.5m.

Zhdanovshchina=cultural purge, writers+poets purged for not representing Socialism

Leningrad affair- 1949 Zhdanov dies and Beria purges 100 party officials and 2000 removed from the party over fears of a plot

Jewish Doctors Plot- 1953, Pravda revealed “the plot” of the 9 doctors accused of treason, espionage and terrorism. Would’ve kickstarted another terror with Anti-Semitism the core. Stalin dies before the show trials and Beria revealed it had all been fabricated.

Question 20

Post-War international relations:
Potsdam Conference

Answer 20

July 1945:
Stalin, Truman and Churchill discus peace terms and the division of Germany-Stalin and Truman disagree

Question 21

Post-War International relations:
The Long Telegram

Answer 21

February 1946:
8,000 word telegram sent by Kennan (American Diplomat living in Moscow) to Truman harshly criticising communism and Russia

Question 22

Post-War International relations:
Churchills Iron Curtain Speech

Answer 22

March 1946:
States: UK and USA need to “defend peace and stability against the menace of Soviet Communism”

Question 23

Post-War International relations:
Formation of the Eastern Bloc

Answer 23

1947:
USSR forced/influenced all the European countries East of Germany into communism forming a blockade between them and the West

Question 24

Post-War International relations:
USA’s Policy of Containment

Answer 24

1947:
Kennan advises that the US step in and prevent any further expansion attempts of communism by any means necessary

Question 25

Post-War International relations:
Marshall Plan

Answer 25

1948:
USA offer $16billion to European nations to improve trade and economy

Question 26

Post-War International relations:
Berlin Blockade

Answer 26

1948:
Russia blocks road routes from West Germany to West Berlin temporarily starving West Berlin of food and resources

Question 27

Post-war International relations:
Russia get the atomic bomb

Answer 27

1949:
Beria finally develops the atomic bomb for Russia- they have finally caught up to America and England

Question 28

Post-War International relations:
NATO

Answer 28

1949:
Western European countries all join NATO (mutual protection agreement) and Russia is excluded from this