The USSR and the Second World War

Question 1

Stalin’s foreign policy before 1939

Answer 1

• Almost entire focus upon domestic policy
• Comintern commitments to other potential communist countries: China and Spain
• League of Nations membership from 1934.
• Germany The Rapallo Treaty 1922 and The Russo-German Treaty 1926
• Responses to all subsequent German aggression

Question 2

What Decisions did Stalin have to make?

Answer 2

• Defend Czechoslovakia to deter Hitler’s aggression.
• Abandon Czechoslovakia and gain time, but might encourage Hitler
• Ally with the West and have immediate war with Germany.

Question 3

How did the USSR defeat Nazi Germany?

Answer 3

• Military rebuilding following the purges.
• Population advantage
• Stalin’s determination:
• Centralised government and economy
• Strength and force of NKVD
• Hitler’s miscalculations
• Propaganda
• Scorched earth policy.

Question 4

What were the Impacts of the Great Patriotic War?

Answer 4

• Red Army met the Anglo-Americans
• Human cost: 20 million dead, 25 million homeless
• 65,000 kms of railway track, 32, 000 factories, 40,000 hospitals, and 50% of housing destroyed.
• The Second World War legitimized the Communist State.
• The subsequent carving up of Germany led to diplomatic friction, and hastened the Cold War