Triumph And Collapse Of Russia. Units 1&2.

Good:

• Re-established Stavka July 1941.
• Embarked on a course of rapid industrialisation. 
• Listened: 'Stalin learned from his mistakes, whereas Hitler only grew more unwielding with each failure' - David Reynolds. 
• Sacked incompetent generals e.g Voroshilov
• Took control of his central theatre and put skilled individuals in charge - Zhukov

Bad:

• Ignored warnings of attack.
• Running on Civil War tactics against German Blitzkreig. 
• Refusal to reatreat at Kharkov in 1943 cost 85,000 soviet casulties. 
• 500,000 troops lost after ignoring Zhukovs advice to retreat in 1941.
• Did not allow his own forces to mobilise until under physical attack. 

Success:

• 50% more production was turned out before the evacuation.
• Defence industry rose from 3.4 billion roubles in 1937 to 38.7 in 1944. 
• Artillery, tanks and aircraft production doubled between 1940-1944. 
• Quadrupled ammunition in 2 years. 1940- 63,000. 1942- 238,000.

Weakness:

• Focus on agriculture decreased.
• GDP total decreased from 247.6 in 1940 to 192.2 in 1944.
• Production of coal fell from 150 million tonns in 1940 to 80 million in 1942.
• GDP per head was lower than other countries such as Germany and USA in 1940. 

• Orthodox churches restored to favour. By the end of 1943 there were over 15000 churches. 
• Spread of propaganda coined the term 'The Great Patriotic War' encouraged national pride and support.
• Thousands of suspects shot by the NKVD as well as soldiers who retreated on the battlefield. 
• 800,000 women served in the Soviet armed forces during WW2.
• 200,000 women were decorated. 89 received 'hero of the Soviet Union' award.
• Partisan movement. 300,000 Germans killed in Belorussia.

Battle of Kursk. 

• July & August 1943.
• Biggest tank battle ever.
• Gave the Soviets strategic initative and created a series of defense lines.
• German delays to wait for weapons (Tiger heavy tank). Allowed information to get out which told the Soviets where the attack would fall. 

Siege of Leningrad.

• Sept 1941-Jan 1944.
• 1,500,000 soldiers and civilians die after 872 days of siege caused destructive famine. 
• Germans lost Finnish support. 

Moscow. 

• Oct 1941-Jan1942.
• 'Operation Tycoon' 
• Severed the Moscow-Leningrad railway.
• Germans allowed Soviet counter-offensive to surround 3 German armies.

• Loss of men reduced workers.
• Farms were destroyed due to scorched earth policy. 
• Military expenses were high. 38.7 billion roubles had been spent on the defence industry by 1944.
• Heavy industry was strong.
• Light industry/agriculture are neglected. 

• 18.3% rise in female membership of the party.
• 75% joined the war effort. 
• After the war, Stalin regained any power he had shared.
• GKO set up - made sure Stalin had 'all the power and authority of the state' behind him.
• Stalin became more of a dictator after the war. 

• Mass patriotism followed victory.
• 1/5 of pre-war population had been lost. 
• Gender imbalance - 20 million Soviet men died.
• More supressed - free public speech was non-existent. 
• Returning soldiers sent to Gulags in fear they would spread Western ideas to Soviet people. 

'Stalin learned from his mistakes, whereas Hitler only grew more wielding with each failure. - David Reynolds. 

'He gave his top generals the freedom to fight.' - David Reynolds. 

'Stalin intended to terrorise his army into fighting.' - David Reynolds. 

'The influence of the Orthodox Church ... could not serve as a source of inspiration in the struggle against the enemy.' -Rzeheshevsky. 

'The most massive and most effective evacuatione ver undertaken in history.' -Rzeheshevsky. 

'For the soviet people, the post-war period was even more difficult then the war period.' - Peter Kenez. 

'Was all the more disappointing for a society expecting some reward for wartime sacrifices and victories.' - Christopher Reid. 

Success:

• Steel increased from just 12 million tonns in 1945 to 27 in 1950.
• All fourth-five year plans are met or exceeded.
• Index of producers' goods almost doubles from 112 in 1945 to 205 in 1950.
• 261 million tonns of coal by 1950.

Weakness:

• Quantity not quality. 
• Agriculture production fell short of the 127 1950 target to 99.
• 60-70% of harvested grain was exported to fund heavy industry. 
• Collectivisations starved peasants. 
• Consumer demand was ignored. 
• Lack of light industry.
• Economic support from Western countries such as USA/Britain was lost. 

• 'Hysterical Isolation'
• Zhdanov introduces cultural reforms - banned intellectuals who didn't follow the party line. Shostakovich exiled.
• Religion tolerated as long as it presented no threat to states control of public opinion.
• Only high-ranking party officials could travel abroad. 

• Leningrad Affair - 200 party officials were arrested and some shot. 
• 'Doctors Plot' - Kremlin doctors, most of them Jewish arrested and accused of plotting to kill Stalin.
• One party state.
• Viewed as God-Like
• Cult of personality stronger than ever. 
• Stavka's power removed.
• Stalin regained full control and Zhukov is fired.
• Less purges but more fear.
• Massive growth in party due to mass patriotism. 
• Party given a minumum role and congress was barely called. 

• Economically military spending remained high.
• Atomic bomb acquired in 1949. 
• Totalitarian State.
• Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945 effectively caused the Cold War.
• Increase in NKVD involvement. 
• 1948 Berlin Blockade - Cut off USA/Britains supply trains. 

'Ill-judged interventions of authority, excessive centralisation of decisions, low prices, insufficient investment and lack of adequete incentives.' - Alex Nove.

'It is indisputible that the Stalinist methods worked, and the speed of reconstruction was impressive.' - Peter Kenez. 

'Stalin;s power was less supreme than is popularly imagined.' - Hahn. 

'Self-confident tyrant in charge of a smoothly functioning, totalitarian machine, but a sickly old man.' - Chris Ward.

'A sickly old man - unpredictable, dangerous ... presiding over a ramshackle bureaucracy.' - Chris Ward.