The Great Patriotic War: Politics

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  • Created by: s-eve
  • Created on: 18-12-18 09:10
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  • The Great Patriotic War: Politics
    • Why did the war happen?
      • 2 Years into WW2
      • Germany invades Soviet Union
      • Threat from Japan
      • Finland beats Soviet Union in Winter War
        • So Germany thinks Soviet Union is weak / the Red Army is weak.
      • No other major enemy for Germany
      • Ideology: Soviet Union is communist, Germany is Fascist
      • Soviet Union was never fully involved in the League of Nations
        • This caused distrust between capitalist governments and the Soviet Union.
      • Soviet's don't see the point in getting involved in the war yet.
      • Hitler's 'living space'
      • Germans see Soviet Union as something else to conquer before they got too powerful.
    • Was the Soviet Union even ready for the war?
      • Purging of senior officers left army without leadership
        • 30,000 are 'purged', dead dismissed, starved, exiled etc.
      • Gives Stalin totalitarian rule
      • Lack of training and leaders
      • No-one challenges Stalin
      • Stalin is ULTIMATE leader
    • Is Stalin a Good War leader or a Bad One?
      • In the first few weeks of the war he tells his generals to do nothing.
      • Does get the cabinet of leaders together at the end.
      • Brought back religion for morale
      • Effective - Scorched Earth Policy (but it is a short term solution)
      • Killed 27 million people to win the war
      • Degree of the death toll was due to the German treatment of civilians
      • Repression - very repressive leader
        • Genocides happened often, The Katyn Massacre - officers buried in the woods.
      • Uses his resources effectively
      • Stalin diverts lots of his soldiers to round up - the 'undesireables' that supported Hitler.
      • Stalin's importance to victory was minimal, just because he was in charge when war won doesn't make him massively important.
      • Germans make mistakes
    • Are Totallarian regimes easier to fight?
      • In democracy the morale and support isn't forced.
      • However with Totallarianism - just get rid of people that oppose you.
      • Depends on how effective the leader is
      • In democracy - good technology, money as an incentive

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