UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
DYAL SINGH COLLEGE (M)
DSE Paper: History of the USSR: The Soviet
Experience (1945-1991)
Internal Assessment Assignment
Question: Despite Russia's initial defeat in the second
World War, how it registered victory eventually?
Submitted to:
Submitted by:
Dr. Amarjeet Prasad
Department of History
Dyal Singh College (M)
University of Delhi
Mansi Rautela
B.A. (H) History
Semester- VI
Roll no.- 18/85023
Introduction
On 23 August, 1939, ‘a diplomatic bombshell’ exploded when the USSR
and Germany announced the Non-Aggression Pact. In contrast to other
normal pacts of this kind, this one obligated other party to strict neutrality
when one of the signatories indulged in aggression. Hitler’s gain from the
Pact was insertion of neutrality provision as it authorised him to attack
Poland or some Western power without being apprehensive of a war with
the Soviet Union. Also, Soviet Union provided Germany with naval bases
and raw material required to conquer Western and Central Europe. Soviet
Union had to participate in the World War despite the pact but the Pact
provided Soviet Union breathing space for two years, which gave time to
Stalin to built back the strength of his army which had weakened by his
own purges. Although, the steps taken were inadequate as became
apparent when the Soviet Union was defeated in the initial stages of
World War II. However, without the breathing space of two years,
undoubtedly, the condition would have been worse.
The pact also contained a secret agreement, Protocol of 28 September, in
which the Soviets and Germans agreed how they would later divide up
Eastern Europe, consisting of three important clauses provided for first,
the partition of Poland through the middle of the country.The rivers
Narew, Vistula and San constituted the demarcation line. By this
arrangement eastern Poland was to be given to the Soviet Union while
western Poland was to be given to Germany. Russia stood to gain
tremendously because it would receive the Ukrainian and Belorussian
territories as also a huge portion of ethnic Poland in the province of
Lublin and a part of Warsaw province. The question of whether a Polish
state, although considerably reduced in size, was to remain in existence or
not was to be decided later on, after the above-mentioned rearrangement
had taken place. Second, the Protocol envisaged a similar
're-arrangement’ in the Baltic area. Russia was given a free hand in
Estonia, Latvia, and Finland while Lithuania was assigned to the German
sphere of influence. Third, the USSR had shown an interest in Romania's
Bessarabia Germany acceded to this request of Russia as it was not
interested in this region. Thus the Protocol was a tremendous victory for
the Soviet Union as it promised a return of former tsarist areas that added
'strategic depth to the USSR's western defences and enabled it to expand
its influence in eastern Europe. Germany was more concerned with the
immediate benefits that it could reap from the Non-Aggression Pact.
David Low, the famous British cartoonist, made a cartoon depicting the
cynical nature o the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The cartoon showed Hitler and
Stalin bowing graciously to each other over Polish soldiers dead body.
Hitler says, The scum of the earth, I believe. To this Stalin responds, The
assassin of the workers, I presume? The cartoon was captioned
Rendezvous.
The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact fell apart in June 1941, when
Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union. The initial plan of Hitler to launch
an attack on the Soviet Union in May 1941 was postponed because
Mussolini's invasion of Greece turned into a rout. To extricate his partner
and safeguard his own position in the Balkans, Hitler invaded Yugoslavia
on 6 April. Thereafter some time was needed to supply the German
armed forces with tanks and other vehicles. The German plan to launch
an attack on the Soviet Union was known as Operation Barbarossa; it
was launched on 22 June 1941 with a threefold thrust. The first objective
was to isolate Russia from the Baltic Sea by quickly annexing Leningrad
by launching an attack through the Baltic countries. The second objective
was to gain control over Moscow whereby the converging Russian
transport system would be disrupted. The third objective was to seize the
coal- and food-producing regions of the south like Ukraine and the
Caucasus, which would starve the Russians of fuel and food. The
Germans, optimistic about acquiring the support of the discontented
population, were convinced that within a short time they would gain
control over the whole of European Russia up to a line running from
Archangel to Astrakhan.
Factor responsible for initial defeat in World War II
One of the major factors responsible for the rout of the Red Army in the
initial stages was its unpreparedness and ignorance. Stalin, after
concluding the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany, placed excessive
faith in it and he seemed to believe that his country had been secured
permanently or at least for some years. The British, German, and Soviet
reports based on the actual situation and Hitler's aggressive drive towards
the Soviet Union warned Stalin of the German danger, but he took no
substantial measures to safeguard the interests of his country. According
to British writer, Alexander Werth, "The leader of the nation, Stalin
himself suffered some kind of nervous collapse as a result of seeing one
of his favourite myths, that of the imperialist threat come true.” He
withdrew to his dacha in the woods outside Moscow and tried to review
the situation.
The military doctrine of the Soviet Union that prevailed in 1941 included
the Draft Field Regulations of 1939, which emphasised an offensive war
and not a defensive war. This war would be carried into enemy territory.
The military strategists thought of a possible retreat only in small areas
and that too as a temporary measure. Defensive strategies were not
chalked out effectively, and thus when Germany attacked the Soviet
Union, the military planning proved to be defective and unrealistic.
Historians also feel that the military leaders in 1941 lacked
farsightedness and statesmanship as there was a tense relationship
between the army and society and the effect of the purges of 1937-38
period on military- industrial complex. It was tragedy that competent
commanders and officers were replaced by second- rate people.
The impact of the purges and the totalitarian system was felt in the
economic and military planing of the country. The Soviet Union had been
blessed with rich mineral resources and vast areas to which the people
could retreat when they were attacked. However, the development was
low and imbalanced. The officials in the planning offices preferred to
recommend development n the already developed areas of the centre and
the south because the totalitarian system expected them to achieve
spectacular results within a limited time, and it was possible to save on
social overhead capital in these areas by utilising the infrastructure of the
already existing towns, railways, and other public utilities. This faulty
planning slowed down the development in the east of energy resources
and industries. Key industries were still located in the west, which was
vulnerable to an attack by Germany. During the Third Five-Year Plan,
investments in the Central area were 19.4 per cent whereas in the
combined economies of the Urals, Siberia, and East Asia they were 23
per cent only. The slow and imbalanced development of resources had a
direct impact on the production of aircrafts, tanks, and weapons. Hitler's
inroads into the territories of other powers failed to compel the people of
the Soviet Union to speed up their production in adequlte numbers. When
Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, most of its army planes were
obsolete.
The position of tank production was the same. Most tanks were
obsolete and the production of new tanks, the KV and T-34, was
inadequate. The position of the production of guns, mortars, and
automatic weapons was also unsatisfactory, with the production of
ammunition being even slower than that of the guns. Another drawback
was the inadequate growth of the automobile industry, which resulted
in the carrying of a large number of guns on horses and farm tractors
Besides, radar technology was in its initial stages of development, and the
officers depended on outdated telephones because they were not skilled
enough to handle wireless communications. Not only was the war
equipment obsolete and inadequate but the training of the airmen and the
tank crews had also, been seriously neglected. Training of tank crews
required time and as there was a shortage of time, sergeants and soldiers
from the infantry and cavalry were transferred to the tank unit with less
than two hours of experience in actual tank driving. The officers of the
tank units were also not sufficiently trained to command their units.
Similarly, Russian airmen were not trained adequately to operate their
planes. While the US air force insisted that pilots should have at least 150
hours of flying experience before they were sent for combat operations, in
the Soviet Union some airmen had only 15 hours of experience, while
there were others who had only 4 hours. Apart from human mistakes,
there was the formidable problem of the length of the frontier. The
Finnish frontier between the Arctic and the Gulf of Finland was
approximately 750 miles long while the German frontier from the east of
Memel on the Baltic to the mouth of the Danube in Romania was more
than 1,250 miles. The problems of the Soviet Union were compounded
further by the fact that when German inroads were made into the Soviet
Union, the troops had not been fully mobilised at the front and the
railways continued to transport the troops slowly according to a
peacetime schedule, which was three to Tour times slower than the
German schedule. The Soviet Union was caught unprepared also with
regard to the fortifications along the border. The 'old' borders of 1938 had
been dismantled before the new frontier was constructed. When the war
started, the 'new' frontier was equipped with only a few 100 pill boxes
and gun emplacements. The number of anti-tank and anti-infantry
obstacles constructed was also very insufficient. Moreover, the Soviet
Union in the summer of 1941 was busy constructing new airfields
because the new planes - although insufficient in number - required
longer runways. Thus when the war started the Soviet Union's planes
were confined to a small space, which prevented their camouflage and
maneuverability. Apart from the above-mentioned drawbacks, the armed
forces had virtually no experience of fighting a war of this magnitude
with Germany. The Soviet Union's armed forces had fought in the Civil
War, defeated the rebels, and compelled the foreign powers to leave the
Soviet Union but this experience had no relevance for modern warfare.
Ultimate Victory of Soviet Union in World War II
Due to the unpreparedness of the Soviet Union and the thorough
preparedness of Germany, war that began with Germany's invasion of the
Soviet Union in 1941 resulted in massive losses for the Soviet Union in
the initial stages. However, Stalin, who had retreated to his dacha near
Moscow on the commencement of the war, soon recovered and he
chalked out a strategy. at was in consonance with the interests of his
country.
On 3 July 1941, he broadcast his views Moscow Radio and addressed the
people as 'comrades', 'citizens', brothers and sisters, and friends'. The use
of these words was deliberate, and it was obvious that Stalin was taking
refuge in the old and traditional form of human solidarity based on the
family.
He boosted the morale of the people by not only reminding them the
role played by the Red Army during the Civil War and foreign
intervention but also by venturing further into the past. He reminded them
of the great heroes of Muscovite and imperial Russian history like
Alexander Nevski, Dmitrii Donskoi, and Mikhail Kutuzov. The films, art,
and music of that period endeavoured to inculcate a feeling of patriotism,
World War II is often described as the Great Patriotic War to
emphasise the role of patriotism the ultimate victory of the country.
Stalin's significant role in the ultimate victory of the Soviet Vision is
projected clearly in a novel published by Konstantin Simonov in the
post-war period added The Living and the Dead in which he wrote, “The
people loved him in different ways, whole-heartedly or with reservations,
admiring him and yet fearing him, and some did nor like him at all. But
nobody doubted his courage and his iron will. And now was a time when
these two qualities were needed more than anything else in the man who
stood at the head of the country at war.”
The Soviet soldiers' battle cry was, 'For the motherland! For Stalin!
Stalin proved to be a competent administrator and military leader because
he also succeeded in establishing proper coordination between the
civilian and military spheres of the government.
During the course of the war, Stalin and his associates tried to learn from
their mistakes and this approach helped them to triumph ultimately in
the war against Germany.
The Soviet Union tried to boost the morale of the soldiers and restore
efficiency in the armed forces by resorting to the inner and 'outer'
smartening up of the forces. The ‘inner’ smartening included the
promotion of young officers who had proved their competence and the
demotion or dismissal of the incompetent 'old war horses'. Voroshilov
and Budienny who held key positions were removed. The 'outer'
smartening included the-introduction of smarter uniforms with
epaulettes and gold braid. The gold braid was imported from England,
which added to its prestige. The government introduced new military
decorations in addition to the old, which were named after the Great
Ancestors. The government also took steps to repose faith in the officers
by restoring 'sole command to them.
The government also introduced a code of etiquette for the officers
which included a number of instructions from the etiquette of the old
tsarist army whereby the officers were not expected to travel by public
transport or carry paper parcels.
While discussing his troops with Winston Churchill, Stalin said, "They
are not so hot yet, but they are learning and time) make a first-class
army before long”
The government realised that it was absolutely necessary for it to win the
goodwill and the Cooperation of the Church in its task of defeating
the Germans who had made inroads into its territory because the people
still had deep religious faith. The government took steps to appease he
Church by giving it some concessions whereupon the Church held
services and prayers for the victory of the Soviet Union and reposed faith
in the leadership of Stalin. The government reciprocated further by
re-establishing the full freedom of the church, and the chief atheist
newspaper, Bezbozbnik, which was published by the anti-God leader,
Emelion Yaroslvasky, was banned. Subsequently, the metropolitan of
Moscow, Sergius, was received by Stalin and elected Patriarch.
It was essential not only to raise the morale of the people and foster a
sense of national but also to see that the changing demands of the war
were met expeditiously. The political system of the Soviet Union despite
its drawbacks proved capable of solving the new problems. The state, the
party, and the armed forces, worked out strategies to mobilise the
nation’s resources to the maximum.
Whenever the Germans attacked any town, a town defence committee
would be established, which would include representatives of the local
front command, the town soviet, the party, and the NKVD.
This committee would have a multipurpose strategy. It would:
(1) manufacture military items in short supply;
(2) enrol volunteers and Home Guards from amongst the local people;
(3) construct defence lines and fortifications.
The planned economy of the Soviet Union was modified to meet the
demands of improvisation and it achieved a lot of success.
The government realised that mass evacuation of factories would resolves
some of the problems and it undertook this drive seriously. Its efforts
were crowned with great success.
The various steps taken by the government to safeguard the interests of
the Soviet Union proved to be a rewarding experience. By 1945 –
according to Voznesensky, Dobb, and Nove - more than half the
metallurgical output of the Soviet Union was produced in the Urals
whereas five years earlier in 1940 it was only one-fifth. Similarly, steel
production in the Urals between 1940 and 1945 rose from 2.7 to 5.1
million tonnes while coal in the same period rose from 12 to 257 million
tonnes. During the war period 3,500 new industrial enterprises were built
while 7,500 damaged ones were restored. The war period achievements
of the Soviet Union included the production of T-34 tanks and Katyusha
mortars, which were superior to anything that the German army
possessed. In September 1944, the Soviet Union's response to the new
German Tiger tank was seen in the heavy JS (Stalin) tank. It was a matter
of pride that the output of guns and mortars increased greatly by 1943.
A well-known writer wrote at that time, “A great density of fire for every
kilometre of front is now the usual thing.” The superiority in fire power
of the German infantry of 1941 was surpassed in 1943. It goes to the
credit of the designers, engineers, and manufacturers of the Soviet Union
that the quality of war equipment - especially tanks, aircraft, and guns was exceptionally good. As most of them had been manufactured in the
Soviet Union, it was 'not only a matter of national pride, but also of fact,
that Western aid supplied comparatively few of Russia's armaments.
While taking care of the military needs the government also took steps to
keep the railway departments in full gear to meet the responsibility of
increased transportation, which led to overloading and under
maintenance.
The Germans, while making inroads into Soviet territory, cut off direct
communications. As the Volga water route and the North Caucasus
pipeline were cut, it became necessary to transporte Baku oil to central
Russia through Kazakhstan and Siberia by rail. Similarly, coal had to be
transported by rail for longer routes until the Donets mines became
functional again. The urgent need to transporting arms and equipment
from distant industrial centres in the Urals and Siber further exacerbated
the situation. Thus as Alec Nove writes, “Rail transport remained the key
and performed remarkably well in the face of truly formidable handicaps,
not least of which were uncertain fuel supplies and inevitable overloading
and under-maintenance.”
Although the Soviet Union's contribution to the war effort was
commendable, because it was fighting to safeguard the interests of its
own country, yet it cannot be denied that the Foreign aid by-the Western
countries like the US, UK, and Canada was also significant.
The West particularly helped in solving the problem of road transport
Motor vehicles increased from 272,000 to 665,000 due to the US
lend-lease. Studebakers, Dodges, and Willys jeeps greatly increased the
mobility of the Soviet Union's armed forces and helped in increasing the
fighting power of the Red Army apart from modernising the military The
US and British supplies reached the Soviet Union only in 1943.
Quantitatively, they were nor much help as three-fourths of the material
used by the Soviet armed forces was produced dimestically. However,
qualitatively US and British goods made a contribution to the war effort
because they consisted of goods that the Soviet Union could not
manufacture at all or could produce in very small and inadequate
quantities. The Soviet Union wanted to extract as much as possible from
the Western democracies in order to defeat the common enemy, and it
deliberately tried to show that the defeat of Germany and Japan was made
possible by its own Herculean effort.
While the government took steps to improve its military position, it also
took steps for economic covery. The people had been facing hardships
several years ever since World War I broke out. The war was followed by
the Bolshevik Revolution, and the government, in its enthusiasm to bring
bout socialism, launched the collectivisation and industrialisation drive,
which brought hardship to The the people. During World War II, the
plight of the people was deplorable. There was extreme dearth of food,
housing was overcrowded, clothing was unobtainable, footwear was
unavailable, heating winter was inadequate, queues were long and rations
were unobtainable. In 1940, 15 per cent of the national income was spent
on military purposes' but in 1942, the figure was increased to 20 per cent.
Consequently, consumer goods were hit very badly. This situation added
to the woes it the people. But the government handled the situation very
carefully and appealed to their patriotism. The wartime slogan was,
“Everything for the front” and the people bore their hardships to save
their country from a deadly enemy.
The government realised the importance of putting agriculture on
track. The enemy had upied large crop producing areas. The following
steps were taken to boost agriculture:
(1) Farmers, who were earlier cultivating industrial crops, began to grow
food crops for survival the enemy had occupied large areas where crops
were grown;
(2) Non-agricultural labour was Mobilised to bring in the harvest by the
decree of 13 April 1942;
(3) The number of trudoini obe worked for a collective farm was
increased from 90 to 100-120 per annum because the preferred to work
on their private plots of land so that produce from these plots could sold
in the black market where prices were higher,
(4) The strict rules of the kolkher wete laxed and expansion of private
cultivation of land was not checked.
Germany not only made psychological errors in handling the Russians,
bur it also made errors in strategy. Germany had initially planned to
attack Russia on 15 May but the plan was delayed, and this caused great
hardship to the country.
In addition to the might of the Red Army, German troops were also worn
down by “General Winter”—the nickname used to describe the deadly
Soviet frost. Adolf Hitler’s invasion plans called for the Germans to
conquer the Soviet Union before the legendary cold could set in, but
supply issues and an unexpectedly spirited resistance combined to stall
the advance at Moscow’s doorstep in late-1941. Still clad in their summer
uniforms, the German Wehrmacht had to resort to using newspaper and
straw to insulate themselves against subzero temperatures. They soon
faced frostbite in epidemic proportions. Some 100,000 cases were
reported by end of 1941, resulting in the amputation of nearly 15,000
limbs.
The cold also wreaked havoc on Nazi heavy machinery. Tanks and
jeeps refused to start, and guns and artillery often froze and failed to fire.
The Soviets were more accustomed to the chill, and used specially
designed rifles, skis and camouflage to continue fighting even in some of
the most inhospitable conditions. The annual deep freeze proved to be a
thorn in the side of the German armies for the rest of the war, but the
warmer months were only nominally better. Soviet summers were often
boiling hot, and spring and fall brought a miserable rainy season known
as the “rasputitsa,” which left roads waterlogged and often impassable.
Strategicus rightly observes, “The winter had fallen three weeks earlier
than usual; and it is one of the many ironies of the War that the Yugoslav
defiance, which had produced so little immediate impression on the
Germans, may have paid compound interest in the end by delaying the
onset of the attack on Russia just long nough to permit the Russian winter
to intervene decisively.” Hitler blundered when he postponed Name of
his campaigns. When Germany initially attacked the Soviet Union, it
captured Smolensk, and it was very close to capturing Moscow and
Leningrad. However, Hitler preferred to establish his hold over the
industrial riches of the Ukraine and the oil wells of the Caspian. By e
time the German armed forces moved on to Moscow, autumn had set in
and the muddy filled with water became slushy, hampering the movement
of the Germans.
When germans approached Moscow, the inhabitants were hostile to them.
The people of Soviet Union took advantage of two of their traditional
scourges- the vastness of their country and the severity of their winter.
0ne of the most pivotal and dramastic events was the seige of the
Stalingard. Hitler bombarded the industrial city, now known as
Volgograd with air assualts and then poured infantry into the attack.
Caught in bind, the strapped Russian army enlisted volunteer citizens,
some with no weapons to fight agianst the invaders. The Russians had to
make a stand, especially their honor, they could not let this city fall.
Marshall George Zhukov heroically defended Stalingrad, which was
essential for the victory of the Soviet Union.
One of the reasons why this battle is so significant is the fact that, it
stopped the steady German advance into the Soviet Union completely. It
also marked the turning the tides of war in favour if the Allies.
Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies formally in Berlin on
May 8th, 1945.
Conclusion
When World War II ended in 1945 few doubted that the victor’s laurels
belonged mainly to Joseph Stalin. Under his leadership the Soviet Union
had just won the war of the century, and that victory was closely
identified with his role as the country’s supreme commander.
World War II was a global conflict of immense proportions in which 50
million people died, but at its heart was the epic struggle between Stalin
and Hitler on the Eastern Front. The war began with Hitler’s attack on
Poland in September 1939 and was followed by the stunning German
defeat of France in summer 1940. Not until June 1941 did Hitler launch
his invasion of the Soviet Union—a state that posed a strategic threat to
German domination of Europe as well as being an ideological rival and
racial enemy.
The struggle for the Eastern Front was bigger and costlier than the
fighting in the West, but it was also significantly more brutal. Both sides
flouted international law and practiced institutionalized acts of cruelty
against enemy troops, prisoners and civilians. The Germans wiped out
scores of villages during their advance through Russia, and Jews and
other minorities were regularly rounded up and shot or poisoned in
mobile gassing vans. Other cities were looted or starved into submission,
most famously Leningrad, where as many as one million civilians may
have perished during a 28-month siege. The Red Army responded by
giving no quarter during the Soviet push to Berlin in 1945, when hundred
of thousands of German civilians were shot, burned alive in buildings,
crushed by tanks and even crucified. According to some studies, Soviet
troops may have also been responsible for the rape of some two million
German women during the last days of the war.
At first all went well for Operation Barbarossa—the codename for the
German invasion—as Hitler’s armies penetrated deep into Russia,
reaching the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow by the end of 1941. In
1942, however, the Soviets turned the tables on the Germans and won a
great victory at Stalingrad that spelled doom for the Wehrmacht. In 1943
and 1944 the Red Army expelled the Germans from the rest of Russia and
then began an invasion of Germany that culminated in the capture of
Berlin in May 1945.
World war elevated the status of Soviet Union as it emerged from the
conflict as one of the two great powers. Henceforth, Soviet Union had no
rival either on the European or the Asian continent.
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