great patriotic war

• 1941 Nazi Soviet pact: non aggression pact; know eventually they will have to fight
• Nazis invade 1941: many Russia thought could bring hope and change
• Scorched earth policy: instead of Russians giving land to Germans, they destroyed it and cattle so Nazis could not use it
• Seige of Leningrad: 1.5 million people died in Leningrad as they tried to resist Nazi occupation
• Killed many who resisted Nazis as Stalin said siding with the Nazis
• Ukraine targeted as had good wheat production
• Soviet citizens working 11-15 hours a day 5-6 days a weak
• if not involved in war production conscripted to army; patriotism to work for Stalin
• 20 million civilian losses; more than allies combined
• Stalin freed up some control and gave Russias some freedom
• inmates released from camps in order to help war effort
• churches had to be reopened in order to help morale and gain support
• those who came as prisoners of war from Nazi concentration camps were sent straight to Russian concentration camps as though conspiring with Nazis
• recovery meant that by 1945 the red army was the strongest in the world
• central planning was effective
• fourth five year plan focused on recovery and rebuilding
• Stalin made himself military leader Aug 1941
• Stalin's responsibility for Russia's initial disaster in war ignored
• paranoia of Stalin leads to more purges after 1945
• number in communist party increased from 3.76 in 1941 to 5.8 million in 1945
• by 1952 numbers for communist party declining
• Leningrad affair resulted in 200 supporters of Zhdanov being purged
• 27 million Russians killed in war; 2/3 being civilians
• shortages of labour
• 13,000 deserters were shot
• Russian troops reportedly raped 2 million women
• many industrial enterprises had to be relocated
• fourth five year plan:

  • avalability of free labour (POW)
  • trade agreements
  • help from America and UN
  • commitment of Russian people
• Russia's status improved as had finally won a war
• early 1944 Churchill agreed that Russia can maintain in 'sphere of influence' maintain Stalin power
• Naz-Soviet pact 1939: non- agression treaty
• 28 million Russians killed
• 1200 towns destroyed
• 70,000 villages destroyed
• 40,000 hospitals destroyed
• after 1941 Germans labelled traitors and 400,000 Lithuanians, Latvians etc transported on cattle trucks to Kazakhstan
• 3.5 million lived in Leningrad prior to war, only 700,000 at end