Transformation of international position

• Formation of Soviet bloc:

  • satellite states
  • salami tactics
  • Stalin hoped the buffer zone would help protect the USSR from future invasion from the West
• Superpower:

  • Military-industrial war machine - 7.5 million soldiers
  • Increased territory
  • Satellite states
  • Atomic power
  • UN permanent member
• Conflict with USA and capitalist West:

  • Stalin was critical of allies not opening up a second front to take pressure of Red Army
  • Potsdam conference in 1945 ended with no final peace agreement
• Death of Stalin:

  • 1953
  • delayed calling doctors because of threat of new purge
• Problems for Stalins successors:

  • Leadership
  • Legacy of terror
  • De-Stalinisation
  • Improve agriculture
  • Keep people believing in a socialist future