Joesph Stalin
Less than a month before Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and started World War II, he signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin. Less than two years later, he broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union in the early morning hours of June 22, 1941. There was plenty of evidence for German aggression before the war broke out, yet Stalin nevertheless signed the pact, which contained the secret protocol that divided Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. The reason for signing the pact was complex, yet one of the most important ones was the domestic factors. Among them, the terrible effect of the purges during the 1930s on the population, economy and especially the army. The purges were set off on December 1, 1934 with the murder of Sergei Kirov. He was a member of the Politburo, leader of the Leningrad party apparatus and had considerable influence in the ruling elite. His concern for the workers in Leningrad and his skill as an orator earned him considerable pop!ularity. Stalin used his murder as a pretext for launching a broad purge that would claim hundreds of thousands of victims and have lasting repercussion felt to this day. Stalin never visited Leningrad again and directed one of his most vici
ect German aggression to the west. Taking into account the disastrous condition of Russian forces brought about from within and the severe problems of the economy, this was necessary for Stalin. In a way, by signing the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, he was buying as much time as possible to try prepare for the inevitable. The inevitable happened on June 22, 1941. Molotov broke to the Russian people the grim news about the German attack. Stalin, as if embarrassed by the disastrous collapse of his hopes, shunned the limelight. He did not utter a single word in public for almost two weeks. He apparently waited to see what the results of the first battles would be, what the attitude of Great Britain and the United States would be, and what the feeling in his own country would be. Locked up with his military leaders, he discussed measures of mobilization and strategic plans. In the first years of the war, Soviet losses were much higher than necessary. The true cost of the purges! ompletely decapitated, all eight admirals perishing. Here's a grave list of the top dead: " 3 out of 5 marshals, 14 out of 16 Army commanders Class I and II, 8 out of 8 Admirals, 60 out of 67 Corps Commanders, 136 out of 199 Divisional Commanders, 221 out of 397 Brigade Commanders" (McCauley) In November 1939, Stalin ordered an attack on Finland to move the frontier further away from Leningrad after the Finns did not agree to the concessions Soviets offered. This expedition was a complete fiasco. It cost the already decimated Red Army around 200,000 dead and more were wounded, while only 23,000 Finns died (McCauley). A peace treaty was signed on 12 March 1940, but the incompetence and weakness of the Red Army was revealed to the rest of the world. This is something Hitler filed it away for future use. After that, and faced with increasing German aggression, Stalin could not risk being embroiled in a war. Hitler was in a great
Some common words found in the essay are:
Kirov Politburo, Soviet Union, Moscow Leningrad, Subject Stalin, Red Army, Western Front, Non-Aggression Pact, Britain United, Nazis West, Eastern Europe, soviet union, german aggression, june 22 1941, eastern europe, secret protocol, mccauley soviet, red army, non-aggression pact, university press, joseph stalin, 22 1941,
Approximate Word count = 1290
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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