3.3.2

Political, Economic & Social Consequences of War

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Political Consequences of Stalin's War Leadership

Although Stalin was a great war leader, there were still many political issues in the Soviet Union in the 1940s.

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The emerging Cold War

  • Stalin played a key role in the emerging Cold War.
  • The wartime conferences between Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister), Franklin Roosevelt (American President) and Josef Stalin both solved wartime issues and sowed the seeds for ongoing conflict.
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Spreading communism

  • Historians have wondered if Stalin was trying to use the war to spread communism and take over large parts of the world.
    • He was successful at spreading communism to Eastern Europe.
  • But at the Yalta Conference with Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin allowed Britain to have control of Greece, even though communists were winning the civil war.
  • Stalin also gave no help to the Chinese communists.

Economic Consequences of the Second World War

Russia's economic position was similar before and after the Second World War.

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Heavy industry

  • Russia's economy was very focused on heavy industry. Armaments were one of the Soviet Union's most important sectors.
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Consistency

  • Stalin ran the Soviet economy in a very similar way during the war and after 1945. The Soviet Union was a Command economy.

Social Consequences of the Second World War

The Second World War also had significant social consequences for the people of the Soviet Union.

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Psychological damage

  • Millions of Soviet citizens died during the war.
  • This caused enormous psychological trauma for those who survived.
  • 25 million had also been left homeless because of the destruction of towns and cities.
  • 90% of the city of Stalingrad had been destroyed.
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Civilian deaths

  • 30 million Russians died in the war.
  • More people had died in Leningrad than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the USA had dropped atomic bombs.
    • 3 million citizens of Leningrad had died in the siege.

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1The End of Tsardom

1.1Russia's Economy & Society

1.1.1Industrialisation

1.1.2Living & Working Conditions

1.2Nicholas II's Autocracy & the Court

1.2.1Growth of Revolutionary Opposition

1.2.2The 1905 Revolution & the October Manifesto

1.2.3Reforming Russia Before 1914 - Stolypin

1.2.4The Duma & Political Stalemate

1.3The First World War

1.3.1The Impact of Military Defeats

1.3.2Social & Economic Effects of WW1

1.3.3Romanov Unpopularity

1.3.4The Tsar's Abdication

1.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - The End of Tsardom

2Lenin's New Society

2.1The Provisional Government

2.1.1The Failure of the Government

2.1.2Social & Economic Problems

2.1.3Lenin & Trotsky

2.1.4The Growth of the Bolsheviks

2.1.5The October / November Revolution

2.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - The Provisional Government

2.2The Impact of Lenin's Dictatorship

2.2.1The End of the First World War

2.2.2The Cheka

2.2.3Red Terror & Centralisation

2.2.4The Civil War & The Red Army

2.2.5Propaganda

2.2.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Early Bolshevism & the Civil War

2.3Social & Economic Developments

2.3.1War Communism

2.3.2The Kronstadt Rising

2.3.3The New Economic Policy (NEP)

2.3.4The Achievements of Lenin & Trotsky

2.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Social & Economic Developments

3Stalin's USSR

3.1Stalin the Dictator

3.1.1The Power Struggle to Succeed Lenin

3.1.2The Communist Party & Government

3.1.3The Terror & the Purges

3.1.4The Secret Police

3.1.5Cult of Personality

3.1.6Propaganda & Censorship under Stalin

3.1.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Stalin's Dictatorship

3.2Stalin's Modernisation of the USSR

3.2.1Collectivisation

3.2.2Five Year Plans

3.2.3Social & Economic Consequences

3.2.4Social & Economic Consequences 2

3.2.5The Extent of Modernisation

3.3Impact of the Second World War

3.3.1Stalin's Wartime Leadership

3.3.2Political, Economic & Social Consequences of War

3.3.3Top Grade AO2/3 - Modernisation of the USSR

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Stalin's Wartime Leadership

Top Grade AO2/3 - Modernisation of the USSR