The U.S.S.R tried to forge a treaty with the western alliance, but it was rejected. So he was forced to sign a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. The German army broke the pact and attacked the Soviet Union. The west allied itself with Stalin and together they defeated Hitler. After 1945, Stalin and his nation slowly cut off communication with the nations of the west. He converted Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania to communism. These countries would later become the Iron Curtain. Shortly after the lowering of the Iron Curtain, the Cold War began between the U.S.S.R and the U.S.A. Stalin s policies, which threatened the stability of the world and shook the foundations of Eastern Europe, led to the demise of the Russian economy and placed Russia in a deep pit of poverty, which they are still trying to claw their way out of. His ideology caused the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), whose job as to stop the spread of communism. He then backed North Korea against South Korea and America in the Korean War. Fortunately, the war ended after Stalin s death (another fortunate incident). On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died of a brain hemorrhage in Moscow. Although, with the bad I must mention the good things. Russian industry boomed between 1928-1987. Russian national income rose from 24.4 to 93.6 billion rubles. Coal output increased from 35.4 to 128 million tons, steel productivity from 4 to 17.7 million tons. Electrical output rose 200%. Machine tool production rose 20,000%. Tractor production increased 40,000%. There was almost a total disappearance of illiteracy and in 1939, people aged 9 to 49, 94% in towns and 86% in the countryside, could read and write (see #6). He also introduced a free health service. He personally controlled a greater number of people for a longer time than any other dictator, perhaps even any other ruler. He was a model of 20th Century dictatorship. United States president Harry S. Truman once said, I like old Joe Stalin. He s a nice guy, but a prisoner of his politburo (see #7). He was very good at manipulating people. He could hurt them and make them hate him, but at the same time they needed him. A good example of this is when Stalin was on his deathbed. His two possible predecessors were told to hold a bird and not let it go. The first man held the bird tightly so it wouldn t fly away and when he opened his fist the bird was dead. The second man seeing the first man s mistake held the bird loosely and it flew away. Stalin took a bird, pulled out its feathers and said, look at it, it is even enjoying the warmth from my hand . This is the same manner that he treated his citizens. Even though Stalin is dead he still lives on. It is like the Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote in his poem in 1962
Mute stood the soldiers on guard
Bronzed by the breeze
Thin smoke curled above the coffin
And breath seeped through the chinks
As the bore him out of the mausoleum doors
Slowly the coffin floated,
Grazing the fixed bayonets
Grimly clenching
His embalmed fists
Only pretending to be dead
He spied from inside
He was scheming something,
And merely dozed off to rest.
And I addressing our government, petition them to double,
And triple the soldiers on guard by this slab
Lest Stalin rise again
And with Stalin,
The past
The heirs of Stalin walk this earth. (see #5)
On August 23, 1929 Foreign Ministers V.M. Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. The pact also goes my the names of the German-Soviet Treaty of Nonaggression, the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, the Hitler-Stalin Pact, and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. The pact entitled that the two countries not attack each other, either independently or with accord with other powers. They agreed not to support any third power, which might attack the other party of the pact. They would remain in consultation with each other upon questions touching the common interests of each nation. They were to solve all differences between them by negotiation. The pact was to last 10 years with an extension of 5 years if one party informed the other party of termination 1 year prior to the expiration of the pact. There was also a secret protocol dividing the whole of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Poland would be split into two parts. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland would be under Soviet spheres of influence.
Stalin explained to his Politburo his reasons for signing the pact. Stalin said that a European war was necessary for communism to dominate Europe. The pact would cause Hitler to attack Poland, thus bringing England and France into war with Germany. When chaos prevailed in Europe, then the U.S.S.R could join in the war and sweep up the pieces. He also could have signed it because he had no alternative. The western powers denied his offer for an alliance so he went to the Germans. He might have wanted to return to the Rapallo (1922), a policy of friendship and cooperation between the two nations. He was trying to obtain security for the Soviet Union by any means necessary.
Hitler signed the pact so that he could invade Poland virtually unopposed by a major power. Afterwards he could attack France and Britain without having to worry about the Soviet Union at his back.
On September 28, 1939, the Germans and the Soviets signed the Treaty of Friendship and Borders. This treaty gave Germany more Polish territory than the secret protocol of August 23. Another new secret protocol was developed, which recognized the whole of Lithuania as part of the Soviet sphere of influence (later Stalin paid Hitler $3,000,000 in gold for Western Lithuania). And yet another secret protocol set mutual cooperation to repress all Polish agitation . This meant that the Gestapo and the NKVD had to work together against any Polish resistance that might take place during the Soviet and German occupation of Poland. The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact became a dead letter on June 22,1941 when Nazi Germany launched Operation: Barbarossa against the U.S.S.R.
On June 22, 1941 at 0300 hours, over 3,000,000 German troops and 3500 tanks launched a surprise attack on Russia on a 2,000 mile front, codenamed Operation: Barbarossa. This would become the largest theater of operations in WWII, unmatched in its complexity, size, or cost in human lives. The Eastern Front would become a testing ground for two of the most powerful super nations in the world at the time.
German and Soviet relations were good between 1939 and 1941. Soviet grain and oil greatly helped the German war effort. A few Soviet submarines even assisted in the sinking of the supply ships from the US and Canada to Britain. When Hitler learned that there was a large concentration of Soviet troops near the border, he ordered the preparation of Operation: Barbarossa (named after the Holy Roman Emperor). This decision was based on 3 factors. A) Like Napoleon Bonaparte, he failed to conquer Britain. He felt uneasy with Russia at his back and Britain at his front, also like Napoleon. B) In November of 1940, the Soviets demanded a large sphere of influence in the eastern Balkans and in part of the Middle East. C) He wanted to control the Soviet economic resources, especially in the Ukraine.
Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt both warned Stalin of the approaching attack, but the dictator refused to believe it. He even denied it when his own military intelligence warned him. Stalin may have believed that Hitler was massing troops to blackmail him into providing more Soviet aid to Germany. He then disregarded warning from a Soviet spy, Victor Sorge, who had even given him the correct date, June 22. A German soldier who defected to the Soviets the day before the attack, who warned Stalin that the attack would happen the next morning, was shot.
The Operation. The Germans deployed three groups. Army Group North, commanded by Field Marshall Wilhelm von Leeb; Army Group Center, commanded by Field Marshall Fedor von Bock; and Army Group South, commanded by Field Marshall Gerd con Rundstedt. They planned swift advances to the cities of Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev, taking everything between. Together with the element of surprise, the Germans possessed better training, more extensive experience, and the superiority of the points selected for attack. The Russians had large amounts of obsolete equipment, poorly deployed troops and artillery, and they lacked defensive positions. As a result, the Nazis rapidly overran the Russian frontier, and they achieved massive penetrations throughout the defensive line of the Soviets. By July 16, 1941 they were within 250 miles of Moscow and Army Group Center had captured Smolensk, thus taking 600,000 men prisoner and 5,000 tanks. After hearing of this news, Stalin had a nervous breakdown and would not speak for 11 days. On the anniversary of the launching of Operation: Barbarossa, Russia launched a counteroffensive codenamed Operation: Bagration against Army group Center. The product of this major attack was a major disaster for the German armies. Soon, the Russian began a string of offensive attacks that pushed the Germans back into Poland and then Germany. In April of 1945, the Russians were closing in on Berlin. Hitler demanded a fight to the death and dubbed Berlin a fortress to be defended to the last man. 1.3 million Russian soldiers stood hovering over Berlin, ready to descend upon the city like a pack of rabid dogs. This would be their final hour of vengeance. The Russian defeat of Berlin was inevitable. The Soviets outnumbered them in men, guns, tanks, ammunition, and planes. On April 16, the Red Army struck. They fought building-by-building and street-by-street until April 30, when the Reichstag was finally captured. At 2:25p.m. The Soviet flag was raised above the Reichstag, symbolizing the final defeat of the Nazis. At the same time down in his underground bunker, Hitler committed suicide. On May 2, the city of Berlin finally surrendered to the nation of Russia and to the rest of the world.
There are many reasons why Hitler s campaign against Russia was unsuccessful. Some of which include Hitler had too much land to cover on his huge front, he should have just went for Moscow. The Soviets vacated their factories and moved everything beyond the Urals, too far out of reach to the Nazis. The Soviets had American aid. There were many partisan movements against the Nazis. The Germans could not fight in the winter. Who knows what would have happened if Hitler succeeded. If he had he may have been too powerful to stop.
These two men have been called the worst murderers to walk the earth. And when they did they left a trail of destruction and pain behind them. Today the people are still trying to pick up the pieces. No one can choose who is the worse dictator, it is like asking would you rather have your toenails pulled out or drink oil. One thing we do know is that they were both sinister, horrible beasts who would stop at nothing to make the world what they wanted it to be. Instead of creating the Utopia that they imagined, they created a hell, which they thrived in. The only thing that was powerful enough to stop them was each other. Hopefully, the world will never have to face such devastation and blatant disregard for what is right. Even today the legacies of these two men (or creatures) still live on in the black hearts of hate-lovers around the world.
Bibliography
1) Hitler, Adolf Compton s Encyclopedia Online. Compton s Learning Company
1997.Online.Prodigy. (1 December 1996)
2) Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000.
1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation.
3) Britannica Online 1999-2000. Chicago, Illinois.
4) Hitler and Stalin The Economist; December 31, 1999
Europe Section
5) Halfway to The Moon, ed. P. Blake and M. Hayward, Anchor Books, 1967, pp177-180
6) Man of The Year. Time Magazine. Time Warner Inc. 1999-2000
www.time.com/time/special/moy
7) www.radioislam.org/nj/e99/histiry/diff_ah_js.htm
8) The killer In the Kremlin Biography, February 1997 History Section
Frost, Bob
9) Done In the Name Of Evil , Time; June 14, 1999
Morrow, Lance
10) Www.ukans.edu/Kansas/cienciala/341/ch4.html
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