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Soviet Union [USSR] The Great Patriotic War
The German blitzkrieg nearly succeeded in defeating the Soviet
Union within the first months. The Soviet forces, caught
unprepared, lost whole armies and vast quantities of equipment to
the German onslaught in the first weeks of the war. By November the
German army had seized the Ukrainian Republic, begun its siege of
Leningrad, and threatened the security of Moscow itself
(see
fig. 5). The Great Patriotic War, as the Soviet Union calls the phase of
World War II involving that country, thus began inauspiciously for
the Soviet Union.
By the end of 1941, however, the German forces had lost their
momentum. Harsh winter weather, attacks from bands of partisans,
and difficulties in obtaining supplies over long distances
restricted German movements. At the same time the Red Army, after
recovering from the initial blow, launched its first counterattacks
against the invaders in December. To ensure the army's ability to
fight the war, the Soviet authorities evacuated thousands of
factories and key personnel from the war zone to the interior of
the country, where the plants began producing war matériel.
Finally, the country was bolstered by the prospect of receiving
assistance from Britain and the United States.
After a lull in active hostilities during the winter of 1941-
42, the German army renewed its offensive, scoring a number of
victories in the Ukrainian Republic, Crimea, and southern Russia in
the first half of 1942. Then, in an effort to gain control of the
lower Volga River region, the German forces attempted to capture
the city of Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd) on the west bank of
the river. Here, Soviet forces put up fierce resistance even after
Hitler's determined actions to take the city had reduced it to
rubble. Finally, Soviet forces led by General Georgii K. Zhukov
surrounded the German attackers and forced their surrender in
February 1943. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad proved decisive;
after losing this battle the Germans lacked the strength to sustain
their offensive operations against the Soviet Union.
After Stalingrad, the Soviet Union held the initiative for the
rest of the war. By the end of 1943, the Red Army had broken
through the German siege of Leningrad and recaptured much of the
Ukrainian Republic. By the end of 1944, the front had moved beyond
the 1939 Soviet frontiers into eastern Europe. With a decisive
superiority in troops and weaponry, Soviet forces drove into
eastern Germany, capturing Berlin in May 1945. The war with Germany
thus ended triumphantly for the Soviet Union.
In gaining the victory, the Soviet government had to rely on
the support of the people. To increase popular enthusiasm for the
war, Stalin changed his domestic policies to heighten patriotic
spirit. Nationalistic slogans replaced much of the communist
rhetoric in official pronouncements and the mass media. Active
persecution of religion ceased, and in 1943 Stalin allowed the
Russian Orthodox Church to name a patriarch after the office had
stood vacant for nearly two decades. In the countryside,
authorities permitted greater freedom on the collective farms.
Harsh German rule in the occupied territories also aided the Soviet
cause. Nazi administrators of conquered Soviet territories made
little attempt to exploit the population's dissatisfaction with
Soviet political and economic policies. Instead, the Nazis
preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out
genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly
Ukrainians) to work in Germany. Under these circumstances, the
great majority of the Soviet people fought and worked on their
country's behalf, thus ensuring the regime's survival.
The war with Germany also brought about a temporary alliance
with the two greatest powers in the "imperialist camp," namely,
Britain and the United States. Despite deep-seated mistrust between
the Western democracies and the Soviet state, the demands of war
made cooperation critical. The Soviet Union benefited from
shipments of weaponry and equipment from the Western Allies; during
the course of the war the United States alone furnished supplies
worth over US$11 billion. At the same time, by engaging
considerable German resources, the Soviet Union gave the United
States and Britain time to prepare to invade German-occupied
western Europe. Relations began to sour, however, when the war
turned in the Allies' favor. The postponement of the European
invasion to June 1944 became a source of irritation to Stalin,
whose country meanwhile bore the brunt of the struggle with
Germany. Then, as Soviet armies pushed into eastern Europe, the
question of the postwar order increased the friction within the
coalition. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin clashed
with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston
Churchill over his plans to extend Soviet influence to Poland after
the war. At the same time, however, Stalin promised to join the war
against Japan ninety days after Germany had been defeated. Breaking
the neutrality pact that the Soviet Union had concluded with Japan
in April 1941, the Red Army entered the war in East Asia several
days before Japan surrendered in August 1945. Now, with all common
enemies defeated, little remained to preserve the alliance between
the Western democracies and the Soviet Union.
The end of World War II saw the Soviet Union emerge as one of
the world's two great military powers. Its battle-tested forces
occupied most of postwar Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union won
island holdings from Japan and further concessions from Finland
(which had joined in the German invasion in 1941) in addition to
the territories the Soviet Union had seized as a consequence of the
Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. But these achievements had been
bought at a high cost. An estimated 20 million Soviet soldiers and
civilians perished in the war, the heaviest loss of life of any of
the combatant countries. The war also inflicted severe material
losses throughout the vast territory that had been included in the
war zone. The suffering and losses resulting from the war made a
lasting impression on the Soviet people and leaders that cannot be
overlooked.
Data as of May 1989
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