Why, despite the disasters of 1941, was

the USSR able to defeat its enemies?

On the 22
nd
June 1941, 4.5 million German troops invaded eastern Russia, while many Soviet troops
did nothing as they had received orders to do so as Stalin believed it was a mistake on Hitlers
behalf; surely Hitler would not invade his great ally, Stalin? This situation was one of the initial
disasters of world war two for Russia, yet they came out of the war as a superpower of the world,
winning their first war for decades. There were many reasons for this turnaround, ranging from the
strong leadership of Stalin to the failures of the Hitlers leadership.

It is true that Stalin was shocked at the initial invasion of Russia, believing that, in his own words
Hitler would not be so stupid to invade Russia, and so did not know how to respond. When his
response came, it was in actions, not words, retreating to his dacha in an apathetic and depressed
state. There was no word for him for some days, as Stalin ignored the telephone that continually
rang. Eventually, some of the top officials from his government paid a visit, with Stalin initially
believing that they were attempting a coup dtat, though their reason was far from it. They wanted
Stalin to return to coordinate the defence of the motherland against the Nazis. Stalin agreed, but he
believed that he had fucked up the legacy that Lenin had left them, so was not confident in
winning. It was during this time that Russia was being invaded, with disastrous losses. Most of
Ukraine fell, along with the land up to Moscow and Leningrad. Further, they lost of their air force
on the first day due to them remaining inactive. However, for a range of reasons, Russia was able to
overcome the initial disasters and win the war.

In any war the economy and how it is managed plays a crucial part in winning. The Russian economy,
in comparison to other economies such as the German economy, was totally focused on fighting a
war, allowing it to mass produce armaments, tanks and planes at an amazing rate. This was because
Russia put its economy on a war footing due to the five year plans, with the third plan being
specifically focused on rearmament, unlike Germany who did not establish a total war footing until
1943, with Hitler estimating that it was four years behind other nations at that time. The German
war economy lacked the direction that Russia had and so did not have enough amounts of tanks and
planes to defeat the Russians with, in comparison to how much Russia was able to produce. Further,
56% of the national income was spent on the war, at a total of about $13billion, far more than any of
the other countries were spending. Establishing a war footing allowed the Soviets to out produce the
Germans; the more tanks, guns and planes that Russia had, the easier it would be to repel Germany
from their land. Therefore, a huge contributing factor in why Russia was able to defeat its opponents
was how the economy was managed. It has to be asked, who organised the economy and decided
how much was spent on what? The answer is of course Stalin, so it could be argued that Stalin is a
key reason why they won the war, along with the failures of the Germans.

The Russian economy would not have been able to function without the Russian people, as well as
the army not being able to fight without them, so it could be argued that the Russian people won
the war. The struggle of the Russian people was great, as was their sacrifice, with most of the reason
why Germany was halted and eventually repelled due to this. The 900 day siege of Leningrad, for
example, is a testimony of how hard they fought and to what measures they would go to, to win the
war. They survived starvation through eating bread from sawdust as well as in rare cases
cannibalism, and fought through the freezing winter and through exhaustion until the siege was
lifted. Those who were not working were sent to the frontlines to fight directly, and those who did
not, be it the elderly, the children or the women worked in factories producing what was needed.
From this, the production of armaments doubled in 1942, a magnificent achievement. As well, two
million women fought in the army, with the only difference between them and men being extra soap
rations. Further, the Russian people fought under one cause, which was the Russian cause and not
the Stalinist cause, meaning that they were united and so would have the upper hand in battle; they
were fighting for their lives and for the motherland not for Comrade Stalin, who most would have
gladly given over to the Germans. All of these reasons meant that all of Russia was united and played
a key role in the war, be it fighting directly for the motherland or by producing the tools that those
fighting required. It is often said that Germany is a very efficient nation, yet they did not utilise all of
their resources as efficiently as Russia did, not even using women in the factories to take release
men to fight. Therefore, this is a strong reason why Russia won the war, yet Stalins decision directly
affected how the Russian people were organised too, another factor bolstering the view that Russia
won the war due him.

The allies aided Russia less than the Russian people or the war economy did, yet they were a
significant factor in why Russia won the war. The lend lease scheme, for example, aided Russia in
terms of food, transportation, and armaments, with 1900 of the 2000 trains Russia used in the war
being American and 17% of the calorie intake was also coming from the same source by 1943. This
meant that the Russian people were being fed and had the ability to move the supplies to the
frontlines, something that had impacted Russia in the First World War. Furthermore, the allies
opened up a second and then third front so that the full attention of Germany was not on Russia but
was divided, a key failure of Germany in declaring war on the USA and a key role of the allies. The
role of the allies was minor in comparison to some aspects yet it was a vital part in winning the war.

Despite his original failures, Stalin was successful in regaining his nerve and taking over the war
effort for Russia. Many of the decisions he made affected other reasons why Russia won the great
patriotic war, and so it could be seen that he was the centre reason for winning. The first action he
took after regaining his nerve on the 3
rd
July was to make a radio broadcast to the Russian people,
referring to them not as comrades but as brothers and sisters, referring to the Russian people as
one whole family, as well as stating that they were fighting for Mother Russia, another term he
coined. This united the people under him, not Stalinism which they would not have fought as hard
for, thereby giving them a strong fighting spirit. It was he who stayed in Moscow and made the
decision not to evacuate it, meaning that the city did not fall into enemy hands and allowed them to
halt the German advance; Molotov agreed stating that if Stalin had left Moscow would have
burned. Further, he inspired people through staying in the underground until a bomb shelter was
built for him and through radio broadcasts, which boosted morale, a necessary part of the war
machine, as well as pragmatically allowing churches to reopen to boost morale. He ordered the 2500
industries to move west so the Germans would never had taken what was left to produce, which
allowed them to still produce armaments despite the huge German gains. Stalin and Stalin alone
could have made a decision that bold, as well as the decision to order all Soviet troops to avoid
capture at all cost, even at the cost of their life, which had the effect of costing the Germans more
lives. His Scorched Earth policy meant that the already stretched German supply lines became
overstretched, meaning that they could not effectively get their armaments to their troops. Lastly,
Stalin gave his generals the freedom to fight the war, which was a concept Hitler could never
understand and was a key reason why they Russia won.

Despite Stalin receiving most of the credit for Russia winning the war, the failure of the Germans
allowed for exploitation, meaning that they aided Russia win the war. A common know factor for
Germans loss is that they delayed operation Barbarossa for six weeks, which meant that in the long
run they would be met by the Russian winter, which was obviously a serious problem, as the
Germans did not have suitable winter clothing or weapons suited for the extreme cold. This was
made worse by Germany declaring war on America as they opened up a war on three fronts, dividing
the forces too far. Furthermore, the only laid siege to Moscow and Leningrad, where they could
have and should have taken the cities, but as they did not they allowed the Russian people to
regroup and a chance to fight back. Overall, the Nazis were a problem for themselves, meaning that
Russia had an easier time of winning the war than if the Germans had not made their mistake.

In conclusion, it could be argued that Stalin was the central figure in why Russia won the war, after
his initial failures which he quickly recovered from. All other factors relate to Stalin, with the
economy being managed by him, with the Soviet people fighting strongly because of him, with the
allies being see as stronger with him, and even with Stalin being able to exploit the German
weaknesses; without Stalin there could not have been a Soviet victory.