Joseph Stalin Research Paper
After Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, totalitarian rulers with purportedly opposing ideologies, signed their 1939 pact to divide up Eastern Europe, one English diplomat remarked that “all the isms have become wasms.” In the Soviet Union, Sergei Eisenstein’s movie Alexander Nevsky, which showed war between Russians and Germans, was withdrawn from theaters, as were all other anti-German or antiNazi media. One memoirist recalls a friend lamenting, “Now I’ll never get to see Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator!” The second volume of Stephen Kotkin’s monumental biography of Stalin focuses on three main events from the years 1929 to 1941: the collectivization of agriculture, the Great Terror, and the Hitler–Stalin pact.1 Kotkin devotes some three …show more content…
Poor Poland! It is well known that Polish officers who fled to the Soviet Union were massacred on Stalin’s orders at Katyn, one of those place names that has become synonymous with treachery and horror. It is less well known that the Soviets arrested and deported to the Gulag one million of eastern Poland’s 13.5 million residents. Soviet interrogators called the truncheons with 1 Stalin, Volume II: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941, by Stephen Kotkin; Penguin, 1,184 pages, $40. which they beat anyone arrested “the Polish constitution.” As the Baltic states also fell under Soviet sway, the Red Army invaded Finland. The official version, believe it or not—and many Western leftists did believe it—was that Finland, with a population of four million, invaded the ussr, with a population of 170 million. The Soviets were armed to the teeth while the Finns didn’t even have an air force. A joke at the time told of the Finns asking the Swedes for tanks and the Swedes responding, “How many do you need? Just one, or all three?” And yet, the Finns, mounting a defense on skis, managed for an astonishing time to hold off Soviet forces. They also showed great ingenuity—for instance, posting portraits of
Review Of 800 Days On The Eastern Front
1331 Words | 6 PagesLitvin illustrated one of the numerous examples of Soviet nationalism when he discussed how the military collected food from the collective farms. Litvin Claims, “Times were very difficult for the people in these regions because land had been devastated by war… the army did not have to seize food from the peasants—Soviet authority engaged in this.” The above passage paints the Soviets’ handling of peasants in a positive light and does nothing to ponder the impact that collectivization had on agriculture in the country. Certainly, the harsh occupation by the Germans did not help the agriculture production, but the relentless collectivization of farming ruined the efficiency of agriculture in the Soviet Union. However, Litvin in no way paints Stalin in a negative light, but rather boasts about how Soviet authorities procured agriculture goods from peasants.
Summary Of Bloodlands By Timothy Snyder
1162 Words | 5 PagesBloodlands by Timothy Snyder focuses on the center of the violence during one of Europe’s most violent periods of time: the mass killing committed by the Soviet Union and the Nazis of Germany in the borderlands of Eastern Europe. Snyder claims that between the 1930s and 1945, aside from the deaths occurring from battle, the Soviets killed four million people in the borderland region and the Nazis killed ten million people in the region (p. xiii). He also illuminates the effects of animosity toward race in Nazism and hatred directed at classes in Stalinism causing one of the darkest periods in history. Snyder goes on to explain how the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany use starvation, labor camps, gas chambers, ethnic and social cleansing to advance
Joseph Stalin Dbq
408 Words | 2 PagesJoseph Stalin became dictator of the Soviet Union in 1928 (“Joseph Stalin – Powerful Communist Ruler”) after the death of Russia’s former ruler Vladimir Lenin (“Joseph Stalin”). In the late 1920’s he created a sequence of five year plans which were created to alter the Soviet Union from a peasant society into a country that was industrially advanced (“Joseph Stalin.”) after he realised Russia was far behind in comparison to the west (“Joseph Stalin.”). The idea was for the government to control the economy in which they forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, the idea in which the government controlled farming.
Endel Keller Incarceration
183 Words | 1 PagesAnalysis. In the discussion, the guest speaker mentions that the German army conquered and occupied countries leading to Russia. Without a choice, Endel Keller was drafted in the German army fighting against Russian troops. After World War 2, Joseph Stalin ordered the secret police to capture and imprison anyone who opposed war efforts such as Germans soldiers, politician, espionage individuals, etc. The guest speaker explained that people were imprisoned for long period and the secret police did not disclose information for the reasons of incarceration to the public.
Ukrainian Genocide Dbq
896 Words | 4 Pages3: Dr. Oleh W. Gerus, “The Great Ukrainian Famine-Genocide,” Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies, University of Manitoba, August 4, 2001 (adapted)) Stalin’s policies had stripped Ukrainians of their hard-working, individualistic values, turning the country into a voiceless machine used to make more grain to be
Warsaw Ghetto Research Paper
1569 Words | 7 PagesDuring the Holocaust, the jews in the Warsaw ghetto faced many hardships. In this paper I will give my input on the jews hardships, and how they managed to survive despise being oppressed by the germans. On November 16, 1940, all the jews in the currently-occupied polish city of Warsaw were forced into a ghetto, which was only 2.4% of the total land mass of the city. To put that into perspective, during that time there was 375,000 jews living in Warsaw. That means a single building housed multiple families of jews.
Joseph Stalin's Tension Between The Soviet Union And The West
1605 Words | 7 PagesTension existed between the Soviet Union and the West as far back as 1885 during the Panjdeh incident. At this time the competition between Britain and Russia in Afghanistan was great and war appeared imminent. Furthermore, after the First World War, the Allies immediately supported the anti-Bolshevik White movement during the Russian Civil War, laying the groundwork for high tensions between the Soviet Union and the West for the next one hundred years. When Joseph Stalin came into power, he enormously elevated these tensions through his take over of Eastern Europe, which the West saw as an attempt to spread Communism. Indeed, by 1949 all Eastern European governments, except that of Yugoslavia, were run by hard-line Stalinist regimes, causing a great amount of fear in the Capitalist world as they saw Communism as threatening every aspect of their society.
Human Rights Dbq
451 Words | 2 PagesJoseph Stalin instilled a totalitarian government into Ukraine’s society. Moreover, Stalin tried to cut any threats that would affect his plan in making Russia a communist utopia, by using the secret police. (document 1) But, the Ukrainians were independent, rebellious people who believed strongly in their culture and
Joseph Stalin's Cult Of Personality
1757 Words | 8 PagesIntroduction Joseph Stalin is perhaps one of the most important and discussed people in Russian history. He was arguably a feared tyrant cursed and despised by many. At the same time, one finds sufficient evidence for the adoration and worship of Stalin that used to exist in the minds of the citizens of the Soviet Union. One reason for this worship was the existence of the so called ‘Cult of Personality’ where Stalin was celebrated as a wise leader, father of all people, and the architect of victory of the Second World War. In his book, The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power, Jan Plamper states that Stalin’s cult of personality was largely a visual phenomenon.
Joseph Stalin Dbq
619 Words | 3 PagesPost WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
Hannah Arendt's Characteristics Of Totalitarianism
1303 Words | 6 PagesIn the light of the aforementioned characteristics of totalitarianism defined, Hannah Arendt claims that totalitarianism is incomprehensible since it is not possible to judge or predict its actions through any traditional, legal, moral or common sense (Arendt, 1953 : 303). Therefore, Arendt evaluates the regimes under Hitler and Stalin rule “not only wicked but also senseless, of a kind that could not be deduced from humanly comprehensible motives” (Canovan, 1999 : 25). Arendt aims to offer an intellectual constraints for the analysis of Hitler’s
Joseph Stalin Dbq
2040 Words | 9 PagesProcess of Findings The first part of this report will discuss the evidence pertaining to the “genuinely concerned, pragmatic” side to Joseph Stalin’s leadership. Stalin was a leader who was honoured and praised by many of his people in the USSR for various reasons. He was portrayed on propaganda posters as a kind, caring and genuinely concerned leader particularly towards children who were the future of the USSR (Source A). By Stalin being portrayed as a leader who shows genuine concern and care for the children of his country, it propagates the message that children and the entire population of the USSR will have an “enlightened future” under his leadership13 (Source A), and would in turn help Stalin gain more support for himself.
What Were The Causes Of Stalin's Purges During 1936-1940?
1937 Words | 8 PagesIDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SOURCES The focus of this investigation will be “What were the causes of Stalin’s purges during 1936-1940?” and this book will analyze based on historians did he really consolidate his power over Russia during late 1930’s . For the purposes of investigation it will solely focus on late 1930’s to answer the question in more depth .Thus, The Great Terror: A Reassessment by Conquest Robert is source of great value and strength for this investigation because book focus completely on time frame of 1935- 1940 and also begins book with description of purges and goes in more depth of why according to the author Stalin started purges in Russia and lastly by the end of the book author
Joseph Stalin Long Road To Power Summary
662 Words | 3 PagesHe also had been involved in many terrifying accidents. These experiences are believed to contribute to his pathological and sadistic personality. The author accounts that, “All his life Stalin was rarely free of physical pain-- which must have stimulated his sadism and irritability.” Not only this, but Stalin’s suffering also created in him an immense desire for information. This led to the formation of
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