Russia+1930-1940

=Russia 1930-1940=

//European territories on the brink of World War 2.//

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR had a great deal of political issues in the 1930's. Joseph Stalin had recently taken over this dictatorship in the Soviet Union. He became the leader after the former leader named Lenin died. Like many dictators, Stalin was harsh and forced his way of life over everyone. He did not care about his citizens deaths, but only the prosperity of his nation. He mainly punished "Intellectuals, foreign Communists, people who had had contact with foreigners, and former Communists by killing them and making them serve him in concentration camps" (Soviet). Due to this many domestic problems occurred. After recovering from a civil war and a world war, Russia needed money. Stalin saw a solution, by industrializing and forming the NEP, which became "the turning point in Soviet intellectual history" (Soviet). After, Stalin had the Great Soviet Industrialization. This took place under Stalin during his first and second five year plans. The plans transformed society, but devastated people as living conditions worsened with mass man created famines. Millions died, but the population almost doubled in cities. The industry stopped producing consumer goods and changed to heavy industry due to scarce resources. Not much money was spent on social goods such as buildings and transportation for people. Everyone working now created the soviet middle class. However with all the bad things, education greatly improved. It finally provided some schooling for all children by opening thousands of new schools. "Teachers were forced to leave the cities to teach but it helped with education" (Soviet). Eventually, Stalin had to focus on the outside world. The unofficial start of World War II began when Japan invaded China in 1931. In the world, Germany and Japan were rising world powers. Stalin initially saw no threat from them, but he thought his external enemies were working against him by plotting secretly with his internal enemies. Due to this in 1937 he started a purge of his Red Army general staff which cost billions and really weakened his forces morally and in numbers. This also made his enemies much more likely to attack him and made it harder to create allies, but Stalin ended up creating an alliance.He formed it with Britain and the United States. This occurred in 1941 with the Lend Lease Act for the US and USSR. "This alliance laid the foundation for the United Nations" (Harrison). Before this, Germany invaded of Poland on September 1, 1939, and brought Britain and France into the war. Stalin wanted to stay out of the war but with the abandonment of Czechoslovakia, he knew the allies were not a reliable ally in deterring the Nazis. Due to this, on august 29, 1939 he created a nonaggression pact with Hitler to avoid war. With this pact he reclaimed lands he lost in the first world war. Although this pack demoralized the world communist movement, he thought it would help his country benefit. Japan ended up attacking the Soviet Union first in may 1939. They attacked the border of the USSR, but after the Red Army victory at Khalkin-Gol, the Japanese changed their attacks to Britain and made plans to create a treaty of neutrality in April 1941. Stalin was doing well in the late 1930's and was trading with Germany. He annexed new territories and created a stronger alliance with Germany; or so he thought. Germany had other plans to invade the USSR. Hitler wanted to "divert their food for the German army and kill Jews and communist officials" (Harrison). the rest of the people would be driven off the land to starve to death. He thought he had to do this because of fighting Britain's navy. He needed more living space and supplies. At this point, Russia had completely entered the war. The Soviet Union wanted to stay out of the war but they could not. Stalin tried, but he was betrayed. He also couldn't control his greed for annexation. He got lucky with the war, and he was able to create alliances with the US. Their foreign policy changed to help them and trade with the USSR. The soviet Union really needed treaties with great Britain and the US due to it being much poorer than both of them with less productivity and income. It was going to take a lot of money and casualties to defeat the Nazis; "25 million Russians" to be exact (Harrison). //1939-1941 // // This map shows the country of Poland at the start of WWII. The arrows show where Germany's armies invaded. Most of eastern Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union while the west was taken over by Germany. //

//Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953.//

=Timeline =


 * **April 15th, 1930**- The Gulag was officially established
 * **September 19th, 1931-** Japanese invaded Manchura
 * **December 5th, 1936**- The Stalin Constitution came into effect
 * **August 15th, 1937**- Great Purge
 * **March 12th, 1938**- The Anschluss
 * **September 29th, 1938**- The Munich Conference
 * **May 11th, 1939**- The Battles of Khalkhyn Gol
 * **August 29th, 1939**- The Non-Aggression Pact
 * **September 1st, 1939**- The start of WWII
 * **March 11th, 1941**- Lend Lease Act

//In the 1930's the Soviet Union killed many innocent people that they saw as a threat.//

Works Cited
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Europ on the eve of world war II." History in Dispute. Ed. Paul du Quenoy. Vol. 17: Twentieth-Century European Social and Political Movements: Second Series. Detroit: St. James Press, 2004. World History in Context. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Germany Invades Poland: September 1, 1939." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> History. Vol. 4: Europe. Detroit: Gale, 2013. World History in Context. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">GILL, GRAEME. "Stalin, Josef Vissarionovich." Encyclopedia of Russian History. Ed. James R. Millar. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 1455-1459.World History in Context. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HARRISON, MARK. "World War II." Encyclopedia of Russian History. Ed. James R. Millar. Vol. 4. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 1683-1692. World History <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> in Context. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Nazi-Soviet Pact." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Ed. Israel Gutman. New York: Macmillan <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Reference USA, 1990. World History in Context. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Poland and western Soviet Union, 1939-41. Shaded areas show German-occupied Poland and areas of..." World War II Reference Library. Ed. Barbara C. Bigelow, et al. Vol. 1: Almanac. Detroit: UXL, 2000. World History in Context. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.

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