Stalin instated five, five year plans. The goal was to bring Russia’s industry up to date. The first five year plan was completed at great cost to the people because they needed a lot of money and equipment. Stalin turned all of the farms into collective farms. Over 1500 factories were built during this time. The second five year plan was similar, and the peasants rebelled. Many peasants were executed and sent to Siberia. Millions of peasants died of food shortages, and prices were rising. IN 1932-33, an internal passport system restricted movement. The third five year plan was interrupted because of Germany’s invasion on Russia in 1941. Conditions stayed similar, but Stalin built a strong state to protect his country from western Capitalists. All means of production was controlled by the gov’t at this point. The fourth five year plan started after WW2 ended. This plan was to rebuild the towns and villages that were destroyed by the Nazis. Heavy military expansion was focused on in Siberia. The fifth five year plan focused on heavy industry, aircraft manufacturing, chemical production, and oil production. The plans established a centrally planned economy, expanded industry, Russia became the world’s second largest power, and their share of the world’s industrial production went from 2.6% to over 16%.
The great purge of 1936 removed opposition to Stalin’s rule. Members of the army, the gov’t, and all the way to the peasants were effected. They were put into prison, labour camps, and were executed between 5 and 15 million were arrested, and three million were killed.
WW2 was from 1939-45. In august 1959, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a secret treaty. In it, they agreed that Germany would occupy western Poland and Lithuania while Russia would receive eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. By the 17th, they had occupied the western half of Poland to “protect the people living there.” On Sept. 3, following Hitler’s move into the Netherlands and Belgium, the low countries started moving into Denmark, Norway, and France, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Germany signed a treaty with Italy and Japan. Russia signed a non-aggression treaty with Japan. June 22, 1941, 3 million German troops invaded the Soviet Union. The Germans got within 30km of Moscow by early December. Germany invaded so easily because the purges had destroyed military structure, Russia didn’t expect Germany to attack, and Russia didn’t have the infrastructure to defend themselves. The severe winter and the Soviet efforts halted the Nazi invasion. During 1942 and 1943, Germany attacked two major areas in the Soviet Union. They attacked Moscow, and Stalingrad. In the remaining years of the war, the Red Army recaptured Soviet territory and liberated Eastern Europe. By May of 1945, the German army had withdrawn as far as Berlin. Because of WW2, officially 7 million Soviets, unofficially 20 million, died. Russia’s economy was destroyed. The Russian people felt a lot of pride in their country. Large numbers of women were encouraged to be part of the work force. In particular, trades, medicine, and engineering. Stalin acquired additional land, including the republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and the western part of the Ukraine. Soviet type governments were established in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, and East Germany. These nations were known as satellite countries. We also refer to them as buffer nations, Warsaw nations, eastern block nations, and iron curtain nations. The border between eastern and western European countries became known as the iron curtain. It was difficult to move across the iron curtain. The result of WW2 was that the Soviet Union became one of the world’s two world super powers.