Soviet Union

Diplomacy and Alliances

At first they made a pact with Hitler not to attack. But once the war started, Germany broke the pact and the Soviet Union moved from the Axis to the Allies.

Military Strategy, Victories, and Defeats

About three million Germans poured into the Soviet Union. They caught Stalin unprepared, his army still suffering from the purges that had wiped out many of its top officers.

The Russians lost two and a half million soldiers trying to fend off the invaders. By early December, temperatures plunged to 4 degrees. Thousands of German soldiers froze to death.

Life on the Home Front

In September 1941, the two-and-a-half-year siege of Leningrad began. Food was rationed to two pieces of bread a day. They would eat anything to survive. They boiled wallpaper scraped off walls because its paste was said to contain potato flour. Owners of leather briefcases boiled and ate them. They called it jellied meat.

Plans and Goals for the Future

Stalin thought that the US and Britain were trying to weaken Russia since it had sided with Germany early in the war. He thought that they were trying to get rid of communism forever and make everything a democracy.

Questions for Review

1. How cold was it when the thousands of German soldiers froze to death?

2. What did Germany do to Russia?

3. Why did Stalin not like the US or Britain?

Sources

References Ellis, E. G. (2005). The Allied War Effort/Operation Barbarossa. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from www.perasonsuccessnet.com Joseph Stalin Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-stalin-9491723