The Hiring of Maxim Litvinov:

He was appointed as the Commissar for External Affairs because his skills were needed in determining foreign policy, which was not one of Stalin’s areas of expertise. Litvinov influenced the USSR to join the League of Nations and he favored cooperation with anti-fascist governments. He was later replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov.

A relationship with Britain and France:

The likelihood of such an alliance was undermined by the events of 1938, when Stalin was not invited to attend the Munich Conference.

Solution = Litvinov

How? Fear.

The Siege of Leningrad:

Nazi invaders forced the surrender of Leningrad and Stalingrad after a 900-day siege. An estimated 600,000 people died.

The Battle of Moscow:

Stalin became upset with Germany’s Operation Typhoon and used General Zhukov and the harsh climate to prevent German victory.

The Battle of Kursk:

The Red Army lost 1500 tanks and suffered 860,000 casualties but managed to fend off the Germans and help recover the city of Kharkov.

The Siege of Stalingrad:

• The League of Nations soon thereafter showed weakness when the Manchurian Crisis of 1931 and the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 damaged the reputation of ‘collective security"

• The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact fell apart in June 1941, when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union.

Victor Kravchenko pointed out: “Hundreds of suspects in Leningrad were rounded up and shot summarily, without trial.  

Alexander Orlov, a NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs)  officer, “Stalin decided to arrange for the assassination of Kirov and to lay the crime at the door of the former leaders"

Stalin thought that Hitler was as approachable as most European countries, and any anti-Hitlerism in the Bolshevik was swiftly rid of

• People’s Republic of China, Nazi Germany, and the Republic of Indonesia all followed this example

• some were finished before their due date while others took longer than expected or were never finished at all

• industry and commerce would be in the hands of the state

• primary goal was to reach the rest of the world in industry

• 50 to 100 years would become a matter of a decade

• Stalin had complete control

• land, animals, and other technology was taken from peasants and given to the state

• anyone who didn’t agree was deemed an enemy of the state and became a “kulak”

• peasants became workers rather than bourgeoisie

• Two goals:

• modernize agriculture

• crush the peasants (sometimes even those who supported the movement)