Over the last century, Russia has endured many leaders who were effective and left significant impacts not only on Russia, but the world as well. One of those men includes the former Premier of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. To draw conclusions in Stalin’s effectiveness as a leader, many researchers have drawn different conclusions in addressing the following questions:
1. How did the defeat of Nazi forces in Stalingrad help change the course of World War II?
2. How did Stalin modernize the Soviet Union?
3. How did Stalin raise the standard of living in the Soviet Union?
This review of Stalin’s effectiveness and impact on the world focuses on these three questions.
How the defeat of the Nazi forces in Stalingrad help change the course of World War II?
During World War II, Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht intended to conquer the industrial city of Stalingrad; named after Joseph Stalin; before advancing onward to capture its intended goal: the Caucasus oil fields. Given the city’s name, both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin afforded great symbolic meaning to the Battle of Stalingrad that transcended its strategic importance. In an article written by dw.com, “Russia marks Stalingrad defeat of Nazis.” Led by General Friedrich Paulus, the attack began in August 1942.
Hitler made the claim “The Russians are exhausted.” In his claim, he underestimated, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union people. Despite fierce resistance, the Wehrmacht did succeed in conquering most of Stalingrad by November 1942. By this time, Soviet forces had launched an attack to encircle German troops. Towards the end of November the Red Army had closed in the German Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The stalemate between Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler begins due to stubbornness. With the Soviet winter fast approaching, German soldiers suddenly started dying and a positive outcome for the Soviet Union was very much feasible.
Despite the rough circumstances, General Paulus obeyed Hitler’s order to “stand and fight,” rejecting the Soviet offer to surrender on January 8, 1943. On January 29, Paulus sent the following message to Hitler: “On the 10th anniversary of your assumption of power, the Sixth Army hails its Fuhrer. The swastika flag is still flying above Stalingrad. May our battle be an example to present and coming generations that they must never capitulate even in a hopeless situation, for then Germany victorious. Hail my Fuhrer!”
When the Red Army stormed Paulus’ headquarters, he was captured alive. General Paulus forbidden his officers to commit suicide to avoid capture so they would share the same fate as their fellow soldiers. At this point, German troops split into two camps in northern and southern Stalingrad. In January 1943, those in the north and south Stalingrad surrendered. When Hitler found out about this he was furious.
After this defeat, Germany did not make any more advances into the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe. This changed the course of World War II because it was
the first major loss for the German Army. The Soviet Union becomes stronger and takes back the land that Germany had previously captured. Towards the latter part of World War II, Germany begins to start losing land and becomes severely weakened. Due to the weakened state, Germany ultimately surrenders and proves why the Battle of Stalingrad helped change the course of World War II.
How did Joseph Stalin modernize the Soviet Union?
While attending the Communist party conference, Stalin made a statement “We are 50 or 100 years behind the advanced countries of the West. We must make good of this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they crush us.” Stalin introduces the first five-year plan to transform the Soviet Union economy, expand and modernizing existing industries. Once the first five-year plan is introduced, Stalin claims that it was necessary to pay higher wages to certain workers in order to encourage increased output.
Industrialization was one of the first sectors Stalin focused on in modernizing the Soviet Union. Using the equipment found in factories had to become more efficient. Massive industrial centers including Magnitogorsk and Gorki were built in the center of Stalin’s “gigantonmania.” Even though workers had faced daunting tasks ahead of them, none of them revolted. The use of propaganda was used effectively as brochures, pamphlets and posters were distributed throughout the large industrial towns to boost the people’s morale. Human examples were used as “shining examples” to motivate workers to exceed their set limits.
The agricultural sector was not neglected. Rapid industrialization could only be achieved if agriculture was made more efficient, as sufficient food has to be produced to feed the workforce. Surplus food could then be sold for money to boost the industrial sector. Stalin introduced a new method of farming called collectivization which encompassed grouping small, scattered farms in an area together in an effective collective, or Kolkhozy. These peasants pooled their animals, tools and labor to work for the benefit of the whole community. The collectives had to sell most of their produce at low prices to the government. Any profits and surplus were theirs to keep or sell at a profit. Agriculture was also subjected to state planning.
In 1929 collectivization “got out of hand” as the communities according to Stalin were “dizzy with success.” Stalin sped up the process because peasants refused to share their labor and would rather burn their crops and kill their animals instead of selling food to the government. The government had to apply force to make them join the collectives. Those who resisted were severely punished. Stalin dealt with “Kulaks” the richer class peasants. As communist ideology states, equality among all men, the richer people had to be eliminated. This would lead to Stalin to enact “dekulakization.”
The first five-year plan was quite successful even though the government had exaggerated some figures. There was a huge expansion of energy production as new factories and towns needed power. Dams were created and other major projects also led to the improvement of the Soviet Union.
How did Joseph Stalin raise the standard of living in the Soviet Union?
During the Stalin rule, the standard of living did rise. Ultimately, four different measures of population health show a consistent and large improvement during the “Stalin Years”: child height, birth weight, adult height and infant mortality all improved during this period. Stature as a measure of living standards has several advantages over more obvious measures. This measure of net nutrition is the sense that it takes into account not only the inputs to health, nutrition, healthcare, but the demands placed on an individual’s biological system as well, such as through disease and work intensity in the “Stalin years.” Even a mild illness during the “Stalin Years” will tend to slow growth, and although catch up growth is possible it will depend on the availability of sufficient calorie intake to enable such growth.
In addition, stature and family income is closely linked with the ability to purchase health inputs and with the demands on these inputs; height is also especially sensitive to income at low-level income families. (Steckel 1995). Even with developed countries, height still rises with socioeconomic class (Eveleth and Tanner 1990). Child height has an advantage as an indicator of welfare over adult height because for adults the causality between income and stature may run in both directions, with taller individuals able to be more productive and earn higher wages (Strauss and Thomas 1998). While genetics influence height, environmental influence can also dictate height. Well nourished populations tend to follow the same growth curves, no matter the population (Martorell and Habicht 1986) Because of the comparability of height across populations and over time, and due to the clear link between height and nutritional status, stature is viewed as a useful measure in evaluating Stalin raise the standard of living.