Josef Stalin and World War Two

Paper Summary:

It clearly can be confusing to evaluate Josef Stalin's actions and his role in the events of World War II. There are, nonetheless, some well-documented facts about Stalin's behavior in the wartime period. This essay presents those facts and analyzes why Stalin chose these behaviors and what motivated him. Stalin role and conduct included: heavy personal involvement in the operations of the war, continual thoughts of self-preservation and power, humiliation and intimidation of his own people, and his ability to think several moves ahead in postwar policy goals. Why he did these things is traced to his life before World War II.

From the Paper:

"In discussing Stalin's role, motivations, and behavior during World War II, the historian is presented with a problem that must be overcome before beginning. He must decide which accounts of Stalin's role and behavior are most accurate and then, and only then, proceed with the analysis of the motivations and character traits that caused them. There are two schools of thought about Stalin in World War II. The first is exemplified by many traditional historians, who believe that in the 1930s Stalin was focused solely on the internal health of the Soviet Union and had no plans for aggressive Bolshevik expansion. His mistrust of the West in dealing with Hitler's aggression led him to make a defensive alliance with Germany to stop them before they advanced in his direction. In this treaty, Stalin agreed to let Hitler move some steps to the east in return for his allowing Stalin to move Soviet borders to the west; a division of Eastern Europe. As a result, Stalin correctly foresaw that Hitler would fall into conflict with the Western powers and not the USSR. Stalin thereby gained both the time and space he desperately needed for the build-up of his own defenses. This was proceeding when Hitler, buoyed by his quick successes in Western Europe, launched a surprise assault on the Soviet Union in June, 1941. This invasion caught Stalin totally by surprise; he had ignored warnings from many credible sources and refused to question his own assumptions about Hitler. Stalin felt great remorse over his strategic blunder, spent some time in seclusion and stunned inaction, and then finally rose to the challenge. In the coming four years he personally rallied the Soviet Union, its people and soldiers, into a great victory over fascism, one that could not have been possible without the sacrifices and patriotism Stalin inspired in the Soviet citizens. After the war, Stalin felt that the amount of death and suffering his people had endured in the war legitimized his creation of Communist buffer states in Eastern Europe."

More papers on Josef Stalin and World War Two:

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• Term Paper # 6617 : "Josef Stalin and the Great Purges"
• Essay # 5428 : "The After-Effects of World War Two"

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