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  4. The USSR in the Second World War and after, 1941 to 53

The USSR in the Second World War and after, 1941 to 53

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Nazi Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. The Soviet people paid a terrible price for victory, and Stalin's rule grew even harsher afterwards.

Invasion and survival

Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941. German forces advanced deep into the USSR.
Leningrad was besieged for nearly 900 days; hundreds of thousands starved.
Whole factories were moved east, beyond the Ural mountains, to keep producing weapons.

Victory

At Stalingrad (1942 to 43) the Red Army surrounded the German Sixth Army, which surrendered in February 1943: a turning point of the war.
The Red Army then pushed west and captured Berlin in 1945.
The USSR lost more people than any other country, over 20 million.

After the war, 1945 to 53

The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946 to 50) rebuilt heavy industry, but consumer goods and food stayed scarce.
Stalin's control tightened: returning prisoners of war were treated as traitors, culture was strictly controlled, and new purges began.
The USSR now dominated Eastern Europe.
Stalin died in March 1953.
Worked example

Explain why moving factories east helped the USSR survive in 1941 to 42.

  1. German forces captured much of the western USSR, where many factories were.
  2. Factories moved beyond the Urals were out of reach of German attack.
  3. They kept producing tanks and weapons for the Red Army.

Answer: It kept weapons production going out of Germany's reach.

Key idea

Operation Barbarossa (22 June 1941); the siege of Leningrad; factories moved east. Stalingrad (surrender in February 1943) was the turning point; the Red Army took Berlin in 1945. Over 20 million Soviet people died. The Fourth Five-Year Plan rebuilt industry, repression continued, and Stalin died in 1953.

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