Soviet Union Vs. The Nazis: Book Analysis

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942-1943 is book written by the British military historian, Antony Beevor. Stalingrad covers the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. Stalingrad was a city in Russia where Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union fought for control. This was part of Adolf Hitler’s plan to crush the Soviet Union and extend his Third Reich into Russian territory. The battle lasted from August 1942 to February 1943. However, the battle ended up with the destruction of the entire German 6th army and with a victory for the Soviet Union. Beevor has won three awards for this book. I wish to give brief summaries of the five sections of the book and give reviews on their main content.

If two men were to be tagged with having the most impact, good or bad, on twentieth century Europe the names Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler would ring loud and clear.

Both the Bolsheviks and the Nazis sought to create a new type of human being or a “new man.” Compare and contrast Nazi and Soviet visions of this new human type.

Throughout the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union, the USSR, tried to outspend and outdo each other. They looked for any advantage they could get to achieve more attainments than the

the soviets greatly fit in as being one of the most brilliant nations they were being controlled by a

A shocking number of 40 million people were executed during Joseph Stalin’s reign of Soviet Russia between the years 1924 to 1953. Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, plays an important role in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Orwell’s novel depicts a totalitarian government that controls the lives of the people in Oceania by supplying false propaganda and monitoring their everyday life. As a matter of fact, Orwell writes his novel based on the events that occurred in Soviet Russia during the reign of Joseph Stalin. The author includes similar aspects to that of Soviet Russia in his novel to warn his audience the dangers of a totalitarian state. George Orwell’s dystopian society illustrates the negative effects that a totalitarian government

One of the things Soviet textbooks should include is the story of the Great Terror. According to Document C, “ The Great Terror was the most cruel tortures, interrogations, and fearful abuse of human dignity.” In other words, many people were tortured and they were really abusive. The leader for the Great Terror was Josef Stalin (aka Soviet leader). Also, according to Document C, “According to the declassified Soviet archives, during

During the Cold War the soviets accomplished many great things. According to Karl Marx societies experienced certain stages ; capitalism, socialism, and finally communism. Capitalism was about private ownership and greed. Both socialism and communism were about equally distribution of wealth and ownership. There wouldn't be any labels such as Rich and/or poor. In 69 years as a country the Soviet Union accomplished many great and cruel things, military strength, the great Terror and cultural achievements. These should all be included in their textbooks to remember this time in history.

Three great accomplishments done by the Soviets that should be remembered and out into Soviet textbooks are their space races, military strength, and the Great Terror. The Soviet Union was the first country to ever send space satellites. At the time not even the United States had made any discoveries involved with space. Next to the space race discoveries, the Soviets also had extremely well military strength. They did spend more than the U.S but the advancement in their military strength was greatly larger. Both accomplishments were amazing but another life changing event that should be placed into Soviet textbooks is the Great Terror. The great terror was a tragic time for the Soviets and for it to be remembered by their future generation

Nazi-Soviet Pact and Appeasement The Nazi-Soviet was a non-aggression pact signed by the foreign ministers of Germany and Russia on 23 August 1939. When Germany and Russia reached this promise not to fight each other, they made a secret pact to invade and divide Polandand give the Baltic States to Russia. By signing the Pact, Germany was able to invade Poland from the west and the Soviet Union gained the eastern half of Poland as well as the Baltic States as well as gaining time to prepare for war against Germany.

Stalin like Hitler “used propaganda, censorship, and terror to force his will on the Soviet people. Government newspapers glorified work and Stalin himself. Secret police spied on citizens, and anyone who refused to praise Stalin and the state faced severe punishment, even death” (“The Soviet”, n.d.).

The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the 1930s as Totalitarian States A totalitarian state usually refers to a country in which the central government has total control over almost all aspects of people's life. Main features include an infallible leader, one-party rule, elitism, strict party discipline, purges against enemies and political dissidents, planned economy, strong armaments, indoctrination, encouragement of nationalism, an official doctrine that everybody has to believe, and absolute obedience of individuals to the State, etc. In the 1930s, to a large extent, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler could be deemed totalitarian states.

for is a difference in this two regimes . A pure race and Arians were

There were successes and failures of Stalin 's dictatorship which will be analysed here. To begin with, whole new cities were built, such as Magnitogorsk, the White Sea-Baltic canal was constructed and engineering plants in Moscow and Leningrad expanded. There were huge achievements in dams and hydroelectric power; transport and communication, the Moscow underground; farm machinery; electricity, coal, steel, fertilisers and

The Cold War, coined by Bernard Baruch, would be used to describe the period between 1945 and 1991, where tensions between the East and West increased. Reasons for the Cold War have been heavily debated, orthodox theories, look at Soviet aggression as dictating American policy, yet this is disputed by revisionist, who attribute more blame to America. However, post revisionism is possibly better, looking to other factors rather than blaming one state, looking mostly at leadership and the breakdown of diplomacy.