Stalins leadership was the most significant reason for the Soviet victory over Germany in the 1941-1944 war - Assess

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“Stalin’s leadership was the most significant reason for the Soviet victory over Germany in the 1941-1944 war” - Assess (45 marks)

By 1945, fighting against the force of the largest military campaign in history, the Soviet Union had not only driven the Nazis from Western Russia but had pushed them back past Berlin. There is certainly an argument that Stalin’s uncompromising leadership led to this victory; it mobilized Russia both militarily, socially and industrially towards a common nationalist goal, and provided a domineering father figure as guidance. Without Stalin’s presence the war may have taken a very different path, but the victory cannot be expressed simply in terms of those reasons alone. Stalin made numerous avoidable mistakes, and many other factors unrelated to Stalin’s leadership had equal weight in their contribution to the eventual victory.

        Stalin’s tactics before and during the war had a large effect on the conflict’s outcome. The pre-war economic planning he had introduced in the 1920s and 1930s was instrumental in transforming Russia into a command economy. The creation of Gosplan and the Five-Year Plans, prioritizing and directing industrial production, had increased production by 400 percent, and the collective farms had resulted similarly in food output (wheat production had risen by a third by 1937). The processes were unstable at first, with industrial statistics blurred by owners fabricating statistics to avoid arrest, and major famines occurring as reactions to farming policy, but it is without doubt that by the late 1930s, the two schemes had achieved significant success. With the increased demands of war (equipment, vehicles, food, etc.), a command economy was essential to any kind of victory, and Stalin’s strong planning made this the case.

        Stalin’s style of leadership was also very important in terms of victory. Whereas Hitler in Germany was weakened by a need to command personally and to interfere in matters (economic, military, etc.) he had no expertise in, Stalin was aware of his limitations and mistakes, and chose to delegate authority to trusted leaders such as General Zhukov, Voznesenski, Malenkov and Beria. Their strategies often differed from Stalin’s own ideas, and were mostly more effective; this placement of faith in other, more appropriate leaders was one of Stalin’s key strengths. Political commissars were removed from the strategic process, Stalin preferring to assign military tasks to military individuals. He expanded the Stavka and created the GKO (State Defense Committee) to centralize the war effort effectively, granting them dictatorial powers (and the ability to bypass bureaucracy) in the organization of the war. Their merciless suppression of possible defectors or deserters enforced complete discipline, punishment battalions were set up to execute insubordinate soldiers, and perceived “anti-Soviet” populations such as the Volga Germans and the Crimean Tartars were deported. No matter how viciously, the NKVD enforced order within all sections of Russian society, preventing disorder from undermining the defense of Russia. Hitler was known to have distrusted many of his subordinates, believing that he alone could direct even the smallest units at the front from hundreds of miles away. This caused infighting and disunity within Hitler’s war cabinet, and military advisors (far more qualified in their fields) who disagreed with his assumptions were either ignored or silenced; he relied on his instincts at great costs. His erratic style of leadership (marked by indecisive and stubborn behavior) resulted in many preventable military blunders, such as the defeat in Kursk. Had Stalin chosen to follow Hitler’s more idealistic methods, the defense of Russia would have been far weaker in strategy; while his leadership was certainly hands-on in approach (Stalin was chairman of the central war agencies), Stalin understood that unified command was more important than a dictatorship of his own ego. Instead of ordering it around his own ideals, Stalin structured his government in a way that would lead to success, based on merit rather than personal preference. This pragmatic (sometimes brutal) approach to military, economic and political planning had a large effect upon Soviet success.

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        The social policies employed by Stalin were also key. Though he initially rejected it, Stalin grew to understand the political potential of a personality cult in his name. The Russian population was made up of vast peasant and labourer bodies still used to the memory of the Tsars, leaders thought of as no less than holy for their associations to the Russian Orthodox Church. The image of ‘Generalissimo Stalin’ became a central image of propaganda, symbolizing strong Soviet resistance to the cruel German invasion. These and other propaganda images (which focused upon images of Russia’s history, including military heroes such ...

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