Detailed revision notes for the years in Russia for History A-level. These notes helped me get an A* for History A-level. Sourced from my class notes, AQA history textbooks, and reliable online websites. These notes are all you need to get A* Russian History essays and will make revising way easie...
o Dmitri Volkogonov
Þ S immersed in the atmosphere of spy-mania of his own making/unable to evaluate information arriving in
Kremlin on the eve of the war.
Þ No possibility for sober collective judgement as S was subject of such total adulation.
Þ Damage from dismissing vital/accurate intelligence + flawed strategic thinking.
Þ S exacerbated already extreme violence of war by pursuing his customary methods of ruling.
o June 1941- Germans launched 3-prolonged attack = operation Barbarossa:
Þ Leningrad (N)/Moscow (Centre)/Kiev + Rostov-on-Don (S).
Þ Initially successful but failed to capture Moscow/Red Army launched successful counter-offensive + onset of
winter.
Þ 1942- Germans focused on Caucasus oil fields (S)- encompassed attack on Stalingrad- Soviet Union repulsed
1943.
Þ Tank battle at Kursk summer 1943 confirmed initiative passed to Soviet Union.
Þ Germans driven back reaching Berlin 1945.
Russia at war
o Launch of Operation Barbarossa appeared to take S by surprise June 1941.
o Despite military intelligence agents/British government warned imminent attack/build-up German forces near
Soviet Union border.
o German ‘blitzkrieg’ = lightening attack- 3 million soldiers, 7184 artillery guns, 3580 tanks + 740,000 horses.
Þ Largest invasion force in history/left soviet forces in chaos- had captured Minsk by 28 June.
o Initial reaction- suggested contact Hitler in Berlin- suspected troop advance was ‘limited act of provocation’.
o S never expected Nazi-Soviet Pact long-lasting/assumed made deal to win ‘breathing space’ to build up Soviet
Union defences.
Þ But country far from prepared for war.
Political impact
Wartime leadership
o S met with the Politburo immediately- made the 1st wartime order = demand German air force
destroyed/invading forces annihilated.
o But left public announcement of hostilities to Molotov- through loudspeakers in main city streets.
Þ ‘our cause is just, the enemy will be smashed, victory will be ours’.
o Brought need for clearly defined government structure + military authority but S took over a week to establish.
Þ 23 June- Stavka = Supreme Military Command established- all military planning.
Þ 27 June- S withdrew to his dacha- created confusion- not seen/heard in public for 10 days.
Þ 30 June GKO set up- State Defence Committee- organisation + coordination with absolute authority over
party/state/military.
o Small group of 5- expanded to 8 Feb 1942.
Þ 30 June- S agrees to return to Moscow/restructuring.
Þ 1 July- S reassumes authority as Head of gov/leader Stavka + GKO.
Þ 3 July- S’s first wartime speech ‘issue one of life and death…free or fall into slavery’.
Þ 20 July- S assumes overall military command- ‘supreme war leader’.
o From July 1941- all authority rested with S- in charge of 2 key bodies.
o Speech 3 July- designed to establish his leadership/unite nation.
Þ Rekindling patriotism/mollifying those opposed S’s polices during 1930s.
Þ War speeches- S appealed to the people’s love for their country/played on threat to their culture not to
socialism.
Þ People fought for Russia not communism.
o S’s authority not questioned/speeches + actions crucial in bolstering morale.
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