How did Stalin help the Soviet Union win World War II?

Question

The Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin, won against Germany in World War II. So despite how Germany could have won if Russia's cold, harsh winter didn't come, or if Hitler wasn't so overconfident, etc, Stalin must have made decisions that helped his country survive the battle...
WHAT DID STALIN DO THOUGH?
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Okay, I'm sorry I asked a similar question to this, but in the other question it was mainly about the winter weather and I need some answers based on Stalin...

Answer 1

Stalin didn't really contribute much to winning the war. In fact, he tried to manage the whole thing early on, and lost badly.

So, he realized that he needed to leave tactics in the hands of the Generals that were left after his purges. By stepping back a bit, he did help. But that's kind of indirect.

He did also make the propaganda all about saving Mother Russia, instead of trying to get people to fight for the Party. He was smart enough to realize that fighting for Communism wouldn't motivate people all that well. And he was willing to set that aside to win the war.

The only other thing he did was put on a brave facade that the war would be won, it was just a matter of time. Even when the Germans were just outside Moscow, he stayed in Moscow. If he had moved himself and his cabinet out of town, it's possible the resistance would have crumbled, the people would have seen their leader run away and might have felt the war was lost.

So, not many real, concrete contributions. But at the same time, he didn't make Hitler's mistake and try to run everything right to the very end, even when he was dead wrong.

Answer 2

The other hard, cold reality is, since Soviet civilians were murdered by the million, ALL casualty figures on that front are estimates. First, although most Americans are completely unaware, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the Axis effort for almost four years. About 9 out of 10 German or other fascist soldiers lost were lost in that vast theater. There were many futile and bloody defenses early in the war, and Stalin insisted upon quite a few which were pointless, and so entire garrisons would be killed. And of course, the Nazis murdered prisoners, too, so there was no question of repatriation. Once on the offensive, Soviet commanders were under tremendous political pressure, and used men in HUGE quantities. Over the winter months, it was common, too, for soldiers of both sides to just "disappear", dying of illness or exposure or combinations of both. I have written scholarly papers and articles on this subject. There were many millions of Nagant and Tokarev rifles produed during the war, and additional millions of PPS and PPsH submachine guns. Past 1942, the Soviet Army was beautifully equipped. And the T-34 is widely regarded by those who know as the best tank of the Second World War. But there is an overriding factor: This was a huge, landlocked war, far larger than operations in the west, and there were hardly even short lulls in the fighting, so it was constant. Just look at a map. The fighting slowed down from time to time, but it NEVER stopped from June 22, 1941, until Nazi capitulation, May 8, 1945. Fascist/Nazi casualties were proportionate, by the way.

Answer 3

"So despite how Germany could have won if Russia's cold, harsh winter didn't come"
~Not entirely true, since the Soviet Union could have defeated Germany without Western Help

A great reason was why the Soviet Union's strength was so great was because of Stalin's plans of modernization. The five-year plans, specifically, had increased heavy industry quite spectacularly. The output of industry doubled in the first five-year plan and doubled again in the second. Steel production increased roughly 500% between 1928 and 1937. Cities rose where nomadic tribes had grazed their flock.

A commonly overlooked facet of World War II is that, at one point of the war, it was the Soviet Union who stood alone against the invading Nazi's, or at least on land. The entire Barbarossa Campaign had the Nazi's at the gates of the three cities of Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. And the Soviet's were able to overcome it, without allied fighters

The sheer number of their population don't account to the reason why the Soviets won the war. Many soldiers considered mutiny, since the casualties were so high, and the equipment was never adequate. It was by the iron fist of Stalin that the Soviet Union prevailed against Nazi Germany.

Answer 4

God, how frustrating are some contributors here with their nationalistic arrogance!

Stalin miscalculated badly in not expecting Germany to attack him, but he did many things to win the war:

1) After killing all his good army officers in the 1930s, he released many talented ones from prison and gave them commands based on results: generals such as Zukhov (who is popularly said to have never lost a battle), Rokossovsy, Koniev, Chiukov all enjoyed Stalin's favour. He sometimes, early in the war, put cronies in command but always sacked them after they failed (Budenny, Meklis, Timoshenko etc)

2) He moved Soviet industry west when the Germans over-ran Russia's industrial heartland. This decision cannot be over-emphasised. He put whole factories on trains and moved them to the Russian interior where the Germans couldn;t bomb them. Russia won the war with the sheer output from these factories- but it was a big risk because Russia had little with which to fight the Germans for a year while the factories were moved.

3) Stalin's brutality was most effective in getting production rates up, technical problems solved, and so on. Factories with bad performances had their managers replaced, or sometimes jailed. This system was not 'nice' to the Western mind, but it was an effective way of solving very real problems, quickly. He also realised when this went too far: the Russian army had 'political commissars' attached, whose job had been to ensure the 'reliability' of commanding officers. This had detrimental effects in combat and Stalin reduced their power so soldiers could fight properly.

4) Stalin was reasonably effective at knowing when to interfere and when not to. He was instrumental in making decisions which prevented the Germans capturing Leningrad, he agreed with holding back reinforcements for Stalingrad- thus the Germans were drawn in thinking they were always on the brink of victory, then the forces were unleashed in a huge counterblow. He took an interest in weapons but, unlike Hitler, allowed the designers and soldiers to have the most influence.

5) Stalin was effective in pressuring the British and Americans for material support, and the need to support Russia influenced many decisions by the Western allies. Stalin also raised armies of nationals from other countries- Polish, Czechs etc- augmenting his strength.

By the last 2 years of the war the Russians were fighting very well: it wasn't just Winter and Hitler's stupidity that lost the war. Russian tanks and, later, planes were better than those of the West, and their tactics developed over the years until Stalin had excellent generals commanding an efficient and capable army. Stalin avoided pointless distractions, had a good balance of influence while usually letting more knowledgeable people have final say, and he used his authority to make sure people didn't slack off or otherwise compromise the objective of defeating Germany.

Answer 5

See my answer to the question "What did Joesph Stalin do during world war 2 ?"

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aj4ie1ku6sU8IYU7fYXiKM3ty6IX?qid=20070411073648AAuZr0a&show=7#profile-info-btwui140aa

"When the Germans invaded the USSR, he discovered that because of his bloody purges in the Red Army, his army was too weak to oppose the Germans. So he changed tack, and started a campaign of patriotism and "Mother Russia", even involving the Russian Orthodox church. He moved a large part of the Russian industry to Asia, but didn't run when the German Army appeared before the walls of Moscow. And he played a dangerous gamble : expecting that the Japanese wouldn't attack in Siberia, he moved the troops to the western front and started a counter-offensive that would go all the way to Berlin."

"Like Churchill, the kind of ruthless strategist you want on your own side during a war, but who should be got rid off as soon as possible after the war."

Answer 6

In a nutshell it was all down to him forcing a HUGE number of cilivians to fight as soldiers in the war - and these people (usually men) were used as canon fodder but ultimately won the Eastern Front. Millions upon millions of people were sent to their deaths and he had the power to force people to go to war, because if they didnt, he would just have them shot anyway in the purges, or sent to death camps, Siberia etc.

This is a rough number but whereas say 1/2 million Brits died during WW11, 40 million Russians died. Lots down to starvation etc, but it shows how Stalin had the force of hand and the power of repression to get away with this. If it wasnt for this power, Hitler could have gotten to the Eastern front much sooner and potentially have hit Moscow before Winter set in, but because the manpower was there, the canon fodder, he was able to win the war on that front.

Have a look at a film like Stalingrad - yes its shite - but does indicate the number of Russians that were killed for the Soviet cause and the way in which they were used.

Answer 7

I don't know if you could call what Stalin did to win the war "winning' per se. The Soviet Union had the highest number of casualties of any of the participants, and some of the worst supplies. They won because of manpower. It is the result of simple math if you throw enough men against an enemy eventually the enemy will fall. Stalin sent millions of men to slaughter in order to "win" the war. He won because of German fatigue and because he had enough men to keep sending wave after wave against a crumbling German force.

Answer 8

What did he do? The same thing Russia did when they kicked Napoleon's butt. The Scorched Earth policy. They fell back allowing the enemy to advance. It doesn't hurt that Hitler was overconfident like you say. They fell back, dismantling full factories and relocating them out of reach in the east. Anything that couldn't be moved was destroyed. Then when the enemy supply lines were stretched beyond its means, they counter attacked. It also bought them time. By the end of their counter attack, they had the best tanks of WW2.

Answer 9

my dear friend stalin was a butcher he had a lot of his own people killed if they did not do what he asked and by the way stalin did not win the war it was the people around him the only time we saw stalin was for aphotograph

Answer 10

Stalin didn't do anything but send everybody on legs against the front. There where children, old women, even animals.