Week of March 7 - 10 - Blogs

Monday, March 7

We finished up the Great Britain presentation.

Homefront
- rationing of food
- women grew food, recycled, and became factory workers
- children sent to live in country
  - this is so children didn't die in bombings
- propaganda
  - meant to show good things
Impact on Country
- Government was heavily involved in people's lives during WWII
- most people welcomed the intervention
Results of War
- Allied Powers win
- After WWII, UK was no longer the dominant country

Soviet Union

Events between WWI and WWII
- Russian Civil War
  - After the fall of the Tsar and the Russian Revolution, the empire was unstable
  - Between the "reds" and "whites"
  - The Red army fought for communism
  - The White army fought for monarchism and capitalism
  - Reds won
- Stalin's Five-Year Plan
  - series of nationalized plans for the economic development of the Soviet Union
  - Had unrealistic goals in industrial development
  - brought all industry and industrial development under state control by collectivism and nationalisation
    - Collectivism - practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it
    - Nationalisation - process of transforming private assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state
- Soviet and German Non-Aggression Pact
  - guarantee of non-violence between each party
  - neither party was supposed to attack either party's ally
  - broken when Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941
Basic Facts
- civilian deaths - 12.4 million
- total deaths - 23 million
- cost - $192 billion
- part of the Allies
- War Goals
  - expand as much as possible in all directions
    - gained Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia doing this
  - destroy Germany
  - expand Soviet Communist system to control people and resources
  - Invade Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland (all except Finland fall under Soviet Control)
  - successfully launched a German invasion
Impact
- economy devastated
- 1/4 country's capital resources destroyed
- industrial and agricultural output went down
- lot of casualties
- Germany makes reparations to the Soviet Union
- postwar reconstruction period - Stalin tightened domestic controls, justifying the repression by playing up the threat of war in the West
- The USSR keeps northern part of East Russia and becomes leading world power
Why they won WWII
- were used to the weather and were able to adapt
- Germany not prepared for weather
- Germany invaded too much land too fast
- Soviet Union had more people
- forced Germans back to Germany
- were really underestimated

Tuesday, March 8

Soviet Union (continued)

Other Important Leaders
- Josef Stalin
  - part of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917
  - came into power in 1922
  - ruthless and determined
  - 1939 - signed non-aggression pact with Germany
    - Soviet invaded in June 1941
  - attended Allied Conferences
- Georgy Zhukov
  - Chief of General Staff
  - Deputy Commander in Chief in the Department of Defense
  - Signed the "Directive of Peoples"
    - called for a counterattack on Operation Barbarossa
    - failed
    - kicked out of office for awhile
  - captured Berlin
    - commanded Battle of Britain
- Nikita Khrushchev
  - worked his way up through the ranks by kissing up to Stalin
    - supported Stalin and his Purges
  - Appointed Commissar by Stalin
    - kept a tight leash on commanders
    - stationed in Poland and Kiev
- Battle Strategies
  - Deep Operation
    - created by the men of the Bolshevik Revolution
    - called for particular operations
    - created a new depth of military intelligence
  - Maskirovka
    - used speed and deception to catch enemies off guard
      - camouflage
    - Battle of Stalingrad
- Scorched Earth Policy
  - burn or destroy all crops, buildings, and resources that could be used by the enemy
    - Soviets burned down anything to do with -
      - technology
      - food
      - resources
      - settlements
- Winter
  - Germany invades Soviet Union
    - Operation Barbarossa
  - Soviet Union retreats until December
  - Winter comes
    - no supply lines very far into Soviet Union
    - harsh winter conditions
    - Scorched Policy had left nothing behind
- Stalin's Strategy
  - Extreme Patriotism
    - "Don't die a traitor, die a hero"
    - Die fighting for your country
    - Get killed fighting or get killed not fighting
Leader
- Josef Stalin
  - grew up in poverty and had a bad homelife
  - in his younger years, he studied priesthood
  - became an underground political agitator
  - took part in many strikes
  - exiled to Siberia multiple times
  - died age 73 of a heart attack
  - rise to power
    - joined a socialist group
    - devoted much of his time to revolutionary movement against Russian monarchy
    - Lenin and Stalin organize Russian Revolution promising "peace, land, and bread"
    - country descends into a civil war
    - Soviet Union founded in 1922 with Lenin as leader
    - Lenin appoints Stalin to be General Secretary of the Communist Party
    - Lenin died in 1924 and Stalin promotes himself as political heir
    - anyone who was thought to be against communism was sent to camps/killed
    - Purges - enemy rivals
    - "Reign of Terror"
    - manufactured famines
    - camps
    - execution
    - 8 million arrests
- Homefront
  - fighting happened in Russia
  - massive destruction
  - implemented rationing in 1941
  - women/children worked in factories
  - marriage/birth rates dropped
  - used to shortages
  - Leningrad
    - starved out by Germans
    - surrounded by Germany from 1941-44
    - led to hunger, malnutrition, disease, cannibalism, etc
    - no possible way to leave
    - "Road to Life"
      - people would try to cross a frozen lake
      - would try to escape to Finland
- Major Battles
  - Siege of Leningrad
    - started 1941
    - lasted 872 days
    - part of Operation Barbarossa
    - Soviet Union never surrendered
    - January 1944 - Soviets break through the German wall and got more supplies in
    - 3.4 million casualties
  - Battle of Moscow
    - part of Barbarossa
    - Hitler thought the whole Soviet Union would collapse if Germany took Moscow
    - turning point in the war
    - Soviets win
    - 650,000-1,280,000 casualties
  - Battle of Stalingrad
    - July 17, 1942
    - major industrial and communications city for the Soviets
    - turning point
    - bloodiest battle - hand to hand combat
    - Soviets win
    - German forces can't advance
    - over 1 million casualties
  - Battle of Berlin
    - 1945
    - Soviet Union attacked the Oder River
    - took over the city
    - German generals surrendered to the Soviet union
    - 1 million (plus) casualties

Wednesday, March 9

Absent due to regional mock trial

Thursday, March 10

World Wars movie

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