The rise of Stalin & the Communist party.
The rise of Stalin and the communist party took place during the new economic policy era between 1921 and 1928. Stalin was a Marxist that used his position as general secretary of the communist party to strengthen the control he had over the party after the creator of the party Lenin when he died in 1924. The New economic policy years also were grounds for social and cultural developments in the USSR as the power of men were reduced and women and the figure of mothers were also proclaimed which gave the right for women to work on a pay close to men and also have the same educational opportunities, however the party did not reach the status of sexual equality. In this era, religion was demeaned and churches lands were confiscated, and the institution of marriage has been in question as this era also legalized and allowed divorces, and abortions. Soviet foreign policy was also modified during the NEP era. As in 1919, the soviet government created the communist international in hopes of creating communist governments in other countries.
The 3rd revolution: collectivization and the first five-year plan.
Although many changes have been made during the new economic policy era, the life of the Russian peasants have hardly changed as they made up 80% of the population and most of them were illiterate. This has caused Stalin to initiate a revolution from above that attacked class enemies, this revolution introduced the collectivization of agriculture that made the state and the five year plan that greatly emphasized on the production of industrial materials and weapons and controlled the agricultural industry.
Campaigns against Japan, 1942 – 1945
The beginning of the 1940’s marked the shifts in the pacific against japan. The U.S was training enough men and producing enough weapons to crush the war in the pacific and Europe. This resulted in a strategy called island-hopping were U.S forces would invade selected islands along the pacific and close to japan in order to serve the U.S as military and bombing bases in proximate range of japan if needed.
The atomic bomb: the climax of the total war
In 1945 as a result to the axis allies being defeated, the Japanese retreated forces in Asia and the pacific while the Chinese were trying to push further, and the British and Indians were reconquering Burma. The U.S has developed two atomic bombs in order to use if Japan did not agree to unconditional surrender. Furthermore, Japan refused to surrender without the U.S clarifying the fate of the Japanese emperor after the surrender this resulted in The U.S using these bombs in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bombing killed nearly 200,000 people and resulted in the unconditional surrender of Japan which caused the end of the 2nd world war.
The Truman Doctrine and European Developments
The united states feared the growth of the communist party in Europe and the destruction of the free world by the soviet union, the US thought that aggression against turkey and Greece could be halted the progression of the communist party will stop until the people in the communist nations are tired of Marxism and overthrow the governments. As a result, The U.S sent extensive economic and military aid to enable governments to defeat threats of communism in turkey and Greece.
In 1947 after some reluctance the US congress created the European recovery program to help European countries in famine and economical troubles that were results of the cold war, the program also called the Marshall Plan this resulted in a rapid recovery of the Western European countries. Even after the effect of the Marshall plan communist parties in Italy and France were starting to decline. However, the Soviet Union continued to thrive in Eastern Europe creating new satellite states like Czechoslovak, and Hungary in 1948. These further developments in the region required the US to combine the three western occupied zones of Germany into on western state that created the Federal republic of Germany in order to better safe guard it against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union applied pressure on allies in berlin by declaring repairs on road and rail that resulted in transportation halts and the western government immediately responded and provided food and aid to western Germany. Furthermore, the fear of communism was not contained in Europe as the people of the US felt that the Soviet Union was on a secret conspiracy to end capitalism and dominate the free world. Moreover, as the economies of western European countries developed and recovered with the aid of the Marshall plan and the influence of the communist parties started to decline.