History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)
The history of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953 covers the period in Soviet history from the establishment of Stalinism through victory in the Second World War and down to the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Stalin sought to destroy his enemies while transforming Soviet society with central planning, in particular through the forced collectivization of agriculture and rapid development of heavy industry. Stalin consolidated his power within the party and the state and fostered an extensive cult of personality. Soviet secret-police and the mass-mobilization of the Communist Party served as Stalin's major tools in molding Soviet society. Stalin's methods in achieving his goals, which included party purges, ethnic cleansings, political repression of the general population, and forced collectivization, led to millions of deaths: in Gulag labor camps[1] and during famine.[2][3]
"Stalinist era" redirects here. For other uses, see Stalinist era (disambiguation).Stalinist era
Industrialization in the Soviet Union
The Great Purge
Holodomor
Kazakh Famine
Polish Operation of the NKVD
Occupation of the Baltic states
Winter War
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
Great Patriotic War
Population transfer in the Soviet Union
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Battle of Berlin
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Chinese Civil War
1944 Bulgarian coup d'état
Turkish Straits crisis
1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
1948 Arab–Israeli War
Berlin Blockade
Tito–Stalin split
Korean War
Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin
World War II, known as "the Great Patriotic War" by Soviet historians, devastated much of the USSR, with about one out of every three World War II deaths representing a citizen of the Soviet Union. In the course of World War II, the Soviet Union's armies occupied Eastern Europe, where they established or supported Communist puppet governments. By 1949, the Cold War had started between the Western Bloc and the Eastern (Soviet) Bloc, with the Warsaw Pact (created 1955) pitched against NATO (created 1949) in Europe. After 1945, Stalin did not directly engage in any wars, continuing his totalitarian rule until his death in 1953.[4]