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Russia in the Anti-Hitler Coalition

Russia in the Anti-Hitler Coalition. 1941-42: Russia in mortal danger 1943: Stalingrad : the tide turns 1945: USSR emerges as a major world power A similar turn of fate happened in 1812-1815 as a result of Napoleon’s invasion. DIMENSIONS OF WORLD WAR TWO Ideological:

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Russia in the Anti-Hitler Coalition

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  1. Russia in the Anti-Hitler Coalition

  2. 1941-42: Russia in mortal danger • 1943: Stalingrad: the tide turns • 1945: USSR emerges as a major world power A similar turn of fate happened in 1812-1815 as a result of Napoleon’s invasion

  3. DIMENSIONS OF WORLD WAR TWO • Ideological: Global Right (The Axis: Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and smaller allies) vs. Global Left (The USSR and the international communist movement) vs. Global Center (US, Britain, Nationalist China) 1939: Right and Left make a deal, liberal democracy the big loser; the Right and Center at war 1941: The Right attacks the Left and the US; a Center-Left coalition is formed 1945: The Right is defeated by the Center-Left coalition; the war’s aftermath gives a major boost to the global Left; liberal internationalism becomes the blueprint of a new world order

  4. Geopolitical • The Axis as the challenger to the world order • The West is torn apart by war • USSR as a status-quo power and a victim of aggression – not as a revolutionary state • The battle for Russia as decisive for defeat of the Axis challenge • Russia’s decisive role entitles it to geopolitical gains from common victory • BUT: In the ideologicalatmosphere of 1945 (democracy, anti-imperialism, rights of nations, human rights) a geopolitical deal could only be couched in ideological terms incompatible with Stalinism • The geopolitical deal contained a timebomb: ideological conflict between democracy and Stalinism

  5. Stalin’s wartime goals: • At first - survival of the country and the regime • Later - maximum possible spoils from the victory, at the expense of the Axis • Postwar cooperation with the West, hope for Western economic assistance Stalin’s foreign policy tools: The Worker-Peasant Red Army (renamed the Soviet Army) Intelligence services (GRU and NKVD) Diplomacy (Molotov, Litvinov, Maisky) International communist movement and its allies

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