To What Extent Did the Development of the Cold War Influence Stalin’s Policies Inside the Ussr?
To what extent did the development of the Cold War influence Stalin’s policies inside the USSR?
Up until 1945 the tensions between the USSR and the USA had been covered by the fact that both sides were trying to fight against Hitler and therefore relations up until the war had been relaxed. However this changed after 1945 the victory against Germany brought them international superpower status giving them more control and influence over many countries especially in Eastern Europe. As a result Stalin changed and adapted policies accordingly to increase competition with the USA; both countries were fearful of each other hence why Stalin concentrated on things such as industry and ignoring agricultural production for example. I will explain what and why the cold war influenced Stalin’s policies inside the USSR and come to a conclusion.
My first point is that Stalin focused his efforts even more on the development of industry than ever before. The reason why Stalin did this was to rival the USA’s superpower status and therefore they focused on quantitative rather than the qualitative side of industry. Stalin wasn’t worried if the products they produced were any good as long as they met the 5 year plan targets then he believed he could compete with the USA. This showed as according to the statistics every planned target in 1950 was apparently met e.g. the coal target was 250 million tons which they surpassed and reached 261 million tons. Even the figures may have been exaggerated it is clear that the Stalinist approach had worked in terms of recovering from the war as well making significant progress in terms of producing goods.
My next point is again to do with industrial production, but more specifically how they focused on heavy industry and capital goods in order to help with defence and the production of nuclear weapons. In 1950 industrial production was almost up by 75% compared to 1940. The most significant increases were in the production of capital goods
Up until 1945 the tensions between the USSR and the USA had been covered by the fact that both sides were trying to fight against Hitler and therefore relations up until the war had been relaxed. However this changed after 1945 the victory against Germany brought them international superpower status giving them more control and influence over many countries especially in Eastern Europe. As a result Stalin changed and adapted policies accordingly to increase competition with the USA; both countries were fearful of each other hence why Stalin concentrated on things such as industry and ignoring agricultural production for example. I will explain what and why the cold war influenced Stalin’s policies inside the USSR and come to a conclusion.
My first point is that Stalin focused his efforts even more on the development of industry than ever before. The reason why Stalin did this was to rival the USA’s superpower status and therefore they focused on quantitative rather than the qualitative side of industry. Stalin wasn’t worried if the products they produced were any good as long as they met the 5 year plan targets then he believed he could compete with the USA. This showed as according to the statistics every planned target in 1950 was apparently met e.g. the coal target was 250 million tons which they surpassed and reached 261 million tons. Even the figures may have been exaggerated it is clear that the Stalinist approach had worked in terms of recovering from the war as well making significant progress in terms of producing goods.
My next point is again to do with industrial production, but more specifically how they focused on heavy industry and capital goods in order to help with defence and the production of nuclear weapons. In 1950 industrial production was almost up by 75% compared to 1940. The most significant increases were in the production of capital goods