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The USSR

The Rise of Communism

Many people associate communism with Joseph Stalin. However the man to introduce it was Vladimir Lenin. His revolution of the government was brought, as many civilians suffered horrible living conditions at the time. War was prominent, however many died due to Russia's weak army. Famine was constant since most resources were sent to the army. And the government was very greedy with their land. Lenin gained full support after promising three things to counteract these problems: peace, land, and bread. With the support from the people he succeeded, but didn't improve Russia's economy much. Stalin came to rule right after in which he improved Russia greatly: through questionable methods...

Stalin's Rule

Stalin is the founder of the USSR. He had significant plans for Russia. One of which was the 5 year plan. The five year plan in a nutshell was Stalin's attempt to improve the enconomy. In one sentence this plan was massive industrialization of the economy, with huge focus on heavy industry. He created quotas for workers and those who didn't meet them were severely punished. However Stalin's overly high goals created problems. With the emphasis on heavy industry: many consumer goods went scarce. He also seeked agricultural reform. As a result he encouraged collectivization. Anticipated surplus supported heavy industry. During this plan Stalin enforced communism in a way Lenin could never hope. Almost all private ownership was eliminated and beause of the fact no civilan gained more than the other: famine was basically non existant. However Stalin was also a cruel man, eliminating anyone he even remotely thought against his ideals, resulting in around 20 million killed by his hand.

The Goal of Becoming a Superpower

After this 5 year plan Russia became great. They dominated the economy. However after becoming happy with their economy they decieded: why not become a superpower? Only one country stood in their way. America: the only other country with nukes. As a result of this they couldn't directly fight each other and made allies do the work for them, leading to the cold war.