Note
Learnt earlier → Hitler and Stalin → signed Nazi SovietNon aggression pact in August 1939 → agreeing not to go to war + to split Poland between of them. However→ this agreement didn’t last.
- Hitler had always wanted to destroy communism + expand Germany’s territory into eastern Europe + USSR.
- Occupying USSR → would also give Germany access → to USSR’s vast resources > like oil
June 1941 → Germany → launched → Operation Barbarossa
- Initially → Germany seemed successful.
- Stalin was about to abandon Moscow → Sept 1941.
Germans were not able to overwhelm USSR fast enough + harsh winter halted German advance
Stalin → used that time → reorganise → Soviet war effort
- Coupled with → extensive resources provided by US Lend-lease scheme → reorganisation → enabled USSR → turn around + put up strong resistance against Germans → on Eastern Front.
- Around 90% → of German casualties in WWII → on Eastern front → against USSR.