How did Joseph Stalin react to the German invasion during WWII

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin ruled over the Soviet Union between 1920 and 1953 acting as a supreme leader of the USSR. Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state. Stalin introduced his own highly centralized command economy, launching a period of industrialization and collectivization that resulted in the rapid transformation of the USSR from an agrarian society into an industrial global power. Between 1934 and 1939 Stalin mercilessly carried out a series of massive political extra-judicial executions, known as the Great Purge, of major Communist Party and government rival figures as well as many Red Army high commanders without any proper trials - all convicted of treason or considered a threat. These “enemies of the working class” were imprisioned, exiled, sent to forced labor camps or executed, without due process.

In the meantime Germany revitalized under Adolf Hitler’s leadership, worked to revise the post-World War I organizational structure of Europe, imposed by the United States, England and France.

Reaching the Molotov–Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact between the USSR and NAZI Germany and their initial warming economic relations

After the Nazis rose to power in Germany in 1933, relations between Germany and the Soviet Union, as the two sworn enemy regimes, began to deteriorate rapidly, and trade between the two countries decreased and almost froze. Following several years of high tension and rivalry, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union eventually began to improve relations in 1939. German economy thrived at a fast pace by exporting manufactured goods and industrial equipment in exchange for importing raw materials. In turn, the USSR being an agrarian state, rich in natural resources, was struggling with transition towards industrialization. The Soviets had to purchase and import more than half of the necessary factory machinery from the United States. It occurred that both Stalin and Hitler, therefore, were at odds with the West. Driven by their mutual resentment for the West, each for his own reasons and interests under the circumstances, Communist USSR and NAZI Germany seemed to have much in common and be close to reaching a German-Soviet cooperation via a natural alliance.

In 1939, London and Paris invited Moscow to co-sign an Anglo-French guarantee to protect Poland and Romania from possible German aggression. The Soviets agreed only upon permission from Lithuania, Poland and Romania to allow the free passage of Soviet troops in the event of war. However, Poland refused to grant its permission, fearing Soviet’s secret agenda to take over its territory. The West prolonged Soviet-Allied negotiations since the Great Powers feared the spread of the communist regime and considered the Soviet Union as an outlaw state for its established social and political structures through internal subversion, armed violence and terrorism. USSR in turn advocated the overthrow of all capitalist regimes.

After failure of the negotiations with Britain and France, Stalin eventually turned to Germany. As a result, on 23 August 1939 the Soviet Union entered into a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. The pact, known as Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, was named after the USSR and NAZIS foreign affairs political figures at the time. Hitler no more had to fear the possibility of a war on two fronts. Moreover, Stalin and Hitler signed numerous secret protocols dividing the entire territory of Eastern Europe into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. The Soviets would recover eastern Poland, formerly part of Imperial Russia. The Germans also supported the USSR's claims on Bessarabia (eastern part of Romania) and agreed to define Eastern Europe's Baltic (Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania) and Balkan states as belonging to the Soviet “sphere of interest.” Furthermore, after signing the pact, the countries rapidly expanded their economic relationship by entering into a commercial agreement whereby the Soviet Union sent critical raw materials and ingredients to Germany in exchange for weapons, military technology, civilian and manufacturing machinery. Thereafter, Germany received significant amounts of petroleum, grain, rubber and manganese, all necessary for its future war efforts.

Violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and World War II: former allies eventually turn against each other

The signed secret protocols dividing central Europe between Stalin and Hitler, efectively let both the USSR and the NAZIS to invade freely countries listed within their “spheres of influence”. However, the agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union could not be sustainable for long and did in fact settle stage for the start of the World War II.

On 1 September 1939, within days of signing the pact and the secret protocols, Hitler invaded Poland, now confident that the Soviets would not oppose him. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany. A couple of weeks later, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east to grab its share. In 1940, the USSR followed up by occupying Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Romanian province of Bessarabia. Britain and France protested but with their forces already at war against Germany, they could not afford fighting Stalin as well. Indeed, initially, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact worked quite well and showed how similar the two states really were. Unfortunately, it did not last for long.

Once the Soviets seized a generous portion of Eastern Europe, they also tried to invade Finland. Despite being tremendously outnumbered and outgunned, the Finns improvised a defense and made the best of the terrain and the ferocious winter weather. At the same time, the German army conquered France without suffering appreciable losses and the British withdrew from the continent. The Germans were astonished at how badly the Soviets performed in the fighting with the Finns. This encouraged them that the USSR and Stalin were already weakened by the war affairs and thus Hitler could in turn defeat Stalin in a rapid campaign (Blitzkrieg) even before finishing off the withdrawn Brits in the west.

In the early morning of 22 June 1941, Hitler officially violated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and invaded the Soviet Union. Historians claim that Stalin was stunned by the invasion and for quite some time refused to accept the news was true. The Soviet leader had ignored all warnings received from the US, British and his own intelligence officers regarding a potential invasion. He even retreated in despair for several days and did not participate in the leadership decisions.

Economic and diplomatic relations between the two countries rapidly deteriorated and abruptly terminated. The Soviets were not prepared for a war against Germany with the Red Army troops scattered and dispersed among several fronts. Furthermore, Stalin’s purges of army officers in the 1930s had crippled the Soviet military machine and in the early days of the war, the Red Army, lacking trustworthy and skillful generals, suffered disastrous losses letting NAZI troops almost reach Kremlin gates.

However, within weeks Stalin manage to recover from the shock and called for reinforcements. Although German troops had made huge advances into the heartlands of the Soviet Union and the rest of the government had been evacuated from Moscow, Stalin remained in the Kremlin and begun to take control of the country’s ailing military infrastructure. As German troops approached the Soviet capital of Moscow, Stalin directed a devastating defensive policy, destroying any supplies or infrastructure that might benefit the enemy. Fresh competent USSR military commanders loyal to Stalin were allowed to take control of important strategic positions and military divisions.

Decisive battle for Stalingrad and Soviets offensive doctrine

In 1942, failing to achieve his Blitzkrieg and with the advance of winter and severe weather conditions, Hitler shifted his primary goal from an immediate victory in the East, to the more long-term goal of securing the southern Soviet Union and its oil fields, vital to a long-term German war effort. The invading Germans aimed at Stalingrad as essential to their campaign strategic point in southern Russia while the Soviets were determined to defend the city as a vital industrial and transportation center at all cost. Both Stalin and Hitler understood the symbolic importance of the only city to bear the Soviet dictator’s name.

However, the tide turned for the Soviets with the monumental Battle of Stalingrad, from August 1942 to February 1943, during which the Red Army defeated the Germans and eventually drove them from Russia in a fierce combat and resistance. On February 2, 1943, left with no provisions and surrounded by the reinforced Red Army, the Germans were forced to surrender. About 150 000 Germans had died in the fighting for Stalingrad. Furthermore, although there were over 2.5 million Soviet casualties, the Soviet victory at Stalingrad permitted the USSR to turn back offensive for the rest of the war on the Eastern front.

Stalingrad was a great humiliation for Hitler. He then became more distrustful than ever of his generals. Stalin, on the other hand, gained confidence back in his military.

As the WWII progressed, confident of an oncoming Allied victory over Germany, Stalin contacted Western diplomats requesting two agreements. He aimed at reaching a mutual assistance/aid pact and a recognition that after the war the Soviet Union would gain the territories in countries that it would take war actions against Hitler on the Eastern front.