Joseph Stalin was a ruthless dictator and the ruler of the early Soviet Union whose main agenda was to gain total control over the economy of the Soviet economy. His ability to maintain power was founded on the forceful seizure of millions of farms previously owned by private individuals and also by terrorizing millions of the Soviet citizens including the communist party members. Given full control of the Soviet economy, Stalin started a modernization plan by establishing the Five Year Project plan. The five-year plan had totally despicable goals for everything ranging from each sector of the economy to the output expected from each company. In most cases their goals were unrealistically high and unachievable, and the factory system alongside some government officials who could often fake the numbers to meet the stated target.
The Five Year Plan was made up of a series of nationalized projects for the Soviet Union economic development which were mainly concerned with ideological goals. Ideological goals entailed the concept of embarking on a program of massive industrialization which required huge surpluses from the agricultural sectors to supply the industrial workforce and to enable the payment for imported machinery (Friedman, 2010). The increase in industrial goods was the main goal with more emphasis being placed on equipment, agriculture and electrical power. This goal was further expanded to incorporate massive industrialization to be able to improve the communication networks of the Soviet Union.
The implementation of this plan had a significant impact on the economy of the Union. It led to an increase in the industrial output of the Soviet Union by 50 percent within the first five years with an annual growth rate of between 15 and 22 percent. It also led to the massive emergence of new industries within several new cities such as Moscow. The five-year plan improved both the agricultural and industrial sectors enabling the Soviet Union to achieve its goal of self-sufficiency. However, this Plan was interrupted by the outbreak of the World War II upon its declaration by the Germans.
Adolf Hitler was a German tyrant who led the nationalist and racist Nazi Party during the entire period of World War II. He was a major figure in the Holocaust and initiated World War II in Europe because of his aggressiveness and determination to use power as a conquest and retaliatory tool. Due to his dictatorship, Hitler was able to lead Germany to victory in most of the wars against their enemies (Jones, 2011). He was able to gain moral neutrality of the Soviet Union in regard to the war that was ahead. Hitler was responsible for the improvement of the Germany's military position and also striking apart all her enemies. Under the leadership of the tyrant, Germany was able to acquire strong allies with some states and also establish convenient neutrals. German was able to colonize some of the countries such as France under the reign of Adolf Hitler after they were defeated and forced to surrender the war.
The leadership of German under Adolf Hitler was disrupted in 194I during the Second World War when the German declared war on Russia with an attempt to control the Soviet Union. This war marked the German's final struggle for existence which ended as a total defeat leading to the fall of Hitler's leadership. The attempt by Germany to wage war on Russia turned into a frantic race after it was evident that the Russian side was far much mightier at war compared to Germany. Their failure was supposedly blamed on the early winter that took place in Russia and as a result, the Germans were defeated after five months of combat.
References
Brower, Daniel and Sanders, Thomas (2014) The World in the Twentieth Century: From Empires to Nations. Boston, MA: Pearson
Jones, H. (2011). Hitler's First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War. German History, 30(2), 304-305.
Friedman, R. (2010). How the Soviet Man was Unmade: Cultural Fantasy and Male Subjectivity under Stalin. The Soviet And Post-Soviet Review, 37(2), 192-194.
