Kameron Spence

Packet #1:STALIN
Body Paragraph 1 4 books/2 electronic sources
TEACHER COMMENTS
Assertion 1 Idea: The Rise of Joseph Stalin
Question 1: What was the state of the Soviet Union prior to Joseph Stalin coming to power?
EV: APPROVED The February Revolution (March 1917) was a revolution focused around Petrograd
(now Saint Petersburg). In the chaos, members of the Imperial parliament or Duma assumed control of
the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government. The army leadership felt they did not have
the means to suppress the revolution and Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, abdicated. The
Soviets (workers' councils), which were led by more radical socialist factions, initially permitted the
Provisional Government to rule, but insisted on a prerogative to influence the government and control
various militias. The February Revolution took place in the context of heavy military setbacks during
the First World War (191418), which left much of the Russian army in a state of mutiny.
A period of dual power ensued, during which the Provisional Government held state power while the
national network of Soviets, led by socialists, had the allegiance of the lower classes and the political
left. During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies, protests and many strikes. When the
Provisional Government chose to continue fighting the war with Germany, the Bolsheviks and other
socialist factions campaigned for stopping the conflict. The Bolsheviks turned workers militias under
their control into the Red Guards (later the Red Army) over which they exerted substantial control.[1]

Source #: http://www.history.com/topics/russian-revolution
Citation: History.com staff
Question 2: How did Joseph Stalin move up through the ranks of the communist party?
EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is better. Make
sure that you copy the information word for word!
APPROVED

The fledgling Soviet government went through a violent period after the revolution as various
individuals vied for position and control. In 1922, Stalin was appointed to the newly created office of
general secretary of the Communist Party. Though not a significant post at the time, it gave Stalin

control over all party member appointments, which allowed him to build his base. He made shrewd
appointments and consolidated his power so that eventually nearly all members of the central
command owed their position to him. By the time anyone realized what he had done, it was too late.
Even Lenin, who was gravely ill, was helpless to regain control from Stalin. Stalin was responsible
transforming the Soviet Union from an agricultural nation into a global superpower and did not see the
elimination of millions of lives as an impediment to the achievement of this goal. Many intellectuals,
dissidents and even many allies were put to death under Stalin. Stalin's expansionism at the
conclusion of World War II resulted in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) by
the West. In turn, Stalin gathered the Eastern European nations that were absorbed into the Soviet
sphere after the Second World War under the umbrella of the Warsaw Pact. This, in turn, led to the
Cold War and to the periodic international crises and the endless exchanges of hostile rhetoric in
United Nations leadership circles until the final years of the Soviet Union.

Source #: 4
Citation: A&E television networks
Question 3: How did Joseph Stalin solidify power and ultimately become dictator? (if you dont know
what solidify means, google it)

EV: APPROVED
When Lenin died in January 1924, Stalin seized the moment. He had already taken advantage of Trotskys
absences due to his illness to discredit him or squeeze him of out decision making. Now he cabled Trotsky,
giving him the wrong date for Lenins funeral. Trotsky was not among the mourners, and it damaged his
reputation. Stalin was there and played his part well. He helped carry Lenins coffin. In a speech, he promised to
fulfil Lenins commandments He did everything to pose as the guardian of Lenins legacy. During Lenins
illness, Stalin had decided matters with the help of LEv Kamenev and Grigorii Zinoviev. They were not all friends,
but a common enemy united under them: Trotsky. History showed that revolutions could end with a dictator
taking power, and Kamenev and Zinoviev agreed that the charismatic Trotsky might pose such a danger.

Source #: Source #5
Citation: Scandiffio, 169

Body Paragraph 2:
Assertion 2 Idea: Joseph Stalins maintenance of power
Question 1: How did Joseph Stalin improve/take steps to improve the economy?
EV: Stalin also vastly increased the foreign espionage activities of Soviet secret police and foreign
intelligence. Under his guiding hand, Soviet intelligence forces began to set up intelligence networks
in most of the major nations of the world, including Germany (the famous Rote Kappelle spy ring),
Great Britain, France, Japan, and the United States. Stalin saw no difference between espionage,
communist political propaganda actions, and state-sanctioned violence, and he began to integrate all
of these activities within the NKVD, which preceded the KGB

MOVE - ANSWER QUESTION ABOUT THE ECONOMY

Source #: Source #3
Citation: newworldencyclopedia.org staff
Question 2: How did Joseph Stalin use his military to maintain control/expand his reign?
(if you dont know what reign means, google it)

EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is
better. Make sure that you copy the information word for word!
Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an
industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of
his own citizens died during his brutal reign.
MOVE TO Q1, BUT ADD WAY MORE
Source: SOURCE #
Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
Question 3: How did Joseph Stalin maintain control over the people?
EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is
better. Make sure that you copy the information word for word!
Starting in the late 1920s, Joseph Stalin launched a series of five-year plans
intended to transform the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrial
superpower. His development plan was centered on government control of the
economy and included the forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, in which
the government took control of farms. Millions of farmers refused to cooperate
with Stalins orders and were shot or exiled as punishment. The forced
collectivization also led to widespread famine across the Soviet Union that killed
millions.
MOVE TO THE ECONOMY
Source #: Source #6
Citation: history.com staff
Question 4: How did Joseph Stalin manipulate the people to maintain his control?

EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is
better. Make sure that you copy the information word for word!
MOVE TO Q 3
Stalin ruled by terror and with a totalitarian grip in order to eliminate anyone
who might oppose him. He expanded the powers of the secret police,
encouraged citizens to spy on one another and had millions of people killed or
sent to the Gulag system of forced labor camps. During the second half of the
1930s, Stalin instituted the Great Purge, a series of campaigns designed to rid
the Communist Party, the military and other parts of Soviet society from those
he considered a threat.
Source #: SOURCE # 8
Citation: history.com staff
Body Paragraph 3:
Assertion 1 Idea: Joseph Stalin involvement in WWII
Question 1: Who did Joseph Stalin ally himself with at the beginning of WWII? Why?
EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is better.
Make sure that you copy the information word for word!
On August 22, 1939, German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1946)
flew from Berlin to Moscow. He was soon inside the Kremlin, face-to-face with Stalin
and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986), who had been working
with von Ribbentrop to negotiate an agreement. (The Soviet minister is also the
namesake for the incendiary device known as a Molotov cocktail.) Ribbentrop carried
a proposal from Hitler that both countries commit to a nonaggression pact that would
last 100 years. Stalin replied that 10 years would be sufficient. The proposal also
stipulated that neither country would aid any third party that attacked either
signatory. Finally, the proposal contained a secret protocol specifying the spheres of
influence in Eastern Europe both parties would accept after Hitler conquered Poland.
The Soviet Union would acquire the eastern half of Poland, along with Lithuania,
Estonia and Latvia.
APPROVED
Source #: SOURCE # 7
Citation: history.com staff
Question 2: Who did Joseph Stalin ally himself with later on in WWII? Why?
EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is better.
Make sure that you copy the information word for word!
ADD IN THE ANSWER THE Q
The USA, USSR and UK defeated the Axis Powers for three main reasons: first, because their
strategic and military cooperation was closer and more effective than the enemys; secondly,

because the Soviet armies and people fought with such persistent courage while the West was
mobilizing its forces; and thirdly because the Axis Powers made avoidable political and military
blunders. On August 25, 1941, British and Soviet forces jointly invaded Iran, to forestall the
establishment of a German base there and to divide the country into spheres of occupation for
the duration of the war; and late in Septemberat a conference in MoscowSoviet, British, and
U.S. representatives formulated the monthly quantities of supplies, including aircraft, tanks, and
raw materials, that Great Britain and the United States should try to furnish to the Soviet Union.

Source #: SOURCE # 9
Citation, Marshall, PG 66
Question 3: How did the nations involvement in WWII Joseph Stalin affect the country as a
whole?
EV: Write your quotation here - make sure that you write as much as possible - more is better.
Make sure that you copy the information word for word!
The first three months of the GermanSoviet conflict produced cautious rapprochements between
the U.S.S.R. and Great Britain and between the U.S.S.R. and the United States. The AngloSoviet agreement of July 12, 1941, pledged the signatory powers to assist one another and to
abstain from making any separate peace with Germany.
Source #: SOURCE # 10
Citation: Graham-Royde Smith