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stalin抯 government equally sought to exploit the provisions of the
soviet-german treaties to its advantage. the soviet troops entered
estonia, latvia, lithuania, and bessarabia. these territories used
to be part of tsarist russia but broke away following the 1917
revolution. now they were speedily sovietized and reincorporated
into the ussr as union republics. |
in addition, the ussr unleashed a
war against finland, which also had been designated part of its
搒phere of influence.?the soviet propaganda strove to present the
aggression against finland as the liberation of the finnish working
classes from the yoke of landowners and capitalists. so convinced
were stalin and his generals in the swift victory over the finns
that the russian troops were sent to finland unprepared for a long
military campaign. dressed in light summer uniforms and suffering
from severe frostbite, the red army soldiers soon found themselves
embroiled in a long drawn out 揥inter war.?/span>
despite the overwhelming advantage over the finns in men and
equipment, the red army failed to score an early and impressive
victory and was bogged down in a lengthy conflict. during the 105
days of the war, it lost nearly 290,000 men, including 74,000 dead.
this was the cost the soviet union paid to persuade finland to give
up a number of small territories along the soviet-finnish border.
the staunch resistance of the finns helped finland to avoid
sovietization enforced in the other baltic states. the relations
between the soviet union and finland were irreparably damaged:
following the german attack on russia in june 1941, finland took
germany抯 side in the war.
in contrast to the red army抯 uninspiring performance in the finnish
campaign, the german army scored one lightning victory after another
in the initial stages of the war. it subjugated poland in thirty-six
in the initial stages of the war. it subjugated poland in thirty-six
days, defeated the combined british and french troops in may 1940 in
just twenty-six days, and conquered greece and yugoslavia in
eighteen days. the tactical ineptitude of the soviet high command
and the heavy casualties sustained by the red army in the war
against finland raised serious doubts about its combat readiness.
it is highly probable that its poor showing in finland may have
influenced hitler抯 decision to invade the ussr and strengthened his
confidence in a swift conquest. he now considered seriously the
possibility of routing russia ahead of germany抯 decisive attack on
britain. on hitler抯 orders german generals drew up the plan for a
blitzkrieg梐 lightning strike梐gainst the ussr. the conquest of the
soviet union would spell the end of the communist state and
constitute an important step toward the attainment by germany of
global supremacy. the nazis?objectives in the east also envisaged
that the mass of slavic, jewish, and other nationalities that
populated the soviet union would be enslaved or physically
populated the soviet union would be enslaved or physically
exterminated as an 搃nferior race.?/span>
