Essay on Stalin's Regime: To what extent did Stalin's rule have a devastating impact on the Soviet Union and its people?

Stalin's rule over the USSR from 1929 onwards saw his country and his people devastated as he forced them to industrialise, ruthlessly eliminated his opponents and lead his county to a costly victory in the Second World War. Although his leadership was brutal his ideas to industrialise were successful, if he had not drove his country to industrialise defeat in the Second World War would be certain. The purges also offered small opening for peasants and …

…the end of World War Two. War time in the USSR was extremely costly for Stain and the Soviets. By the end of 1945 the land was a devastating wasteland. 40,000 hospitals, 65,000 kilometres of railway 70,000 villages 1,200 towns and 100,000 collective farms had been destroyed. , 19 million civilians and 9 million soldiers had died; 20 million soviets were now homeless. It is obvious that the Second World War had a hugely devastating impact on the people and the land of the USSR.