Was Stalin Responsible for the Break Up?

Josef Stalin, the self-proclaimed Man of Steel. In many ways, he was the Soviet Union’s greatest leader. He led the country through perhaps its biggest and darkest contest ever, calling on the citizens of the Soviet Union to unite against a powerful enemy. He remained in Moscow even as German forces were just 10 miles outside the city.

He also turned the Soviet Union into a military, industrial and economic superpower that was rivaled only by the United States.

But, Stalin was also the Soviet Union’s worst leader. He murdered millions, some through orchestrated famines, others through purges that aroused from simple paranoia. He was arrogant and trusted no one. He didn’t believe that Adolf Hitler was planning to attack the Soviet Union until the German army was already deep inside the country making easy picking of Soviet defenses which were already badly weakened and unprepared thanks in part to Stalin’s purges.

His greed and unrelenting quest for greatness set the Soviet Union on a path that ultimately led to its disintegration.

As Soviet forces pushed the Nazis back and succeeded in breaking the Nazi invasion, Stalin began implementing other plans. Soviet forces pushing the Germans back through Poland and into German were also holding ground in Poland, Hungary Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. After Germany finally capitulated, the Soviet Union held onto its newest, hard-won possessions and began setting up puppet governments, turning Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria into Soviet satellite states.

He also took the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and “accepted” them as part of the Soviet Union. Stalin had created a large, powerful empire but in his arrogance, he didn’t realize that it was a very shaky relationship which he had forced all of these people in.

The Polish, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Belorussians and Ukrainians all had centuries of animosity and unresolved differences among them. Each one looked upon one or two or all others with wary eyes. Many Hungarians were somewhat resentful toward Romania over the lost of Transylvania. Many Poles remained distrustful toward Hungary, the Belorussians and Ukrainians. Even in Czechoslovakia, the marriage between the Czechs and the Slovaks was pretty rocky and they both look upon their Polish and Hungarian neighbors with mistrust.

All of these peoples had fought numerous wars with one another over the last three or four hundred years.

As if those numerous sets of rivalries weren’t enough, Stalin also made East Germany a puppet and brought it into the Soviet Bloc, seemingly forgetting that all of the members still viewed Germany with deep scorn over World War II. In fact, immediately after the war, Czechoslovakia evicted all ethnic Germans from its territory.

In his drive for greatness for himself and for the spread of communism, this was the house that Josef Stalin created. It was a house standing on the stilts distrust and dissent. He created an empire of forced marriages because of his greed. Subjugating the Soviet people under his harsh rule was not enough. He needed more people in his house of terror.

Without a doubt, Stalin felt that with the Soviet Union’s military power, which by this time was rivaled only by that of the United States, he could keep all of countries in line by force. But force is never enough to hold together a house boiling with great distrust and eventually, the house would become weak at its foundation and fall apart. One partner is certain to want out of this forced marriage. It’s only a miracle that it took nearly 40 years after Stalin’s death. Perhaps, the peoples that he forcefully united wanted to first make sure that he really was dead before making their move.

ActionSammy,

(Feel free to comment, question or criticize me at actionsammy@yahoo.com. And be sure to look for my upcoming first book, First Degree Lust, an action/romance/mystery/thriller, in Spring 2010.)