HW 2

1.) Hitler's blitzkrieg managed to destroy the better part of the Soviet air force within the first 5 days.
2.) The great Purge was a mass rounding up and execution of high ranking Soviet military leaders, under the guise of them being "foreign agents".
3.) More officers and commanders were lost during the Great Purge than during 4 years of Nazi fighting.
4.) Stalin needed complete control over the Soviet Union and the Great Purge served as a way to get the Soviet people's attention away from the incoming Nazi troops
5+6.) Stalin was convinced that Britain was encouraging Hitler to attack the Soviet Union, so Stalin sought anything to make a peace treaty with Hitler, allowing Germany to move West, biding the USSR more time to mobilize troops.
7.) Stalin agreed to split Poland with Hitler, taking the Eastern half, while Hitler got the Western part.
8.) Stalin suffered from a nervous breakdown when Hitler attacked because he was so caught off guard.
9.) Hitler greatly under estimated the Russian winter and did not supply his troops correctly
10.) Stalin and all of the USSR was victorious merely because of the vast size of the Russian territory.