STALINKA

[Benjamin Rifkin]

Dear All:

A better leader wouldn't have decimated the leadership of the coutnry's military 
in a time when all the world could see war was certainly possible if not likely.

A better leader wouldn't have brutalized his own population to the point that 
some of them would have welcomed an invader as a liberator.

A better leader wouldn't have promoted policies leading to famine for many of 
his own people, so they would have had more strength to fight an invader.

A better leader wouldn't have trusted Hitler and would have recognized signs of 
impending invasion.  A better leader would have trusted his own military when it 
informed him that the Germans had actually invaded.  (Stalin refused to believe 
it.)

A better leader would have addressed his nation immediately, rather than 
waiting 3 days to rally the people.  In those 3 days, the Nazi Army made 
enormous advances into Soviet territory.

It is, therefore, possible to view the Soviet victory, historically, as one that 
happened despite Stalin's leadersihp, rather than because of it.  Certainly key in 
Hitler's defeat on the Soviet front were his failure to seize the oil fields and his 
inability to recognize the limitless potential of the Soviet Union in terms of 
population and natural resources.  By the end of 1942, the USSR was 
outproducing Nazi Germany in munitions.  The defeat of the Germans at 
Stalingrad was much more of a crippling blow to the Nazi Army than the 
enormous losses the Soviets had taken at the same battle because there were 
many more soldiers and recruits in the Soviet population.  (By the end of the 
wear, Berlin was defended by 12-14 year old boys and girls and 60 year old 
men.)

As to the number of fanatical murderers, alas, history has shown there are 
plenty to be found.  I'd like to think they were in deficit, so to speak.

With best regards to all,

Ben Rifkin


>
>It's anyone's guess whether a more charismatic, less brutal leader 
>might've defeated Hitler sooner or at less cost. It was certainly a 
>monumental task. It's also worth considering whether Hitler's defeat was 
>foreordained by geography and his own faults -- he was stretched pretty 
>thin by the time he got to Khimki, and it's hard to maintain control of 
>such a vast area through repression and brutality. There just aren't 
>enough fanatical murderers to go around.
>
Benjamin Rifkin
Vice Dean for Undergraduate Affairs
College of Liberal Arts - Temple University
1206 Anderson Hall, 1114 W. Berks St.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Voice 1-215-204-1816
Fax 1-215-204-3731
benjamin.rifkin at temple.edu
www.temple.edu/cla
www.temple.edu/fgis/rifkin

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