Question by Judi R: How did the Soviet Union become a superpower after WWII?
How did the Soviet Union manage to become so powerful after WWII? They suffered a tremendous amount of casualities and destruction.
Also, how did they manage to install Communist governments in Hungary, Romania, etc?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Spreedog
The Russians had moved their factories east of the Ural mountains to keep them away from German destruction, so they still had many tanks and artillery plus plenty of men at the end of the war. The Russian capacity for hard work and sacrifice was truly amazing.
They had a huge army in eastern Europe that the Allies – Americans and British and to a small extent French – were not about to challenge in 1945. Hungary and Romania were snapped up without challenge after Germany was beaten.
Also Czechoslovakia and Poland. If these countries tried to resist. Russian tanks rolled through their streets. Who was going to stop them?
Capturing German scientists gave he USSR technical gains that led to their space program. Espionage gave them our (USA) nuclear secrets, so they soon had an atomic bomb of their own. Nuclear weapons, rocket technology, and a huge land army with tanks made the USSR a super power. Nuclear submarines added to this later.
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Ross says
Another point to add: In a sort of anti-Marshall plan the USSR forced East Germany to pay war reparations. The nations of eastern Europe were also systematically looted in the immediate post war. This helped the Soviet Union to rebuild economically and recover from wartime devastation.
Mattttttttt says
very impressive naval fleet, thought to be the best in the world if memory serves correct.