Julian's latest activity

Regarding the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, one under-discussed consequence is the USSR's state of quasi-mobilization on the economy...

The struggle to balance between investment in heavy industry and light industry/infrastructure/agriculture is, I would say, the most...

Zhdanov was in Leningrad until his return to Moscow in November '45. I think his ability to operate independently of Stalin was limited...

What does non-Stalinist reconstruction look like? Removing the foundation of Stalin’s system - mass labor coercion - means that the...

I don't think that was ever on the agenda. The senior leaders of the Red Army were communists, if not necessarily Stalinists, and owed...

Avoiding the Kirov assassination and Terror in the Party also opens the door to a much larger membership base. An understated aspect of...

Funny enough, I ran into a couple examples recently of rifle units botching their deployment from march columns in ‘44! You also had the...

As others already correctly noted, poor junior leadership is still an enormous issue for the Red Army. Even without the Terror this...

Instructions on how to command higher HQs (Corps, Armies, Fronts, etc.) and service manuals for HQ departments (Operations does this...

In terms of doctrine, the Terror paralyzed efforts to update manuals and other instructions until it was over (with aftershocks...

Zhukov commented in a 1944 memo that: A much deeper pool of high-ranking, educated officers would be very beneficial. The Terror was...

Another interesting facet of the postwar era is the rapid growth of the Party just as ideological standards/education were significantly...

I imagine Molotov will be Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, as he was up until May ‘41. Malenkov could do the job, but...

Re-upping with some additional thoughts. In 1947-48 you had a string of electoral revolts by the Party aktiv against regional first...

Hagenloh does a good job connecting wider trends in Soviet policing to the launch of the mass operations in Summer '37: Stalin's...