Enemy at the Gates, is a war movie that takes place during the Battle of Stalingrad in Russia in WWII. The main plot is about two extremely talented snipers, who are out to kill one another. Vasily joins the war as an average foot soldier, however his talents are soon recognized and he becomes a war hero. As his list of killed German generals gets longer, Germany sends out Erwin Konig, a German major, to kill Vasily. This battle of patience and skill lasts for a long time and results in the victory of Vasily. Vasily was a light of hope for Russia, when they were in desperate need of it. I really enjoyed watching this movie. I thought it showed the true brutality and violence of the war. I found it pretty amazing how one person could inspire an entire country.
"Describe the difference between the Feb./March Revolution and the Oct./Nov. Revolutions? Why was the latter successful?"
In 1917, Russia underwent two, very short revolutions. The first took place in February/March. It began with riots and strikes in Petrograd. Tsar was abdicated from power, and the aim was to replace him with a Provisional Government. This lasted for a short amount of time. The government was first led by Prince Lvov, and he was soon replaced by Alex Kerensky. The October/November revolution took place because a party called the Bolsheviks attempted to implement Karl Marx's ideals of communism in Russia. This revolution was the only successful one out of the two because after the events that had taken place in Russia, such as the riots in Petrograd, it was obvious that the people would come together under the ideals of communism and it would create a much needed form of leadership in this country. One of the other reasons why the first revolution failed was because of the continued involvement in the First World War.
"Describe the challenges Lenin faced immediately after the Russia Civil War and the power struggle that existed after Lenin's death. In your opinion, did Stalin modernize Russia?"
Lenin faced many challenges after the Russian Civil War. In the summer of 1918, war communism was brought in. However, this brought many economic challenges, and by 1921 it was realized by Lenin that war communism was not going to work. So he brought in the New Economic Policy. This allowed for a small amount of capitalism to be brought in, and altered some of the War Communism rules. Some industries were recovered by the New Economic Policy. However, when Lenin died in 1924, Stalin and Trotsky fought for the leadership position. This power struggle was known as the "Guns or Butter" debate. Due to the fact that Stalin had a political advantage over Trotsky, he was victorious. Stalin could appoint his electoral council, and he had control over all propaganda in the nation. In my opinion, I think Stalin was unsuccessful in modernizing Russia. He implemented the quota system, and many of his demands were much too harsh. This resulted in people taking short cuts or "cheating" in order to meet the quota. This set them back in their ability as a country to progress in their technology, and therefore being less modernized than the rest of the world.