Ovidijus Gelzinis

Stalin's Hardest Days - 1941 Ovidijus Gelzinis

Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from the late 1920's until his death in 1953. During his time as a leader, he faced many challenges, however for him, the hardest challenge came on June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union with the largest invading force in history with around 3,000,000 men. The war would last until 1945 and would result in a Soviet victory and the destruction of Nazi Germany. All the years of the war would be very hard for Stalin, however none of them were so hard as the first half year of the war in 1941, which would become the hardest period he had to face in the nearly 30 years of his rule, because never would the Soviet Union come so close to collapse as in that half-year period of the war in 1941 until it collapsed in 1991.