30. Dictator Makes Mistake after Mistake, Setting the Stage for Disaster
In 1941, the USSR was caught off guard when the Nazis attacked it. Unprepared, the Soviets reeled from the onslaught, as the advancing Germans rampaged through their country. Soviet losses were horrendous, with deaths in the tens of millions, many more wounded, and incalculable destruction and human suffering. The disaster was caused by a series of mistakes, for which Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was chiefly responsible.
The seeds of catastrophe were planted years earlier, during Stalin’s Military Purge, starting in 1937. That purge threw the Soviet military into turmoil by removing its most experienced commanders: 13 of 15 army commanders, 8 of 9 admirals, 50 of 57 corps commanders, all 16 army commissars, and 25 of 28 army corps commissars. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
