time the government took more of a direct control over everything from budgetary discipline to reorganization of the state- supervised collective-farm markets. In just a very short time, the Soviet Union had managed to pass nations that had been markedly ahead of them in terms of industrialization. The third Five Year Plan was that of complete military armament. The military budget was vastly increased and training of men was also increased greatly. Through Stalin's direction the Soviet Union went from a backwards country to a first rate industrial and military power. This would not have been possible without the concentrated power that Stalin had amassed.Although industrialization had occurred much still remained to be done in the defense sector. With all the turmoil in Europe and the thunder heads of war gathering Stalin turned his attention towards modernizing the Red Army. Stalin ordered one of the largest military build ups and defensive programs that the world had ever seen. During the 1930s, Stalin ordered a 1,200-kilometer-long line of strong heavy fortifications extending the entire distance between the Baltic and the Black seas. Under the third Five Year Plan, massive amounts of money and resources were pumped into the defense industry. Stalin still believed that war with Germany and Japan was possible. Preparations were made by creating a modern defense industry, military aviation, an up-to-date navy, civil-defense training for the whole population, and so on. During the two year period before the War with Germany the Soviet defense expenditure, wich had been 25 percent of the total budget in 1939, rose in 1941 to 43 percent of the state budget. Prior to this time the Soviets were getting away from the individual militias ans starting to concentrate on creating a standing army. The number of Soviet soldiers grew from 1.9 million in 1939 to 5.4 million by June 22, 1941, but most of their equipment was not new. The Soviet war i...
