army abolished? Umm no. In fact Lenin started his own secret police, the Cheka, and built up his army to nearly five million men. (Encarta) Lenin was also sure to exile Kerensky out of Russia to end any threat of a loss of power.(Trotsky 78)Shortly after Lenins death in 1941, Joseph Stalin became leader. He quickly transformed the Soviet Union into a complete Totalitarian state. Soon after, he began the Great Purge, which was the campaign of removing all opposition to the communist rule, millions of Russians were murdered. This left Stalin with a generation of officials loyal to him alone. However, the country was more vulnerable because of the reduction of the high ranking military officials that were capable of running the armies. (Pipes 78)Which brings us to another factor that led to the demise of Russia, the Cold War. A major cause of the cold war was the fact that Stalin never trusted American intentions. (Bolshevik and workers) His aggression and attitude pertaining to Soviet influences on Europe made the post war perspective a face-off. He was seen as a cruel dictator and nobody wanted to deal with him , so there were many misunderstandings between the two sides. (Figes 22) The Cold War, seen as a battle between Communism and Capitalism, was in reality a more complex struggle over a broad range of ideological, economical, and strategic issues. The Russians were jealous of the Americans for many reasons with the ideals of having personal freedom and opportunity as the driving forces throughout the Cold War. (32)To add to the increasing tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets in 1947 President Harry Truman signed a bill that authorized U.S. aid to anti-communist forces. This bill became known as the Truman Doctrine. This angered the Soviets. Further angering the Soviets, the U.S. entered a peacetime military alliance called NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This did not help with the Cold War either, it just ...
