A New Superpower

Following the end of the second world war, two superpowers emerged in the form of the USA and the USSR as previous world powers had been hit economically by the war. In 1945, as a one-party state with no threat to the Communist rule as a result of Stalins purges there was no one in a position to challenge Stalin and with the USSr and Communism both being strengthened by victory combined with her control over much of Eastern Europe, more and more countries became communist.

However, the war had cost the USSR 25 million lives, 70000 villages, 1700 towns and left a further 25 million homeless. Thousands of factories and mines were demolished and a large proportion of the USSRs wealth had been spent on the war.

The Soviet people made a huge effort to repair this damage, and Stalin initiated his fourth five year plan to restore the economic production. From 1946-50, the plan enabled Russia's economy to grow bigger than it's level in 1940 with production in heavy industry…