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The USSR and Total War: Why Didn't the Soviet Economy Collapse in 1942?

In: THE ECONOMICS OF COERCION AND CONFLICT

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  • Mark Harrison

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to reconsider the importance of economic factors in the outcome of World War II and especially on the eastern front. In a recent essay on the war (Harrison, 1998: 2), I asserted that “Ultimately, economics determined the outcome.” Production was decisive: the Allies outgunned the Axis because they out-produced them. Economic factors carried more weight in the Allied victory than military or political factors. For example, the Allies did not make better soldiers or provide better weapons. Nor were they better led. It is true that some of the Allies were more democratic, but being a democracy did not save the Czechs, Poles, or French, and being a dictatorship did not defeat the Soviets. The Allies won the war because their economies supported a greater volume of war production and military personnel in larger numbers. The Allied preponderance in this dimension appears so decisive that, once one has grasped it, it seems hardly necessary to pay attention to anything else…

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Harrison, 2014. "The USSR and Total War: Why Didn't the Soviet Economy Collapse in 1942?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: THE ECONOMICS OF COERCION AND CONFLICT, chapter 4, pages 99-120, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:wschap:9789814583343_0004
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Seventy Years Ago: The Week the Tide Began to Turn by Mark Harrison
      by Mark Harrison in Mark Harrison's blog on 2012-05-28 18:00:17

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