The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union and World Communism

Abstract

The devastation caused by World War II on Eastern Europe, the USSR, and China, among other nations, created the conditions of social dislocation that made possible the imposition, or autonomous coming to power, of communist regimes in eight countries of Eastern Europe. Tens of millions of deaths during the war, followed by millions of dislocated people and mass population transfers, created the conditions of social disintegration that preceded communist rule.