Why Was It Unlikely That the Soviet Union Was Going

question 63

Multiple Choice

Why was it unlikely that the Soviet Union was going to embark on a new military campaign in the years following World War II?

• A) The communist nation had suffered more than 20 million casualties, along with immense devastation.
• B) Stalin was eager to demonstrate to eastern Europeans the pacifist credentials of his communist regime.
• C) The Soviet Union had made enormous territorial gains during the war and had every interest in securing them first.
• D) Stalin was shocked and appalled by the American use of the nuclear bomb in Japan and vowed to his people never to sink to that level.
• E) The Soviet politburo had replaced the warmongering Josef Stalin with the decidedly pacifist Nikola Khrushchev.