ABSTRACT
During the lifetime of the Kremlin leaders, the Soviet Union has achieved the unique position of a military superpower of neither economic nor technological superpower status. The gross national product of the USSR is approximately one-half that of the United States. It seeks food and credits from nations it considers to be class enemies. Civilian industrial technology is so backward that few Soviet non-military products can be sold abroad. Since the formation of the Soviet state, military matters have been a primary concern of the leaders of the Communist Party. The Party achieved its position through military force. Most of its leaders have had military experience. They take seriously the study and theory of war. In the 1920s and early 1930s most Soviet strategists were veterans of both World War I and the Civil War. The first was a war of attrition with stabilized front lines. The defense blocked the offense, primarily because of the newly developed machine gun.
