ABSTRACT
Soviet military theorists of the 1920s stressed that future war would be long and drawn out and would test the economic and political foundations of the countries involved. Soviet military analysts made a careful study of World War I; in particular, they examined the reasons for the “positional warfare” that dominated the conflict. The military elements of the Soviet five-year economic plans were designed to provide the means necessary to make the new doctrine effective. Soviet military tacticians thus had the opportunity to experiment with tanks in actual combat conditions and to determine whether their new concepts were valid. Throughout the war and in the immediate postwar years, Soviet military-theoretical writings as a whole exaggerated the role and significance of Stalin’s leadership and his pronouncements in the sphere of military affairs. According to Soviet writings after the event, a revolution in military affairs took place in the Soviet Armed Forces between 1953 and 1960.
