ABSTRACT
Between 1928 and the German invasion of 1941 the Soviet Union underwent a spectacular transformation. The industrialization achieved during the period of the First, Second, and (truncated) Third Five-Year Plans (1928-32, 1933-37, 1938-41) was truly revolutionary in scope. The emphasis throughout was upon heavy industry, upon engineering and metallurgical works, together with the fuel and transport connections on which they depended. In established industrial centres such as the Moscow and Leningrad regions, old factories were modernized and expanded and entirely new industries brought into being. In the south and east whole industrial complexes, towns, and major cities were thrown up. Most striking was the combine centred on Magnitogorsk in the southern Urals and Stalinsk in the Kuznets basin. Massive new coal-mines and steelworks were opened, quadrupling total output in these key sectors during the period. Electricity generation increased ten times with the help of a number of gigantic dams, including the huge construction on the Dnieper. The existing railway network was broadened and extensive new lines laid down, while several vast canals, notably that linking the Volga and the White Sea, were dug. The infrastructure for the exploitation of Russia's resources was expanded out of all recognition.
