Allready in 1937, after the Second Five-Year Plan, the USSR had the second largest industry in the world, second only to the United States (according to Vitaly Lelchuk's "Industrialisation").
Why didn't China become Japan's Soviet Union?
- Thread starter Mitchell Hundred
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Allready in 1937, after the Second Five-Year Plan, the USSR had the second largest industry in the world, second only to the United States (according to Vitaly Lelchuk's "Industrialisation").
It was third. It was behind Germany, but by a tiny margin, and was catching up rapidly. (Course German industry, especially military industry was so gosh darned innefficient that the USSR was effectively ahead.)
Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.
In 1937 the top 5 were:
The US was at 41%
Germany at 14.4%
USSR at 14.0%
UK at 10.2%
France at 4.2%
I imagine the USSR would look like China in a scenario where the Germans sort of won Barbarossa, i.e Germans take Moscow 1941, Leningrad falls over the Winter, etc.. Germans take Grozny in 1942. Even if Russia was hobbled it would still hold down huge German forces, enough for them to lose against the Allies.
Thanks for correcting me. When Lelchuk said "After the second five year plan" he probably reffered to the whole timespan between 1937 and 1941. And I think we can both agree that, at least after 1940, the USSR had a larger industry than the Third Reich.
The soviet Union became the 2nd world industrial power by 1937
During the german invasion the soviets replaced their losses not only in infantry, but on mechanized troops and airplanes, to the point that one of the (many) reasons why germany lost the battle of Kursk was because at that time the soviet airforce had fully replaced their airplanes and could keep the luftwaffe busy
China on another hand couldn't keep up with the japanese armor or airplanes
Big consideration: the USSR's industrial economy was either larger than that of Nazi Germany or at least similar in size. China's industrial economy was smaller than Japan's, especially after the loss of Manchuria (which was China's most industrialized region by an almost comical margin) in 1932.*
And then there's the matter of where that industry was located. While the USSR did lose some important industrial centres in 1941, many of it's most important centres were already deep within the interior, and the German advance wasn't fast enough to prevent the relocation of many factories to areas firmly out of their reach. China's industrial centres were, with a few notable exceptions, clustered in the north or along the coast, meaning they were quickly overran once the war got underway, there were some efforts to relocate vital industries (most notably the successful relocation of the Hanyang Arsenal in 1938) but in general the balance between saved and lost was very bleak.
*this also meant that Manchuria's industrial potential was put towards the Japanese war effort, further widening the gap
And then there's the matter of where that industry was located. While the USSR did lose some important industrial centres in 1941, many of it's most important centres were already deep within the interior, and the German advance wasn't fast enough to prevent the relocation of many factories to areas firmly out of their reach. China's industrial centres were, with a few notable exceptions, clustered in the north or along the coast, meaning they were quickly overran once the war got underway, there were some efforts to relocate vital industries (most notably the successful relocation of the Hanyang Arsenal in 1938) but in general the balance between saved and lost was very bleak.
*this also meant that Manchuria's industrial potential was put towards the Japanese war effort, further widening the gap
Aren't those %s for "war making potential" or something like that? So not just industrial output?
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