: Over 120 million peasants were forced into state-controlled collective farms. This triggered a catastrophic famine (1931–1933) that killed millions, particularly in Ukraine and Kazakhstan . Kotkin argues that while Stalin caused the famine, his goal was not ethnic extermination but the absolute control of resources.
: Stalin built over 9,000 industrial enterprises, transforming the USSR into a modern war machine. By the late 1930s, the Red Army was the best-armed force in the world, with tens of thousands of tanks and planes. The Great Terror (1936–1938) Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941
: Nearly a million people were executed, including the top military brass and cultural elite. : Over 120 million peasants were forced into