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The Home Front – USA/USSR. Lesson starter: What were the main differences between the USA and USSR ?. Today we will…. Understand the key differences between the US and USSR. After WWII, the USSR had been destroyed by Nazi invasion - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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The Home Front – USA/USSR
Lesson starter:What were the main differences between the USA and USSR?
Today we will…
• Understand the key differences between the US and USSR
• After WWII, the USSR had been destroyed by Nazi invasion
• USA lost soldiers but their mainland was largely untouched
• Today we will look at the problems that each of the superpowers had at home
USA• Protests and strikes in car, steel and
manufacturing industries – workers wanted higher wages
• Inflation – prices rising quickly (12 eggs were 33cents in 1940, 72 cents in 1948)
• Unemployment – especially returning soldiers (black soldiers in particular)
• Racial discrimination widespread – protests etc
• Women unhappy – had worked during war years and now were expected to go back to being housewives
Detroit 1940s
USSR• 20 million Russian citizens dead after
WW2 (10% of population)• 2,000 cities and towns destroyed• Farms, factories, villages wrecked• Huge unemployment, homelessness and
starvation• Ruled by dictator Stalin (who was very old)• Opponents of Stalin ‘disappeared’• Secret Police - KGB• Ordinary people forbidden to travel
outside USSR or make contact with anyone outside
BUT….compared to other nations they were in a better
position• Huge amounts of land• Huge populations &
workers• Valuable resources –
water, timber, petrol, iron, coal
• Invested in education –free in USSR, grants given to war veterans in USA
• Both rebuilt their economies (although very differently)
• Both built up huge armies and navies• This was expensive but created jobs –
allowing economy to grow• Each nation developed their own
ideology• CAPITALISM/COMMUNISM• They both used propaganda to ‘prove’
to their people that their way was the best
What did they have in common?
Task• Make a poster with one of the
following titles• ‘The American Way of Life’• ‘Life in the Soviet Union’
Tasks1. Which superpower had the most
problems after WW2? Give reasons for your answer
4 marks
1. What did the USA and USSR have in common after the end of WW2? Give reasons for your answer
4 marks