Joseph Stalin

=== 1942–1945: Soviet counter-attack ===
[[File:Teheran conference-1943.jpg|thumb|225px|The Big Three: Stalin, U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] at the [[Tehran Conference]], November 1943]]

By November 1942, the Soviets had begun to repulse the important German strategic southern campaign and, although there were 2.5&nbsp;million Soviet casualties in that effort, it permitted the Soviets to take the offensive for most of the rest of the war on the Eastern Front.{{sfn|Roberts|2006|p=155}} Germany [[Battle of Kursk|attempted an encirclement attack at Kursk]], which was successfully repulsed by the Soviets.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=255|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2p=156|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=227}} By the end of 1943, the Soviets occupied half of the territory taken by the Germans from 1941 to 1942.{{sfn|Roberts|2006|p=159}} Soviet military industrial output also had increased substantially from late 1941 to early 1943 after Stalin had moved factories well to the east of the front, safe from German invasion and aerial assault.{{sfn|Roberts|2006|p=163}}

In Allied countries, Stalin was increasingly depicted in a positive light over the course of the war.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=452}} In 1941, the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]] performed a concert to celebrate his birthday,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=466}} and in 1942, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine named him "[[Time Person of the Year|Man of the Year]]".{{sfn|Service|2004|p=452}} When Stalin learned that people in Western countries affectionately called him "Uncle Joe" he was initially offended, regarding it as undignified.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=317|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=466}} There remained mutual suspicions between Stalin, British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]], and U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who were together known as the "Big Three".{{sfn|Service|2004|p=458}} Churchill flew to Moscow to visit Stalin in August 1942 and again in October 1944.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=252|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=460|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|2pp=224, 244}} Stalin scarcely left Moscow throughout the war,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=456}} with Roosevelt and Churchill frustrated with his reluctance to travel to meet them.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=460}}

In November 1943, Stalin met with Churchill and Roosevelt [[Tehran Conference|in Tehran]], a location of Stalin's choosing.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=262|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=460|3a1=Roberts|3y=2006|3p=180|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=229–230}} There, Stalin and Roosevelt got on well, with both desiring the post-war dismantling of the [[British Empire]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=462}} At Tehran, the trio agreed that to prevent Germany rising to military prowess yet again, the German state should be broken up.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=463}} Roosevelt and Churchill also agreed to Stalin's demand that the German city of [[Königsberg]] be declared Soviet territory.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=463}} Stalin was impatient for the UK and U.S. to open up a [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]] to take the pressure off of the East; they eventually did so in mid-1944.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1pp=244, 251|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=461, 469|3a1=Roberts|3y=2006|3p=185|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=223, 229}} Stalin insisted that, after the war, the Soviet Union should incorporate the portions of Poland it occupied pursuant to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, which Churchill opposed.{{sfn|Roberts|2006|pp=186–187}} Discussing the fate of the Balkans, later in 1944 Churchill agreed to Stalin's suggestion that after the war, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Yugoslavia would come under the Soviet sphere of influence while Greece would come under that of the West.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=464–465|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=244}}

[[File:Soviet soldiers in Polozk (Belarus), passing by propaganda poster celebrating the reconquest of the city and urging the liberation of the Baltic from Nazi German occupation. July 4, 1944.jpg|thumb|left|Soviet soldiers in [[Polotsk]], 4 July 1944]]

In 1944, the Soviet Union made significant advances across Eastern Europe toward Germany,{{sfn|Roberts|2006|pp=194–195}} including [[Operation Bagration]], a massive offensive in the [[Byelorussian SSR]] against the German Army Group Centre.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=469|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2pp=199–201}} In 1944, the German armies were pushed out of the Baltic states (with the exception of the [[Ostland]]), which were then re-annexed into the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=492}} As the Red Army reconquered the Caucasus and Crimea, various ethnic groups living in the region—the [[Kalmyks]], [[Chechens]], [[Ingush people|Ingushi]], [[Karachai]], [[Balkars]], and [[Crimean Tatars]]—were accused of having collaborated with the Germans. Using the idea of [[collective responsibility]] as a basis, Stalin's government abolished their autonomous republics and between late 1943 and 1944 deported the majority of their populations to Central Asia and Siberia.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=258|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=492|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3pp=232–233}} Over one million people were deported as a result of the policy.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=233}}

In February 1945, the three leaders met at the [[Yalta Conference]].{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=264|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=465|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=244}} Roosevelt and Churchill conceded to Stalin's demand that Germany pay the Soviet Union 20&nbsp;billion dollars in reparations, and that his country be permitted to annex [[Sakhalin]] and the [[Kuril Islands]] in exchange for entering the war against Japan.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=465–466}} An agreement was also made that a post-war Polish government should be a coalition consisting of both communist and conservative elements.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=465–466|2a1=Roberts|2y=2006|2pp=241–244}} Privately, Stalin sought to ensure that Poland would come fully under Soviet influence.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=471|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=245}} The Red Army withheld assistance to Polish resistance fighters battling the Germans in the [[Warsaw Uprising]], with Stalin believing that any victorious Polish militants could interfere with his aspirations to dominate Poland through a future Marxist government.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=471–472|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=244}} Although concealing his desires from the other Allied leaders, Stalin placed great emphasis on capturing Berlin first, believing that this would enable him to bring more of Europe under long-term Soviet control. Churchill was concerned that this was the case and unsuccessfully tried to convince the U.S. that the Western Allies should pursue the same goal.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=473}}