At the end of WW1, Russia had lost 34% of its population, 32% of its arable land, 54% of their industrial capacity, and 86% of their petroleum production capacity, all from the lost vassals, tributaries, and puppet states such as Azerbaijan, xx, xx, xx. This was the first loss of territory for the Russian empire in over 400 years. Imagine the difficulty of accepting this new reality. Denial and anger must have lasted for a decade. such death, destruction, and anger.
Under Lenin, the Soviet Union became the first country to adopt an administrated planned economy, whereby all production and distribution of goods were directed by a centralized government. The Bolsheviks (or majority) pursue nationalization of industry, centralized distribution, while eliminating the circulation of money, as well as private enterprises and free trade. As it had aggravated a severe economic collapse caused by the war, in 1921, Lenin replaced War Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP), legalizing free trade and private ownership of smaller businesses. The economy recovered fairly quickly.
In 1941 Lenin announces an new economic policy to restore the nation’s pride and well being. Yet poor harvests leave more than 30 million people near starvation. Through a series of summits and conferences with the US and Britain, they moved forward with what became a century of colonial conquest of oil wealthy middle east. Beginning with Iran, the US, Russia, and Britain, force out the nationalist Reza Shah, who had become cozy with nazi Germany, and replace him with his son Mohammad Reza Shah, who becomes a puppet, allowing the three foreign powers to extract petroleum to support their military expansion, ostensibly done to counter the Germans.
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