Soviet tractor industry as a production base for the development of tank industry: plans and reality (1920-1945)

Melnikov N. N.

The Soviet civil and military leadership at the start of industrialization jump of the first five-year plans considered tractor industry as the main production base for the development of tank industry. Many researchers evaluates the work of Albert Kahn, whose firm designed all three Soviet tractor plants (Stalingrad, Kharkov, and Chelyabinsk), as one of the main success factors in creating the Soviet tank industry. However, during the 1930s, all attempts to establish mass production of armored vehicles at tractor factories regularly failed, and the outbreak of the Great Patriotic war actually led to the temporary loss of Soviet tractor industry. Consequently, tractor plants could not become the real basis of the Soviet tank industry.

Keywords:Stalinism, Albert Kahn, tractor plants, tank industry, industrialization, war.