Balance between neutered citizens and overly violent citizens...?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

USSR got bombed too. Wasn't part of the Marshall plan, but managed to rebuild just fine.

The growth of the Soviet Union's economic and military power was amazing, but they were crippled by WW2/Stalin. Estimates place the Soviet Union at 162M persons in 1937. The committee census report did not meet with Stalin's approval -- he had promised the Party Congress 168M -- so the committee was gulaged.

Post Stalin, in the 1950s, their population was barely 208M despite acquiring Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, most of Karelia, part of Eastern Poland, and part of Romania and adding all of those populations to the total. The Soviet pre-war population was, LITERALLY, decimated. Actually, the number was worse with 1 in every 8 pre-war Russians dead.

Population in what is today Russia was estimated at about 110M in 1940, today that number is about 143M. By contrast, France has just under 66M persons today, having had roughly 42M in 1940.

They did rebuild, yes, but is was always more of a Potemkin village thing then they ever let on.