At 1:10 a.m. on May 9, 1945, civilians of the USSR heard a radio report that Germany had just surrendered to Soviet Russia. Instead of waiting until the morning to celebrate, everyone took to the streets still in their nightwear. They celebrated throughout the night. 22 hours later, Joseph Stalin addressed the nation; the Soviets had defeated the Germans. However, they now faced a new crisis: the entire country had run out of vodka! One reporter stated, “I was lucky to buy a liter of vodka at the train station when I arrived, because it was impossible to buy any later. There was no vodka in Moscow on May 10; we drank it all.”
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