Beginning of world war 2. General history

WWII is the largest historical event of the 20th century. continued long time, covered almost all continents and oceans, 61 states participated.

The reasons:

WWII arose as a result of the uneven decision of the countries, because of which sharp contradictions arose between them, and opposing coalitions are formed. The states of the "axis countries" were dissatisfied with the existence of the Versailles-Washington system as a world order, hence the desire to redistribute the world, seize colonies, and expand the sphere of influence. On the other hand, the Versailles-Washington order was not an effective way to protect against such aspirations and practically did not work by the beginning of the 1930s (which was proved by Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, Germany's buildup of armaments and its entry into the territory of the Rhine demilit. zone: the League did not accept sanctions and created a precedent of impunity for the aggressor). An attempt to create a system of collective. security failed (England and France pursued their own goals - they pursued a political “appeasement of the aggressor”, in order to negotiate with Germany on the terms of mutual concessions and direct Germany to the East). Each country, therefore, pursued its own Goals and WWII was the result of the purposeful activity of a small group of aggressor states.

In foreign ISG a number of t.z on the causes of the war: F. Meynene ("German catastrophe") - the cause of the war - Hitler's personal ambitions. Ritter - was considered the aggressor of the USSR, and that Germany launched a preemptive strike; Lidel Gardt - war - a product of the results of WWI; Belov (professor of Oxford) believed that WWII was the result of the policy of the USSR, allegedly refused to meet the Western powers halfway.

Stages:

Stage 1. September 1, 1939 - June 22, 1941 (from the German attack on Poland to the start of the Second World War). Developments: attack on Poland, from 1940 - a "strange war" on the western front (France and England are at war with Germany, but do not conduct military operations in it), Germany's invasion of the Scandinavian countries; Captain Holland, Belgium. The encirclement of the Franco-English forces near the city of Dunkirk; the capture of France and its division into 2 parts. England fought in North Africa p / in Italy. June 22, 1941 - attack on the USSR; creation of the Tripartite Pact; Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Stage 2: June 22, 1941 - November 1942 on the Moroccan coast, fighting in northern and eastern Africa. US entry into the war. On the eastern front: the Battle of Moscow, the advance of German troops on Stalingrad, the defense of the Caucasus. Stage 3: November 1942 - December 1943 (the period of a radical change). Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk meant the final transfer of the initiative into the hands of the Red Army on the Soviet-German front. The heaviest defeat of Japan at Midway Island; surrendered to German troops in Tunisia. Tehran Conference (it was decided to open the 2nd front). Stage 4: January 1944 - May 9, 1945 (landing of the allies in Normandy, liberation of France; successful military operations of the Americans in the Pacific Ocean; successful offensive operations of the USSR p / in Germany; Yalta Conference - (the final defeat of Germany is necessary). Stage 5: May 9, 1945 -September 2, 1945. (The final defeat of Germany and Japan. Potsdam Conference - German. Question).

Results:

1. WWII brought about a change in growth. forces in the world. 2 superpowers appeared, the definition of separation. forces. 2. The collapse of the "axis" states; 3. Changing state borders, in particular in Europe; 4. Ideological split, the emergence and folding of the socialist camp; 5. Huge human casualties of WWII gave rise to quality. a new trend in the development of capitalism: the MMC is taking shape, the emergence of TNCs, which tied the capitalist world into a single mechanism; 6. Destruction colonial system and the emergence of new states british empire). Fash and right-winger. groups have left the political arena. The prestige of the communes is growing; a multi-party system is emerging.

Background of World War II

Main Events foreign policy 1930s were:

1933 - the establishment of the Nazi-militarist dictatorship of Hitler in Germany and the beginning of preparations for the Second World War.

1934 - admission of the USSR to League of Nations – international organization European countries, created after the First World War.

1938 - The Munich Agreement between the leading Western powers (England and France) and Hitler to stop his seizures in Europe in exchange for tacit consent to aggression against the USSR. The collapse of politics collective security→ policy of “appeasement of the aggressor”.

1939, August - non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact) with a secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe. The moral side of this treaty, which liberal, and especially Western, historians and politicians pay intense attention to, remains undoubtedly controversial, but it should be recognized that objectively The main culprit of the incident turned out to be the great powers of the West, who hoped to protect themselves from Hitler's aggression with the help of the Munich deal and direct it against the USSR, pitting two totalitarian regimes against each other - communist and Nazi. However, they severely deceived in their calculations.

September- the beginning of World War II (originally - Germany against England and France).

1939-1941 - German occupation or actual subjugation of almost the entire European continent, including the defeat and occupation of France in 1940.

1939-1940 - accession to the USSR, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Western Ukraine (the result of the division of Poland with Hitler), the re-annexation of the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) and Moldova (torn away from Romania). Aggression against Finland and the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations. At the same time - the beginning of the preparation of the USSR for " big war”, which was primarily expressed in an increase in the military budget by 3 times and the restoration of universal military duty, which was canceled earlier (in 1924).

Causes of World War II can be formulated as follows:

1. Germany's desire for revenge for the defeat in the First World War, which was facilitated by: a) the preservation of its economic potential; b) infringed national feelings of the Germans; c) the establishment of the militant fascist dictatorship of A. Hitler in 1933 Consequently "Great Depression" - the global economic crisis of 1929-1933, from which democratic governments failed to lead the country.

2. The attempts of the democratic countries - the winners of the First World War and guarantors formed after it Versailles system international relations - to push the other two camps together, turned around in the end against them .

Unlike the First World War, the outbreaks of the Second World War arose gradually, and this is more evidence that it could have been prevented. Let's trace the main stages of the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system international relations:

1931 - the occupation of Manchuria (Northeast China) by the militaristic-samurai imperial Japan.

1935 - Hitler restores the universal conscription in Germany and deployment mass army (Wehrmacht) in violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

1937 - the beginning of the Japanese aggression for the capture of all of China.

1938 - Hitler's annexation of Austria.

In the same year - Munich Agreement between England and France, on the one hand, and Hitler, on the other, giving Germany part of Czechoslovakia on condition not to make more seizures in Europe (about the USSR it is significant was silent).

1939 - Hitler's capture of all of Czechoslovakia contrary to the treaty.

In the same year, August - Molotov-Ribbentrop pact on non-aggression between Germany and the USSR with a secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe.

September Hitler's conquest of Poland start of World War II England and France against Germany.

The result was the bankruptcy of Western foreign policy. But even despite this, in the first period of the war, England and France actually did not conduct hostilities(so-called. "strange war"), hoping to still come to an agreement with Hitler and thereby giving him the opportunity to strengthen even more.

1939-1941 - Hitler's conquest of most of Europe (following Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland - Denmark and Norway, Belgium and Holland, in 1940 France, then Yugoslavia and Greece) and the creation of a fascist bloc of Germany, Italy and the countries that joined them - satellites (Hungary, Romania, Finland). Parallel (in 1939-1940) - the occupation by the Soviet Union of Western Ukraine, the Baltic states and Moldova.

The bloody war of the USSR against Finland in the winter of 1939/40 showed the comparative backwardness of Soviet military equipment and weakness military organization. After that, since 1939, the USSR began to seriously prepare for the “big war”: the military budget increased 3 times, universal military duty was restored, plans were drawn up preventive(preemptive) strike against Germany (kept in deep secrecy and declassified only after the collapse of the Soviet system, they refuted the popular version that Stalin "did not prepare" for war).

June 22, 1941 attack by Nazi Germany and its satellites on the Soviet Union (in violation of the non-aggression pact) began The Great Patriotic War, which became a defining component of the Second World War (no matter how they tried to belittle its significance for political reasons Western historians).

extraordinary governing bodies of the country during the war years become: economic(under the conditions of the transfer of the economy to the service of the front) - GKO(State Defense Committee), military –Bid Supreme High Command. I.V. Stalin (during the war became Marshal Soviet Union, and at the end of it - the generalissimo).

Hitler's war plan plan "Barbarossa"”) consisted in a simultaneous powerful strike to a continuous depth along the entire length of the front, in which the main role was played by dissecting tank wedges, with the aim of quickly encircling and defeating the main forces of the Soviet army already in border battles. This plan, brilliantly tested by the Germans in previous military campaigns against Western countries, was called "blitzkrieg" ( blitzkrieg). Upon achieving victory, it was planned to partially exterminate, partially enslave the Slavic peoples, according to Hitler's "racial theory" considered an "inferior race" (below them in the "racial pyramid" of the Nazi "ideologists" were only some peoples of Asia and Africa, as well as Jews and gypsies who were subject to complete annihilation).

The initial period of the war (summer-autumn 1941) was marked by the retreat Soviet troops along the entire front, a series of “cauldrons” and encirclements of the Soviet armies, the largest of which was the Kyiv “cauldron”, where the entire Southwestern Front was surrounded. During the first 3 months of the war, the Germans occupied all the western republics of the USSR and part of the interior territories of Russia, reaching Leningrad in the north, Moscow in the center, and the Don in the south (and in 1942, the Volga).

Causes The heavy defeats of the Red Army at the initial stage of the war were:

1) the suddenness of the German attack (Stalin hoped to the last to delay the war for at least another year);

2) the best organization and most advanced tactics of the German army;

3) combat experience worked out during the conquest of Europe;

4) almost double superiority of the Wehrmacht in terms of numbers and technology, Consequently the fact that, firstly, Germany began preparations for war earlier, and secondly, all conquered Europe worked for it;

5) the weakening of the Red Army by mass repressions of the late 30s (most liberal historians consider this reason to be decisive, but this opinion is refuted by the catastrophic defeat of the potentially powerful and repressive democratic France in 1940).

However, already in the autumn it became clear that the idea blitzkrieg fails (Hitler's previous military campaigns in the West lasted no more than a month and a half each). It was finally thwarted by two major events.

The first event was lasting from September 1941 to January 1943. Leningrad blockade, squeezed into the ring of the environment. Despite hundreds of thousands of victims of a terrible famine, the second capital withstood an incredible, unparalleled siege in history and was not surrendered to the enemy.

The main event that marked the collapse blitzkrieg, became Battle for Moscow, the main events of which unfolded from October to December 1941. Having bled the Nazi troops in fierce defensive battles (besides, the latter, like the Napoleonic soldiers in 1812, were not ready for the harsh Russian winter), Soviet army launched a counteroffensive and drove them back from Moscow. The battle for Moscow became first strategic defeat of the Germans during the entire Second World War.

During this most difficult period of the war, Stalin twice secretly offered peace to Hitler: during the battle for Moscow - on terms close to the Brest peace, and after the victory near Moscow - on the terms of pre-war borders. Both proposals were rejected, which was the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. Hitler repeated the mistake of Napoleon, deepening into Russia and not calculating either its vast expanses or human potential.

Despite the defeat near Moscow, the German army regrouped its forces and inflicted new major defeats on the Red Army in the spring and summer of 1942, the largest of which was the encirclement near Kharkov. After that, the Wehrmacht launched a new powerful offensive in the south and reached the Volga.

To raise discipline in the Soviet troops, the famous Stalinist order "Not a step back!" Was issued. NKVD detachments were introduced to the front, which were placed behind military units and which machine-gunned units retreating without orders.

played a pivotal role in the course of the war Battle of Stalingrad(July 1942 - February 1943) - the bloodiest battle of World War II. After a long fierce defense, the Soviet troops, pulling up reserves, launched a counteroffensive in November and surrounded the German army of Paulus, which, after fruitless attempts to break through the encirclement, freezing and starving, capitulated.

After that, the war finally acquired a global character, all the great powers of the planet were drawn into it. In January 1942 finally took shape anti-Hitler coalition led by the USSR, the USA and England (since France was defeated and for the most part occupied by the Germans). Under an agreement with the Allies lend-lease The USSR received military and food supplies from them (primarily from the USA).

However, they did not play the decisive role, but mobilization of the Soviet economy for the needs of the war. The country literally turned into a single military camp. Factories were transferred to the production of military products, the centralization of management and production discipline were sharply tightened, and the 8-hour working day was canceled during the war. In the militarization of the economy Stalin's regime proved to be unsurpassed: for the first six months war, in conditions of severe defeats and occupation of a third of the European part of the country, were evacuated to the east 1.5 thousand factories. And already in 1943, despite on the continued occupation of a significant part of the country and all of Europe by the Germans, the USSR reached advantage in the production of military equipment over Germany and caught up with it in quality, and surpassed it in certain types of weapons (suffice it to recall legendary tank T-34 and the first rocket launchers - "Katyusha"). At the same time, despite the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition, the Soviet Union continued to bear on its shoulders the brunt of the war with the main aggressor - Nazi Germany.

The war has become wars of extermination. Now the Soviet government contributed to the rise of patriotism. Under the influence of the collapse of the idea of ​​world revolution and the experience of Hitler, the turn begun by Stalin before the war was completed. in the national question from the traditional Marxist-Leninist cosmopolitanism to patriotism, up to the revival of imperial national traditions (shoulder straps in the army, the renaming of people's commissars into ministers in 1946, the cult of Russian historical heroes, etc.). Integral part this process was the cessation of the persecution of the church and usage her in patriotic work, while saving strict control over it (up to forcing priests to inform on parishioners, following the model of Peter's times).

During the Great Patriotic War, talented commanders came forward who learned how to defeat the best German army in the world: marshals G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky, I.S. Konev, A.M. Vasilevsky and others.

The turning point in the course of the war in favor of the Soviet Union, begun by the Battle of Stalingrad, ended Battle of Kursk(July-August 1943) - the largest battle in the history of wars in terms of the number of military equipment. After it, the Soviet army goes on the offensive along the entire front, the liberation of the territory of the USSR begins. Hitler's Wehrmacht finally loses the initiative and goes over to total defense.

Parallel starts collapse of the fascist bloc: one after the other in 1943–1945 Italy, Romania, Finland, Hungary withdraw from the war.

Of crucial importance for the peoples of Europe were three conferences of the heads of the great powers of the anti-Hitler coalition– Soviet Union, United States of America and Great Britain (England). The first of these was Tehran Conference(November-December 1943), the main participants of which were I.V. Stalin, US President F. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill. It agreed on the terms for the Allies to open a second front in Europe in exchange for Stalin's statement about the dissolution of the Comintern; formally, it really was dissolved, but actually Stalin retained control over all foreign communist parties and lost nothing.

In June 1944, the Allies finally opened second front in Europe: Anglo-American troops landed in France. Nonetheless, and after that The main theater of the Second World War was the Soviet-German front, on which 2/3 of the German armies continued to be. And even under this condition the Germans in the winter of 1944/45 dealt a crushing blow to the Americans in the Ardennes; only the Russian offensive in Poland in response to the panicked calls of the allies for help saved them from destruction.

Autumn 1944 the liberation of the territory of the USSR was completed, and also spring the same year, the liberation of Europe by Soviet troops from fascism began.

In February 1945 took place Yalta conference heads of the great allied powers (in the Crimea) with the same main actors– I.V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill. She made decisions about the post-war order of the world. The most important of them were: 1) the demilitarization (disarmament) and democratization of Germany; 2) the punishment of Nazi war criminals (the main of them were convicted in 1945-1946 by an international tribunal on Nuremberg Trials ), ban worldwide fascist organizations and fascist ideology; 3) the division of Germany after the war into 4 temporary zones of allied occupation (Soviet, American, British and French); 4) the entry of the USSR into the war against Japan 3 months after the victory over Germany; 5) creation United Nations (UN, created in pursuance of the decision of the conference in April 1945); 6) collection reparations from defeated Germany in compensation for the material damage inflicted by it on the winners.

In April-May 1945, there was storming of berlin Russian Soviet troops. Despite the fierce resistance of the German troops to the end, who fought on the orders of Hitler for every house, the capital of the Third Reich was finally taken on May 2. On the eve of Hitler, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, committed suicide.

On the night of May 9, 1945 in the suburbs of Berlin, Potsdam, Germany's unconditional surrender to the USSR and its allies was signed (Marshal Zhukov accepted it from the USSR). This date has become a national holiday of the Russian people - Victory Day. On June 24, a grandiose Victory Parade was held in Moscow, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, and Marshal Zhukov hosted the parade.

In July-August 1945, the third and final Potsdam Conference heads of the great victorious powers. Its main participants were: from the USSR - I.V. Stalin, from the USA - G. Truman (who replaced Roosevelt, who died on the eve of the Victory), from Great Britain - first W. Churchill, who, after losing the parliamentary elections, was replaced at the conference by K. Attlee . The Potsdam Conference determined the post-war borders of Europe: East Prussia (now Kaliningrad region Russia), as well as the inclusion of the Baltic States and Western Ukraine into its composition.

In August 1945, in accordance with the decision of the Yalta Conference, the USSR entered the war with Japan and a powerful blow from its armies transferred from Europe, with a multiple superiority of forces and equipment, contributed to its final defeat in less than 3 weeks. At the same time, the Americans for the first time in the world used atomic weapon by dropping two atomic bombs on peaceful Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with colossal human losses. Although the psychological effect of these barbaric bombardments contributed to the surrender of Japan, they were also aimed at intimidating the whole world, and above all the Soviet Union, with a show of US power.

September 2, 1945 Japan's unconditional surrender was signed end of World War II. As a reward for helping the Americans in the defeat of Japan, the USSR regained southern Sakhalin and Kurile Islands lost after Russo-Japanese War in 1905

Main results of the Great Patriotic War can be divided into two groups.

positive for the USSR:

1) the gigantic growth of the international weight and military-political power of the Soviet Union, its transformation into one of the two world superpowers (along with the USA);

2) the above-mentioned territorial acquisitions and the establishment actual control Russia over the countries of Eastern Europe - Poland, the GDR ( East Germany), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, which were imposed by the communist regimes with the help of the Soviet troops who liberated them.

Negative:

1) 26 million killed by the USSR - the largest number of victims among all the countries participating in the Second World War (55 million in the world);

2) huge material damage caused by the war (during the retreat, the Germans destroyed cities, industrial enterprises and railways, burned villages);

3) a new, post-war split of the world into 2 hostile camps - intensified many times over totalitarian-communist led by the USSR and bourgeois-democratic led by the United States, which led to many years of confrontation on the brink of nuclear war;

12. World War II World War II: Causes, Course, Significance

Reasons and move. "Strange War" Wehrmacht Blitzkrieg. Changes in the system of international relations with the entry into the war of the USSR and the USA. Anti-Hitler coalition. Lend-Lease. Military operations in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, in Africa and Asia. "Second Front" in Europe. Technology war. The world order of Yalta and Potsdam. The emergence of a bipolar world.

USSR during the Great Patriotic War

Society during the war. Attitudes towards the war of various national, cultural and social groups: the priority of patriotism or communist ideals? Propaganda and counter-propaganda. The role of traditional values ​​and political stereotypes. Soviet culture and ideology during the war. Everyday life at the front and in the rear. population in the occupied territories. partisan movement. National Policy.

The main stages of military operations. Soviet military art. The heroism of the Soviet people during the war. The role of the Soviet rear.

Political system. The militarization of the apparatus. Economic management in wartime. The impact of pre-war modernization of the economy on the course of hostilities.

The decisive role of the USSR in the defeat of Nazism. The meaning and price of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Key concepts: blitzkrieg, anti-Hitler coalition, bipolar world, partisan movement, militarization, heroism, patriotism.

Section 13. The world in the second half of the 20th century "Cold War"

Superpowers: USA and USSR. Mutual interest in shaping the image of the enemy. Contradictions: geopolitics or ideology? Arms race and local conflicts. military blocs. Two Europes - two worlds.

The collapse of the colonial system. Military and political crises in the framework of the Cold War. information wars. Technogenic civilization "on the warpath". The collapse of the bipolar world. Consequences of the Cold War.

Toward the Common Market and the Welfare State

European integration. "Welfare State". The role of political parties. Christian Democracy. Mass movements: ecological, feminist, youth, anti-war. consumer world. Culture as a way to stimulate consumption. A New Look on human rights.

Scientific and technical progress

Transport revolution. Qualitatively new level of energy availability of society, nuclear power. Breakthrough into space. Development of means of communication. Computer, information networks and electronic media. Modern biotechnologies. Automated production. Industry and nature. Formation of a new scientific picture of the world. Dehumanization of art. Technocracy and irrationalism in the public consciousness of the XX century.

Asia, Africa and Latin America

The Second World War - the crisis of the mother countries. The American "Grand Project" and the "Old" Empires. Soviet anti-colonialism. Destruction of the colonial myth. Exhaustion of mandate terms in the countries of the Middle East. China is among the winners. The National Liberation Struggle in the Japanese "Prosperity Sphere" and Its Consequences in the Basin Pacific Ocean. Liberation of India. Middle East conflict. Asian and African countries in the system of the bipolar world. Non-Aligned Movement. Doctrines of the third way. Problems of developing countries. Latin America. Socialism in the Western Hemisphere.

Key concepts: superpower, local conflicts, "cold war", information war, technogenic civilization, scientific and technological progress, internationalization, "conservative wave", ecumenism, biotechnology, ecology, modernism, technocracy, irrationalism, anti-colonialism, national liberation struggle, non-aligned movement.

44. World War II: causes, periodization, results. Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people.

The Second World War was the bloodiest and most brutal military conflict in the history of mankind and the only one in which nuclear weapons were used. 61 states took part in it. The dates of the beginning and end of this war, September 1, 1939 - 1945, September 2, are among the most significant for the entire civilized world.

Causes World War II was the imbalance of power in the world and the problems provoked by the results of the First World War, in particular territorial disputes. The United States, England, France, who won the First World War, concluded the Treaty of Versailles on the most unfavorable and humiliating conditions for the losing countries, Turkey and Germany, which provoked an increase in tension in the world. At the same time, adopted in the late 1930s by Britain and France, the policy of appeasing the aggressor made it possible for Germany to sharply increase its military potential, which accelerated the transition of the Nazis to active military operations.

The members of the anti-Hitler bloc were the USSR, the USA, France, England, China (Chiang Kai-shek), Greece, Yugoslavia, Mexico, etc.

From Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, China (Wang Jingwei), Thailand, Finland, Iraq, etc. participated in World War II. Many states - participants in the Second World War, did not conduct operations on the fronts, but helped by supplying food, medicines and other necessary resources.

Researchers identify the following main stages Second World War.

First stage from September 1, 1939 to June 21, 1941. The period of the European Blitzkrieg of Germany and the Allies.

Second phase June 22, 1941 - approximately mid-November 1942 Attack on the USSR and the subsequent failure of the Barbarossa plan.

Third stage the second half of November 1942 - the end of 1943. A radical turning point in the war and the loss of Germany's strategic initiative. At the end of 1943, at the Tehran Conference, in which Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill took part, a decision was made to open a second front.

Fourth stage lasted from the end of 1943 to May 9, 1945. It was marked by the capture of Berlin and the unconditional surrender of Germany.

Fifth stage May 10, 1945 - September 2, 1945 At this time, the fighting is fought only in Southeast Asia and the Far East. The United States used nuclear weapons for the first time.

The beginning of World War II fell on September 1, 1939. On this day, the Wehrmacht suddenly began aggression against Poland. Despite the retaliatory declaration of war by France, Great Britain and some other countries, no real assistance was provided to Poland.

Already on September 28, Poland was captured. The peace treaty between Germany and the USSR was concluded on the same day. Having thus received a reliable rear, Germany begins active preparations for war with France, which capitulated as early as 1940, on June 22. Nazi Germany begins large-scale preparations for war on the eastern front with the USSR. The Barbarossa plan was approved already in 1940, on December 18th. The Soviet top leadership received reports of the impending attack, however, fearing to provoke Germany, and believing that the attack would be carried out in more than late dates, deliberately did not put the border units on alert.

In the chronology of the Second World War, the period of June 22, 1941-1945, May 9, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, is of the utmost importance.

Major battles of World War II, which were of great importance for the history of the USSR, are:

The Battle of Stalingrad July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943, which marked a radical turning point in the war;

Battle of Kursk July 5 - August 23, 1943, during which the largest tank battle of World War II took place - near the village of Prokhorovka;

The Battle of Berlin - which led to the surrender of Germany.

But events important for the course of World War II took place not only on the fronts of the USSR. Among the operations carried out by the allies, it is worth noting in particular: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused the United States to enter World War II; the opening of a second front and the landing of troops in Normandy on June 6, 1944; application nuclear weapons August 6 and 9, 1945 to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The date of the end of the Second World War was September 2, 1945. Japan signed the act of surrender only after the defeat of the Kwantung Army by the Soviet troops. The battles of the Second World War, according to the most rough estimates, claimed, on both sides, 65 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the greatest losses in World War II - 27 million citizens of the country were killed. It was he who took the brunt. This figure is also approximate and, according to some researchers, underestimated. It was the stubborn resistance of the Red Army that became the main reason for the defeat of the Reich.

Results World War II horrified everyone. Military operations have put the very existence of civilization on the brink. During the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials fascist ideology was convicted, and many war criminals were punished. In order to prevent such a possibility of a new world war in the future, at the Yalta Conference in 1945 it was decided to create the United Nations (UN), which still exists today. The results of the nuclear bombardment of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the signing of pacts on the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and a ban on their production and use. It must be said that the consequences of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are felt today.

The economic consequences of the Second World War were also serious. For Western European countries, it turned into a genuine economic disaster. The influence of Western European countries has significantly decreased. At the same time, the United States managed to maintain and strengthen its position.

Meaning The Second World War for the Soviet Union is huge. The defeat of the Nazis determined the future history of the country. According to the results of the conclusion of the peace treaties that followed the defeat of Germany, the USSR significantly expanded its borders. At the same time, the totalitarian system was strengthened in the Union. In some European countries established communist regimes. Victory in the war did not save the USSR from the mass repressions that followed in the 1950s.

The Great Patriotic War(1941-1945) - the war between the USSR and Germany within the framework of the Second World War, which ended with the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazis and the capture of Berlin. The Great Patriotic War became one of the final stages of World War II.

Causes of the Great Patriotic War

After the defeat in the First World War, Germany remained in an extremely difficult economic and political situation, however, after Hitler came to power and carried out reforms, the country was able to build up its military power and stabilize the economy. Hitler did not accept the results of the First World War and wanted to take revenge, thereby leading Germany to world domination. As a result of his military campaigns, in 1939 Germany invaded Poland and then Czechoslovakia. A new war has begun.

Hitler's army was rapidly conquering new territories, but until a certain point between Germany and the USSR there was a non-aggression peace treaty signed by Hitler and Stalin. However, two years after the start of World War II, Hitler violated the non-aggression agreement - his command developed the Barbarossa plan, which involves a swift German attack on the USSR and the seizure of territories within two months. In case of victory, Hitler got the opportunity to start a war with the United States, and he also had access to new territories and trade routes.

The company, designed for several months, turned into a protracted war, which later became known as the Great Patriotic War.

The main periods of the Great Patriotic War

The initial period of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942). On June 22, Germany invaded the territory of the USSR and by the end of the year was able to conquer Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus - the troops moved inland to capture Moscow. Russian troops suffered huge losses, the inhabitants of the country in the occupied territories were captured by the Germans and were driven into slavery in Germany. However, despite the fact that the Soviet army was losing, she still managed to stop the Germans on the way to Leningrad (the city was taken under blockade), Moscow and Novgorod. The Barbarossa plan did not give the desired results, the battles for these cities continued until 1942.

The period of a radical change (1942-1943) On November 19, 1942, the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops began, which yielded significant results - one German and four allied armies were destroyed. The Soviet army continued to advance in all directions, they managed to defeat several armies, start pursuing the Germans and push the front line back towards the west. Thanks to the build-up of military resources (the military industry worked in a special mode), the Soviet army was significantly superior to the German one and could now not only resist, but also dictate its terms in the war. From the defending army of the USSR turned into an attacker.

The third period of the war (1943-1945). Despite the fact that Germany managed to significantly increase the power of its army, it was still inferior to the Soviet one, and the USSR continued to play a leading offensive role in hostilities. The Soviet army continued to advance towards Berlin, recapturing the occupied territories. Leningrad was recaptured, and by 1944, Soviet troops moved towards Poland, and then Germany. On May 8, Berlin was taken, and the German troops declared unconditional surrender.

Major battles of the Great Patriotic War

The results and significance of the Great Patriotic War

The main significance of the Great Patriotic War was that it finally broke the German army, preventing Hitler from continuing his struggle for world domination. The war became a turning point in the course of the Second World War and, in fact, its completion.

However, the victory was given to the USSR hard. The country's economy was in a special regime during the war, the factories worked mainly on military industry, so after the war had to face a severe crisis. Many factories were destroyed, most of the male population died, people were starving and could not work. The country was in the most difficult condition, and it took many years for it to recover.

But, despite the fact that the USSR was in a deep crisis, the country turned into a superpower, its political influence on the world stage, the Union has become one of the largest and most influential states, on a par with the United States and Great Britain.

Please help me, I got a ticket from history!

1. Great geographical discoveries. The beginning of the formation of the colonial system.
2. World War II: causes, stages, resistance movement, results.

Rastago†h

2.briefly
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the perfidious invasion of Nazi Germany troops into Poland. Officially started in 1939. September 3, when the English. and France declared war on Nazi Germany.
Possible REASONS: Germany's acceptance of the humiliating terms of the Peace Treaty (deprivation of most territories, colonies, huge reparations, complete demilitarization)
KEY DATES: 1939 September 3 - Eng. + French declares war on Germany
1940 - "Strange War". The Germans occupy Norway and Denmark. Evacuation from Durkirk. Defeat of France. Italy enters the war. Battle for England.
1941 - Nazis take over Yugoslavia and Greece. Rommel's offensive in the north. Africa. German invasion of the USSR. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
1942 - the defeat of the Germans near Moscow. Rommel's defeat at El Alamein. Allied invasion of French North. Africa.
1943 - the defeat of the Germans near Stalingrad. Allied landing in Italy. The overthrow of Mussolini (in fascist. Italy), the surrender of Italy. The Germans occupy the north of the country
1944 Red Army liberates Ukraine and Belarus. Allied landing in Normandy. Warsaw revolt. Breakthrough of German troops in the Ardennes.
1945 death of Mussolini and Hitler (suicide). Capitulation of Germany.
61 states participated, 80% of the world's population.
3 main periods, STAGES:
one). September 1, 1939 - June 1942 the expanding scale of the war while maintaining the superiority of the forces of the aggressors.
2). June 1942 - January 1944 - a turning point in the course of the war, initiative and superiority in the hands of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition
3). January 1944 - September 2, 1945 - the final stage of the war, the absolute superiority of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, the defeat of the enemy armies, the crisis and the collapse of the ruling regimes of state-in-aggressors.
P.S. Something from NO:
RESISTANCE MOVEMENT - patriotic anti-fascist movement. The participants published illegal newspapers and leaflets, helped prisoners of war, engaged in reconnaissance, and prepared for armed struggle. People of various political and religious views participated in the resistance movement: communists, social democrats, protestants, Catholics and Orthodox, trade unionists and non-party members. Initially, these were a few scattered groups that had no connection with each other. An important condition for the development of the resistance movement was the unification of anti-fascist forces. Communist parties in 1942 - 1943 after the dissolution of the Comintern, they were able to act as independent national forces. They are actively involved in the resistance movement. The forms of resistance were different:
collection and transfer of valuable information to allies
sabotage
disruption of military supplies
sabotage
In the same years, the first partisan detachments in Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece. One of the first acts European resistance was the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943. For almost a month, the poorly armed inhabitants of the ghetto, doomed to destruction, fought heroic battles with the German troops. The overwhelming majority of the participants in the Resistance sought the liberation of their countries, but did not want a return to the pre-war order. All of them wanted to put an end to fascism, restore and expand democratic freedoms, and carry out profound social transformations. At the second stage (approximately from 1942-1943) the resistance movement acquired a more organized character (the creation of governing bodies, the formation of armed detachments), and its participants began a partisan struggle against the invaders. Active participation in this struggle was taken by Russian emigrants and Soviet citizens who were captured or driven away by the occupiers for forced labor, and then fled from places of detention.
RESULTS:
Deepening of the general crisis of the world capitalist system. Start cold war, myoitarization, the split of the world into 2 opposites. military -polit. systems (under the influence of the USA and the USSR)

The Second World War is rightfully the biggest tragedy of mankind that happened in the 20th century. In terms of human casualties, it confidently occupies a leading position in the history of all armed conflicts that have ever taken place on our planet. The memory of those terrible events will live forever and be passed on from one generation to another, since such things must not be forgotten so as not to repeat the mistakes of past years again and never experience this again.

World War II periods

Officially, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. This fateful event took place on September 1, 1939. It was then that France and Great Britain declared war on the Germans.

Also, in the first period of the world armed confrontation, fascist troops landed on the territory of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In the middle of 1940, without much resistance, all these states fell before the power of the German military machine. France tried to defend its freedom, but it also turned out to be powerless in the fight against well-trained and organized German military units.

June 10, 1940 Italy openly supports Hitler. And by the joint efforts of these two countries, in April of the following year, the territory of Yugoslavia and Greece was seized. A military operation was also launched by the fascist coalition in North Africa.

The second period of the Second World War (the date of its beginning became one of the most terrible and bloody in the history of our country) takes its countdown from the moment the USSR entered the war. On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the territory of the Soviet Union without declaring war, and the surprise effect made itself felt for a long time. The Red Army was forced to retreat for a long period and surrender new territories to the Nazis.

On July 12, 1941, the USSR concluded an agreement with England on joint actions against Germany, and already on September 2, military-economic cooperation began with the United States. On September 24, the Soviet Union successfully acceded to the Atlantic Charter, the purpose of which was to organize the supply of weapons.

The third period of World War II (1939-1945) begins from the moment when the Nazi offensive in the USSR bogged down and they lost their global strategic initiative. It happened after a grand Battle of Stalingrad, when a large German grouping, numbering 330 thousand soldiers and officers, was in a dense ring of Soviet troops. The turning points in World War II were 1942 and 1943.

And at the final fourth stage of the bloodthirsty World War II, hostilities were carried out outside the territory of the Soviet Union. It was then that the German troops gradually retreated to the west, leaving big cities and fortified points, since they were no longer able to hold them. This period ended with the final defeat of fascist Germany and the signing of its final surrender.

How did the war affect the distribution of forces on the world stage

During the years of World War II, many events took place in the world that led to fundamental changes in the political sphere of most states. For example, the bloody actions of Germany became a kind of punishment for her. In the post-war years, the country was divided into two separate republics - the FRG and the GDR.

Poverty flourished in the country, so riots were a kind of norm for it. The events of World War II were a direct consequence of such a sad fate for Germany, which lost all its powerful industrial potential. Therefore, it took many years to stabilize the German economy and ensure its steady annual growth.

Berlin itself was divided into spheres of influence between the countries that were part of the anti-Hitler coalition. The eastern part was occupied by the Soviet military, while the western part was dominated by the law enforcement agencies of the representative offices of France, Great Britain and the USA.

The USSR played a key role in World War II. A lot has already been said about what unprecedented feats Soviet soldiers performed in an effort to protect their land from the Nazis. Perhaps it was thanks to these desperate actions that it was then possible to stop the Germans, the first serious defeat for which was the battle near Moscow.

The great merit of the Soviet Union should be considered the fact that Hitler collapsed on its territory precisely at the time when the military power of his troops was at its maximum level! Before that, no one could match the strength of the German army, so everyone resignedly yielded under its pressure.

The myth of Germany's invincibility was finally dispelled only after Battle of Kursk famous all over the world. Soviet soldiers, waging desperate tank battles on the outskirts of Kursk, proved that they were in no way inferior to the enemy in terms of technical equipment. Having suffered colossal losses, both in tanks and in manpower, the Germans for the first time felt how dangerous and disastrous for them the actions of the opposing side could be.

There can be quite a lot of reasons that tipped the scales in this bloody confrontation on the side of the Soviet Union. However, military historians distinguish the following main ones:

1. The cohesion of society for the sake of achieving victory, thanks to the fact that every Soviet citizen (in some cases even children) made the maximum effort at the front or in the rear that was required of him. Ultimately, this brought the sweet moment of triumph over fascism closer.
2. Build the country. Taking into account the fact that the people radiated full confidence in the authorities and did not oppose it, all forces, without exception, were devoted to the fight against the occupier.
3. Role communist party. Those people who were communists were always ready to take on the most dangerous tasks and work, while not sparing their health and not worrying about their safety. own life.
4. Military art. Thanks to the well-coordinated work of the senior command staff and military units, the Soviet side was able to constantly disrupt all the strategic goals of the Wehrmacht. Each operation, organized by the command of the USSR army, was distinguished by creativity and ingenuity. It is also hard to do without inspiration in this case, so the commanders tried to raise the morale of the fighters before any offensive operations.

Interesting facts about World War II

Historians are now arguing among themselves who can really be called the side that has achieved the greatest success in the well-known bloody confrontation. Many Western analysts try to play down the role of the Soviet Union in the global victory over Nazism. They base their arguments on the following facts:

• numerous losses of Soviet people;
• superiority in the military force of the USSR over the military potential of Germany;
• severe frosts, which led to the mass death of German soldiers.

Of course, facts are stubborn things, and it is useless to argue with them. But here it is necessary to connect the logic already. mass death Soviet citizens during the Second World War occurred due to the fact that people were exhausted by hunger and bullying in concentration camps. In many cases, the Nazis deliberately killed a large number of civilians, fearing that they would organize riots and uprisings.

Superiority in military force took place, but only locally. The fact is that in the first years of the confrontation, the Soviet Union was significantly inferior to Germany in the technical equipment of weapons.

During the Second World War, the Germans constantly improved their military equipment and purposefully developed a strategy for the upcoming war with the Soviet Union, which they considered the highest priority for them. The leadership of the Communist Party, on the contrary, considered a possible confrontation with Germany as something unlikely. This erroneous opinion was largely facilitated by the non-aggression pact signed by Ribbentrop and Molotov.

As for the frosts during the Second World War, there is also an ambiguous opinion here. To a certain extent, low air temperature contributed to a decrease in the overall functional state of the German army, but the Soviet soldiers were also in similar conditions. Therefore, the chances in this aspect were completely equalized, and this factor could not play a dominant role in the victory of the USSR over Germany.

The most influential commanders of that era

The history of the Second World War is very unusual and multifaceted, so it should be considered in many contexts at once. One among them is the importance of the individual in the success of the entire military operation.

The charisma of one or another high military leader largely contributed to the maintenance of high morale within the military units. It was also very important to draw up the correct offensive strategy or conduct any defensive actions that would hold the enemy at a certain line.

In this regard, it is extremely important to highlight the commanders of the Second World War, who actively contributed to the proper organization of their units:

1. Georgy Zhukov - Marshal of the Soviet Union. He led the most important combat battles, showing enviable tactical flexibility in building his military units. Even at the most critical moments, he always maintained his composure and purposefully implemented global strategic plans. He led the operation to take Berlin and accepted the final surrender of Germany.
2. Konstantin Rokossovsky is also a marshal of the Soviet Union. He commanded the Don Front, which completed the final defeat of the Stalingrad group of Nazis. Also in the success of the battle of Kursk there is a considerable contribution of Konstantin Konstantinovich. The fact is that Rokossovsky, in some incredible way, managed to convince Stalin that the best strategy the line of conduct before the battle is to provoke the Germans into action.
3. Alexander Vasilevsky - Marshal of the Soviet Union was the Chief of the General Staff, a position he held from 1942. Led the assault on Köningsberg after General Chernyakhovsky was killed.
4. Montgomery Bernard Low - British Field Marshal. After the crushing defeat of France, Montgomery facilitated the evacuation of allied forces. Since 1942, he became the commander of the British troops operating in North Africa, which eventually led to a radical change in this sector of the front.
5. Eisenhower is a general in the US Army. Under his leadership, Operation Torch was carried out, which involved the landing of the armed forces of the military coalition in North Africa.

Main types of weapons

The weapons of the Second World War at the present time already seem obsolete and of little use for practical use. Now it is an excellent exhibit to replenish the military museum. However, during the Second World War, these weapons were in great demand to eliminate enemy forces.

Most often, tanks, combat aircraft, and cannons were used during combat battles. Among the infantrymen, such small arms as machine guns, pistols, and rifles were used.

Varieties of military aircraft and their role

Among the aircraft that the Nazis widely used to carry out their combat missions, there are such varieties of them:

1. Bombers: Junkers-87, Dornier-217, Henkel-111.
2. Fighters: "Messerschmitt-110" and "Henschel-126".

But the Soviet Union, as opposed to the German air force delivered MiG-1, I-16, Yak-9, La-5, Pe-3 fighters and many others. The bombers were U-2, DB-A, Yak-4, Su-4, Yer-2, Pe-8.

The most famous Soviet attack aircraft are the Il-2 and Su-6.

The role of aircraft in World War II cannot be underestimated, as they were an excellent tool for eliminating large enemy groups, as well as for destroying any strategically important objects through direct bombing.

The best tanks in the war

Tanks of the Second World War were the main ground weapons for offensive battles. It was with their assistance that large cities were conquered, and enemy troops were crowded in all directions. Repulsing a well-organized attack was a rather difficult task, requiring considerable training and courage.

The following types of tanks are recognized as the best at that time:

1. Kv-1. Its weight is 45 tons. The car is sheathed around with steel, the thickness of which is 75 millimeters. It was hard for anti-tank guns to penetrate such a "monster" even at close range. However, among its main disadvantages should be considered a tendency to breakage.
2. T-34. It incorporates wide tracks and armor with a thickness of 76 millimeters. Was considered best tank of that era, according to the characteristics with which no other similar machine could be compared.
3. H1 "Tiger". The main "pride" of this unit is the 88-mm gun, which was created on the basis of the "anti-aircraft guns".
4. V Panther. It weighed 44 tons and developed a maximum speed of up to 60 kilometers per hour. This tank was equipped with a 75 mm cannon, thanks to which the projectile fired from this gun could cope with virtually any armor.
5. Is-2. The heavy tank was equipped with 122 howitzers. A projectile fired from it could turn any building into solid ruins. Also, a DShK machine gun functioned here to exterminate enemy infantry.

Losses

To understand the full scale of the tragedy that befell mankind in the 20th century from the devastating impact of the Second World War, it is enough to look only at the statistics of those who died in this bloody massacre. Total for the war years irretrievable losses among the population of the USSR amounted to 42 million people, and the total - more than 53 million.

Unfortunately, the exact number of those who lost their lives due to destructive actions during the Second World War is simply impossible to calculate physically. Scientists are trying to recreate the integrity of those events based on facts, to compile lists of the dead and missing as accurately as possible, but this is a very painstaking task, and the implementation of this idea is almost unrealistic.

Features of this world conflict

The essence of the Second World War was to establish dominance on the entire planet. In any case, the German side adhered precisely this principle, unleashing active hostilities on the territories of other countries.

It was this radically absurd ideology, which Hitler so propagated in his speeches to the public, that became the main reason that in the post-war years Germany lagged far behind in its development and was economically extremely weak.

No world conflict has ever been a guarantee of improving the life of mankind. Therefore, the Second World War (1945 - the year of its end), apart from death and grief, did not give anything good to people in the global plan.

Start Second world wars(September 1, 1939 – June 22, 1941).

At dawn on September 1, 1939, the troops of the German Wehrmacht suddenly launched hostilities against Poland. Using overwhelming superiority in forces and means, the Nazi command was able to quickly achieve large-scale operational results. Despite the fact that France, Great Britain and the countries of the British Commonwealth immediately declared war on Germany, they did not provide effective and real assistance to Poland. The courageous resistance of the Polish soldiers near Mława, near Modlin and the heroic twenty-day defense of Warsaw could not save Poland from disaster.

At the same time, the troops of the Red Army, almost without resistance, from September 17 to 29 occupied the regions of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. September 28, 1939 first campaign Second world wars has been completed. Poland ceased to exist.

On the same day, a new Soviet-German treaty "On Friendship and Borders" was signed in Moscow, which secured the partition of Poland. New secret agreements gave the USSR the possibility of "freedom of action" in creating a "sphere of security" near its western borders, secured the annexation of the western regions of Belarus and Ukraine, allowed the Soviet Union to conclude agreements on "mutual assistance" September 28, 1939 with Estonia, October 5 - with Latvia, October 10 - with Lithuania. According to these treaties, the USSR received the right to deploy its troops in the Baltic republics and create naval and
air bases. Stalin went to transfer into the hands of the Gestapo many hundreds of German anti-fascists who were hiding in the USSR from the Nazis, and also deported hundreds of thousands of Poles, both former military personnel and the civilian population.

At the same time, the Stalinist leadership stepped up pressure on Finland. On October 12, 1939, she was asked to conclude an agreement "on mutual assistance" with the USSR. However, the Finnish leadership abandoned the agreements with the USSR, and the negotiations were unsuccessful.

The defeat of Poland and a temporary alliance with Stalin provided Hitler with a reliable rear for carrying out a blitzkrieg in the Western European theater of operations. Already on October 9, 1939, the Fuhrer signed a directive on preparing an attack on France, and 10 days later a plan for the strategic concentration of German troops was approved to carry out offensive operations in the West.

The Soviet leadership took active steps to expand the "sphere of security" in the northwest. On November 28, 1939, the USSR unilaterally denounced the non-aggression pact with Finland of 1932, and on the morning of November 30, military operations against the Finns began, which lasted almost four months. The next day (December 1) in the village. Terijoki was urgently proclaimed "the government of the Democratic Republic of Finland."

On March 12, 1940, a Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed in Moscow, taking into account the territorial claims presented by the USSR. the Soviet Union during wars suffered huge casualties: active army lost up to 127 thousand people killed and missing, as well as up to 248 thousand wounded and frostbite. Finland lost just over 48,000 killed and 43,000 wounded.
Politically, this war caused serious damage to the Soviet Union. On December 14, 1939, the Council of the League of Nations adopted a resolution expelling him from this organization, condemning the actions of the USSR directed against the Finnish state and called on the member states of the League of Nations to support Finland. The USSR found itself in international isolation.

The results of the "winter wars"They clearly showed the weakness of the" indestructible "Soviet Armed Forces. Soon, K.E. Voroshilov was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Defense, and S.K. Timoshenko took his place.
In the spring of 1940, Wehrmacht troops began a large-scale military campaign in Western Europe. On April 9, 1940, the strike force of the Nazi troops (about 140 thousand personnel, up to 1000 aircraft and all the forces of the fleet) attacked Denmark and Norway. Denmark (having only 13,000 troops) was occupied in a few hours, and its government immediately announced its surrender.

The situation was different in Norway, where the armed forces managed to avoid defeat and withdraw into the interior of the country, and Anglo-French troops were landed to help them. Armed struggle in Norway threatened to become protracted, so already on May 10, 1940, Hitler launched an offensive according to the Gelb plan, which provided for a lightning strike against France through Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, bypassing the French Maginot defensive line. On June 22, 1940, the act of capitulation of France was signed, according to which its northern territory was occupied by Germany, and the southern regions remained under the control of the "government" of collaborator Marshal A. Petain ("Vichy regime").

The defeat of France led to a sharp change in the strategic situation in Europe. The threat of a German invasion loomed over Great Britain. A war was unfolding on sea lanes, where German submarines sank 100-140 British merchant ships every month.
Already in the summer of 1940, the front in the west ceased to exist, and the coming clash between Germany and the USSR began to take on more and more real outlines.

As a result of the German "appeasement policy" in the northeast and east of Europe, territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the USSR, and the western border was pushed back 200-600 km. At the VIII session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on August 2-6, 1940, these territorial "acquisitions" were legally formalized by laws on the formation of the Moldavian SSR and the admission of the three Baltic republics into the Union.
After victory over France, Germany accelerated preparations for war against the USSR: the issue of the "eastern campaign" had already been discussed on July 21, 1940 at a meeting of Hitler with the commanders of the armed forces, and on July 31 he set the task of starting the operation in May 1941 and completing it within 5 months.

On August 9, 1940, a decision was made to transfer Wehrmacht forces to the borders of the USSR, and from September they began to concentrate in Romania. At the same time, a broad campaign was launched to disinform the Soviet leadership, which played its fatal role in carrying out measures to repel aggression. On September 27 in Berlin, Germany, Italy and Japan signed a tripartite pact, which was later joined by Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Croatia. Finally, on December 18, 1940, the famous "Barbarossa option" was approved by Hitler - the plan wars against the Soviet Union.

In order to hide military preparations, I. Ribbentrop on October 13, 1940, invited I. V. Stalin to take part in the division of spheres of interest on a global scale. A meeting on this issue was held on November 12-13 in Berlin with the participation of V.M. Molotov, but because of the nomination by both sides of mutually unacceptable conditions, it was not successful.

On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory, I suddenly thought: everyone knows when and where the war ended. And where and how did the Second World War begin, of which our Great Patriotic War became a part?

We managed to visit the very place where it began - on the Westerplatte peninsula not far from the Polish city of Gdansk. When in the early morning of September 1, 1939, Germany began shelling the territory of Poland, one of the main blows fell on the Polish military depots located on Westerplatte.

You can get to Westerplatte from Gdansk by car along the highway, or you can sail there along the river by boat. We have chosen a boat. I will not undertake to assert: it is really old or just made antique, but it is controlled by a real captain. He is very colorful and, judging by the red, was once a pioneer.

Our path lies to the Gulf of Gdansk. Gdansk is one of the largest seaports in Europe, so here and there you can see the piers along the coast and the port cranes rise from time to time.

Who knows - maybe this is how prehistoric dinosaurs once walked here?

The journey from Gdansk to Westerplatte by "water" takes about an hour. We managed to get a seat at the bow, so we are the first to have a view of Westerplatte.

This is it, the very place where 2 began World War. It was here that a salvo from the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein fell on September 1, 1939 at 4:45, which marked its beginning. Now Westerplatte is a memorial complex, part of which are the ruins of the Polish naval headquarters. It was destroyed in the first minutes of the war as a result of a direct hit.

Nearby are tablets with the names of the fallen defenders of Westerplatte. There are many of them - no one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten. Around them, like drops of blood, red roses and wild roses.

The symbol of Westerplatte is an obelisk on a hill. It seems that it is within easy reach from the destroyed headquarters. It wasn’t there - you still have to stomp to the obelisk, and then also climb the mountain.

We were very lucky with the weather, so the photos of the Westerplatte monument turned out to be bright. And in non-flying weather, the gray monument is lost against the gray sky.

And here is what the monument looks like if you climb the mountain and get very close to it:

And here is the view from above. Whoever is strong in Polish can read the appeal against the war:

In addition to the famous stele, there is also such a monument in the Westerplatte memorial:

If you read the inscription aloud, you can guess that this is a monument to tankers. Moreover, traces of tank tracks were imprinted on the plates.

The Poles are terribly proud of the defenders of Westerplatte, but there are those who are not too scrupulous about the memory of the fallen: by the time we arrived, the monument was covered in melted ice cream.

Visitors to the Westerplatte memorial can buy souvenirs from the Second World War as a keepsake:

By the way, Westerplatte - favorite place recreation for the residents of Gdansk, because next to the memorial on the coast of the Gulf of Gdansk there is a beach. Entrance to it is strictly prohibited, but this does not stop anyone:

If you decide to swim here, remember that you can’t stare at vacationers at close range. You can get in trouble (just in case, read more about that and its surroundings). If you came to Westerplatte on your own, you should not stay here until the evening, because public transport stops running quite early. The last bus to Gdansk leaves at about 20:00 local time, and the boat leaves even earlier.

© Text and photo by Noory San.

Everyone knows that the Great Patriotic War ended on May 9, 1945. But if fascist Germany was defeated at that time, then the anti-fascist coalition had the last enemy left - Japan, which did not want to surrender. But small Japan, although it lost all its allies, did not think to capitulate even after 60 countries declared war on it at once, but it was the Soviet Union that put an end to World War II by declaring war on August 8, 1945 to the country of the Rising Sun.

Yalta conference

The decision to declare war on Japan by the USSR was made in the winter of 1945 during the Yalta Conference of the anti-Hitler coalition. Then, from February 4 to 11, the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, already feeling like winners, literally divided the world into pieces. Firstly, they drew new borders on the territories that had previously been occupied by Nazi Germany, and secondly, they resolved the further issue of an alliance between the West and the USSR, which lost any meaning after the end of the war.

But for us, within the framework of the article on the end of the Second World War, the decision on the fate of the Far East is much more important. According to the agreement reached by Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and, after the victory over Germany and the end of the war in Europe, the Soviet Union undertook to go to war with Japan, for which in exchange it received lost during the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 1905 years) of the territory of the Kuril Islands. In addition, the USSR promised to lease Port Arthur and the Chinese Eastern Railway.

There is a version that it was the war with Japan that the USSR paid for the lend-lease agreement, which in the Soviet Union was called the "October 17 Program". Recall that under the treaty, the United States transferred more than 17.5 tons of ammunition, equipment, strategic raw materials and food to the USSR. In exchange, the United States demanded that the USSR, after the end of the war in Europe, launch an offensive against Japan, which attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, forcing Roosevelt to enter World War II.

Soviet-Japanese War

Be that as it may, but if not the whole world, then a significant part took up arms against Japan. So, on May 15, 1945, Japan canceled all agreements with Germany in connection with its surrender. In June of the same year, the Japanese began to prepare to repel an attack on their islands, and on July 12, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow turned to the USSR authorities with a request to become a mediator in peace negotiations. But he was informed that Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov had left for Postdam, so they could not yet answer the request. It was in Potsdam that Stalin, by the way, confirmed that the USSR would go to war with Japan. On July 26, following the results of the Potsdam Conference, the United States, Great Britain and China presented Japan with terms of surrender, which, however, were rejected. Already on August 8, the USSR declared war on Japan.

The Soviet-Japanese war consisted of the Manchurian, South Sakhalin, Kuril and three Korean landing operations. The fighting began on August 9, when the Soviet Union carried out intensive artillery preparation from the sea and land, which preceded the ground combat operations as part of the Manchurian operation. On August 11, the South Sakhalin operation began, and on August 14, the Japanese command turned to the Soviet command for a truce, while the fighting on their part did not stop. So, the surrender order was issued only on August 20, but it did not reach some troops immediately, and some even refused to obey the order, preferring to die rather than surrender.

Thus, separate military clashes continued until September 10, although the act of surrender of Japan, which marked the end of World War II, was signed on September 2.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Second World War, and in particular the war against Japan, was marked by an event that will forever remain a black spot in world history - on August 6 and 9, the United States was committed.

The official purpose of the bombing was to accelerate the Japanese surrender, but many historians and political scientists believe that the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order, firstly, to prevent the USSR from strengthening its influence in the Pacific basin, and secondly, to take revenge on Japan for the attack to Pearl Harbor, and thirdly, to demonstrate to the USSR its nuclear power.

Whatever the reason for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it cannot be justified, and primarily because of the loss of life.

Hiroshima was the seventh largest city in Japan. 340 thousand people lived here, as well as the headquarters of the Fifth Division and the Second Main Army. In addition, the city was an important strategic supply point for the Japanese army, and it was for the latter reason that it was chosen as a target for the atomic bombing.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, several American planes were approaching on Japanese radar. At first, an air raid was announced, but due to the small number of aircraft (only three cars), it was canceled, deciding that the Americans were making another reconnaissance. However, a B-29 bomber at an altitude of 9 kilometers dropped an atomic bomb called the Little Boy, which exploded over the city at an altitude of 600 meters.

The consequences of the explosion were horrendous. Birds flying past were burned alive, people at the epicenter of the explosion turned into ashes. In the first seconds of the explosion, about 90% of people who were at a distance of 800 meters from the epicenter died. Subsequently, people died from exposure. Hiroshima was wiped off the face of the earth. About 80 thousand people died directly from the explosion. Taking into account long-term effects, more than 200 thousand people became victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Before Japan had time to recover from this tragedy, a new one followed - the bombing of Nagasaki. Initially, the United States planned to carry out an atomic attack on Nagasaki only on August 11th. But due to the worsening weather these days, the operation was postponed to August 9. The atomic bomb was dropped when the bombardier-gunner Yermit Bihan noticed the silhouette of the city stadium in the gap between the clouds. The explosion occurred at an altitude of about 500 meters. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people died directly from the explosion. In subsequent years, the number of victims increased to 140 thousand people.

No matter how terrible the consequences of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, the US planned to drop 7 more atomic bombs on Japan - one in August, three in September and three in October. Fortunately, this did not happen.

Until now, disputes about the expediency of the atomic bombing of Japan have not subsided. Some argue that they were necessary for the surrender of Japan, while others are sure that this act is a war crime.

Significance of the Soviet-Japanese War

Many historians agree on one thing: even despite the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, without the participation of the Soviet Union in the war against Japan, the Second World War lasted for several more years. Even the leaders of the US military headquarters convinced Roosevelt that Japan would not capitulate until 1947. But this victory would cost the Americans the lives of millions of soldiers. Therefore, it was the USSR's declaration of war on Japan that became a huge contribution to accelerating the end of World War II.

It should be noted that the events of those years are still echoing in relation to Russia and Japan. Both countries are actually in a state of war, since a peace treaty between them has not been signed. The stumbling block in this matter remains the Kuril Islands, occupied by the USSR in 1945.