The war of 1939-1945 is called.

The beginning of the Second World War is considered to be the attack of German troops on the territory of Poland on September 1, 1939. After 2 days, Poland's partner countries France and Great Britain announced their participation in the war. The strengths of both sides in economic and human terms were almost equal. However, England could count on its colonies and the strongest fleet in Europe.

In the previous war, the one on whose side had numerical superiority won. The strong European powers adopted a constructive attitude, anticipating the depletion of Germany's resources. However, during the Second World War, new military equipment helped to win. Tanks became faster and more reliable, armored personnel carriers, mobile and airborne troops, etc. appeared.

In the initial period of World War II, the German commanders-in-chief were the first to develop and apply the “blitzkrieg” method - lightning war. In it, the leading role was given to mechanized and tank formations, which should surround the enemy and protect the borders. At the same time, aviation must bomb the enemy rear, destroying strategically important objects.

Germany left infantry on the French borders. All other forces were directed towards Poland. In two weeks the Germans reached Warsaw. The Polish government fled, and its army was defeated.

"Blitzkrieg" justified Hitler's trust. On September 17, German tanks were at Brest and Lvov. Within 12 days, the French and English armies were mobilized. Poland did not receive support from partner countries, despite the guarantees received from them. They did not want to waste their energy and risk their aircraft defending the Siegfried Line.

After the fall of Poland, it became clear that the calculations of the leading European countries did not come true: for 50 thousand German losses there were 600 thousand Polish ones.

There was no patriotic upsurge in the initial period of World War II in Europe. The people were dissatisfied with the military regime, the extended working day and the ban on strikes. The “Phantom War” on the Franco-German border created the illusion of a quick compromise between France and Great Britain and Germany. Germany did not fall into an economic blockade and received everything it needed from different countries.

The USSR carried out its plans. On September 17, he sent troops into Western Ukraine and Belarus, but did not officially declare war. On September 28, Germany and the USSR signed a peace agreement on maintaining existing borders, and the Baltic countries signed mutual assistance pacts.

Finland did not agree with the revision of its borders in order to move the front line away from Leningrad. The USSR began military operations against it. For this, the League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union from its membership. France and England decided to bomb oil fields not only to liberate Finland, but also to disrupt oil supplies to Germany from the USSR. In March, a peace agreement was signed between Finland and the USSR.

On April 9, Germany entered Denmark and Norway; the sent Anglo-French corps could not change the situation and was evacuated back. Hope for peace in Britain was dashed. A political crisis began, leading to a change of prime minister. On May 10, W. Churchill became head.

At the same time, offensives were organized on the Western Front. German aviation carried out airstrikes on French airfields. Germany attacked through Luxembourg territory. The French did not have time to concentrate their forces and were wrecked. On May 21, Hitler reached the English Channel. The remnants of the army were able to evacuate to British territory. After Belgium surrendered, Paris was surrendered without a fight. On June 22, Italy, led by the fascist government, entered the war.

England was next. Germany planned to achieve air supremacy and then land troops on British territory. However, in the UK, aircraft factories switched to enhanced regime. She managed to catch up with Germany in equipment. In the autumn it became clear that an invasion of the British Isles was impossible. Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union.

The largest war in human history, the Second World War became a logical continuation of the First World War. In 1918, the Kaiser's Germany lost to the Entente countries. The result of the First World War was the Treaty of Versailles, according to which the Germans lost part of their territory. Germany was prohibited from having a large army, navy and colonies. An unprecedented economic crisis began in the country. It became even worse after the Great Depression of 1929.

German society barely survived its defeat. Massive revanchist sentiments arose. Populist politicians began to play on the desire to “restore historical justice.” The National Socialist German Workers' Party, led by Adolf Hitler, began to enjoy great popularity.

Causes

Radicals came to power in Berlin in 1933. The German state quickly became totalitarian and began to prepare for the upcoming war for dominance in Europe. Simultaneously with the Third Reich, its own “classical” fascism arose in Italy.

The Second World War (1939-1945) involved events not only in the Old World, but also in Asia. In this region, Japan was a source of concern. In the Land of the Rising Sun, just like in Germany, imperialist sentiments were extremely popular. China, weakened by internal conflicts, became the object of Japanese aggression. The war between the two Asian powers began in 1937, and with the outbreak of conflict in Europe it became part of the overall Second World War. Japan turned out to be an ally of Germany.

During the Third Reich, it left the League of Nations (predecessor of the UN) and stopped its own disarmament. In 1938, the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria took place. It was bloodless, but the causes of World War II, in short, were that European politicians turned a blind eye to Hitler’s aggressive behavior and did not stop his policy of absorbing more and more territories.

Germany soon annexed the Sudetenland, which was inhabited by Germans but belonged to Czechoslovakia. Poland and Hungary also took part in the division of this state. In Budapest, the alliance with the Third Reich was maintained until 1945. The example of Hungary shows that the causes of the Second World War, in short, included the consolidation of anti-communist forces around Hitler.

Start

On September 1, 1939, they invaded Poland. A few days later, France, Great Britain and their numerous colonies declared war on Germany. Two key powers had allied agreements with Poland and acted in its defense. Thus began the Second World War (1939-1945).

A week before the Wehrmacht attacked Poland, German diplomats concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Thus, the USSR found itself on the sidelines of the conflict between the Third Reich, France and Great Britain. By signing an agreement with Hitler, Stalin was solving his own problems. In the period before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army entered Eastern Poland, the Baltic states and Bessarabia. In November 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war began. As a result, the USSR annexed several western regions.

While German-Soviet neutrality was maintained, the German army was engaged in the occupation of most of the Old World. 1939 was met with restraint by overseas countries. In particular, the United States declared its neutrality and maintained it until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Blitzkrieg in Europe

Polish resistance was broken after just a month. All this time, Germany acted on only one front, since the actions of France and Great Britain were of a low-initiative nature. The period from September 1939 to May 1940 received the characteristic name of the “Strange War”. During these few months, Germany, in the absence of active actions by the British and French, occupied Poland, Denmark and Norway.

The first stages of World War II were characterized by transience. In April 1940, Germany invaded Scandinavia. Air and naval landings entered key Danish cities without hindrance. A few days later, monarch Christian X signed the capitulation. In Norway, the British and French landed troops, but they were powerless against the onslaught of the Wehrmacht. The early periods of World War II were characterized by the general advantage of the Germans over their enemy. The long preparation for future bloodshed took its toll. The whole country worked for the war, and Hitler did not hesitate to throw more and more resources into its cauldron.

In May 1940, the invasion of Benelux began. The whole world was shocked by the unprecedented destructive bombing of Rotterdam. Thanks to their swift attack, the Germans managed to occupy key positions before the Allies appeared there. By the end of May, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg had capitulated and were occupied.

During the summer, the battles of World War II moved into France. In June 1940, Italy joined the campaign. Its troops attacked the south of France, and the Wehrmacht attacked the north. Soon a truce was signed. Most of France was occupied. In a small free zone in the south of the country, the Peten regime was established, which cooperated with the Germans.

Africa and the Balkans

In the summer of 1940, after Italy entered the war, the main theater of military operations moved to the Mediterranean. The Italians invaded North Africa and attacked British bases in Malta. At that time, there were a significant number of English and French colonies on the “Dark Continent”. The Italians initially concentrated on the eastern direction - Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan.

Some French colonies in Africa refused to recognize the new French government led by Pétain. Charles de Gaulle became the symbol of the national struggle against the Nazis. In London, he created a liberation movement called "Fighting France". British troops, together with de Gaulle's troops, began to recapture the African colonies from Germany. Equatorial Africa and Gabon were liberated.

In September the Italians invaded Greece. The attack took place against the backdrop of the fighting for North Africa. Many fronts and stages of the Second World War began to intertwine with each other due to the increasing expansion of the conflict. The Greeks managed to successfully resist the Italian onslaught until April 1941, when Germany intervened in the conflict, occupying Hellas in just a few weeks.

Simultaneously with the Greek campaign, the Germans began the Yugoslav campaign. The forces of the Balkan state were split into several parts. The operation began on April 6, and on April 17 Yugoslavia capitulated. Germany in World War II increasingly looked like an unconditional hegemon. Puppet pro-fascist states were created on the territory of occupied Yugoslavia.

Invasion of the USSR

All previous stages of World War II paled in scale compared to the operation that Germany was preparing to carry out in the USSR. War with the Soviet Union was only a matter of time. The invasion began exactly after the Third Reich occupied most of Europe and was able to concentrate all its forces on the Eastern Front.

Wehrmacht units crossed the Soviet border on June 22, 1941. For our country, this date became the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Until the last moment, the Kremlin did not believe in the German attack. Stalin refused to take intelligence data seriously, considering it disinformation. As a result, the Red Army was completely unprepared for Operation Barbarossa. In the first days, airfields and other strategic infrastructure in the western Soviet Union were bombed without hindrance.

The USSR in World War II faced another German blitzkrieg plan. In Berlin they were planning to capture the main Soviet cities in the European part of the country by winter. For the first months everything went according to Hitler's expectations. Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states were completely occupied. Leningrad was under siege. The course of World War II brought the conflict to a key point. If Germany had defeated the Soviet Union, it would have had no opponents left except overseas Great Britain.

The winter of 1941 was approaching. The Germans found themselves in the vicinity of Moscow. They stopped on the outskirts of the capital. On November 7, a festive parade was held dedicated to the next anniversary of the October Revolution. Soldiers went straight from Red Square to the front. The Wehrmacht was stuck several tens of kilometers from Moscow. The German soldiers were demoralized by the harsh winter and the most difficult battle conditions. On December 5, the Soviet counteroffensive began. By the end of the year, the Germans were driven back from Moscow. The previous stages of World War II were characterized by the total advantage of the Wehrmacht. Now the army of the Third Reich stopped for the first time in its global expansion. The Battle of Moscow became the turning point of the war.

Japanese attack on the USA

Until the end of 1941, Japan remained neutral in the European conflict, while at the same time fighting China. At a certain point, the country's leadership faced a strategic choice: to attack the USSR or the USA. The choice was made in favor of the American version. On December 7, Japanese aircraft attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. As a result of the raid, almost all American battleships and, in general, a significant part of the American Pacific fleet were destroyed.

Until this moment, the United States had not openly participated in World War II. When the situation in Europe changed in favor of Germany, the American authorities began to support Great Britain with resources, but did not interfere in the conflict itself. Now the situation has changed 180 degrees, since Japan was an ally of Germany. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Washington declared war on Tokyo. Great Britain and its dominions did the same. A few days later, Germany, Italy and their European satellites declared war on the United States. This is how the contours of the alliances that faced head-to-head confrontation in the second half of World War II were finally formed. The USSR had been at war for several months and also joined the anti-Hitler coalition.

In the new year of 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, where they began to capture island after island without much difficulty. At the same time, the offensive in Burma was developing. By the summer of 1942, Japanese forces controlled all of Southeast Asia and large parts of Oceania. The United States in World War II changed the situation in the Pacific theater of operations somewhat later.

USSR counter-offensive

In 1942, the Second World War, the table of events of which usually includes basic information, was at its key stage. The forces of the opposing alliances were approximately equal. The turning point occurred towards the end of 1942. In the summer, the Germans launched another offensive in the USSR. This time their key target was the south of the country. Berlin wanted to cut off Moscow from oil and other resources. To do this, it was necessary to cross the Volga.

In November 1942, the whole world anxiously awaited news from Stalingrad. The Soviet counter-offensive on the banks of the Volga led to the fact that since then the strategic initiative was finally in the hands of the USSR. There was no bloodier or larger-scale battle in World War II than the Battle of Stalingrad. The total losses on both sides exceeded two million people. At the cost of incredible efforts, the Red Army stopped the Axis advance on the Eastern Front.

The next strategically important success of the Soviet troops was the Battle of Kursk in June - July 1943. That summer, the Germans tried for the last time to seize the initiative and launch an attack on Soviet positions. The Wehrmacht's plan failed. The Germans not only did not achieve success, but also abandoned many cities in central Russia (Orel, Belgorod, Kursk), while following the “scorched earth tactics.” All tank battles of World War II were bloody, but the largest was the Battle of Prokhorovka. It was a key episode of the entire Battle of Kursk. By the end of 1943 - beginning of 1944, Soviet troops liberated the south of the USSR and reached the borders of Romania.

Allied landings in Italy and Normandy

In May 1943, the Allies cleared the Italians from North Africa. The British fleet began to control the entire Mediterranean Sea. Earlier periods of World War II were characterized by Axis successes. Now the situation has become exactly the opposite.

In July 1943, American, British and French troops landed in Sicily, and in September on the Apennine Peninsula. The Italian government renounced Mussolini and within a few days signed a truce with the advancing opponents. The dictator, however, managed to escape. Thanks to the help of the Germans, he created the puppet republic of Salo in the industrial north of Italy. The British, French, Americans and local partisans gradually conquered more and more cities. On June 4, 1944, they entered Rome.

Exactly two days later, on the 6th, the Allies landed in Normandy. This is how the second or Western Front was opened, as a result of which the Second World War was ended (the table shows this event). In August, a similar landing began in the south of France. On August 25, the Germans finally left Paris. By the end of 1944 the front had stabilized. The main battles took place in the Belgian Ardennes, where each side made, for the time being, unsuccessful attempts to develop its own offensive.

On February 9, as a result of the Colmar operation, the German army stationed in Alsace was surrounded. The Allies managed to break through the defensive Siegfried Line and reach the German border. In March, after the Meuse-Rhine operation, the Third Reich lost territories beyond the western bank of the Rhine. In April, the Allies took control of the Ruhr industrial region. At the same time, the offensive continued in Northern Italy. On April 28, 1945 he fell into the hands of Italian partisans and was executed.

Capture of Berlin

In opening a second front, the Western Allies coordinated their actions with the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army began to attack. Already in the fall, the Germans lost control over the remnants of their possessions in the USSR (with the exception of a small enclave in western Latvia).

In August, Romania, which had previously acted as a satellite of the Third Reich, withdrew from the war. Soon the authorities of Bulgaria and Finland did the same. The Germans began to hastily evacuate from the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia. In February 1945, the Red Army carried out the Budapest operation and liberated Hungary.

The route of Soviet troops to Berlin ran through Poland. Together with her, the Germans left East Prussia. The Berlin operation began at the end of April. Hitler, realizing his own defeat, committed suicide. On May 7, the act of German surrender was signed, which came into force on the night of the 8th to the 9th.

Defeat of the Japanese

Although the war ended in Europe, bloodshed continued in Asia and the Pacific. The last force to resist the Allies was Japan. In June the empire lost control of Indonesia. In July, Great Britain, the United States and China presented her with an ultimatum, which, however, was rejected.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These cases were the only ones in human history when nuclear weapons were used for combat purposes. On August 8, the Soviet offensive began in Manchuria. The Japanese Surrender Act was signed on September 2, 1945. This ended the Second World War.

Losses

Research is still being conducted on how many people suffered and how many died in World War II. On average, the number of lives lost is estimated at 55 million (of which 26 million were Soviet citizens). The financial damage amounted to $4 trillion, although it is hardly possible to calculate exact figures.

Europe was hit hardest. Its industry and agriculture continued to recover for many years. How many died in World War II and how many were destroyed became clear only after some time, when the world community was able to clarify the facts about Nazi crimes against humanity.

The largest bloodshed in human history was carried out using completely new methods. Entire cities were destroyed by bombing, and centuries-old infrastructure was destroyed in a few minutes. The Third Reich's genocide of World War II, directed against Jews, Gypsies and Slavic populations, is horrifying in its details to this day. German concentration camps became real “death factories,” and German (and Japanese) doctors conducted cruel medical and biological experiments on people.

Results

The results of the Second World War were summed up at the Potsdam Conference, held in July - August 1945. Europe was divided between the USSR and the Western allies. Communist pro-Soviet regimes were established in eastern countries. Germany lost a significant part of its territory. was annexed by the USSR, several more provinces passed to Poland. Germany was first divided into four zones. Then, on their basis, the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany and the socialist GDR emerged. In the east, the USSR received the Japanese-owned Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin. The communists came to power in China.

Western European countries lost much of their political influence after World War II. The former dominant position of Great Britain and France was occupied by the United States, which suffered less than others from German aggression. The process of disintegration began. In 1945, the United Nations was created, designed to maintain peace throughout the world. Ideological and other contradictions between the USSR and Western allies caused the start of the Cold War.

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World War II (1939 - 1945)

By the end of the 30s, a circle of the most aggressive powers had formed, striving to start a big war. These were Japan, which had been making seizures in China since 1931, Italy, which attacked Ethiopia in 1936, and with Hitler coming to power in 1933, Germany took the path of aggression. Hitler immediately announced that he did not consider himself bound by the terms of the Versailles Peace, and began to systematically build up the country's military power. The policy of the Western powers was structured in such a way that for a long time his actions did not meet not only resistance, but also sufficient condemnation.

By the fall of 1939, Hitler was quite confident that Germany was ready to start a big war. The question was where his aggressive aspirations would go. In this extremely confusing and complex situation, in which the political interests and intrigues of many powers were intertwined, the Soviet Union agreed to conclude a non-aggression pact with Germany. It should be noted that both Western countries and the fascist bloc were equally hostile to the USSR, so a situation could well have arisen in which the USSR could find itself in a state of war with Germany, with a fairly favorable attitude towards it from England and France. Assessing from the point of view of subsequent events, we must admit that the conclusion of the non-aggression pact ultimately led to the fact that England and the United States fought with us against Germany and its allies. Hitler obviously did not consider himself able to enter the war against the USSR in 1939 until he had secured his rear and taken possession of the resources of all of Europe.

September 1, 1939 World War II begins with Germany's attack on Poland. France and England, bound by allied obligations with Poland, declare war on Germany, but do not conduct real hostilities; The so-called “strange war” begins on the Western Front, which allows Hitler to throw all his combat-ready units into Poland, where he achieves a quick victory. The Red Army occupies Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, and Hitler turns to the West. Thus, the policy of appeasing the aggressor turned against the countries that carried it out. During 1939 - spring 1941. Germany captured - after Poland - Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, German troops landed in North Africa and launched an attack on Egypt. The only European countries, other than Hitler's allies and neutral states, not captured by Germany were Great Britain and the Soviet Union. The war was entering its next phase.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi troops crossed the border of the Soviet Union. The war began without declaration and immediately took an unfavorable turn for our country.

The position of the Soviet Union was aggravated by the fact that industrial areas were located in the occupation zone, where a significant part of military production was concentrated. But Germany failed to end the war in the first campaign, despite the fact that over two million soldiers and commanders of the Red Army were surrounded and captured, and that it lost most of its equipment, which could not yet be compensated for by the production of new ones. At the end of November 1941, the German armies were stopped near Moscow, where on December 5-6 the Red Army counteroffensive began, ending in a retreat and heavy defeat of the aggressor troops. This was the first defeat of the German army in strategic terms since the outbreak of World War II.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese navy and air force launched a surprise attack on the main American naval base in the Pacific Ocean. In the harbor Pearl Harbor The US Pacific Fleet was half destroyed. Thus, Japan begins a war with America, immediately gaining a strategic advantage. The war spread to the Pacific Ocean as a whole. Fierce naval battles took place there until the end of the war.

During 1941 - early 1942, an anti-Hitler coalition took shape consisting of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the USA and China and other countries.

The turning point in the war came in 1943, when the Red Army inflicted two crushing defeats on the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad, where the best forces of the German army were defeated, surrounded and captured, and at the Kursk Bulge, where the Germans last fought on the Eastern Front during the war. tried to carry out a major offensive operation. After this battle, the Wehrmacht finally switched to strategic defense.

In October 1942, the British managed to defeat Rommel's troops near El Alamein in North Africa, thereby preventing the loss of Egypt. Montgomery's English army launches a counter-offensive, while its actions are supported from the West by Anglo-American troops landing in Morocco. In 1943, North Africa was liberated from Italian-German troops. Favorable preconditions were created for the Allied landing on the European continent, which was done first in Sicily and then in Southern Italy. As a result, Italy withdraws from the war, Germany was forced to occupy the territory of its former ally.

1944 becomes the year of decisive victories of the anti-Hitler coalition. The Red Army, after carrying out a series of grandiose operations, the largest of which was the offensive in Belarus, completely liberates the territory of the Soviet Union and begins to expel German troops from the countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. By the end of this year, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia were completely liberated. Intense battles took place in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and on the very approaches to Germany. Another German ally, Finland, is leaving the war. Germany's position was complicated by the opening of a second front in Europe. In June 1944, Anglo-American troops landed on the French coast in Normandy, carrying out the largest amphibious operation of the war. But the main forces of the German army were still absorbed by the Eastern Front.

1945 was the last year of the war. The Allied offensive began in January, and soon hostilities were transferred to the territory of Germany itself. By the end of April, the Red Army takes Berlin, Vienna, and liberates Prague at the beginning of May. On May 8, 1945, the German military command signed an act of unconditional surrender. The war in Europe is over. The territory of Germany is occupied by allied forces, which include Soviet, American, British and French units. Preparations begin for the trial of German war criminals. For the first time in international legal practice, they gathered to judge the leaders of the state that started the war. Among the main war criminals were Goering, Rosenberg, Keitel, Jodl. Hitler, Himler and Goebbels committed suicide during the storming of Berlin.

Immediately after the end of hostilities in Europe, a conference of the victorious powers met in Potsdam, in which the leaders of these countries took part. In addition to the issues of the structure of post-war Europe, it was confirmed that the Soviet Union, having made an appropriate regrouping of troops, would enter the war against Japan, thereby fulfilling its allied obligations to the United States. The American army at that time had already reached the approaches to Japan itself from the Pacific Ocean, but as long as it had a military-industrial base in Manchuria, there was little hope for surrender. And the only force capable of inflicting a quick and decisive defeat on it in this region was the Red Army.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, American planes carried out nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed most of the inhabitants. Such actions were not caused by military necessity. There was no significant manufacturing in the cities that suffered nuclear attacks; The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki also had no effect on the morale of the population of the rest of Japan, since the government took all measures to ensure that information about these events did not spread throughout the country. The government of Emperor Hirohito itself, as subsequent events showed, did not regard such a demonstration of force as a signal for peace. Only the quick, and for the Japanese command simply stunning, defeat of the most powerful of all its armies, the Kwantung Army, could force Japan to surrender. The campaign lasted 25 days, during which time the Kwantung Army, which had been preparing to fight the USSR for more than five years, ceased to exist. It was this fact, and not the atomic bombing, that forced Japan to surrender. Most likely, the decision to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki, made by American President Truman, should be recognized not as an action during the Second World War, but as a prologue to the Cold War. And it was directed mainly not against Japan, but against the USSR, in order to demonstrate its own power and capabilities.

Thus, the Second World War, which claimed over 50 million human lives, ended. The greatest losses were suffered by the Soviet Union and Germany - the main opponents. The USSR lost about 28 million people, Germany - about 13 million. But if German losses fell mainly on the army - 10 million people, then in the USSR the army lost about 8 million killed, and the rest of the victims were civilians. In this regard, it is necessary to dwell on another thesis that has become widespread lately, that the victory over Germany was achieved with great blood, and for every German killed there were from three to five Red Army soldiers. This point of view contradicts all known facts. The total losses of the Red Army in killed and captured during the war amounted to 11 million people, the losses of the German army and the armies of Germany's allies on April 30, 1945 - over 8 million, while this did not include Germans destroyed and surrendered from May 1 to May 9, 1945 troops numbering at least one and a half million people. The loss ratio turns out to be completely different from that given earlier. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the timing O e distribution of these losses: approximately half of them in our army occurred in 1941 - 1942, the German army during the same period loses no more than 10 - 15% of all deaths. Consequently, the Germans suffered the greatest number of them during the offensive of the Red Army, so the statement that we “overwhelmed the German troops with our corpses” is completely false. It should be noted that an offensive requires a ratio of forces of at least three to one in favor of the attacker, and the Red Army never had such superiority in forces across the entire front during the entire war. If it was achieved anywhere, and even on a large scale, it was only due to more skillful maneuvering, troop control, and an advantage in tempo. It must be said that if there was anything superior, it was in technology: since 1942, Soviet industry produced more and more of it every month than Nazi Germany. Supplies from the allies under Lend-Lease also played a significant role here. For example, the Americans supplied about 400,000 cars to the USSR - the same amount as the entire industry of the Soviet Union produced during the war years. But for the main types of military equipment, supplies did not exceed 10 - 15%. Most of all, aircraft were received.

a war prepared by the forces of international imperialist reaction and unleashed by the main aggressive states - fascist Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan. World capitalism, like the first, arose due to the law of uneven development of capitalist countries under imperialism and was the result of a sharp aggravation of inter-imperialist contradictions, the struggle for markets, sources of raw materials, spheres of influence and investment of capital. The war began in conditions when capitalism was no longer a comprehensive system, when the world's first socialist state, the USSR, existed and grew stronger. The split of the world into two systems led to the emergence of the main contradiction of the era - between socialism and capitalism. Inter-imperialist contradictions have ceased to be the only factor in world politics. They developed in parallel and in interaction with the contradictions between the two systems. Warring capitalist groups, fighting each other, simultaneously sought to destroy the USSR. However, V. m.v. began as a clash between two coalitions of major capitalist powers. It was imperialist in origin, its culprits were the imperialists of all countries, the system of modern capitalism. Hitler’s Germany, which led the bloc of fascist aggressors, bears special responsibility for its emergence. On the part of the states of the fascist bloc, the war bore an imperialist character throughout its entire duration. On the part of the states that fought against the fascist aggressors and their allies, the nature of the war gradually changed. Under the influence of the national liberation struggle of peoples, the process of transforming the war into a just, anti-fascist war was underway. The entry of the Soviet Union into the war against the states of the fascist bloc that treacherously attacked it completed this process.

Preparation and outbreak of war. The forces that unleashed military warfare prepared strategic and political positions favorable to the aggressors long before it began. In the 30s Two main centers of military danger have emerged in the world: Germany in Europe, Japan in the Far East. The strengthening of German imperialism, under the pretext of eliminating the injustices of the Versailles system, began to demand the redivision of the world in its favor. The establishment of a terrorist fascist dictatorship in Germany in 1933, which fulfilled the demands of the most reactionary and chauvinistic circles of monopoly capital, turned this country into a striking force of imperialism, directed primarily against the USSR. However, the plans of German fascism were not limited to the enslavement of the peoples of the Soviet Union. The fascist program for gaining world domination provided for the transformation of Germany into the center of a gigantic colonial empire, the power and influence of which would extend to all of Europe and the richest regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the mass destruction of the population in the conquered countries, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe. The fascist elite planned to begin the implementation of this program from the countries of Central Europe, then spreading it to the entire continent. The defeat and capture of the Soviet Union with the aim, first of all, of destroying the center of the international communist and labor movement, as well as expanding the “living space” of German imperialism, was the most important political task of fascism and at the same time the main prerequisite for the further successful deployment of aggression on a global scale. The imperialists of Italy and Japan also sought to redistribute the world and establish a “new order”. Thus, the plans of the Nazis and their allies posed a serious threat not only to the USSR, but also to Great Britain, France, and the USA. However, the ruling circles of the Western powers, driven by a feeling of class hatred towards the Soviet state, under the guise of “non-interference” and “neutrality”, essentially pursued a policy of complicity with the fascist aggressors, hoping to avert the threat of fascist invasion from their countries, to weaken their imperialist rivals with the forces of the Soviet Union, and then with their help, destroy the USSR. They relied on the mutual exhaustion of the USSR and Nazi Germany in a protracted and destructive war.

The French ruling elite, pushing Hitler's aggression to the East in the pre-war years and fighting against the communist movement within the country, at the same time feared a new German invasion, sought a close military alliance with Great Britain, strengthened the eastern borders by building the “Maginot Line” and deploying armed forces against Germany. The British government sought to strengthen the British colonial empire and sent troops and naval forces to its key areas (Middle East, Singapore, India). Pursuing a policy of aiding the aggressors in Europe, the government of N. Chamberlain, right up to the start of the war and in its first months, hoped for an agreement with Hitler at the expense of the USSR. In the event of aggression against France, it hoped that the French armed forces, repelling the aggression together with the British expeditionary forces and British aviation units, would ensure the security of the British Isles. Before the war, the US ruling circles supported Germany economically and thereby contributed to the reconstruction of German military potential. With the outbreak of the war, they were forced to slightly change their political course and, as fascist aggression expanded, switch to supporting Great Britain and France.

The Soviet Union, in an environment of increasing military danger, pursued a policy aimed at curbing the aggressor and creating a reliable system for ensuring peace. On May 2, 1935, a Franco-Soviet treaty on mutual assistance was signed in Paris. On May 16, 1935, the Soviet Union concluded a mutual assistance agreement with Czechoslovakia. The Soviet government fought to create a collective security system that could be an effective means of preventing war and ensuring peace. At the same time, the Soviet state carried out a set of measures aimed at strengthening the country’s defense and developing its military-economic potential.

In the 30s Hitler's government launched diplomatic, strategic and economic preparations for world war. In October 1933, Germany left the Geneva Disarmament Conference of 1932-35 (See Geneva Disarmament Conference of 1932-35) and announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations. On March 16, 1935, Hitler violated the military articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 (See Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919) and introduced universal conscription in the country. In March 1936, German troops occupied the demilitarized Rhineland. In November 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy joined in 1937. The activation of the aggressive forces of imperialism led to a number of international political crises and local wars. As a result of the aggressive wars of Japan against China (began in 1931), Italy against Ethiopia (1935-36), and the German-Italian intervention in Spain (1936-39), fascist states strengthened their positions in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Using the policy of “non-intervention” pursued by Great Britain and France, Nazi Germany captured Austria in March 1938 and began preparing an attack on Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia had a well-trained army, based on a powerful system of border fortifications; Treaties with France (1924) and the USSR (1935) provided for military assistance from these powers to Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Union has repeatedly stated its readiness to fulfill its obligations and provide military assistance to Czechoslovakia, even if France does not. However, the government of E. Benes did not accept help from the USSR. As a result of the Munich Agreement of 1938 (See Munich Agreement of 1938), the ruling circles of Great Britain and France, supported by the United States, betrayed Czechoslovakia and agreed to the seizure of the Sudetenland by Germany, hoping in this way to open the “path to the East” for Nazi Germany. The fascist leadership had a free hand for aggression.

At the end of 1938, the ruling circles of Nazi Germany began a diplomatic offensive against Poland, creating the so-called Danzig crisis, the meaning of which was to carry out aggression against Poland under the guise of demands for the elimination of the “injustices of Versailles” against the free city of Danzig. In March 1939, Germany completely occupied Czechoslovakia, created a fascist puppet “state” - Slovakia, seized the Memel region from Lithuania and imposed an enslaving “economic” agreement on Romania. Italy occupied Albania in April 1939. In response to the expansion of fascist aggression, the governments of Great Britain and France, in order to protect their economic and political interests in Europe, provided “guarantees of independence” to Poland, Romania, Greece and Turkey. France also pledged military assistance to Poland in the event of an attack by Germany. In April - May 1939, Germany denounced the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935, broke the non-aggression agreement concluded in 1934 with Poland and concluded the so-called Pact of Steel with Italy, according to which the Italian government pledged to help Germany if it went to war with the Western powers.

In such a situation, the British and French governments, under the influence of public opinion, out of fear of the further strengthening of Germany and in order to put pressure on it, entered into negotiations with the USSR, which took place in Moscow in the summer of 1939 (see Moscow negotiations 1939). However, the Western powers did not agree to conclude the agreement proposed by the USSR on a joint struggle against the aggressor. By inviting the Soviet Union to make unilateral commitments to help any European neighbor in the event of an attack on it, the Western powers wanted to drag the USSR into a one-on-one war against Germany. The negotiations, which lasted until mid-August 1939, did not produce results due to sabotage by Paris and London of Soviet constructive proposals. Leading the Moscow negotiations to a breakdown, the British government at the same time entered into secret contacts with the Nazis through their ambassador in London G. Dirksen, trying to achieve an agreement on the redistribution of the world at the expense of the USSR. The position of the Western powers predetermined the breakdown of the Moscow negotiations and presented the Soviet Union with an alternative: to find itself isolated in the face of a direct threat of attack by Nazi Germany or, having exhausted the possibilities of concluding an alliance with Great Britain and France, to sign the non-aggression pact proposed by Germany and thereby push back the threat of war. The situation made the second choice inevitable. The Soviet-German treaty concluded on August 23, 1939 contributed to the fact that, contrary to the calculations of Western politicians, the world war began with a clash within the capitalist world.

On the eve of V. m.v. German fascism, through the accelerated development of the military economy, created a powerful military potential. In 1933-39, expenditures on armaments increased more than 12 times and reached 37 billion marks. Germany smelted 22.5 million in 1939. T steel, 17.5 million T pig iron, mined 251.6 million. T coal, produced 66.0 billion. kW · h electricity. However, for a number of types of strategic raw materials, Germany depended on imports (iron ore, rubber, manganese ore, copper, oil and petroleum products, chrome ore). The number of armed forces of Nazi Germany by September 1, 1939 reached 4.6 million people. There were 26 thousand guns and mortars, 3.2 thousand tanks, 4.4 thousand combat aircraft, 115 warships (including 57 submarines) in service.

The strategy of the German High Command was based on the doctrine of “total war.” Its main content was the concept of “blitzkrieg”, according to which victory should be achieved in the shortest possible time, before the enemy fully deploys his armed forces and military-economic potential. The strategic plan of the fascist German command was to, using limited forces in the west as cover, attack Poland and quickly defeat its armed forces. 61 divisions and 2 brigades were deployed against Poland (including 7 tank and about 9 motorized), of which 7 infantry and 1 tank divisions arrived after the start of the war, a total of 1.8 million people, over 11 thousand guns and mortars, 2.8 thousand tanks, about 2 thousand aircraft; against France - 35 infantry divisions (after September 3, 9 more divisions arrived), 1.5 thousand aircraft.

The Polish command, counting on military assistance guaranteed by Great Britain and France, intended to conduct defense in the border zone and go on the offensive after the French army and British aviation actively distracted German forces from the Polish front. By September 1, Poland had managed to mobilize and concentrate troops only 70%: 24 infantry divisions, 3 mountain brigades, 1 armored brigade, 8 cavalry brigades and 56 national defense battalions were deployed. The Polish armed forces had over 4 thousand guns and mortars, 785 light tanks and tankettes and about 400 aircraft.

The French plan for waging war against Germany, in accordance with the political course pursued by France and the military doctrine of the French command, provided for defense on the Maginot Line and the entry of troops into Belgium and the Netherlands to continue the defensive front to the north in order to protect the ports and industrial areas of France and Belgium. After mobilization, the armed forces of France numbered 110 divisions (15 of them in the colonies), a total of 2.67 million people, about 2.7 thousand tanks (in the metropolis - 2.4 thousand), over 26 thousand guns and mortars, 2330 aircraft (in the metropolis - 1735), 176 warships (including 77 submarines).

Great Britain had a strong Navy and Air Force - 320 warships of the main classes (including 69 submarines), about 2 thousand aircraft. Its ground forces consisted of 9 personnel and 17 territorial divisions; they had 5.6 thousand guns and mortars, 547 tanks. The strength of the British army was 1.27 million people. In the event of war with Germany, the British command planned to concentrate its main efforts at sea and send 10 divisions to France. The British and French commands did not intend to provide serious assistance to Poland.

1st period of the war (September 1, 1939 - June 21, 1941)- the period of military successes of Nazi Germany. On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland (see Polish campaign of 1939). On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. Having an overwhelming superiority of forces over the Polish army and concentrating a mass of tanks and aircraft on the main sectors of the front, the Nazi command was able to achieve major operational results from the beginning of the war. The incomplete deployment of forces, the lack of assistance from the allies, the weakness of the centralized leadership and its subsequent collapse put the Polish army before a disaster.

The courageous resistance of Polish troops near Mokra, Mlawa, on Bzura, the defense of Modlin, Westerplatte and the heroic 20-day defense of Warsaw (September 8-28) wrote bright pages in the history of the German-Polish war, but could not prevent the defeat of Poland. Hitler's troops surrounded a number of Polish army groups west of the Vistula, transferred military operations to the eastern regions of the country and completed its occupation in early October.

On September 17, by order of the Soviet government, Red Army troops crossed the border of the collapsed Polish state and began a liberation campaign into Western Belarus and Western Ukraine in order to protect the lives and property of the Ukrainian and Belarusian population, who were seeking reunification with the Soviet republics. The campaign to the West was also necessary to stop the spread of Hitler's aggression to the east. The Soviet government, confident in the inevitability of German aggression against the USSR in the near future, sought to delay the starting point of the future deployment of troops of a potential enemy, which was in the interests of not only the Soviet Union, but also all peoples threatened by fascist aggression. After the Red Army liberated the Western Belarusian and Western Ukrainian lands, Western Ukraine (November 1, 1939) and Western Belarus (November 2, 1939) were reunited with the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR, respectively.

At the end of September - beginning of October 1939, Soviet-Estonian, Soviet-Latvian and Soviet-Lithuanian mutual assistance agreements were signed, which prevented the seizure of the Baltic countries by Nazi Germany and their transformation into a military springboard against the USSR. In August 1940, after the overthrow of the bourgeois governments of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, these countries, in accordance with the wishes of their peoples, were accepted into the USSR.

As a result of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-40 (See Soviet-Finnish War of 1939), according to the agreement of March 12, 1940, the USSR border on the Karelian Isthmus, in the area of ​​Leningrad and the Murmansk Railway, was somewhat pushed to the north-west. On June 26, 1940, the Soviet government proposed that Romania return Bessarabia, captured by Romania in 1918, to the USSR and transfer the northern part of Bukovina, inhabited by Ukrainians, to the USSR. On June 28, the Romanian government agreed to the return of Bessarabia and the transfer of Northern Bukovina.

The governments of Great Britain and France after the outbreak of the war until May 1940 continued, only in a slightly modified form, the pre-war foreign policy course, which was based on calculations for reconciliation with fascist Germany on the basis of anti-communism and the direction of its aggression against the USSR. Despite the declaration of war, the French armed forces and the British Expeditionary Forces (which began arriving in France in mid-September) remained inactive for 9 months. During this period, called the “Phantom War,” Hitler’s army prepared for an offensive against the countries of Western Europe. Since the end of September 1939, active military operations were carried out only on sea communications. To blockade Great Britain, the Nazi command used naval forces, especially submarines and large ships (raiders). From September to December 1939, Great Britain lost 114 ships from attacks by German submarines, and in 1940 - 471 ships, while the Germans lost only 9 submarines in 1939. Attacks on Great Britain's sea communications led to the loss of 1/3 of the tonnage of the British merchant fleet by the summer of 1941 and created a serious threat to the country's economy.

In April–May 1940, German armed forces captured Norway and Denmark (see Norwegian Operation of 1940) with the aim of strengthening German positions in the Atlantic and Northern Europe, seizing iron ore wealth, bringing the bases of the German fleet closer to Great Britain, and providing a springboard in the north for an attack on the USSR. . On April 9, 1940, amphibious assault forces landed simultaneously and captured the key ports of Norway along its entire 1800-long coastline. km, and airborne assaults occupied the main airfields. The courageous resistance of the Norwegian army (which was late in deployment) and the patriots delayed the onslaught of the Nazis. Attempts by the Anglo-French troops to dislodge the Germans from the points they occupied led to a series of battles in the areas of Narvik, Namsus, Molle (Molde), and others. British troops recaptured Narvik from the Germans. But they failed to wrest the strategic initiative from the Nazis. At the beginning of June they were evacuated from Narvik. The occupation of Norway was made easier for the Nazis by the actions of the Norwegian “fifth column” led by V. Quisling. The country turned into Hitler's base in northern Europe. But significant losses of the Nazi fleet during the Norwegian operation weakened its capabilities in the further struggle for the Atlantic.

At dawn on May 10, 1940, after careful preparation, Nazi troops (135 divisions, including 10 tank and 6 motorized, and 1 brigade, 2,580 tanks, 3,834 aircraft) invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and then through their territories and into France (see French campaign 1940). The Germans delivered the main blow with a mass of mobile formations and aircraft through the Ardennes Mountains, bypassing the Maginot Line from the north, through northern France to the English Channel coast. The French command, adhering to a defensive doctrine, stationed large forces on the Maginot Line and did not create a strategic reserve in the depths. After the start of the German offensive, it brought the main group of troops, including the British Expeditionary Army, into Belgium, exposing these forces to attack from the rear. These serious mistakes of the French command, aggravated by poor interaction between the Allied armies, allowed Hitler's troops after crossing the river. Meuse and battles in central Belgium to carry out a breakthrough through northern France, cut the front of the Anglo-French troops, go to the rear of the Anglo-French group operating in Belgium, and break through to the English Channel. On May 14, the Netherlands capitulated. The Belgian, British and part of the French armies were surrounded in Flanders. Belgium capitulated on May 28. The British and part of the French troops, surrounded in the Dunkirk area, managed, having lost all their military equipment, to evacuate to Great Britain (see Dunkirk operation 1940).

At the 2nd stage of the summer campaign of 1940, Hitler’s army, with much superior forces, broke through the front hastily created by the French along the river. Somme and En. The danger looming over France required the unity of the people's forces. French communists called for nationwide resistance and organization of the defense of Paris. The capitulators and traitors (P. Reynaud, C. Pétain, P. Laval and others) who determined the policy of France, the high command led by M. Weygand rejected this only way to save the country, as they feared revolutionary actions of the proletariat and the strengthening of the Communist Party. They decided to surrender Paris without a fight and capitulate to Hitler. Having not exhausted the possibilities of resistance, the French armed forces laid down their arms. The Compiègne Armistice of 1940 (signed on June 22) became a milestone in the policy of national treason pursued by the Pétain government, which expressed the interests of part of the French bourgeoisie, oriented toward Nazi Germany. This truce was aimed at strangling the national liberation struggle of the French people. Under its terms, an occupation regime was established in the northern and central parts of France. France's industrial, raw materials and food resources came under German control. In the unoccupied southern part of the country, the anti-national pro-fascist Vichy government led by Pétain came to power, becoming Hitler's puppet. But at the end of June 1940, the Committee of Free (from July 1942 - Fighting) France was formed in London, headed by General Charles de Gaulle to lead the struggle for the liberation of France from the Nazi invaders and their henchmen.

On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war against Great Britain and France, striving to establish dominance in the Mediterranean basin. Italian troops captured British Somalia, part of Kenya and Sudan in August, and in mid-September invaded Egypt from Libya to make their way to Suez (see North African campaigns 1940-43). However, they were soon stopped, and in December 1940 they were driven back by the British. An attempt by the Italians to develop an offensive from Albania to Greece, launched in October 1940, was decisively repulsed by the Greek army, which inflicted a number of strong retaliatory blows on the Italian troops (see Italo-Greek War 1940-41 (See Italo-Greek War 1940-1941)). In January - May 1941, British troops expelled the Italians from British Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Italian Somalia, and Eritrea. Mussolini was forced in January 1941 to ask Hitler for help. In the spring, German troops were sent to North Africa, forming the so-called Afrika Korps, led by General E. Rommel. Having gone on the offensive on March 31, Italian-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the 2nd half of April.

After the defeat of France, the threat looming over Great Britain contributed to the isolation of the Munich elements and the rallying of the forces of the English people. The government of W. Churchill, which replaced the government of N. Chamberlain on May 10, 1940, began organizing an effective defense. The British government attached particular importance to US support. In July 1940, secret negotiations began between the air and naval headquarters of the United States and Great Britain, which ended with the signing on September 2 of an agreement on the transfer of 50 obsolete American destroyers to the latter in exchange for British military bases in the Western Hemisphere (they were provided to the United States for a period of 99 years). Destroyers were needed to fight the Atlantic communications.

On July 16, 1940, Hitler issued a directive for the invasion of Great Britain (Operation Sea Lion). From August 1940, the Nazis began massive bombing of Great Britain in order to undermine its military and economic potential, demoralize the population, prepare for an invasion and ultimately force it to surrender (see Battle of Britain 1940-41). German aviation caused significant damage to many British cities, enterprises, and ports, but did not break the resistance of the British Air Force, was unable to establish air supremacy over the English Channel, and suffered heavy losses. As a result of the air raids, which continued until May 1941, Hitler’s leadership was unable to force Great Britain to capitulate, destroy its industry, and undermine the morale of the population. The German command was unable to provide the required number of landing equipment in a timely manner. The naval forces were insufficient.

However, the main reason for Hitler’s refusal to invade Great Britain was the decision he made back in the summer of 1940 to commit aggression against the Soviet Union. Having begun direct preparations for an attack on the USSR, the Nazi leadership was forced to transfer forces from the West to the East, directing enormous resources to the development of ground forces, and not the fleet necessary to fight against Great Britain. In the autumn, the ongoing preparations for war against the USSR removed the direct threat of a German invasion of Great Britain. Closely connected with plans to prepare an attack on the USSR was the strengthening of the aggressive alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan, which found expression in the signing of the Berlin Pact of 1940 on September 27 (See Berlin Pact of 1940).

Preparing an attack on the USSR, fascist Germany carried out aggression in the Balkans in the spring of 1941 (see Balkan campaign of 1941). On March 2, Nazi troops entered Bulgaria, which joined the Berlin Pact; On April 6, Italo-German and then Hungarian troops invaded Yugoslavia and Greece and occupied Yugoslavia by April 18, and the Greek mainland by April 29. On the territory of Yugoslavia, puppet fascist “states” were created - Croatia and Serbia. From May 20 to June 2, the fascist German command carried out the Cretan airborne operation of 1941 (See Cretan airborne operation of 1941), during which Crete and other Greek islands in the Aegean Sea were captured.

The military successes of Nazi Germany in the first period of the war were largely due to the fact that its opponents, who had an overall higher industrial and economic potential, were unable to pool their resources, create a unified system of military leadership, and develop unified effective plans for waging war. Their military machine lagged behind the new demands of armed struggle and had difficulty resisting more modern methods of conducting it. In terms of training, combat training and technical equipment, the Nazi Wehrmacht was generally superior to the armed forces of Western states. The insufficient military preparedness of the latter was mainly associated with the reactionary pre-war foreign policy course of their ruling circles, which was based on the desire to come to an agreement with the aggressor at the expense of the USSR.

By the end of the 1st period of the war, the bloc of fascist states had sharply strengthened economically and militarily. Most of continental Europe, with its resources and economy, came under German control. In Poland, Germany captured the main metallurgical and engineering plants, the coal mines of Upper Silesia, the chemical and mining industries - a total of 294 large, 35 thousand medium and small industrial enterprises; in France - the metallurgical and steel industry of Lorraine, the entire automotive and aviation industry, reserves of iron ore, copper, aluminum, magnesium, as well as automobiles, precision mechanics products, machine tools, rolling stock; in Norway - mining, metallurgical, shipbuilding industries, enterprises for the production of ferroalloys; in Yugoslavia - copper and bauxite deposits; in the Netherlands, in addition to industrial enterprises, gold reserves amount to 71.3 million florins. The total amount of material assets looted by Nazi Germany in the occupied countries amounted to 9 billion pounds sterling by 1941. By the spring of 1941, more than 3 million foreign workers and prisoners of war worked at German enterprises. In addition, all the weapons of their armies were captured in the occupied countries; for example, in France alone there are about 5 thousand tanks and 3 thousand aircraft. In 1941, the Nazis equipped 38 infantry, 3 motorized, and 1 tank divisions with French vehicles. More than 4 thousand steam locomotives and 40 thousand carriages from occupied countries appeared on the German railway. The economic resources of most European states were put at the service of the war, primarily the war being prepared against the USSR.

In the occupied territories, as well as in Germany itself, the Nazis established a terrorist regime, exterminating all those dissatisfied or suspected of discontent. A system of concentration camps was created in which millions of people were exterminated in an organized manner. The activity of death camps especially developed after the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR. More than 4 million people were killed in the Auschwitz camp (Poland) alone. The fascist command widely practiced punitive expeditions and mass executions of civilians (see Lidice, Oradour-sur-Glane, etc.).

Military successes allowed Hitler's diplomacy to push the boundaries of the fascist bloc, consolidate the accession of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland (which were headed by reactionary governments closely associated with fascist Germany and dependent on it), plant its agents and strengthen its positions in the Middle East, in some areas of Africa and Latin America. At the same time, political self-exposure of the Nazi regime took place, hatred of it grew not only among the general population, but also among the ruling classes of capitalist countries, and the Resistance Movement began. In the face of the fascist threat, the ruling circles of the Western powers, primarily Great Britain, were forced to reconsider their previous political course aimed at condoning fascist aggression, and gradually replace it with a course towards the fight against fascism.

The US government gradually began to reconsider its foreign policy course. It increasingly actively supported Great Britain, becoming its “non-belligerent ally.” In May 1940, Congress approved an amount of 3 billion dollars for the needs of the army and navy, and in the summer - 6.5 billion, including 4 billion for the construction of a “fleet of two oceans.” The supply of weapons and equipment for Great Britain increased. According to the law adopted by the US Congress on March 11, 1941 on the transfer of military materials to warring countries on loan or lease (see Lend-Lease), Great Britain was allocated 7 billion dollars. In April 1941, the Lend-Lease law was extended to Yugoslavia and Greece. US troops occupied Greenland and Iceland and established bases there. The North Atlantic was declared a “patrol zone” for the US navy, which was also used to escort merchant ships heading to the UK.

2nd period of the war (22 June 1941 - 18 November 1942) is characterized by a further expansion of its scope and the beginning, in connection with the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, which became the main and decisive component of military warfare. (for details on the actions on the Soviet-German front, see the article The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-45). On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany treacherously and suddenly attacked the Soviet Union. This attack completed the long course of anti-Soviet policy of German fascism, which sought to destroy the world's first socialist state and seize its richest resources. Nazi Germany sent 77% of its armed forces personnel, the bulk of its tanks and aircraft, i.e., the main most combat-ready forces of the Nazi Wehrmacht, against the Soviet Union. Together with Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Italy entered the war against the USSR. The Soviet-German front became the main front of the military war. From now on, the struggle of the Soviet Union against fascism decided the outcome of the World War, the fate of humanity.

From the very beginning, the struggle of the Red Army had a decisive influence on the entire course of military warfare, on the entire policy and military strategy of the warring coalitions and states. Under the influence of events on the Soviet-German front, the Nazi military command was forced to determine methods of strategic management of the war, the formation and use of strategic reserves, and a system of regroupings between theaters of military operations. During the war, the Red Army forced the Nazi command to completely abandon the doctrine of “blitzkrieg.” Under the blows of the Soviet troops, other methods of warfare and military leadership used by the German strategy consistently failed.

As a result of a surprise attack, the superior forces of the Nazi troops managed to penetrate deeply into Soviet territory in the first weeks of the war. By the end of the first ten days of July, the enemy captured Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, a significant part of Ukraine, part

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Lecture 9. World War II 1939 - 1945

Parameter name	Meaning
Article topic:	Lecture 9. World War II 1939 - 1945
Rubric (thematic category)	Policy

1. Causes, nature, periodization of the Second World War. Results of the first stage of the war (1939 - 1941).

The Second World War is the most brutal, destructive and devastating of all known to history. It lasted 6 years, covering almost all continents and oceans. 61 states participated (World War I - 4 years, 38 states). About 50-60 million people burned in the fire of war. Tens of millions were left unhappy, having lost sons, husbands, fathers and mothers. Thousands of cities lay in ruins, and the economies of many countries were in a catastrophic situation.

The basis of the coalition that started the war was Germany, Italy, and Japan, pursuing completely compatible geopolitical goals.

Germany's goals were clear: to achieve a revision of the Versailles system, to establish dominance over all of Europe, to capture the USSR, to conquer Africa, to take control of the Middle East. Long-range plans did not exclude the conquest of America and the establishment of world domination.

Italy counted on colonial acquisitions in Africa, consolidating its military-political and economic dominance in the Balkans (including the annexation of Albania and Greece). Mussolini sought to recreate the Roman Empire.

Japan sought to take possession of a number of territories in the Pacific region and the Far East.

The Nazis intended to establish a “new order” in all conquered lands. In this regard, in 1940 ᴦ. A pact of three powers (Germany, Japan, Italy) was signed, according to which Japan recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in creating a new order in Europe. And Germany and Italy recognize and respect Japan’s leadership in creating a new order in the East Asian space.

States that sided with Germany: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland.

The aggressive fascist bloc was opposed by states interested in maintaining the status quo in the system of international relations - France, Great Britain, the USA, and since 1941 -. - THE USSR. Moreover, the position of the USSR was distinguished by a certain duality. On the one hand, the USSR was against large-scale violent redrawing of the political map of Europe and was interested in strengthening the collective security system as a way to block the potential threat of capitalist encirclement. On the other hand, given the contradictions between fascist and democratic states, the USSR received the opportunity to be included in the redistribution of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, if it became irreversible.

The war arose as a result of the uneven economic and political development of industrialized countries, as a result of a sharp aggravation of contradictions between industrialized countries and the formation of two coalitions of countries fighting each other.

Fascist and militaristic states were dissatisfied with the results of the First World War and, above all, with the Versailles-Washington system, they sought a new redistribution of the world, to seize colonies, sources of raw materials, markets, which were under the control of England, France, and the USA.

Even before the war, the ruling circles of Italy, Japan and Germany took the path of aggression. Italy captured Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Albania. Japan - Manchuria (Northeast China), conducted military operations in Central China, on Soviet territory in the area of ​​Lake Khasan, on Mongolian territory in the area of ​​the Khalkin-Gol River. Germany captured Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Until recently, Soviet historians believed that the war began as an imperialist war on both sides, since it was a war for world domination, ᴛ.ᴇ. war for profits, markets and areas of capital investment. At the same time, the above assessment of the war is one-sided and incorrect, since fascism and bourgeois democracy were equated. The fact is that the beginning of the struggle of the peoples of Europe for freedom, national independence, as well as significant changes in the orientation of the governments of Great Britain and the USA, indicated a change in the nature of the war. For this reason, on the part of the countries of bourgeois democracy, the war was fair, liberating, anti-fascist.

This is confirmed by a document known as the Atlantic Charter, promulgated in August 1941. President F. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill.

The Allies stated in it that they were not seeking territorial gains; respect the right of peoples to choose the form of government under which they want to live; strive to restore the sovereign rights and self-government of those peoples who were deprived of this by force.

After 1.5 months in September 1941. The USSR also joined the Atlantic Charter. The principles of the charter obliged the Allies to non-interference in the internal affairs of states liberated from Hitler's captivity. The Allies limited their task to certain control functions in order to ensure an appropriate democratic procedure for determining the form of government and the government itself, general elections, constituent parliaments, freedom of speech, and the press.

In contrast, Germany imposed its own rulers and its own regime on the occupied countries. Sometimes they showed the appearance of “cooperation” with the local “governments” they installed and removed. After the name of the Norwegian protege of the Germans, all such “rulers” began to be called “quislings,” which also serves as a synonym for the word “traitor.”

For example, in France, the Nazis for some time tolerated the existence of an imaginary independent government headed by the elderly Marshal Petain. Pétain played a fatal role in the surrender of France to Germany (June 22, 1940). After the liberation of France, he was put on trial and died in custody. Petain's government controlled a smaller part of France - the south and southeast. In the rest of the territory, power was in the hands of Hitler's agents. Pétain was a prominent Catholic figure, close to Pope Pius XI, he strove to turn France into a kind of model of a “Catholic state”, he wanted to introduce the principle of “family voting” (the right to vote only to the head of the family), religious education was introduced, it went so far as to prohibit burying communists and fighters in cemeteries for liberation in general. That is, things developed in such a way that it was as if the Great French Revolution had never happened.

Historians distinguish five periods of the Second World War:

The first period is the beginning of the Second World War (September 1, 1939 - June 22, 1941) - from the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland to the aggression against the USSR.

The second period is the expansion of fascist aggression (June 22, 1941 - November 1942) - from the attack of Nazi Germany and its allies on the USSR to the counter-offensive of the Soviet army at Stalingrad.

The third period is a radical turning point during the Second World War (November 1942 - December 1943) - from the counter-offensive of Soviet troops at Stalingrad to the offensive in Ukraine and on the central sector of the front.

The fourth period is the defeat of fascism in Europe (January 1944 - May 9, 1945) - from the offensive of the Soviet army near Leningrad and the opening of a second front in France to the defeat of Nazi Germany.

The fifth period is the defeat of militaristic Japan (May 9, 1945 - September 2, 1945) - from the surrender of Germany to the surrender of Japan.

After the attack on Poland, aware of the consequences for their national existence that the victory of the fascist Axis powers would have, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on the third day after Hitler’s invasion. Having declared war, the governments of Great Britain and France did not give up hopes for a quick separate peace concluded at the expense of the USSR.

During 1939-1940. The military actions of France and Great Britain were symbolic.
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There was a “strange war” - 110 divisions of France and Great Britain stood against 23 German ones, but they did not lift a finger to destroy them.

Taking advantage of the circumstances of the “Phantom War,” Germany accumulated strength. In April 1940. Germany attacks neutral Denmark and Norway and occupies them. Then it attacks Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg.

Unprepared, disarmed, betrayed by its own rulers, France was unable to withstand the blow of Hitler's troops. June 5, 1940 ᴦ. they entered Paris. The English expeditionary force (360 thousand people) was on the verge of death. With heavy losses, the British command managed to evacuate him to his homeland. The collapse of the British policy of appeasing Germany caused the fall of the government of N. Chamberlain. W. Churchill became prime minister.

For several months 1940-1941. Hitler's Germany captured and enslaved all of South-Eastern Europe. German troops entered Bulgaria, established control over Romania, Hungary, and occupied Yugoslavia and Greece. At the same time, military operations were carried out in Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East. Japan waged military operations in China, and Italy in East and North Africa.

In the occupied territories, the Nazis established a “new order”. In the fight against it, a patriotic and anti-fascist Resistance Movement arose. The most common forms were the publication of illegal press, strikes, and assassination attempts on the occupiers. In the countries of the fascist bloc, the Resistance Movement operated deep underground.

At a time when France was defeated and Great Britain was in a critical situation, Germany began to prepare a war against the USSR.

July 31, 1940 ᴦ. At the meeting, Hitler stated that Russia must be eliminated in one blow. Beginning - May 1941 ᴦ. The duration of the operation is 5 months. To achieve the goal, allocate 120 divisions.

The war in the East was supposed to be different from the war in the West. The plan for an attack on the USSR called “Barbarossa” (directive No. 21) was approved by Hitler on December 18, 1940. At the root of the plan were 2 main ideas: the complete defeat of the USSR (military-political goal) and “lightning war” (strategic goal).

Three basic directions of advance of the Nazi troops were assumed:

1) from East Prussia through the Baltic states in the direction of Pskov-Leningrad;

2) from the Warsaw area in the direction Minsk-Smolensk-Moscow;

3) from the Lyublino region in the direction of Zhitomir-Kyiv.

For this, the German command created three groups of troops: “North”, “Center”, “South”, with the active participation of troops from Romania and Finland. The total number of German armed forces on the border of the USSR is 4,600 thousand people, and with the Allied troops - 5.5 million people.

With the fall of Moscow, according to the plan, the fate of the war should have been decided - the USSR would capitulate.

The Barbarossa plan was supplemented by an OKH directive of January 31, 1941. - a comprehensive program of merciless warfare, providing for the physical destruction of captured soldiers and officers, and the pursuit of a policy of mass extermination of the civilian population.

In preparation for aggression against the USSR, an aggressive military alliance of fascist states was finally formalized. September 27, 1940 ᴦ. In Berlin, an agreement was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan, which became a further development of the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936-1937. In November 1940 ᴦ. it was joined by Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and in March 1941 ᴦ. - Bulgaria.

2. The main events of the Second World War in 1941-1943.

The beginning of the war was unfavorable for the USSR. Significant territories were abandoned: Belarus, the western region of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Moldova, Crimea, Kuban.

The defeat of German troops near Moscow at the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942. showed that the lightning war did not work out; the myth about the invincibility of the German army was debunked.

December 7, 1941 ᴦ. Japan entered the war with a surprise attack on the American military base in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor and the British fleet in Singapore on December 10. December 8, 1941 ᴦ. The United States officially declared war on Japan, and on December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. However, the war in the Pacific Ocean becomes part of the world war.

Japan begins a wide military campaign in Asia and easily captures Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippine Islands, Malaya and many islands in the Pacific Ocean. India, Australia, and New Zealand are under threat. All the peoples of the globe were drawn into the war.

An anti-fascist coalition of powers was determined. It was attended by the USSR, USA, Great Britain, dominions of the British Commonwealth of Nations, Nazi-occupied European states represented by emigrant governments, many countries of Latin America, China, etc.

The anti-fascist coalition began to take shape immediately after Germany’s attack on the USSR, since with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the political balance of power in the world radically changed.

Already June 22, 1941. British Prime Minister W. Churchill declared his readiness to assist the USSR in the war: “The danger threatening Russia is the danger threatening us and the USA.” The US position towards the USSR was similar to the policy of the British government: “We must provide Russia with all the help we can.” They announced this on June 24, 1941.

July 12, 1941 ᴦ. In Moscow, the Soviet-British agreement “On joint actions in the war against Germany” was signed. Both sides committed themselves to providing each other with assistance and support in the fight against Germany; not to negotiate or conclude a truce or peace treaty with her, except with mutual consent. This marked the beginning of the formation of an anti-Hitler coalition.

Later, as a result of negotiations in the USSR, allied relations were established with the United States and with the governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland who were in exile.

The Anglo-American Declaration of August 14, 1941 played a major role in the formation of the anti-fascist coalition. - “Atlantic Charter” (signed at the first meeting of W. Churchill and F. Roosevelt in Argentia Bay off the coast of Newfoundland, where the prospects for joint actions of the two countries in the event of the United States entering the war, characterizing the strategic goals of the two countries) and the statement of the Soviet government made by the plenipotentiary USSR in London by I.M. Maisky, at the inter-allied conference on September 24, 1941, in which the USSR, Great Britain and its dominions, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Poland, Norway, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg, and Free France took part. The United States was not at war with Germany, and therefore its representatives participated in the conference unofficially. However, these 2 documents outlined the main goals and objectives of the anti-fascist coalition.

September 26 - October 1, 1941 ᴦ. The Moscow Conference of the Three Powers took place with the participation of the USSR, USA, and Great Britain, at which an agreement was reached on military supplies to the USA, Great Britain and the USSR. After Japan's attack on the United States, the United States finally joins the anti-Hitler coalition. However, in a short time an anti-fascist coalition was formed.

In January 1942 ᴦ. At a conference in Washington, 26 states signed the United Nations Declaration of Participation in the War against Germany. Of these, only three countries were capable of waging war on the proper scale: the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain.

In November 1942 ᴦ. The third period of the Second World War begins. Its main event was the catastrophic defeat of Hitler's army at Stalingrad (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943). A radical change in the course of the war began.

US Secretary of State Stettinius in his book “Roosevelt and the Russians” wrote:

ʼʼThe American people should not forget that in 1942 ᴦ. he was not far from disaster. If the USSR could not hold its front, the Germans would have the opportunity to capture Great Britain, Africa and create their own bridgehead in Latin America. The victory on the Volga was followed by the defeat of the Germans near Kursk (July 5 - August 23, 1943), which completed a radical change; the strategic initiative finally passed to the Soviet Army.

And then the expulsion of the invaders from the territory of the USSR begins. At the same time, Anglo-American troops landed in Sicily, and on July 25 they overthrew Mussolini. In 1944 ᴦ. The Soviet army enters the territory of Germany's allies.

And only when it became clear that Hitler’s Germany was heading towards defeat and capitulation, the United States and Great Britain decided to open the constantly postponed second front.

3. The problem of opening a second front in the activities of the anti-Hitler coalition.

The issue of opening a second front was decided from the beginning of the war. It was originally supposed to open it in 1942. after the end of hostilities in North Africa and Sicily. At the same time, the American leadership, unlike the British government, has been since 1942. advocated intensifying preparations for a large-scale landing operation in Western Europe.

The problem of opening a second front has become central to the relations of the allies in the last period. And only a radical turning point in the course of the war in all basic theaters of military operations moved the discussion of this problem into a practical direction.

In January 1943 ᴦ. At the meeting between F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill in Casablanca, W. Churchill advocated transferring military operations to Southern Europe in order to speed up Italy’s exit from the war. J.V. Stalin proposed to the Allies to reduce the time frame for opening a second front as much as possible, demanding its opening not in the south of Europe, but in Normandy no later than the spring-summer of 1943, crossing the English Channel.

W. Churchill and other British leaders argued that no offensive operation could be carried out in 1943. due to the insurmountability of the Atlantic Wall. Marshall supported them, confirming that it was impossible to cross the English Channel before 1944. due to limited resources. For this reason, Operation Overlord to open a second front had to begin no later than May 1, 1941. An attack across the English Channel was planned.

November 28 - December 1, 1943 ᴦ. In Tehran, at the Allied Conference, the question of opening a second front again sparked discussion. The American delegation, which linked the solution to this issue with the USSR's obligations to enter the war with Japan, supported the USSR. W. Churchill, on the contrary, spoke out in favor of carrying out landing operations in the Balkans. As a result, a decision was reached: the landing of Anglo-American troops in Northern and Southern France in May 1944. with the simultaneous advance of the Soviet army on the Eastern Front.

The Allied landings in northern France and Normandy began in June 1944. The commander-in-chief of the Anglo-American forces was General Dwight Eisenhower (US President since 1953). They acted under the cover of aviation, which had a huge advantage in the air. New Anglo-American forces arrived at the captured bridgehead, and the defending Germans, as a result of envelopment and dismemberment, had to fall into the so-called “bags”.

At the beginning of 1944 ᴦ. Great Britain and the United States were preparing to invade Western Europe:

Invasion of northwestern France (Operation Overlord);

Invasion in the south of France (Operation Enville).

For this purpose April 23, 1944 ᴦ. The headquarters of the High Command of the Allied Armed Forces in Britain, COSSAC, was approved, under the leadership of the English General Morgan. Since January 15, 1944 ᴦ. The supreme commander of the allied armed forces was General Eisenhower, the deputy was the British Air Marshal Tedder.
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The commanders of the troops were appointed: English General Montgomery (land forces); English Marshal Ramsay (naval forces); English Marshal Leigh-Mallory (air force).

The main task facing the Allied forces is to invade Europe and, together with other united nations, undertake operations with the aim of reaching the heart of Germany and destroying its armed forces.

The general scheme of military operations in Western Europe was as follows: land on the coast of Normandy, capture the territory of Normandy and the Brittany peninsula; break through the defenses of German troops in Normandy; on the 90th day of the operation, reach the line of the Seine and Loire rivers, pursuing the enemy, reach the German borders and threaten the Ruhr (left flank); on the right wing there is a connection with the troops that will invade the south of France.

The exit to the German border (a distance of approximately 500 km) was planned on the 330th day after the start of the invasion, ᴛ.ᴇ. low rate of advance. The ultimate goal is to clear the rest of Germany from the enemy.

4. The final stage of the second global international conflict (1944-1945): the defeat of fascist Germany and militaristic Japan.

The second front was opened on June 6, 1944. military operations in Northwestern France. On June 5, convoys of landing troops crossed the English Channel.

The operation in Normandy began with an airborne landing. Eisenhower's army moved towards Germany through France and by August 25, 1944 ᴦ. liberated Paris, then Brussels, Luxembourg, and part of Holland. At the German border, the advance of the Anglo-American troops stopped due to German counterattacks, but in February-March 1945 ᴦ. They entered Germany from the west, breaking through the fortifications of the Siegfried Line. In the first half of April, American formations reached the Elbe, meeting with Soviet units moving towards them.

The final blow to Nazi Germany came during the Berlin operation, which began on April 16. The assault on Berlin was completed by May 2, 1945. The day before, April 30, after Hitler’s suicide, General Krebs, on behalf of Goebbels and Bormann, who headed the regime, turned to the Soviet command with a request for a truce. May 8, 1945 ᴦ. Germany signed an act of unconditional surrender. The war in Europe is over.

There was still Japan left. Summer 1943 ᴦ. American troops under the command of General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz began the liberation of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The strategic initiative of the Japanese army and navy was lost, but the Japanese put up fierce resistance. It was not possible to create a pro-Japanese coalition of Southeast Asian states, since the national liberation movement that had begun was directed both against the former colonialists and the Japanese invaders.

In the fall of 1943 ᴦ. The Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands were liberated. In January 1944 ᴦ. - Caroline Islands.

The liberation of the Mariana Islands lasted from February to August 1944. In June 1944 ᴦ. The largest naval battle of the Pacific campaign took place near the Mariana Islands (more than 1.5 thousand carrier-based aircraft on both sides).

In the fall of 1944 ᴦ. The liberation of the Philippine Islands began, during which the Japanese navy ceased to exist as a maneuverable formation.

In the spring and summer of 1945. The American navy and air force managed to inflict serious defeats on the Japanese armed forces. But there was still a large Kwantung Army of Japan, located at the very borders of the Soviet Far East, and occupation armies remained in Central and Southern China.

August 8, 1945 ᴦ. Following the decision of the Crimean Allied Conference, the USSR declared war on Japan. The Soviet armed forces broke through the defensive lines of the Kwantung Army and defeated it in a short time. The 8th and 4th People's Liberation Army of China began their offensive, soon establishing control over the vast territory of Northern and large parts of Central China.

During the days of the Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945 ᴦ.) an important event occurred - on the eve of July 16, Truman received from the United States a brief message about the successful testing of an atomic bomb; on the evening of July 24, he reported this to I. Stalin, who limited himself to the fact that congratulated the US President and expressed the wish that the new weapon would be successfully used against Japan.

August 6 and 9, 1945 ᴦ. American aircraft dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The military significance of this action was small, since Japan was already heading towards disaster. The main goal: it was to intimidate both enemies and allies, primarily the USSR. The monopoly on the atomic bomb, which seemed so durable, was supposed to provide the United States with a dominant position in the post-war world.

The immediate result of the use of atomic weapons was the fact that the importance of Soviet participation in the war with Japan was immediately downplayed.

After the bombing, the Japanese government was already in a hopeless situation. Simultaneous attacks from the sky by Americans and Soviet troops on the Asian continent deprived further resistance of any meaning.

On August 9, the Supreme Military Council of Japan met with the emperor, discussions continued throughout the day, and as a result, the monarch accepted the ultimatum presented in Potsdam. But on the only condition that the prerogatives of the throne be preserved. However, Japan's decision to surrender was announced only on August 14. Until this day, fighting in Manchuria and the advance of Soviet troops continued. The Kwantung Army surrendered only on August 19. The main hero of the war in the Pacific was the United States, and therefore they established the place and procedure for signing the official act of surrender.

September 2, 1945 ᴦ. On board the American battleship Missouri, the act of unconditional surrender of Japan was signed. Moscow was represented by the modest figure of Lieutenant General Derevianko. Truman decreed that Japan would be occupied exclusively by US Army units, and that the American General MacArthur would exercise supreme control over the country.

The main reasons for the defeat of the Japanese army were as follows: firstly, there was a miscalculation on the part of Japan's Main Headquarters when assessing the enemy. Production of military products in the USA in 1942. equal to the volume of military production of Germany, Japan, and Italy combined. Secondly, there was an overestimation of the combat capabilities of the Japanese army itself. Japan captured vast territories rich in resources. At the same time, it did not have the economic opportunity to put them at the service of the war and did not have the strength to politically lead the territories. Thirdly, due to contradictions and mistrust between the land army and navy, there was a lack of coordination of actions. Fourthly, due to the inertia of the tactical thought of the Japanese military command, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ adhered to the principle of persistent defense of a certain area and had a negative attitude towards retreat.

5. The world-historical significance of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition in the Second World War.

A revolution in the world caused by the events of 1945. is still not fully appreciated. The consequences of the war were important and varied.

The war caused damage to the entire life of the peaceful civilian population. It lasted six years and one day. The war claimed over 60 million human lives, incl. The human losses of the USSR amounted to over 27 million people. About 11 million people - citizens of European countries - were killed by the Nazis in concentration camps. The material losses of the warring and occupied countries amounted to about 4,000 billion dollars.

The Second World War changed the balance of power in Europe and radically influenced the further course of the political process in the world.

Political regimes were destroyed in the three main countries of international reaction - Germany, Italy, Japan. Although, fascism, as a form of political domination of the bourgeoisie, as a political regime, has survived in a significant number of countries: Spain and Portugal, in the states of Latin America, in some Asian countries. The collapse of these regimes occurred relatively recently.

In all industrialized countries, in an atmosphere of democracy and revolutionary renewal, democratic and social reforms were carried out.

In eight countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe - in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania - so-called people's democracies arose as the most acceptable form of socialist social and state system. They existed until the end of the 80s. 4 years after the end of the war in 1949. the socialist state established itself throughout China. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea emerged.

A world system of socialism arose, uniting 13 countries of Europe and Asia together with the USSR and Mongolia.

National liberation revolutions led to the fall of colonial empires - English, French, Belgian, Dutch. Dozens of new sovereign states arose in place of former colonies and semi-colonies. Profound changes have occurred in the development of productive forces. The war stimulated scientific and technological research and the practical application of scientific discoveries. The weapons became qualitatively different.

Lecture 9. World War II 1939 - 1945 - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Lecture 9. The Second World War 1939 - 1945." 2017, 2018.