What are people's cognitive abilities? What is cognition and cognitive skills

The Second World War was prepared and unleashed by the states of the aggressive bloc led by Hitler's Germany. Its origins were rooted in the Versailles system of international relations, based on the dictates of the countries that won the First World War and put Germany in a humiliating position.

This created the conditions for the development of the idea of revenge.

German imperialism, on a new material and technical basis, created a powerful military-economic base, and it was assisted by Western countries. Terrorist dictatorships dominated in Germany and its allies Italy and Japan, and racism and chauvinism were instilled.

The conquest program of Hitler's Reich was aimed at destroying the Versailles order, seizing vast territories and establishing dominance in Europe. This included the liquidation of Poland, the defeat of France, the ousting of England from the continent, the mastery of the resources of Europe, and then a “march to the East,” the destruction of the Soviet Union and the establishment of a “new living space” on its territory. After that, she planned to subjugate Africa, the Middle East and prepare for war with the United States. The ultimate goal was to establish world domination of the “Third Reich”. On the part of Hitler's Germany and its allies, the war was imperialist, aggressive, and unjust.

England and France were not interested in war. They entered the war based on the desire to weaken competitors and maintain their own positions in the world. They bet on the collision of Germany and Japan with the Soviet Union and their mutual exhaustion. The actions of the Western powers on the eve and at the beginning of the war led to the defeat of France, the occupation of almost all of Europe, and the creation of a threat to the independence of Great Britain.

The expansion of aggression threatened the independence of many states. For the peoples of the countries that became victims of the invaders, the struggle against the occupiers from the very beginning acquired a liberating, anti-fascist character.

There are five periods in the history of the Second World War: Period I (September 1, 1939 - June 21, 1941) - the beginning of the war and the invasion of Nazi troops into the countries of Western Europe. II period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) - the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, the expansion of the scale of the war, the collapse of Hitler's plan for a lightning war. III period (November 19, 1942 - December 1943) - a radical turning point in the course of the war, the collapse of the offensive strategy of the fascist bloc. IV period (January 1944 - May 9, 1945) - the defeat of the fascist bloc, the expulsion of enemy troops from the USSR, the opening of a second front, liberation from the occupation of European countries, the complete collapse of Nazi Germany and its unconditional surrender. The end of the Great Patriotic War. V period (May 9 - September 2, 1945) - the defeat of imperialist Japan, the liberation of the peoples of Asia from the Japanese occupiers, the end of the Second World War.

Confident that England and France would not provide real help to Poland, Germany attacked it on September 1, 1939. Poland became the first state in Europe whose people rose up to defend their national existence. 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 important operational results from the beginning of the war.

The incomplete deployment of forces, the lack of assistance from the allies, and the weakness of the centralized leadership put the Polish army before a disaster. The courageous resistance of Polish troops near Mlawa, on the Bzura, the defense of Modlin, Westerplatt and the heroic 20-day defense of Warsaw (September 8 - 28) wrote bright pages in the history of the Second World War, but could not prevent the defeat of Poland. On September 28, Warsaw capitulated. The Polish government and military command moved into Romanian territory. During the tragic days for Poland, the troops of the allies - England and France - were inactive. On September 3, England and France declared war on Germany, but did not take any active action. The United States declared its neutrality, hoping that military orders from the warring states would bring huge profits to industrialists and bankers.

The Soviet government, using the opportunities provided by the “secret additional protocol,” sent its troops into Western Ukraine and Western

Belarus. The Soviet government did not declare war on Poland. It motivated its decision by the fact that the Polish state had ceased to exist, its territory had turned into a field for all sorts of surprises and provocations, and in this situation it was necessary to take the population of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine under protection. According to the friendship and border treaty signed by the USSR and Germany on September 28, 1939, the border was established along the Narew, San and Western Bug rivers. Polish lands remained under German occupation, Ukraine and Belarus went to the USSR.

Germany's superiority in forces and the lack of assistance from the West led to the fact that at the end of September and beginning of October 1939 the last pockets of resistance of the Polish troops were suppressed, but the Polish government did not sign the act of surrender.

In the plans of England and France, a significant place was occupied by the war between Finland and the USSR, which began at the end of November 1939. The Western powers sought to turn a local armed conflict into the beginning of a united military campaign against the USSR. The unexpected rapprochement between the USSR and Germany left Finland alone with a powerful enemy. The “Winter War,” which lasted until March 12, 1940, demonstrated the low combat effectiveness of the Soviet Army and the especially low level of training of command personnel, weakened by Stalin’s repressions. Only due to large casualties and a clear superiority in forces was the resistance of the Finnish army broken. Under the terms of the peace treaty, the entire Karelian Isthmus, the northwestern coast of Lake Ladoga, and a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland were included in the territory of the USSR. The war significantly worsened the USSR's relations with Western countries - Great Britain and France, which planned to intervene in the conflict on the side of Finland.

While the Polish campaign and the Soviet-Finnish war were taking place, amazing calm reigned on the Western Front. French journalists called this period the “strange war.” The obvious reluctance of government and military circles in Western countries to escalate the conflict with Germany was explained by a number of reasons. The command of the English and French armies continued to focus on the strategy of positional warfare and hoped for the effectiveness of the defensive Maginot Line covering the eastern borders of France.

The memory of the colossal losses during the First World War also forced extreme caution. Finally, many politicians in these countries counted on the localization of the outbreak of war in Eastern Europe, on Germany’s readiness to be satisfied with the first victories. The illusory nature of this position was shown in the very near future.

The attack of Hitler's troops on Denmark and Norway in April-May 1940 led to the occupation of these countries. This strengthened German positions in the Atlantic and Northern Europe and brought the bases of the German fleet closer to Great Britain. Denmark capitulated almost without a fight, and the Norwegian armed forces offered stubborn resistance to the aggressor. On May 10, the German invasion of Holland, Belgium, and then through their territory into France began. German troops, bypassing the fortified Maginot Line and breaking through the Ardennes, broke through the Allied front on the Meuse River and reached the English Channel coast. English and French troops were pinned to the sea at Dunkirk. But unexpectedly the German offensive was suspended, which made it possible to evacuate British troops to the British Isles. The Nazis launched a further attack on Paris. On June 10, 1940, Italy declared war on the Anglo-French coalition, seeking to establish dominance in the Mediterranean basin. The French government betrayed the interests of the country. Paris, declared an open city, was given to the Nazis without a fight. The new government was formed by a supporter of surrender - Marshal Petain, associated with the fascists. On June 22, 1940, an armistice agreement was signed in the Compiegne Forest, which meant the surrender of France. France was divided into occupied (northern and central parts) and unoccupied, where the regime of the puppet government of Petain was established. The Resistance movement began to develop in France. The patriotic organization Free France, led by General Charles de Gaulle, began to operate in exile.

Hitler hoped that the defeat of France would force England to leave the war; peace was offered to her. But Germany's successes only strengthened the British desire to continue the fight. On May 10, 1940, a coalition government was formed headed by Germany's enemy W. Churchill. The new government cabinet has taken emergency measures to strengthen the defense system. England was supposed to turn into a “hornet’s nest” - a continuous expanse of fortified areas,

anti-tank and anti-landing lines, deployment of air defense units. The German command was indeed preparing at that time a landing operation on the British Isles (“Seelowe” - “Sea Lion”). But in view of the obvious superiority of the English fleet, the task of crushing the military power of Great Britain was entrusted to the air force - the Luftwaffe under the command of G. Goering. From August to October 1940, the “Battle of Britain” broke out - one of the largest air battles during the Second World War. The battles went on with varying degrees of success, but by mid-autumn it became obvious that the plans of the German command were impracticable. Shifting attacks to civilian targets and massive intimidation bombings of English cities also did not have any effect.

In an effort to strengthen cooperation with its main allies, Germany signed in September 1940 a tripartite pact on a political and military-economic alliance with Italy and Japan, directed against the USSR, Great Britain, and the USA.

As the activity of military operations in western Europe decreased, the attention of the German leadership again focused on the eastern direction. The second half of 1940 and the beginning of 1941 became a decisive time for determining the balance of power on the continent. Germany could firmly count on the occupied territories of France, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, as well as the dependent regimes of Quisling in Norway, Tiso in Slovakia, the Vichys in France and the “exemplary protectorate” of Denmark. The fascist regimes in Spain and Portugal chose to remain neutral, but for now this was of little concern to Hitler, who fully counted on the loyalty of the dictators Franco and Salazar. Italy independently captured Albania and began aggression in Greece. However, with the help of English formations, the Greek army repelled the attack and even entered the territory of Albania. In this situation, much depended on the position of government circles in the countries of South-Eastern Europe.

Back in the second half of the 1930s, military-authoritarian nationalist regimes either came to power or further strengthened their positions in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. Nazi Germany viewed this region as its sphere of direct influence. However, with

At the outbreak of the war, the states of South-Eastern Europe were in no hurry to assume any obligations towards the warring parties. Forcing events, the German leadership decided in August 1940 to prepare open aggression against the least loyal Romania. However, in November a coup d'etat took place in Bucharest and the pro-German Antonescu regime came to power. At the same time, fearing the growing influence of Romania, Hungary also announced its readiness to join the German bloc. Bulgaria became another satellite of the Reich in the spring of 1941.

Events unfolded differently in Yugoslavia. In March 1941, the Yugoslav government signed an alliance pact with Germany. However, the patriotic command of the Yugoslav army carried out a coup d'etat and terminated the agreement. Germany's response was the start of military operations in the Balkans in April. The huge superiority in forces allowed the Wehrmacht to defeat the Yugoslav army within a week and a half, and then suppress pockets of resistance in Greece. The territory of the Balkan Peninsula was divided between the countries of the German bloc. However, the struggle of the Yugoslav people continued, and the Resistance movement, one of the most powerful in Europe, expanded in the country.

With the end of the Balkan campaign, only three truly neutral, independent states remained in Europe - Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland. The Soviet Union was chosen as the next target of aggression. Formally, the Soviet-German treaty of 1939 was still in force, but its true potential had already been exhausted. The division of Eastern Europe into spheres of influence allowed the USSR to freely include Western Belarus and Western Ukraine, the Baltic republics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which were occupied by Romania back in 1918, and in June 1940. at the request of the USSR they were returned to him; using military measures to achieve territorial concessions to Finland. Germany, using an agreement with the USSR, carried out the first and most important campaigns in Europe, avoiding the dispersion of forces on two fronts. Now nothing separated the two huge powers and the choice could only be made between further military-political rapprochement or an open clash. The decisive moment was the Soviet-German negotiations in November 1940 in Berlin. At them, the Soviet Union was invited to join the Steel Pact.

The USSR's refusal to renounce an obviously unequal union predetermined the inevitability of war. On December 1, 8, the secret plan “Barbarossa” was approved, which provided for a lightning war against the USSR.

In the early morning of September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Goebbels’s propaganda presented this event as a response to the previous “seizure by Polish soldiers” of a radio station in the German border town of Gleiwitz (it later turned out that the German security service staged the attack in Gleiwitz, using German death row prisoners dressed in Polish military uniforms). Germany sent 57 divisions against Poland.

Great Britain and France, bound by allied obligations with Poland, after some hesitation, declared war on Germany on September 3. But the opponents were in no hurry to get involved in active struggle. According to Hitler's instructions, German troops were to adhere to defensive tactics on the Western Front during this period in order to “sparing their forces as much as possible, to create the preconditions for the successful completion of the operation against Poland.” The Western powers did not launch an offensive either. 110 French and 5 British divisions stood against 23 German ones, without taking serious military action. It is no coincidence that this confrontation was called a “strange war.”

Left without help, Poland, despite the desperate resistance of its soldiers and officers to the invaders in Gdansk (Danzig), on the Baltic coast in the Westerplatte region, in Silesia and other places, could not hold back the onslaught of the German armies.

On September 6, the Germans approached Warsaw. The Polish government and diplomatic corps left the capital. But the remnants of the garrison and the population defended the city until the end of September. The defense of Warsaw became one of the heroic pages in the history of the struggle against the occupiers.

At the height of the tragic events for Poland on September 17, 1939, units of the Red Army crossed the Soviet-Polish border and occupied the border territories. In this regard, the Soviet note said that they “took under protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.” On September 28, 1939, Germany and the USSR, having practically divided the territory of Poland, entered into a friendship and border treaty. In a statement on this occasion, representatives of the two countries emphasized that “thereby they created a solid foundation for lasting peace in Eastern Europe.” Having thus secured new borders in the east, Hitler turned to the west.

On April 9, 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. On May 10, they crossed the borders of Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg and began an attack on France. The balance of forces was approximately equal. But the German shock armies, with their strong tank formations and aviation, managed to break through the Allied front. Some of the defeated Allied troops retreated to the English Channel coast. Their remnants were evacuated from Dunkirk at the beginning of June. By mid-June, the Germans had captured the northern part of French territory.

The French government declared Paris an "open city." On June 14, it was surrendered to the Germans without a fight. Hero of the First World War, 84-year-old Marshal A.F. Petain spoke on the radio with an appeal to the French: “With pain in my heart, I tell you today that we must stop the fight. Tonight I turned to the enemy to ask him if he is ready to seek with me... means to put an end to hostilities.” However, not all French supported this position. On June 18, 1940, in a broadcast from the London BBC radio station, General Charles de Gaulle stated:

“Has the last word been said? Is there no more hope? Has the final defeat been dealt? No! France is not alone! ...This war is not limited only to the long-suffering territory of our country. The outcome of this war is not decided by the Battle of France. This is a world war... I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, appeal to the French officers and soldiers who are on British territory... with an appeal to establish contact with me... Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance should not go out and will not go out.”

On June 22, 1940, a Franco-German truce was concluded in the Compiègne forest (in the same place and in the same carriage as in 1918), this time meaning the defeat of France. In the remaining unoccupied territory of France, a government was created headed by A.F. Petain, which expressed its readiness to cooperate with the German authorities (it was located in the small town of Vichy). On the same day, Charles de Gaulle announced the creation of the Free France Committee, the purpose of which was to organize the fight against the occupiers.

After the surrender of France, Germany invited Great Britain to begin peace negotiations. The British government, headed at that moment by a supporter of decisive anti-German actions, W. Churchill, refused. In response, Germany strengthened the naval blockade of the British Isles, and massive German bomber raids began on English cities. Great Britain, for its part, signed an agreement with the United States in September 1940 on the transfer of several dozen American warships to the British fleet. Germany failed to achieve its intended goals in the “Battle of Britain.”

Back in the summer of 1940, the strategic direction of further actions was determined in the leadership circles of Germany. The Chief of the General Staff F. Halder then wrote in his official diary: “Eyes are turned to the East.” Hitler at one of the military meetings said: “Russia must be liquidated. Deadline: spring 1941.”

In preparation for this task, Germany was interested in expanding and strengthening the anti-Soviet coalition. In September 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan concluded a military-political alliance for a period of 10 years - the Tripartite Pact. It was soon joined by Hungary, Romania and the self-proclaimed Slovak state, and a few months later by Bulgaria. A German-Finnish agreement on military cooperation was also concluded. Where it was not possible to establish an alliance on a contractual basis, they acted by force. In October 1940, Italy attacked Greece. In April 1941, German troops occupied Yugoslavia and Greece. Croatia became a separate state - a satellite of Germany. By the summer of 1941, almost all of Central and Western Europe was under the rule of Germany and its allies.

1941

In December 1940, Hitler approved the Barbarossa plan, which provided for the defeat of the Soviet Union. This was a plan for blitzkrieg (lightning war). Three army groups - “North”, “Center” and “South” were supposed to break through the Soviet front and capture vital centers: the Baltic states and Leningrad, Moscow, Ukraine, Donbass. The breakthrough was ensured by powerful tank formations and aviation. Before the onset of winter, it was planned to reach the line Arkhangelsk - Volga - Astrakhan.

On June 22, 1941, the armies of Germany and its allies attacked the USSR. A new stage of the Second World War began. Its main front was the Soviet-German front, the most important component was the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the invaders. First of all, these are the battles that thwarted the German plan for a lightning war. In their ranks one can name many battles - from the desperate resistance of border guards, the Battle of Smolensk to the defense of Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, besieged but never surrendered Leningrad.

The largest event of not only military but also political significance was the battle of Moscow. The offensives of the German Army Group Center, launched on September 30 and November 15-16, 1941, did not achieve their goal. It was not possible to take Moscow. And on December 5-6, the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops began, as a result of which the enemy was thrown back from the capital 100-250 km, 38 German divisions were defeated. The victory of the Red Army near Moscow became possible thanks to the steadfastness and heroism of its defenders and the skill of its commanders (the fronts were commanded by I. S. Konev, G. K. Zhukov, S. K. Timoshenko). This was Germany's first major defeat in World War II. In this regard, W. Churchill stated: “The Russian resistance broke the back of the German armies.”

The balance of forces at the beginning of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops in Moscow

Important events occurred at this time in the Pacific Ocean. Back in the summer and autumn of 1940, Japan, taking advantage of the defeat of France, seized its possessions in Indochina. Now it has decided to strike at the strongholds of other Western powers, primarily its main rival in the struggle for influence in Southeast Asia - the United States. On December 7, 1941, more than 350 Japanese naval aircraft attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor (in the Hawaiian Islands).

In two hours, most of the warships and aircraft of the American Pacific Fleet were destroyed or disabled, the number of Americans killed was more than 2,400 people, and more than 1,100 people were wounded. The Japanese lost several dozen people. The next day, the US Congress decided to start a war against Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

The defeat of German troops near Moscow and the entry of the United States of America into the war accelerated the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Dates and events

July 12, 1941- signing of the Anglo-Soviet agreement on joint actions against Germany.
August 14- F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill issued a joint declaration on the goals of the war, support for democratic principles in international relations - the Atlantic Charter; in September the USSR joined it.
September 29 - October 1- British-American-Soviet conference in Moscow, a program for mutual supplies of weapons, military materials and raw materials was adopted.
November 7- the law on Lend-Lease (transfer by the United States of America of weapons and other materials to opponents of Germany) was extended to the USSR.
January 1, 1942- The Declaration of 26 states - “united nations” fighting against the fascist bloc was signed in Washington.

On the fronts of the world war

War in Africa. Back in 1940, the war spread beyond Europe. That summer, Italy, eager to make the Mediterranean its “inland sea,” attempted to seize the British colonies in North Africa. Italian troops occupied British Somalia, parts of Kenya and Sudan, and then invaded Egypt. However, by the spring of 1941, British armed forces not only drove the Italians out of the territories they had captured, but also entered Ethiopia, occupied by Italy in 1935. Italian possessions in Libya were also under threat.

At the request of Italy, Germany intervened in military operations in North Africa. In the spring of 1941, the German corps under the command of General E. Rommel, together with the Italians, began to oust the British from Libya and blocked the Tobruk fortress. Then Egypt became the target of the German-Italian offensive. In the summer of 1942, General Rommel, nicknamed the “Desert Fox,” captured Tobruk and broke through with his troops to El Alamein.

The Western powers were faced with a choice. They promised the leadership of the Soviet Union to open a second front in Europe in 1942. In April 1942, F. Roosevelt wrote to W. Churchill: “Your and my people demand the creation of a second front in order to remove the burden from the Russians. Our peoples cannot help but see that the Russians are killing more Germans and destroying more enemy equipment than the United States and England combined.” But these promises were at odds with the political interests of Western countries. Churchill cabled Roosevelt: “Don’t let North Africa out of your sight.” The Allies announced that the opening of a second front in Europe was forced to be postponed until 1943.

In October 1942, British troops under the command of General B. Montgomery launched an offensive in Egypt. They defeated the enemy at El Alamein (about 10 thousand Germans and 20 thousand Italians were captured). Most of Rommel's army retreated to Tunisia. In November, American and British troops (numbering 110 thousand people) under the command of General D. Eisenhower landed in Morocco and Algeria. The German-Italian army group, sandwiched in Tunisia by British and American troops advancing from the east and west, capitulated in the spring of 1943. According to various estimates, from 130 thousand to 252 thousand people were captured (in total, 12-14 people fought in North Africa Italian and German divisions, while over 200 divisions of Germany and its allies fought on the Soviet-German front).

Fighting in the Pacific Ocean. In the summer of 1942, the American naval forces defeated the Japanese in the battle of Midway Island (4 large aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser were sunk, 332 aircraft were destroyed). Later, American units occupied and defended the island of Guadalcanal. The balance of forces in this combat area changed in favor of the Western powers. By the end of 1942, Germany and its allies were forced to suspend the advance of their troops on all fronts.

"New order"

In the Nazi plans to conquer the world, the fate of many peoples and states was predetermined.

Hitler, in his secret notes, which became known after the war, provided for the following: the Soviet Union would “disappear from the face of the earth”, within 30 years its territory would become part of the “Greater German Reich”; after the “final victory of Germany” there will be reconciliation with England, a treaty of friendship will be concluded with it; the Reich will include the countries of Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula and other European states; The United States of America will be “permanently excluded from world politics”, it will undergo “complete re-education of the racially inferior population”, and the population “with German blood” will be given military training and “re-education in the national spirit”, after which America will “become a German state” .

Already in 1940, directives and instructions “on the Eastern Question” began to be developed, and a comprehensive program for the conquest of the peoples of Eastern Europe was outlined in the “Ost” master plan (December 1941). The general guidelines were as follows: “The highest goal of all activities carried out in the East should be to strengthen the military potential of the Reich. The task is to remove the largest amount of agricultural products, raw materials, and labor from the new eastern regions,” “the occupied regions will provide everything necessary... even if the consequence of this is the starvation of millions of people.” Part of the population of the occupied territories was to be destroyed on the spot, a significant part was to be resettled in Siberia (it was planned to destroy 5-6 million Jews in the “eastern regions”, evict 46-51 million people, and reduce the remaining 14 million people to the level of a semi-literate labor force, education limited to a four-year school).

In the conquered countries of Europe, the Nazis methodically implemented their plans. In the occupied territories, a “cleansing” of the population was carried out - Jews and communists were exterminated. Prisoners of war and part of the civilian population were sent to concentration camps. A network of more than 30 death camps has engulfed Europe. The terrible memory of millions of tortured people is associated among the war and post-war generations with the names Buchenwald, Dachau, Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, Treblinka, etc. In only two of them - Auschwitz and Majdanek - more than 5.5 million people were exterminated. Those who arrived at the camp underwent “selection” (selection), the weak, primarily the elderly and children, were sent to the gas chambers and then burned in the ovens of the crematoria.

From the testimony of an Auschwitz prisoner, Frenchwoman Vaillant-Couturier, presented at the Nuremberg trials:

“There were eight cremation ovens at Auschwitz. But since 1944, this number has become insufficient. The SS forced the prisoners to dig colossal ditches in which they set fire to brushwood doused with gasoline. The corpses were thrown into these ditches. We saw from our block how, about 45 minutes to an hour after the arrival of the party of prisoners, large flames began to burst out of the crematorium ovens, and a glow appeared in the sky, rising above the ditches. One night we were awakened by a terrible scream, and the next morning we learned from people who worked in the Sonderkommando (the team that serviced the gas chambers) that the day before there was not enough gas and therefore children were thrown into the furnaces of cremation furnaces while still alive.”

At the beginning of 1942, Nazi leaders adopted a directive on the “final solution to the Jewish question,” that is, on the systematic destruction of an entire people. During the war years, 6 million Jews were killed - one in three. This tragedy was called the Holocaust, which translated from Greek means “burnt offering.” The orders of the German command to identify and transport the Jewish population to concentration camps were perceived differently in the occupied countries of Europe. In France, the Vichy police helped the Germans. Even the Pope did not dare to condemn the removal of Jews from Italy by the Germans in 1943 for subsequent extermination. And in Denmark, the population hid Jews from the Nazis and helped 8 thousand people move to neutral Sweden. After the war, an alley was laid out in Jerusalem in honor of the Righteous Among the Nations - people who risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones to save at least one innocent person sentenced to imprisonment and death.

For residents of occupied countries who were not immediately subjected to extermination or deportation, the “new order” meant strict regulation in all spheres of life. The occupation authorities and German industrialists seized a dominant position in the economy with the help of "Aryanization" laws. Small enterprises closed, and large ones switched to military production. Some agricultural areas were subject to Germanization, and their population was forcibly evicted to other areas. Thus, about 450 thousand residents were evicted from the territories of the Czech Republic bordering Germany, and about 280 thousand people from Slovenia. Mandatory supplies of agricultural products were introduced for peasants. Along with control over economic activities, the new authorities pursued a policy of restrictions in the field of education and culture. In many countries, representatives of the intelligentsia - scientists, engineers, teachers, doctors, etc. - were persecuted. In Poland, for example, the Nazis carried out a targeted curtailment of the education system. Classes at universities and high schools were prohibited. (Why do you think, why was this done?) Some teachers, risking their lives, continued to teach students illegally. During the war years, the occupiers killed about 12.5 thousand teachers of higher educational institutions and teachers in Poland.

The authorities of Germany's allied states - Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, as well as the newly proclaimed states - Croatia and Slovakia, also pursued a tough policy towards the population. In Croatia, the Ustasha government (participants of the nationalist movement that came to power in 1941), under the slogan of creating a “purely national state,” encouraged the mass expulsion and extermination of Serbs.

The forced removal of the working population, especially young people, from the occupied countries of Eastern Europe to work in Germany took on a wide scale. General Commissioner “for the use of labor” Sauckel set the task of “completely exhausting all human reserves available in the Soviet regions.” Trains with thousands of young men and women forcibly driven away from their homes reached the Reich. By the end of 1942, German industry and agriculture employed the labor of about 7 million “Eastern workers” and prisoners of war. In 1943, another 2 million people were added to them.

Any insubordination, and especially resistance to the occupation authorities, was mercilessly punished. One of the terrible examples of the Nazis’ reprisal against civilians was the destruction of the Czech village of Lidice in the summer of 1942. It was carried out as an “act of retaliation” for the murder of a major Nazi official, “Protector of Bohemia and Moravia” Heydrich, committed the day before by members of a sabotage group.

The village was surrounded by German soldiers. The entire male population over 16 years of age (172 people) was shot (the residents who were absent that day - 19 people - were captured later and also shot). 195 women were sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp (four pregnant women were taken to maternity hospitals in Prague, after giving birth they were also sent to the camp, and newborn children were killed). 90 children from Lidice were taken from their mothers and sent to Poland, and then to Germany, where their traces were lost. All houses and buildings of the village were burned to the ground. Lidice disappeared from the face of the earth. German cameramen carefully filmed the entire “operation” - “for the edification” of contemporaries and descendants.

Turning point in the war

By mid-1942, it became obvious that Germany and its allies had failed to carry out their original war plans on any front. In subsequent military actions it was necessary to decide which side would have the advantage. The outcome of the entire war depended mainly on events in Europe, on the Soviet-German front. In the summer of 1942, the German armies launched a major offensive in the southern direction, approached Stalingrad and reached the foothills of the Caucasus.

Battles for Stalingrad lasted more than 3 months. The city was defended by the 62nd and 64th armies under the command of V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov. Hitler, who had no doubt about victory, declared: “Stalingrad is already in our hands.” But the counteroffensive of Soviet troops that began on November 19, 1942 (front commanders N.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky, A.I. Eremenko) ended in the encirclement of German armies (numbering over 300 thousand people), their subsequent defeat and capture , including commander Field Marshal F. Paulus.

During the Soviet offensive, the losses of the armies of Germany and its allies amounted to 800 thousand people. In total, in the Battle of Stalingrad they lost up to 1.5 million soldiers and officers - approximately a quarter of the forces then operating on the Soviet-German front.

Battle of Kursk. In the summer of 1943, an attempt by a German attack on Kursk from the Orel and Belgorod areas ended in a crushing defeat. On the German side, over 50 divisions (including 16 tank and motorized) took part in the operation. A special role was given to powerful artillery and tank strikes. On July 12, the largest tank battle of World War II took place on a field near the village of Prokhorovka, in which about 1,200 tanks and self-propelled artillery units collided. At the beginning of August, Soviet troops liberated Oryol and Belgorod. 30 enemy divisions were defeated. The losses of the German army in this battle amounted to 500 thousand soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks. After the Battle of Kursk, the offensive of Soviet troops unfolded along the entire front. In the summer and autumn of 1943, Smolensk, Gomel, Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv were liberated. The strategic initiative on the Soviet-German front passed to the Red Army.

In the summer of 1943, the Western powers began fighting in Europe. But they did not open, as expected, a second front against Germany, but struck in the south, against Italy. In July, British and American troops landed on the island of Sicily. Soon a coup d'état took place in Italy. Representatives of the army elite removed Mussolini from power and arrested him. A new government was created headed by Marshal P. Badoglio. On September 3, it concluded an armistice agreement with the British-American command. On September 8, the surrender of Italy was announced, and troops of Western powers landed in the south of the country. In response, 10 German divisions entered Italy from the north and captured Rome. On the newly formed Italian front, British-American troops with difficulty, slowly, but still pushed back the enemy (in the summer of 1944 they occupied Rome).

The turning point in the course of the war immediately affected the positions of other countries - allies of Germany. After the Battle of Stalingrad, representatives of Romania and Hungary began to explore the possibility of concluding a separate peace with the Western powers. The Francoist government of Spain issued statements of neutrality.

On November 28 - December 1, 1943, a meeting of the leaders of the three countries took place in Tehran- members of the anti-Hitler coalition: USSR, USA and Great Britain. I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill discussed mainly the question of the second front, as well as some questions of the structure of the post-war world. US and British leaders promised to open a second front in Europe in May 1944, launching the landing of Allied troops in France.

Resistance movement

Since the establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany, and then the occupation regimes in European countries, the Resistance movement to the “new order” began. It was attended by people of different beliefs and political affiliations: communists, social democrats, supporters of bourgeois parties and non-party people. German anti-fascists were among the first to join the fight in the pre-war years. Thus, at the end of the 1930s, an underground anti-Nazi group arose in Germany, led by H. Schulze-Boysen and A. Harnack. In the early 1940s, it was already a strong organization with an extensive network of secret groups (in total, up to 600 people participated in its work). The underground carried out propaganda and intelligence work, maintaining contact with Soviet intelligence. In the summer of 1942, the Gestapo discovered the organization. The scale of its activities amazed the investigators themselves, who called this group the “Red Chapel.” After interrogation and torture, the leaders and many members of the group were sentenced to death. In his last word at the trial, H. Schulze-Boysen said: “Today you judge us, but tomorrow we will be the judges.”

In a number of European countries, immediately after their occupation, an armed struggle began against the invaders. In Yugoslavia, the communists became the initiators of nationwide resistance to the enemy. Already in the summer of 1941, they created the Main Headquarters of the people's liberation partisan detachments (it was headed by I. Broz Tito) and decided on an armed uprising. By the fall of 1941, partisan detachments numbering up to 70 thousand people were operating in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1942, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (PLJA) was created, and by the end of the year it practically controlled a fifth of the country's territory. In the same year, representatives of organizations participating in the Resistance formed the Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ). In November 1943, the veche proclaimed itself the temporary supreme body of legislative and executive power. By this time, half of the country’s territory was already under his control. A declaration was adopted that defined the foundations of the new Yugoslav state. National committees were created in the liberated territory, and the confiscation of enterprises and lands of fascists and collaborators (people who collaborated with the occupiers) began.

The Resistance movement in Poland consisted of many groups with different political orientations. In February 1942, part of the underground armed forces united into the Home Army (AK), led by representatives of the Polish émigré government, which was located in London. “Peasant battalions” were created in the villages. Detachments of the Army of the People (AL) organized by the communists began to operate.

Guerrilla groups carried out sabotage on transport (over 1,200 military trains were blown up and about the same number set on fire), at military enterprises, and attacked police and gendarmerie stations. The underground members produced leaflets telling about the situation at the fronts and warning the population about the actions of the occupation authorities. In 1943-1944. partisan groups began to unite into large detachments that successfully fought against significant enemy forces, and as the Soviet-German front approached Poland, they interacted with Soviet partisan detachments and army units and carried out joint combat operations.

The defeat of the armies of Germany and its allies at Stalingrad had a particular impact on the mood of people in the warring and occupied countries. The German security service reported on the “state of mind” in the Reich: “The belief has become universal that Stalingrad marks a turning point in the war... Unstable citizens see Stalingrad as the beginning of the end.”

In Germany, in January 1943, total (general) mobilization into the army was announced. The working day increased to 12 hours. But simultaneously with the desire of the Hitler regime to gather the forces of the nation into an “iron fist,” the rejection of his policies grew among different groups of the population. Thus, one of the youth circles issued a leaflet with the appeal: “Students! Students! The German people are looking at us! They expect us to be liberated from Nazi terror... Those who died at Stalingrad call on us: rise up, people, the flames are burning!”

After the turning point in the fighting on the fronts, the number of underground groups and armed detachments fighting against the invaders and their accomplices in the occupied countries increased significantly. In France, the Maquis became more active - partisans who carried out sabotage on railways, attacked German posts, warehouses, etc.

One of the leaders of the French Resistance movement, Charles de Gaulle, wrote in his memoirs:

“Until the end of 1942, there were few Maquis detachments and their actions were not particularly effective. But then hope increased, and with it the number of those who wanted to fight increased. In addition, compulsory “labor conscription,” which in a few months mobilized half a million young men, mostly workers, for use in Germany, and the dissolution of the “armistice army,” prompted many dissenters to go underground. The number of more or less significant Resistance groups increased, and they waged a guerrilla war, which played a primary role in wearing out the enemy, and later in the ensuing Battle of France.”

Figures and facts

Number of participants in the Resistance movement (1944):

France - over 400 thousand people;
Italy - 500 thousand people;
Yugoslavia - 600 thousand people;
Greece - 75 thousand people.

By mid-1944, leading bodies of the Resistance movement had formed in many countries, uniting different movements and groups - from communists to Catholics. For example, in France, the National Council of the Resistance included representatives of 16 organizations. The most determined and active participants in the Resistance were the communists. For the sacrifices made in the fight against the occupiers, they were called the “party of those executed.” In Italy, communists, socialists, Christian Democrats, liberals, members of the Action Party and the Democracy of Labor party participated in the work of national liberation committees.

All participants in the Resistance sought first of all to liberate their countries from occupation and fascism. But on the question of what kind of power should be established after this, the views of representatives of individual movements differed. Some advocated the restoration of pre-war regimes. Others, primarily the communists, sought to establish a new, “people's democratic power.”

Liberation of Europe

The beginning of 1944 was marked by major offensive operations by Soviet troops on the southern and northern sectors of the Soviet-German front. Ukraine and Crimea were liberated, and the 900-day blockade of Leningrad was lifted. In the spring of this year, Soviet troops reached the state border of the USSR for more than 400 km, approaching the borders of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Continuing the defeat of the enemy, they began to liberate the countries of Eastern Europe. Next to the Soviet soldiers, units of the 1st Czechoslovak Brigade under the command of L. Svoboda and the 1st Polish Division, formed during the war on the territory of the USSR, fought for the freedom of their peoples. T. Kosciuszko under the command of Z. Berling.

At this time, the Allies finally opened a second front in Western Europe. On June 6, 1944, American and British troops landed in Normandy, on the northern coast of France.

The bridgehead between the cities of Cherbourg and Caen was occupied by 40 divisions with a total number of up to 1.5 million people. The Allied forces were commanded by American General D. Eisenhower. Two and a half months after the landing, the Allies began advancing deeper into French territory. They were opposed by about 60 understrength German divisions. At the same time, resistance units launched an open struggle against the German army in the occupied territory. On August 19, an uprising began in Paris against the troops of the German garrison. General de Gaulle, who arrived in France with the Allied troops (by that time he had been proclaimed head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic), fearing the “anarchy” of the mass liberation struggle, insisted that Leclerc’s French tank division be sent to Paris. On August 25, 1944, this division entered Paris, which by that time had been practically liberated by the rebels.

Having liberated France and Belgium, where in a number of provinces the Resistance forces also launched armed actions against the occupiers, the Allied troops reached the German border by September 11, 1944.

At that time, a frontal offensive by the Red Army was taking place on the Soviet-German front, as a result of which the countries of Eastern and Central Europe were liberated.

Dates and events

Fighting in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in 1944-1945.

1944

July 17 - Soviet troops crossed the border with Poland; Chelm, Lublin liberated; In the liberated territory, the power of the new government, the Polish Committee of National Liberation, began to assert itself.
August 1 - the beginning of the uprising against the occupiers in Warsaw; this action, prepared and led by the émigré government located in London, was defeated by the beginning of October, despite the heroism of its participants; By order of the German command, the population was expelled from Warsaw, and the city itself was destroyed.
August 23 - the overthrow of the Antonescu regime in Romania, a week later Soviet troops entered Bucharest.
August 29 - the beginning of the uprising against the occupiers and the reactionary regime in Slovakia.
September 8 - Soviet troops entered Bulgarian territory.
September 9 - anti-fascist uprising in Bulgaria, the government of the Fatherland Front comes to power.
October 6 - Soviet troops and units of the Czechoslovak Corps entered the territory of Czechoslovakia.
October 20 - troops of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and the Red Army liberated Belgrade.
October 22 - Red Army units crossed the Norwegian border and occupied the port of Kirkenes on October 25.

1945

January 17 - troops of the Red Army and the Polish Army liberated Warsaw.
January 29 - Soviet troops crossed the German border in the Poznan region. February 13 - Red Army troops captured Budapest.
April 13 - Soviet troops entered Vienna.
April 16 - The Berlin operation of the Red Army began.
April 18 - American units entered the territory of Czechoslovakia.
April 25 - Soviet and American troops met on the Elbe River near the city of Torgau.

Many thousands of Soviet soldiers gave their lives for the liberation of European countries. In Romania, 69 thousand soldiers and officers died, in Poland - about 600 thousand, in Czechoslovakia - more than 140 thousand and about the same in Hungary. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in other, including opposing, armies. They fought on opposite sides of the front, but were similar in one thing: no one wanted to die, especially in the last months and days of the war.

During the liberation in the countries of Eastern Europe, the issue of power acquired paramount importance. The pre-war governments of a number of countries were in exile and now sought to return to leadership. But new governments and local authorities appeared in the liberated territories. They were created on the basis of the organizations of the National (People's) Front, which arose during the war as an association of anti-fascist forces. The organizers and most active participants of the national fronts were communists and social democrats. The programs of the new governments provided not only for the elimination of occupation and reactionary, pro-fascist regimes, but also for broad democratic reforms in political life and socio-economic relations.

Defeat of Germany

In the fall of 1944, troops of the Western powers - participants in the anti-Hitler coalition - approached the borders of Germany. In December of this year, the German command launched a counteroffensive in the Ardennes (Belgium). American and British troops found themselves in a difficult position. D. Eisenhower and W. Churchill turned to I.V. Stalin with a request to speed up the offensive of the Red Army in order to divert German forces from west to east. By Stalin's decision, the offensive along the entire front was launched on January 12, 1945 (8 days earlier than planned). W. Churchill subsequently wrote: “It was a wonderful feat on the part of the Russians to speed up a broad offensive, undoubtedly at the cost of human lives.” On January 29, Soviet troops entered the territory of the German Reich.

On February 4-11, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place in Yalta. I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill agreed on plans for military operations against Germany and post-war policy towards it: zones and conditions of occupation, actions to destroy the fascist regime, the procedure for collecting reparations, etc. An accession agreement was also signed at the conference The USSR entered the war against Japan 2-3 months after the surrender of Germany.

From the documents of the conference of the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA in Crimea (Yalta, February 4-11, 1945):

“...Our unyielding goal is the destruction of German militarism and Nazism and the creation of guarantees that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world. We are determined to disarm and disband all German armed forces, to destroy once and for all the German General Staff, which has repeatedly contributed to the revival of German militarism, to confiscate or destroy all German military equipment, to liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for military purposes. production; subject all war criminals to fair and speedy punishment and exact compensation in kind for the destruction caused by the Germans; wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions from the face of the earth; to remove all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people, and to take together such other measures in Germany as may prove necessary for the future peace and security of the whole world. Our goals do not include the destruction of the German people. Only when Nazism and militarism are eradicated will there be hope for a dignified existence for the German people and a place for them in the community of nations.”

By mid-April 1945, Soviet troops approached the capital of the Reich, and on April 16 the Berlin operation began (front commanders G.K. Zhukov, I.S. Konev, K.K. Rokossovsky). It was distinguished by both the offensive power of the Soviet units and the fierce resistance of the defenders. On April 21, Soviet units entered the city. On April 30, A. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. The next day, the Red Banner fluttered over the Reichstag building. On May 2, the remnants of the Berlin garrison capitulated.

During the battle for Berlin, the German command issued the order: “Defend the capital to the last man and to the last cartridge.” Teenagers - members of the Hitler Youth - were mobilized into the army. The photo shows one of these soldiers, the last defenders of the Reich, who was captured.

On May 7, 1945, General A. Jodl signed an act of unconditional surrender of German troops at the headquarters of General D. Eisenhower in Reims. Stalin considered such a unilateral capitulation to the Western powers insufficient. In his opinion, surrender had to take place in Berlin and before the high command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. On the night of May 8-9, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, Field Marshal W. Keitel, in the presence of representatives of the high command of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France, signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany.

The last European capital to be liberated was Prague. On May 5, an uprising against the occupiers began in the city. A large group of German troops under the command of Field Marshal F. Scherner, who refused to lay down their arms and broke through to the west, threatened to capture and destroy the capital of Czechoslovakia. In response to the rebels' request for help, units of three Soviet fronts were hastily transferred to Prague. On May 9 they entered Prague. As a result of the Prague operation, about 860 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were captured.

On July 17 - August 2, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place in Potsdam (near Berlin). Those who took part in it were I. Stalin, G. Truman (US President after F. Roosevelt, who died in April 1945), and C. Attlee (who replaced W. Churchill as British Prime Minister) discussed “the principles of the coordinated policy of the allies towards the defeated Germany." A program of democratization, denazification, and demilitarization of Germany was adopted. The total amount of reparations it had to pay was confirmed as $20 billion. Half was intended for the Soviet Union (it was later calculated that the damage inflicted by the Nazis on the Soviet country amounted to about $128 billion). Germany was divided into four occupation zones - Soviet, American, British and French. Liberated by Soviet troops, Berlin and the Austrian capital Vienna were placed under the control of the four Allied powers.

At the Potsdam Conference. In the first row from left to right: K. Attlee, G. Truman, I. Stalin

Provision was made for the establishment of an International Military Tribunal to try Nazi war criminals. The border between Germany and Poland was established along the Oder and Neisse rivers. East Prussia went to Poland and partially (the region of Königsberg, now Kaliningrad) to the USSR.

End of the war

In 1944, at a time when the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition countries were conducting a widespread offensive against Germany and its allies in Europe, Japan intensified its actions in Southeast Asia. Its troops launched a massive offensive in China, capturing a territory with a population of over 100 million people by the end of the year.

The strength of the Japanese army at that time reached 5 million people. Its units fought with particular tenacity and fanaticism, defending their positions to the last soldier. In the army and aviation there were kamikazes - suicide bombers who sacrificed their lives by directing specially equipped aircraft or torpedoes at enemy military targets, blowing themselves up along with enemy soldiers. The American military believed that it would be possible to defeat Japan no earlier than 1947, with losses amounting to at least 1 million people. The participation of the Soviet Union in the war against Japan could, in their opinion, significantly facilitate the achievement of the assigned tasks.

In accordance with the commitment given at the Crimean (Yalta) Conference, the USSR declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945. But the Americans did not want to give up the leading role in the future victory to the Soviet troops, especially since by the summer of 1945 atomic weapons had been created in the United States. On August 6 and 9, 1945, American planes dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Testimony of historians:

“On August 6, a B-29 bomber appeared over Hiroshima. The alarm was not announced, since the appearance of one plane did not seem to pose a serious threat. At 8.15 am the atomic bomb was dropped by parachute. A few moments later, a blinding fireball broke out over the city, the temperature at the epicenter of the explosion reached several million degrees. Fires in the city, built up with light wooden houses, covered an area within a radius of more than 4 km. Japanese authors write: “Hundreds of thousands of people who became victims of atomic explosions died an unusual death - they died after terrible torture. The radiation even penetrated into the bone marrow. People without the slightest scratch, seemingly completely healthy, after a few days or weeks, or even months, their hair suddenly fell out, their gums began to bleed, diarrhea appeared, the skin became covered with dark spots, hemoptysis began, and they died in full consciousness.”

(From the book: Rozanov G. L., Yakovlev N. N. Recent history. 1917-1945)

Hiroshima. 1945

As a result of nuclear explosions in Hiroshima, 247 thousand people died, in Nagasaki there were up to 200 thousand killed and wounded. Later, many thousands of people died from wounds, burns, and radiation sickness, the number of which has not yet been accurately calculated. But politicians didn't think about it. And the cities that were bombed did not constitute important military installations. Those who used the bombs mainly wanted to demonstrate their strength. US President Henry Truman, upon learning that a bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, exclaimed: “This is the greatest event in history!”

On August 9, troops of three Soviet fronts (over 1 million 700 thousand personnel) and parts of the Mongolian army began an offensive in Manchuria and on the coast of North Korea. A few days later they went 150-200 km into enemy territory in some areas. The Japanese Kwantung Army (numbering about 1 million people) was under threat of defeat. On August 14, the Japanese government announced its agreement with the proposed terms of surrender. But Japanese troops did not stop resisting. Only after August 17 did units of the Kwantung Army begin to lay down their arms.

On September 2, 1945, representatives of the Japanese government signed an act of unconditional surrender of Japan on board the American battleship Missouri.

The Second World War is over. It was attended by 72 states with a total population of over 1.7 billion people. The fighting took place on the territory of 40 countries. 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces. According to updated estimates, up to 62 million people died in the war, including about 27 million Soviet citizens. Thousands of cities and villages were destroyed, innumerable material and cultural values were destroyed. Humanity paid a huge price for the victory over the invaders who sought world domination.

The war, in which atomic weapons were used for the first time, showed that armed conflicts in the modern world threaten to destroy not only an increasing number of people, but also humanity as a whole, all life on earth. The hardships and losses of the war years, as well as examples of human self-sacrifice and heroism, left a memory of themselves in several generations of people. The international and socio-political consequences of the war turned out to be significant.

References:
Aleksashkina L.N. / General history. XX - early XXI centuries.

Briefly, point by point, the entire course of World War II is divided into five main stages. We will try to describe them clearly for you.

The shortest stages in the table for grades 9, 10, 11
The beginning of the European conflict - initial stage 1
Opening of the Eastern Front - Stage 2
Fracture - stage 3
Liberation of Europe - stage 4
The end of the war - final stage 5

Table for ninth, tenth, eleventh grades

The beginning of the European conflict - The first initial stage of 1939 - 1941

The first stage of the largest armed conflict in terms of its scale began on the day when Hitler’s troops entered Polish soil and ended on the eve of the Nazi attack on the USSR.
The beginning of the second conflict, which acquired global proportions, was officially recognized as September 1, 1939. At dawn of this day, the German occupation of Poland began and European countries realized the threat posed by Hitler's Germany.
2 days later, France and the British Empire entered the war on the side of Poland. Following them, the French and British dominions and colonies declared war on the Third Reich. Representatives of Australia, New Zealand and India were the first to announce their decision (September 3), then the leadership of the Union of South Africa (September 6) and Canada (September 10).
However, despite entering the war, the French and British states did not help Poland in any way, and generally did not begin any active actions for a long time, trying to redirect German aggression to the east - against the USSR.
All this ultimately led to the fact that in the first war period, Nazi Germany managed to occupy not only Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Belgian, Luxembourg and Dutch territories, but also most of the French Republic.
After which the Battle of Britain began, which lasted more than three months. True, the Germans did not have to celebrate victory in this battle - they never managed to land troops on the British Isles.
As a result of the first period of the war, most European states found themselves under fascist German-Italian occupation or became dependent on these states.

Opening of the Eastern Front - Second stage 1941 - 1942

The second stage of the war began on June 22, 1941, when the Nazis violated the state border of the USSR. This period was marked by the expansion of the conflict and the collapse of Hitler's blitzkrieg.
One of the significant events of this stage was also the support of the USSR from the largest states - the USA and Great Britain. Despite their rejection of the socialist system, the governments of these states declared unconditional assistance to the Union. Thus, the foundation was laid for a new military alliance - the anti-Hitler coalition.
The second most important point of this stage of the Second World War is considered to be joining the US military action, provoked by an unexpected and rapid attack by the fleet and air force of the Japanese Empire on an American military base in the Pacific Ocean. The attack occurred on December 7, and the very next day war was declared on Japan by the United States, Great Britain and several other countries. And after another 4 days, Germany and Italy presented the United States with a note declaring war.

The turning point during World War II - Third stage 1942-1943

The turning point of the war is considered to be the first major defeat of the German army on the approaches to the Soviet capital and the Battle of Stalingrad, during which the Nazis not only suffered significant losses, but were also forced to abandon offensive tactics and switch to defensive ones. These events occurred during the third stage of hostilities, which lasted from November 19, 1942 until the end of 1943.
Also at this stage, the Allies entered Italy, where a crisis of power was already brewing, almost without a fight. As a result, Mussolini was overthrown, the fascist regime collapsed, and the new government chose to sign a truce with America and Britain. On October 13, Italy entered the war with its former ally.
At the same time, a turning point occurred in the theater of operations in the Pacific Ocean, where Japanese troops began to suffer defeats one after another.

Liberation of Europe - Fourth stage 1944 -1945

During the fourth war period, which began on the first day of 1944 and ended on May 9, 1945, a second front was created in the west, the fascist bloc was defeated and all European states were liberated from the German invaders. Germany was forced to admit defeat and sign an act of surrender.

End of the war - Fifth final stage 1945

Despite the fact that German troops laid down their arms, the world war was not over yet - Japan was not going to follow the example of its former allies. As a result, the USSR declared war on the Japanese state, after which Red Army detachments began a military operation in Manchuria. The resulting defeat of the Kwantung Army hastened the end of the war.
However, the most significant moment of this period was the atomic bombing of Japanese cities by the American air force. This happened on August 6 (Hiroshima) and 9 (Nagasaki), 1945.
This stage ended, and with it the whole war, on September 2 of the same year. On this significant day, on board the American battle cruiser Missouri, representatives of the Japanese government officially signed the act of surrender.

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

The causes of World War II were the imbalance of power in the world and the problems provoked by the results, in particular territorial disputes.

The winners of the First World War, the USA, England and France, concluded the Treaty of Versailles on the most unfavorable and humiliating conditions for the losing countries (Turkey and Germany), which provoked an increase in tension in the world. At the same time, adopted in the late 1930s. England and France's policy of appeasing the aggressor made it possible for Germany to sharply increase its military potential, which accelerated the Nazis' transition to active military action.

Members of the anti-Hitler bloc were the USSR, USA, France, England, China (Chiang Kai-shek), Greece, Yugoslavia, Mexico, etc. On the German side, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, China (Wang Jingwei), Thailand, Iraq, etc. participated in World War II. Many states that participated in the Second World War did not conduct operations on the fronts, but helped by supplying food, medicine and other necessary resources.

Researchers identify the following stages of World War II:

first stage: from September 1, 1939 to June 21, 1941 - the period of the European blitzkrieg of Germany and the allies;
second stage: June 22, 1941 - approximately mid-November 1942 - attack on the USSR and the subsequent failure of the Barbarossa plan;
third stage: second half of November 1942 - end of 1943 - a radical turning point in the war and Germany’s loss of strategic initiative. At the end of 1943, at the Tehran Conference, in which Roosevelt and Churchill took part, it was decided to open a second front;
fourth stage: from the end of 1943 to May 9, 1945 - was marked by the capture of Berlin and the unconditional surrender of Germany;
fifth stage: May 10, 1945 - September 2, 1945 - at this time, fighting took place only in Southeast Asia and the Far East. The United States used nuclear weapons for the first time.

The Second World War began on September 1, 1939. On this day, the Wehrmacht suddenly began aggression against Poland. Despite the reciprocal declaration of war by France, Great Britain and some other countries, no real assistance was provided to Poland. Already on September 28, Poland was captured. A peace treaty between Germany and the USSR was concluded on the same day. Having received a reliable rear, Germany began active preparations for war with France, which capitulated already in 1940, on June 22. Nazi Germany began large-scale preparations for war on the eastern front with the USSR. was approved already in 1940, on December 18. The Soviet senior leadership received reports of the impending attack, however, fearing to provoke Germany and believing that the attack would be carried out at a later date, they deliberately did not put the border units on alert.

In the chronology of World War II, the most important period is from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, known in Russia as. On the eve of World War II, the USSR was an actively developing state. As the threat of conflict with Germany increased over time, defense and heavy industry and science developed primarily in the country. Closed design bureaus were created, whose activities were aimed at developing the latest weapons. At all enterprises and collective farms, discipline was tightened as much as possible. In the 30s More than 80% of the officers of the Red Army were repressed. To make up for the losses, a network of military schools and academies was created. However, there was not enough time for full training of personnel.

The main battles of World War II, which were of great importance for the history of the USSR:

(September 30, 1941 - April 20, 1942), which became the first victory of the Red Army;
(July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943), which marked a radical turning point in the war;
(July 5 - August 23, 1943), during which the largest tank battle of the Second World War took place near the village. Prokhorovka;
which led to the surrender of Germany.

Events important for the course of World War II took place not only on the fronts of the USSR. Among the operations carried out by the Allies, it is worth especially noting:

the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which led to the US entry into World War II;
opening of the second front and landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944;
the use of nuclear weapons on August 6 and 9, 1945 to strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The end date of World War II was September 2, 1945. Japan signed the act of surrender only after the defeat of the Kwantung Army by Soviet troops. The battles of World War II, according to rough estimates, killed about 65 million people on both sides.

The Soviet Union suffered the greatest losses in World War II - 27 million citizens of the country died. It was the USSR that took the brunt of the blow. These figures, according to some researchers, are approximate. It was the stubborn resistance of the Red Army that became the main cause of the defeat of the Reich.

The results of World War II horrified everyone. Military actions have brought the very existence of civilization to the brink. During the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, fascist ideology was condemned, and many war criminals were punished. In order to prevent the possibility of a new world war in the future, at the Yalta Conference in 1945 it was decided to create the United Nations Organization (UN), which still exists today.

The results of the nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the signing of pacts on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and a ban on their production and use. It must be said that the consequences of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still felt today.

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

The significance of World War II for the Soviet Union is enormous. The defeat of the Nazis determined the future history of the country. As a result of the conclusion of the peace treaties that followed the defeat of Germany, the USSR noticeably expanded its borders.

At the same time, the totalitarian system was strengthened in the Union. Communist regimes were established in some European countries. Victory in the war did not save the USSR from what followed in the 50s. mass repressions.