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Vladimir Pobochny, Lyudmila Antonova
Pre-war years and first days of the war
© Pobochny V. I.,
© Antonova L. A., 2015
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From the authors
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By the mid-30s, Germany, with the help of the monopolies of the USA, England and France, significantly strengthened the military and economic potential of its country. Japan and Italy are achieving the same success. In conditions of military upsurge, these countries create a triple alliance - Germany, Japan and Italy. According to the leader of the Italian fascists B. Mussolini, this union is being created in order to “remake the map of the world” (History of Diplomacy. M., 1965, vol. 3). In conditions of permissiveness, the Triple Alliance has a desire to open a “green light” in fomenting hotbeds of war. One of them appears in 1931 at Far East. Japan militarily invades Northeast China (Manchuria). In 1938, the Japanese launched an armed attack on Soviet territory in the lake area. Khasan near Vladivostok. The attack is repulsed with great damage to the Japanese troops. Despite this tragedy, the ruling circles of Japan do not draw any lessons from it, but, on the contrary, set themselves the task of increasing military power and, through it, expanding their “living space.”
The history of the 20th century teaches that German, Japanese, Italian aggression directed against the USSR and other countries could not have happened if Western countries, including the USA, had not shown encouragement and hypocrisy towards the actions of fascism, did not allow falsehood, that is would not conduct politics double standards. Life claims that individual European countries made negative calculations to push the Soviet Union against the Triple Alliance and spark a big war with it. However, as shown real life, German, Italian, Japanese rulers were going to seize not only Europe, but the entire world space. For example, Japan was preparing to seize the Far East, Sakhalin, and Siberia; England was plotting to seize the entire Pacific basin.
The first volume of the chronicle of Victory, “The Pre-War Years and the First Days of the War,” covers life in the pre-war period and the difficult events of the initial period of the war. To the number strengths This publication should include the validity and argumentation (for example, the diplomatic struggle on the eve of the war), its historical and literary character.
In contrast to these military-historical facts, a mass of literature appeared in the United States in the post-war period, which was written mainly by a group of Nazi generals on behalf of the US Department of Defense. The chief historian of the European Theater of Operations, S. L. A. Marshall, frankly admits the purpose of its publication in his preface: “...We Americans must learn from the unsuccessful experiences of others...”.
German generals tell their stories in the form of memoirs of participants in the military events they describe. The fascination of Hitler's generals with memories of the past war is not at all explained by the fact that these memories are pleasant to them. Of course not. They are not very pleased to write about how and why they lost individual battles, operations and the war as a whole. Two circumstances, however, force German generals remember events that happened many years ago. Firstly, the Nazi army not only lost the war, but also lost its national memory - the archives that ended up in the hands of the victors. Secondly - and this is perhaps the most important thing - the former Nazi generals curried favor with the instigators of the new aggression - the bosses of the North Atlantic bloc, and therefore he had to make excuses for the defeats in the last war. The survivors of that bloody war German generals looked for, or even simply invented, plausible reasons for the catastrophe that befell Nazi Germany in the Second World War, to shift the blame for the deaths of many millions of people and incalculable destruction onto someone else.
At the same time they tell a story of failure fascist aggression, are trying to warn revanchists and applicants for world domination from repeating the miscalculations of Hitler’s high command.
In foreign military historical literature, attention should be paid to one very remarkable fact. Most army, navy and air force officers are convinced that they are preparing for the invasion of England and that as soon as there are a few fine days the operation will begin. The days for the start of the invasion were repeatedly set, but each time the dates were changed, and the day of the landing was postponed, allegedly due to bad weather. Reichsmarschall Goering constantly demanded increased raids on vital centers Great Britain. In February 1941, he rushed with a large retinue to Paris and created a scandal with Kesselring and Sperrle for the poor effectiveness of air operations against England, which allegedly delayed Operation Sea Lion.
Army officers remained in this misconception for a long time. It was not until March 1941 that some senior officers became aware of the possibility of a clash between Germany and Russia, which was to signal the final abandonment of the Battle of Britain.
In reality, the Imperial Chancellery abandoned Operation Sea Lion a long time ago. After the occupation of France, Hitler had other thoughts; his military advisers Keitel, Jodl, Brauchitsch and Halder were busy with other things. Their eyes were turned to the East.
Massive air raids on England, especially on London (it is known that 65 raids were carried out on London, sometimes involving up to 800 aircraft), were undertaken with the aim of political pressure on England in order to force the British government to abandon the war with Germany. In addition, they served as camouflage for preparations for war against the Soviet Union.
As documents show, in the summer and autumn of 1940, the German General Staff was not busy preparing Operation Sea Lion, but developing a plan for war against the USSR. Already in July 1940, he began to carefully study the Eastern theater of military operations, summarizing information about the grouping and armament of Soviet troops, and about the state of the western borders of the Soviet Union. On July 31, 1940, the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Halder, made the following preliminary conclusion in his diary: “If Russia is defeated, England will lose last hope. Then Germany will dominate Europe and the Balkans. Based on this reasoning, Russia must be liquidated. Deadline: spring 1941. The sooner we defeat Russia, the better. The operation will only make sense if we defeat this state with one swift blow.”
The central task, which Hitler's strategists were preparing to solve with a swift blow, was to defeat the Soviet Union before England increased its armed forces. Based on this strategic concept, in the summer and autumn of 1940, preparations of the Nazi army for war against the Soviet Union were launched on a large scale: the number of infantry and tank divisions sharply increased, the production of military equipment and ammunition increased, officer cadres were hastily trained, human and material resources were created. reserves.
Western military historians devote a lot of space to the description of military events in the central - Moscow - direction in summer months 1941 These pages are of undoubted interest. They were written using entries from the personal diaries of German generals. But they are not limited to memories. Fascist generals evaluate events and make political and strategic generalizations. For example, Blumentritt wrote in his article: “... From a political point of view, the most important fatal decision was the decision to attack this country...”.
There are no words, the right conclusion. But one cannot agree with Blumentritt when he places all the blame on Hitler alone, shielding and justifying the German General Staff, the top generals and, above all, Rundstedt, Brauchitsch and Halder.
In West German literature on the history of the Second World War, this is a fairly common technique: to shift all the blame for the defeats of the Nazi army onto Hitler, and to attribute all successes to the generals and the general staff. Some German generals adhere to the advice of the German historian F. Ernst: “Respectful admiration and love for the fatherland command us not to destroy the prestige of some names with which we are accustomed to associate the victories of our army.”
The true purpose of this simple technique is clear. The rehabilitation of the generals of the fascist German army is now needed both for the fascist heirs and for the North Atlantic bloc as a whole. The experience of fighting in Nazi Germany is necessary for the Nazi youths in order to use it in a future war.
In their publications, Hitler's generals claim that the chief of staff of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht ground forces, Colonel General Franz Halder, dissuaded Hitler from war with Russia. However, it is enough to familiarize yourself with Halder’s statements to be convinced of the opposite. It was Halder who was one of the initiators of preparations for war against the USSR. He put forward this idea immediately after the occupation of France. In his diary there is an entry dated July 22, 1940: “The Russian problem must be solved by an offensive. We need to think through a plan for the upcoming operation.” In Halder's subsequent entries, this idea is developed more persistently and confidently with the repeatedly repeated conclusion: “Russia should be defeated as quickly as possible.” And when all the calculations of the plan were already ready and tested at staff games, Halder made the following entry in his diary: “Begin preparations in full swing in accordance with the basics of our proposed plan. The estimated start date for the operation is the end of May.”
These are the facts. It is obvious that the German General Staff is fully involved in making fatal decisions and bears full responsibility for the preparation and outbreak of the war, for the grave consequences that it brought.
There were several strategic plans war with the Soviet Union. Hitler believed that first of all it was necessary to achieve economic goals: to capture Ukraine, the Donetsk basin, the North Caucasus and thus obtain bread, coal and oil. Brauchitsch and Halder put the destruction of the Soviet Armed Forces at the forefront, hoping that after this it would be easy to achieve political and economic goals.
Rundstedt argued that it was impossible to win the war with one campaign of several months. The war could drag on for a long time, he said, and therefore in 1941 all efforts should be concentrated on one - the northern - direction, to capture Leningrad and its region. The troops of Army Groups "South" and "Center" must reach the line Odessa - Kyiv - Orsha - Lake Ilmen.
Kluge had a different opinion. He believed that the center of application of all forces should be Moscow, “the head and heart Soviet system“, since only with its fall are the main political and strategic goals of the war achieved.
The fascist German generals do not remain silent about the disagreements that arose at the end of July - beginning of August 1941 on the issue of further actions on the Soviet-German front. But they do not provide correct interpretations of the reasons for these disagreements. They do not explain why, after capturing Smolensk, the Nazi command was forced to solve the problem: where to advance next? To Moscow? Or turn a significant part of the forces from the Moscow direction to the south and achieve decisive successes in the Kyiv area?
The growing resistance of the Soviet troops in front of Moscow inclined Hitler to the second path, which, in his opinion, allowed, without stopping the offensive in other directions, to quickly capture the Donetsk basin and the rich agricultural regions of Ukraine.
This idea was reflected in successive directives from the high command. Already on July 23, 1941, Keitel gave Brauchitsch the order: “Concentrate the efforts of the 1st and 2nd tank groups to capture the industrial region of Kharkov, and then advance through the Don to the Caucasus. The main infantry forces should first occupy Ukraine, Crimea and the central regions of Russia to the Don.”
If Keitel still put in front of the central grouping German troops offensive tasks and spoke about the capture of Moscow, then Hitler’s Directive No. 34 of July 30, 1941 proposed a more radical solution. “The recently changed situation,” the directive says, “the appearance in front and on the flanks of Army Group Center of large enemy forces, the supply situation and the need to provide the 2nd and 3rd tank groups with ten days for rest and recruitment forced abandon the tasks and objectives specified in Directive No. 33 of 19.7 and in its supplement of 23.7. Based on this, I order... Army Group Center, using favorable terrain, to go on the defensive. The offensive may have limited objectives."
Brauchitsch and Halder were naturally unhappy with this decision. They tried to object to Hitler and special report they proved to him that it was necessary to concentrate the main efforts on the central direction and strive for the fastest possible capture of Moscow. Hitler’s response came immediately: “The considerations of the ground forces command regarding the further course of operations in the east on August 18 do not agree with my decisions. I order the following: the main task before the onset of winter is not the capture of Moscow, but the capture of the Crimea, industrial and coal areas on the Don and depriving the Russians of the opportunity to receive oil from the Caucasus; in the north - the encirclement of Leningrad and the connection with the Finns."
Hitler explained to Brauchitsch that the capture of Crimea was of enormous importance for ensuring oil supplies from Romania, and that only after achieving this goal, as well as the encirclement of Leningrad and joining the Finnish troops, would sufficient forces be freed up and the preconditions would be created for a new attack on Moscow.
American and Western historians are trying to explain the long pause in the offensive of Nazi troops in the Moscow direction by protracted disputes in the German high command. They see in this almost the only reason for the stop and then the failure of the German offensive on Moscow, keeping silent about the fact that after Smolensk the German offensive stopped not of their own free will, not because of disputes about the highest strategy, but as a result of increasingly growing resistance from Soviet troops.
In the end, Hitler, having failed to achieve the goals set for the troops either on the southern or northern wing of the Soviet-German front, was forced to again organize an attack on Moscow, which began on September 30 in the Bryansk Front (room 41).
...70 years have passed since the end of the Second World War, but many European countries under US pressure, and the United States of America itself, still remain the authors of inciting new armed conflicts. In the “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” dated June 6, 2014, for example, it is noted: “The USA is a den of fascism of the 21st century, it is a locust that attacks countries, unleashes civil wars and devastates them, enslaves and destroys peoples. And they commit all these crimes under peaceful slogans about American-style democracy. The United States has one goal - world domination. At the same time, it is high time for everyone to understand that the UN is a pocket organization of the United States. Therefore, America is allowed to create everything in the world, but Russia is allowed to do nothing.”
Such a cynical attitude towards freedom-loving peoples indicates that the hydra of fascism is crawling today in many countries of the Middle East - Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt. On February 22, 2014, the junta, with the direct support of the United States and European Union countries, removed the legitimate President of Ukraine V.V. Yanukovych and ignited a civil war in the South-East of the country, which led Donbass to a humanitarian catastrophe. On this land, the Nazis use phosphorus and cluster bombs, chemical weapons, and heavy artillery, prohibited by world convention, as a result of which residential buildings, kindergartens, schools, hospitals and other civilian objects were destroyed. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed. A huge number of people were seriously injured. More than a million people are forced to leave their native land, and those who could not get out of this hell continue to live in inhumane conditions under constant mortar fire.
To hide its bloody atrocities, the fascist regime in Ukraine is trying in every possible way to evade responsibility by joining NATO, which will turn this country into an outpost of the West for a permanent source of instability on the southern borders of Russia and create a serious threat to the national interests and security of the Russian state.
Despite such an alarming situation, in the Russian press one can often find statements such as “the time has come to equalize the guilty and the innocent, the fooled and the puppet masters” and even “the victims and the executioners...”. The reason for such actions is explained, first of all, by the fact that in our country there is a very weak state ideology. The word “patriotism” is often combined with other concepts; sometimes it is perceived as an attribute of an innocent joke.
The lack of spiritual and patriotic literature and low-quality television programs cause considerable harm to society and especially the younger generation. “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” dated May 14, 2013 notes: “The zeal of television broadcasting has overcome all common sense. If you sit in front of the screen on Victory Day, you may get the impression that the Great Patriotic War was a great adventure.”
In schools, too little time is devoted to lessons on the history of the Great Patriotic War. Hence the disastrous result. For example, “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” dated December 24, 2012 provides data that 13% of Russian graduates have bad marks in history. The matriculation certificate threshold for the Unified State Examination in history is shamefully low: 29 points out of 100! If we compare it with a more understandable five-point rating scale, then this is almost a “two”!
Historical facts indicate that the lessons of war are not only a mirror of the past. The history of the Great Patriotic War is one of the few values that cements our very shaky society. Having deeply known it, you need to learn to draw the right conclusions in order to avoid the mistakes of the past.
The new generation must remember that their ancestors defeated a terrible and insidious enemy, they are the heirs of the Great Victory and they are entrusted with great responsibility for preserving peace.
Remember!
...Through the centuries,
in a year, -
remember!
About those,
who won't come anymore
never, -
remember!Do not Cry!
In the throat
hold back your moans
bitter moans.
In memory
fallen
be worthy!
Eternally worthy!Bread and song
Dreams and poems
life
spacious,
every second
with every breath
be
worthy!People!
As long as hearts
knocking -
remember!
Which
at the cost
happiness is won -
Please,
remember!..Robert Rozhdestvensky
Excerpt from the requiem (Eternal glory to the heroes...)
The USSR and its foreign policy strategy
A concrete manifestation of the foreign policy line in the 1920s is the conclusion by the Soviet Union of trade and economic agreements with Germany, England, Sweden, Italy and a number of other countries; participation of the USSR in various international conferences (Genoa Conference of 1922, Moscow Conference on Arms Reduction of 1922, etc.); establishment of diplomatic relations with the main world powers in 1924-25; joint discussion with them of disarmament problems.
From personal intelligence reports, I.V. Stalin learned about a possible war with Germany in 1928. In this regard, in January-February 1928, he traveled to Siberia to not only resolve the issue related to grain procurements, but most importantly, to assess the situation on the spot in case of war. The country needs to be transformed from an agricultural to an industrial one, to ensure its economic independence and strengthen its defense capability. Modernization of the economy is becoming an urgent need, the main condition of which is the technical improvement (re-equipment) of everything National economy.
The country's second coal and metallurgical base is being created in the Urals and Western Siberia (in areas beyond the reach of potential enemy aircraft). New metallurgical plants (the basis of military production) that emerged in these areas formed the “Ural-Kuznetsk Combine” and use iron ores from the Urals and coking coal from Kuzbass. The Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works is expanding and modernizing. Aluminum and nickel production is emerging in the country. In addition to the Urals, a powerful copper industry is developing in Kazakhstan, and lead production, in addition, in Altai and Central Asia, zinc plants in the Donbass and Kuzbass.
In the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, a radical reconstruction of railway transport was carried out in the USSR. About 12.5 thousand new railway lines were built, which provided more reliable and shorter transport links to Donbass, the central and northwestern regions of the country, and additionally connected the Center, the Urals, Kuzbass, and Central Kazakhstan. Of particular importance is the construction of the Turkestan-Siberian railway in order to provide a direct route from Siberia to Central Asia. Held big job on the reconstruction of inland waterways. In 1933, the White Sea-Baltic Canal was put into operation, built in record time - in just 20 months. Construction of the Moscow-Volga canal began.
Already in these years, the main regions of the country were connected by airlines.
At the same time, the facilities of industrial giants came into operation: the Novo-Tagil Metallurgical Plant, construction of the first building of the Ural Carriage Works began. Coke, refractory, plastics, cement-slate and other plants were built.
The enormous industrial construction of the 20s and 30s, carried out through the strict centralization of all the country's resources, allowed the USSR to achieve economic independence. The country ranks second in the world in terms of industrial production.
During these same years, the fuel and energy base was developing at an accelerated pace in the Urals, Siberia, and Central Asia. Of great importance is the creation of a “second Baku” - a new oil-producing region between the Volga and the Urals. Although the Donbass remained the main coal mining region, coal production in the Kuzbass and Karaganda basin is growing rapidly, and the development of the Pechora basin, the richest gas resources of the Volga region, is beginning. Based on the GOELRO plans and the pre-war five-year plans, a whole system of “district” thermal and hydroelectric power plants is being built (room 90).
Grand opening of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station (1932)
1929 Scout William (Wili) Lehman - agent Breitenbach - among other things, sends a message to Moscow about the first tests of long-range combat missiles invented by one of the future fathers of the atomic bomb, and at that time a young engineer Wernher von Braun.
Wernher von Braun with German officers
January 26, 1934 A Polish-German agreement is concluded in Berlin for 10 years.
The French researcher of the Second World War A. Michel (in 1980) makes a significant clarification: “Large property owners and industrialists provided support to Hitler, thanks to which he was able to seize and maintain power. The Nazis took full advantage of the tendencies of the ruling circles: their social and religious conservatism, fear and hatred of socialism and even liberalism, pan-German chauvinism” (page 82).
July 1936. A rebellion organized by the Spanish reaction breaks out. The fascist regimes of Germany and Italy immediately provide support to the reactionaries. Italy throws a 150,000-strong corps against the legitimate republican government, Germany sends troops of 50,000 people, as well as the best air forces. The Soviet Union provides significant assistance to Republican Spain. At the same time, England, France and the USA are direct accomplices of the interventionists.
The population of Albacete welcomes the fighters of the international brigades. Spain.
September 1936. Hitler begins to rebuild the economy to produce military equipment and weapons. The memorandum he compiled outlined the program for Germany's economic preparation for war.
“We are experiencing overpopulation and cannot feed ourselves relying only on our territory.” - this document says. The memorandum ends with the words:
“In four years, the German economy should be ready for war” (page 79) 1
k – the title of the book in accordance with its list; c – book page.
Alliance between militarism and fascism. President P. Hindenburg, Reich Chancellor A. Hitler, G. Goering
November 25, 1936 . The leaders of the fascist states make it clear to public opinion that their military preparations and aggressive actions are directed not against capitalist countries and their possessions, but against the Soviet Union and the Comintern, that they are strengthening their rear for war with the USSR.
Japanese Ambassador to Nazi Germany Viscount Kintomo Musakoji and Nazi German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sign the Anti-Comintern Pact
1937 . Secret documents indicate that before the start of the “purges” Landau creates in Kharkov Institute powerful physics and theory department. Physicists Vladimir Spinel, Viktor Maslov, Friedrich Lange and a German anti-fascist scientist who fled to the USSR are working for the first time in the world on an atomic bomb at the Kharkov Physics and Technology Institute. They are ahead of all their colleagues: they figure out how to start a chain reaction - cover a uranium charge with ordinary explosives, the pressure from its explosion, and begin the process. This development is not being implemented due to negative expert assessments. Lev Landau later admits the mistake.
Lev Davidovich Landau
At the same time, during the “cleansing” of the Kharkov Physics and Technology Institute, Fritz Houtermans and Alexander Weisberg, two more anti-fascist physicists who fled from the Nazis, were expelled from the USSR to Germany by the decision of a special meeting of the NKVD of the USSR as “undesirable foreigners” and handed over to the Gestapo. Both of them work closely with Friedrich Lange's group and know literally everything about the first Soviet atomic bomb. According to Feigin, they did not even need drawings to reproduce the bomb in Germany. After interrogations and stay in a concentration camp, valuable scientists are brought to work.
In many studies by Russian and foreign historians, the myth has taken root that the attack came as a surprise to the USSR, that Stalin “missed” this strategic moment due to a lack of reliable information from intelligence. But is it? Did the Soviet leadership really lack information about the Wehrmacht’s preparations for war and the date of the invasion of Hitler’s troops? The answers to these and other questions indicate the following historical facts.
February 10, 1937 . It is known about a possible German attack on the USSR that the first version of the aggression plan, bearing the “modest” name “Eastern Campaign,” was developed in Germany. Information about this is reported to Stalin (room 9).
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
1937 The “four-year plan” proclaimed by the Hitler government makes it possible to increase the production of military equipment. If in 1934 840 aircraft were built in Germany, then in 1936 their production reached 2530. In general, military production increases tenfold (room 79).
In the late 20s - early 30s. The international situation has changed significantly. Deep world economic crisis, which began in 1929, caused serious internal political changes in all capitalist countries. In some (England, France, etc.) he brought to power forces that sought to carry out broad internal reforms of a democratic nature. In others (Germany, Italy), the crisis contributed to the formation of anti-democratic (fascist) regimes that used social demagoguery in domestic politics simultaneously with the unleashing of political terror, the intensification of chauvinism and militarism. It was these regimes that became the instigators of new military conflicts, especially after Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933.
Hotbeds of international tension began to form at a rapid pace. One developed in Europe due to the aggressiveness of fascist Germany and Italy. The second is in the Far East due to the hegemonic claims of the Japanese militarists.
Taking these factors into account, in 1933 the Soviet government defined new tasks for its foreign policy: refusal to participate in international conflicts, especially those of a military nature; recognition of the possibility of cooperation with democratic Western countries to curb the aggressive aspirations of Germany and Japan; the struggle for the creation of a collective security system in Europe and the Far East.
In the first half of the 1930s. The USSR achieved further strengthening their positions in the international arena. At the end of 1933, the United States recognized the Soviet Union and diplomatic relations were established between the two countries. Normalization political relations between the USA and the USSR had a beneficial effect on their trade and economic ties. In September 1934, the Soviet Union was admitted to the League of Nations and became a permanent member of its Council. In 1935, Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak treaties were signed
about mutual assistance in case of any aggression against them in Europe.
However, in the mid-1930s. in foreign policy activities Soviet leadership began to move away from the principle of non-interference in international conflicts. In 1936, the USSR provided assistance to the Spanish Popular Front government with weapons and military specialists to fight General Franco. He, in turn, received broad political and military support Germany and Italy. France and England adhered to neutrality. The United States shared the same position, prohibiting the Spanish government from purchasing American weapons. The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with a fascist victory.
The policy of “appeasement” pursued by the Western powers towards Germany, Italy and Japan did not produce positive results. International tensions increased. In 1935, Germany sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland; Italy attacked Ethiopia. In 1936, Germany and Japan signed an agreement directed against the Soviet Union ( Anti-Comintern Pact). Relying on German support, Japan began large-scale military operation against China.
The territorial claims of Hitler's Germany were especially dangerous for the preservation of peace and security in Europe. In March 1938, Germany carried out the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria. Hitler's aggression also threatened Czechoslovakia, so the USSR came out in defense of its territorial integrity. Based on the 1935 agreement, the Soviet government offered its assistance and moved 30 divisions, aircraft and tanks to the western border. However, the government of E. Benes refused it and complied with Hitler’s demand to transfer to Germany the Sudetenland, populated mainly by Germans.
The Western powers pursued a policy of concessions to Nazi Germany, hoping to create a reliable counterweight against the USSR and direct its aggression to the east. The culmination of this policy was the Munich Agreement (September 1938) between Germany, Italy, England and France. It legally formalized the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Feeling its strength, Germany occupied all of Czechoslovakia in 1939.
In the Far East, Japan, having captured most of China, approached the Soviet borders. In the summer of 1938, an armed conflict occurred on the territory of the USSR in the area of Lake Khasan. The Japanese group was repulsed. In May 1939, Japanese troops invaded Mongolia. Units of the Red Army under the command of G.K. Zhukov defeated them in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River.
At the beginning of 1939, the last attempt was made to create a system of collective security between England, France and the Soviet Union. However, Western states did not believe in the potential ability of the USSR to resist fascist aggression, so they delayed the negotiations in every possible way. In addition, Poland categorically refused to guarantee the passage of Soviet troops through its territory to repel the expected fascist aggression. At the same time, Great Britain established secret contacts with Germany in order to reach agreement on a wide range of political problems (including the neutralization of the USSR in the international arena).
The Soviet government knew that the German army was already in full readiness to attack Poland. Realizing the inevitability of war and its unpreparedness for it, it sharply changed its foreign policy orientation and moved towards rapprochement with Germany. In Moscow on August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was concluded for 10 years (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact).
Attached to it was a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The interests of the Soviet Union were recognized by Germany in the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Finland and Bessarabia.
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. Poland's allies - Great Britain and France - declared war on Germany on September 3, but they did not have any real impact. military assistance to the Polish government, which ensured Hitler a quick victory. The Second has begun World War.
In new international conditions the leadership of the USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements of August 1939; September 17, after the defeat by the Germans Polish army and the fall of the Polish government, the Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine; On September 28, 1939, the Soviet-German Treaty “On Friendship and Border” was concluded, securing these lands as part of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the USSR insisted on concluding agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, gaining the right to station its troops on their territory. In these republics, in the presence of Soviet troops, legislative elections were held, in which communist forces won. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.
In November 1940, the USSR began a war with Finland in the hope of its quick defeat and the creation of a pro-communist government in it. Military operations were accompanied by huge losses on the part of the Red Army. They demonstrated her poor preparedness. Persistent resistance Finnish army was provided by the deeply echeloned “Mannerheim Line”. Western states provided Finland with political support. The USSR, under the pretext of aggression, was expelled from the League of Nations. At the cost of enormous efforts, the Finnish resistance armed forces was broken. In March 1940, a Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed, according to which the USSR received the entire Karelian Isthmus.
In the summer of 1940, as a result of political pressure, Romania ceded Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union.
As a result, large territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the USSR. The country's border has moved in the west in different places to a distance of 300 to 600 km.
The Soviet leadership agreed to an agreement with Nazi Germany, whose ideology and policies it had previously condemned. Such a turn could be carried out under the conditions of the state system, all internal means of propaganda of which were aimed at justifying the actions of the government and forming a new attitude of Soviet society towards the Hitler regime.
If the non-aggression pact, signed in August 1939, was to a certain extent a forced step for the USSR, then the secret protocol to it, the treaty “On Friendship and Borders”, etc. foreign policy actions Stalin's government, carried out on the eve of the war, did not take into account the interests different states and the peoples of Eastern Europe.
6.2. USSR during the Great Patriotic War
(1941–1945)
In 1941, World War II entered a new phase. By this time, Nazi Germany and its allies had captured virtually all of Europe. In connection with the destruction of Polish statehood, a joint Soviet-German border was established. In 1940, the fascist leadership developed the Barbarossa plan, the goal of which was the lightning defeat of the Soviet armed forces and the occupation of the European part of the Soviet Union. Further plans included the complete destruction of the USSR. For this purpose, 153 German divisions and 37 divisions of its allies (Finland, Romania, Hungary). They were supposed to strike in three directions: central (Minsk–Smolensk–Moscow), northwestern (Baltic states–Leningrad) and southern (Ukraine with access to the Black Sea coast). A lightning campaign was planned to capture the European part of the USSR before the fall of 1941.
The implementation of the Barbarossa plan began at dawn on June 22, 1941 with air bombing of the largest industrial and strategic centers, as well as the offensive of the ground forces of Germany and its allies along the entire European border of the USSR (over 4.5 thousand km). In the first few days, German troops advanced tens and hundreds of kilometers. In the central direction, at the beginning of July 1941, all of Belarus was captured, and German troops reached the approaches to Smolensk. In the north-west, the Baltic states were occupied, Leningrad was blocked on September 9. In the south, Hitler's troops occupied Moldova and Right Bank Ukraine. Thus, by the autumn of 1941, Hitler’s plan to seize the vast territory of the European part of the USSR was carried out.
The rapid advance of Hitler's troops on the Soviet front and their successes in the summer campaign were explained by many objective and subjective factors. At the initial stage of the war, Hitler's command and troops had experience in modern warfare and extensive offensive operations, accumulated during the first stage of World War II. The technical equipment of the Wehrmacht (tanks, aircraft, transport, communications equipment, etc.) was significantly superior to the Soviet one in mobility and maneuverability.
The Soviet Union, despite the efforts made during the Third Five-Year Plan, did not complete its preparations for war. The rearmament of the Red Army was not completed. Military doctrine assumed the conduct of operations on enemy territory. In this regard, defensive structures on the old Soviet-Polish border were dismantled, and new ones were not created. Stalin's biggest miscalculation was his lack of faith in the start of the war in the summer of 1941, so the entire country, and especially the army and its leadership, were not prepared to repel aggression. As a result, in the first days of the war, a significant part of the Soviet aviation. Large connections The Red Army was surrounded, destroyed or captured.
Immediately after the German attack, the Soviet government carried out major military-political and economic measures to repel aggression; On June 23, the Headquarters of the Main Command was formed; On July 10, it was transformed into the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. It included I.V. Stalin (appointed commander-in-chief and soon became people's commissar of defense), V.M. Molotov, S.K. Timoshenko, S.M. Budyonny, K.E. Voroshilov, B.M. Shaposhnikov and G.K. Zhukov. By a directive of June 29, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks set the entire country the task of mobilizing all forces and means to fight the enemy. On June 30, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was created, concentrating all power in the country. The military doctrine was radically revised, the task was put forward to organize strategic defense, wear down and stop the advance of the fascist troops. Large-scale events were carried out to transfer industry to a military footing, mobilize the population into the army and build defensive lines.
In June - the first half of July 1941, major defensive battles unfolded. From July 16 to August 15, the defense of Smolensk continued in the central direction. In the north westward The German plan to capture Leningrad failed. In the south, the defense of Kyiv was carried out until September 1941, and Odessa until October. The stubborn resistance of the Red Army in the summer and autumn of 1941 thwarted Hitler’s plan lightning war.
At the same time, the capture by the Nazis by the fall of 1941 of the vast territory of the USSR with its most important industrial centers and grain regions was a serious loss for the USSR.
At the end of September - beginning of October 1941, the German operation"Typhoon", aimed at capturing Moscow. The first line of Soviet defense was broken through in the central direction on October 5–6. Bryansk and Vyazma fell. The second line near Mozhaisk delayed the fascist offensive for several days; On October 10, G.K. was appointed commander of the Western Front. Zhukov; On October 19, a state of siege was introduced in the capital. In bloody battles, the Red Army managed to stop the enemy - the October stage of Hitler’s offensive on Moscow ended.
The three-week respite was used by the Soviet command to strengthen the defense of the capital and mobilize the population
to the militia; accumulation of military equipment, and primarily aviation; On November 7, a traditional parade of units of the Moscow garrison took place on Red Square. For the first time, other military units also took part in it, including militias who left straight from the parade to the front. This event contributed to the patriotic uplift of the people and strengthened their faith in victory.
The second stage of the Nazi offensive on Moscow began on November 15, 1941. At the cost of huge losses, they managed to reach the approaches to Moscow in late November - early December, enveloping it in a semicircle in the north, in the Dmitrov area (Moscow-Volga canal), in the south - near Tula .
At this point the German offensive fizzled out. The defensive battles of the Red Army, in which many soldiers and militias died, were accompanied by the accumulation of forces at the expense of Siberian divisions, aviation and other military equipment; On December 5–6, the counteroffensive of the Red Army began, as a result of which the enemy was thrown back 100–250 km from Moscow. Kalinin, Maloyaroslavets, Kaluga, other cities and settlements. Hitler's plan for a lightning war was thwarted. The victory near Moscow in conditions of the enemy’s military-technical superiority was the result of the heroic efforts of the Soviet people.
In the summer of 1942, the fascist leadership relied on capturing the oil regions of the Caucasus, the fertile regions of southern Russia and the industrial Donbass. Stalin made a new strategic mistake in assessing the military situation, in determining the direction of the enemy's main attack, and in underestimating his forces and reserves. In this regard, his order for the Red Army to advance simultaneously on several fronts led to serious defeats near Kharkov and in the Crimea. Kerch and Sevastopol were lost.
At the end of June 1942, a general German offensive unfolded. Fascist troops, during stubborn battles, reached Voronezh, the upper reaches of the Don and captured Donbass. Then they broke through our defenses between the Northern Donets and the Don.
This made it possible for Hitler's command to solve the main strategic task of the summer campaign of 1942 and launch a broad offensive in two directions: to the Caucasus and to the East - to the Volga.
In the Caucasian direction, at the end of July 1942, a strong enemy group crossed the Don. As a result, Rostov, Stavropol and Novorossiysk were captured. Stubborn fighting took place in the central part of the main Caucasus ridge, where specially trained enemy alpine riflemen operated in the mountains. Despite achievements achieved in the Caucasian direction, the fascist command never managed to resolve its main task- break through to Transcaucasia to seize the oil reserves of Baku. By the end of September, the offensive of fascist troops in the Caucasus was stopped.
An equally difficult situation for the Soviet command arose in the eastern direction. To cover it, the Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko. Due to the current critical situation Order No. 227 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was issued, which stated: “To retreat further means to ruin ourselves and at the same time our Motherland.” At the end of July 1942, the enemy under the command of General von Paulus struck a powerful blow on the Stalingrad front. However, despite the significant superiority in forces, within a month the fascist troops managed to advance only 60–80 km, and with great difficulty reached the distant defensive lines of Stalingrad. In August they reached the Volga and intensified their offensive.
From the first days of September, the heroic defense of Stalingrad began, which lasted virtually until the end of 1942. Its significance during the Great Patriotic War was enormous. During the struggle for the city, Soviet troops under the command of generals V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov in September-November 1942 repelled up to 700 enemy attacks and passed all tests with honor. Thousands of Soviet patriots showed themselves heroically in the battles for the city.
As a result, in the battles for Stalingrad, enemy troops suffered colossal losses. Every month of the battle, about 250 thousand new Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, the bulk of military equipment, were sent here. By mid-November 1942 Nazi troops, having lost more than 180 thousand people. killed, 500 thousand wounded, were forced to stop the offensive.
During the summer-autumn campaign, the Nazis managed to occupy huge territory the European part of the USSR, where about 15% of the population lived, 30% of gross output was produced, and more than 45% of the cultivated area was located. However, the Red Army exhausted and bled the fascist troops. They lost up to 1 million soldiers and officers, more than 20 thousand guns, over 15,000 tanks. The enemy was stopped. The resistance of the Soviet troops made it possible to create favorable conditions for their transition to a counteroffensive in the Stalingrad area.
Even during the fierce autumn battles, Headquarters Supreme High Command began developing a plan for a grandiose offensive operation designed to encircle and defeat the main forces of the Nazi troops operating directly near Stalingrad. A major contribution to the preparation of this operation, codenamed “Uranus,” was made by G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky. To accomplish the task, three new fronts were created: southwestern (N.F. Vatutin), Don (K.K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad (A.M. Eremenko). In total, the offensive group included more than 1 million people, 13 thousand guns and mortars, about 1000 tanks, 1500 aircraft.
On November 19, 1942, the offensive of the Southwestern and Don Fronts began. A day later, the Stalingrad Front advanced. The offensive was unexpected for the fascist command. It developed with lightning speed and success, and on November 23, 1942, a historic meeting and unification of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts took place. As a result, the Nazi group at Stalingrad (330 thousand soldiers and officers) under the command of General von Paulus was surrounded.
Hitler's command could not come to terms with the current situation. He formed the Don Army Group consisting of 30 divisions. It was supposed to strike at Stalingrad, break through the outer front of the encirclement and connect with Paulus's 6th Army.
However, an attempt made in mid-December to carry out this task ended in a new defeat of the German and Italian troops. By the end of December, having defeated this group, Soviet troops reached the Kotelnikovo area and began an attack on Rostov. This made it possible to begin the final destruction of the encircled German troops. From January 10 to February 2, 1943, they were finally liquidated.
Victory in Battle of Stalingrad led to a widespread offensive by the Red Army on all fronts: in January 1943 the blockade of Leningrad was broken, in February the North Caucasus was liberated, in March in the Moscow direction the front line moved back by 130–160 km. As a result of the autumn-winter campaign of 1942–1943. The military power of Nazi Germany was significantly undermined.
In the central direction, after successful actions in the spring of 1943, the so-called “Kursk” bulge formed on the front line. Hitler's command, wanting to regain the strategic initiative, developed Operation Citadel to break through and encircle the Red Army in the Kursk region. Unlike 1942, the Soviet command guessed the enemy’s intentions and created a deeply layered defense in advance.
Battle on Kursk Bulge- the largest battle of World War II. About 900 thousand people, 1.5 thousand tanks (including the latest models - “tiger”, “panther”), and more than 2 thousand aircraft were involved in it from Germany. On the Soviet side - more than 1 million people, 3,400 tanks and about 3 thousand aircraft. IN Battle of Kursk commanded outstanding commanders: Marshal G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, generals N.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky. Strategic reserves were created under the command of General I.S. Konev, since the plan of the Soviet command provided for a transition from defense to further offensive.
On July 5, 1943, a massive offensive of German troops began. After unprecedented times in world history tank battles(battle of Prokhorovka) On July 12, the enemy was stopped. The counter-offensive of the Red Army began.
As a result of the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk in August 1943, Soviet troops captured Orel and Belgorod. In honor of this victory, a salute of 12 artillery salvoes was fired in Moscow. Continuing the offensive, Soviet troops dealt a crushing blow to the Nazis during the Belgorod-Kharkov operation. They were released in September Left Bank Ukraine and Donbass, crossed the Dnieper in October and took Kyiv in November.
In 1944–1945 The Soviet Union achieved economic, military-strategic and political superiority over the enemy. The labor of Soviet people steadily provided for the needs of the front. Strategic Initiative completely transferred to the Red Army. The level of planning and implementation of major military operations has increased.
On June 6, 1944, Great Britain and the USA landed their troops in Normandy under the command of General D. Eisenhower. Since the opening of the Second Front in Europe, allied relations have acquired a new quality.
The resistance of the peoples in the countries occupied by Germany intensified. It resulted in a wide partisan movement, uprisings, sabotage and sabotage. In general, the resistance of the peoples of Europe, in which Soviet people who escaped from German captivity also participated, became significant contribution in the fight against fascism.
The political unity of the German bloc weakened. Japan never moved against the USSR. In the government circles of Germany's allies (Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania), the idea of breaking with it was ripening. The fascist dictatorship of Mussolini was overthrown. Italy capitulated and then declared war on Germany.
In 1944, relying on the successes achieved earlier, the Red Army carried out a number of major operations that completed the liberation of the territory of our country.
In January, the siege of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days, was finally lifted. The northwestern part of the USSR territory was liberated. Also in January, the Korsun-Shevchenko operation was carried out, in the development of which Soviet troops liberated Right Bank Ukraine and the southern regions of the USSR (Crimea, Kherson, Odessa, etc.).
In the summer of 1944, the Red Army carried out one of largest operations Great Patriotic War (“Bagration”).
Belarus was completely liberated. This victory opened the way to advance into Poland, the Baltic states and East Prussia. In mid-August 1944, Soviet troops in the western direction reached the border with Germany.
At the end of August 1944, the Iasi-Kishinev operation began, as a result of which Moldova was liberated. The opportunity was created for the withdrawal of Romania, Germany's ally, from the war.
The victories of the Soviet troops in 1944 helped the peoples of Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia in their struggle against fascism. In these countries, pro-German regimes were overthrown, and patriotic forces came to power.
The Soviet command, developing the offensive, carried out a number of operations outside the USSR. They were caused by the need to destroy large enemy groups in these territories in order to prevent the possibility of their transfer to the defense of Germany. At the same time, the introduction of Soviet troops into the countries of Eastern
and South-Eastern Europe were strengthened by leftist and communist parties and, in general, by the influence of the Soviet Union in this region.
At the beginning of 1945, the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition coordinated efforts to defeat Nazi Germany; on the Eastern Front, as a result of a powerful offensive by the Red Army, Poland, most of Czechoslovakia and Hungary were finally liberated. On Western Front, despite the unsuccessful Arden operation, they liberated a significant part of Western Europe and came close to the borders of Germany. In April 1945, Soviet troops began Berlin operation. It was aimed at taking the capital of Germany and final defeat fascism, troops of the 1st Belorussian (commander Marshal Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (commander Marshal Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (commander Marshal Konev) fronts destroyed the Berlin enemy group, captured about 500 thousand people, a huge amount of military equipment and weapons. The fascist leadership was completely demoralized. Hitler committed suicide. On the morning of May 1, the capture of Berlin was completed and the Red Banner, a symbol of the Victory of the Soviet people, was hoisted over the Reichstag (German parliament).
On May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlhorst, the hastily created German government signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender. On May 9, the remnants of German troops were defeated in the area of Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia.
In April 1945, the USSR denounced the neutrality treaty with Japan, and on August 8 declared war on it. In just over three weeks, Soviet troops defeated Kwantung Army and liberated Northeast China, North Korea, the southern part of the island. Sakhalin, Kuril Islands. On September 2, 1945, an act of unconditional surrender of militaristic Japan was signed on board the American battleship Missouri. The Second World War, which lasted 6 years and one day, is over.
It claimed more than 50 million lives. The brunt of the war fell on the Eastern Front. The main and best forces of the Wehrmacht operated here. On the eastern front, fascist German troops suffered the largest losses: 80% in manpower and over 75% in equipment.
The USSR paid a huge price for victory. About 27 million people died and died, of which up to 10 million were losses of the army, navy, border and internal troops. The material damage was also colossal: 30% of the national wealth.
What are the sources of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War? When thinking about this problem, we must keep in mind a combination of factors. Hitler's leadership in the war against the USSR, it underestimated not only the scale and conditions of military operations, but also the fortitude and patriotism of the Soviet people. Hitler’s military leaders were forced to admit this (see K. Tippelskrich, History of the Second World War. St. Petersburg, 1994, pp. 179–180).
The desire to protect the Motherland and defeat the enemy, and not the fear of punishment, guided people. The patriotism of the Soviet people during the war years has many faces. It is in military and labor feats, and in the everyday perseverance with which the hardships and deprivations of war were endured, and in the people's militia, and in the mass partisan movement, which became one of the most important factors in victory. During the war, partisans destroyed and captured more than 1 million enemy soldiers
and officers, 4 thousand tanks and armored vehicles, 65 thousand motor vehicles, 1100 aircraft were disabled, over 20 thousand trains were derailed (see: History of Russia. XX century. M., 1996. P. 455).
The war caused certain changes in the ruling regime. There was a widespread replacement of party, military and managerial personnel. Instead of dedicated performers, proactive and extraordinary individuals appeared.
Among civilian personalities such were N.A. Voznesensky, A.N. Kosygin and others. Among the military leaders - G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, V.I. Chuikov, K.K. Rokossovsky and others.
The promotion of talented commanders raised the Soviet military art to a qualitatively high level, which turned out to be more effective than classical German military strategy and tactics. The success of the war was achieved on the basis of the unity of the front and rear.
The command system of production management that had emerged on the eve of the war had great potential for mobilizing the country's economic potential.
During the first six months of the war, 1.5 thousand were evacuated to the east. industrial enterprises, which were commissioned in record time short time. In 1945, up to 76% of cast iron and 75% of steel were smelted here. From the very beginning of the fascist aggression, mass mobilizations of the civilian population were carried out on the labor front (construction of defensive lines, accelerated launch of evacuated enterprises, etc.). More than half of all those employed in the national economy were women. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers also worked on collective farms, factories, and construction sites.
One of the acute problems was the problem of qualified personnel. The evacuated enterprises had no more than 30% of workers and specialists, so in December 1941 a plan for training workers was developed and then implemented. In 1942, almost 4.4 million people were trained.
Combining flexibility and agility with a strict repressive system of production and personnel management, relying on the labor enthusiasm of the masses, huge natural and human resources, the country's leadership ensured high efficiency military industry. Military production reached its highest level in 1944. Having generally less industrial potential than Germany and the European countries that worked for it, the USSR produced much more weapons and equipment during the war years.
All these mobilization and other measures did not change the system-forming basis of the Stalinist totalitarian regime. The authorities not only did not abandon their established methods of political terror, concentration camps (in 1944 there were 1.2 million people), but also used new “military means” of influencing individuals (orders No. 270 and No. 227). Moreover, on Stalin’s instructions, entire peoples were deported: in 1941, more than a million Volga Germans, in 1943, more than 93 thousand Kalmyks and 68 thousand Karachais, etc.
In conditions of war and general danger, relations with the USA and Great Britain changed, mistrust and other obstacles to creating an anti-Hitler coalition were overcome. In 1941, Soviet-British, Soviet-Polish and Soviet-Czechoslovak agreements on joint actions in the war against Germany were signed, and on August 24, 1941, the USSR joined the Atlantic Charter, which set out program goals anti-Hitler coalition. In September of the same year, the government of the USSR recognized General Charles de Gaulle as the leader of the Free France movement as the leader of all French people and promised to provide support to the French people in restoring independent France. On November 7, F. Roosevelt extended the Lend-Lease law to the USSR (total deliveries under Lend-Lease during the war years amounted to about 4% of the USSR's military production).
Two major events of World War II had a decisive influence on the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition: the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow and the entry of the United States into the war (this happened in December 1941 after the crushing Japanese attack on the American military base at Pearl Harbor in the Philippines). In January 1942, in Washington, representatives of 26 states signed the Declaration of the United Nations, which basically completed the formalization of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Heaviest weight Among the coalition states were the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. At the meetings of the leaders of these three countries - Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill (the "Big Three") in Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) - strategic issues related to the fight against Nazi Germany and its allies were discussed and resolved. One of them was, of course, the question of the Second Front. Its discovery occurred only in June 1944, when Anglo-American troops landed in Northern France. The literature gives different assessments of its effectiveness. Some authors believe that it was opened at least two years late (and not only due to the fault of the ruling circles of England and America, but also Stalin), when it became clear that even without allies the Red Army would complete the defeat of Nazi Germany. Western historians see in him the decisive force that predetermined the defeat of the fascist bloc. Here one can see an obvious overestimation of the role of the Second Front and the Allies in the defeat of the German army. But, be that as it may, Anglo-American troops, having marched from the shores of the Atlantic to Germany, contributed to the liberation of Western and Central Europe from fascism. The anti-Hitler coalition itself, despite its internal contradictions, was the most important factor victory over Nazi Germany and its allies.
The significance of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War is difficult to overestimate. True to the patriotic traditions of the past, he defended the freedom and independence of his state - the USSR. The victory over fascism brought liberation to many peoples of Europe. It was, of course, achieved joint efforts countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, but the main contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany was made by the Soviet Union.
The USSR managed to overcome the consequences of the initial defeat. Strict centralization (often brutal), coupled with the dedication of millions, allowed the USSR to win. And this victory earned the Soviet Union the gratitude and respect of many millions of people in the world and increased its international prestige. The USSR turned into a power without which no one could decide important question. He became one of the founders of the United Nations (UN), a permanent (one of five) member of the Security Council. The number of countries with which the USSR had diplomatic relations by the end of the war was 46, whereas at the beginning there were only 17.
At the same time, it should be noted that for more than fifty years we were almost proud huge sacrifices that our people suffered. Meanwhile, all these losses were programmed by the totalitarian system itself, and above all by the mistakes of the top political leadership.
Conscience Soviet man clean. He fought bravely in the most tragic moments of the war and worthily crowned it with a hard-won victory. But nevertheless, a “triumphant complex” arose, which established itself in society after the victory and was exploited by propaganda for decades. But in this complex, contempt for one’s own victims was merged, and justification for the vices and crimes of the totalitarian communist system (“They won after all!”), and the imposition of their own rules in other countries (“they shed blood”). They blamed everything on the war, they justified everything with the war, they covered up the poverty of everyday life and the mediocrity and criminality of the system.
The public in many countries, especially in Eastern Europe, tends to view the end of the war as consolidation of the Soviet communist occupation. The victory in 1945 was the second after the October Revolution of 1917. major victory Bolshevism on a global scale. In 1945, the Bolsheviks “pulled down” their allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. The Yalta and Potsdam agreements meant the retreat of democracy from the 1939 borders far to the West.
In the post-war Western Europe democracy staggered under the onslaught of the “fifth column” of the growing Comintern. The jubilation of the champions of democracy in 1945 was clearly premature: they had to continue the “cold” war with communist totalitarianism in different national “packages” for another half a century.
The Soviet people, who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders, had no other choice. Defeat in that war could not bring either democracy or liberation from totalitarian slavery. And even after the victory, a bitter reward awaited the Soviet people: poverty, lack of rights, general surveillance, repression and other “charms” of totalitarianism, separated from civilization by the “Iron Curtain”.
VII. THE SOVIET UNION IN THE SECOND HALF
40's - EARLY 90's. XX CENTURY
THE SOVIET UNION IN THE PRE-WAR YEARS
USSR at the beginning of World War II. On September 1, 1939, Germany began the war against Poland. On September 17, Soviet troops entered its eastern regions. The secret protocol "worked". The USSR included the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, where 13 million people lived.
On September 28, immediately after the completion of military operations in Poland, Ribbentrop and Molotov signed in Moscow an agreement on friendship and borders and new secret protocols, which clarified the “spheres of interest” of the two countries (in exchange for a number of regions of Eastern Poland, Germany “ceded” to the USSR Lithuania).
Soviet-Finnish war. Success in Poland inspired Stalin to continue his work. Referring to the fact that the Soviet-Finnish border passed only 32 km from Leningrad, the USSR invited Finland to transfer to it part of the Karelian Isthmus and a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland. In exchange, the Finns were offered undeveloped lands in Karelia. Finland's refusal to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union mutual assistance“(according to which it was planned to create Soviet military bases on Finnish territory) was declared an act “indicating the hostility of the intentions” of the Finnish leadership. In response to this, the USSR announced the denunciation of the non-aggression treaty with Finland.
On November 30, the Red Army began military operations against the Finns. However, they put up such vigorous resistance that the Soviet troops suffered huge losses and were stuck for a long time in a deeply echeloned fortification system - the “Mannerheim Line” on the Karelian Isthmus.
The start of the USSR's war against Finland was perceived in the world as an act of aggression. The Soviet Union, as an aggressor state, was expelled from the League of Nations. The provision of economic and military assistance to Finland began. It was even planned to land an expeditionary force Western countries to fight the Red Army.
Meanwhile, in February 1940, taking into account the lessons of the first offensive, Soviet troops launched a new, more successful offensive at the front. As a result, Finland sued for peace. In March, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow. According to its results, everything territorial claims The USSR to Finland were satisfied. The Finnish campaign led to serious losses in the Red Army: about 75 thousand people died, another 175 thousand were wounded or frostbite.
The war not only led to the international isolation of the USSR, but also seriously undermined the prestige of the Red Army. Hitler saw its inability to conduct effective combat operations in modern warfare. But conclusions from the war were also drawn in Moscow. K. E. Voroshilov was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Defense, and his place was taken by S. K. Timoshenko. Measures were taken to strengthen the country's defense.
USSR and Baltic states. Immediately after the defeat of Poland, the USSR achieved the conclusion of “mutual assistance” agreements with Baltic countries: Estonia (September 28), Latvia (October 5) and Lithuania (October 10). The agreements provided for the creation of Soviet naval and air bases on the territory of these countries and the deployment of significant Red Army forces on them. The presence of Soviet troops was used to change the existing system in these states.
In mid-June 1940, the Soviet government, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded the appointment of new governments in the Baltic countries, which were to include communists. Faced with the threat of the immediate establishment of complete Soviet military control over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the authorities of these countries agreed to the demands of the USSR. Educated" people's governments"soon they turned to the Soviet Union with a request to join the USSR as union republics.
At the end of June 1940, the USSR also presented an ultimatum to Romania demanding the immediate transfer of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina under its control. Romania, after consultations with Germany, was forced to agree to this demand. The Moldavian SSR was formed in the new territories, which was also accepted into the Soviet Union.
As a result, for less than a year western borders The USSR was pushed back by 200-600 km.
Soviet-German relations. Thus, the agreements between the USSR and Germany on the division of “spheres of influence” were implemented by the fall of 1940. Having received freedom of action in Europe, Hitler by this time had managed to conquer France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Norway. In the summer of 1940, on behalf of the fascist leader, a plan for war against the USSR (“Barbarossa”) was developed. However, both sides sought to delay the start of the war until they were fully ready for it to begin.
In November 1940, Molotov arrived in Berlin for negotiations with Hitler, having received instructions from Stalin to agree to continue Soviet-German cooperation provided that Bulgaria and the Black Sea Straits were included in the “sphere of interests” of the USSR. Hitler invited the Soviet Union to join the Tripartite Pact (Germany, Italy, Japan) and promised to expand the Soviet “spheres of interest” to the south - at the expense of Persia. But no agreement was reached. In December 1940, Hitler signed the decision to implement the Barbarossa plan.
What you need to know about this topic:
Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.
Internal policy of tsarism. Nicholas II. Increased repression. "Police Socialism"
Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, progress, results.
Revolution 1905 - 1907 Character, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.
Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'etat of June 3, 1907
Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. Arrangement political forces in the Duma. Activities of the Duma. Government terror. Decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910.
Stolypin agrarian reform.
IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Activities of the Duma.
Political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. Labor movement summer of 1914. Crisis at the top.
International position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of the war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude to the war of parties and classes.
Progress of military operations. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. Role Eastern Front in the first world war.
The Russian economy during the First World War.
Worker and peasant movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. The growth of anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.
Russian culture XIX- beginning of the 20th century
The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Temporary Committee of the State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. The reasons for the emergence of dual power and its essence. The February revolution in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.
From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government regarding war and peace, on agrarian, national, and labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. Arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.
Political parties(Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.
Crises of the Provisional Government. Attempted military coup in the country. The growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital's Soviets.
Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.
II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Formation of government and management bodies. Composition of the first Soviet government.
Victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Elections in constituent Assembly, its convening and dispersal.
The first socio-economic transformations in the fields of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.
Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. Introduction of food dictatorship. Working food detachments. Combeds.
The revolt of the left Socialist Revolutionaries and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.
The first Soviet Constitution.
Reasons for intervention and civil war. Progress of military operations. Human and material losses during the civil war and military intervention.
Domestic policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War communism". GOELRO plan.
The policy of the new government regarding culture.
Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Russia's participation in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition The USSR is the main capitalist country.
Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine 1921-1922 Transition to new economic policy. The essence of NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. Financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP period and its collapse.
Creation projects USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.
Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intra-party struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime.
Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - goal, forms, leaders.
Formation and strengthening of the state system of economic management.
The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.
Results of industrialization and collectivization.
Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intra-party struggle. Political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalin's regime and the USSR Constitution of 1936
Soviet culture in the 20-30s.
Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.
Domestic policy. Growth of military production. Emergency measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Armed forces. The growth of the Red Army. Military reform. Repressions against the command cadres of the Red Army and the Red Army.
Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish War. Inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories into the USSR.
Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. First stage war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events. Surrender of Nazi Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.
Soviet rear during the war years.
Deportation of peoples.
Guerrilla warfare.
Human and material losses during the war.
Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. "Big Three" conferences. Problems of post-war peace settlement and comprehensive cooperation. USSR and UN.
Start " cold war". The USSR's contribution to the creation of the "socialist camp". Formation of the CMEA.
Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-40s - early 50s. Restoration of the national economy.
Social and political life. Policy in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad affair". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "The Doctors' Case"
Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.
Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repression and deportation. Internal party struggle in the second half of the 50s.
Foreign policy: creation of the Department of Internal Affairs. Entry of Soviet troops into Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. Split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American relations and Caribbean crisis. USSR and "third world" countries. Reduction in the size of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty of Limitation nuclear tests.
USSR in the mid-60s - first half of the 80s.
Socio-economic development: economic reform of 1965
Increasing difficulties in economic development. Declining rates of socio-economic growth.
Constitution of the USSR 1977
Social and political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.
Foreign Policy: Non-Proliferation Treaty nuclear weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow Treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. Entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.
USSR in 1985-1991
Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.
Exacerbation of the national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. "Novoogaryovsky trial". Collapse of the USSR.
Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Agreements with leading capitalist countries. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization.
Russian Federation in 1992-2000.
Domestic policy: " Shock therapy"in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. Intensification of the struggle between the executive and legislative powers. Dissolution Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events 1993 Abolition local authorities Soviet power. Elections to the Federal Assembly. Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 Formation of a presidential republic. Exacerbation and overcoming national conflicts in the North Caucasus.
Parliamentary elections of 1995. Presidential elections of 1996. Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. Financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections of 1999 and early presidential elections of 2000. Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. Participation Russian troops in the “hot spots” of the neighboring countries: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Relations between Russia and foreign countries. Withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and neighboring countries. Russian-American agreements. Russia and NATO. Russia and the Council of Europe. Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia’s position.
- Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.
On September 1, 1939, the military forces of Nazi Germany invaded Poland, thereby marking the beginning of the Second World War. Two weeks later, the army of the Soviet Union entered its eastern regions with the goal of returning the lands of western Ukraine and Belarus to their possessions.
The secret annex to the non-aggression pact earned the parties actively using their rights that were enshrined in it. After a fleeting military operation in Poland, already at the end of September 1939, Molotov and Ribbentrop signed a new treaty on state friendship and borders.
In the secret protocols to this agreement, the USSR and Germany fixed the boundaries of the territories of influence. The governments of the two countries agreed to an “exchange” - Eastern Poland became completely owned by Germany, and Russia received Lithuania instead.
The war between the USSR and Finland
The success that the Soviet army received in Poland inspired I.V. Stalin to new operations that contributed to the expansion of state territory. The Soviet government invited Finland to sign a mutual assistance agreement, the essence of which was the placement of Soviet military bases on Finnish lands.
The Finns responded to Stalin with a decisive refusal, which was predictable for the leader. The Bolsheviks received a reason to start a war with Finland. On November 30, 1939, the Red Army began military operations against Finland. The confrontation did not proceed as quickly and easily as in Poland: the Union suffered enormous human losses.
By February 1940, during the second stage of the offensive, the Red Army managed to defeat the Finns. In exchange for peace, the Soviet Union annexed to its territory the former Finnish lands, part of Karelia and the islands of the Gulf of Finland. The war against Finland was a huge blow to the international image of the country. For its aggression, the Union was expelled from the League of Nations.
Baltic states, Romania and USSR
Between October and November 1939, the Soviet government achieved the opportunity to place its military bases in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. At the same time, the USSR gained the opportunity to directly intervene in the internal politics of the Baltic states.
Already in July 1940, Stalin put forward an ultimatum to these countries: if the current government in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is not replaced by communists in the near future, the USSR will begin hostilities with them.
The Baltic states not only agreed to communist rule, but also turned to Stalin with a request to join the Soviet Union as union republics. This choice is explained by the fact that the Baltic states had neither a professional army nor a military base to protect their independence.
At the same time, the USSR also made territorial claims to Romania. Under pressure from the German fascists, the Romanian government was forced to give up Soviet state Northern Bukovna and Bessarabia. The result of such a violent foreign policy was a significant expansion of the state territory of the USSR.
THE SOVIET UNION IN THE PRE-WAR YEARS
USSR at the beginning of World War II. On September 1, 1939, Germany began the war against Poland. On September 17, Soviet troops entered its eastern regions. The secret protocol "worked". The USSR included the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, where 13 million people lived.
On September 28, immediately after the completion of military operations in Poland, Ribbentrop and Molotov signed in Moscow an agreement on friendship and borders and new secret protocols, which clarified the “spheres of interest” of the two countries (in exchange for a number of regions of Eastern Poland, Germany “ceded” to the USSR Lithuania).
Soviet-Finnish war. Success in Poland inspired Stalin to continue his work. Referring to the fact that the Soviet-Finnish border passed only 32 km from Leningrad, the USSR invited Finland to transfer to it part of the Karelian Isthmus and a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland. In exchange, the Finns were offered undeveloped lands in Karelia. Finland's refusal to sign a “mutual assistance” agreement with the Soviet Union (according to which it was planned to create Soviet military bases on Finnish territory) was declared an act “indicating the hostility of the intentions” of the Finnish leadership. In response to this, the USSR announced the denunciation of the non-aggression treaty with Finland.
On November 30, the Red Army began military operations against the Finns. However, they put up such vigorous resistance that the Soviet troops suffered huge losses and were stuck for a long time in a deeply echeloned fortification system - the “Mannerheim Line” on the Karelian Isthmus.
The start of the USSR's war against Finland was perceived in the world as an act of aggression. The Soviet Union, as an aggressor state, was expelled from the League of Nations. The provision of economic and military assistance to Finland began. It was even planned to land an expeditionary force of Western countries to fight the Red Army.
Meanwhile, in February 1940, taking into account the lessons of the first offensive, Soviet troops launched a new, more successful offensive at the front. As a result, Finland sued for peace. In March, a peace treaty was signed in Moscow. As a result, all territorial claims of the USSR to Finland were satisfied. The Finnish campaign led to serious losses in the Red Army: about 75 thousand people died, another 175 thousand were wounded or frostbite.
The war not only led to the international isolation of the USSR, but also seriously undermined the prestige of the Red Army. Hitler saw its inability to conduct effective combat operations in modern warfare. But conclusions from the war were also drawn in Moscow. K. E. Voroshilov was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Defense, and his place was taken by S. K. Timoshenko. Measures were taken to strengthen the country's defense.
USSR and Baltic states. Immediately after the defeat of Poland, the USSR achieved the conclusion of agreements on “mutual assistance” with the Baltic countries: Estonia (September 28), Latvia (October 5) and Lithuania (October 10). The agreements provided for the creation of Soviet naval and air bases on the territory of these countries and the deployment of significant Red Army forces on them. The presence of Soviet troops was used to change the existing system in these states.
In mid-June 1940, the Soviet government, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded the appointment of new governments in the Baltic countries, which were to include communists. Faced with the threat of the immediate establishment of complete Soviet military control over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the authorities of these countries agreed to the demands of the USSR. The formed "people's governments" soon turned to the Soviet Union with a request to join the USSR as union republics.
At the end of June 1940, the USSR also presented an ultimatum to Romania demanding the immediate transfer of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina under its control. Romania, after consultations with Germany, was forced to agree to this demand. The Moldavian SSR was formed in the new territories, which was also accepted into the Soviet Union.
As a result, in less than a year, the western borders of the USSR were pushed back by 200-600 km.
Soviet-German relations. Thus, the agreements between the USSR and Germany on the division of “spheres of influence” were implemented by the fall of 1940. Having received freedom of action in Europe, Hitler by this time had managed to conquer France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Norway. In the summer of 1940, on behalf of the fascist leader, a plan for war against the USSR (“Barbarossa”) was developed. However, both sides sought to delay the start of the war until they were fully ready for it to begin.
In November 1940, Molotov arrived in Berlin for negotiations with Hitler, having received instructions from Stalin to agree to continue Soviet-German cooperation provided that Bulgaria and the Black Sea Straits were included in the “sphere of interests” of the USSR. Hitler invited the Soviet Union to join the Tripartite Pact (Germany, Italy, Japan) and promised to expand the Soviet “spheres of interest” to the south - at the expense of Persia. But no agreement was reached. In December 1940, Hitler signed the decision to implement the Barbarossa plan.
What you need to know about this topic:
Socio-economic and political development of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Nicholas II.
Internal policy of tsarism. Nicholas II. Increased repression. "Police Socialism"
Russo-Japanese War. Reasons, progress, results.
Revolution 1905 - 1907 Character, driving forces and features of the Russian revolution of 1905-1907. stages of the revolution. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the revolution.
Elections to the State Duma. I State Duma. The agrarian question in the Duma. Dispersal of the Duma. II State Duma. Coup d'etat of June 3, 1907
Third June political system. Electoral law June 3, 1907 III State Duma. The alignment of political forces in the Duma. Activities of the Duma. Government terror. Decline of the labor movement in 1907-1910.
Stolypin agrarian reform.
IV State Duma. Party composition and Duma factions. Activities of the Duma.
Political crisis in Russia on the eve of the war. Labor movement in the summer of 1914. Crisis at the top.
International position of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The beginning of the First World War. Origin and nature of the war. Russia's entry into the war. Attitude to the war of parties and classes.
Progress of military operations. Strategic forces and plans of the parties. Results of the war. The role of the Eastern Front in the First World War.
The Russian economy during the First World War.
Worker and peasant movement in 1915-1916. Revolutionary movement in the army and navy. The growth of anti-war sentiment. Formation of the bourgeois opposition.
Russian culture of the 19th - early 20th centuries.
The aggravation of socio-political contradictions in the country in January-February 1917. The beginning, prerequisites and nature of the revolution. Uprising in Petrograd. Formation of the Petrograd Soviet. Temporary Committee of the State Duma. Order N I. Formation of the Provisional Government. Abdication of Nicholas II. The reasons for the emergence of dual power and its essence. The February revolution in Moscow, at the front, in the provinces.
From February to October. The policy of the Provisional Government regarding war and peace, on agrarian, national, and labor issues. Relations between the Provisional Government and the Soviets. Arrival of V.I. Lenin in Petrograd.
Political parties (Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks): political programs, influence among the masses.
Crises of the Provisional Government. Attempted military coup in the country. The growth of revolutionary sentiment among the masses. Bolshevization of the capital's Soviets.
Preparation and conduct of an armed uprising in Petrograd.
II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Decisions about power, peace, land. Formation of government and management bodies. Composition of the first Soviet government.
Victory of the armed uprising in Moscow. Government agreement with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Elections to the Constituent Assembly, its convocation and dispersal.
The first socio-economic transformations in the fields of industry, agriculture, finance, labor and women's issues. Church and State.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, its terms and significance.
Economic tasks of the Soviet government in the spring of 1918. Aggravation of the food issue. Introduction of food dictatorship. Working food detachments. Combeds.
The revolt of the left Socialist Revolutionaries and the collapse of the two-party system in Russia.
The first Soviet Constitution.
Causes of intervention and civil war. Progress of military operations. Human and material losses during the civil war and military intervention.
Domestic policy of the Soviet leadership during the war. "War communism". GOELRO plan.
The policy of the new government regarding culture.
Foreign policy. Treaties with border countries. Russia's participation in the Genoa, Hague, Moscow and Lausanne conferences. Diplomatic recognition of the USSR by the main capitalist countries.
Domestic policy. Socio-economic and political crisis of the early 20s. Famine 1921-1922 Transition to a new economic policy. The essence of NEP. NEP in the field of agriculture, trade, industry. Financial reform. Economic recovery. Crises during the NEP period and its collapse.
Projects for the creation of the USSR. I Congress of Soviets of the USSR. The first government and the Constitution of the USSR.
Illness and death of V.I. Lenin. Intra-party struggle. The beginning of the formation of Stalin's regime.
Industrialization and collectivization. Development and implementation of the first five-year plans. Socialist competition - goal, forms, leaders.
Formation and strengthening of the state system of economic management.
The course towards complete collectivization. Dispossession.
Results of industrialization and collectivization.
Political, national-state development in the 30s. Intra-party struggle. Political repression. Formation of the nomenklatura as a layer of managers. Stalin's regime and the USSR Constitution of 1936
Soviet culture in the 20-30s.
Foreign policy of the second half of the 20s - mid-30s.
Domestic policy. Growth of military production. Emergency measures in the field of labor legislation. Measures to solve the grain problem. Armed forces. The growth of the Red Army. Military reform. Repressions against the command cadres of the Red Army and the Red Army.
Foreign policy. Non-aggression pact and treaty of friendship and borders between the USSR and Germany. The entry of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus into the USSR. Soviet-Finnish war. Inclusion of the Baltic republics and other territories into the USSR.
Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. The initial stage of the war. Turning the country into a military camp. Military defeats 1941-1942 and their reasons. Major military events. Surrender of Nazi Germany. Participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.
Soviet rear during the war.
Deportation of peoples.
Guerrilla warfare.
Human and material losses during the war.
Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. Declaration of the United Nations. The problem of the second front. "Big Three" conferences. Problems of post-war peace settlement and comprehensive cooperation. USSR and UN.
The beginning of the Cold War. The USSR's contribution to the creation of the "socialist camp". CMEA education.
Domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-40s - early 50s. Restoration of the national economy.
Social and political life. Policy in the field of science and culture. Continued repression. "Leningrad affair". Campaign against cosmopolitanism. "The Doctors' Case"
Socio-economic development of Soviet society in the mid-50s - the first half of the 60s.
Socio-political development: XX Congress of the CPSU and condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult. Rehabilitation of victims of repression and deportation. Internal party struggle in the second half of the 50s.
Foreign policy: creation of the Department of Internal Affairs. Entry of Soviet troops into Hungary. Exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. Split of the "socialist camp". Soviet-American relations and the Cuban missile crisis. USSR and "third world" countries. Reduction in the size of the armed forces of the USSR. Moscow Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Tests.
USSR in the mid-60s - first half of the 80s.
Socio-economic development: economic reform of 1965
Increasing difficulties in economic development. Declining rates of socio-economic growth.
Constitution of the USSR 1977
Social and political life of the USSR in the 1970s - early 1980s.
Foreign policy: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Consolidation of post-war borders in Europe. Moscow Treaty with Germany. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Soviet-American treaties of the 70s. Soviet-Chinese relations. Entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. Exacerbation of international tension and the USSR. Strengthening Soviet-American confrontation in the early 80s.
USSR in 1985-1991
Domestic policy: an attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. An attempt to reform the political system of Soviet society. Congresses of People's Deputies. Election of the President of the USSR. Multi-party system. Exacerbation of the political crisis.
Exacerbation of the national question. Attempts to reform the national-state structure of the USSR. Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. "Novoogaryovsky trial". Collapse of the USSR.
Foreign policy: Soviet-American relations and the problem of disarmament. Agreements with leading capitalist countries. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Changing relations with the countries of the socialist community. Collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact Organization.
Russian Federation in 1992-2000.
Domestic policy: “Shock therapy” in the economy: price liberalization, stages of privatization of commercial and industrial enterprises. Fall in production. Increased social tension. Growth and slowdown in financial inflation. Intensification of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches. Dissolution of the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies. October events of 1993. Abolition of local bodies of Soviet power. Elections to the Federal Assembly. Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 Formation of a presidential republic. Exacerbation and overcoming national conflicts in the North Caucasus.
Parliamentary elections of 1995. Presidential elections of 1996. Power and opposition. An attempt to return to the course of liberal reforms (spring 1997) and its failure. Financial crisis of August 1998: causes, economic and political consequences. "Second Chechen War". Parliamentary elections of 1999 and early presidential elections of 2000. Foreign policy: Russia in the CIS. Participation of Russian troops in “hot spots” of the neighboring countries: Moldova, Georgia, Tajikistan. Relations between Russia and foreign countries. Withdrawal of Russian troops from Europe and neighboring countries. Russian-American agreements. Russia and NATO. Russia and the Council of Europe. Yugoslav crises (1999-2000) and Russia’s position.
- Danilov A.A., Kosulina L.G. History of the state and peoples of Russia. XX century.