Having captured Western Belarus, the Polish bourgeoisie and landowners turned it into an agricultural and raw materials appendage of the industrial regions of Poland. 95% of the population was employed in agriculture, many industrial enterprises were closed. Polish leaders pursued the goal of forcibly colonizing 4 million people. Belarusian people– to Polish it, to destroy Belarusian culture.

The anti-people policy of the Polish government ended in a national catastrophe. Hitler's Germany On September 1, 1939, having a huge military superiority in manpower and equipment, it attacked Poland and rapidly advanced towards the territory of Western Belarus. The Belarusian population faced the danger of a fascist invasion. September 17, 1939 Polish Ambassador in Moscow it was stated: “In view of the current situation, the Soviet government gave the order to the Red Army troops to cross the border and take the population under protection Western Ukraine and Belarus." The workers of the liberated cities and villages greeted the Red Army with joy. In a number of places, even before her arrival, workers and peasants disarmed the police and siege guards and took power into their own hands. Members of the former CPZB who emerged from the underground and prisons were part of the temporary administration, headed peasant committees, and organized the workers' guard and police.

The Soviet leadership, having decided to send troops into western regions Ukraine and Belarus, drew up an act of historical justice, which put an end to the division of these republics, allowed the restoration of territorial integrity, and the reunification of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples within the USSR. It is important to see another aspect in this situation. During the outbreak of World War II, pressure on the USSR increased. The German leadership sought to draw him into a military conflict with Poland as quickly as possible. However, Moscow tried in every possible way to delay time so as not to be compromised in direct aggression against Poland and not to appear in the eyes of the international community as being drawn into direct support German politics. Nazi leaders resorted to political blackmail. Ribbentrop's office sent an urgent dispatch to Moscow, which indicated that if the Red Army did not begin military operations against Poland, then the German offensive on Poland would be suspended, and on its eastern lands will be created buffer states(Belarusian, Ukrainian, Polish).”

The prospect, as we see, then became extremely bad: the Belarusian and Ukrainian populations could end up in puppet states - limitrophes - actual protectorates Nazi Germany. It is obvious that our crossing of the western border on September 17, 1939 was more than a necessary measure. “You should pay attention to the order that was read out in front of everyone personnel troops of the Western and Ukrainian fronts. The troops were strictly forbidden to bomb from the air and fire with artillery settlements. The military personnel were required to have a loyal attitude towards the soldiers of the Polish army who did not resist and observed the laws of war. The Belorussian Front was commanded by Army Commander 2nd Rank M.P. Kovalev. The front included the 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th armies, as well as the 23rd Rifle Corps, the Dzerzhinsk Cavalry Mechanized Group and the Dnieper military flotilla numbering over 200 thousand soldiers and officers. They were opposed by a 45,000-strong Polish group. The most stubborn resistance was near Grodno, where the 15th Soviet tank corps lost up to 16 tanks, 47 people were killed and 156 were wounded. In the period from September 17 to September 30, 1939, the losses of the troops of the Belorussian Front amounted to 996 people killed and 2002 wounded. Complete liberation territory ended by September 25.

After the arrival of Soviet troops in the western regions, preparations began for elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. The elections were held on October 22, 1939. On October 28, 1939, the People's Assembly of Western Belarus began its work in Bialystok, which was opened by the oldest deputy S.F. Strug, a peasant from the village of Moiseevichi, Volkovysk district.

Among 926 deputies People's Assembly Western Belarus included 621 Belarusians, 127 Poles, 72 Jews, 43 Russians, 53 Ukrainians and 10 representatives of other nationalities. Questions about state power, the entry of Western Belarus into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, confiscation of landowners' lands, nationalization of banks and large-scale industry.

The People's Assembly elected a Plenipotentiary Commission of 66 people to convey to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR its decision on the desire of the population of Western Belarus to join Soviet Union and BSSR. On November 2, 1939, the extraordinary session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the first convocation, having heard a statement by the Plenipotentiary Commission of the People's Assembly of Western Belarus, decided to satisfy this request and include the western regions of Belarus into the USSR with their reunification with the Belarusian SSR.

As a result of reunification, the USSR border moved 300 km to the west, the population of Belarus increased to 10 million people. However, one cannot help but touch upon such an important issue as “ forced deportation population." Bodies of the NKVD of the BSSR (People's Commissar V. Tsanava, a close associate of L. Beria) in February 1940, under direct instructions from above, tens of thousands of people were evicted from the territory of Western Belarus from among the former settlers, forest guard workers, employees of former state institutions, bodies, legal bodies, the army, traders, artisans with their families into the depths of the USSR; in April 1940, almost the same fate befell 27 thousand people were prisoners of war of the Polish army. Together with their families, those who expressed a desire to go to Germany, but were not accepted by the German authorities, were also sent beyond the Urals.

The fraternal assistance of the working people of the USSR, which was provided to the reunified regions, cannot be diminished. In just one year, industrial output increased 2.5 times. Unemployment has disappeared. Landless and land-poor peasants received over 1 million hectares of land. The leader of Belarus during all the pre-war years was actually PK Ponomarenko.

3Germany’s preparation for war against the USSR. Plan Barbarossa

German aggression against the Soviet Union began to be prepared in the mid-30s. The war against Poland, and then the campaign in Northern and Western Europe temporarily switched German staff thought to other problems. But even then the preparations for war against the USSR remained in the field of view of the Nazis. It became more active after the defeat of France, when, in the opinion of the fascist leadership, the rear was secured future war and Germany had at its disposal sufficient resources to carry it out.

On December 18, 1940, Hitler signed Directive 21, codenamed Plan Barbarossa, which contained the general plan and initial instructions for waging war against the USSR.

The strategic basis of the Barbarossa plan was the theory of “blitzkrieg” - lightning war. The plan called for the defeat of the Soviet Union in a short-lived campaign within a maximum of five months, before the war against Britain was over. Leningrad, Moscow, the Central Industrial Region and the Donetsk Basin were recognized as the main strategic objects. Special place was assigned to the capture of Moscow. It was assumed that with the achievement of this goal the war would be won.

To wage war against the USSR, an aggressive force was created military coalition, the basis of which was tripartite pact, concluded in 1940 between Germany, Italy and Japan. Romania, Finland, and Hungary were involved in active participation in the aggression. The Nazis were assisted by the reactionary ruling circles of Bulgaria, as well as the puppet states of Slovakia and Croatia. Spain, Vichy France, Portugal, Turkey, and Japan collaborated with fascist Germany. To implement the Barbarossa plan, the aggressors mobilized the economic and human resources of the captured and occupied countries; the economies of the neutral states of Europe were largely subordinated to their interests.

Hitler's General G. Blumentritt wrote in a report prepared for the meeting senior management ground forces May 9, 1941: “The history of all wars involving Russians shows that the Russian fighter is persistent, immune to bad weather, very undemanding, neither afraid of blood nor loss. Therefore, all battles from Frederick the Great to the World War were bloody. Despite these qualities of the troops, the Russian Empire never achieved victory. Currently we have a great numerical superiority... Our troops are superior to the Russians in combat experience... We will have stubborn battles for 8-14 days, and then success will not be long in coming, and we will win.”

The most important military-political goal of the war in the plans of the Nazis was the destruction of the main enemy of fascism - the Soviet Union, the world's first socialist state, in which they saw the main obstacle to the conquest of world domination.

The political goals of the war against the USSR lay at the heart of the Barbarossa plan. At first they were formulated in the most general form: “settle with Bolshevism”, “defeat Russia”, etc., but then the wording became more and more specific. Immediately before completion of development strategic plan war Hitler in the following way defined its goal: “Destroy the vitality of Russia. There shouldn't be any left political entities capable of rebirth." The first priority was given to the task of defeating the “state centered in Moscow.” Dismember it and form it into Soviet territory a number of German colonial possessions."

Thus, the main political goals the wars of Nazi Germany and its allies against the USSR were: the elimination of the socialist social and Soviet state system

By war against the USSR, the ruling circles of fascist Germany intended to solve not only political problems that expressed the general class interests of international imperialism. They also considered their own enrichment, the seizure of enormous national wealth and natural resources The Soviet Union, a significant increase in the economic potential of Germany, opening up favorable prospects for claims to world domination. “Our goal must be the conquest of all areas of special military and economic interest to us,” Hitler argued.

Lecture 4 USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War

1Socio-economic and political situation in the USSR.

2Measures to strengthen the country's defense capability.

The history of the entry of Belarusian lands into Russia.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of Belarus was closely connected with the history of Russia. The Belarusian lands were first located in Russian Empire, and then as part of the Soviet Union. But the history of the annexation of Belarusian lands by Russia covers a much longer period than the previous two centuries. The article is devoted to a description of the main stages of the entry of the lands of Belarus into Russia.

After the collapse of Rus', many independent principalities. On the territory of modern Belarus, the largest were Polotsk and Turov. In the 13th century, while most of the lands of former Rus' fell into the sphere of influence of the Golden Horde, most of lands of Belarus became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After Muscovy freed from Mongol yoke, its rulers begin to claim the status of “gatherers of Russian lands.” The Lithuanian-Moscow wars begin, the most famous of which took place in 1512-1522. In 1514, the Belarusian-Ukrainian prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky defeated the Moscow army near Orsha, which stopped the advance of the troops of Tsar Vasily 3. The Moscow principality won the war, but was unable to capture the territories of Belarus, but at the same time regaining Smolensk and capturing Chernigov. After the unification of Lithuania and Poland into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Belarusian lands became part of it, as result - beginning Polish-Russian troops. After the alliance of Alexei Mikhailovich with the Cossacks in the person of Bogdan Khmelnitsky in 1654, Russia made another attempt to annex Belarus. But by the end of the 17th century, Russia was able to include only a small part of modern eastern Belarus.

The new stage of the entry of Belarusian lands into Russia begins with the second half of the XVIII centuries, when the weakened Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth begins to be divided by its neighbors: Prussia, Austria and Russia. During the first partition in 1772, Catherine annexed Vitebsk and Polotsk, and in 1793 Minsk became part of the Russian Empire. Final accession lands of Belarus took place in 1795 during the third partition of Poland: Russia annexed the lands up to Brest. Thus, all ethnic Belarusian lands become part of the Russian Empire. The Belarusian General Government is created, consisting of three provinces: the North-Western Territory, Vitebsk and Mogilev.

The next stage of the Belarusian-Russian history of relations begins in 1917 after the abdication of Nicholas 2 and the fall of the Russian Empire. Some Belarusians are trying to create an independent Belarusian People's Republic, some sympathize with the Bolsheviks, who are trying to create a socialist republic. Added to this conflict is a reborn Poland, which considers Belarusian territories their own. In 1919, through the efforts of the Red Army, the Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Republic was created. But in 1921, in Riga, Poland and representatives of the Bolsheviks signed a peace, as a result of which Western Belarus became part of Poland, and the Belarusian Soviet Union was created in the rest of the country. Socialist Republic. In 1922, all Soviet republics united into the USSR.

In 1939, after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on Soviet-German non-aggression, the parties divided Poland. As a result, on September 17, 1939, Stalin gave the command to send troops into the territory eastern Poland, which means it annexes the western lands of Belarus. After the end of World War II, these lands finally became part of the USSR as part of the BSSR.

Thus, the history of the unification of Belarusian and Russian lands has long history. It all started in the 15th century with the Lithuanian-Russian wars, then there were wars with Poland. Then, as a result of the divisions of Poland, Russia was able to annex all Belarusian lands, but after the war with the Poles in 1921 they lost western part. The re-unification of all Belarusian lands with Russia took place in 1945 in the form of the USSR.

Capacity building and expansion western borders THE USSR.

The Soviet-German agreement thwarted the plans of the Western powers to direct German aggression exclusively against the USSR. A blow was also dealt to German-Japanese relations. Summer 1939 Soviet troops The Japanese were defeated on the Khalkhin Gol River in Mongolia. Later, Japan, despite pressure from Germany, never started a war against the USSR.

Effective method Stalin saw strengthening the country's security in moving its borders to the West. On September 17, 1939, the entry of Soviet troops into Poland began, which on that day, with the flight of its government, actually ceased to exist as a independent state. The lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus captured by Poland in 1920 were annexed to Soviet Ukraine and Belarus.

At the end of 1939, the USSR increased pressure on Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland in order to conclude friendship agreements with them, which included clauses on the creation of Soviet military bases in them. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have signed such agreements. Finland was also required to transfer a small territory to the Soviet Union Karelian Isthmus near Lenin grad in exchange for vast lands in other places, including Petrozavodsk. Finland, hoping for help from England, France and Germany, did not agree to these conditions. At the end of 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war broke out. It turned out to be difficult for the Soviet troops, who suffered heavy losses, but in March 1940 it ended in the defeat of Finland. A number of lands were transferred to the USSR, including the city of Vyborg.

In the summer of 1940, the USSR achieved the coming to power of “people's governments” in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which decided to have their countries join the USSR as union republics. At the same time, Romania returned Bessarabia, which became the Moldavian SSR.

There were economic and trade agreements between the USSR and Germany. They were necessary for the USSR, since its isolation from Western countries was becoming greater. By supplying Germany mainly with raw materials, the USSR received back advanced equipment and technologies.

Tans new types of weapons. Since 1935, a naval construction program was launched.

In November 1936, Germany and Japan signed an agreement to combat Communist International(Anti-Comintern Pact). But, having been defeated by Soviet troops, the Japanese government preferred the “southern” option of expansion, seizing the possessions of the European powers and the United States in Asia.

The inevitability of World War II was also understood in the USSR.

The Soviet government made every effort to strengthen its positions in both the East and the West. Special attention paid to the accelerated development of the military industry. Large state reserves were created, backup enterprises were built in the Urals, the Volga region, Siberia, and Central Asia.

Great Britain and France took steps to redirect fascist aggression to the East. In June 1939, secret Anglo-German negotiations on an alliance began in London, but they were disrupted due to serious contradictions regarding the division of world markets and spheres of influence.

Caring for the improvement of the state, the contentment and happiness of the people was, in the eyes of Empress Catherine, the most important of her royal responsibilities. In her youth, it even seemed to her that good laws could completely destroy all evil and untruth, inseparable from human nature, and create “the bliss of one and all.” This great cause was where her heart lay most.

But the position of Russia in Europe was then such that Catherine, from the very first years of her reign, also had to devote a lot of effort and a lot of attention to the worthy defense of the rights and benefits of Russia and the Russian people before foreign states. Russia was already arousing fear and envy, and a whole web of clever intrigues was woven around it, with the goal of either undermining the power of Russia, or using Russian force to protect other people's needs and benefits. Any oversight on the part of the Russian statesmen threatened with grave consequences, which, first of all, would have reflected disaster on the well-being and life of the people themselves, about whose happiness the Empress cared so much.

Catherine dealt with these external matters, which were very complex and required great knowledge and a subtle mind. Her minister, the educated and intelligent Count Panin, was a good assistant to her. In relations and negotiations with foreign powers, Catherine was always guided by one simple and clear rule: to spend Russian funds exclusively on those matters that could bring undeniable benefit to Russia itself. But in such matters she defended the benefit of Russia, not succumbing to either requests or threats, with courage and tenacity that drove foreign ambassadors to despair.

Once English ambassador, who tried to conclude a trade agreement beneficial for the British, but embarrassing for the Russians, went so far as to kneel before the empress, begging her to respect the needs and requests of the English people friendly to Russia. It was all in vain: the empress did not allow even the slightest embarrassment for her people.

This hard rule helped Empress Catherine, with honor and benefit for Russia, understand the most important events that had arisen from the very first years of her reign.

At the ceremony of the coronation of the empress, the Belarusian Orthodox Bishop George of Konissky, who arrived from Poland, addressed her with an ardent plea - to protect the Orthodox population of Belarus from constant violence from Catholics and Uniates. Despite all the treaties with Russia and the repeated demands of the Russian government, the Orthodox population of the Russian lands, which were still under Polish rule, continued to endure gross insults and oppression, sometimes reaching the point of forced conversion to Catholicism or the union.

Every year long lists such insults and violence were sent to St. Petersburg. The Polish government's persistent inattention to Russia's legitimate demands was all the more offensive because Poland itself could no longer hold out without Russia's support. And in the first years of Catherine’s reign, as before, the Poles continued to pester with requests for money, then for weapons, then for military support for organizing their internal affairs.

Catherine's character did not allow her to put up with this state of affairs. She did not want to repeat for the hundredth time fruitless reminders of old treaties and decided to take drastic measures this time. This was required not only for the protection of the Russian population in Poland, but also for the direct benefit of the Russian Empire. It was impossible to allow Poland to leave the subordination of Russia, established since the time of Peter the Great: then it would fall under the power or influence of other neighboring powers, which through this would become more dangerous for Russia.

Just at this time, in 1763, he died Polish king August the Third.

The usual civil strife in Poland began again, as in 1733. The strong party, which wanted to elevate Pan Stanislav Poniatowski to the throne, asked Catherine for support against the armed violence resorted to by opponents. The Empress took advantage of this opportunity: she promised her support to Poniatowski on the condition that he and his supporters, having received power, would establish new law, according to which Orthodox subjects of Poland, on an equal basis with Catholics, will have the right to participate in the Sejm and hold all positions according to public service: then, of course, any oppression for faith would become unthinkable.

By virtue of this agreement with Poniatowski Cossack regiments were moved to Poland, easily dispersed the rebel detachments who were interfering with the correct elections, and Stanislav Augustus was elected king.

However, this attempt - to achieve fair rights for the Russian population of Poland - ended in failure. King Stanislaus, however, proposed to the Sejm to issue a law on equal rights for the Orthodox with Catholics. But the Diet, consisting exclusively of Catholics, decisively rejected the proposed law. The king himself was showered with rude abuse; members of the Diet waved their naked sabers, shouting that only a traitor could even propose such a law. The strong hatred of Catholic Poles for the Gentiles frightened both the king himself and his supporters, who had previously promised Catherine to achieve equal rights for the Orthodox. The king informed the empress that he could not fulfill his promise. But it was dangerous to joke with Catherine in this way. Once she decided to complete the important work she had begun, she was ready to take extreme measures.

At her call, the Orthodox population of the Russian regions of Poland took up arms and threatened to rebel if they were not given equal rights with Catholics. A whole army gathered in the city of Slutsk (now Minsk province). The same armed congress was convened in Thorn (now in Prussia) by Polish Lutherans, to whom the Catholics also did not want to give rights. In Poland, such armed congresses of dissatisfied nobles, called confederations, have long become a custom and were even considered permissible; There were such amazing orders in Poland. Catherine promised the Confederates armed support: Cossack regiments were stationed near Warsaw and in a short time could occupy her.

Threat internecine war and Russian military intervention finally broke the stubbornness of the Catholics - and the Sejm in 1768 approved a law on equal rights for Orthodox and Lutherans with Catholics. At the same time, the Sejm concluded an agreement with Russia, which gave Russia the right to monitor order and compliance with laws in Poland. The Polish government was already aware that it was unable to maintain order in the country. Events very soon forced us to remember this agreement.

The Catholic Poles, who reached the point of fanaticism in their hatred of the Orthodox, in turn declared an armed confederation in the city of Bar (now Podolsk province), demanding the abolition of the newly issued law on equality and the deposition of King Stanislav Augustus, whom they called a traitor and apostate from faith.

The Catholic Confederates fought poorly, but with merciless cruelty they tortured and killed every Orthodox Christian who fell into their hands, burned villages and villages, leaving everywhere behind them traces of destruction and the corpses of tortured and hanged Orthodox peasants. Then the peasant and Cossack population of Polish Ruthenia (Turkey had returned it to Poland by this time), in turn, raised a bloody uprising against the king and against the lords. By terrible force and the cruelty of this uprising was reminiscent of the times of Khmelnitsky: in the city of Uman, the Haidamaks (as the rebel Cossacks were now called) massacred over 10 thousand Poles and Jews, sparing neither women nor children.

Terrible civil strife engulfed all of Poland. The king, against whom the uprising was approaching from two sides, asked for help from Catherine, and the empress, in accordance with the treaty of 1768, again moved her troops to Poland. The Haidamaks immediately laid down their arms: they did not want to fight against the troops of the Orthodox Empress. And before, having started the massacre, they innocently thought that with this cruelty they were doing what was pleasing to Catherine. But we had to deal with the Confederate Poles real war. In the open field, the Confederates could not resist the regular army, but they hid in small parties in the forests, made quick raids on Russian troops or peaceful villages, and this petty, tedious war dragged on for a long time. The Confederate leaders tried to gain time, hoping to wait for help from someone from strong enemies Russia. They especially counted on Turkey. Ambassadors of the confederation together with French Ambassador persistently convinced the Turkish ministers not to allow Russia to further strengthen its influence on Polish affairs.

Under the influence of these slander, Turkey turned to Catherine with a daring demand - to abandon support for the Orthodox in Poland and withdraw its troops from there.

Catherine avoided unnecessary wars, but where the benefit of the people and the honor of the state required it, she was not afraid to take on the challenge. Simultaneously with the Polish Troubles, a severe Turkish war, which lasted for 6 years. There were moments when Austria also threatened Russia with war. Despite all these complications, Russian troops in Poland continued to stubbornly fight the Confederates.

With great difficulty it was finally possible to disperse and catch their gangs. But King Stanislaus Augustus behaved duplicitously and hypocritically during this entire war: while at heart he sympathized with the Confederates, he did not help our troops who fought for him in any way, and he constantly and persistently demanded that Catherine renounce the treaty of 1768 about the equality of Orthodox Christians. The more difficult it was for Russia in the difficult Turkish war, the more insistent the king’s demands became. At the same time, he stubbornly refused any, even the most just, demands of Catherine in border disputes, in complaints about violence against Russian subjects. He even started secret negotiations with France and Austria, asking them for help against Russia.

Catherine, having learned about these negotiations, warned the king that she considered his behavior tantamount to a declaration of war.

At the height of the Polish unrest, the Austrians, seeing the complete powerlessness of Poland, occupied the border with Austria with their troops Polish lands. It was possible to dislodge them from there only by war. But Catherine, who had already endured a difficult Turkish war because of the Poles, did not want to shed the blood of her soldiers again because of the Poles. All means have already been tried to kindly achieve fair rights for the Orthodox subjects of Poland. The king and the gentry responded to Russia's love of peace with obvious hostility and attempts to raise new enemies against it, rather than fulfill the simple and legal demands of the empress. All this gave Catherine the right to treat Poland as an obvious enemy. Without objection, she provided the Austrians with the Polish regions they had occupied; she also did not prevent her constant ally - the Prussian king - from annexing part of the Polish possessions to Prussia; herself, in compensation for the countless insults and losses caused to Russia by the Poles, annexed to Russia the ancient Russian region - Eastern Belarus (the current Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces). In this region, once upon a time, before its annexation to Lithuania, the descendants of St. Prince Vladimir Equal to the Apostles reigned. The relics of St. Princess Euphrosyne from his glorious family now rest in ancient city Belarus - Polotsk. During the annexation of Eastern Belarus to the Russian Empire, the entire rural and urban population in it was Russian. One part of it was Orthodox, and the other was Uniate in faith. But as soon as the Belarusian Uniates came under Russian rule, many of them immediately returned to Orthodoxy.

The Prussian king Frederick openly admitted that of the three powers that took possession of the Polish regions, only Russia had the moral right to do so. Prussia and Austria, indeed, took advantage of Poland’s weakness for conquests: the Prussians attacked the Polish-Slavic lands, and Austria even took possession of the Russian-populated Galicia - the ancient property of the Russian princes. Austria still owns this Galician Russia with its capital Lvov, as well as Ugric Russia and Bukovinian Russia. In this foreign Rus', dear to us, it has still not been possible to completely ruin the union Orthodox faith, no matter how the Austrians, Poles and Ugrians, or Hungarians strived for this.

The Polish Sejm, fearing to bring war to Poland, obediently signed an agreement in 1772 on the cession of the lands they had occupied to Russia, Prussia and Austria.

Exhausted by the loss of its vast outskirts, Poland now found itself in complete submission to Russia. The Russian ambassador in Warsaw had more power and importance than the king himself. Anyone who wanted to achieve something turned to him or went to St. Petersburg with their request. But this did not cause any particular trouble for Poland itself. Even Russia’s enemies admitted that under her supervision Poland began to recover from the disasters and devastation of many years of unrest; it established some order in management matters.

But this time the peace was fragile. Prussia and Austria, fearing the union of two strong Slavic peoples, spared no expense and tried, through bribed agitators (inciters), to arouse bitterness and hostility towards Russia among the Poles. Their efforts were not fruitless. While Russia was scary, Poland was quiet. But in 1787, a new difficult Turkish war began in Russia. False rumors about the failures of Russian troops and false hope the alliance and assistance against Russia of the European powers instilled in the Poles the idea that there was nothing more to fear from Russia. Catherine’s peacefulness, which ignored the first actions of the Polish government that were offensive to Russia, gave the Poles even more courage.

The Diet declared all previous treaties with Russia destroyed and sought an alliance against it from Prussia. At the Sejm, both Russia and the Empress were publicly abused with unprecedented insolence. Russian subjects were inflicted in Poland whole line severe insults; several senior Orthodox clergy, including the only Orthodox Bishop Victor in Poland, were put in a fortress or thrown into prison in 1789; the courts did not give any protection to the Orthodox churches when they were robbed by drunken soldiers and mobs. The Orthodox population of right-bank Ukraine and Volyn again, as in 1786, began to worry. They were waiting for help from the empress. Many entire families fled across the Russian border. The Poles were afraid of a new Haidamak uprising and pulled troops into Ukraine. To prevent an uprising, others proposed devastating the entire region, as the Poles did in the old days.

It is clear that there could be one answer to these actions on the part of the Russian Empress: war.

In 1792, Russian troops again entered Poland. The Orthodox population of Ukraine greeted the Russian regiments as their saviors, providing them with all kinds of assistance: the Poles could not get a single spy. In a densely populated country, they could not collect information about the movements of an entire Russian army; Russian generals knew every movement of any Polish detachment. Among the Poles themselves, as usual, there were many enemies of the king; they declared a confederation and, armed, joined the troops of the empress.

The war did not last long. Polish troops, quite numerous, but disorganized, self-willed and not accustomed to battle, did not show either military art or real courage, and were beaten in every skirmish with the Russians. The hope for help from Prussia did not materialize: the Prussians had already achieved their goal - they called in Poland new troubles and now they themselves treacherously captured several more rich trading cities from the Poles they had deceived.

After several months of war, the Poles sued for peace. The main commanders of the troops moved against Russia fled abroad. The king tried to buy forgiveness before his Polish enemies - the Confederates - and before Catherine. But Catherine, who never wasted the blood of her soldiers, dictated the harsh conditions of peace: not wanting to leave the lands that were once the legitimate heritage of the Russian sovereigns in the power of Polish turmoil and violence any longer, the empress in 1793 forever annexed the Minsk, Volyn and Podolsk regions to the Russian Empire And right bank Ukraine. This Ukraine, together with Kiev, which was annexed to Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, formed the current Kyiv province.

The acquisitions made by Catherine in 1772 and 1793 were especially dear to Russia because these were not foreign lands conquered only by force of arms: these were the original Russian regions, torn away at different times by enemies, and now returned under the scepter of the Russian sovereigns. Aliens to the Russian people in these regions were only Polish landowners and Jews living in cities and towns, to whom the Poles had access here and to all Western Russian regions. The indigenous population of these lands - all peasants and most of the burghers - were Russian by blood and language: Belarusians in the Minsk, Mogilev and Vitebsk regions, Little Russians in Volyn, Podolia and Kyiv land. When Empress Catherine visited the Russian lands united with Russia, the Bishop of Konis, upon whose complaint the Empress stood up for the Orthodox subjects of Poland in 1763, greeted her in Mogilev with a speech remarkable for the strength and beauty of the Little Russian peasants. This speech clearly expressed the national joy Belarusian population, who finally found peace and freedom under the rule of the Orthodox Empress. In memory of the long-awaited reunification of the ancient Russian regions with Russia, Catherine ordered a medal to be knocked out with the inscription in Slavic: “The rejected one has returned.”

On September 17-29, 1939, the Red Army occupied the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were transferred to Poland as a result Soviet-Polish war 1919-1921 In November 1939, these territories were officially annexed to the Ukrainian SSR and BSSR. In this material we invite you to look at photographs illustrating this process.

Let us remember that on September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and the Second World War began.
Poland could not resist German troops for long, and already on September 17, the Polish government fled to Romania.
Directives were issued on September 14 People's Commissar Defense of the USSR Marshal of the Soviet Union K. Voroshilov and Chief General Staff Red Army - Army Commander 1st Rank B. Shaposhnikov for Nos. 16633 and 16634, respectively, “On the start of the offensive against Poland.”

At 3:00 on September 17, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.P. Potemkin read a note to the Polish Ambassador in Moscow V. Grzhibowski:

The Polish-German war revealed the internal failure of the Polish state. Within ten days of military operations, Poland lost all its industrial areas and cultural centers. Warsaw, as the capital of Poland, no longer exists. The Polish government has collapsed and shows no signs of life. This means that the Polish state and its government virtually ceased to exist. Thus, the agreements concluded between the USSR and Poland were terminated. Left to its own devices and left without leadership, Poland turned into a convenient field for all sorts of accidents and surprises that could pose a threat to the USSR. Therefore, being hitherto neutral, the Soviet government cannot be more neutral in its attitude towards these facts.

The Soviet government cannot also be indifferent to the fact that half-blooded Ukrainians and Belarusians living on the territory of Poland, abandoned to the mercy of fate, remain defenseless.

In view of this situation, the Soviet government ordered the High Command of the Red Army to order the troops to cross the border and take under their protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

At the same time, the Soviet government intends to take all measures to rescue the Polish people from the ill-fated war into which they were plunged by their foolish leaders, and to give them the opportunity to live a peaceful life.

Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, the assurances of our utmost respect. People's Commissar
Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. Molotov

The liberation campaign of the Red Army in Poland began.
At 18.00 on September 27, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop arrived in Moscow. The first conversation with Stalin and Molotov took place from 22.00 to 1.00 in the presence of Schulenburg and Shkvartsev. During negotiations on the final outline of the border on Polish territory, Ribbentrop, citing the fact that Poland was “completely defeated by the Germans” armed forces"and Germany "first of all lacks timber and oil," expressed the hope that "the Soviet government will make concessions in the area oil-bearing areas in the south in the upper reaches of the San River. The German government would expect the same thing at Augustow and Bialystok, since there are extensive forests there that are very important for our economy. A clear solution to these issues would be very helpful for further development German-Soviet relations". For his part, Stalin, citing the danger of division Polish population, which could give rise to unrest and pose a threat to both states, proposed leaving the territory of ethnic Poland in German hands. Regarding German wishes to change the line of state interests in the south, Stalin said “in this regard, any reciprocal steps on the part of the Soviet government are excluded. This territory has already been promised to the Ukrainians... My hand will never move to demand such a sacrifice from the Ukrainians.”

As compensation, Germany was offered supplies of up to 500 thousand tons of oil in exchange for supplies of coal and steel pipes. Regarding concessions in the north, Stalin stated that "The Soviet government is ready to hand over to Germany the salient between East Prussia and Lithuania with the city of Suwalki to the line immediately north of Augustow, but no more.” Thus, Germany will receive the northern part of the Augustow Forests. On the afternoon of September 28, a second conversation took place in the Kremlin, during which it became clear that Hitler generally approved the solution territorial issue. After this, a discussion began on the border line. Stalin "agreed to the corresponding transfer of the border to the south" in the Augustow Forest. The Soviet side renounced the territory between the Narev and Bug rivers east of the Ostrov-Ostrolenka line, and the German side slightly moved the border to the north in the area of ​​Rava-Ruska and Lyubachuv. A long discussion around Przemysl did not lead to any results, and the city remained divided into two parts along the river. San. During the last round of negotiations from 1:00 to 5:00 on September 29, the Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany was prepared and signed. In addition to the agreement, a confidential protocol was signed on the resettlement of Germans living in the area Soviet interests, to Germany, and Ukrainians and Belarusians living in the sphere of German interests, to the USSR, and two secret additional protocols. In accordance with another protocol, Lithuania was transferred to the sphere of interests of the USSR in exchange for the Lublin and part of the Warsaw voivodeship, which were transferred to Germany.

Total number irrecoverable losses Red Army during Liberation campaign in September 1939 the number was estimated at 1,475 and 3,858 wounded. Moreover, a significant number of losses occurred due to indiscipline and disorganization rather than from enemy actions. Polish losses in battles with the Red Army are not known for sure. They are estimated at 3.5 thousand dead military personnel and civilians, as well as 20 thousand wounded and missing and from 250 to 450 thousand prisoners.

November 1, 1939 The Supreme Council The USSR adopted the law “On the inclusion of Western Ukraine into the USSR with its reunification with the Ukrainian SSR,” and on November 2, 1939, the law “On the inclusion of Western Belarus into the USSR with its reunification with the Belarusian SSR.”

Photos

1. Soldiers examine trophies captured in battles on the territory of Western Ukraine. Ukrainian front. 1939


RGAKFD, 0-101010

2. BT-7 tanks of the Soviet 24th light tank brigade enter the city of Lvov. 09/18/1939.

3. Portrait of a Red Army soldier from the crew of an armored car BA-10 in the city of Przemysl. 1939.

4. A T-28 tank fords a river near the town of Mir in Poland (now the village of Mir, Grodno region, Belarus). September 1939

topwar.ru

5. T-26 tanks from the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army enter Brest-Litovsk. On the left is a unit of German motorcyclists and Wehrmacht officers. 09/22/1939

Bundesarchiv. "Bild 101I-121-0012-30 "

6. Meeting of Soviet and German troops in the Polish city of Stryi (now Lviv region of Ukraine). September 1939

reibert.info

7. Meeting of Soviet and German patrols in the Lublin area. September 1939

waralbum/Bundesa rchiv

8. A Wehrmacht soldier talks with the commanders of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army near the city of Dobuchin (now Pruzhany, Belarus). 09/20/1939

Bundesarchiv. "Bild 101I-121-0008-25 "

9. Soviet and German military personnel communicate with each other in Brest-Litovsk. 09/18/1939

10. Commanders of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army near an armored car BA-20 in Brest-Litovsk. In the foreground is battalion commissar Vladimir Yulianovich Borovitsky. 09/20/1939

corbisimages

11. Battalion Commissar of the 29th Tank Brigade of the Red Army Vladimir Yulianovich Borovitsky (1909-1998) with German officers at the BA-20 armored car in Brest-Litovsk. 09/20/1939

12. Wehrmacht soldiers with a Red Army soldier on a Soviet armored car BA-20 from the 29th separate tank brigade in the city of Brest-Litovsk. 09/20/1939

Bundesarchiv. "Bild 101I-121-0008-13 "

13. German and soviet officers with a Polish railway worker. 1939

This photo is often published cropped, cutting off left side with a smiling Pole to demonstrate It is true that at that time only the USSR had relations with Nazi Germany.

14. A cavalry detachment passes along one of the streets of Grodno during the days of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366673

15. German officers at the location of the Soviet military unit. In the center is the commander of the 29th Light Tank Brigade, Semyon Moiseevich Krivoshein. Standing nearby is the deputy brigade commander, Major Semyon Petrovich Maltsev. 09/22/1939

16. German generals, including Heinz Guderian, confer with the battalion commissar Borovensky in Brest. September 1939

17. Soviet and German officers discuss the demarcation line in Poland. 1939

Soviet lieutenant colonel art illerist and German officers in Poland discuss the demarcation line on the map and the associated deployment of troops. German troops advanced significantly east of the pre-agreed lines, crossed the Vistula and reached Brest and Lvov.

18. Soviet and German officers discuss the demarcation line in Poland. 1939

National Archives of the Netherlands

19. Soviet and German officers discuss the demarcation line in Poland. 1939

20. General Guderian and brigade commander Krivoshein during the transfer of the city of Brest-Litovsk to the Red Army. 09/22/1939

During the invasion of Poland, the city of Brest (at that time - Brest-Litovsk) on September 14, 1939 was occupied by the Wehrmacht's 19th Motorized Corps under the command of General Guderian. On September 20, Germany and the USSR agreed on a temporary demarcation line between their troops, Brest retreated to the Soviet zone.

On September 21, the 29th separate unit entered Brest tank brigade The Red Army under the command of Semyon Krivoshein, which had previously received orders to take Brest from the Germans. During negotiations on this day, Krivoshein and Guderian agreed on a procedure for transferring the city with a ceremonial withdrawal German troops.

At 16:00 on September 22, Guderian and Krivoshein rose to the low podium. In front of them, German infantry marched in formation with unfurled banners, then motorized artillery, then tanks. About two dozen aircraft flew at low level.

The withdrawal of German troops from Brest, which was attended by Red Army soldiers, is often called a “joint parade” of troops of Germany and the USSR, although there was no joint parade - Soviet troops did not pass through solemn march around the city together with the Germans. The myth of " joint parade"is widely used in anti-Russian propaganda to prove the union of the USSR and Germany (which did not exist) and to identify Nazi Germany and the USSR.

21. General Guderian and brigade commander Krivoshein during the transfer of the city of Brest-Litovsk to the Red Army. 09/22/1939

Bundesarchiv."Bi ld 101I-121-0011A-2 3"

22. Red Army soldiers watch the ceremonial withdrawal of German troops from Brest. 09/22/1939

vilavi.ru

23. Trucks with Soviet soldiers follow the street in Vilno. 1939

The city of Vilna was part of Poland from 1922 to 1939.

RGAKFD, 0-358949

24. Parade of troops of the Belarusian Military District in honor of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-360462

25. View of one of the streets of Grodno during the days of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-360636

26. View of one of the streets of Grodno during the days of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366568

27. Women at a demonstration in honor of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. Grodno. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366569

28. Demonstration on one of the streets of Grodno in honor of the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR. 1939

Photo by: Temin V.A. RGAKFD, 0-366567

29. The population at the entrance to the building of the Provisional Administration of the city of Bialystok. 1939

Photo by: Mezhuev A. RGAKFD, 0-101022

30. Election slogans for the People's Assembly of Western Belarus on Bialystok Street. October 1939

RGAKFD, 0-102045

31. A group of youth from Bialystok goes on a campaign bike ride dedicated to the elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. October 1939

RGAKFD, 0-104268

32. Peasants of the village of Kolodina go to the elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. October 1939

Author of the photo: Debabov. RGAKFD, 0-76032

33. Peasants of the village of Transitions of the Bialystok district at a polling station during elections to the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. September 1939

Photo by: Fishman B. RGAKFD, 0-47116

34. View of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. Bialystok. September 1939

Photo by: Fishman B. RGAKFD, 0-102989

35. View of the meeting hall of the People's Assembly of Western Belarus. Bialystok. October 1939

41. The joy of the reunification of Western Ukraine with fraternal peoples THE USSR. Lviv. 1939

42. The population of Lvov welcomes the Red Army troops at the parade after the end of the People's Assembly of Western Ukraine. October 1939

Photo by: Novitsky P. RGAKFD, 0-275179

43. Soviet equipment passes through the streets of Lvov after the end of the work of the People's Assembly of Western Ukraine. October 1939

RGAKFD, 0-229827

44. A column of workers passes along one of the streets of Lvov on the day of the celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the October Revolution. 07 November 1939

Photo by: Ozersky M. RGAKFD, 0-296638