Wars are as old as humanity itself. The earliest documented evidence of war dates back to a Mesolithic battle in Egypt (Cemetery 117), which occurred approximately 14,000 years ago. Wars occurred across much of the globe, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. In our review about the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind, which must not be forgotten in any case, so as not to repeat this.
1. Biafran War of Independence
1 million dead dead
The conflict, also known as the Nigerian Civil War (July 1967 - January 1970), was caused by an attempt to secede the self-proclaimed state of Biafra (Nigeria's eastern provinces). The conflict arose as a result of political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions that preceded the formal decolonization of Nigeria in 1960 - 1963. Most people during the war died from hunger and various diseases.
2. Japanese invasions of Korea
1 million dead
The Japanese invasions of Korea (or Imdin War) took place between 1592 and 1598, with the initial invasion in 1592 and the second invasion in 1597, after a brief truce. The conflict ended in 1598 with the withdrawal of Japanese troops. About 1 million Koreans died, and Japanese casualties are unknown.
3. Iran-Iraq War
1 million dead
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from 1980 to 1988, making it the longest war of the 20th century. The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, and ended in a stalemate on August 20, 1988. In terms of tactics, the conflict was comparable to World War I, as it involved large-scale trench warfare, machine gun emplacements, bayonet charges, psychological pressure, and extensive use of chemical weapons.
4. Siege of Jerusalem
1.1 million dead
The oldest conflict on this list (it occurred in 73 AD) was the decisive event of the First Jewish War. The Roman army besieged and captured the city of Jerusalem, which was defended by the Jews. The siege ended with the sack of the city and the destruction of its famous Second Temple. According to historian Josephus, 1.1 million civilians died during the siege, mostly as a result of violence and starvation.
5. Korean War
1.2 million dead
Lasting from June 1950 to July 1953, the Korean War was an armed conflict that began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, led by the United States, came to the aid of South Korea while China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea. The war ended after an armistice was signed, a demilitarized zone was created and prisoners of war were exchanged. However, no peace treaty was signed and the two Koreas are technically still at war.
6. Mexican Revolution
2 million dead
The Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920, radically changed the entire Mexican culture. Given that the country's population was then only 15 million, the losses were appallingly high, but estimates vary widely. Most historians agree that 1.5 million people died and nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad. The Mexican Revolution is often categorized as the most important socio-political event in Mexico and one of the greatest social upheavals of the 20th century.
7. Chuck's conquests
2 million dead
The Chaka Conquests is the term used for the series of massive and brutal conquests in South Africa led by Chaka, the famous monarch of the Zulu Kingdom. In the first half of the 19th century, Chaka, at the head of a large army, invaded and plundered a number of regions in South Africa. It is estimated that up to 2 million people from indigenous tribes died.
8. Goguryeo-Sui Wars
2 million dead
Another violent conflict in Korea was the Goguryeo-Sui Wars, a series of military campaigns waged by the Chinese Sui dynasty against Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 598 to 614. These wars (which the Koreans ultimately won) were responsible for the deaths of 2 million people, and the total death toll is likely much higher because Korean civilian casualties were not counted.
9. Religious wars in France
4 million dead
Also known as the Huguenot Wars, the French Wars of Religion, fought between 1562 and 1598, were a period of civil strife and military confrontations between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). The exact number of wars and their respective dates are still debated by historians, but it is estimated that up to 4 million people died.
10. Second Congo War
5.4 million million dead
Also known by several other names, such as the Great African War or the African World War, the Second Congo War was the deadliest in modern African history. Nine African countries, as well as about 20 separate armed groups, were directly involved.
The war lasted five years (1998 to 2003) and resulted in 5.4 million deaths, mainly due to disease and starvation. This makes the Congo War the world's deadliest conflict since World War II.
11. Napoleonic Wars
6 million dead
Lasting between 1803 and 1815, the Napoleonic Wars were a series of major conflicts waged by the French Empire, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, against a variety of European powers formed in various coalitions. During his military career, Napoleon fought about 60 battles and lost only seven, mostly towards the end of his reign. In Europe, approximately 5 million people died, including due to disease.
12. Thirty Years' War
11.5 million million dead
The Thirty Years' War, fought between 1618 and 1648, was a series of conflicts for hegemony in Central Europe. The war became one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, and initially began as a conflict between Protestant and Catholic states in the divided Holy Roman Empire. Gradually the war escalated into a much larger conflict involving most of the great powers of Europe. Estimates of the death toll vary widely, but the most likely estimate is that about 8 million people, including civilians, died.
13. Chinese Civil War
8 million dead
The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (the political party of the Republic of China) and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China. The war began in 1927, and it essentially ended only in 1950, when major active fighting ceased. The conflict eventually led to the de facto formation of two states: the Republic of China (now known as Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China). The war is remembered for its atrocities on both sides: millions of civilians were deliberately killed.
14. Civil war in Russia
12 million dead
The Russian Civil War, which lasted from 1917 to 1922, broke out as a result of the October Revolution of 1917, when many factions began to fight for power. The two largest groups were the Bolshevik Red Army and the allied forces known as the White Army. During the 5 years of war in the country, from 7 to 12 million victims were recorded, who were mainly civilians. The Russian Civil War has even been described as the greatest national disaster Europe has ever faced.
15. Tamerlane's conquests
20 million dead
Also known as Timur, Tamerlane was a famous Turko-Mongol conqueror and military leader. In the second half of the 14th century he waged brutal military campaigns in Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus and southern Russia. Tamerlane became the most influential ruler in the Muslim world after his victories over the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the crushing defeat of the Delhi Sultanate. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns resulted in the deaths of 17 million people, about 5% of the then world population.
16. Dungan uprising
20.8 million dead
The Dungan Rebellion was primarily an ethnic and religious war fought between the Han (a Chinese ethnic group native to East Asia) and the Huizu (Chinese Muslims) in 19th century China. The riot arose due to a price dispute (when a Han merchant was not paid the required amount by a Huizu buyer for bamboo sticks). Ultimately, more than 20 million people died during the uprising, mostly due to natural disasters and conditions caused by the war, such as drought and famine.
17. Conquest of North and South America
138 million dead
European colonization of the Americas technically began in the 10th century, when Norse sailors briefly settled on the shores of what is now Canada. However, we are mainly talking about the period between 1492 and 1691. During these 200 years, tens of millions of people were killed in battles between colonizers and Native Americans, but estimates of the total death toll vary greatly due to the lack of consensus regarding the demographic size of the pre-Columbian indigenous population.
18. Rebellion of An Lushan
36 million dead
During the Tang Dynasty, China experienced another devastating war - the An Lushan Rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763. There is no doubt that the rebellion caused a huge number of deaths and significantly reduced the population of the Tang Empire, but the exact number of deaths is difficult to estimate even in approximate terms. Some scholars estimate that up to 36 million people died during the revolt, approximately two-thirds of the empire's population and approximately 1/6 of the world's population.
19. First World War
18 million dead
The First World War (July 1914 - November 1918) was a global conflict that arose in Europe and gradually involved all the economically developed powers of the world, which united into two opposing alliances: the Entente and the Central Powers. The total death toll was about 11 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians. About two-thirds of the deaths during the First World War occurred directly in battle, in contrast to the conflicts that took place in the 19th century, when most deaths were due to disease.
20. Taiping Rebellion
30 million dead
This rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War, lasted in China from 1850 to 1864. The war was fought between the ruling Manchu Qing dynasty and the Christian movement "Heavenly Kingdom of Peace". Although no census was kept at the time, most reliable estimates place the total number of deaths during the uprising at around 20 - 30 million civilians and soldiers. Most deaths were attributed to plague and famine.
21. Conquest of the Ming Dynasty by the Qing Dynasty
25 million dead
The Manchu Conquest of China was a period of conflict between the Qing dynasty (the Manchu dynasty ruling northeast China) and the Ming dynasty (the Chinese dynasty ruling the south of the country). The war that ultimately led to the fall of the Ming was responsible for the deaths of approximately 25 million people.
22. Second Sino-Japanese War
30 million dead
The war, fought between 1937 and 1945, was an armed conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor (1941), the war effectively became World War II. It became the largest Asian war of the 20th century, killing up to 25 million Chinese and more than 4 million Chinese and Japanese troops.
23. Wars of the Three Kingdoms
40 million dead
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of armed conflicts in ancient China (220-280). During these wars, three states - Wei, Shu and Wu competed for power in the country, trying to unite the peoples and take control of them. One of the bloodiest periods in Chinese history was marked by a series of brutal battles that could lead to the deaths of up to 40 million people.
24. Mongol conquests
70 million dead
Mongol conquests progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire conquering much of Asia and Eastern Europe. Historians consider the period of Mongol raids and invasions to be one of the deadliest conflicts in human history. Additionally, the bubonic plague spread throughout much of Asia and Europe during this time. The total number of deaths during the conquests is estimated at 40 - 70 million people.
25. World War II
85 million dead
The Second World War (1939 - 1945) was global: the vast majority of countries in the world took part in it, including all the great powers. It was the most massive war in history, with more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries taking direct part in it.
It was marked by mass civilian deaths, including due to the Holocaust and strategic bombing of industrial and population centers, resulting in (according to various estimates) the deaths of between 60 million and 85 million people. As a result, World War II became the deadliest conflict in human history.
However, as history shows, man harms himself throughout his existence. What are they worth?
The twentieth century is “rich” in events such as bloody wars, destructive man-made disasters, and severe natural disasters. These events are terrible both in the number of casualties and the extent of damage.
The most terrible wars of the 20th century
Blood, pain, mountains of corpses, suffering - this is what the wars of the 20th century brought. In the last century, wars took place, many of which can be called the most terrible and bloodiest in the entire history of mankind. Large-scale military conflicts continued throughout the twentieth century. Some of them were internal, and some involved several states at the same time.World War I
The beginning of the First World War practically coincided with the beginning of the century. Its causes, as is known, were laid at the end of the nineteenth century. The interests of the opposing allied blocs collided, which led to the start of this long and bloody war.Thirty-eight of the fifty-nine states that existed in the world at that time were participants in the First World War. We can say that almost the whole world was involved in it. Having begun in 1914, it ended only in 1918.
Russian Civil War
After the revolution took place in Russia, the Civil War began in 1917. It continued until 1923. In Central Asia, pockets of resistance were extinguished only in the early forties. 
In this fratricidal war, where the Reds and the Whites fought among themselves, according to conservative estimates, about five and a half million people died. It turns out that the Civil War in Russia claimed more lives than all the Napoleonic wars.
The Second World War
The war that began in 1939 and ended in September 1945 was called World War II. It is considered the worst and most destructive war of the twentieth century. Even according to conservative estimates, at least forty million people died in it. It is estimated that the number of victims could reach seventy-two million. 
Of the seventy-three states that existed in the world at that time, sixty-two states took part in it, that is, about eighty percent of the planet’s population. We can say that this world war is the most global, so to speak. The Second World War was fought on three continents and four oceans.
Korean War
The Korean War began at the end of June 1950 and continued until the end of July 1953. It was a confrontation between South and North Korea. In essence, this conflict was a proxy war between two forces: the PRC and the USSR on the one hand, and the USA and their allies on the other.The Korean War was the first military conflict where two superpowers clashed in a limited area without using nuclear weapons. The war ended after the signing of a truce. There are still no official statements about the end of this war.
The worst man-made disasters of the 20th century
Man-made disasters occur from time to time in different parts of the planet, claiming human lives, destroying everything around, and often causing irreparable harm to the surrounding nature. There are known disasters that resulted in the complete destruction of entire cities. Similar disasters occurred in the oil, chemical, nuclear and other industries.Chernobyl accident
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is considered one of the worst man-made disasters of the last century. As a result of that terrible tragedy that happened in April 1986, a huge amount of radioactive substance was released into the atmosphere, and the fourth power unit of the nuclear plant was completely destroyed. 
In the history of nuclear energy, this disaster is regarded as the largest of its kind both in terms of economic damage and the number of injured and killed.
Bhopal disaster
In early December 1984, a disaster occurred at a chemical plant in the city of Bhopal (India), which was later called the Hiroshima of the chemical industry. The plant produced products that destroyed insect pests. 
Four thousand people died on the day of the accident, another eight thousand within two weeks. Almost five hundred thousand people were poisoned an hour after the explosion. The causes of this terrible disaster have never been established.
Piper Alpha oil rig disaster
In early July 1988, a powerful explosion occurred on the Piper Alpha oil platform, causing it to completely burn down. This disaster is considered the largest in the oil industry. After a gas leak and subsequent explosion, out of two hundred and twenty-six people, only fifty-nine survived.The worst natural disasters of the century
Natural disasters can cause no less harm to humanity than major man-made disasters. Nature is stronger than man, and periodically it reminds us of this.We know from history about major natural disasters that occurred before the beginning of the twentieth century. Today's generation has witnessed many natural disasters that occurred already in the twentieth century.
Cyclone Bola
In November 1970, the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded struck. It covered the territory of Indian West Bengal and eastern Pakistan (today it is the territory of Bangladesh).The exact number of victims of the cyclone is unclear. This figure ranges from three to five million people. The destructive power of the storm was not in power. The reason for the huge death toll is that the wave swamped low-lying islands in the Ganges delta, wiping out villages.
Earthquake in Chile
The largest earthquake in history is recognized as occurring in 1960 in Chile. Its strength on the Richter scale is nine and a half points. The epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean just a hundred miles from Chile. This in turn caused a tsunami. 
Several thousand people died. The cost of the destruction that occurred is estimated at more than half a billion dollars. Severe landslides occurred. Many of them changed the direction of the rivers.
Tsunami on the coast of Alaska
The strongest tsunami of the mid-twentieth century occurred off the coast of Alaska at Lituya Bay. Hundreds of millions of cubic meters of earth and ice fell from the mountain into the bay, causing a response surge on the opposite shore of the bay.The resulting half-kilometer wave, soaring into the air, plunged back into the sea. This tsunami is the highest in the world. Only two people became its victims only due to the fact that there were no human settlements in the Lituya area.
The most terrible event of the 20th century
The most terrible event of the last century can be called the bombing of Japanese cities - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This tragedy occurred on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. After the explosions of atomic bombs, these cities were almost completely turned into ruins. 
The use of nuclear weapons showed the whole world how colossal their consequences could be. The bombing of Japanese cities was the first use of nuclear weapons against humans.
The most terrible explosion in the history of mankind, according to the site, was also the work of Americans. "The Big One" was blown up during the Cold War.
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It is unlikely that sixteen-year-old Winston Churchill, thirty-two-year-old ruling Russian Emperor Nicholas II, eighteen-year-old Franklin Roosevelt, eleven-year-old Adolf Hitler or twenty-two-year-old Joseph Stalin (at that time still Dzhugashvili) knew at the time the world entered the new century that this century was destined to become the bloodiest in the history of mankind . But not only these individuals became the main figures involved in the largest military conflicts.
Let us list the main wars and military conflicts of the 20th century. During the First World War, between nine and fifteen million people died, and one of the consequences was the Spanish Flu epidemic, which began in 1918. It was the deadliest pandemic in history. It is believed that between twenty and fifty million people died from the disease. The Second World War claimed the lives of almost sixty million. Conflicts on a smaller scale also brought death.
In total, in the twentieth century, sixteen conflicts were recorded in which more than one million people died, six conflicts with the number of victims ranging from half a million to a million, and fourteen military clashes in which between 250 thousand and half a million people died. Thus, between 160 and 200 million died as a result of organized violence. In fact, the military conflicts of the 20th century killed one out of every 22 people on the planet.
World War I
The First World War began on July twenty-eighth, 1914, and ended on November eleventh, 1918. Thirty-eight states participated in this 20th century military conflict. The main cause of the war was serious economic contradictions between the superpowers, and the formal reason for the start of full-scale action was the murder of the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, by the Serbian terrorist Gavrilo Princip. This caused a conflict between Austria and Serbia. Germany also entered the war, supporting Austria.
Military conflict had a significant impact on the history of the twentieth century. It was this war that determined the end of the old world order established after the Napoleonic campaign. It is especially important that the outcome of the conflict became an important factor in the outbreak of the next world war. Many countries were dissatisfied with the new rules of the world order and had territorial claims against their neighbors.
Russian Civil War
The end of the monarchy was brought about by the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922. The military conflict of the 20th century arose against the backdrop of a struggle for complete power between representatives of various classes, groups and social strata of the former Russian Empire. The conflict was led to by the irreconcilability of the positions of different political unions on issues of power and the further economic and political course of the country.
The civil war ended in victory for the Bolsheviks, but brought enormous damage to the country. Production fell by a fifth from the 1913 level, and agricultural products were produced in half. All state formations that arose after the collapse of the empire were liquidated. The Bolshevik Party established the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The Second World War
In history, the first, during which military operations were carried out on land, in the air, and at sea, began a year ago. This military conflict of the 20th century involved the armies of 61 states, that is, 1,700 million people, and this is as much as 80% of the world's population. The battles took place on the territory of forty countries. In addition, for the first time in history, the number of civilian deaths exceeded the number of soldiers and officers killed, almost twice as much.
After World War II - the main military-political conflict of the 20th century - the contradictions between the allies only worsened. The Cold War began, in which social the camp was actually defeated. One of the most important consequences of the war was the Nuremberg Trials, during which the actions of war criminals were condemned.
Korean War
This 20th century military conflict lasted from 1950-1953 between South and North Korea. The battles were fought with the participation of military contingents from China, the USA and the USSR. The preconditions for this conflict were laid back in 1945, when Soviet and American military formations appeared on the territory of the country occupied by Japan. This confrontation created a model of local war, in which superpowers fight on the territory of a third state without the use of nuclear weapons. As a result, 80% of the transport and industrial infrastructure of both parts of the peninsula was destroyed, and Korea was divided into two zones of influence.
Vietnam War
The most important event of the Cold War period was the military conflict of the second half of the 20th century in Vietnam. The bombing of North Vietnam by US air forces began on March 2, 1964. The armed struggle lasted more than fourteen years, eight of which the United States intervened in the affairs of Vietnam. The successful completion of the conflict made it possible to create a unified state on this territory in 1976.
Several of Russia's military conflicts in the 20th century involved relations with China. At the end of the fifties, the Soviet-Chinese split began, and the peak of the confrontation occurred in 1969. Then a conflict occurred on Damansky Island. The reason was internal events in the USSR, namely criticism of Stalin’s personality and a new course towards “peaceful coexistence” with capitalist states.
War in Afghanistan
The cause of the Afghan war was the coming to power of a leadership that was not pleasing to the party leadership of the USSR. The Soviet Union could not lose Afghanistan, which was threatening to leave its zone of influence. Real data on casualties in the conflict (1979-1989) became available to the general public only in 1989. The Pravda newspaper published that the losses amounted to almost 14 thousand people, and by the end of the twentieth century this figure reached 15 thousand.
Gulf War
The war was fought between a multinational force (US) and Iraq to restore Kuwait's independence in 1990-1991. The conflict is known for the large-scale use of aviation (in terms of its influence on the outcome of hostilities), high-precision (“smart”) weapons, as well as the widest coverage in the media (for this reason the conflict was called a “television war”). In this war, the Soviet Union supported the United States for the first time.
Chechen wars
The Chechen war cannot be called over yet. In 1991, dual power was established in Chechnya. This situation could not last long, so as expected, a revolution began. The situation was aggravated by the collapse of a huge country, which until recently seemed to Soviet citizens a bastion of calm and confidence in the future. Now the whole system was falling apart before our eyes. The first Chechen war lasted from 1994 to 1996, the second took place from 1999 to 2009. So this is a military conflict of the 20-21st century.
So, our topic is “Russia and the wars of the 20th century.” The twentieth century, unfortunately, was very tense and filled with a large number of different wars and military conflicts. Suffice it to say that at the very beginning of the twentieth century the Russo-Japanese War took place, then two world wars: the first and the second. In the twentieth century there were only 450 major local wars and armed conflicts. After each war, agreements and treaties were concluded, peoples and governments hoped for long-term peace. There was no shortage of statements and invocations against war and for the creation of a sustainable world. But, unfortunately, wars arose again and again.
In the end, we need to think about why these wars happened and whether it is possible to make sure that there are at least fewer of them. There is such a famous historian, academician Chernyak, who wrote in one of his books that all these wars were unnecessary costs for the development of human society. That all these wars and conflicts did not contribute to the resolution of the contradictions that gave rise to them and gave practically nothing. You can probably say this about many wars and conflicts, but there were also wars, say, the Great Patriotic War, in which the fate of not only our country, but all of humanity was decided. Will humanity be enslaved by fascism, Nazism, or will there be a progressive development of the human community. Therefore, for example, the Great Patriotic War had worldwide historical significance, because its fruits relate to the destinies of all peoples. By the way, both the German people and the Japanese people, who after the defeat of fascism had the opportunity to develop in a completely different way. And, I must say, they succeeded in many ways.
Each war had its own reasons. There were, of course, general reasons, which boiled down to territorial claims. But generally speaking, many wars, even if you look earlier in history, for example, the crusades in the Middle East, were covered up by ideological and religious reasons. But, as a rule, wars had deep economic roots. The First World War began between two coalitions, at first eight countries took part in it, and at the end of the war - already 35. In total, 10 million people died in the First World War, and countries participated in the war with peoples who numbered almost one and a half billion people . The war went on for four years. And you know that it ended with the victory of the Entente countries; the United States of America, France, and Great Britain enriched themselves most in this war. And the situation was most difficult in the defeated countries, primarily in Germany. A large indemnity was imposed on Germany, and the inner circles of Germany played heavily on this. For example, in the twenties, whether they sold beer, wine, or bread in stores, they wrote everywhere: the price is, say, 10 marks, the indemnity costs 5 or 6 marks.
And so the population was forced to feel and realize that they were living poorly only because such heavy indemnities were imposed on the country by the Treaty of Versailles. There was huge unemployment. The economy was in a dire situation, and nationalist forces played on this. This ultimately contributed to the rise of Nazism to power. And Hitler, back in the twenties, wrote in his book “Mein Kampf” that the original dream and original plan of Germany was a march to the east. Could World War II have been prevented? Probably, if the Western countries, together with the Soviet Union, had more consistently followed the path of curbing the aggressor, and acted as a united front against the impending aggression, perhaps something could have been done. But in general, the situation from today’s heights shows that the aspirations and expansion to the east of fascism, of Hitler, were so deeply embedded in German politics that it was almost impossible to prevent this expansion. This was also facilitated by the fact that after the October Revolution, and even thanks to calls for world revolution and the overthrow of capitalism in all countries, the West became very hostile and wary of the Soviet Republic and did everything to push Hitler to the East, while they themselves remained aside. The mood of that time is very clearly shown by Truman's statement. At the beginning of the war, he was the vice president of the United States of America and said back in 1941, when Hitler attacked us, that if Germany wins, we must help the Soviet Union, if the Soviet Union wins, we must help Germany, let them kill each other as many friends as possible, so that America will later find itself, together with other Western countries, arbiters of world destiny.
The motives and goals, of course, were far from the same. Because Germany set as its goal the conquest of the territory of the Soviet Union and other eastern regions, the establishment of world domination and the establishment of fascist ideology throughout the world. But the goals of the Soviet Union were completely different: to protect their country and other countries from fascism. Underestimating the threat of fascism in the early stages led to the fact that Western countries pushed Hitler east in every possible way, and this, of course, made it possible for the Second World War to break out in full. They also talk about the guilt of the Soviet Union; in the West and in our country there are a lot of books that talk about this. An objective assessment shows that our country, no matter what it was called, was not interested in starting the Second World War. And the leadership of our country did everything to delay the start of the war and, at least, to protect our country so that it would not be drawn into this war. Of course, our country has had its mistakes. Insufficient flexibility, especially in relations with England, France, relations with the old democratic parties in Germany - many different mistakes were made. But still, objectively, our country was not interested in this war, and the same Stalin, not wanting to provoke a war, agreed to conclude a non-aggression treaty with Germany in August 1939. And even on June 21, when it became obvious that Hitler would attack, he, still thinking that the war could be delayed, did not allow the troops to be put on combat readiness. In 1941, units of the Red Army were in a peacetime situation. On the morning of the 22nd, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command issued a directive to repel aggression, but under no circumstances to cross the border. There are many fabrications that the Soviet Union itself was preparing the attack, that Hitler forestalled it. How can a ruler who wants to attack, on the first day of war, give the order to repel aggression and not cross the state border?!
How does the logic of guilt and non-guilt for the outbreak of war, expectation and non-expectation of war relate to your thesis that the First World War at least had economic grounds or causes.
Not just the First World War. I repeat once again that almost all wars ultimately had economic interests and were hidden behind ideological and religious motives. If we talk about the First World War, the war was mainly about the redistribution of colonies, regions of capital investment and the seizure of other territories. The First World War is also interesting in that until now not a single historian can explain why Russia fought there. They say: Bosphorus, Dardanelles, straits. Russia lost four million people in the First World War - what, for the sake of these straits? Before this, Russia had the opportunity to take possession of these straits more than once, but England and other countries were not interested in Russia doing this, so they resisted this in every possible way.
Thank you for bringing me to one of the main issues that I want to report to you. The fact is that the Second World War, unlike many wars, including the First World War, had significant features. Take the Russo-Japanese War. They say that we lost this war, but by the way, the war was not lost by the Russians to the Japanese at all. We lost a number of battles, and only conditionally. Because as soon as Japanese troops entered the flank of the army, the Russian army retreated. Not even defeated yet. There was such a defective tactic and strategy. But Russia had every opportunity to fight against Japan. Why did Russia stop the war? It was pushed to do this by a number of countries, the same France and England pushed Russia to get involved in the war in the east and weaken its position in the west. Germany especially tried in this regard.
The First World War was fought by France and England over Alsace, Lorraine, Russia - they said that for the straits, i.e. in this war, one side or another could lose or gain some pieces of its territory. In contrast to this, the Second World War, especially what relates to our side and the Great Patriotic War, had the peculiarity that in this war it was not about individual territories and some unfortunate interests. It wasn't even about the life and death of statehood alone. After all, if you take the Ost plan, developed by Rosenberg, Goering and others, approved by Hitler, then it directly says, and this is a secret report, and not some propaganda document: “to destroy 30-40 million Jews, Slavic and other peoples” . 30-40 million is the plan! It says that in conquered territories no one should have more than four classes of education. Today, some narrow-minded people write in the newspapers that it would be better if Hitler won, we would drink beer and live better than we live now. If the one who dreams so much were to remain alive, he would, at best, be a swineherd for the Germans. And the vast majority of people would have died altogether. Therefore, we were not talking about some territories, but we were talking, I repeat once again, about the life and death of our state and all our peoples. Therefore, the war was fought in such a way as to defeat the enemy at any cost - there was no other way out.
When the danger of fascism was already realized, this led to the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition between England, France and the United States of America. This was of exceptionally great importance and largely prevented the superiority of forces and victory in the Second World War. Military actions on the part of Western countries were limited at first; you know that the war began in 1939, Hitler attacked us in 1941, and the Normandy operation and the second front in Europe were opened only in June 1944. But we must pay tribute that especially the United States of America helped us a lot with Lend-Lease. They gave us about 22 thousand aircraft. This accounted for 18% of our aircraft production, because during the war we produced more than 120 thousand aircraft. Approximately 14% of the tanks we had were given to us by Lend-Lease; in total, it gave us approximately 4% of our gross product for the entire war. It was a big help. I will say that cars were especially useful to us; we received 427 thousand good cars such as Studebakers, Jeeps, and jeeps. Very passable vehicles, after receiving them the mobility of our troops increased sharply. And the offensive operations of 43, 44, 45 were largely mobile and successful due to the fact that we acquired so many vehicles.
Can the wars of the 20th century be viewed as one war in terms of the goals of rivals and allies?
They said that the Soviet Union after the Second World War was a threat. That's what they said - there is a Soviet military threat. Fearing this threat, NATO was created. The biggest concern was the communist ideology. The desire for a world revolution, although the leadership of our country practically abandoned the idea of a world revolution already in the 30s.
Already in the 30s, Stalin’s entire policy boiled down to creating a strong national state. As a support for workers and peasants around the world. Now they say that with the beginning of the war, Stalin remembered Alexander Nevsky, Kutuzov, Suvorov, and began to attract the church, but this is not true. We lived in those years, and I know, and you can find out from books: films about Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Alexander Nevsky were created in the 30s. Therefore, there was no longer any talk about this world revolution. It is no coincidence that the Cominterns were dissolved during the war. Now remember the years of perestroika, the Cold War formally ended. We are told that we were defeated in the Cold War. Let's think about it, what kind of defeat? The Warsaw Pact is dissolved, troops are withdrawn from Germany and other regions, and we are liquidating our bases. Has anyone given us ultimatums? Has anyone demanded that we do this? Our leaders were deeply mistaken. In their hearts, some of them, perhaps, thought that if we took such steps, the West would also take reciprocal steps. NATO, for example, is being transformed into a political, rather than military, organization. Someone believed that if we liquidated our bases in Cuba, then the American base at Guantanamo would also be liquidated. There were some hopes for this. We abandoned the communist ideology, well, in general, everything that they in the West never dreamed of, we have done. And in 1994, when the fiftieth anniversary of the Normandy operation was celebrated, all countries were invited, including Australia, Poland, Luxembourg, but from Russia, already democratic, new Russia, not a single person was officially invited.
I answer your question: in the West, apart from everything else, hostility towards Russia has been so deep-rooted from time immemorial that they can make the right statements, but this tendency gradually makes itself felt. In this regard, Alexander Nevsky was a very wise man when he went to the Golden Horde to conclude an agreement, and directed all his strength to fight against the Prussian knights. Why? There, in the east, they only demanded tribute. No one touched the Church, the language, culture, spiritual life of the Russian people and other peoples, no one encroached on it. And the knights Germanized everything following the example of the Baltic republics: religion and spiritual life were imposed. Therefore, Alexander believed that the main danger came from where. I don't think it's necessary to exaggerate this. Maybe even I’m not right about everything here, but there are too many similar facts of hostile attitude towards Russia, not from everyone, of course, in the West, but from certain circles, that one has to think about this matter today.
Allow me to return to the Second World War and say that the war was even more difficult in its consequences. 10 million people were mobilized, 55 million people died all over the world, of which 26.5 million were Soviet people, citizens of our country. And the Soviet Union, our country, bore the brunt of the war. Due to political miscalculations, the beginning of the war was not successful for us. Since the topic of my lecture talks about the experience and lessons of wars, one of the lessons is as follows. From the Crimean War to the present day, 150 years in total, politicians have put the country and its armed forces in an intolerable position. You will remember how in the Crimean War the defeat of Russia and its armed forces was politically, externally politically, determined. There is nothing to say about the Russo-Japanese War. In the First World War, essentially, we fought for alien interests, becoming dependent on France, England and other countries.
Now, look how the war began for us in 1941. In an effort to delay the war through political methods, Stalin ignored military-strategic considerations. Even today, some people really like to flaunt politics. Yes, indeed, war is a continuation of politics by violent means. Politics is of paramount importance, but the inverse influence of military strategy on politics can never be denied. Politics in its pure form does not exist at all. Politics is viable when it takes into account economic, ideological, and military-strategic considerations. And we lost 3.5 million people at the beginning of the war alone and found ourselves in a difficult situation essentially due to the fact that, politically, the armed forces were placed in a completely unbearable position. I think that no army in the world could bear this.
Take Afghanistan, some big people still say: “We didn’t plan to capture anything in Afghanistan, we wanted to become garrisons and stand there.” Sorry, this is stupid. If you go to a country where there is a civil war and you take a certain side, say, the government, who will leave you alone? And from the very first days I had to intervene in the situation. There was an uprising in Herat, the entire local government was overthrown, it must be defended! By the way, Marshal Sokolov held a meeting there and said: “I’m warning you, our army did not come here to fight, don’t get involved in any hostilities.” On the second day, the vice president comes to him: “There is an uprising in Herat, our artillery was captured, the local rulers were arrested, what should we do?” Sokolov says: “Okay, we’ll allocate a battalion,” and so it went. But couldn’t it have been foreseen in advance, is your desire not to be drawn into the battle enough? You will be drawn into this battle.
In Chechnya, there was every opportunity to avoid starting this war in 1994. Many problems could have been solved politically - no, they were drawn into war with great ease. Moreover, what’s interesting is that we have been standing there for almost 10 years, because not only has a state of war not been declared, there is no state of emergency, there is no martial law. After all, soldiers and officers must fight, they must carry out tasks, defend themselves when they are attacked, and many of their actions, especially the use of weapons, become difficult. Because there is neither martial law nor a state of emergency. Politically, very often our armed forces were placed in a very difficult position. Let politics rule, but we need to think about the responsibility of politics so that it takes into account all life circumstances.
I just want to tell you that often in classrooms where young people are present, they ask: “Some say this, others say that, and all the academics, who to believe?” Believe, first of all, yourself. Study the facts, study history, compare these events and facts, and draw your own conclusions, then no one will lead you astray. Take Afghanistan, when in those years someone else tried to justify sending our troops there by saying that if we had not come there, the Americans would have come there. This was all ridiculed in the most sarcastic way: “What are the Americans supposed to do there?” And then, indeed, it was a little funny. But take life as it is now: the Americans came to Afghanistan. Therefore, such questions cannot be dismissed so easily.
Looking ahead, I will say that on the whole I consider the introduction of troops into Afghanistan to be our mistake. A political mistake. It was possible to find other ways, in Angola and other places, to step on the Americans’ toes and refuse to interfere in Afghan affairs. By the way, when the Politburo discussed the question of whether to send troops to Afghanistan, the only person who resolutely opposed such a decision was the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Agarkov. Andropov immediately interrupted him: “Your job is to solve military problems, but we have someone to deal with politics.” And such political arrogance, do you know how it ended? We did not need to send troops there; we could provide assistance and disguise some actions, as the Chinese acted in Korea, as the actions of volunteers. Different shapes could be found. But direct input was a mistake. I'll tell you why. In politics, any military intervention is very important. Whether you send a platoon or an army into a foreign country, the political resonance is the same. You sent troops into foreign territory. The rest doesn't matter. That's why we told Marshal Agarkov: if we go, then in 30-40 divisions. Come, immediately close the border with Iran, close the border with Pakistan so that no help comes from there, and we could withdraw troops from there in 2-3 years.
The worst decisions in politics are inconsistent, half-hearted decisions. If you have already made a mistake and are taking some kind of political step, then it must be decisive, consistent, carried out using the most powerful means, then there are fewer victims and mistakes pay off faster.
You probably think, like I do, that the Second World War ended in our victory. Although people like Yakovlev, Afanasyev at the Russian State University for the Humanities, and many others write that it was a shameful war, that we were defeated in it, and so on. Let's still think about why? We are often told that this is a defeat because our losses are large. Solzhenitsyn says 60 million, there are “writers” who say 20, 30 million - hence the defeat. This is all presented under the guise of humanity. But how has history always determined: defeat or victory? This was always determined by what goals one side or another pursued. Hitler's goal was to destroy our country, seize territory, conquer our peoples, and so on. How did it end? What was our goal? We set a goal to protect our country, protect our people, and provide assistance to other peoples who were enslaved by fascism. How did it end? All of Hitler's plans collapsed. It was not Hitler’s troops that came to Moscow and Leningrad, but ours that came to Berlin, the allies came to Rome and Tokyo. What kind of defeat is this? The losses are big, unfortunately. We lost 26.5 million people.
But our military losses were less, I can report this to you authoritatively, I was the chairman of the state commission to determine and clarify losses. We have been working in this area for four years. The work was completed back in 1985. We went to the Central Committee of the CPSU and the government of our country several times and proposed to publish accurate data so that no one would speculate on them. When I left for Afghanistan in 1989, this report still made it to the Central Committee. Look at the magazine “Istochnik”, it is published there who imposed what resolutions. Gorbachev wrote: “study, report proposals.” What does the same Yakovlev write? “Wait, we still need to involve civilian demographers,” and there were already 45 people on the commission - the largest civilian and military demographers worked. What are the real losses? Our military losses amount to 8.6 million people. The remaining 18 million are civilians exterminated in the occupied territories as a result of fascist atrocities. Six million Jews were exterminated. What are these, troops or what? These are civilians.
The Germans, along with their allies, lost 7.2 million people. The difference in our losses is approximately one to one and a half million people. What caused this difference? The Germans themselves write and it has been proven that there were about five million of our people in captivity. They gave us back about two million. We have the right to ask today, where are the 3 million of our people who were captured in Germany? Fascist atrocities led to the death of these 3 million people in captivity. We had about 2.5 million Germans in captivity. We returned about 2 million people after the war. And if we speak in soldierly terms, when we came to Germany in 1945 and the entire German army capitulated to us, if we competed to see who would destroy the most, it would not have been difficult to kill both civilians and military personnel, killing as many as we needed. But after 3-4 days the German troops began to release them from captivity, except for the SS men, frankly speaking, just so as not to feed them. Our people and our army could never just destroy people after we had already come with victory. Now they even want to turn the humanity of our people against us - this is simply blasphemous. This is simply a great sin against those people who fought. Which you often condone by spreading such false rumors and all sorts of spells.
In general, I must tell you, friends, that the history of the Great Patriotic War is being falsified now. Now all the results of the Second World War have been trampled underfoot. They spread all sorts of lies. The same Izvestia published on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk that the Germans lost 5 tanks in the Battle of Kursk. We lost, as it says, 334 tanks. As I told you, compare the facts and decide for yourself who is right. Could it be that the Germans lost only 5 tanks and began to flee along the Dnieper, instead of going to Moscow? But ours, having lost 300 tanks, for some reason are moving forward and not retreating. Is it really possible? They say that we fought mediocrely, our generals and commanders were useless, unlike the old, educated and competent Russian noble officers. Georgy Vladimov wrote a book about Vlasov, “The General and His Army.” We don’t yet have a single novel about Zhukov or Rokossovsky, but several books have already been written about Vlasov, glorifying him. But we must judge by deeds. After all, after the Patriotic War of 1812, 150-200 years - every war, then defeat. The Great Patriotic War is the first greatest war, where the greatest victory was won. By the way, the white generals even ruined the civil war. Now, for example, they want to glorify Kolchak and Wrangel. Pay tribute, they say they also fought for Russia. But you must always remember one difference: Frunze and Chapaev fought not only against the White Guards, but also against the interventionists. Wrangel, Kolchak and others were kept by the interventionists; they fought against Russia on the side of foreigners. There is probably a difference for those people who respect their country.
There are people who tell us every day that there are no threats to Russia now. There are no threats, no one threatens us, we only threaten ourselves.
What determines whether there is a threat or not? It depends on what policy you are pursuing. If you pursue an independent and independent policy, this policy can always encounter contradictions with the policies of other countries. Then there may be aggravations, there may be threats, there may be an attack. If you give up everything and don’t defend your national interests, that’s right, there are no threats. Once you give everything up, what are the threats that could happen, other than you losing everything? Unfortunately, today's threats are very serious; if you concentrate, there are three of them.
First. The situation today is such that a large-scale nuclear war, for which we were preparing several decades ago, is becoming unlikely. And in general, a large-scale war becomes unlikely, which is why other ways to achieve political goals have been invented: economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, information war. One can conquer one country after another through subversive actions from within. And there is no need to take risks, because a major war could lead to the use of nuclear weapons. They found other ways, not the least of which was money, as was the case in Iraq, where almost everyone was bought. Therefore, now the primary task of the armed forces is to be prepared for local wars and conflicts and, probably, some kind of preparedness for a big war if small conflicts grow.
Second. There are nuclear powers, and the nuclear weapons of all these countries are aimed at our country. France, England, America. China has nuclear weapons, where else can they be used? Chinese nuclear weapons still do not reach America, which means they are aimed against our country. This is a serious threat, it has become less than 10-15 years ago, but it exists, you can’t escape it.
Third. At all our borders there are large groups of armed forces of foreign states. They are slightly reduced quantitatively, but are greatly transformed qualitatively. High-precision weapons appear and much more that you have heard about.
There are such threats. What kind of army is needed in this regard? We are told: mobile, strong, well-equipped, but the first problem is weapons. Our weapons are aging, the military industry is in decline, and we cannot now produce in sufficient quantities and equip our army and navy with the latest weapons. This is putting it mildly.
The second is our military art and methods of conducting combat operations. In addition to reliable scientific information, there is a lot of misinformation out there. When we are told that in modern conditions, when the enemy has such types of weapons, the war will be one-sided and it will be useless to resist, it is better to give up and capitulate. By the way, recently one American general spoke in Hamburg, at the German Military Academy, and said, “now the school of Clausewitz, Moltke, Zhukov, Foch has died, there is one school - the American one, which everyone must comprehend, then you will win.” They say that the Soviet, Russian school was buried in Iraq. They can say whatever they want, but just think about it, what school of ours has anyone used in Iraq? Remember how Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad were defended: barricades, barriers, trenches, people fought for every house. Was this somewhere in Iraq? And the whole secret is that in order to apply our Soviet, Russian school, we need great moral strength. Adequate morale is needed. Some people here think that all this happens on its own. But moral strength, this human capital, must be accumulated all the time, and when people are told that defense is not needed, that not everyone has to serve in the army, then not only do we not accumulate this moral potential, we lose it.
Remember the Brest Fortress. After all, it so happened that there were no plans to leave military units to defend the fortress at all - they went to their own lines. But there were still people there who had returned from vacation, the sick, and the families of military personnel. They immediately gathered and began to defend the fortress. Nobody gave them such a task to defend the fortress, the Germans are already near Minsk, and they have been fighting for a whole month. Today we must not forget in what way and under what circumstances such education of our army and people was achieved. Now look, they say here that it is difficult to serve, so the conscription should be abolished and everything reduced to contract service. But our guys, from our country, where it is so difficult to serve, go to Israel and spend three years there, where the service is even more severe than here, and serve with pleasure. It all depends on how a person treats his country. We shouldn’t forget about this either.
And the last question in connection with recruiting the army. We have now taken the line to create a predominantly contract army. But it is no better, because in Israel it is no coincidence that people do not take this path. The same Vietnam showed the Americans: contract soldiers serve well in peacetime. But someone who is threatened with death does not need either money or benefits when entering a university. That is why the Germans do not refuse conscription. Still, a connection between the people and the army is needed: so that the serviceman does not break away from his people, from his relatives, from his land. It is very important that a conscription system, especially in wartime, exists.
Why do they want to switch to contract service? It’s just that in 2007-2008 we will have such a demographic situation that there will be no one to conscript. If we don’t start training and recruiting contract soldiers now, we will be left without an army altogether. Therefore, it is necessary to combine this contract system and conscription service, while reducing the conscription period to at least one year. The army is created not only by officers and generals, it is created by the entire people, and you know this from our entire history.
References:
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The small victorious war, which was supposed to calm down revolutionary sentiments in society, is still regarded by many as aggression on the part of Russia, but few people look into history textbooks and know that it was Japan that unexpectedly began military action.
The results of the war were very, very sad - the loss of the Pacific fleet, the lives of 100 thousand soldiers and the phenomenon of complete mediocrity, both of the tsarist generals and the royal dynasty itself in Russia.
2. First World War (1914-1918)
A long-brewing conflict between the leading world powers, the first large-scale war, which revealed all the shortcomings and backwardness of Tsarist Russia, which entered the war without even completing rearmament. The Entente allies were frankly weak, and only heroic efforts and talented commanders at the end of the war made it possible to begin to tip the scales towards Russia.
However, society did not need the “Brusilovsky breakthrough”; it needed change and bread. Not without the help of German intelligence, the revolution was accomplished and peace was achieved, under very difficult conditions for Russia.
3. Civil War (1918-1922)
The troubled times of the twentieth century for Russia continued. The Russians defended themselves against the occupying countries, brother went against brother, and in general these four years were one of the most difficult, on par with the Second World War. It makes no sense to describe these events in such material, and military operations took place only on the territory of the former Russian Empire.
4. The fight against Basmachism (1922-1931)
Not everyone accepted the new government and collectivization. The remnants of the White Guard found refuge in Fergana, Samarkand and Khorezm, easily incited the dissatisfied Basmachi to resist the young Soviet army and could not calm them down until 1931.
In principle, this conflict, again, cannot be regarded as external, because it was an echo of the Civil War, “White Sun of the Desert” will help you.
Under Tsarist Russia, the CER was an important strategic object of the Far East, simplified the development of wild areas and was jointly managed by China and Russia. In 1929, the Chinese decided that it was time to take away the railway and adjacent territories from the weakened USSR.
However, the Chinese group, which was 5 times larger in number, was defeated near Harbin and in Manchuria.
6. Providing international military assistance to Spain (1936-1939)
500 Russian volunteers went to fight the nascent fascist and General Franco. The USSR also supplied about a thousand units of ground and air combat equipment and about 2 thousand guns to Spain.
Reflecting Japanese aggression near Lake Khasan (1938) and fighting near the Khalkin-Gol River (1939)
The defeat of the Japanese by small forces of Soviet border guards and subsequent major military operations were again aimed at protecting the state border of the USSR. By the way, after the Second World War, 13 military commanders were executed in Japan for starting the conflict at Lake Khasan.
7. Campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (1939)
The campaign was aimed at protecting the borders and preventing military action from Germany, which had already openly attacked Poland. The Soviet Army, oddly enough, during the fighting, repeatedly encountered resistance from both Polish and German forces.
Unconditional aggression on the part of the USSR, which hoped to expand the northern territories and cover Leningrad, cost the Soviet army very heavy losses. Having spent 1.5 years instead of three weeks on combat operations, and received 65 thousand killed and 250 thousand wounded, the USSR moved the border and provided Germany with a new ally in the coming war.
9. Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
The current rewrites of history textbooks shout about the insignificant role of the USSR in the victory over fascism and the atrocities of Soviet troops in the liberated territories. However, reasonable people still consider this great feat to be a war of liberation, and advise at least looking at the monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator, erected by the people of Germany.
10. Fighting in Hungary: 1956
The entry of Soviet troops to maintain the communist regime in Hungary was undoubtedly a show of force in the Cold War. The USSR showed the whole world that it would use extremely cruel measures to protect its geopolitical interests.
11. Events on Damansky Island: March 1969
The Chinese again took up the old ways, but 58 border guards and the Grad UZO defeated three companies of Chinese infantry and discouraged the Chinese from contesting the border territories.
12. Fighting in Algeria: 1962-1964.
Assistance with volunteers and weapons to the Algerians who fought for independence from France again confirmed the growing sphere of interests of the USSR.
This will be followed by a list of combat operations involving Soviet military instructors, pilots, volunteers, and other reconnaissance groups. Undoubtedly, all these facts are interference in the affairs of another state, but in essence they are a response to exactly the same interference from the United States, England, France, Great Britain, Japan, etc. Here is a list of the largest arenas of confrontation in the Cold War.
- 13. Fighting in the Yemen Arab Republic: from October 1962 to March 1963; from November 1967 to December 1969
- 14. Combat in Vietnam: from January 1961 to December 1974
- 15. Fighting in Syria: June 1967: March - July 1970; September - November 1972; March - July 1970; September - November 1972; October 1973
- 16. Fighting in Angola: from November 1975 to November 1979
- 17. Fighting in Mozambique: 1967-1969; from November 1975 to November 1979
- 18. Fighting in Ethiopia: from December 1977 to November 1979
- 19. War in Afghanistan: from December 1979 to February 1989
- 20. Fighting in Cambodia: from April to December 1970
- 22. Fighting in Bangladesh: 1972-1973. (for personnel of ships and auxiliary vessels of the USSR Navy).
- 23. Fighting in Laos: from January 1960 to December 1963; from August 1964 to November 1968; from November 1969 to December 1970
- 24. Fighting in Syria and Lebanon: July 1982
25. Deployment of troops into Czechoslovakia 1968
The “Prague Spring” was the last direct military intervention in the affairs of another state in the history of the USSR, which received loud condemnation, including in Russia. The “swan song” of the powerful totalitarian government and the Soviet Army turned out to be cruel and short-sighted and only accelerated the collapse of the Department of Internal Affairs and the USSR.
26. Chechen wars (1994-1996, 1999-2009)
A brutal and bloody civil war in the North Caucasus happened again at a time when the new government was weak and was just gaining strength and rebuilding the army. Despite the coverage of these wars in the Western media as aggression on the part of Russia, most historians view these events as the Russian Federation’s struggle for the integrity of its territory.