Already in the early 30s, the USSR established diplomatic relations with most of the countries of the world at that time, and in 1934 it joined the League of Nations, an international organization created in 1919 with the aim of collectively resolving issues in the world community. In 1936, a Franco-Soviet treaty on mutual assistance in the event of aggression followed. Since in the same year fascist Germany and Japan signed the “Anti-Comintern Pact,” which Italy later joined, the response to this was the conclusion of a non-aggression pact with China in August 1937.
The threat to the Soviet Union from the countries of the fascist bloc was growing. Japan provoked two armed conflicts - near Lake Khasan in the Far East (August 1938) and in Mongolia, with which the USSR was bound by an allied treaty (summer 1939). These conflicts were accompanied by significant losses on both sides. .
After the conclusion of the Munich Agreement in 1938 on the separation of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, the USSR's distrust of Western countries that agreed with Hitler's claims to part of Czechoslovakia intensified. Despite this, Soviet diplomacy did not lose hope of creating a defensive alliance with England and France. However, negotiations with delegations from these countries (August 1939) ended in failure.
This forced the Soviet government to move closer to Germany. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression treaty was signed, accompanied by a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Europe. Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and Bessarabia were included in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. In the event of the division of Poland, its Belarusian and Ukrainian territories were to go to the USSR.
After Germany’s attack on Poland on September 28, a new agreement was concluded with Germany, according to which Lithuania also transferred to the sphere of influence of the USSR. Part of the territory of Poland became part of the Ukrainian and Belarusian SSR. In August 1940, the Soviet government granted the request to admit three new republics into the USSR - Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian, where pro-Soviet governments came to power. At the same time, Romania gave in to the ultimatum demand of the Soviet government and transferred the territories of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the USSR. Such a significant territorial expansion of the Soviet Union pushed its borders far to the west, which, given the threat of invasion from Germany, should be assessed as a positive development.
Similar actions of the USSR towards Finland led to an armed conflict that escalated into the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. During heavy winter battles, the Red Army troops only managed to overcome the defensive “Mannerheim Line”, which was considered impregnable, only in February 1940, with great difficulty and losses. These actions led to the USSR being expelled from the League of Nations. However, Finland was forced to transfer the entire Karelian Isthmus to the USSR, which significantly moved the border away from Leningrad.
By the end of the 1930s. The Soviet Union took first place in Europe and second place in the world in terms of total industrial production. Hundreds of new cities have risen in previously uninhabited areas, and thousands of new factories have come into operation. Millions of people worked selflessly, perceived the successes and concerns of the country as their own, and believed that they were building a new world. Success in the economy was achieved at the cost of enormous effort and self-restraint while maintaining serious imbalances in the national economy. And in the third five-year plan (1938-1942), the emphasis was on the development of heavy industry. Meanwhile, weak discipline, insufficient professional training and staff turnover persisted in this industry. Many new buildings were built with the labor of prisoners. By this time, the country had finally established a political regime with a completely nationalized economy and command-administrative methods of management. The spiritual and cultural life of society was under constant ideological control. The psychological atmosphere in society was characterized by a combination of mass enthusiasm, faith in a better future with fear of the unknown, and lack of understanding of the reasons for the repressions being carried out.
Foreign policy of the USSR and international relations in the 1930s.
Познакомитьсяwith the measures of the Soviet state to prepare the country for war, the basis of all measures is the idea of defending the socialist Fatherland.
Markthe role of the first pre-war five-year plans and collectivization in creating the economic basis for the country's defense capability.
Explore.
2. Expansion of the borders of the USSR. Strengthening the country's defense capability.
3. Preparation for war. Soviet military doctrine.
4. Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
5. Soviet - Finnish war.
Fascist regimes in Europe in the late 20s - 3s.
Italy - Mussolini (since 1922)
Spain - Frnko (from 1936 - 39)
Portugal - Salazar (since 1933)
France - march. Paten (sympathetic)
Poland - Hetman Pilsudski (since 1926)
Lithuania - Voldamaras (1926)
Latvia - Ulmanis (1934)
Hungary - adm. Horthy (1920)
Bulgaria - Tsar Michael (1923)
Germany - Hitler (1931)
1. Exacerbation of the military danger in Europe emanating from Nazi Germany.
The course of fascist Germany towards the redivision of the world.
- The policy of fascist Germany aimed at eliminating the Versailles system by military means.
- The policy of the leaders of European countries in relation to Hitler’s aggressive actions is “appeasement of the aggressor.” Non-interference in the internal affairs of Spain during the rebellion of General Franco.
- “Munich Agreement”, Austrian Anschluss, Danzig “Polish Corridor. 1938 -1939
- Presentation “Foreign Policy of the USSR in the 30s”.
The reason for the collapse of the USSR plan for collective security.
1. The USSR’s struggle for collective security and the creation of the “Eastern Pact”. Mutual distrust of the USSR and European powers.
2. Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Soviet-German non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years from 08/23/1939.
Postponement of military conflict between the parties.
3. Expansion of the borders of the USSR.
4. Preparation for war. Soviet military doctrine.
The actual division of spheres of influence between the USSR and Germany in Eastern Europe.
5. Soviet - Finnish war.
Soviet - Finnish war 11/30/1939. - 03/12/1940.
War to strengthen borders and expand territories.
A very difficult victory for the Red Army, which showed the weak combat and technical training of the troops.
The exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations as a state that committed an act of aggression.
6. Events in the Far East
Consolidation.
1. A story about the plans of Hitler’s command regarding the Soviet Union and the peoples of the USSR. Plan Ost and Plan Barbarossa.
2. How did the USSR’s treaties with Germany, the war with Finland, and the annexation of the Baltic states affect the international prestige and position of the USSR?
3. What changes took place in the Red Army in the pre-war years? How did they affect the country's defense capability?
In the history of foreign policy of the USSR in 1939–1941. Several periods can be distinguished, each of which has characteristic features. First period: late 1938 – March 1939
Foreign policy historians have a strong opinion that the origins of many events on the eve of the war lie in the Munich agreement on September 29, 1938 (Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany entered into an agreement to break away from Czechoslovakia and transfer to Germany the Sudetenland, where the predominantly German population lived, which predetermined the German capture of all of Czechoslovakia in March 1939). Munich opened the way to new aggressive actions of Nazi Germany. It undermined the possibility of implementing a policy of collective security in Europe and gave rise to disbelief in the broadcast declarations of London and Paris. Munich put the Soviet state into diplomatic isolation. It became obvious that the ruling circles of England and France were heading towards a “settlement” of the entire complex of relations with Nazi Germany by giving “free hands” to the Nazi Reich in the East.
The next period in the history of USSR foreign policy began in March 1939 and lasted until September 1, 1939. Germany's capture of Czechoslovakia changed the military-political situation in Europe. Hitler openly and cynically demonstrated to Paris and London that he no longer needed the support of the Munich appeasers. There was a real threat of loss of influence of England and France in European affairs. Moreover, a military danger arose for these countries, especially for France.
One gets the impression when analyzing the materials of the negotiations between the military delegations of the USSR, England and France that they were deprived of any chance of success. The British and French delegations had no real authority to conclude a military convention, and the Soviet delegation posed an insoluble problem to its negotiating partners - to obtain from Poland the possibility of the passage of Red Army units through Polish territory to the eastern borders of Germany (this issue was first raised in 1935 in connection with the Soviet-French mutual assistance treaty, but Poland took a consistently negative position and did not want to conduct any negotiations on this issue). All participants in the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations simultaneously conducted secret negotiations with Germany, whose diplomacy had a specific goal - to prevent an agreement between the USSR and England and France.
The Soviet Union had been conducting parallel secret negotiations with Germany since the spring of 1939. Having begun as trade and economic negotiations, these negotiations gradually took on a political character. The initiative in discussing political problems was shown by the German side, but Moscow listened very carefully to Berlin's proposals and cautiously put forward counter-proposals. In particular, the question of an additional protocol to the non-aggression pact was raised by the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov (the essence of the secret protocol was the agreement of the parties on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe; the Soviet sphere of influence included Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, the Baltic states, Bukovina and Bessarabia, as well as Finland). At the end of July - beginning of August, almost all political issues of the future agreement were agreed upon. It was during parallel secret negotiations with Germany that the Kremlin came to the conclusion about the advisability of Soviet-German rapprochement. However, in signing the treaty, the Soviet leadership showed restraint, hesitation continued even in mid-August 1939. And only after the hope of creating a trilateral alliance of the USSR, Great Britain and France did not materialize, the Soviet Union began rapprochement with Nazi Germany, and on August 23 1939 The Soviet-German non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years was signed. Probably, this foreign policy step of the Soviet leadership was based on the following arguments: Poland is a weak state, it will not withstand the onslaught of the German armed forces. England and France as allies are unreliable; in the event of a war between the USSR and Germany, the Red Army will have to withstand the main blow from the German armed forces strength Moreover, Stalin believed that imperialist England and Germany, from the confrontation that existed at that time, would inevitably come to reconciliation and form a united front against the USSR. Germany was ready to make big concessions. The USSR will benefit from economic ties with the Reich. The Soviet-German Treaty of August 23, 1939 radically changed the international position of the USSR. The main thing was that the Soviet Union found itself outside the world war that began on September 1, 1939 and, under conditions of official neutrality and cooperation with Nazi Germany, resolved major military-political issues of ensuring the country’s security and expanding its influence in Eastern Europe.
With the outbreak of World War II, a new period began in the history of USSR foreign policy, which lasted until the end of 1940, when all possibilities for preserving and developing cooperation with Nazi Germany were exhausted.
After the conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, the international position of the USSR changed radically. England and France could no longer consider the USSR their potential ally. Public opinion in Western European countries condemned the Soviet Union for colluding with Nazi Germany at the expense of Poland.
The Soviet-German Pact disoriented the international communist and labor movement, especially after the Treaty of Friendship and Borders was concluded between the USSR and Germany on September 28, 1939, and also after the Comintern defined the outbreak of World War II as clearly imperialist and unjust. . The many years of communist activity for the unification of all democratic forces in the fight against fascism lost the support of the socialist state and the CPSU(b).
The Soviet-German agreements of August–September 1939 laid the foundations for comprehensive cooperation in the economic, political and military fields. Military cooperation was actually established during the Polish campaign of the Wehrmacht (from September 17 to 29, 1939, Red Army troops, almost without encountering resistance, occupied Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were part of Poland; during the period of the Red Army’s actions in Poland, they were with the German command the advance lines of the Soviet troops were agreed upon, military actions were coordinated).
Economic cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union was beneficial to both parties (at least until the beginning of 1941, when Germany unilaterally stopped supplies to the USSR). Industrial equipment for the military industry came from Germany to the USSR. From the USSR, Nazi Germany received strategic raw materials and food, which meant, in essence, a breakthrough of the British blockade of Germany. In addition, Germany received the right to transit military materials from and to Japan, which strengthened the military-political alliance of these powers.
There was cooperation between the NKVD and the German intelligence services in the fight against German anti-fascists, the Polish underground patriotic movement (continued until the summer of 1940, when the position of the Soviet leadership was reassessed, which was especially clearly manifested in the “Polish question”: negotiations with arrested Polish officers with the aim of creating Polish units under the Red Army; "warming" of the Soviet authorities towards the Poles; cultural and educational activities in the spirit of Polish-Soviet patriotism, etc.).
The temporary alliance with the USSR, as well as the political myopia of England and France, allowed Germany to carry out a “blitzkrieg” in the Western European theater of military operations. In a short time, the Anglo-French coalition was defeated (May - June 1940), Poland (September 1939), Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg (April-June 1940), Yugoslavia and Greece (April) were occupied 1941).
Questions about the relations of the USSR with the Baltic states in 1939–1940. and the accession of these republics to the USSR are complex and ambiguous. In September–October 1939, the Soviet Union concluded “mutual assistance” agreements with the Baltic republics, which granted the USSR the right to create naval and air military bases and station Soviet troops in the Baltic republics.
At the end of June 1940, after Soviet-German consultations, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, occupied by Romania in 1918, were annexed to the Soviet Union. Thus, most of the territories lost during the revolution and civil war in 1939–1940. became part of the USSR. The foreign policy actions of the USSR were dictated by the need to take decisive measures to strengthen the western borders of the Soviet Union, as well as the imperial motives that appeared in Soviet policy, the desire to use the agreement with Germany for territorial increments of the socialist state. In the summer of 1940, the international position of the USSR became more complicated. In May–June, France suffered a crushing defeat. Stalin's hopes of weakening Germany in the European war were not justified. The economic and military potential of Germany and its allies had increased compared to 1939, and hostility was undeniable. At the same time, the USSR found itself without allies (except for the MPR). Political and economic cooperation with the Nazi Reich, the Soviet-Finnish war, actions in the Baltic states - all this strengthened the hostile attitude towards the USSR both of England, which continued the war with Germany, and of neutrals.
In November 1940, Stalin made a desperate attempt to strengthen cooperation with Germany. Late 1940 – first half of 1941 should be qualified as the last period in the history of USSR foreign policy before the start of the Great Patriotic War.
A positive achievement of Soviet diplomacy was a slight improvement in relations with England, which began in the summer of 1940. Of course, many contradictions remained in Soviet-British relations, mutual distrust and suspicion were not overcome, but diplomatic contacts were not disrupted. In light of subsequent events - the German attack on the USSR, the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition - this was very important.
The conclusion of the USSR treaty on neutrality with Japan in April 1941 was also of great positive significance. The treaty indicated that the Japanese ruling circles did not show any intention to attack the USSR in the near future. Of course, the diplomatic document could not serve as an absolute guarantee of the security of the Soviet Union in the Far East, but it relieved the tension that existed in Soviet-Japanese relations in 1938–1940.
While recognizing some of the foreign policy actions of the Soviet government as successful, most researchers assess Soviet diplomacy in the pre-war years in general and the end of 1940 - the first half of 1941 as a failure. in particular.
In the late 20s - early 30s. The international situation has changed significantly. The deep global economic crisis that began in 1929 caused serious internal political changes in all capitalist countries. In some (England, France, etc.) he brought to power forces that sought to carry out broad internal reforms of a democratic nature. In others (Germany, Italy), the crisis contributed to the formation of anti-democratic (fascist) regimes that used social demagoguery in domestic politics simultaneously with the unleashing of political terror, the intensification of chauvinism and militarism. It was these regimes that became the instigators of new military conflicts, especially after Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933.
Hotbeds of international tension began to form at a rapid pace. One developed in Europe due to the aggressiveness of fascist Germany and Italy. The second is in the Far East due to the hegemonic claims of the Japanese militarists.
Taking these factors into account, in 1933 the Soviet government defined new tasks for its foreign policy: refusal to participate in international conflicts, especially those of a military nature; recognition of the possibility of cooperation with democratic Western countries to curb the aggressive aspirations of Germany and Japan; the struggle for the creation of a collective security system in Europe and the Far East.
In the first half of the 1930s. The USSR achieved further strengthening of its position in the international arena. At the end of 1933, the United States recognized the Soviet Union and diplomatic relations were established between the two countries. The normalization of political relations between the USA and the USSR had a beneficial effect on their trade and economic ties. In September 1934, the Soviet Union was admitted to the League of Nations and became a permanent member of its Council. In 1935, Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak treaties were signed
about mutual assistance in case of any aggression against them in Europe.
However, in the mid-1930s. In the foreign policy activities of the Soviet leadership, there was a departure from the principle of non-interference in international conflicts. In 1936, the USSR provided assistance to the Spanish Popular Front government with weapons and military specialists to fight General Franco. He, in turn, received broad political and military support from Germany and Italy. France and England adhered to neutrality. The United States shared the same position, prohibiting the Spanish government from purchasing American weapons. The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with a fascist victory.
The policy of “appeasement” pursued by the Western powers towards Germany, Italy and Japan did not produce positive results. International tensions increased. In 1935, Germany sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland; Italy attacked Ethiopia. In 1936, Germany and Japan signed an agreement directed against the Soviet Union (Anti-Comintern Pact). Relying on German support, Japan launched a large-scale military operation against China in 1937.
The territorial claims of Hitler's Germany were especially dangerous for the preservation of peace and security in Europe. In March 1938, Germany carried out the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria. Hitler's aggression also threatened Czechoslovakia, so the USSR came out in defense of its territorial integrity. Based on the 1935 agreement, the Soviet government offered its assistance and moved 30 divisions, aircraft and tanks to the western border. However, the government of E. Benes refused it and complied with Hitler’s demand to transfer to Germany the Sudetenland, populated mainly by Germans.
The Western powers pursued a policy of concessions to Nazi Germany, hoping to create a reliable counterweight against the USSR and direct its aggression to the east. The culmination of this policy was the Munich Agreement (September 1938) between Germany, Italy, England and France. It legally formalized the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Feeling its strength, Germany occupied all of Czechoslovakia in 1939.
In the Far East, Japan, having captured most of China, approached the Soviet borders. In the summer of 1938, an armed conflict occurred on the territory of the USSR in the area of Lake Khasan. The Japanese group was repulsed. In May 1939, Japanese troops invaded Mongolia. Units of the Red Army under the command of G.K. Zhukov defeated them in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River.
At the beginning of 1939, the last attempt was made to create a system of collective security between England, France and the Soviet Union. However, Western states did not believe in the potential ability of the USSR to resist fascist aggression, so they delayed the negotiations in every possible way. In addition, Poland categorically refused to guarantee the passage of Soviet troops through its territory to repel the expected fascist aggression. At the same time, Great Britain established secret contacts with Germany in order to reach agreement on a wide range of political problems (including the neutralization of the USSR in the international arena).
The Soviet government knew that the German army was already in full readiness to attack Poland. Realizing the inevitability of war and its unpreparedness for it, it sharply changed its foreign policy orientation and moved towards rapprochement with Germany. In Moscow on August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was concluded for 10 years (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact).
Attached to it was a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The interests of the Soviet Union were recognized by Germany in the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Finland and Bessarabia.
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. Poland's allies - Great Britain and France - declared war on Germany on September 3, but they did not provide real military assistance to the Polish government, which ensured Hitler a quick victory. The Second World War began.
In the new international conditions, the leadership of the USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements of August 1939; On September 17, after the Germans defeated the Polish army and the fall of the Polish government, the Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine; On September 28, 1939, the Soviet-German Treaty “On Friendship and Border” was concluded, securing these lands as part of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the USSR insisted on concluding agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, gaining the right to station its troops on their territory. In these republics, in the presence of Soviet troops, legislative elections were held, in which communist forces won. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.
In November 1940, the USSR began a war with Finland in the hope of its quick defeat and the creation of a pro-communist government in it. Military operations were accompanied by huge losses on the part of the Red Army. They demonstrated her poor preparedness. Stubborn resistance of the Finnish army was ensured by the deeply echeloned “Mannerheim Line”. Western states provided Finland with political support. The USSR, under the pretext of aggression, was expelled from the League of Nations. At the cost of enormous efforts, the resistance of the Finnish armed forces was broken. In March 1940, a Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed, according to which the USSR received the entire Karelian Isthmus.
In the summer of 1940, as a result of political pressure, Romania ceded Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union.
As a result, large territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the USSR. The country's border has moved in the west in different places to a distance of 300 to 600 km.
The Soviet leadership agreed to an agreement with Nazi Germany, whose ideology and policies it had previously condemned. Such a turn could be carried out under the conditions of the state system, all internal means of propaganda of which were aimed at justifying the actions of the government and forming a new attitude of Soviet society towards the Hitler regime.
If the non-aggression pact, signed in August 1939, was to a certain extent a forced step for the USSR, then the secret protocol to it, the Treaty on Friendship and Borders, and other foreign policy actions of the Stalinist government carried out on the eve of the war did not take into account the interests of different states and the peoples of Eastern Europe.
6.2. USSR during the Great Patriotic War
(1941–1945)
In 1941, World War II entered a new phase. By this time, Nazi Germany and its allies had captured virtually all of Europe. In connection with the destruction of Polish statehood, a joint Soviet-German border was established. In 1940, the fascist leadership developed the Barbarossa plan, the goal of which was the lightning defeat of the Soviet armed forces and the occupation of the European part of the Soviet Union. Further plans included the complete destruction of the USSR. To do this, 153 German divisions and 37 divisions of its allies (Finland, Romania, Hungary) were concentrated in the eastern direction. They were supposed to strike in three directions: central (Minsk–Smolensk–Moscow), northwestern (Baltic states–Leningrad) and southern (Ukraine with access to the Black Sea coast). A lightning campaign was planned to capture the European part of the USSR before the fall of 1941.
The implementation of the Barbarossa plan began at dawn on June 22, 1941 with air bombing of the largest industrial and strategic centers, as well as the offensive of the ground forces of Germany and its allies along the entire European border of the USSR (over 4.5 thousand km). In the first few days, German troops advanced tens and hundreds of kilometers. In the central direction, at the beginning of July 1941, all of Belarus was captured, and German troops reached the approaches to Smolensk. In the north-west, the Baltic states were occupied, Leningrad was blocked on September 9. In the south, Hitler's troops occupied Moldova and Right Bank Ukraine. Thus, by the autumn of 1941, Hitler’s plan to seize the vast territory of the European part of the USSR was carried out.
The rapid advance of Hitler's troops on the Soviet front and their successes in the summer campaign were explained by many objective and subjective factors. At the initial stage of the war, Hitler's command and troops had experience in modern warfare and extensive offensive operations, accumulated during the first stage of World War II. The technical equipment of the Wehrmacht (tanks, aircraft, transport, communications equipment, etc.) was significantly superior to the Soviet one in mobility and maneuverability.
The Soviet Union, despite the efforts made during the Third Five-Year Plan, did not complete its preparations for war. The rearmament of the Red Army was not completed. Military doctrine assumed the conduct of operations on enemy territory. In this regard, defensive structures on the old Soviet-Polish border were dismantled, and new ones were not created. Stalin's biggest miscalculation was his lack of faith in the start of the war in the summer of 1941, so the entire country, and especially the army and its leadership, were not prepared to repel aggression. As a result, in the first days of the war, a significant part of Soviet aviation was destroyed right at the airfields. Large formations of the Red Army were surrounded, destroyed or captured.
Immediately after the German attack, the Soviet government carried out major military-political and economic measures to repel aggression; On June 23, the Headquarters of the Main Command was formed; On July 10, it was transformed into the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. It included I.V. Stalin (appointed commander-in-chief and soon became people's commissar of defense), V.M. Molotov, S.K. Timoshenko, S.M. Budyonny, K.E. Voroshilov, B.M. Shaposhnikov and G.K. Zhukov. By a directive of June 29, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks set the entire country the task of mobilizing all forces and means to fight the enemy. On June 30, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was created, concentrating all power in the country. The military doctrine was radically revised, the task was put forward to organize strategic defense, wear down and stop the advance of the fascist troops. Large-scale events were carried out to transfer industry to a military footing, mobilize the population into the army and build defensive lines.
In June - the first half of July 1941, major defensive battles unfolded. From July 16 to August 15, the defense of Smolensk continued in the central direction. In the northwestern direction, the German plan to capture Leningrad failed. In the south, the defense of Kyiv was carried out until September 1941, and Odessa until October. The stubborn resistance of the Red Army in the summer and autumn of 1941 thwarted Hitler's plan for a lightning war.
At the same time, the capture by the Nazis by the fall of 1941 of the vast territory of the USSR with its most important industrial centers and grain regions was a serious loss for the USSR.
At the end of September - beginning of October 1941, the German Operation Typhoon began, aimed at capturing Moscow. The first line of Soviet defense was broken through in the central direction on October 5–6. Bryansk and Vyazma fell. The second line near Mozhaisk delayed the fascist offensive for several days; On October 10, G.K. was appointed commander of the Western Front. Zhukov; On October 19, a state of siege was introduced in the capital. In bloody battles, the Red Army managed to stop the enemy - the October stage of Hitler’s offensive on Moscow ended.
The three-week respite was used by the Soviet command to strengthen the defense of the capital and mobilize the population
to the militia; accumulation of military equipment, and primarily aviation; On November 7, a traditional parade of units of the Moscow garrison took place on Red Square. For the first time, other military units also took part in it, including militias who left straight from the parade to the front. This event contributed to the patriotic uplift of the people and strengthened their faith in victory.
The second stage of the Nazi offensive on Moscow began on November 15, 1941. At the cost of huge losses, they managed to reach the approaches to Moscow in late November - early December, enveloping it in a semicircle in the north, in the Dmitrov area (Moscow-Volga canal), in the south - near Tula .
At this point the German offensive fizzled out. The defensive battles of the Red Army, in which many soldiers and militias died, were accompanied by the accumulation of forces at the expense of Siberian divisions, aviation and other military equipment; On December 5–6, the counteroffensive of the Red Army began, as a result of which the enemy was thrown back 100–250 km from Moscow. Kalinin, Maloyaroslavets, Kaluga, and other cities and towns were liberated. Hitler's plan for a lightning war was thwarted. The victory near Moscow in conditions of the enemy’s military-technical superiority was the result of the heroic efforts of the Soviet people.
In the summer of 1942, the fascist leadership relied on capturing the oil regions of the Caucasus, the fertile regions of southern Russia and the industrial Donbass. Stalin made a new strategic mistake in assessing the military situation, in determining the direction of the enemy's main attack, and in underestimating his forces and reserves. In this regard, his order for the Red Army to advance simultaneously on several fronts led to serious defeats near Kharkov and in the Crimea. Kerch and Sevastopol were lost.
At the end of June 1942, a general German offensive unfolded. Fascist troops, during stubborn battles, reached Voronezh, the upper reaches of the Don and captured Donbass. Then they broke through our defenses between the Northern Donets and the Don.
This made it possible for Hitler's command to solve the main strategic task of the summer campaign of 1942 and launch a broad offensive in two directions: to the Caucasus and to the East - to the Volga.
In the Caucasian direction, at the end of July 1942, a strong enemy group crossed the Don. As a result, Rostov, Stavropol and Novorossiysk were captured. Stubborn fighting took place in the central part of the main Caucasus ridge, where specially trained enemy alpine riflemen operated in the mountains. Despite the successes achieved in the Caucasus, the fascist command was never able to solve its main task - to break into the Transcaucasus to seize the oil reserves of Baku. By the end of September, the offensive of fascist troops in the Caucasus was stopped.
An equally difficult situation for the Soviet command arose in the eastern direction. To cover it, the Stalingrad Front was created under the command of Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko. In connection with the current critical situation, Order No. 227 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was issued, which stated: “To retreat further means to ruin ourselves and at the same time our Motherland.” At the end of July 1942, the enemy under the command of General von Paulus struck a powerful blow on the Stalingrad front. However, despite the significant superiority in forces, within a month the fascist troops managed to advance only 60–80 km, and with great difficulty reached the distant defensive lines of Stalingrad. In August they reached the Volga and intensified their offensive.
From the first days of September, the heroic defense of Stalingrad began, which lasted virtually until the end of 1942. Its significance during the Great Patriotic War was enormous. During the struggle for the city, Soviet troops under the command of generals V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov in September-November 1942 repelled up to 700 enemy attacks and passed all tests with honor. Thousands of Soviet patriots showed themselves heroically in the battles for the city.
As a result, enemy troops suffered colossal losses in the battles for Stalingrad. Every month of the battle, about 250 thousand new Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, the bulk of military equipment, were sent here. By mid-November 1942, the Nazi troops, having lost more than 180 thousand people. killed, 500 thousand wounded, were forced to stop the offensive.
During the summer-autumn campaign, the Nazis managed to occupy the vast territory of the European part of the USSR, where about 15% of the population lived, 30% of gross output was produced, and more than 45% of the sown areas were located. However, the Red Army exhausted and bled the fascist troops. They lost up to 1 million soldiers and officers, more than 20 thousand guns, over 15,000 tanks. The enemy was stopped. The resistance of the Soviet troops made it possible to create favorable conditions for their transition to a counteroffensive in the Stalingrad area.
Even during the fierce autumn battles, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command began to develop a plan for a grandiose offensive operation designed to encircle and defeat the main forces of the Nazi troops operating directly near Stalingrad. A major contribution to the preparation of this operation, codenamed “Uranus,” was made by G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky. To accomplish the task, three new fronts were created: southwestern (N.F. Vatutin), Don (K.K. Rokossovsky) and Stalingrad (A.M. Eremenko). In total, the offensive group included more than 1 million people, 13 thousand guns and mortars, about 1000 tanks, 1500 aircraft.
On November 19, 1942, the offensive of the Southwestern and Don Fronts began. A day later, the Stalingrad Front advanced. The offensive was unexpected for the fascist command. It developed with lightning speed and success, and on November 23, 1942, a historic meeting and unification of the Southwestern and Stalingrad fronts took place. As a result, the Nazi group at Stalingrad (330 thousand soldiers and officers) under the command of General von Paulus was surrounded.
Hitler's command could not come to terms with the current situation. He formed the Don Army Group consisting of 30 divisions. It was supposed to strike at Stalingrad, break through the outer front of the encirclement and connect with Paulus's 6th Army.
However, an attempt made in mid-December to carry out this task ended in a new defeat of the German and Italian troops. By the end of December, having defeated this group, Soviet troops reached the Kotelnikovo area and began an attack on Rostov. This made it possible to begin the final destruction of the encircled German troops. From January 10 to February 2, 1943, they were finally liquidated.
The victory in the Battle of Stalingrad led to a widespread offensive by the Red Army on all fronts: in January 1943 the blockade of Leningrad was broken, in February the North Caucasus was liberated, in March the front line moved 130–160 km in the Moscow direction. As a result of the autumn-winter campaign of 1942–1943. The military power of Nazi Germany was significantly undermined.
In the central direction, after successful actions in the spring of 1943, the so-called “Kursk” bulge formed on the front line. Hitler's command, wanting to regain the strategic initiative, developed Operation Citadel to break through and encircle the Red Army in the Kursk region. Unlike 1942, the Soviet command guessed the enemy’s intentions and created a deeply layered defense in advance.
The Battle of Kursk is the largest battle of World War II. About 900 thousand people, 1.5 thousand tanks (including the latest models - “tiger”, “panther”), and more than 2 thousand aircraft were involved in it from Germany. On the Soviet side - more than 1 million people, 3,400 tanks and about 3 thousand aircraft. The Battle of Kursk was commanded by outstanding commanders: Marshal G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, generals N.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky. Strategic reserves were created under the command of General I.S. Konev, since the plan of the Soviet command provided for a transition from defense to further offensive.
On July 5, 1943, a massive offensive of German troops began. After tank battles unprecedented in world history (the battle of Prokhorovka) on July 12, the enemy was stopped. The counter-offensive of the Red Army began.
As a result of the defeat of the Nazi troops near Kursk in August 1943, Soviet troops captured Orel and Belgorod. In honor of this victory, a salute of 12 artillery salvoes was fired in Moscow. Continuing the offensive, Soviet troops dealt a crushing blow to the Nazis during the Belgorod-Kharkov operation. In September, Left Bank Ukraine and Donbass were liberated, in October they crossed the Dnieper and in November they took Kyiv.
In 1944–1945 The Soviet Union achieved economic, military-strategic and political superiority over the enemy. The labor of Soviet people steadily provided for the needs of the front. The strategic initiative completely passed to the Red Army. The level of planning and implementation of major military operations has increased.
On June 6, 1944, Great Britain and the USA landed their troops in Normandy under the command of General D. Eisenhower. Since the opening of the Second Front in Europe, allied relations have acquired a new quality.
The resistance of the peoples in the countries occupied by Germany intensified. It resulted in a widespread partisan movement, uprisings, sabotage and sabotage. In general, the resistance of the peoples of Europe, in which Soviet people who escaped from German captivity also participated, became a significant contribution to the fight against fascism.
The political unity of the German bloc weakened. Japan never moved against the USSR. In the government circles of Germany's allies (Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania), the idea of breaking with it was ripening. The fascist dictatorship of Mussolini was overthrown. Italy capitulated and then declared war on Germany.
In 1944, relying on the successes achieved earlier, the Red Army carried out a number of major operations that completed the liberation of the territory of our country.
In January, the siege of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days, was finally lifted. The northwestern part of the USSR territory was liberated. Also in January, the Korsun-Shevchenko operation was carried out, in the development of which Soviet troops liberated Right Bank Ukraine and the southern regions of the USSR (Crimea, Kherson, Odessa, etc.).
In the summer of 1944, the Red Army carried out one of the largest operations of the Great Patriotic War (“Bagration”).
Belarus was completely liberated. This victory opened the way for advances into Poland, the Baltic states and East Prussia. In mid-August 1944, Soviet troops in the western direction reached the border with Germany.
At the end of August 1944, the Iasi-Kishinev operation began, as a result of which Moldova was liberated. The opportunity was created for the withdrawal of Romania, Germany's ally, from the war.
The victories of the Soviet troops in 1944 helped the peoples of Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia in their struggle against fascism. In these countries, pro-German regimes were overthrown, and patriotic forces came to power.
The Soviet command, developing the offensive, carried out a number of operations outside the USSR. They were caused by the need to destroy large enemy groups in these territories in order to prevent the possibility of their transfer to the defense of Germany. At the same time, the introduction of Soviet troops into the countries of Eastern
and South-Eastern Europe were strengthened by leftist and communist parties and, in general, by the influence of the Soviet Union in this region.
At the beginning of 1945, the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition coordinated efforts to defeat Nazi Germany; on the Eastern Front, as a result of a powerful offensive by the Red Army, Poland, most of Czechoslovakia and Hungary were finally liberated. On the Western Front, despite the unsuccessful Arden operation, they liberated a significant part of Western Europe and came close to the borders of Germany. In April 1945, Soviet troops began the Berlin operation. It was aimed at capturing the capital of Germany and the final defeat of fascism; the troops of the 1st Belorussian (commander Marshal Zhukov), 2nd Belorussian (commander Marshal Rokossovsky) and 1st Ukrainian (commander Marshal Konev) fronts destroyed the Berlin enemy group, took about 500 thousand people were captured, a huge amount of military equipment and weapons. The fascist leadership was completely demoralized. Hitler committed suicide. On the morning of May 1, the capture of Berlin was completed and the Red Banner, a symbol of the Victory of the Soviet people, was hoisted over the Reichstag (German parliament).
On May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlhorst, the hastily created German government signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender. On May 9, the remnants of German troops were defeated in the area of Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia.
In April 1945, the USSR denounced the neutrality treaty with Japan, and on August 8 declared war on it. In just over three weeks, Soviet troops defeated the Kwantung Army and liberated Northeast China, North Korea, the southern part of the island. Sakhalin, Kuril Islands. On September 2, 1945, an act of unconditional surrender of militaristic Japan was signed on board the American battleship Missouri. The Second World War, which lasted 6 years and one day, is over.
It claimed more than 50 million lives. The brunt of the war fell on the Eastern Front. The main and best forces of the Wehrmacht operated here. On the eastern front, fascist German troops suffered the largest losses: 80% in manpower and over 75% in equipment.
The USSR paid a huge price for victory. About 27 million people died and died, of which up to 10 million were losses of the army, navy, border and internal troops. The material damage was also colossal: 30% of the national wealth.
What are the sources of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War? When thinking about this problem, we must keep in mind a combination of factors. Hitler's leadership in the war against the USSR underestimated not only the scale and conditions of hostilities, but also the resilience and patriotism of the Soviet people. Hitler’s military leaders were forced to admit this (see K. Tippelskrich, History of the Second World War. St. Petersburg, 1994, pp. 179–180).
The desire to protect the Motherland and defeat the enemy, and not the fear of punishment, guided people. The patriotism of the Soviet people during the war years has many faces. It is in military and labor feats, and in the everyday perseverance with which the hardships and deprivations of war were endured, and in the people's militia, and in the mass partisan movement, which became one of the most important factors in victory. During the war, partisans destroyed and captured more than 1 million enemy soldiers
and officers, 4 thousand tanks and armored vehicles, 65 thousand motor vehicles, 1100 aircraft were disabled, over 20 thousand trains were derailed (see: History of Russia. XX century. M., 1996. P. 455).
The war caused certain changes in the ruling regime. There was a wide replacement of party, military and managerial personnel. Instead of dedicated performers, proactive and extraordinary individuals appeared.
Among civilian personalities, these were N.A. Voznesensky, A.N. Kosygin and others. Among the military leaders - G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, V.I. Chuikov, K.K. Rokossovsky and others.
The promotion of talented commanders raised Soviet military art to a qualitatively higher level, which turned out to be more effective than classical German military strategy and tactics. The success of the war was achieved on the basis of the unity of the front and rear.
The command system of production management that had emerged on the eve of the war had great potential for mobilizing the country's economic potential.
During the first six months of the war, 1.5 thousand industrial enterprises were evacuated to the east, which were put into operation in record time. In 1945, up to 76% of cast iron and 75% of steel were smelted here. From the very beginning of the fascist aggression, mass mobilizations of the civilian population were carried out on the labor front (construction of defensive lines, accelerated launch of evacuated enterprises, etc.). More than half of all those employed in the national economy were women. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers also worked on collective farms, factories, and construction sites.
One of the acute problems was the problem of qualified personnel. The evacuated enterprises had no more than 30% of workers and specialists, so in December 1941 a plan for training workers was developed and then implemented. In 1942, almost 4.4 million people were trained.
Combining flexibility and maneuverability with a strict repressive system of production and personnel management, relying on the labor enthusiasm of the masses, enormous natural and human resources, the country's leadership ensured the high efficiency of the military industry. Military production reached its highest level in 1944. Having generally less industrial potential than Germany and the European countries that worked for it, the USSR produced much more weapons and equipment during the war years.
All these mobilization and other measures did not change the system-forming basis of the Stalinist totalitarian regime. The authorities not only did not abandon their established methods of political terror, concentration camps (in 1944 there were 1.2 million people), but also used new “military means” of influencing individuals (orders No. 270 and No. 227). Moreover, on Stalin’s instructions, entire peoples were deported: in 1941, more than a million Volga Germans, in 1943, more than 93 thousand Kalmyks and 68 thousand Karachais, etc.
In conditions of war and general danger, relations with the USA and Great Britain changed, mistrust and other obstacles to creating an anti-Hitler coalition were overcome. In 1941, Soviet-British, Soviet-Polish and Soviet-Czechoslovak agreements on joint actions in the war against Germany were signed, and on August 24, 1941, the USSR joined the Atlantic Charter, which set out the program goals of the anti-Hitler coalition. In September of the same year, the government of the USSR recognized General Charles de Gaulle as the leader of the Free France movement as the leader of all French people and promised to provide support to the French people in restoring independent France. On November 7, F. Roosevelt extended the Lend-Lease law to the USSR (total deliveries under Lend-Lease during the war years amounted to about 4% of the USSR's military production).
Two major events of World War II had a decisive influence on the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition: the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow and the entry of the United States into the war (this happened in December 1941 after the crushing Japanese attack on the American military base at Pearl Harbor in the Philippines). In January 1942, in Washington, representatives of 26 states signed the Declaration of the United Nations, which basically completed the formalization of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The USSR, USA and Great Britain had the greatest weight among the coalition states. At the meetings of the leaders of these three countries - Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill (the "Big Three") in Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) - strategic issues related to the fight against Nazi Germany and its allies were discussed and resolved. One of them was, of course, the question of the Second Front. Its discovery occurred only in June 1944, when Anglo-American troops landed in Northern France. The literature gives different assessments of its effectiveness. Some authors believe that it was opened at least two years late (and not only due to the fault of the ruling circles of England and America, but also Stalin), when it became clear that even without allies the Red Army would complete the defeat of Nazi Germany. Western historians see in him the decisive force that predetermined the defeat of the fascist bloc. Here one can see an obvious overestimation of the role of the Second Front and the Allies in the defeat of the German army. But, be that as it may, Anglo-American troops, having marched from the shores of the Atlantic to Germany, contributed to the liberation of Western and Central Europe from fascism. The anti-Hitler coalition itself, despite its internal contradictions, was the most important factor in the victory over Nazi Germany and its allies.
The significance of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War is difficult to overestimate. True to the patriotic traditions of the past, he defended the freedom and independence of his state - the USSR. The victory over fascism brought liberation to many peoples of Europe. It, of course, was achieved through the joint efforts of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition, but the main contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany was made by the Soviet Union.
The USSR managed to overcome the consequences of the initial defeat. Strict centralization (often brutal), coupled with the dedication of millions, allowed the USSR to win. And this victory earned the Soviet Union the gratitude and respect of many millions of people in the world and increased its international prestige. The USSR became a power without which not a single important issue could be resolved. He became one of the founders of the United Nations (UN), a permanent (one of five) member of the Security Council. The number of countries with which the USSR had diplomatic relations by the end of the war was 46, whereas at the beginning there were only 17.
At the same time, it should be noted that for more than fifty years we have been almost proud of the enormous sacrifices our people have made. Meanwhile, all these losses were programmed by the totalitarian system itself, and above all by the mistakes of the top political leadership.
The conscience of Soviet people is clear. He fought bravely in the most tragic moments of the war and worthily crowned it with a hard-won victory. But nevertheless, a “triumphant complex” arose, which established itself in society after the victory and was exploited by propaganda for decades. But in this complex, contempt for one’s own victims was merged, and justification for the vices and crimes of the totalitarian communist system (“They won after all!”), and the imposition of their own rules in other countries (“they shed blood”). They blamed everything on the war, they justified everything with the war, they covered up the poverty of everyday life and the mediocrity and criminality of the system.
The public in many countries, especially in Eastern Europe, tends to view the end of the war as consolidation of the Soviet communist occupation. The victory in 1945 was the second major victory of Bolshevism on a global scale after the October Revolution of 1917. In 1945, the Bolsheviks “pulled down” their allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. The Yalta and Potsdam agreements meant the retreat of democracy from the 1939 borders far to the West.
In post-war Western Europe, democracy was staggering under the onslaught of the “fifth column” of the growing Comintern. The jubilation of the champions of democracy in 1945 was clearly premature: they had to continue the “cold” war with communist totalitarianism in different national “packages” for another half a century.
The Soviet people, who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders, had no other choice. Defeat in that war could not bring either democracy or liberation from totalitarian slavery. And even after the victory, a bitter reward awaited the Soviet people: poverty, lack of rights, general surveillance, repression and other “delights” of totalitarianism, separated from civilization by the “Iron Curtain”.
VII. THE SOVIET UNION IN THE SECOND HALF
40's - EARLY 90's. XX CENTURY
The course of the Great Patriotic War
The situation in the country on the eve of the war
Foreign policy of the USSR in the pre-war years
Lecture 5. THE SOVIET UNION IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
(1939-1945)
International relations that developed after the First World War were not stable enough. The Versailles system, which divided the world into victorious powers and countries that lost the war, did not provide a balance of power. The restoration of stability was also hampered by the Bolshevik victory in Russia and the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany, leaving these two major powers in a pariah position. They sought to break out of international isolation by getting closer to each other. This was facilitated by the agreement signed in 1922 on the establishment of diplomatic relations and mutual renunciation of claims. Since then, Germany has become the most important trade, political and military partner of the USSR. She, bypassing the restrictions that the Treaty of Versailles imposed on her, trained officers and produced weapons on Soviet territory, sharing the secrets of military technology with the USSR.
Stalin based his calculations related to inciting the revolutionary struggle on rapprochement with Germany. Hitler could destabilize the situation in Europe by starting a war with England, France and other countries, thereby creating favorable conditions for Soviet expansion into Europe. Stalin used Hitler as the “icebreaker of the revolution.”
As you can see, the emergence of totalitarian regimes threatened stability in Europe: the fascist regime was eager for external aggression, the Soviet regime was eager to incite revolutions outside the USSR. Each of them was characterized by a rejection of bourgeois democracy.
The established friendly relations between the USSR and Germany did not prevent them from carrying out subversive activities against each other. The German fascists did not abandon the continuation of the anti-communist struggle, and the Soviet Union and the Comintern organized an uprising in Germany in October 1923, which did not receive mass support and was suppressed. The uprising in Bulgaria, raised a month earlier, and the strike of English miners in 1926, which was financed by the Soviet government, also failed. The failure of these adventures and the stabilization of the democratic regimes of the West did not lead to the abandonment of plans for the implementation of a world revolution, but only prompted Stalin to change the tactics of the struggle for it. Now it was no longer communist movements in capitalist countries, but the Soviet Union that was proclaimed the leading revolutionary force, and loyalty to it was considered a manifestation of true revolutionism.
The Social Democrats, who did not support the revolutionary actions, were declared the main enemy of the Communists, and the Comintern branded them as “social fascists.” This point of view has become mandatory for communists all over the world. As a result, an anti-fascist united front was never created, which allowed the National Socialists, led by Adolf Hitler, to come to power in Germany in 1933, and even earlier, in 1922, Mussolini began to rule Italy. Stalin's position showed a logic subordinate to the plans of the world revolution, and the country's domestic and foreign policies were generally consistent with it.
Photo: Adolf Gitler.
Already in 1933, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations (the first world organization whose goals included preserving peace and developing international cooperation. It was formally founded on January 10, 1920 and ceased to exist on April 18, 1946 with the formation of the UN), and in 1935, in violation obligations under the Treaty of Versailles, introduced universal conscription and returned /through a plebiscite/ the Saar region. In 1936, German troops entered the demilitarized Rhineland. In 1938, the Anschluss (Anschluss - forced annexation) of Austria was carried out. Fascist Italy in 1935-1936. captured Ethiopia. In 1936-1939 Germany and Italy carried out an armed intervention in the Spanish Civil War, sending approximately 250 thousand soldiers and officers to help the rebel General Franco (and the USSR helped the Republicans by sending about 3 thousand “volunteers”).
Another source of tension and war arose in Asia. In 1931-1932 Japan annexed Manchuria, and in 1937 began a large-scale war against China, capturing Beijing, Shanghai and other cities in the country. In 1936, Germany and Japan concluded the Anti-Comintern Pact, and a year later Italy signed it.
In total, during the period from the first to the second world wars, up to 70 regional and local armed conflicts occurred. The Versailles system was maintained only by the efforts of England and France. Moreover, the desire of these countries to maintain the status quo in Europe was weakened by their desire to use Germany against the Bolshevik threat. This is precisely what explained their policy of connivance and “appeasement” of the aggressor, which in fact encouraged Hitler’s growing appetites.
The apogee of this policy was the Munich Agreement in September 1938. Hitler, who considered Germany to be sufficiently strengthened, began to implement his plans for world domination. First, he decided to unite all the lands inhabited by the Germans in one state. In March 1938, German troops occupied Austria. Taking advantage of the passivity of the world community and the support of the German people, who pinned their hopes on Hitler for the revival of the country, the Fuhrer moved on. He demanded that Czechoslovakia hand over the Sudetenland, which was populated predominantly by Germans, to Germany. Both Poland and Hungary put forward territorial claims against Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia could not resist Germany alone, but was ready to fight in alliance with the French and British. However, the meeting in Munich on September 29-30, 1938 between British Prime Minister Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Daladier with Hitler and Mussolini ended in the shameful capitulation of the democratic powers. Czechoslovakia was ordered to give Germany the most important industrially and militarily Sudetenland, Poland - the Cieszyn region, and Hungary - part of the Slovak lands. As a result of this, Czechoslovakia lost 20% of the territory in which 2 million 800 thousand Sudeten Germans and 800 thousand Czechs lived. This territory contained a widely ramified system of Czech fortifications, which were considered the most impregnable in Europe.
In Czechoslovakia, the existing system of railways and highways, telegraph and telephone communications was disrupted. According to German data, the dismembered country lost 66% of its coal reserves, 80% of lignite reserves, 86% of raw materials for the chemical industry, 80% of cement, 80% of the textile industry, 70% of electricity and 40% of forests. A thriving industrial power was destroyed and torn apart overnight.
The British and French governments hoped that the Munich Agreement would satisfy Hitler and prevent war. In reality, the policy of appeasement only encouraged the aggressor: Germany first annexed the Sudetenland, and in March 1939 occupied all of Czechoslovakia. With the weapons captured here, Hitler could equip up to 40 of his divisions. The German army quickly grew and strengthened. The balance of power in Europe was rapidly changing in favor of the fascist states. In April 1939, Italy captured Albania. In Spain, the civil war ended with the victory of Franco's fascist regime. Advancing further, Hitler forced the Lithuanian government to return to Germany the city of Memel (Klaipeda), annexed by Lithuania in 1919.
On March 21, 1939, Germany presented Poland with a demand for the transfer of Gdansk (Danzig), inhabited by the Germans, surrounded by Polish lands and having the status of a free city guaranteed by the League of Nations. Hitler wanted to occupy the city and build a road to it through Polish territory. The Polish government, given what happened to Czechoslovakia, refused. England and France declared that they would guarantee the independence of Poland, that is, they would fight for it. They were forced to speed up their military programs, agree on mutual assistance, and provide guarantees to some European countries against possible aggression.
In the mid-1930s, realizing the danger of fascism, Soviet leaders tried to improve relations with Western democracies and create a system of collective security in Europe. In 1934, the USSR joined the League of Nations, and in 1935, mutual assistance agreements were concluded with France and Czechoslovakia. However, a military convention with France was not signed, and military assistance to Czechoslovakia, which was offered by the USSR, was rejected, because it was conditioned by the provision of such assistance to Czechoslovakia by France. In 1935, the Seventh Congress of the Comintern called for the formation of a popular front of communists and social democrats. However, after the Munich Agreement, the USSR found itself in political isolation. Relations with Japan have become strained. In the summer of 1938, Japanese troops invaded the Soviet Far East in the area of Lake Khasan, and in May 1939 - into the territory of Mongolia.
In a difficult situation, the Bolshevik leadership began to maneuver, which resulted in dramatic changes in the foreign policy of the USSR. On March 10, 1939, at the XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Stalin harshly criticized the policies of England and France and stated that the USSR was not going to “pull chestnuts out of the fire” for “warmongers,” meaning these states (and not Nazi Germany) ). However, in order to calm public opinion in the West and put pressure on Germany, the Soviet government on April 17, 1939 proposed that England and France conclude a Tripartite Pact of mutual assistance in case of aggression. Hitler took a similar step in order to prevent a bloc of Western powers with Russia: he invited them to conclude a “Pact of Four” between England, France, Germany and Italy. The USSR began negotiations with England and France, but only as a smoke screen in order to bargain more with Hitler. The other side also used the negotiations to put pressure on Hitler. In general, a great diplomatic game was being played in Europe, in which each of the three parties sought to outmaneuver the other parties.
On May 3, 1939, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M.M. Litvinov, who was a supporter of an alliance with Western democrats and a Jew by nationality, was replaced by V.M. Molotov. This was a clear symptom of a change in the emphasis of the USSR's foreign policy, which was fully appreciated by Hitler. Soviet-German contacts immediately intensified. On May 30, the German leadership made it clear that it was ready to improve relations with the USSR. The USSR continued negotiations with England and France. But there was no mutual trust between the parties: after Munich, Stalin did not believe in the readiness of the British and French to resist, they also did not trust the USSR, they were playing for time, they wanted to pit the Germans and Russians against each other. On the initiative of the USSR, on August 12, 1939, negotiations began in Moscow with the military missions of England and France. And here difficulties emerged in the negotiations, especially in terms of taking on military obligations and readiness to send troops against the aggressor. In addition, Poland refused to allow Soviet troops through its territory. The motives for the Polish refusal were understandable, but otherwise the Red Army could not act against the German troops. All this made it difficult for the USSR to negotiate with England and France.