Causes and periodization of the war. The origins of the most terrible war in human history lay in irreconcilable contradictions between world powers. Management Nazi Germany expected not only to return lost Treaty of Versailles territory, but also dreamed of world domination. The ruling circles of Italy and Japan, dissatisfied with the results of participation in the First World War, which in their opinion were insufficient, now focused on a new ally - Germany. Many countries of Central and Eastern Europe also became allies of Germany - Finland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria, whose leaders joined, as it seemed to them, the camp of the future winners.
England and France, who played a key role in the League of Nations, were unable to stop the aggressors; they largely condoned their plans. The attempts turned out to be short-sighted Western politicians direct German aggression to the east. Hitler took advantage of their desire to put an end to communist ideology and its bearer, the Soviet Union, in order to provide favorable conditions for Germany to start a war. The policy of the ruling circles of Poland turned out to be equally short-sighted; on the one hand, they participated together with Germany in the division of Czechoslovakia, and on the other, they counted on effective assistance from England and France in the event of Hitler’s aggression.
Soviet leadership in the coming war expected to conduct combat operations on enemy territory. The victory of the Red Army could push the process of collapse of the “world of capitalism”. Stalin, having agreed with Germany on the eve of the war, hoped - by building up military power and foreign policy maneuvers - to include into the Soviet Union the territories of the former lost during the civil war Russian Empire.
The Second World War can be divided into four periods. They differed from each other in which side had the strategic initiative, the results of military operations, and internal position in warring countries.
Initial period (1939-1941): aggression of Germany and Italy in Europe and North Africa, establishment of hegemony of fascist states in continental Europe, territorial expansion of the USSR.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the expansion of the scope of the Second World War (summer 1941 - autumn 1942): the treacherous attack of Germany on the USSR and Japan on the USA, the formation of the Anti-Hitler coalition. This period was characterized by the greatest successes of the aggressor states. At the same time, the Blitzkrieg plans collapsed, the aggressors faced the need to wage protracted war.
A radical turning point during the war (late 1942-1943): the collapse of the offensive strategy of Germany and its satellites, the strengthening of the Anti-Hitler coalition, the strengthening of the Resistance movement in the occupied territories. During this period, the USSR and its allies surpassed fascist bloc by release military equipment, their armed forces carried out successful offensive operations on all fronts.
End of World War II (1944-1945): liberation of Europe and South-East Asia from the invaders, their final defeat. This period was characterized by the strengthening of the position of the USSR and the USA on the world stage, their struggle to secure their positions in the post-war world.
Preparing the USSR for war. The military fire that was blazing in Europe could not bypass the Soviet Union. The leadership of the USSR understood this and took a number of measures to prepare the country for war. However, serious mistakes were made. The sharp increase in military appropriations (from 25.6% of the budget expenditures in 1939 to 43.4% in 1941) turned out to be insufficiently effective due to miscalculations in their distribution. Thus, despite a significant increase in capital investments aimed at basic sectors of the economy, the growth in production of such the most important species products such as steel, cement, oil, coal, electricity, and building materials turned out to be insignificant. 
Attempts by the Soviet leadership to increase labor productivity in industry through the use of administrative resources did not bring the expected results. The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the transition to an eight-hour working day, a seven-day working week and on the prohibition of unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions, adopted in June 1940, hit hard not only the violators of discipline, but also the least socially protected layers population: single mothers, working youth, etc.
The situation in industry was complicated by mass repressions of the late 30s, during which enterprises lost a significant part of their management and engineering personnel. Young specialists who came from the institute bench could not completely replace the retired personnel. In addition, many leading designers of military equipment died or ended up in camps. Only just before the war, some of those imprisoned (A.N. Tupolev, S.P. Korolev, V.P. Glushko, P.O. Sukhoi) got the opportunity to work in closed design bureaus. Thus, the release of new military equipment was difficult, and it was introduced into production too slowly. For example, V. A. Degtyarev and G. S. Shpagin’s submachine guns, T-34 and KV tanks entered the army with a delay. Things were better with aviation: on the eve of the war, production of Il-4 bombers, Yak-1 and MiG-3 fighters, and other equipment began.
Replacing the territorial-militia system of forming the armed forces with universal conscription made it possible to more than triple the size of the Red Army. However, the repressions, which weakened the command staff, gave rise to serious problems in command and control of troops. The qualifications of the officers who replaced the incapacitated comrades were low. The new formations were equipped with equipment, communications equipment and other materials insufficiently.
Soviet-Finnish war. Having concluded an agreement on friendship and borders with Germany on September 28, 1939, the USSR annexed Western Ukrainian and Western Belarusian lands, as well as the Bialystok region populated by Poles, which were part of the Russian Empire before the First World War. The next country after Poland to fall into the sphere of Stalin’s geopolitical and sovereign interests was Finland. In the fall of 1939, the Soviet leadership presented this country with a number of ultimatum demands, the main ones being the establishment of a new border on the Karelian Isthmus and the lease of Hanko Island. The purpose of the Soviet proposals was to ensure the security of Leningrad and close the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia to ships of a potential enemy.
In November 1939, after Finland refused to meet Soviet demands, war began. The offensive operation of the Red Army, whose goal was to advance deep into enemy territory, developed unsuccessfully. The Finnish troops, seized by a patriotic impulse, stubbornly defended themselves. Sweden, England, France, and the United States provided assistance to Finland with ammunition, military equipment and equipment. Volunteers from other countries fought on her side.
The ratio of troops that took part in hostilities
The most fierce battles took place in the area of the defensive “Mannerheim Line”, which blocked the Karelian Isthmus. Units of the Red Army, which had no experience in breaking through long-term fortifications, suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment. Only at the end of February 1940 did Soviet troops, under the leadership of Army Commander S.K. Timoshenko, penetrate deeply into the enemy’s defenses. Despite the fact that France and England promised Finland to send their troops to help, the Finns asked for peace. According to the Moscow Peace Treaty, signed on March 2, 1940, Finland ceded to the Soviet Union the entire Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg and the area north of Lake Ladoga, the USSR received a naval base on the Hanko Peninsula for a 30-year lease. The Karelian ASSR was transformed into the Karelo-Finnish SSR (in 1956 the status of an autonomous republic was returned to it).
The Soviet-Finnish War, nicknamed “Winter” by contemporaries, had a negative impact on the foreign policy situation of the USSR. The Soviet Union, as an aggressor state, was expelled from the League of Nations. Many people in the West equated Stalin and Hitler. The results of the war prompted the Finnish leadership to take the side of Germany against the USSR in June 1941. Another consequence was the increased conviction of the Fuhrer and his generals in the weakness of the Red Army. The German military command intensified preparations for a “blitzkrieg” against the USSR.
Meanwhile, the Germans' ideas about the military weakness of the USSR turned out to be illusory. The Soviet leadership took into account the lessons of the difficult Finnish campaign. S.K. Timoshenko became People's Commissar of Defense instead of K.E. Voroshilov. Although the measures to strengthen combat capability taken by the new leadership of the Red Army were late, in June 1941 the Red Army was a significantly more combat-ready force than at the beginning of the “Winter War”.
Further territorial expansion of the USSR. Secret agreements with Hitler allowed Stalin to carry out further territorial acquisitions without any problems. The entry into the Soviet Union of the three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, was the result of both the use of diplomatic and military pressure measures and the use of local political forces oriented towards the USSR. 
In September 1939, the USSR invited the Baltic countries to conclude agreements on mutual military assistance. Diplomatic pressure on neighbors was increased by the deployment of a powerful group of Soviet troops on the border with Estonia, ten times greater than the forces of the Estonian army. The governments of the Baltic states yielded to pressure and agreed to sign the treaties. In accordance with them, by May 1940, units of the Red Army (67 thousand people) were stationed in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania at military bases provided by their authorities, which exceeded the total number of armies of the Baltic states.
In June 1940, when the troops of the Anglo-French coalition suffered defeats in the west, the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR charged the authorities of the Baltic countries with hostile activities towards Soviet garrisons. Unable to receive Western help, the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were forced to agree to the entry of additional Red Army forces into their territory. Demonstrations organized by leftist forces and openly supported by Soviet troops led to changes in governments. During the parliamentary elections, held under the control of Soviet representatives, pro-communist forces won. Proclaimed new legislative bodies authorities The Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet republics were accepted into the USSR in August 1940.
In June 1940, the USSR demanded from Romania the return of Bessarabia, lost in 1918, and the transfer of Northern Bukovina, whose population was mainly Ukrainian. Romania was forced to cede these territories to the Soviet Union. In August 1940, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, together with Bessarabia annexed to it, was transformed into a union republic, Northern Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian SSR.
Foreign policy successes made it possible to push back the western border of the USSR, thereby securing the industrial centers of the European part of the country. At the same time, soon after the start of the Great Patriotic War, the negative consequences of such a rapid territorial expansion. Defensive structures
on the old border were dismantled, and there was not enough time to build new ones. Due to repressions against the population of the annexed territories, the rear of the units covering the new border turned out to be unreliable. The Soviet-German border turned out to be even longer, which in June 1941 became the starting point for the Nazis’ advance into the depths of the USSR.
However, the most serious miscalculation was made by the Soviet leadership in assessing the timing future war with Germany. The ease with which Stalin took advantage of the division of Eastern Europe into spheres of influence between the USSR and Germany allowed him to count that the inevitable war with his powerful Western neighbor could be delayed until at least 1942. The consequence of these calculations was that Stalin did not want to believe the reports Soviet intelligence about the impending attack by Germany. At the same time, the USSR, despite delays in payments by the German side, continued to in full fulfill its obligations to supply strategic raw materials and food to Germany.
I was prompted to write about this by the established opinion in our public consciousness that we are a very peaceful country, consistent opponents of all wars, and our armored train always stood on a siding, occasionally and only shooting at times.
Of course, this myth was born by Soviet propaganda and the average person happily accepted it. It’s so nice, being humiliated within your own country, to feel your illusory greatness outside its borders, even though you’ve never been there. There is not a single decade in Soviet history, and what are decades - there is not a single five-year period of peaceful life. The Soviet Union was constantly at war throughout the world.
Tell me, which country can withstand a long hundred-year war on all fronts?! How many resources are needed...human, economic?! What society would willingly agree to throw the fruits of its labors regularly into the furnace of war, denying itself everything it needs?! That's right, there is no such society. This can only be a slave state, when part of society is in hard forced labor in concentration camps, ensuring these wars, and the other part is happy only because it is not there, continuing to remain a slave, but not in hard labor either. Payment for slavery without hard labor is the enthusiastic slave “patriotism” of a primitive animal state.
There are many historical materials, comments and explanations on each individual episode of this aggressive policy. Soviet history and propaganda explain all these conflicts in such a way that we are white and fluffy and always got involved in war out of extreme necessity, defending either our land (did we have it?!), or at the call of fraternal international assistance from one of the parties ( We always accurately identified only the fair side and only helped it!!!). No one will ever convince me that it is logical for us to defend our homeland in Africa, America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Below I will try to give chronological order all wars, from 1917 to the present day. You must understand that the data on the number of human losses is very arbitrary, and in some cases downright false. This should be understandable, because many of the data were taken from Soviet sources, where even information on the preparation of firewood for the winter of an individual collective farm was subject to classification.
I deliberately do not provide links to sources, since I believe that anyone who is interested can always find more full information from different angles, because this is the 21st century and typing different wording of a question in the Google search bar, for example, is not difficult. Well, for those who find it difficult, they don’t need it...they just don’t know it themselves and are always ready to accept official version poorly put together lies from television, an official history textbook or newspaper.
I consider most of these wars to be imperial acts of conquest, akin to the actions of Nazi Germany and inciting tension in the world. There are also just wars... there are few of them... only one - the Great Patriotic War, which they still try to cover up everything else like a sacred cow.
I repeat once again, do not be surprised by the primitive propaganda pathos of subsequent posts, since the information was taken from open official sources, almost without editing. All the more absurdly everything looks for a thinking person in the general mass, where the Soviet Union is the most just and humane power. The loss figures presented below are also taken from open official sources, and therefore are largely far-fetched and greatly distorted
So let's get started...
Civil War (1918-1922)
This war requires a separate, extensive topic, and I am limiting myself here to only very conditional figures of losses, which can be called greatly underestimated and taken from the air, since first you need to figure out what is considered losses. In this case, the boundaries of losses will sharply expand, but they will remain conditional and very approximate.
Casualties in the Civil War:
Total deaths: 10,500,000
2,000,000 emigrated
To the West, workers and peasants!
Against the bourgeoisie and landowners,
for the international revolution,
for the freedom of all peoples!
Fighters of the workers' revolution!
Turn your eyes to the West.
The fate of the world revolution is being decided in the West.
Through the corpse of white Poland lies the path to world fire.
Let's carry happiness on bayonets
and peace to working humanity.
To the west!
To decisive battles, to resounding victories! ...
"Pravda", No. 99, May 9, 1920
On April 25, 1920, the Polish army invaded Soviet Ukraine and captured Kyiv on May 6.
On May 14, a successful counter-offensive began by the troops of the Western Front (commander M. N. Tukhachevsky), on May 26 - the South-Western Front (commander A. I. Egorov). In mid-July they approached the borders of Poland.
The Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b), having clearly overestimated its own strength and underestimated the enemy’s, set a new strategic task for the command of the Red Army: to enter the territory of Poland with fighting, take its capital and create conditions for the proclamation of Soviet power in the country. Trotsky, who knew the state of the Red Army, wrote in his memoirs:
“There were fervent hopes for an uprising of the Polish workers... Lenin had a firm plan: to bring the matter to an end, that is, to enter Warsaw in order to help the Polish working masses to overthrow the Pilsudski government and seize power... I found in the center a very firm mood in favor of bringing the war to an end.” to end". I strongly opposed this. The Poles have already asked for peace. I believed that we had reached the culmination of success, and if we went further without calculating our strength, we could pass by the victory we had already won - to defeat. After the colossal effort, which allowed the 4th Army to cover 650 kilometers in five weeks, it could move forward only by the force of inertia. Everything was hanging on my nerves, and these are too thin threads. One strong push was enough to shake our front and turn a completely unheard of and unprecedented... offensive impulse into a catastrophic retreat.”
Despite Trotsky's opinion, Lenin and almost all members of the Politburo rejected Trotsky's proposal to immediately conclude peace with Poland. The attack on Warsaw was entrusted to the Western Front, and on Lviv to the South-Western Front, led by Alexander Egorov.
According to the statements of the Bolshevik leaders, in general, this was an attempt to advance the “red bayonet” deep into Europe and thereby “stir up the Western European proletariat” and push it to support the world revolution.
“We decided to use our military forces to help the Sovietization of Poland. This led to further general policy. We did not formulate this in an official resolution recorded in the minutes of the Central Committee and representing the law for the party until the new congress. But we said among ourselves that we must probe with bayonets to see if it was ripe. social revolution proletariat in Poland." (from the text of Lenin’s speech at the IX All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b) on September 22, 1920)
“The fate of the world revolution is being decided in the West. Through the corpse of Belopa Poland lies the path to a world fire. We will bring happiness to working humanity with bayonets!” (From the order entitled “To the West!”)
This attempt ended in disaster. The troops of the Western Front in August 1920 were completely defeated near Warsaw (the so-called “Miracle on the Vistula”), and rolled back. During the battle, of the five armies of the Western Front, only the third survived, which managed to retreat. The remaining armies were destroyed: the Fourth Army and part of the Fifteenth fled to East Prussia and were interned, the Mozyr Group, the Fifteenth, and Sixteenth armies were surrounded or defeated. More than 120 thousand Red Army soldiers (up to 200 thousand) were captured, most of them captured during the battle of Warsaw, and another 40 thousand soldiers were in East Prussia in internment camps. This defeat of the Red Army is the most catastrophic.
The Soviet government will harbor a fierce hatred of Poland and will subsequently take brutal revenge, and the first revenge will be in close partnership with... Hitler
Tambov uprising 1918-1921
The desire of the Chinese to return the CER is completely understandable, although never before the Soviet-Chinese agreement of 1924 did the Chinese side manage the road on equal terms with Russia. From the point of view of international law, it was necessary to resolve the issue of transferring the road from the Soviet side to China on the basis of the relevant articles of the Beijing and Mukden treaties, because no less natural was the desire of the USSR (as the legal successor of the Russian Empire in this regard) to at least somehow compensate for the colossal material costs of construction CER.
Seeing the persistent reluctance of the Nanjing authorities to peacefully resolve the conflict, the Soviet government took a forced measure - announced a break in a note dated July 17, 1929 diplomatic relations with the Nanjing government. All Soviet diplomatic, consular and trade representatives, and employees of the CER administration were recalled from China, and Chinese diplomats were asked to immediately leave the USSR. It was also decided to stop all railway communications between China and the USSR. At the same time, the union government stated that it reserved all rights arising from the Beijing and Mukden agreements of 1924
The French government was one of the first to try to intervene in the Soviet-Chinese struggle for the CER. So, already on July 19, 1929, the French minister A. Briand proposed to the USSR plenipotentiary V.S. Dovgalevsky French mediation for settlement Soviet-Chinese conflict. The French ambassador in Moscow, Herbett, conveyed the same proposal to Karakhan on July 21. However, the Soviet government was categorically against the participation of third countries in resolving the conflict. But, not wanting to aggravate and so not simple relationships with France, the NKID got out of the situation by refusing negotiations with China through the mediation of Parisian diplomats, “due to the refusal of the Chinese authorities to restore the violations they legal framework, representing the necessary prerequisite for an agreement according to the note of the Soviet government of July 13"
The USA did not stand aside either. On July 25, American Secretary of State G.L. Stimson addressed the governments of England, France, Italy, Japan and Germany with a memorandum outlining a plan for the collective intervention of these powers in the conflict on the Chinese Eastern Railway. He proposed creating a conciliation commission of representatives of 6 great powers with the task of studying the essence of the Soviet-Chinese conflict and developing a program for its settlement. England, Italy and France supported the US government's proposals. Japan and Germany refused to participate in the planned collective action.
At the end of the summer of 1929, Soviet-Chinese relations deteriorated to the limit and were brought to the brink of war.
Despite lengthy attempts by the Soviet side to resolve the problems peacefully, only the military intervention of the USSR finally resolved the conflict. Chinese historian Son Do Jin claims that the USSR opted for a forceful solution to the CER problem because of “the desire to punish Chiang Kai-shek for his anti-communism and anti-Sovietism.” An analysis of diplomatic documents shows that the USSR actually tried to find peaceful means to resolve the conflict. The main thing for the USSR was the desire to preserve and strengthen international authority, restore the activities of the Chinese Eastern Railway on the principles of the Beijing and Mukden agreements, stop the persecution of Soviet citizens in Manchuria and the military actions of White Guard detachments on the Soviet-Chinese border.
Only in the 20th of November, when the Chinese army in Manchuria completely lost its combat capability, Nanjing, without receiving specific support from the West, was forced to ask for peace. On November 21, employees of the Soviet Consulate General in Harbin (Kokorin and Nechaev) were brought by the Chinese authorities to the station. Borderline. Through them, Cai Yunsheng conveyed an official statement about the authority he had received from the Mukden and Nanjing authorities to immediately open negotiations to resolve the conflict. The next day, the NKID agent in Khabarovsk A. Simanovsky, through Kokorin, who returned to Harbin, transmitted a written response with the preliminary conditions of the Soviet side, upon the immediate fulfillment of which the USSR was ready to participate in the Soviet-Chinese conference to resolve the situation on the Chinese Eastern Railway. The conditions were the same - set out in the notes of the Soviet government dated July 13 and August 29: official consent of the Chinese side to restore the situation on the Chinese Eastern Railway that existed before the conflict; immediate restoration of the rights of the Manager and assistant appointed by the Soviet side; liberation of Soviet citizens. On November 27, Zhang Xueliang sent a telegram to Moscow about “his agreement in principle” with these conditions. True, on November 26, the representative of the Nanjing government at the League of Nations tried to raise the issue of “aggression” by the USSR, but did not receive support. Even the representative of England, who generally took a position hostile to the USSR, spoke out against submitting this proposal to the League of Nations. On November 29, Chiang Kai-shek's government, trying to disrupt Zhang Xueliang's negotiations with Soviet representatives, made a new proposal - to create a "mixed commission" to investigate the circumstances of the conflict with the chairman - a "citizen of a neutral country." This attempt was made by Chiang Kai-shek in the hope of getting representatives of Western powers to participate in the Sino-Soviet negotiations, but it was unsuccessful.
International assistance to Spain (1936-1939)
I left the hut and went to fight
To give the land in Grenada to the peasants
The Soviet Union, responding to a request from the Spanish government, agreed to supply weapons and military equipment to the Spanish Republic. In total, from October 1936 to January 1939, it was supplied with: aircraft - 648, tanks - 347, armored vehicles - 60, torpedo boats - 4, artillery pieces - 1186, machine guns - 20486, rifles - 497,813, cartridges - 862 million, shells - 3.4 million, aerial bombs - 110 thousand.
In addition, in accordance with the request of the Republican government, the Soviet Union sent about 3,000 military volunteers to Spain: military advisers, pilots, tank crews, sailors and other specialists who fought and worked on the side of the republic. Of these, 189 people died or went missing. (including 17 Red Army employees). We did not take into account the losses of civilian specialists from other departments of the USSR.
The main military advisers in the Spanish Republic at different times were Y. K. Berzin (1936-1937, who later created the Kolyma Gulag), G. M. Stern (1937-1938) and K. M. Kachanov (1938-1939 gg.).
Providing international military assistance to China (1923-1941)
Aid from the USSR came to China with weapons, ammunition, military equipment, and medicine, although at that time our country itself was in dire need of many things. The difficult international situation and the threat of aggression forced the Soviet government to spend significant funds on defense needs. And yet the Soviet people helped fraternal China.
In the early 30s of the 20th century, after the capture of the northeastern provinces of China, Japan began to turn the captured territory into a springboard for advancing into Northern China and to attack the Soviet Union.
In total, the USSR delivered to China on the basis of agreements (from November 1937 to January 1942): aircraft - 1285 (of which 777 fighters, bombers - 408, training aircraft - 100), guns of various calibers - 1600, medium tanks - 82, machine guns easel and manual - 14 thousand, cars and tractors - 1850, a large number of rifles, artillery shells, rifle cartridges, aerial bombs, spare parts for aircraft, tanks, cars, communications equipment, gasoline, medicines and medical equipment
At this difficult time for China, Soviet military specialists, at the request of the Chinese government, once again stood alongside Chinese soldiers. Soviet tank instructors trained the crews of Chinese tanks. In August 1938, the first mechanized division in the history of the Chinese army was created on the basis of Soviet equipment. Artillerymen with large quantities of guns arrived in China in April 1938. They did a lot to organize and train gun crews, and artillery officers and infantry officers - the basics of combat interaction. Artillery instructors, like tank instructors, took direct part in combat operations.
The great merit of Soviet volunteer pilots in repelling Japanese aggression was great. In connection with the supply of aircraft from the USSR, they became instructors and teachers in Chinese aviation schools and on courses, actively participated in hostilities. All this significantly strengthened China's military aviation. Volunteer pilots did not spare their lives, taking the brunt of Japanese aviation. Those who particularly distinguished themselves in the battles of 1939 were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Here are their names: F. P. Polynin, V. V. Zverev, A. S. Blagoveshchensky, O. N. Borovikov, A. A. Gubenko, S. S. Gaidarenko, T. T. Khryukin, G. P. Kravchenko, S. V. Slyusarev, S. P. Suprun, M. N. Marchenkov, E. M. Nikolaenko, I. P. Selivanov, I. S. Sukhov.
By mid-February 1939, 3,665 Soviet military specialists were working in China and participating in the fight against the Japanese invaders. In total, from the autumn of 1937 to the beginning of 1942, when Soviet advisers and specialists mostly left China, more than 5 thousand Soviet people worked and fought in the rear and on the fronts of the anti-Japanese war [363]. Many of them gave their lives for the freedom of the brotherly Chinese people. In fierce battles in the air and on the ground, 227 Soviet volunteers were killed or died from wounds (see Table 80). Their graves are scattered over a large part of the territory of the People's Republic of China.
Fighting near Lake Khasan July 29 - August 9, 1938
On July 31, the Japanese, with the forces of two regiments of the 19th division, again invaded Soviet territory and, going deep up to four kilometers, captured the tactically important Zaozernaya and Bezymyannaya hills in the area of Lake Khasan (see diagram XIV). When these actions of the Japanese army were reported to the Japanese Emperor, he “expressed satisfaction”
The Soviet command hastily brought additional forces into the fighting area, which on August 6 went on the offensive and within three days completely cleared Soviet territory of Japanese invaders. New attacks launched by the enemy were repulsed with heavy losses. Ships and units of the Pacific Fleet provided active support to the ground forces throughout the hostilities.
Due to the failure of the Hassan adventure, the Japanese government on August 10 invited the USSR government to begin negotiations, and on August 11, hostilities between Soviet and Japanese troops ceased.
The casualties of Japanese troops during the battles near Lake Khasan, according to available data, amounted to 650 people. killed and 2500 people. wounded
basic data on the losses of Soviet troops during the two-week battles with the Japanese in the area of Lake Khasan. They make it possible to determine the ratio between killed and wounded in Soviet troops, which is calculated as one to 3.5, that is, for every one killed there were almost four wounded. Also noteworthy is the high percentage of losses among junior and middle command personnel, especially in the number of killed (38.1%). It should also be noted here that out of the total number of wounded (2752 people), 100 people died in hospitals (for the period from July 30 to August 12, 1938), i.e. 3.6%
Fighting near the Khalkhin Gol River (1939)
Soviet-Mongolian troops, reduced by that time to the 1st army group under the command of corps commander G.K. Zhukov, there were 57 thousand soldiers and commanders. They included 542 guns and mortars, 498 tanks, 385 armored vehicles and 515 aircraft. Having forestalled the enemy, on August 20, the Soviet-Mongolian troops, after powerful air strikes and almost three hours of artillery preparation, went on the offensive in two groups - northern and southern. As a result of the skillful and decisive actions of these groups bypassing the enemy’s flanks, already on August 23, the entire Japanese group was surrounded (see Diagram XV). By the end of August 31, it was completely defeated. At the request of Japan, hostilities ceased [386], and on September 15, an agreement was signed in Moscow between the USSR, the Mongolian People's Republic and Japan on the elimination of the military conflict. During the battles at Khalkhin Gol, the Japanese lost about 61 thousand people. killed, wounded and captured, including about 45 thousand people. in July-August 1939. Their losses in killed alone during the entire period of hostilities amounted to about 25 thousand people.
On the Soviet side, the 36th Motorized Rifle Division (MSD), 57th and 82nd took direct part in the hostilities rifle divisions(SD), 1st Rifle Regiment 152nd SD, 5th Rifle-Machine-Gun Brigade (SPBR), 6th and 11th Tank Brigades (TBR), 7th, 8th, and 9th motorized armored brigades (MBB), 212th airborne brigade, 56th fighter aviation regiment, 32nd cavalry regiment, 185th artillery regiment, 85th anti-aircraft artillery regiment (zenap), 37th and 85th anti-aircraft artillery divisions , as well as combat and logistics support units
Data on Soviet casualties are vague
Liberation campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (1939)
Towards friend Hitler
The Soviet government ordered the High Command of the Red Army to cross the border and take protection of the lives and property of the population Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. To this end, troops of the Kyiv and Belarusian special military districts began on September 17 liberation campaign. Directorates of the Ukrainian and Belorussian fronts were created to direct the actions of the troops.
On September 25-28, the troops of these fronts reached their assigned line, which passed along the Western Bug, San and other rivers. Along the route of troop movement, separate pockets of resistance, consisting of disparate formations, were repeatedly encountered Polish army, siegemen and gendarmerie. But they were quickly suppressed during armed clashes. The main part of the Polish troops located in the liberated territory surrendered in entire units and formations. Thus, the Ukrainian Front disarmed 392,334 people, including 16,723 officers, from September 17 to October 2, 1939 [405]. Byelorussian Front from September 17 to September 30, 1939 - 60,202 people, of which 2,066 were officers
In a number of places, military clashes took place with German troops, who violated the demarcation line previously agreed upon between both sides and invaded Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. So, in the Lviv region on September 19 German troops opened fire on the Soviet tank brigade entering the city. A battle ensued, during which the formation lost 3 people. killed and 5 people. wounded, 3 armored cars were hit. German losses were: 4 people. killed, in military equipment - 2 anti-tank guns. This incident was, as it later turned out, a deliberate provocation of the German command. To avoid similar cases in the future, the opposing sides established (at the suggestion of the German government) a demarcation line between the German and Soviet armies, which was announced on September 22 in the Soviet-German communiqué. The line ran “along the rivers Pisa, Narev, Bug, San”
However, the Soviet Union could not accept the established demarcation line as its new western border. At the same time, the current situation required an urgent solution to this problem. Therefore, already on September 28, 1939, a Soviet-German treaty on friendship and border was signed in Moscow
Soviet-Finnish War (11/30/1939-03/12/1940)
The reason for the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish war was a provocative artillery shelling of Soviet troops from the territory of Finland in the area of the village of Mainile, carried out on November 26, as a result of which 3 Soviet soldiers were killed and 7 were injured [420]. It is difficult to say now by whom and with whose sanction this shelling was carried out, since the incident was not jointly investigated.
On November 28, the USSR government denounced the joint non-aggression pact of 1939 and recalled its diplomatic representatives from Finland. On November 30, troops of the Leningrad Military District received orders to push Finnish troops back from Leningrad.
The military operations of the Soviet troops in the war with Finland are divided into two stages: the first lasted from November 30, 1939 to February 10, 1940, the second - from February 11 to March 13, 1940.
At the first stage, troops of the 14th Army, in cooperation with the Northern Fleet, in December captured the Rybachy and Sredniy peninsulas, the city of Petsamo and closed Finland’s access to Barents Sea. At the same time, the troops of the 9th Army, advancing to the south, penetrated 35-45 km deep into the enemy’s defenses. Units of the neighboring 8th Army fought forward up to 80 km, but some of them were surrounded and forced to retreat.
The most difficult and bloody battles took place on the Karelian Isthmus, where the 7th Army was advancing. By December 12, its troops, with the support of aviation and navy, had overcome a strong support zone and reached the front edge of the main strip of the Mannerheim Line along its entire width. However, an attempt to break through this line on the move was unsuccessful. The strength was not enough.
The shortage of forces was also acutely felt in the 9th, 8th and 15th armies. The human losses of the Soviet troops in December 1939 were large and amounted to 69,986 people. [ 421 ] Of these:
- killed and died from wounds and disease 11,676;
- missing 5,965;
- 35,800 injured;
- shell-shocked 1,164;
- burned 493;
- frostbitten 5,725;
- 9,163 fell ill.
At the end of December, the Red Army High Command decided to stop the unsuccessful attacks and begin careful preparations for a breakthrough. For this purpose, on the Karelian Isthmus on January 7, 1940. The North-Western Front was formed, headed by Army Commander 1st Rank S.K. Timoshenko, member of the Military Council, Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks A.A. Zhdanov and Chief of Staff Army Commander 2nd Rank I.V. Smorodinov. The front included the 7th Army (commanded by Army Commander 2nd Rank K.A. Meretskov from December 9, 1939) and the 13th Army created at the end of December (commander of the corps commander V.D. Grendal). Both armies were reinforced with aviation, artillery, tank and engineering units.
At this time, the total number of active troops was intensively increased. So, if on January 1, 1940, there were 550,757 people in their ranks. (of which 46,776 were commanders, 79,520 junior commanders and 424,461 fighters), then by the first days of March the number of the active army reached 760,578 people. (of which 78,309 were commanders, 126,590 junior commanders and 555,579 fighters) or increased by approximately 1.4 times. At the same time, the regular number of troops was 916,613 people. On February 12, 1940, the 15th Army was separated from the 8th Army.
On February 11, the second and final stage of the Soviet-Finnish war began. The troops of the North-Western Front, after powerful artillery preparation, went on the offensive and, during three days of fierce fighting, broke through the main defense line on the Mannerheim Line.
In conclusion, it should be said that, despite the victory, the achievement of the set goals and the instructiveness of what the Soviet troops acquired combat experience, the war with Finland did not bring glory to the winner. Moreover, the failures of the troops of the Leningrad Military District in breaking through the Mannerheim Line during the December offensive, associated with miscalculations of the main command of the Red Army, shook to some extent public opinion in a number Western countries regarding the military capabilities of the Soviet Union. “The frontal offensive undertaken by the Russians on the Karelian Isthmus at first with too weak forces,” notes the West German military historian K. Tippelskirch, “was stopped in the foothills of the “Mannerheim Line” by the skillful actions of the stubbornly defending Finns. The whole of December passed, and the Russians, despite fruitless attacks, were unable to achieve significant success.” He goes on to talk about the heavy losses of Soviet troops during the battles for the Mannerheim Line and their “tactical clumsiness” and “poor command,” as a result of which “an unfavorable opinion has formed throughout the world regarding the combat capability of the Red Army. Undoubtedly, this subsequently had a significant influence on Hitler’s decision.”
THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR 1941-1945
There were no intentions to consider this war in this topic, since this requires a separate, very extensive topic. Here, I will only note this event according to chronology
Chinese Civil War (1946-1950)
The Soviet command assisted in the creation of the main base of Chinese revolutionary forces in Manchuria. Here, the Chinese leadership, relying on the combat experience of the Soviet Army and with the help of its advisers and instructors, created a strong, combat-ready army capable of successfully solving problems modern warfare. This was necessary for the PRC, which was declared an independent state on October 1, 1949.
After the withdrawal of Soviet military units from Chinese territory, assistance to the democratic anti-Kuomintang forces continued.
With the transition of the People's Liberation Army of China into a strategic offensive, the army's needs have increased. The leadership of the CCP appealed to the Soviet government with a request to strengthen the provision of military assistance. On September 19, 1949, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to send military specialists to China. Soon the chief military adviser and his assistants were already in Beijing. At the beginning of October 1949, specialists began work to create 6 flight technical schools. In total, by the end of December 1949, more than one thousand Soviet military specialists were sent to the PLA. In difficult conditions and in short term they did a lot to train pilots, tank crews, artillerymen, infantrymen...
When the threat of an air attack by the Kuomintang on peaceful cities in the liberated regions of China arose, Soviet specialists took an active part in repelling their air raids. In this regard, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a resolution (February 1950) on the creation of a group of Soviet troops to participate in the air defense of Shanghai.
The famous group of Soviet air defense forces in Shanghai was headed by Soviet military leader, future Marshal of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General P.F. Batitsky. Deputy commanders of a group of forces: for aviation - Lieutenant General of Aviation S.V. Slyusarev, for anti-aircraft artillery - Colonel S.L. Spiridonov, who also commanded the 52nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division.
In total, Soviet aviation units conducted 238 sorties to cover airfields and facilities in Shanghai and intercept enemy aircraft.
In addition, Soviet specialists trained Chinese army personnel to operate in combat conditions, and on August 1, 1950, they began training Chinese soldiers in the use of Soviet air defense equipment.
In October 1950, the entire air defense system of Shanghai was transferred to the PLA, and Soviet units and formations were transferred to their homeland, partly to form the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps to cover strategic facilities and troops in Northeast China and North Korea.
During the performance of international duty by Soviet military specialists in China from 1946 to 1950, 936 people died from wounds and illnesses. Of these, there are 155 officers, 216 sergeants, 521 soldiers and 44 people. - from among civilian specialists. The burial places of fallen Soviet internationalists are carefully preserved in the People's Republic of China.
Korean War (1950-1953)
In addition to South Korean and American troops, in the war against the DPRK that began on June 25, 1950 under the UN flag, formations, units and units of the armed forces of 15 states (Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Turkey, France, etc.) took part.
The government of the Soviet Union viewed the Korean War as a domestic war. liberation war of the Korean people and in difficult times for the DPRK, guided by the interests of protecting a friendly country, sent it a large amount of weapons, military equipment and various materiel. Before the war, there were 4,293 Soviet specialists in the DPRK, including 4,020 military personnel.
The most important role in reflection American aggression played by Soviet pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. They covered ground troops, strategic targets, cities of China and Korea from massive American air raids. The Soviet 64th Fighter Aviation Corps took direct part in the battles from November 1950 to July 1953. The approximate strength of the corps in 1952 reached almost 26 thousand people.
The pilots had to operate in difficult conditions, overcoming great strain of physical and moral strength, constantly risking their lives. They were led into battle by experienced commanders - participants in the Great Patriotic War. Among whom were I.N. Kozhedub, G.A. Lobov, N.V. Sutyagin, E.G. Pepelyaev, S.M. Kramarenko, A.V. Alelyukhin and many others.
They and their comrades successfully fought against superior combined forces - with pilots from the United States, South Korea, Australia and other countries, did not give the aggressor the opportunity to act with impunity. In total, Soviet pilots carried out more than 63 thousand combat sorties, participated in 1,790 air battles, during which 1,309 enemy aircraft were shot down, including 1,097 aircraft by fighter aircraft, 212 by anti-aircraft artillery fire. 35 pilots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In total, during the war in Korea, which became destructive and bloody, Soviet aviation and other formations that participated in repelling US air raids lost 335 aircraft and 120 pilots [675].
The total irretrievable losses of our units and formations amounted to 315 people, of which 168 were officers, 147 were sergeants and soldiers.
Almost all the dead and deceased Soviet soldiers rest on foreign soil, which they courageously defended - on the Liaodong Peninsula, mainly in Port Arthur (Lüshun), next to Russian soldiers, who fell in Russian-Japanese war 1904-1905
Vietnam War (1965-1974)
In accordance with the Geneva Agreements (1954), which ended hostilities, Vietnam was divided by a temporary demarcation line into two parts - northern and southern. General elections of government bodies under international control were planned for 1956 to resolve the issue of unifying the country. The South Vietnamese authorities, violating the agreements, created their own public education"Republic of Vietnam". The Saigon regime (Saigon is the capital of the southern state), with the help of the United States, created a well-armed army, and armed clashes with government troops began in the south.
When Vietnamese patriotic forces began an offensive on the territory of South Vietnam, the supply of the latest types of weapons increased from the Soviet Union. The advancing divisions of the Vietnamese army were equipped with small arms, tanks, various artillery systems... All this largely ensured the victory of the DRV.
During the 8 years of the war, North Vietnamese pilots, under the leadership of Soviet specialists and with their direct participation, conducted 480 air battles, shot down 350 enemy aircraft and lost 131 of their own aircraft.
During the Vietnam War, more than 6 thousand Soviet military personnel took part in it, as well as various specialists from among civilian personnel. Losses among them amounted to 16 people.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962-1964)
Military cooperation between the USSR and Cuba began at the end of 1960.
At that time, in order to provide military and military-technical assistance, Soviet armored vehicles, artillery, mortars and small arms began to arrive in Cuba. A group of Soviet military specialists also arrived on Liberty Island to train gun crews and tank crews... This was caused by the desire of the Soviet leadership to help Cuba in its struggle for independence. However, US military and political pressure on Cuba increased.
In May 1962, at an extended meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, a decision was made to deploy Soviet medium-range missiles with nuclear charges on Cuban territory - as the only opportunity to protect Cuba from a direct American invasion. This decision, taken at the request of the Cuban side, was enshrined in the Soviet-Cuban agreement. A plan for the preparation and implementation of planned activities has been developed. The operation was codenamed “Anadyr”.
For transportation personnel, weapons and various military equipment required many dozens of ocean transports. In total, 42 thousand people were secretly transported to the island over the course of two months. military personnel with weapons, military equipment, food and building materials. As a result, a combat-ready, well-armed group of Soviet troops was created here, numbering about 43 thousand people.
The situation worsened even more when an American reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba by a Soviet missile. The threat of a nuclear missile world war was growing.
The combat training activities of Soviet troops in Cuba were not without casualties: 66 Soviet military personnel and 3 people. from among civilian personnel died under various circumstances related to the performance of military service duties, including while rescuing people during a severe tropical hurricane in the fall of 1963.
Algeria (1962-1964)
In total, while fulfilling international duty in Algeria in different years, 25 Soviet specialists, including 1 person, died in accidents and other circumstances, died from wounds and illnesses. - when clearing mines.
Arab-Israeli wars (1967-1974)
In the struggle for independence and state integrity of Egypt big role played by the Soviet Union. He constantly provided diplomatic and military-technical support to the state, which had embarked on the path of democratic transformation. That's how it was during Suez crisis in 1956
However, in 1967, the situation in this area sharply deteriorated again, everything pointed to the preparation of the parties for war. The armed forces of Egypt numbered up to 300 thousand people.
The armed forces of Syria and Jordan were also preparing for war with Israel. Israel created powerful strike forces. The Israeli command was ahead of the actions of the military leadership of the Arab countries and was the first to launch an air strike on Egyptian positions. Following this, Israeli armored forces crossed the armistice line and moved along the Sinai Peninsula to the Suez Canal... Military operations also began against Syria.
During the war, which lasted six days (from June 5 to 10, 1967), Israeli troops inflicted serious defeats on Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Palestinian armed forces. They occupied the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the West Bank of the Jordan River. At the same time, the losses of the parties were significant.
The deterrent factor for the aggressor was the presence of a squadron of Soviet warships off the coast of Egypt, ready for decisive action. Increased transfers of weapons, military equipment and military specialists began from the USSR to Egypt and Syria. Thanks to this, Egypt and Syria managed to restore their fighting strength.
The conditional calm did not last long. First air battles began in the spring of 1968. At the end of 1969, after careful aerial reconnaissance, Israeli planes suppressed Egyptian air defense systems and began striking central regions Egypt. The metallurgical plant in Helwan, built with the help of the USSR, was destroyed, killing 80 people.
Egyptian President G. A. Nasser turned to Moscow with a request to create an “effective missile shield” and send it to Egypt Soviet units Air defense and aviation. This request was granted.
In total, 21 Soviet anti-aircraft missile divisions were deployed on Egyptian territory. Two regiments of MiG-21 interceptors were based at military airfields. These forces became the main ones in repelling Israeli air raids on Egypt, which resumed in the summer of 1970.
When there was a lull in the fighting, Soviet soldiers were engaged in maintaining equipment and training Egyptian soldiers and officers. After Nasser's death, Soviet-Egyptian relations began to deteriorate. 15 thousand Soviet military specialists were withdrawn from the country. However, Egypt continued to receive Soviet weapons.
The leaders of Egypt and Syria, A. Sadat and X. Assad, decided to continue the war against Israel. The offensive against the positions of Israeli troops in the Sinai and Golan Heights began on October 6, 1973. Major battles took place using tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, ATGMs, and anti-aircraft missiles. Both sides suffered significant losses. The US has begun intensive arms deliveries to Israel. The USSR provided the necessary assistance to Egypt and Syria. The Soviet Union deployed significant naval forces to exclude possible Israeli attempts to disrupt Soviet military supplies.
Israeli tank columns, suffering losses, continued their offensive, threatening Cairo and Damascus. A. Sadat appealed to the governments of the USA and the USSR to send military contingents to Egypt to stop the Israeli offensive. The Soviet side announced its agreement with Egypt's request. After lengthy negotiations, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire with troops stopping at their positions on October 22. The parties were asked to begin negotiations. And only on January 18, 1974, Egyptian representatives signed an agreement with the Israelis on the disengagement of troops. A similar agreement was signed between Israel and Syria. Soviet military specialists returned to their homeland.
In this Arab-Israeli war, Soviet soldiers - pilots, anti-aircraft missilemen, sailors, and other military specialists - once again proved their loyalty to their patriotic and international duty. However, this was achieved through hard military labor and human sacrifice. During the war years in Egypt, 49 Soviet servicemen were killed, died from wounds and illnesses. In addition, two officers died in Syria and one general died of illness.
Somali-Ethiopian War (1977-1979)
While providing assistance to Ethiopia, the Soviet Union made efforts to achieve a political solution to the problems that arose internal problems. However, he officially stated that participation in an internal conflict was not within the scope of activity of Soviet military advisers and specialists. And several thousand of them visited Ethiopia from December 1977 to November 1979. During this time, the irretrievable losses of Soviet military personnel amounted to 33 people.
Hungary (1956)
In 1956, an armed uprising of anti-socialist forces took place in Hungary. Its organizers used gross mistakes and distortions made by the leadership of the Hungarian Working People's Party: distortions in the field of economic policy, serious violations of the law. Some of the youth, intellectuals and other segments of the population were involved in the armed struggle.
In this difficult situation, a group of leaders of the Hungarian Working People's Party formed a revolutionary workers' and peasants' government on November 4, 1956, and created a temporary Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party. The new government turned to the USSR for help.
Military units of the Soviet Army, on the basis of the Warsaw Pact, took part in eliminating the armed uprising of anti-government forces.
During the fighting in Hungary, Soviet troops suffered the following losses: 720 killed and 1,540 wounded
Czechoslovakia (1968)
On August 21, 1968, troops of five member states of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (USSR, People's Republic of Belarus, Hungary, East Germany and Poland) were introduced into Czechoslovakia with the aim, as it was then stated, of providing international assistance to the Czechoslovak people in defending socialism from right-wing revisionist and anti-socialist forces, supported by Western imperialists.
There were no hostilities during the deployment of troops. During the redeployment and deployment of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia (from August 21 to September 20, 1968), as a result of hostile actions of individual citizens of Czechoslovakia, 12 Soviet military personnel, including 1 officer, were killed and died from wounds, 25 people were wounded and injured, including 7 officers.
Border military conflicts in the Far East and Kazakhstan (1969)
In the 60s of the 20th century, in connection with the outbreak of the so-called cultural revolution, an anti-Soviet orientation sharply prevailed in China both in domestic and foreign policy. The Chinese leadership at that time had a desire to unilaterally change the alignment of the state border between the USSR and the PRC in a number of places.
Violating the border regime, groups of civilians and military personnel began to systematically enter Soviet territory, from where they were expelled each time by border guards without the use of weapons.
The most dangerous and aggressive armed provocations were in the area of Damansky Island - on the Ussuri River and near Lake Zhalanashkol - in Kazakhstan.
On March 2, 1969, secretly concentrating up to 300 armed soldiers, the Chinese violated state border and captured the Soviet island of Damansky (300 km south of Khabarovsk). Decisive actions of units border troops the violators were expelled from Soviet territory.
Having concentrated on March 15 to an infantry regiment, reinforced with artillery and tanks, the Chinese command made a new attempt to capture the island. As a result of joint actions of Soviet border guards, as well as units of the Far Eastern Military District, a repeated provocation was stopped.
In the battles near Damansky Island from March 2 to March 21, Soviet troops lost 58 people killed and died from wounds, and 94 people wounded and shell-shocked. (Table 212).
On August 13, 1969, Soviet border guards eliminated a new armed provocation of the Chinese, this time in Kazakhstan.
In the battle near Lake Zhalanashkol, 2 Soviet border guards were killed and 10 wounded.
War in Afghanistan (December 25, 1979 – February 15, 1989)
In December 1979, the Soviet leadership decided to send troops to Afghanistan. At the same time, it was meant that formations and units would be garrisoned and would take the most important objects under guard.
The entry and deployment of a contingent of Soviet troops in the DRA took place from December 25, 1979 to mid-January 1980. It included: the command of the 40th Army with support and service units, 4 divisions, 5 separate brigades, 4 separate regiments , combat aviation regiments - 4, helicopter regiments - 3, pipeline brigade - 1, brigade material support- 1 and some other units and institutions.
Thus, Soviet troops brought into Afghanistan found themselves involved in an internal military conflict on the side of the government.
If we take the losses of the Soviet Army only (irrecoverable - 14,427 people, sanitary - 466,425 people), then they were greatest in the second stage of combat activity (March 1980 - April 1985). Over 62 months, they accounted for 49% of the total number of all losses.
Other countries
Soviet military and military-technical assistance was also provided to other countries, where there were also casualties:
- Mozambique 1967 - 1969 from November 1975 to November 1979 from March 1984 to April 1987
- Angola 1975-1994
- in Syria: June 1967 March - July 1970 September - November 1972 October 1973
- Yemen from October 1962 to March 1963 from November 1967 to December 1969
- in Laos 1960 - 1963 from August 1964 to November 1968 from November 1969 to December 1970
- in Cambodia: from April to December 1970
- Bangladesh: 1972 - 1973
- Pakistan-India conflict 1971
- Chadian-Libyan conflict 1987
- Conflict in Yugoslavia. 1989-1991
- Fighting in Syria and Lebanon: June 1982
Karabakh armed conflict (1988-1994)
Armenian-Azerbaijani (Karabakh) armed conflict (1988-1994)
According to data updated as of January 1, 1999, units and units of the Soviet Army and internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and Russia, which were involved in separating the conflicting parties on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as taking part in establishing order and stabilizing the situation in the region , lost 51 people killed and died from wounds. (including SA - 6 people, Ministry of Internal Affairs - 45 people).
South Ossetian conflict (1991-1992)
Georgian-Ossetian (South Ossetian) conflict (1991-1992)
During the implementation of measures to stabilize the situation in the region, units and subunits involved in separating the conflicting parties lost 43 people killed and died, 3 people were captured, including the Ministry of Defense - 34 people, the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 6 people, FSB - 6 people.
Georgian-Abkhaz armed conflict (1992-1994)
During the implementation of measures to maintain public order in the Georgian SSR (including in Tbilisi) and peacekeeping activities in Abkhazia, units and units of the Russian (Soviet) Army, internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and formations of other departments of the USSR and Russia lost 73 people killed, died from wounds and illness. including: Moscow Region - 71 people, Ministry of Internal Affairs - 1 person, FSB - 1 person.
Tajikistan (1992-1996)
The civil war in Tajikistan dragged on for long time and caused significant damage. The economy was in a deep crisis, transport was paralyzed. Famine began in a number of regions of the republic.
Units and subunits of the Russian Army, Border Troops and security service units lost 302 people killed, dead and missing, including units of the Russian Army - 195 people, border troops - 104, security services - 3 people. Internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs irrecoverable losses did not have, but 86 people were counted among the wounded, injured and sick.
Ossetian-Ingush conflict (October-November 1992)
As a result of the conflict, more than 8 thousand people were injured, including 583 deaths. (407 Ingush, 105 Ossetians, 27 military personnel and 44 civilians of other nationalities), more than 650 people were injured. 3 thousand residential buildings were destroyed or damaged. Material damage amounted to over 50 billion rubles.
During mass unrest in North Ossetia and Ingushetia, as a result of shelling of military contingents’ locations, as well as during armed clashes with militants, units and units of the Russian army and Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs lost 27 people killed, dead and missing, including military personnel of the Ministry of Defense - 22 people, the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 5 people.
There are still a decent number of wars that I haven’t presented - I’m already confused.
These are the last wars, the Chechen ones, which have already gone simply under numbers and I no longer know where one number ends and another begins.
This is the last aggression on the territory of Georgia...and no one knows whether it is the last.
This and Transnistrian conflict and many many others...
Not every country can boast such a long track record. Except Hitler. He also traveled very wildly around Europe.
It’s good that people don’t live on the moon - we would go there too, help someone....at the request of the lunatic brothers
During the existence of the Soviet Union, its borders changed significantly several times. The 15 republics of the USSR did not appear immediately, but at the time of the collapse of the country there were exactly that many of them.
RSFSR
The Soviet Union was founded on December 30, 1922. At that time, the 15 republics of the USSR did not yet exist. The agreement on the formation of a new country was signed between four states - the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Transcaucasian SSR.
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the center of the new country from the very beginning. It was proclaimed on November 7, 1917, during the October Revolution in Petrograd. A few months later, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a declaration emphasizing that the republic is a free association of national subjects. This confirmed the federal nature of the state, which replaced the unitary one that existed during the tsarist reign.
On March 12, 1918, the Bolsheviks moved the capital of the RSFSR from Petrograd to Moscow. Moreover, it later became the main city of the entire Soviet Union. Of the 15 republics of the USSR, the RSFSR was the largest in terms of territory and population.
Ukraine
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was formally independent until 1922. It was the second region of the USSR in terms of economic importance. Ukraine's industrial production was four times higher than that of the next most important republic. Fertile black soil was located here, thanks to which the Ukrainian SSR was the breadbasket of the entire huge state.
Until 1934, the capital of Ukraine was Kharkov, after which it was finally moved to Kyiv. The 15 republics of the USSR often changed their borders, but the Ukrainian SSR did this more than others. During administrative reforms of the 1920s. The RSFSR transferred the Donetsk and Lugansk regions to its western neighbor. After the war, Crimea was included in Ukraine. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union annexed several regions that had previously belonged to Poland. Some of them went to Ukraine.
Belarus
Belarus was one of the 15 republics of the USSR. The list of union states according to the 1977 Constitution placed it in third place. Belarus approximately doubled in size after it was annexed in 1939 western regions, torn away from Poland. Modern borders were established after the Great Patriotic War. The capital of the republic was Minsk.
It is interesting that until 1936 in Belarus official languages There were not only Belarusian and Russian, but also Polish and Yiddish. This was due to the legacy of the empire. Before the revolution in Russia there was a Pale of Settlement for Jews, because of which a huge number of Jews could not settle too close to Moscow or St. Petersburg.
Belarus was one of the founders of the USSR. Therefore, when the Belovezhskaya Accords were signed in 1991, the politicians of this republic played vital role in the rejection of the Soviet state system.
Transcaucasia
Which states have not yet been mentioned from the 15 republics of the USSR? The list cannot do without mentioning the countries of Transcaucasia. The borders in this region have changed several times. After the revolution and civil war, for some time there was a single Transcaucasian SFSR. In 1936 it was finally divided:
- to the Georgian SSR (with its capital Tbilisi),
- Armenian SSR (with its capital in Yerevan),
- Azerbaijan SSR (with its capital in Baku).
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, national and religious contradictions flared up here again. The Armenian SSR was the smallest in size among all the republics of the USSR.
middle Asia
Over the course of several years, the Soviet government had to return territories that previously belonged to the Russian Empire. This was most difficult to do in distant regions. IN Central Asia process of creation Soviet statehood lasted until the mid-1920s. Here the national Basmachi detachments resisted the communists.
And only with the advent of peace in the region were all the prerequisites for the emergence of the next states from among the 15 republics that were part of the USSR. This is how they were formed:
- Uzbek SSR (capital - Tashkent),
- Kazakh SSR (capital - Alma-Ata),
- Kirghiz SSR (capital - Frunze),
- Tajik SSR (capital - Dushanbe),
- Turkmen SSR (capital - Ashgabat).
Baltics
This region was annexed by the Russian Empire in the 18th century. When the October Revolution occurred, the peoples of the Baltic states opposed the communists. They were supported by whites, as well as some European countries. Since the economy of Soviet Russia was in the most deplorable state, the country's leadership decided to stop the war and recognize the independence of these three countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
The independent republics existed for 20 years. When Hitler started World War II, he enlisted the support of the USSR by dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence with Stalin. The Baltic states were to go to the Bolsheviks.
On July 21, 1940, after ultimatums and the deployment of troops, new governments were formed and officially asked to include their countries in the Soviet Union. This is how 3 of the 15 republics of the USSR appeared. The list and their capitals are:
- Lithuanian SSR (Vilnius),
- Latvian SSR (Riga),
- Estonian SSR (Tallinn).
The Baltic states were the first to announce their secession from the Soviet Union during the “Parade of Sovereignties.”
Moldova
Of the 15 former republics of the USSR, the Moldavian SSR was the last to be formed. This happened on August 2, 1940. Before this, Moldavia was part of the Kingdom of Romania. But this historical region (Bessarabia) formerly belonged to the Russian Empire. Moldavia was annexed to Romania during the Civil War between the Reds and Whites. Now Stalin, having agreed with Hitler, could calmly return to the Soviet Union those territories that he had once laid claim to.
The 15 republics of the USSR and their capitals joined the Bolsheviks in various ways. This time Stalin was ready to declare war on Romania. On the eve of the invasion, an ultimatum was sent to King Carol II. In the document, the Soviet leadership demanded that the monarch give up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. King II stalled for several days, but a few hours before the expiration of the deadline given to him, he agreed to concede. The Red Army occupied the territory of Moldova in a few days. Formally, the law on education is yet another Soviet republic was adopted on August 2, 1940 in Moscow, at the next session of the Supreme Council of the USSR.
It is interesting that in the 60s a project was considered to create a 16th union republic. It could become Bulgaria, which is close to Moldova. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of this country, Todor Zhivkov, suggested that Moscow accept the republic into the USSR. However, this project was never realized.
Causes of the war. Plans of Germany and the USSR. Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. Victory of the USSR over Germany. Results of the war.
1. Causes of the war. Plans of Germany and the USSR. War - social phenomenon, one of the forms of resolving socio-political, economic, ideological, national, religious, territorial contradictions between states, peoples, nations, classes and other means of armed violence. The main element of the essence of war is politics; it is this that determines the goals of the war, its socio-political, legal, moral and ethical nature.
Causes of World War II:
1. In the system of the world structure after the First World War, created by the victorious powers, the germ of a new world conflict and a new redistribution of the world was laid. World economic crisis 1929–1933 sharply aggravated the contradictions between capitalist countries. Two groups emerged (Germany, Italy, Japan - England, France) striving for world domination. The defeated states were the most aggressive. Munich Agreement England, France, Germany and Italy reflected their desire to solve their geopolitical problems at the expense of other states and peoples.
2. The imperialist essence of the policy of capitalist states negated any attempts to prevent the military redistribution of the world. Western democracy coexisted peacefully with an inhumane foreign policy.
3. The decisive factor in the outbreak of the war was the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, Italy and Japan. Until June 22, 1941, the world community, including the USSR, failed to realize that fascism brought mortal danger to all humanity.
4. The catalyst for the world conflict was anti-Sovietism. The plan for the destruction of the USSR arose from Hitler long before its final approval. In 1936–1937 The Anti-Comintern Pact was created with the goal of overthrowing the Soviet system. The governments of England and France at that time pursued a policy of “appeasement” of fascism in order to direct Germany against the USSR, which allowed it to start a war in the most favorable conditions for it. A significant share of responsibility for this lies with the political leadership of the USSR.
5. The Bolsheviks' faith in the inevitability of the world socialist revolution determined their conviction in the inevitability of the world imperialist war, the result of which would be the victory of world socialism. Stalin did not believe in the possibility of peace-loving tendencies on the part of any capitalist powers. The Soviet leadership considered it fair to solve the USSR's foreign policy problems by military means. The Red Army, according to Stalin, could wage a victorious war on foreign territories, where it would meet with the support of the working people. The Soviet military strategy was focused on such an offensive war until June 22, 1941.
6. The political regime created by Stalin and his entourage closed the possibility of searching and implementing alternative options if they did not coincide with Stalin’s point of view. This had a particularly negative impact on the decision to sign the secret non-aggression protocols with Germany (August 1939).
The main causes of the war were:
1) the struggle of competing systems claiming global dominance: national socialism and communism;
2) Germany’s desire to conquer “living space” by seizing the resource base of the USSR.
Second World War began on September 1, 1939, ended on September 2, 1945. It lasted 2194 days, almost six years. 61 states took part in it, military operations were carried out on the territory of 40 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. 110 million people fought in the war, almost 50 million died. The USSR lost almost 27 million, Germany -13.6 million, Poland - 6 million, Japan - 2.5 million, Yugoslavia - 1.7 million, USA – 900 thousand, France – 600 thousand, England – 370 thousand.
The most important part of the Second World War was The Great Patriotic War Soviet people against Nazi invaders. It was the forces of the Soviet army that broke the back of Nazi Germany at the turning point of the war, in 1942–1943. The Soviet economy and political system passed a merciless test. If in the First world war Russia was opposed by up to half the troops of the central powers, and it was unable to achieve a decisive advantage; then in World War II the country coped with Germany and its many allies with virtually no help from the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition that joined big war only at its end in 1944.
World War II began with Germany's attack on Poland. The Germans broke its heroic but poorly organized resistance in two and a half weeks. On September 3, England and France declared war on Germany, but real help Poland was not given any assistance, hoping for a quick German-Soviet clash in the conditions of Germany reaching the borders of the USSR. But Hitler was in no hurry to go East. In April 1940, Denmark was occupied without resistance and Norway was captured with little blood. This gave the Germans access to important sea communications and ensured control over Northern Europe. During May-June, the Germans occupied Holland, Belgium, as well as France, which had considerable forces and a well-fortified border line (Maginot Line), however, capitulatory sentiment reigned in society and the ruling circles of the country, so that already on June 14 the Germans entered Paris, and on June 22 On June a truce was concluded with France. England, after the cabinet of W. Churchill came to power (May 10, 1940), unconditionally rejected the peaceful option of developing relations with Germany. Despite the barbaric bombings English cities, the nation’s spirit of resistance was not broken, and Germany was never able to land troops on the islands. In the future, England will become one of the leading forces in creating an anti-Hitler coalition of powers along with the USSR and the USA. Having gotten stuck in England, Hitler decided to change the direction of the war in the summer of 1940. On December 18, 1940, he signed a plan for an attack on the USSR, called “Pan Barbarossa.”
Germany's plans and goals:
1. Plan Barbarossa- a plan for conducting a military campaign against the USSR - was developed during the summer of 1940 in line with the strategy of a lightning (6-7 weeks) war. It provided for simultaneous strikes in three main directions. Leningrad (Army Group “North”), Moscow (“Center”) and Kyiv (“South”). The goal of the plan is to reach the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line and capture the European part of the USSR. Germany's strategy was to strike with large armored formations supported by aviation, encircling the enemy and destroying them in pockets. The order to advance across the USSR border was signed by Hitler on June 17, 1941.
2. Plan "Ost"- a plan for the dismemberment of the European territory of the USSR after the war and the exploitation of its natural resources - provided for the destruction of a significant part of the population of the USSR (up to 140 million people in 40–50 years).
The USSR's plans for waging war were based on the doctrine of the “red package” (“To beat the enemy on his territory with little loss of life”), developed by K. E. Voroshilov and S. K. Timoshenko. All other military theoretical developments were rejected. The doctrine was based on the experience of the Civil War. Only offensive actions were recognized as valuable. Defense strategy was not discussed in detail.
2. Periodization of the Great Patriotic War. In the history of the Great Patriotic War there are three main periods.
1. June 22, 1941 – November 18, 1942- the initial period of the war. Strategic initiative, i.e. the ability to plan and conduct large-scale offensive operations, belonged to the Wehrmacht. Soviet troops left Belarus, the Baltic states, and Ukraine and fought defensive battles for Smolensk, Kyiv, and Leningrad. The Battle of Moscow (September 30, 1941 - January 7, 1942) - the first defeat of the enemy, the failure of the lightning war plan. The war became protracted. The strategic initiative temporarily passed to the USSR. In the spring and summer of 1942, Germany again seized the initiative. The beginning of the defense of Stalingrad and the battle for the Caucasus. The transition of the economy to a military footing in the USSR has been completed, and an integral system of the military industry has been created. Guerrilla warfare began behind enemy lines (Belarus, Bryansk region, Eastern Ukraine). Creation of an anti-Hitler coalition.
2. November 19, 1942 – end of 1943- the period of a radical change, i.e. the final transition of the strategic initiative to the USSR. The defeat of the Germans under hail (February 2, 1943), the surrender of the 6th Army by General Field Marshal Paulus. Battle of Kursk (July 1943). The collapse of the Wehrmacht offensive strategy. The Battle of the Dnieper – the collapse of the Wehrmacht’s defensive strategy, the liberation of Left Bank Ukraine. Strengthening the Soviet war economy: by the end of 1943, economic victory over Germany was ensured. Formation of large partisan formations (Fedorov, Saburov). Liberated areas appeared behind enemy lines. Strengthening the anti-Hitler coalition. Tehran Conference. The crisis of the fascist bloc.
3. 1944 – May 9, 1945 – final period. Liberation of the entire territory of the USSR, liberation mission of the Red Army in Europe (liberation of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other countries). The defeat of Nazi Germany. Conferences in Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July-August 1945).
Special period (August 9, 1945 – September 2, 1945) – the USSR’s war against Japan, the defeat of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.
3. Results of the war. The Soviet people made a decisive contribution to the defeat of fascism . Having lived under the despotic Stalinist regime, the people made a choice in defense of the independence of the Motherland and the ideals of the revolution. Heroism and self-sacrifice became a mass phenomenon. The exploits of I. Ivanov, N. Gastello, A. Matrosov, A. Meresyev were repeated by many Soviet soldiers. During the war, such commanders as A. M. Vasilevsky, G. K. Zhukov, K. K. Rokossovsky, L. A. Govorov, I. S. Konev, V. I. Chuikov and others came to the fore. The unity of peoples stood the test THE USSR. Concentrate human and material resources in the most important directions, the administrative-command system allowed, according to a number of scientists, to defeat the enemy. However, the essence of this system led to the “tragedy of victory,” because the system required victory at any cost. This price was human lives and the suffering of the population in the rear.
Thus, having suffered huge losses, the Soviet Union won a difficult war:
1) during the war, a powerful military industry was created and an industrial base was formed;
2) Following the war, the USSR included additional territories in the West and East;
4) the foundation was laid for the creation of a “bloc of socialist states” in Europe and Asia;
5) opportunities have opened for the democratic renewal of the world and the liberation of colonies;
The victory, won by the unprecedented heroism of the people at the front and the greatest self-sacrifice in the rear, meant the defeat of the bloc of fascist states and had world-historical significance.
Self-test questions
1. Name the causes of World War II.
2. Characterize the plans and goals of Germany and the USSR.
3. Indicate the periods and main battles of the Great Patriotic War.
4. What are the results of the Great Patriotic War.
Lecture 15
USSR DURING THE RESTORATION PERIOD
NATIONAL ECONOMY
Economic and agricultural recovery. Transformation of the state apparatus and restoration of the command-administrative system.
1. Post-war economy: main problems and development trends. After the end of the war, two options for the development of society were possible:
1. Softening of the pre-war mobilization model of development, abandonment of repression, development of democratization processes.
2. Restoration of the pre-war model of development, preservation of the totalitarian regime.
The implementation of the second development option was due to the fact that Stalin and his circle did not think of governing the state by other, non-administrative methods. The victory in the war strengthened many in the idea that it was this regime that saved the country.
Economic recovery took place under difficult conditions: the war brought enormous human, material and cultural losses.
At the end of May 1945, the State Defense Committee decided to transfer part of the defense enterprises to the production of goods for the population. Somewhat later, a law was passed on the demobilization of thirteen ages of army personnel, and at the same time the process of repatriation of Soviet citizens abducted by the Nazis was underway.
In accordance with peacetime requirements, the 8-hour working day was restored, mandatory overtime was abolished, and annual paid leave was allowed. The primary economic task was to transfer the national economy to a peaceful path of development, for which it was necessary: to determine new proportions between sectors; reorient a significant part of military production to produce civilian products; reduce military spending.
The restoration period in the history of the Soviet national economy began in full in 1946. The most difficult year in the post-war development of industry was 1946. To switch enterprises to the production of civilian products, production technology changed, new equipment was created, and personnel were retrained. The law on the five-year plan, adopted at the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the second convocation (March 1946), set the following tasks: to restore the pre-war level of development of industry and agriculture; abolish the card system; increase wages; to expand in every possible way mass housing and cultural construction.
At the same time (from December 1945), a secret program began to be implemented - the creation of new types of weapons. The general management of this program was entrusted to the First Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, headed by Beria. In addition, the demilitarization of the economy, which was accompanied by the simultaneous modernization of the military-industrial complex, had basically ended by 1947. Direct military expenditures were absorbed in the early 50s. about 25% of the state budget. Another priority industry was heavy industry , mainly mechanical engineering, metallurgy, fuel and energy complex. The foundations of nuclear energy and radio-electronic industry were laid. New enterprises arose in the Urals, Siberia, the republics of Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. In general, during the years of the 4th Five-Year Plan (1946–1950), industrial production in the country increased and in 1950 exceeded pre-war indicators by 73% (against the plan of 48%), which was facilitated by:
– high mobilization capabilities of the directive economy, which remained in conditions of extensive development (due to new construction, additional sources raw materials, fuel, etc.);
– reparations from Germany ($4.3 billion);
– free labor of Gulag prisoners (8–9 million people) and prisoners of war (1.5 million Germans and 0.5 million Japanese);
– redistribution of funds from light industry and the social sphere in favor of industrial sectors;
– confiscatory monetary reform of 1947, during which about a third of the cash supply was not exchanged for new banknotes,
– forced purchase of government bonds.
The economy developed extensively, investment in new construction increased, and additional raw materials, energy, and human resources were involved in production. The light and food industries were financed on a residual basis and did not meet the needs of the population. The growth rate of labor productivity in the post-war years was 6% per year.
The situation in agriculture was critical. The drought of 1946 and the subsequent famine of 1947 depleted the productive forces of the village. The government decided to “take control” of the peasantry, whose control during the war years was until to a certain extent weakened A broad campaign was launched to develop a network of party cells on collective farms.
In February 1947, the plenum of the Party Central Committee discussed the issue “On measures to boost agriculture in post-war period" The decisions of the plenum provided for: an increase in the supply of agricultural machinery, an increase in agricultural standards, and the construction of reservoirs in steppe and forest-steppe regions. In 1947–1948 The government resorted to coercive measures against collective farmers. Two decrees, adopted on June 4, 1947 and close in spirit to the famous law of August 7, 1932, provided for from five to twenty-five years in camps for any “encroachment on state or collective farm property.”
The government continued its policy of severely limiting personal peasant farming and transferring resources from villages to cities. In 1946–1949 personal plots were reduced and more than 10 million hectares of land were “returned” to the collective farm fund. The private farming of peasants is subject to exorbitant taxes in kind (from each fruit tree, head of livestock). The peasant could trade on the market only after fulfilling the collective farm plan for supplies to the state. Peasants had to work a mandatory minimum of workdays on the collective farm, receiving almost no payment in kind. Without a passport, the peasant could not leave the village without permission.
At the end of 1949, the economic and financial situation of collective farms deteriorated so much that the government had to develop a number of reforms. By the end of the Five-Year Plan, the restoration of agriculture was largely completed. However, many problems remained unresolved: the grain problem persisted, there were not enough raw materials for the light and food industries, and there were many lagging collective farms.
In 1952, in Stalin’s work “ Economic problems socialism in the USSR" the basic principles of economic policy were defined:
1) priority development of heavy industry;
2) the need to curtail cooperative-collective farm property by turning it into state property;
3) reduction in the sphere of commodity circulation.
The results of the recovery period were the cancellation card system, commissioning of 100 million m 2 of living space, increasing the number secondary schools, expansion of the network of universities (the pre-war number of students has been exceeded), successful development of many fundamental issues of science and technology. Thus, in the post-war period, the features of the mobilization system itself worked to preserve it. The possibility of a short-term effect of methods of accelerated economic development manifested itself in the first post-war years in the high rates of restoration and development of heavy industry, construction, and transport. In the economic sphere, despite the existence of an alternative position of proportional economic development - the use of commodity-money relations, expansion of economic independence, the course of preferential development of heavy industry and cruel centralism prevailed. On this basis it was developed general plan construction of communism in 1946–1965. This process took place due to discrimination against agriculture and light industry.
Return to the development model of the 30s. caused significant economic shocks, which sharply worsened in 1951–1953. all economic indicators and created serious tension in society. Period 1945–1953 should be considered the logical conclusion, the result of the economic and political line pursued after the NEP.
2. Transformations of the state apparatus and restoration of the command and administrative system. In September 1945, the State Defense Committee (GKO) was abolished. In March 1946, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was renamed the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Council of People's Commissars of the Union and autonomous republics- to the Councils of Ministers of the corresponding levels, and the People's Commissariats - to the ministries. In February 1947, permanent Commissions for legislative proposals of the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the second convocation were created. These commissions were entrusted with the task preliminary review and preparation of bills for sessions of the Supreme Council. In 1947, the State Planning Commission of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was transformed into the State Planning Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, whose tasks included planning, accounting and control over the implementation of national economic plans. The State Committee for Supply of the National Economy of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the State Committee for the Introduction of New Technology into the National Economy of the Council of Ministers of the USSR were created.
The years 1946–1953 represented the highest flowering of Stalinism as political system.The “democratization” of the political façade was carried out . After a long break, congresses of public organizations, trade unions and the Komsomol resumed, and in 1952 the 19th Party Congress took place, which renamed the CPSU (b) into the CPSU. In fact, Stalin's autocracy remained unchanged and firmly based on general fear. Stalin decided on the most important issues at his dacha in Kuntsevo together with several members of the Politburo who were responsible for the relevant areas of work. The Politburo (10 members and 4 candidate members) almost never met in full. Stalin preferred, as a rule, to receive members of the Politburo individually or in small groups on issues related to each person’s “specialty.”
In the post-war period, another round of repression occurred. A reflection of the internal struggle in the leadership was the so-called “Leningrad affair”, as a result of which about 3.5 thousand party and state workers of Leningrad and the region were repressed.
In the ideological and political sphere, the war caused a weakening of supervision and increased the number of uncontrolled ideological movements, especially among those who had been outside the system for several years (in occupied areas or in captivity), in the national environment and the intelligentsia. With the return to peaceful life, the authorities tried, most often by acting harshly, to regain control over minds. The treatment of prisoners of war repatriated to the USSR already from the summer of 1945 indicated a tightening of the regime. Overall, only about 20% of the 227,000 repatriated prisoners of war were allowed to return home. Most former prisoners of war were either sent to camps, or sentenced to exile for at least five years, or to forced labor to rebuild war-torn areas. This treatment was dictated by suspicion that the stories of those repatriated about their experiences would diverge too much from what was officially presented as the truth.
Post-war difficulties economic development, manifested in the difficult state of agriculture and the everyday deprivations of the population, required the development of ways out of this situation. However, the attention of state leaders was directed not so much to the development effective measures on economic recovery, as much as on the search for specific “culprits” of satisfactory development. Thus, disruptions in the production of aviation equipment were explained by “sabotage” on the part of the industry management. In 1946, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the case of these “saboteurs” was specifically considered (“The Case of Shakhurin, Novikov and others”). At the turn of the 40s and 50s. Politburo leaders discussed the “cases” of persons allegedly involved in sabotage in the automobile industry and in the Moscow healthcare system. In 1952, the so-called Doctors' Case was fabricated.
Ideological and political tightening 1945–1953 led to the growth of repressive organs and the concentration system , which reached its peak in the post-war years, when many sentenced in 1937–1938. to ten years in the camps without trial, they received a new term based on an administrative decision. On the other hand, there is reason to believe that the mortality rate among prisoners after 1948 decreased significantly due to the authorities’ awareness of the need to “save” the economically profitable workforce. The partial opening of the archives has made it possible to clarify the number of the “GULAG population.” Data from the Gulag bureaucracy speaks of 2.5 million prisoners in ITL/ITK in the early 50s, during the apogee of the camp system. To this figure we must add another 2.5 million special settlers. As for the number of those who were shot or did not “reach their destination” (who died in “transit”), it remains unknown to this day.
Precisely 1948–1954. were marked by several prisoner uprisings. The most famous of them occurred in Pechora (1948), Salekhard (1950), Ekibastuz (1952), Vorkuta and Norilsk (1953), Kimgir (1954). The unrest in the camps, especially the “special” ones, reached a very high level after the death of Stalin and the removal of Beria, i.e. in the spring and summer of 1953 and in 1954.
Self-test questions
1. Give a description of the economic development of the USSR during the recovery period.
2. What factors contributed to the restoration of the national economy?
3. What are the main results of economic recovery?
4. What changes took place in the state apparatus of the USSR?
5. What was it associated with? new round repressions in the post-war period?
Lecture 16
PERESTROIKA IN THE USSR (1985–1991)
Perestroika: concept, prerequisites. Changes in social and political life. The emergence of a multi-party system. Economic reforms.
1. The concept and prerequisites of perestroika. Perestroika is an attempt to preserve administrative-command socialism, giving it elements of democracy and market relations, without affecting the fundamental foundations of the political system.
Prerequisites for perestroika:
1. Objective:
– stagnation in the economy, growing scientific and technological lag behind the West, failures in the social sphere;
– a political crisis, expressed in the disintegration of the leadership, in its inability to ensure economic progress, the merging of the party-state nomenklatura with the shadow economy;
– apathy and negative phenomena in the spiritual sphere of society.
2. Subjective:
– arrival in the second half of the 70s – early 80s. to the leadership of the country of relatively young politicians (M. S. Gorbachev, E. G. Ligachev, E. V. Shevardnadze, N. I. Ryzhkov), who sought not only to strengthen their power, but also advocated the renewal of the state and society;
– perestroika was brought to life by the burden of accumulated problems that cannot be solved by half-measures of a cosmetic nature, the transition to perestroika turned out to be forced.
In the history of perestroika in the broad sense of the term, some researchers distinguish four periods:
2) 1987–1988 – “more democracy”;
3) 1989–1991, which became a period of divisions and splits in the perestroika camp;
2. Changes in the socio-political life of the state. In March 1985, M. S. Gorbachev was elected to the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. At the April Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the beginning of the policy of perestroika was announced . At this party forum it was given general analysis state of Soviet society and put forward a strategy for accelerating economic development as the main economic task, together with the proclamation of the policy of glasnost as the basis for the democratization of the frozen political regime. The reforms that began did not affect the foundations of either the political or economic mechanism, but rather pursued the task of giving them a more liberal character, capable of opening a kind of second wind to the existing system.
Lacking a sufficient understanding of the final goals, much less the ways and methods of transformation, as well as to popularize the idea of perestroika, the country's leadership opens an all-Union discussion on important issues of domestic and foreign policy. This is how the policy of transparency is formed . The main manifestations of the policy of openness:
1) lifting censorship and allowing the publication of new newspapers;
2) the emergence of numerous public associations in support of perestroika;
3) wide discussion of the new government policy at mass rallies of citizens;
4) the development of discussions on the choice of the path of social development on the pages of periodicals.
In 1985–1986 The fight against violations of industrial discipline and corruption began. A number of former government officials were punished for bribery and theft. A commission headed by A. N. Yakovlev was created under the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee for the purpose of additional study of documents of those repressed in the 30s and early 50s. citizens.
In the context of democratic reforms, changes occurred in the relationship between the church and the state. Several meetings took place between M. S. Gorbachev and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Pimen and representatives of other religious denominations. In 1988, anniversary celebrations were held in connection with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'. The new Law on Freedom of Conscience consolidated the course towards liberalizing the state’s attitude towards religion.
At the end of the 80s. The transformations affected the structure of state power. They began with the XIX All-Union Party Conference (June 1988). The conference approved the course to create in the country rule of law. The main role in its formation was given to political reform. The essence of the reform was a clear division of responsibilities between party bodies and Soviets, and the transfer of power from the hands of the Communist Party to the Soviets. The implementation of this decision was postponed until the approval of new political structures of society. The constitutional reform redistributed supreme power in favor of a democratic body - the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council, elected from the deputies of the congress. Thus, the two-tier system of representative bodies was restored.
At the end of 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a Law on changing the system of elections to the Soviets. From now on, the election of people's deputies was to be carried out on an alternative basis. Elections to the highest authority based on new electoral principles took place in the spring of 1989. The deputy corps included many supporters of continuing radical reforms, including B. N. Yeltsin, A. D. Sakharov, A. A. Sobchak, Yu. Chernichenko. The Congress of People's Deputies (1989) formed the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. M. S. Gorbachev was elected its Chairman. An integral part of the reform of the political system aimed at creating a democratic state was the introduction of the presidency in the country. M. S. Gorbachev was elected the first President of the USSR in March 1990 at the Congress of People's Deputies.
3. The formation of a multi-party system. The transition to a multi-party system began in our country with the formation of “informal” organizations, when the transition to a policy of openness was proclaimed. Movements, organizations, clubs associated themselves with ideas that were called liberal, radical, etc., and at the first stage of their activity they announced their opposition to the dogmatic part of the apparatus, the administrative-command system as a whole, expressing support for new initiatives of the reformist part of the party- government leadership. Initially, the new movements were predominantly intellectual in composition. But the emergence of new forms of ownership (cooperative, rental) gave rise to unions of cooperators and tenants, the most active part of which also began to raise the question that economic activity alone is not enough to protect their interests and that it is necessary to begin organizing political parties. A number of new parties, soon after the start of their activities, split into several groups, movements, and independent movements. The range of views they represent is very wide: from anarchists to monarchists.
In March 1990, Article 6 of the USSR Constitution on the leading role of the CPSU in society was repealed. By this time, numerous political organizations. After the adoption of the law “On Public Associations”, registration of new parties began in March 1991. A mass exit from the CPSU began, a significant part of the communists stopped paying membership dues. The Komsomol and the Pioneer organization essentially ceased their activities as youth and children's structures of the CPSU. After the events of August 19–21, the CPSU as all-union organization actually ceased to exist. M. S. Gorbachev resigned from his duties as General Secretary.
4. Beginning economic reforms. The plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in April 1985 formulated the task of “accelerating the socio-economic development of the country.” It was intended to increase the growth rate of national income and intensify social policy. One of the main tasks was the reconstruction of industrial production, its transfer to new scientific and technological foundations (robotics, creation of powerful production complexes). The “acceleration” reserves were supposed to be: more complete utilization of existing production capacities; rationalization and mechanization of production; improving product quality; activation of the “human factor”.
New measures were supposed to be introduced within the framework of the old system. The introduction of state acceptance led to an increase in the administrative apparatus and an increase in material costs. Old equipment increased the accident rate. One of the indicators of the state of the economy and the mismanagement that reigned in it was the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In April 1986, during a test of a turbogenerator, a nuclear reactor exploded at one of the units of a nuclear power plant.
The first years of perestroika showed that radical changes cannot be achieved without deep transformations of the economy and political system. There were two alternatives for the development of the USSR:
1) broad economic reforms in the absence of political freedoms;
2) implementing democratization and economic reforms simultaneously.
Gorbachev and his immediate circle chose the second development option. The January Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in 1987 put forward the idea of democratizing public life.
Understanding the importance of economic issues, Gorbachev convened a Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee in June 1987, at which a program of reforms in the economy was proposed. The transition from administrative to economic methods manuals national economy. The two cornerstones of the reform were the laws on state enterprise and cooperation adopted in 1987. The independence of enterprises expanded. Despite all the measures taken, the planned targets in the national economy were not met for most indicators. Moreover, shortages of food and consumer goods have worsened. The budget deficit has increased, partly due to a decline in oil export revenues.
In addition, by this time two campaigns began to falter: the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism and the fight against unearned income.
At the end of the 80s. Most economists, business executives, and party leaders recognized the need for widespread development of market relations. The First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR decided to begin the transition to a new model of economic development. The economic reform included: reducing government intervention in the management of the national economy; expanding the independence of enterprises, self-financing, self-financing; gradual revival of the private sector; abandonment of the foreign trade monopoly; integration into the global market; expansion of forms of farming in rural areas.
At the turn of the 80s–90s. Individual labor activity and the creation of cooperatives for the production of several types of goods were allowed. Enterprises were given broad rights (Law on State Enterprise, 1987). To the center