THE SECOND WORLD WAR of 1939-45, the largest war in the history of mankind between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan and the countries of the anti-fascist coalition that unleashed it. 61 states were involved in the war, over 80% of the world's population, military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states, as well as in sea and ocean theaters.

Causes, preparation and outbreak of war. Second World War arose as a result of a sharp aggravation of economic and ideological contradictions between the leading world powers. main reason its emergence was the course of Germany, supported by its allies, for revenge for the defeat in the First World War of 1914-18 and the forcible redivision of the world. In the 1930s, 2 hotbeds of war were formed - on Far East and in Europe. The exorbitant reparations and restrictions imposed by the victors on Germany contributed to the development of a strong nationalist movement in it, in which extremely radical currents took over. With the advent of A. Hitler to power in 1933, Germany turned into a militaristic force dangerous for the whole world. This was evidenced by the scale and growth rate of its military economy and armed forces (AF). If in 1934 Germany produced 840 aircraft, then in 1936 - 4733. The volume of military production from 1934 to 1940 increased 22 times. In 1935, there were 29 divisions in Germany, and by the autumn of 1939 there were already 102. The German leadership placed special emphasis on training attack offensive forces - armored and motorized troops, and bomber aircraft. The Nazi program for world domination included plans for the restoration and expansion of the German colonial empire, the defeat of Great Britain, France and posed a threat to the United States, the most important goal of the Nazis was to destroy the USSR. The ruling circles of the Western countries, hoping to evade war, sought to direct German aggression to the East. They contributed to the revival of the military-industrial base of German militarism (US financial assistance to Germany under the Dawes Plan, the British-German naval agreement of 1935, etc.) and, in essence, encouraged the Nazi aggressors. The desire to redistribute the world was also characteristic of the fascist regime in Italy and militaristic Japan.

Having created a solid military-economic base and continuing to develop it, Germany, Japan, and also, despite certain economic difficulties, Italy (in 1929-38, gross industrial output increased by 0.6%) began to implement their aggressive plans. Japan in the early 1930s occupied the territory of Northeast China, creating a springboard for attacking the USSR, Mongolia, and others. The Italian fascists invaded Ethiopia in 1935 (see Italo-Ethiopian wars). In the spring of 1935, Germany, in violation of the military articles of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, introduced universal military service. As a result of the plebiscite, the Saarland was added to it. In March 1936, Germany unilaterally terminated the Locarno Treaty (see Locarno Treaties of 1925) and sent its troops into the Rhine demilitarized zone, in March 1938 - into Austria (see Anschluss), liquidating an independent European state (of the great powers, only the USSR protested) . In September 1938, Great Britain and France betrayed their ally, Czechoslovakia, by agreeing to Germany's seizure of the Sudetenland (see the Munich Agreement of 1938). Having an agreement on mutual assistance with Czechoslovakia and France, the USSR repeatedly offered military assistance to Czechoslovakia, but the government of E. Beneš refused it. In the autumn of 1938, Germany occupied part of Czechoslovakia, and in the spring of 1939 - the entire Czech Republic (Slovakia was declared an "independent state"), seized the Klaipeda region from Lithuania. Italy annexed Albania in April 1939. Having caused the so-called Danzig crisis at the end of 1938 and having secured itself from the east after the conclusion of a non-aggression pact with the USSR in August 1939 (see the Soviet-German treaties of 1939), Germany prepared to invade Poland, which received guarantees of military support from Great Britain on August 25, 1939 and France.

The first period of the war (1.9.1939 - 21.6.1941). World War II began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. By September 1, 1939, the strength of the German Armed Forces reached over 4 million people, about 3.2 thousand tanks, over 26 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 4 thousand aircraft, 100 warships of the main classes were in service. Poland had an armed forces of about 1 million people, armed with 220 light tanks and 650 tankettes, 4.3 thousand artillery pieces, 824 aircraft. Great Britain in the metropolis had an armed force of 1.3 million people, a strong navy (328 warships of the main classes and over 1.2 thousand aircraft, of which 490 were in reserve) and an air force (3.9 thousand aircraft, of which 2 thousand were in reserve) . By the end of August 1939, the French Armed Forces numbered about 2.7 million people, about 3.1 thousand tanks, over 26 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 3.3 thousand aircraft, 174 warships of the main classes. On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, but they did not provide practical assistance to Poland. The German troops, possessing an overwhelming superiority in forces and equipment, despite the courageous resistance of the Polish army, defeated it in 32 days and occupied most of Poland (see German-Polish War of 1939). Having lost the ability to govern the country, on September 17, the Polish government fled to Romania. On September 17, the Soviet government sent its troops into the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine (see the Campaign of the Red Army 1939), which were part of Russia until 1917, in order to protect the Belarusian and Ukrainian population in connection with the collapse of the Polish state and prevent the further advance of the German armies to the east (these lands were assigned to the Soviet "sphere of interest" according to the Soviet-German secret protocols of 1939). Important political implications in the initial period of World War II, Bessarabia was reunited with the USSR and Northern Bukovina entered it, the conclusion of agreements in September-October 1939 on mutual assistance with the Baltic states, and the entry of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union in August 1940. As a result of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40, although at the cost of great sacrifices, the main strategic goal pursued by Soviet leadership, - secure the northwestern border. However, there was no full guarantee that the territory of Finland would not be used for aggression against the USSR, because. the set political goal - the creation of a pro-Soviet regime in Finland - was not achieved, and the hostile attitude towards the USSR intensified in it. This war led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the USA, Great Britain and France with the USSR (12/14/1939 the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations for attacking Finland). Great Britain and France even planned a military invasion of the territory of the USSR from Finland, as well as the bombing of oil fields in Baku. The course of the Soviet-Finnish war strengthened doubts about the combat capability of the Red Army, which arose in the Western ruling circles in connection with the repressions of 1937-38 against it. commanders, and gave A. Hitler confidence in his calculations for the rapid defeat of the Soviet Union.

In Western Europe, until May 1940, there was a “strange war”. The British-French troops were inactive, and the German armed forces, using the strategic pause after the defeat of Poland, were actively preparing for an offensive against the Western European states. On April 9, 1940, German troops occupied Denmark without declaring war and on the same day launched an invasion of Norway (see the Norwegian operation of 1940). The British and French troops that landed in Norway captured Narvik, but were unable to resist the aggressor and were evacuated from the country in June. On May 10, units of the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and delivered a blow to France through their territories (see the French campaign of 1940) bypassing the French Maginot Line. Having broken through the defenses in the Sedan area, the tank formations of the German troops reached the English Channel on May 20. On May 14, the Dutch army capitulated, on May 28 - the Belgian. The British Expeditionary Force and part of the French troops, blockaded in the Dunkirk area (see the Dunkirk operation of 1940), managed to evacuate to Great Britain, abandoning almost all military equipment. On June 14, German troops occupied Paris without a fight, and on June 22, France capitulated. Under the terms of the Compiegne armistice, most of France was occupied by German troops, the southern part remained under the rule of the pro-fascist government of Marshal A. Pétain (Vichy government). At the end of June 1940, a French patriotic organization headed by General Charles de Gaulle, the "Free France" (since July 1942, "Fighting France"), was formed in London.

On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany (in 1939, its armed forces numbered over 1.7 million people, about 400 tanks, about 13 thousand artillery pieces and mortars, about 3 thousand aircraft, 154 warships of the main classes and 105 submarines) . Italian troops captured British Somalia, part of Kenya and Sudan in August, invaded Egypt from Libya in September, where they were stopped and defeated by British troops in December. An attempt by Italian troops in October to develop an offensive from Albania occupied by them in 1939 to Greece was repulsed by the Greek army. In the Far East, Japan (by 1939, its armed forces included over 1.5 million people, over 2 thousand tanks, about 4.2 thousand artillery pieces, about 1 thousand aircraft, 172 warships of the main classes, including 6 aircraft carriers with 396 aircraft, and 56 submarines) occupied the southern regions of China and occupied the northern part of French Indochina. Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Berlin (Triple) Pact on September 27 (see Three Power Pact 1940).

In August 1940, aerial bombardments of Great Britain by German aircraft began (see the Battle of England 1940-41), the intensity of which sharply decreased in May 1941 due to the transfer of the main forces of the German Air Force to the east to attack the USSR. In the spring of 1941, the United States, which had not yet participated in the war, landed troops in Greenland, and then in Iceland, setting up military bases there. German U-boat operations intensified (see Battle of the Atlantic 1939-45). In January - May 1941, British troops, with the support of the insurgent population, expelled the Italians from East Africa. In February, German troops arrived in North Africa, forming the so-called African Corps, headed by Lieutenant General E. Rommel. Going on the offensive on March 31, the Italo-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the second half of April (see North African campaign of 1940-43). Preparing an attack on Soviet Union, the countries of the fascist (Nazi) bloc in the spring of 1941 carried out aggression in the Balkans (see the Balkan campaign of 1941). On March 1-2, German troops entered Bulgaria, which had joined the Tripartite Pact, and on April 6, German troops (later Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops) invaded Yugoslavia (surrendered on April 18) and Greece (occupied on April 30). In May

the island of Crete was captured (see the Cretan airborne operation of 1941).

The military successes of Germany in the first period of the war were largely due to the fact that its opponents were unable to combine their efforts, create a unified system of military leadership, and develop effective plans for the joint conduct of the war. The economy and resources of the occupied countries of Europe were used to prepare the war against the USSR.

The second period of the war (22.6.1941 - November 1942). 22/6/1941 Germany, violating the non-aggression pact, suddenly attacked the USSR. Together with Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and Italy came out against the USSR. The Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 began. Since the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union has been taking measures to increase the country's defense capability and repel possible aggression. The development of industry proceeded at an accelerated pace, the scale of production of military products increased, new types of tanks, aircraft, artillery systems, and the like were introduced into production and adopted for service. In 1939, a new Law on universal conscription was adopted, aimed at creating a mass cadre army (by mid-1941, the number of Soviet Armed Forces had increased by more than 2.8 times compared to 1939 and amounted to about 5.7 million people). The experience of military operations in the West, as well as the Soviet-Finnish war, was actively studied. However, the mass repressions unleashed by the Stalinist leadership in the late 1930s, which hit the Armed Forces especially hard, reduced the effectiveness of preparations for war and affected the development of the military-political situation at the beginning of Hitler's aggression.

The entry of the USSR into the war determined the content of its new stage and had a tremendous impact on the policy of the leading world powers. The governments of Great Britain and the USA 22-24.6.1941 declared their support for the USSR; in July-October, agreements were signed on joint actions and military-economic cooperation between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. In August - September, the USSR and Great Britain sent their troops into Iran to prevent the possibility of creating fascist strongholds in the Middle East. These joint military-political actions laid the foundation for the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. September 24 at Londonskaya international conference 1941, the USSR joined the Atlantic Charter of 1941.

The Soviet-German front became the main front of the Second World War, where the armed struggle acquired an exceptionally fierce character. 70% of the personnel of the German Ground Forces and SS units, 86% of tank units, 100% of motorized formations, and up to 75% of artillery acted against the USSR. Despite major successes at the beginning of the war, Germany failed to achieve the strategic goal envisaged by the Barbarossa plan. The Red Army, suffering heavy losses, in fierce battles in the summer of 1941, thwarted the plan for a "blitzkrieg". Soviet troops in heavy battles exhausted and bled the advancing enemy groups. The German troops failed to capture Leningrad, they were for a long time pinned down by the defense of Odessa in 1941 and the Sevastopol defense of 1941-42, stopped near Moscow. As a result of the defeat of the German troops in the Battle of Moscow in 1941-1942, the myth of the invincibility of the Wehrmacht was dispelled. This victory forced Germany into a protracted war, inspired the peoples of the occupied countries to fight for liberation against fascist oppression, and gave impetus to the Resistance Movement.

On December 7, 1941, having attacked the American military base Pearl Harbor, Japan unleashed a war against the United States. On December 8, the United States, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan; on December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The entry of the United States and Japan into the war affected the balance of power and increased the scale of the armed struggle. An important role in the development of allied relations was played by the Moscow meetings of 1941-43 of representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain on the issue of military supplies to the Soviet Union (see Lend-Lease). In Washington on January 1, 1942, the Declaration of 26 States of 1942 was signed, to which other states later joined.

In North Africa, in November 1941, British troops, taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Wehrmacht were pinned down near Moscow, launched an offensive, occupied Cyrenaica and lifted the blockade from Tobruk, besieged by the Italo-German troops, but in January - June, the Italo-German troops, having launched a counteroffensive , advanced 1.2 thousand km, captured Tobruk and part of the territory of Egypt. After that, there was a lull on the African front until the autumn of 1942. IN Atlantic Ocean German submarines continued to inflict big damage fleets of the allies (by the autumn of 1942, the tonnage of sunk ships, mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, amounted to over 14 million tons). Japan in early 1942 occupied Malaya, the most important islands of Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, inflicted a major defeat on the British fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, the British-American-Dutch fleet in the Java operation and seized dominance at sea. The American Navy and Air Force, significantly reinforced by the summer of 1942, defeated the Japanese fleet in naval battles in the Coral Sea (May 7-8) and at Midway Island (June). In northern China, the Japanese invaders launched punitive operations in the areas liberated by the partisans.

On May 26, 1942, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Germany and its satellites; On June 11, the USSR and the USA concluded an agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in the conduct of war. These acts completed the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. On June 12, the United States and Great Britain made a promise to open a second front in Western Europe in 1942, but did not keep it. Taking advantage of the absence of a second front and the defeats of the Red Army in the Crimea, and especially in the Kharkov operation of 1942, the German command launched a new strategic offensive on the Soviet-German front in the summer of 1942. In July-November, Soviet troops pinned down enemy strike groups and prepared the conditions for a counteroffensive. The failure of the German offensive on the Soviet-German front in 1942 and the failure of the Japanese Armed Forces in the Pacific Ocean forced Japan to refrain from the planned attack on the USSR and switch to defense in the Pacific Ocean at the end of 1942. At the same time, the USSR, while remaining neutral, refused to allow the United States to use air bases in the Soviet Far East, from where they could strike at Japan.

The entry into the war of the two largest countries in the world - the USSR, and then the USA - led to a gigantic expansion of the scale of hostilities in the 2nd period of World War II, an increase in the number of armed forces participating in the struggle. In opposition to the fascist bloc, an anti-fascist coalition of states was formed, which had enormous economic and military potentials. By the end of 1941, on the Soviet-German front, the fascist bloc was faced with the need to wage a long, protracted war. The armed struggle in the Pacific Ocean, in Southeast Asia and in other theaters of war also assumed a similar character. By the autumn of 1942, the adventurism of the aggressive plans of the leadership of Germany and its allies, calculated to win world domination, became completely obvious. Attempts to crush the USSR were unsuccessful. On all theaters of operations, the offensive of the aggressors' armed forces was stopped. However, the fascist coalition continued to be a powerful military-political organization capable of active operations.

The third period of the war (November 1942 - December 1943). The main events of the Second World War in 1942-1943 developed on the Soviet-German front. By November 1942, 192 divisions and 3 brigades of the Wehrmacht (71% of all Ground Forces) and 66 divisions and 13 brigades of Germany's allies were operating here. On November 19, the counteroffensive began. Soviet troops near Stalingrad (see the Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43), culminating in the encirclement and defeat of the 330,000th group of German troops. An attempt by the German Army Group "Don" (commander - Field Marshal E. von Manstein) to release the encircled grouping of Field Marshal F. von Paulus was thwarted. Having fettered the main forces of the Wehrmacht in the Moscow direction (40% of the German divisions), the Soviet command did not allow the transfer of the reserves needed by Manstein to the south. The victory of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and had a great influence on the further course of the entire Second World War. It undermined the prestige of Germany in the eyes of its allies, gave rise to doubt among the Germans themselves about the possibility of winning the war. The Red Army, seizing the strategic initiative, launched a general offensive on the Soviet-German front. The mass expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the Soviet Union began. The Battle of Kursk in 1943 and the access to the Dnieper ended a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. The battle for the Dnieper in 1943 overturned the enemy's calculations for a transition to a protracted positional defensive war.

In the autumn of 1942, when fierce battles on the Soviet-German front fettered the main forces of the Wehrmacht, British-American troops intensified military operations in North Africa. They won in October - November in the El Alamein operation of 1942 and carried out the North African landing operation of 1942. As a result of the Tunisian operation in 1943, the Italo-German troops in North Africa capitulated. British-American troops, using the favorable situation (the main enemy forces participated in the Battle of Kursk), landed on the island of Sicily on 10/7/1943 and captured it by mid-August (see Sicilian landing operation of 1943). On July 25, the fascist regime in Italy fell; on September 3, the new government of P. Badoglio concluded a truce with the Allies. The withdrawal of Italy from the war marked the beginning of the disintegration of the fascist bloc.

On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany, in response, German troops occupied Northern Italy. In September, the allied troops landed in southern Italy, but could not break the resistance of the German troops on the defensive line created north of Naples, and in December they suspended active operations. During this period, secret negotiations between representatives of the United States and Great Britain with German emissaries became more active (see Anglo-American-German contacts 1943-45). In the Pacific and Asia, Japan, moving to strategic defense, sought to keep the territories captured in 1941-42. The Allies, having launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean in August 1942, captured the island of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands; February 1943), landed on the island New Guinea, ousted the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands, inflicted a number of defeats on the Japanese fleet.

The 3rd period of the Second World War went down in history as a period of a radical turning point. Of decisive importance for changing the strategic situation were the historical victories of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and the Battle of the Dnieper, as well as the victories of the Allies in North Africa and the landing of their troops in Sicily and in the south of the Apennine Peninsula. However, the Soviet Union still bore the brunt of the fight against Germany and its European allies. At the Tehran Conference in 1943, at the request of the Soviet delegation, a decision was made to open a second front no later than May 1944. The armies of the Nazi bloc in the 3rd period of the Second World War could not win a single major victory and were forced to take a course to prolong hostilities and switch to strategic defense. Having passed the turning point, the Second World War in Europe entered the final stage.

It began with a new offensive of the Red Army. Soviet troops in 1944 on the entire Soviet-German front brought crushing blows to the enemy and expelled the invaders from the borders of the Soviet Union. During the subsequent offensive, the USSR Armed Forces played a decisive role in the liberation of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, the northern regions of Norway, in withdrawing Finland from the war, and created the conditions for the liberation of Albania and Greece. Together with the Red Army, the troops of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia took part in the fight against Nazi Germany, and after the armistice with Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the military units of these countries also took part. The allied troops, having carried out the "Overlord" operation, opened a second front and launched an offensive in Germany. Having landed on 15/8/1944 in the south of France, the British-American troops, with active support French Movement By mid-September, the resistance joined forces advancing from Normandy, but the German troops managed to get out of France. After the opening of the second front, the main front of the Second World War continued to be the Soviet-German front, where there were 1.8-2.8 times more troops of the countries of the fascist bloc than on other fronts.

In February 1945, the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945 was held by the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, during which plans for the final defeat of the German Armed Forces were agreed, the basic principles were outlined general policy with regard to the post-war structure of the world, decisions were made to create zones of occupation and an all-German control body in Germany, to collect reparations from Germany, to create the UN, etc. The USSR agreed to enter the war against Japan 3 months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe .

During the Ardennes operation of 1944-1945, German troops defeated the Allied forces. To alleviate the position of the allies in the Ardennes, at their request, the Red Army launched its winter offensive ahead of schedule (see the Vistula-Oder operation of 1945 and the East Prussian operation of 1945). Having restored the situation by the end of January 1945, British-American troops crossed the Rhine at the end of March and carried out the Ruhr operation in April, which ended with the encirclement and capture of a large enemy grouping. During the North Italian operation of 1945, the allied forces, with the help of Italian partisans, completely captured Italy in April - early May. In the Pacific Theater of Operations, the Allies conducted operations to defeat the Japanese fleet, liberated a number of islands, approached Japan directly (on April 1, American troops landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa) and cut off its communications with the countries of Southeast Asia.

In April - May, Red Army units defeated the last groupings of German troops in the Berlin operation of 1945 and the Prague operation of 1945 and met with the Allied troops. The war in Europe is over. The unconditional surrender of Germany was accepted late in the evening on May 8 (at 00:43 on May 9, Moscow time) by representatives of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and France.

In the 4th period of the Second World War, the struggle reached its highest scope and tension. It was attended by the largest number of states, personnel of the Armed Forces, military equipment and weapons. The military-economic potential of Germany fell sharply, while in the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition it reached the highest level during the war years. The hostilities took place in conditions when Germany faced the armies of the allied powers advancing from the east and west. From the end of 1944, Japan remained the only ally of Germany, which testified to the collapse of the fascist bloc and the bankruptcy of Germany's foreign policy. The USSR victoriously ended the Great Patriotic War, unprecedented in its fierceness.

At the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference of 1945, the USSR confirmed its readiness to enter the war with Japan, and at the San Francisco Conference of 1945, together with representatives of 50 states, they developed the UN Charter. In order to demoralize the enemy and demonstrate their military power to the allies (primarily to the USSR), the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, respectively). Fulfilling its allied duty, the USSR declared war on Japan and on August 9 began hostilities. During the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945, Soviet troops, having defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army (see the Manchurian operation of 1945), liquidated the center of aggression in the Far East, liberated Northeast China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, thereby hastening the end of the war. On September 2, Japan capitulated, World War II ended.

Main results of the Second World War. The Second World War was the largest military clash in the history of mankind. It lasted 6 years, the population of the participating states amounted to 1.7 billion people, 110 million people were in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Military operations were conducted in Europe, Asia, Africa, in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans. It was the most destructive and bloody of wars. More than 55 million people died in it. The damage from the destruction and destruction of material assets on the territory of the USSR amounted to about 41% of the losses of all countries participating in the war. The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war, suffered the greatest human casualties (about 27 million people died). Big sacrifices suffered by Poland (about 6 million people), China (over 5 million people.), Yugoslavia (about 1.7 million people.) and other states. The Soviet-German front was the main front of World War II. It was here that she was crushed military power fascist bloc. In different periods, from 190 to 270 divisions of Germany and its allies operated on the Soviet-German front. British-American troops in North Africa in 1941-43 were opposed by 9 to 20 divisions, in Italy in 1943-1945 - from 7 to 26 divisions, in Western Europe after the opening of the second front - from 56 to 75 divisions. The Soviet Armed Forces defeated and captured 607 enemy divisions, the Allies - 176 divisions. Germany and its allies lost about 9 million people on the Soviet-German front (total losses - about 14 million people) and about 75% of military equipment and weapons. The length of the Soviet-German front during the war years ranged from 2 thousand km to 6.2 thousand km, the North African - up to 350 km, the Italian - up to 300 km, the Western European 800-1000 km. Active operations on the Soviet-German front were carried out for 1320 days out of 1418 (93%), on the Allied fronts out of 2069 days - 1094 (53%). The irretrievable losses of the allies (killed, dead from wounds, missing) amounted to about 1.5 million soldiers and officers, including the USA - 405 thousand, Great Britain - 375 thousand, France - 600 thousand, Canada - 37 thousand, Australia - 35 thousand, New Zealand - 12 thousand, the Union of South Africa - 7 thousand people. The most important outcome of the war was the defeat of the most aggressive reactionary forces, which radically changed the alignment of political forces in the world and determined its entire post-war development. Many peoples of “non-Aryan” origin were saved from physical destruction, who were destined to perish in Nazi concentration camps or become slaves. The defeat of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan contributed to the rise of the national liberation movement, the collapse colonial system imperialism. For the first time, a legal assessment was given to the ideologues and executors of misanthropic plans for the conquest of world domination (see the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-49 and the Tokyo Trial of 1946-48). The Second World War had a comprehensive influence on the further development of military art, the construction of the Armed Forces. It was distinguished by the massive use of tanks, a high degree of motorization, and the widespread introduction of new combat and technical means. During the Second World War, radars and other means of radio electronics, rocket artillery, jet aircraft, projectiles and ballistic missiles were used for the first time, and at the final stage, nuclear weapons. The Second World War clearly showed the dependence of war on the economy and scientific and technological progress, the closest interconnection of economic, scientific, military and other potentials on the path to victory.

Lit.: History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. M., 1973-1982. T. 1-12; Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Munch., 1979-2005. Bd 1-9; World War II: Results and Lessons. M., 1985; Nuremberg Trials: Sat. materials. M., 1987-1999. T. 1-8; 1939: The Lessons of History. M., 1990; Resistance Movement in Western Europe. 1939-1945. M., 1990-1991. T. 1-2; World War II: Actual Problems. M., 1995; Allies at War, 1941-1945. M., 1995; Resistance movement in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, 1939-1945. M., 1995; Another war, 1939-1945. M., 1996; The Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945: Military Historical Essays. M., 1998-1999. T. 1-4; Churchill W. World War II. M., 1998. T. 1-6; Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. 13th ed. M., 2002. T. 1-2; World Wars of the XX century. M., 2002. Book. 3: World War II: A Historical Outline. Book. 4: World War II: Documents and Materials.

75 years ago , September 1st, 1939 , with the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland, the Second World War began. The formal reason for the start of the war was the so-called "Gleiwitz Incident" - a staged attack by SS men dressed in Polish uniforms, led by Alfred Naujoks to the German border radio station in the city of Gleiwitz, after which, August 31, 1939 , the German press and radio reported that "... on Thursday, at about 20 o'clock, the premises of the radio station in Gleiwitz were captured by the Poles."

Imaginary "rebels" broadcast an appeal to Polish and quickly left, carefully laying out the pre-prepared corpses of prisoners from German concentration camps on the floor in Polish uniforms . The next day, September 1st, 1939, the German Fuhrer Adolf Gitler declared about " Polish attacks into German territory" and declared war on Poland, after which the troops of fascist Germany and its allied Slovakia, where the fascist dictator was in power Josef Tiso , invaded Poland, which provoked a declaration of war on Germany by England, France and other countries that had allied relations with Poland.

The war began with that on September 1, 1939, at 4:45 am, the German training ship, which arrived in Danzig on a friendly visit and was enthusiastically greeted by the local German population, is an outdated battleship "Schleswig-Holstein" - opened fire from the main caliber guns on the Polish fortifications on Westerplatte that served signal to the beginning of the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in Poland.

In the same day , September 1st, 1939, in the Reichstag Adolf Hitler, dressed in a military uniform, spoke. In justifying the attack on Poland, Hitler referred to the "Gleiwitz Incident". At the same time, he carefully avoided in his speech the term "war" fearing a possible entry in this conflict, England and France, who at one time gave Poland the appropriate guarantees. The order issued by Hitler said only about "active defense" Germany against the alleged "Polish aggression".

Italian fascist dictator - "Duce" Benito Mussolini in this regard, he immediately proposed to convene " conference for a peaceful solution to the Polish question ", which met with support from the Western powers, who feared the escalation of the German-Polish conflict into a World War, but Adolf Hitler decisively refused , stating that "it is unsuitable to represent by diplomacy what was won by weapons."

September 1st, 1939 The Soviet Union introduced compulsory military service. At the same time, the draft age was reduced from 21 to 19 years, and for some categories - up to 18 years. Law on universal conscription immediately entered into force and in a short time the strength of the Red Army reached 5 million people, which amounted to about 3% of the then population of the USSR.

September 3rd, 1939 at 9.00 am, England , and at 12:20 o'clock on the same day - France as well as Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal joined within a few days. The Second World War has begun.

German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and his entourage, until the last moment, hoped that the allies of Poland would not dare to enter the war with Germany and the matter would end " second Munich ". Chief Interpreter of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs Paul Schmidt described in his post-war memoirs Hitler's state of shock when the British ambassador Neville Henderson , appearing at the Reich Chancellery at 9 am on September 3, 1939, gave him ultimatum his government demanding withdraw troops from Polish territory to their original positions. Only those who were present Hermann Göring was able to say: "If we lose this war, then we can only hope for the mercy of God."

The German Nazis there were very good reasons to hope that London and Paris would turn a blind eye to the aggressive actions of Berlin again. They came from precedent created September 30, 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who signed with Hitler the "Declaration of Non-Aggression and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes between Great Britain and Germany", i.e. contract, known in the USSR as " Munich agreement ».

Then, in 1938 Neville Chamberlain met three times Hitler , and after meeting in Munich returned home with his famous statement “ I brought you peace ! In fact, this agreement, concluded without the participation of the leadership of Czechoslovakia, led to its section Germany, with the participation of Hungary and Poland.

The Munich Agreement is considered a classic example. appeasing the aggressor , which subsequently only prompted him to further expand his aggressive policy and became one of the reasons start of World War II. Winston Churchill On October 3, 1938, he stated on this occasion: “Great Britain was offered a choice between war and dishonor. She has chosen dishonor and will get war."

Before September 1st, 1939 Germany's aggressive actions did not meet with serious resistance from Great Britain And France who did not dare to start a war and tried to save the system of the Versailles Treaty with reasonable, from their point of view, concessions (the so-called "appeasement policy"). However, after Hitler violated the Munich Treaty, both countries increasingly began to realize the need for a tougher policy, and in the event of further German aggression, Great Britain and France gave military guarantees to Poland .

Following these events the rapid defeat and occupation of Poland, the “strange war” on the Western Front, the German blitzkrieg in France, the battle for England, and June 22, 1941 - the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in the USSR - all these grandiose events gradually pushed into the background history of the Second World War and the "Gleiwitz Incident", and the Polish-German conflict itself.

However, the choice of location and object for the provocation that launched the start of World War II, was far away not accidental : since the mid-1920s, Germany and Poland have waged an active information war for the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of the border areas, primarily with the help of the latest technology of the twentieth century - radio. In the pre-war months of 1939 anti-German propaganda The authorities of Polish Silesia became extremely aggressive and, I must say, very effective, which gave Hitler some resource of plausibility for staging the Gleiwitz provocation.

Lands of Silesia - a historical region at the junction of the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland - originally belonged to the Polish crown, but then came under the rule of the Habsburgs, and in the 18th century they were conquered by Prussia. The mixed population of the territory over many centuries gradually Germanized , and Silesia was considered one of the most loyal lands to the Second German Reich. In the 19th century, Upper Silesia became Germany's foremost industrial region: a quarter of coal, 81 percent of zinc, and 34 percent of lead were mined there. . In 1914 more than half of Poles (and people with mixed identities) remained in the region (out of 2 million population).

The Treaty of Versailles severely limited Germany's military capabilities. From the German point of view, the conditions dictated at Versailles were unfair legally and economically unfeasible. Moreover, the amount of reparations was not agreed in advance and doubled. All this created international tension and confidence that no later than after 20 years the world war will be resumed.

According to the Treaty of Versailles (1919), a plebiscite was to be held in Upper Silesia: its inhabitants were given the opportunity to decide for themselves in which state they would live. Plebiscite was appointed for 1921, but for now the German authorities remained in their places. Both the Poles and the Germans used this time for active propaganda - moreover, Poles raised in Silesia two rebellions . However, in the end, the majority of those who voted in Silesia, unexpectedly for everyone, expressed their opinion for Germany (707,605 vs. 479,359).

After that, a fire broke out in Silesia third Polish uprising , and the most bloody, in connection with which the Entente countries decided to divide Upper Silesia along the front line between Polish and German formations (as of October 1921). Thus, approximately 260,000 Germans (for 735,000 Poles) remained in the Polish Silesian Voivodeship, and 530,000 Poles (for 635,000 Germans) remained in the German province of Upper Silesia.

In the 1920s, European states , dissatisfied with the borders established as a result of the First World War, began to actively use the latest technology for the propaganda struggle for the souls of the inhabitants of the border territories (their own and others) - radio . Officials wanted to quickly turn their citizens into "correct" Germans (Poles, Hungarians, and so on), support "compatriots" beyond the new borders, while suppressing the separatist sentiments of ethnic minorities on their territory and inciting them on the territory of their neighbors.

To this end, Germany has established border radio stations : from Aachen to Königsberg, from Kiel to Breslau. It was to amplify the signal of the latter that a repeater station was built in 1925 in Gleiwitz . Started work two years later "Polish Radio Katowice" (PRK), whose signal was eight times stronger than that of the Gleiwitz. The Imperial Broadcasting Society increased the power of the relay station, and five years later the Nazis who came to power raised it ten times more and rebuilt Gleiwitz radio mast . It became (and remains to this day) one of the highest - 118 meters - wooden structures in the world. Radio content Initially, it was frankly provocative in nature, contributing to "inciting ethnic hatred" and "incitement to armed rebellion."

With the arrival in 1933 to power of the National Socialist Workers' Party (NSDAP) led by Adolf Hitler Germany , without encountering any special objections from Great Britain and France, and in some places with their support, soon began ignore many restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles - in particular, restored the draft into the army and began to rapidly increase the production of weapons and military equipment. October 14, 1933 Germany withdrew from League of Nations and refused to participate in the Geneva Disarmament Conference. January 26, 1934 A non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and Poland. to the Austrian border four divisions.

After the meetings of the heads of the relevant structures in 1927, as well as the signing Polish-German non-aggression pact in 1934 provocative broadcasts were closed and concerts, radio plays, literary readings, educational broadcasts with a slight political emphasis came to the fore.

In the prewar years , however, in the quiet it was radio war there was a new round of tension. In response to Hitler's Germanization ( eindeutschung) Silesia, Polish Radio Katowice launched the program "Abroad", where local residents were urged to refuse the use of German toponyms (Gleiwitz - Gliwice, Breslau - Wroclaw) and informed about their rights as representatives of a national minority.

Especially intense Polish radio worked during the census in May 1939 when Berlin, through threats and powerful propaganda, tried to force local residents to identify themselves as Germans on questionnaires.

In 1939 the ideological confrontation between the German and Polish radio stations became so intense that locals began to seriously fear war. In July 1939, the PRK started broadcasting in German, masquerading as Third Reich radio , and also began to produce anti-German programs on Czech, for residents of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In August 1939 Germany abandoned its policy of monolingual broadcasting and began broadcasting also in Polish and Ukrainian. In response to this Silesian Poles began to sow rumors that these transmissions were in fact coming from the Polish Radio in Breslau (the capital of the province of Silesia) and that all of Upper Silesia would soon join the Commonwealth.

During the political crisis of 1939 In Europe, there were two military-political blocs: English-French And German-Italian , each of which was interested in an agreement with the USSR.

Poland, having concluded allied treaties with Great Britain and France, who were obliged to help her in the event of German aggression, refused to make concessions in negotiations with Germany (in particular, on the issue of the Polish Corridor).

August 15, 1939 German Ambassador to the USSR Werner von der Schulenburg read out Vyacheslav Molotov message from the German foreign minister Joachim Ribbentrop , in which he expressed his readiness to personally come to Moscow to "clarify German-Russian relations." On the same day, directives NPO USSR No. 4/2/48601-4/2/486011 were sent to the Red Army on the deployment of an additional 56 divisions to the existing 96 rifle divisions.

August 19, 1939 Molotov agreed to receive Ribbentrop in Moscow to sign a treaty with Germany, and August 23 USSR signed with Germany non-aggression pact , in which the parties agreed on non-aggression against each other (including in the event of the start of hostilities by one of the parties against third countries, which was the usual practice of German treaties at that time). In a secret additional protocol it was provided for "the division of spheres of interest in Eastern Europe”, including the Baltic states and Poland, between the USSR and Germany.

german propaganda portrayed at that time Poland as "a puppet in the hands of Anglo-French imperialism" and called Warsaw " source of aggression ", presenting Nazi Germany as "a bulwark of world peace." The measures of the Polish government directed against the organizations of the German minority in the Silesian Voivodeship gave extra trump card into the hands of propagandists from Berlin.

During these years , especially in summer, many residents of Polish Silesia illegally crossed the border to find work in Germany and good earnings, as well as to avoid being drafted into the Polish army, fearing to participate in an imminent, obviously losing, in their opinion, war.

The Nazis recruited these Poles and trained them as agitators who were supposed to tell the Silesians from the German province about the "horrors of life in Poland." In order to "neutralize" this propaganda, Polish Radio reported on the disgusting conditions in which the refugees live, and how poor and hungry the Third Reich itself, preparing for war, lives: “Better put on a Polish uniform! Hungry German soldiers dream of conquering Poland so that they can finally eat their fill."

May 23, 1939 a meeting was held in Hitler's office in the presence of a number of senior officers, at which it was noted that " Polish problem closely related to the inevitable conflict between Germany and England and France a quick victory over which is problematic. At the same time, Poland is unlikely to be able to fulfill barrier role against Bolshevism. At present, the task of German foreign policy is expansion of living space to the East, ensuring a guaranteed food supply and eliminating the threat from the East. Poland must be invaded at the first opportunity."

To counter propaganda aggression on the part of Nazi Germany, Polish Radio was not embarrassed by itself " saber-rattling ", speaking in various ways about the inevitability of war with Germany, and usually in an ironic manner: "Hey, Nazis, prepare your asses for our rods ... Let the Germans just come in here, and we will tear them apart with our bloody sharp claws."

There were even hints that Poland can take the first step . It was said that the fortifications on the border were being built by the Germans, allegedly in order to "hide their asses, when we Poles come ».

To the protests in Berlin Polish officials replied that the Germans did not understand jokes. “What kind of strained nerves do the German “fuhrers” have, if even Polish humor and laughter disturb them,” the official publication of the Silesian Voivodeship “Polska Zachodnia” reported.

Silesian voivode Michał Grażyński (Michał Grażyński) in June 1939, together with veterans of the 1919-1921 uprisings, members of a paramilitary formation "Ring of the rebels" and the soldiers of the Polish Army solemnly opened the "monument to the Polish rebel", and at a distance of only 200 meters from the German border. During the opening ceremony, broadcast by the PKK, Grazhinski promised that "we will finish the work that the heroes of the third uprising did not finish" - that is, we will take Upper Silesia from Germany.

A week later the Polish governor opened another "Monument to the Insurgent", also near the German border (in the village of Borušovice). Finally, in mid-August 1939, Zwienziek Rebels held its annual "March to the Oder » from the German to the Czech border. In other years, these Polish "traditions and ceremonies" would hardly have caused a great political resonance, but in the pre-war atmosphere, the propaganda of the Third Reich squeezed out of them the maximum evidence for their theory. about the aggressive plans of Poland , allegedly preparing the annexation of Upper Silesia.

Therefore, on September 2, 1939 year, the German authorities were able to very convincingly connect the “Gleiwitz incident” with the aggressive statement of Mikhail Grazhinsky, saying that in the attack on the radio station “ the gangs of the "Zwienziek insurgents" took part. Thus, broadcasting programs live, where it was openly announced that "German Silesia must be taken away from Germany", Polish Radio Katowice helped Berlin to lend credibility to its statements about "Polish aggression" that made it easier for the Nazis searching for a pretext for the invasion of Poland, which provoked the outbreak of World War II.

The Second World War - the war of two world military-political coalitions, which became the largest war in the history of mankind. It was attended 61 states out of 73 that existed at that time (80% of the world's population). The fighting was carried out on the territory of three continents and in waters of the four oceans. This is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons have been used.

Number of countries involved in World War II changed during the war. Some of them were active in the war, others helped their allies with food supplies, and many participated in the war only nominally.

The anti-Hitler coalition included : Poland, the British Empire (and its dominions: Canada, India, the Union of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand), France - entered the war in September 1939; Ethiopia - Ethiopian troops under the command of the Ethiopian government-in-exile continued guerrilla fighting after the annexation of the state in 1936, officially recognized as an ally on July 12, 1940; Denmark, Norway - April 9, 1940; Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg - since May 10, 1940; Greece - October 28, 1940; Yugoslavia - April 6, 1941; USSR, Tuva, Mongolia - June 22, 1941; USA, Philippines - since December 1941; US Lend-Lease supplies to the USSR since March 1941; China (the government of Chiang Kai-shek) - has been fighting against Japan since July 7, 1937, officially recognized as an ally on December 9, 1941; Mexico - May 22, 1942; Brazil - August 22, 1942.

The Axis countries were also formally opposed : Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Nepal, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Iran, Albania, Paraguay, Ecuador, San Marino, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Liberia, Bolivia.

During the war, the coalition was joined some states that left the Nazi bloc: Iraq - January 17, 1943; Kingdom of Italy - October 13, 1943; Romania - August 23, 1944; Bulgaria - September 5, 1944; Finland - September 19, 1944. Also not part of the Nazi bloc Iran.

On the other hand, the Axis countries and their allies participated in the Second World War: Germany, Slovakia - September 1, 1939; Italy, Albania - June 10, 1940; Hungary - April 11, 1941; Iraq - May 1, 1941; Romania, Croatia, Finland - June 1941; Japan, Manchukuo - December 7, 1941; Bulgaria - December 13, 1941; Thailand - January 25, 1942; China (Wang Jingwei government) - January 9, 1943; Burma - August 1, 1943; Philippines - September 1944.

On the territory of the occupied countries puppet states were created that were not, in terms of meaning, participants in the Second World War and joined the fascist coalition : Vichy France, Greek State, Italian Social Republic, Hungarian State, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Pindsko-Meglensky Principality, Mengjiang, Burma, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Azad Hind, Wang Jingwei Regime.

In a number of German Reichskommissariats autonomous puppet governments were created: the Quisling regime in Norway, the Mussert regime in the Netherlands, the Belarusian Central Rada in Belarus. On the side of Germany and Japan also fought a lot of collaborationist troops created from citizens of the opposing side: ROA, foreign SS divisions (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Estonian, 2 Latvian, Norwegian-Danish, 2 Dutch, 2 Belgian, 2 Bosnian, French, Albanian), a number of foreign legions . Also in the armed forces of the countries of the Nazi bloc fought the volunteer forces of states that formally remained neutral: Spain ("Blue Division"), Sweden and Portugal.

September 3rd, 1939 in Bydgoszcz (former Bromberg), the city of the Pomeranian Voivodeship (former West Prussia), which passed under the Treaty of Versailles to Poland, there was mass kill by nationality - "Bromber pogrom". In the city, whose population was 3/4 Germans, several hundred civilians of German origin were killed by Polish nationalists. Their number varies from one to three hundred dead - according to the Polish side and from one to five thousand - according to the German side.

The offensive of the German troops developed according to plan. Polish troops were generally weak military force compared with the coordinated German tank formations of the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe. Wherein on the Western Front Allied Anglo-French troops did not take no action. Only at sea, the war began immediately and, also, by Germany: already on September 3, 1939, the German submarine U-30 attacked the English passenger liner Athenia without warning and sank it.

September 7th, 1939 German troops under the command Heinz Guderian launched an attack on the Polish defensive line near Wizna. In Poland, during the first week of fighting, German troops cut through the Polish front in several places and occupied part of Mazovia, western Prussia, the Upper Silesian industrial region and western Galicia. By September 9th, 1939 the Germans managed to break the Polish resistance along the entire front line and approach Warsaw.

September 10, 1939 Polish commander in chief Edward Rydz-Smigly ordered a general retreat to southeastern Poland, but the main part of his troops, unable to retreat beyond the Vistula, was surrounded. By mid-September 1939, without receiving support from the West, the armed forces of Poland ceased to exist as a whole; only local centers of resistance remained.

September 14, 1939 The 19th Corps of Heinz Guderian, with a throw from East Prussia, captured Brest . Polish troops under the command of General Plisovsky for several more days they defended the Brest Fortress. On the night of September 17, 1939, its defenders in an organized manner left the forts and retreated beyond the Bug.

September 16, 1939 Ambassador of Poland to the USSR was told that since the Polish state and its government ceased to exist , Soviet Union takes under his protection life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

September 17, 1939 , fearing that Germany would refuse to comply with the terms of the secret additional protocol to the Non-Aggression Pact, the USSR began the entry of Red Army troops into the Eastern regions of Poland. Soviet propaganda declared that "the Red Army takes under the protection of the fraternal peoples."

On this day at 6:00 am , Soviet troops crossed the state border with Poland in two military groups, and the Soviet People's Commissar for International Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov sent the German Ambassador to the USSR Werner von der Schulenburg congratulation about the "brilliant success of the German Wehrmacht." Although neither the USSR nor Poland declared war on each other , some liberal historians mistakenly consider today this day the date of "the accession of the USSR during World War II."

On the evening of September 17, 1939 the Polish Government and High Command fled to Romania. September 28, 1939 the Germans occupied Warsaw. On the same day in Moscow was signed Treaty of friendship and border between the USSR and Germany , which established the line of demarcation between German and Soviet troops on the territory of former Poland approximately along the "Curzon Line".

October 6th, 1939 surrendered the last units of the Polish Army. Part of the western Polish lands became part of the Third Reich. These lands were subject to germanization ". The Polish and Jewish population was deported from here to the central regions of Poland, where a "governor general" was created. Mass repressions were carried out against the Polish people. The most difficult was the situation of the Polish Jews, driven into the ghetto.

Territories that went into the zone of influence of the USSR , were included in the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR and independent Lithuania at that time. In the territories included in the USSR, Soviet power was established, socialist transformations (nationalization of industry, collectivization of the peasantry), which was accompanied deportation and repression in relation to the former ruling classes - representatives of the bourgeoisie, landlords, rich peasants, part of the intelligentsia.

October 6th, 1939 , after the end of all hostilities in Poland, the German Fuhrer Adolf Gitler proposed to convene peace conference with the participation of all major powers to resolve the existing contradictions. France and UK declared that they would agree to the conference, only if the Germans immediately withdraw their troops from Poland and the Czech Republic and return independence to these countries. Germany rejected these conditions, and as a result the Peace Conference never took place.

Further developments in Europe led to a new German aggression against France and Great Britain, and then against the Soviet Union, the expansion of the Second World War and the involvement of more and more new states in it.

World War II ended the complete and unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany (the act of surrender was signed on May 9, 1945 in Berlin) and Japan (the act of surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the American battleship Missouri).

World War II in facts and figures

Ernest Hemingway from the preface to A Farewell to Arms!

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Having left the city, still halfway to the headquarters of the front, we immediately heard and saw desperate firing all over the horizon with tracer bullets and shells. And they realized that the war was over. It couldn't mean anything else. I suddenly felt bad. I was ashamed in front of my comrades, but in the end I had to stop the Jeep and get out. I started having some spasms in my throat and esophagus, I began to vomit with saliva, bitterness, bile. I don't know why. Probably from a nervous discharge, which was expressed in such an absurd way. All these four years of the war, in various circumstances, I tried very hard to be a restrained person and, it seems, I really was. And here, at the moment when I suddenly realized that the war was over, something happened - my nerves gave out. The comrades did not laugh or joke, they were silent.

Konstantin Simonov. "Different days of the war. Writer's diary"

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Japanese surrender

The terms of Japan's surrender were put forward in the Potsdam Declaration, signed on July 26, 1945 by the governments of Great Britain, the United States and China. However, the Japanese government refused to accept them.

The situation changed after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the USSR's entry into the war against Japan (August 9, 1945).

But, even so, the members of the Supreme Military Council of Japan were not inclined to accept the terms of surrender. Some of them believed that the continuation of hostilities would lead to significant losses of Soviet and American troops, which would make it possible to conclude a truce on favorable terms for Japan.

On August 9, 1945, Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki and a number of members of the Japanese government asked the emperor to intervene in the situation in order to quickly accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. On the night of August 10, Emperor Hirohito, who shared the Japanese government's fear of the complete annihilation of the Japanese nation, ordered the Supreme Military Council to agree to unconditional surrender. On August 14, the emperor's speech was recorded, in which he announced the unconditional surrender of Japan and the end of the war.

On the night of August 15, a number of officers of the Ministry of the Army and employees of the Imperial Guard made an attempt to seize the imperial palace, place the emperor under house arrest and destroy the recording of his speech in order to prevent the surrender of Japan. The rebellion was put down.

At noon on August 15, Hirohito's speech was broadcast over the radio. This was the first appeal of the emperor of Japan to ordinary people.

Japan's surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri. This put an end to the bloodiest war of the 20th century.

LOSSES OF THE PARTIES

Allies

USSR

From June 22, 1941 to September 2, 1945, about 26.6 million people died. General material losses - $2 trillion 569 billion (about 30% of all national wealth); military spending - $ 192 billion in 1945 prices. 1,710 cities and towns, 70 thousand villages and villages, 32 thousand industrial enterprises.

China

From September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, from 3 million to 3.75 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians died in the war against Japan. In total, during the years of the war with Japan (from 1931 to 1945), China's losses amounted, according to official Chinese statistics, to more than 35 million military and civilians.

Poland

From September 1, 1939 to May 8, 1945, about 240 thousand military personnel and about 6 million civilians were killed. The territory of the country was occupied by Germany, resistance forces acted.

Yugoslavia

From April 6, 1941 to May 8, 1945, according to various sources, from 300 thousand to 446 thousand military personnel and from 581 thousand to 1.4 million civilians died. The country was occupied by Germany, resistance units were active.

France

From September 3, 1939 to May 8, 1945, 201,568 servicemen and about 400,000 civilians were killed. The country was occupied by Germany, there was a resistance movement. Material losses - 21 billion US dollars in 1945 prices.

Great Britain

From September 3, 1939 to September 2, 1945, 382,600 military personnel and 67,100 civilians died. Material losses - about 120 billion US dollars in 1945 prices.

USA

From December 7, 1941 to September 2, 1945, 407,316 servicemen and about 6,000 civilians were killed. The cost of military operations is about 341 billion US dollars in 1945 prices.

Greece

From October 28, 1940 to May 8, 1945, about 35 thousand military personnel and from 300 to 600 thousand civilians were killed.

Czechoslovakia

From September 1, 1939 to May 11, 1945, according to various estimates, from 35 thousand to 46 thousand military personnel and from 294 thousand to 320 thousand civilians died. The country was occupied by Germany. Volunteer units fought as part of the Allied armed forces.

India

From September 3, 1939 to September 2, 1945, about 87 thousand military personnel were killed. The civilian population did not suffer direct losses, but a number of researchers consider the death of 1.5 to 2.5 million Indians during the famine of 1943 (it was caused by an increase in food supplies to the British army) as a direct consequence of the war.

Canada

From September 10, 1939 to September 2, 1945, 42 thousand military personnel and about 1 thousand 600 sailors of the merchant fleet were killed. Material losses amounted to about 45 billion US dollars in 1945 prices.

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I saw women crying for the dead. They cried because we lied too much. You know how the survivors return from the war, how much space they occupy, how loudly they boast of their exploits, how terrible death is portrayed. Still would! They might not come back either.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery. "Citadel"

Hitler's coalition (Axis countries)

Germany

From September 1, 1939 to May 8, 1945, according to various sources, from 3.2 to 4.7 million military personnel were killed, civilian losses ranged from 1.4 million to 3.6 million people. The cost of military operations is about 272 billion US dollars in 1945 prices.

Japan

From December 7, 1941 to September 2, 1945, 1.27 million servicemen were killed, 620 thousand non-combat losses, 140 thousand were injured, 85 thousand people were missing; losses of the civilian population - 380 thousand people. Military spending - US$56 billion in 1945 prices

Italy

From June 10, 1940 to May 8, 1945, according to various sources, from 150 thousand to 400 thousand military personnel were killed, 131 thousand went missing. Losses of the civilian population - from 60 thousand to 152 thousand people. Military spending - about 94 billion US dollars in 1945 prices.

Hungary

From June 27, 1941 to May 8, 1945, according to various sources, from 120 thousand to 200 thousand military personnel died. Losses of the civilian population - about 450 thousand people.

Romania

From June 22, 1941 to May 7, 1945, according to various sources, from 300 thousand to 520 thousand military personnel and from 200 thousand to 460 thousand civilians died. Romania was originally on the side of the Axis countries, on August 25, 1944 it declared war on Germany.

Finland

From June 26, 1941 to May 7, 1945, about 83 thousand military personnel and about 2 thousand civilians were killed. On March 4, 1945, the country declared war on Germany.

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Until now, it is not possible to reliably assess the material losses suffered by the countries on whose territory the war was fought.

For six years, many large cities were subjected to total destruction, including some capitals of states. The scale of destruction was such that after the end of the war, these cities were built almost anew. Many cultural values ​​were irretrievably lost.

RESULTS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (left to right) at the Yalta (Crimea) conference (TASS photo chronicle)

The allies in the anti-Hitler coalition began to discuss the post-war structure of the world even in the midst of hostilities.

August 14, 1941 on board a warship in the Atlantic Ocean near about. Newfoundland (Canada), US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed the so-called. "Atlantic Charter"- a document declaring the goals of the two countries in the war against Nazi Germany and its allies, as well as their vision of the post-war world order.

On January 1, 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill, as well as Soviet Ambassador to the United States Maxim Litvinov and Chinese representative Sun Tzu-wen signed a document that later became known as "Declaration of the United Nations". The next day, the declaration was signed by representatives of 22 other states. Commitments were made to make every effort to achieve victory and not to conclude a separate peace. It is from this date that the United Nations has its chronicle, although the final agreement on the creation of this organization was reached only in 1945 in Yalta during a meeting of the leaders of the three countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. It was agreed that the UN would be based on the principle of unanimity among the great powers - permanent members of the Security Council with the right of veto.

In total, three summit meetings took place during the war.

The first one took place in Tehran November 28 - December 1, 1943. The main issue was the opening of a second front in Western Europe. It was also decided to involve Turkey in the anti-Hitler coalition. Stalin agreed to declare war on Japan after the end of hostilities in Europe.

, Asia, Africa, as well as all four ocean theaters (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Northern).

On the part of the states of the fascist bloc, it was a war of conquest and predatory, it was waged in order to establish world domination, enslave and destroy entire peoples. The fascist bloc was opposed by the anti-Hitler coalition, which came out in defense of the freedom and independence of their countries and peoples.

There are 5 periods of war.

First period (September 1, 1939 - June 21, 1941)

The first period is associated with the beginning of the war, Germany's invasion of the countries of Western Europe, the occupation of 13 European states.

In the face of a common threat, an anti-Hitler coalition began to form. Great Britain and the USA declared their support for the USSR. In August, the Soviet Union and Great Britain, on the basis of a joint agreement, sent their troops into Iran to prevent the creation of fascist strongholds in the Middle East.

In the summer of the year, the Nazi military-political leadership attempted to organize another (third) offensive in the Kursk region (Operation Citadel), but suffered a crushing defeat and was forced to head for a protracted defensive positional war. In the subsequent battle for the Dnieper, the Soviet Army frustrated the enemy's intention to hold the occupied territories on the line of the so-called "Eastern Wall".

As a result, a radical change was made in the Great Patriotic War and the entire Second World War. Irreversible changes took place in the military-political and strategic situation in favor of the anti-Hitler coalition. The collapse of the fascist bloc began. Germany faced the prospect of imminent defeat.

In Africa, British troops inflicted a major defeat on the Italo-German troops in the El Alamein area. At the same time, a large contingent of American troops was landed in Casablanca (Morocco). In the subsequent North African and Tunisian operations, the Allies defeated the expeditionary German-Italian troops and forced them to surrender (220 thousand people). In the middle of summer, as a result of the Sicilian and South Italian operations, the allied forces captured the island of Sicily and landed in Italy, which led to the latter's withdrawal from the war.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan switched to strategic defense, trying to hold on to the conquered territories. For their part, the Anglo-American troops, going on the offensive, seized the initiative in the air and at sea, inflicted a number of defeats on the Japanese fleet (sea battles off Midway Island and in the Solomon Islands), landed in New Guinea and liberated the Aleutian Islands. In this period of the war, in all the territories occupied by Germany, the partisan and people's liberation movements sharply intensified, major air operations of the allies were undertaken with attacks on cities and industrial facilities on German territory.

At the same time, the situation in the Atlantic also changed radically in favor of the Western powers.

Fourth period (January 1, 1944 - May 9, 1945)

This period is characterized by the creation of a second front in Europe, the final expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of the USSR, the liberation of the occupied countries of Western Europe, the complete collapse of Nazi Germany and its unconditional surrender.

The main events, as in previous periods, took place on the Eastern Front. The Soviet Army, by carrying out major strategic offensive operations in the city, defeated the most important groupings of German troops, liberated the Baltic States, Belarus, Left-Bank Ukraine, Moldova, and carried military operations beyond its state borders.

In the operations that followed, they were withdrawn from the war

Today they like to repeat the phrase that the war is not over until the last soldier is buried. Is there an end to this war, when search engines every season find hundreds and hundreds of dead soldiers who remain on the battlefield? There is no end to this work, and many politicians and the military, and simply not very healthy people, have been brandishing batons for many years now, dreaming of putting back in their place the “presumptuous”, in their opinion, countries, reshaping the world, taking away what they can’t get in peaceful way. These hotheads are constantly trying to kindle the fire of a new world war in different countries of the world. The fuses are already smoldering in Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Light up in one place, and explode everywhere! They say that they learn from mistakes. Unfortunately, this is not entirely true, and two world wars in the 20th century alone are evidence of this.

Historians are still arguing how many died? If 15 years ago they claimed that there were more than 50 million people, now another 20 million have been added. How accurate will their calculations be in another 15 years? After all, what was in Asia (especially in China), most likely, is simply impossible to assess. The war and the famine and epidemics associated with it simply did not leave evidence in those parts. Can't this stop anyone?

The war went on for six years. The armies of 61 countries stood up under arms with total population of 1700 million people, i.e. 80% of the entire earth's population. The fighting covered 40 countries. And the worst thing is that the number of civilian deaths exceeded the number of those killed in hostilities by several times.

Previous events

Returning to the Second World War, it should be noted that it did not begin in 1939, but most likely in 1918. The First World War did not end with peace, but rather with a truce, the first round of global confrontation was completed, and in 1939 the second began.

After the First World War, many states of Europe disappeared from the political map, new ones were formed. Whoever won did not want to part with the acquisitions, and whoever was defeated wanted to return what was lost. The far-fetched solution of some territorial issues also caused irritation. But in Europe, territorial issues have always been resolved by force, it only remained to prepare.

Very close to territorial, colonial disputes also joined. In the colonies, the local population no longer wanted to live in the old way and constantly raised liberation uprisings.

The rivalry between the European states became even more aggravated. As they say, they carry water on the offended. Germany was offended, but was not going to carry water for the winners, despite the fact that its capabilities were severely limited.

Dictatorships have become an important factor in preparing for a future war. They began to multiply in Europe in the pre-war years with amazing speed. Dictators first asserted themselves in their own countries, developing armies to appease their peoples, with a further aim at capturing new territories.

There was another important factor. This is the emergence of the USSR, which in its strength was not inferior to Russian Empire. And the USSR also created the danger of the spread of communist ideas, which to allow European countries they couldn't.

The outbreak of World War II was preceded by many different diplomatic and political factors. The Versailles agreements of 1918 did not suit Germany at all, and the Nazis who came to power created a bloc of fascist states.

By the beginning of the war, the final alignment of the warring forces took place. On one side were Germany, Italy, and Japan, and on the other, Britain, France, and the United States. The main desire of Great Britain and France was right or wrong to remove the threat of German aggression from their countries, and also to direct it to the East. I really wanted to push Nazism against Bolshevism. As a result, this policy led to the fact that, despite all the efforts of the USSR, it was not possible to prevent the war.

The culmination of the policy of appeasement, which undermined the political situation in Europe and, in fact, pushed for the outbreak of war, was the Munich Agreement of 1938 between Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Under this agreement, Czechoslovakia “voluntarily” transferred part of its country to Germany, and a year later, in March 1939, it was occupied altogether and ceased to exist as a state. Poland and Hungary also took part in this division of Czechoslovakia. It was the beginning, Poland was next in line.

Protracted and fruitless negotiations between the Soviet Union and Britain and France on mutual assistance in the event of aggression led to the fact that the USSR signed a non-aggression pact with Germany. Our country was able to delay the start of the war by almost two years, and these two years allowed it to strengthen its defense capability. This agreement also contributed to the conclusion of a neutrality pact with Japan.

And Great Britain and Poland literally on the eve of the war, on August 25, 1939, signed an agreement on mutual assistance, to which France joined a few days later.

Beginning of World War II

On August 1, 1939, after a provocation arranged by the German secret services, hostilities began against Poland. Two days later, England and France declared war on Germany. They were supported by Canada, New Zealand and Australia, India and countries South Africa. So the capture of Poland turned into a world war. But Poland never received any real help.

Two German armies, consisting of 62 divisions, completely occupied Poland within two weeks. The government of the country left for Romania. The heroism of the Polish soldiers was not enough to defend the country.

Thus began the first phase of World War II. England and France did not change their policy until May 1940, they hoped to the last that Germany would continue its offensive to the East. But everything turned out not quite so.

Major events of World War II

In April 1940, Denmark was in the way of the German army, and immediately behind it was Norway. Continuing to carry out their plan "Gelb", the German army decided to attack France through its neighboring countries - the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The French Maginot defense line could not stand it, and on May 20 the Germans reached the English Channel. The armies of Holland and Belgium capitulated. The French fleet was defeated, part of the army was able to evacuate to England. The French government left Paris and an act of surrender was signed. Next up is the UK. There has not yet been a direct invasion, but the Germans created a blockade of the island and bombarded English cities with aircraft bombs. The steadfast defense of the island in 1940 (Battle of England) only briefly held back the aggression. War at this time began to develop in the Balkans. On April 1, 1940, the Nazis captured Bulgaria, on April 6 - Greece and Yugoslavia. As a result, all of Western and Central Europe came under Hitler's rule. From Europe, the war spread to other parts of the world. Italo-German troops launched offensives in North Africa, and in the autumn of 1941 it was planned to begin the conquest of the Middle East and India with the further connection of German and Japanese troops. And in Directive No. 32, which was being developed, German militarism assumed that by solving the British problem and defeating the USSR, it would eliminate the influence of the Anglo-Saxons on the American continent. Germany began preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union.

With the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the second stage of the war began. To destroy the Soviet Union, Germany and its allies sent an invading army unprecedented in history. It consisted of 182 divisions and 20 brigades (about 5 million people, about 4.4 thousand tanks, 4.4 thousand aircraft, more than 47 thousand guns and mortars, 246 ships). Germany was supported by Romania, Finland, Hungary. Assistance was provided by Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain, Portugal and Turkey.

The Soviet Union was not fully prepared to repulse this invasion. And so the summer and autumn of 1941 were the most critical for our country. Fascist troops were able to advance from 850 to 1200 kilometers deep into our territory. Leningrad was blockaded, the Germans were dangerously close to Moscow, large parts of the Donbass, Crimea were captured, the Baltic states were occupied.

But the war with the Soviet Union did not go according to the plan of the German command. The lightning-fast capture of Moscow and Leningrad failed. The defeat of the Germans near Moscow destroyed the myth of the invincibility of their army. The question of a protracted war arose before the German generals.

It was at this time that the process of uniting all military forces in the world against fascism began. Churchill and Roosevelt officially announced that they would support the Soviet Union, and already on July 12, the USSR and England signed an appropriate agreement, and on August 2, the United States pledged to provide economic and military assistance to the Russian army. On August 14, England and the United States promulgated the Atlantic Charter, to which the USSR joined.

In September, Soviet and British troops occupied Iran in order to prevent the creation of fascist bases in the East. An anti-Hitler coalition is formed.

December 1941 was marked by an aggravation of the military situation in the Pacific. The Japanese attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. The two largest countries went to war. The Americans declared war on Italy, Japan and Germany.

But in the Pacific, in Southeast Asia and North Africa, not everything went in favor of the allies. Japan captured part of China, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong. The forces of the army and navy of Great Britain, Holland and the United States suffered heavy losses in the Yavan operation.

The third stage of the war is considered to be a turning point. Military operations at this time were distinguished by their scale and intensity. The opening of the Second Front was postponed indefinitely, and the Germans threw all their forces to seize the strategic initiative on the Eastern Front. The fate of the entire war was decided near Stalingrad and Kursk. The crushing victories of the Soviet troops in 1943 served as a strong mobilizing incentive for further action.

Nevertheless, active actions of the allies on the Western Front were still far away. They waited for further depletion of the forces of Germany and the USSR.

On July 25, 1943, Italy withdrew from the war, the Italian fascist government was liquidated. The new government declared war on Hitler. The fascist alliance began to fall apart.

On June 6, 1944, the Second Front was finally opened, and more active operations of the Western Allies began. At this time, the fascist army was ousted from the territory of the Soviet Union and the liberation of European states began. The joint actions of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition led to the final defeat of the German troops and the surrender of Germany.

At the same time, the war in the East was in full swing. Japanese forces continued to threaten the Soviet border. The end of the war with Germany allowed the United States to strengthen its armies against Japan. The Soviet Union, true to its allied obligations, transferred its armies to the Far East, which also took part in the hostilities. The war in the Far East and the territories of Southeast Asia ended on September 2, 1945. In this war, the United States used nuclear weapons against Japan.

Results and consequences of World War II

The main result of the Second World War in the first place should be considered the victory over fascism. The threat of enslavement and partial destruction of humanity has disappeared.

The greatest losses were suffered by the Soviet Union, which took the brunt of the German army: 26.6 million people. The victims of the USSR and the resistance of the Red Army as a result led to the collapse of the Reich. Human losses did not bypass any nation. More than 6 million people died in Poland, 5.5 million in Germany. A huge part of the Jewish population of Europe was destroyed.

War could lead to the collapse of civilization. The peoples of the world have condemned war criminals and fascist ideology in global trials.

A new political map planet, which, nevertheless, again divided the world into two camps, which in the long term still became a cause for tension.

The use of nuclear weapons by the Americans in Nagasaki and Hiroshima forced the Soviet Union to accelerate the development of its own atomic project.

The war also changed the economic situation of countries around the world. The European states were knocked out of the economic elite. Economic dominance has passed to the United States of America.

The United Nations (UN) was created, which gave hope that the countries would be able to agree in the future and thus the very possibility of the emergence of such conflicts as the Second World War would be excluded.