15.3. The Second World War

Foreign policy of countries before the war . The Versailles system finally collapsed before the beginning of the Second World War, for which Germany was quite thoroughly ready. So, from 1934 to 1939, military production in the country increased by 22 times, the number of troops - by 35 times, Germany came in second place in the world in terms of industrial production, etc.

Currently, researchers do not have a single view on the geopolitical state of the world on the eve of World War II. Some historians (Marxists) continue to insist on a two-polish characteristic. According to them, in the world there were two socio-political systems (socialism and capitalism), and within the framework of the capitalist system of world relations there were two centers of future war (Germany in Europe and Japan in Asia). A considerable part of historians believe that on the eve of the Second World War I there were three political systems: bourgeois-democratic, socialist and fascist-militaristic. The interaction of these systems, the balance of power between them could provide peace or disrupt it. The possible bloc of the bourgeois-democratic and socialist systems was a real alternative to the Second World War. However, a peace alliance failed. Bourgeois-democratic countries did not go for the creation of a bloc before the outbreak of war, because their leadership continued to view Soviet totalitarianism as the greatest threat to the foundations of civilization (the result of revolutionary changes in the USSR, including the 30s), than its fascist antipode, who openly proclaimed a crusade against communism. The USSR’s attempt to create a collective security system in Europe ended with the signing of treaties with France and Czechoslovakia (1935). But these treaties were not put into effect during the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Germany due to the “appeasement policy” opposed to them, which was carried out by the majority of European countries against Germany at that time.

Germany, in October 1936, formed a military-political alliance with Italy (the “Berlin-Rome axis”), and a few months later, the Anti-Comintern Pact was signed between Japan and Germany, which Italy joined a year later (November 6, 1937). The creation of a revanchist alliance forced the countries of the bourgeois-democratic camp to become more active. However, it was not until March 1939 that England and France began negotiations with the USSR on joint actions against Germany. But the agreement was never signed. Despite the polarity of interpretations of the reasons for the failed union of anti-fascist states, some of which shift the blame for the non-aggression of the aggressor to the capitalist countries, others attribute to the policies of the USSR leadership, etc., one thing is obvious - the fascist politicians use the contradictions between the anti-fascist countries, which led to grave consequences for the whole world.

Soviet policy on the eve of the war. The consolidation of the fascist camp against the background of the policy of appeasing the aggressor pushed the USSR into an open struggle with the sprawling aggressor: 1936 - Spain, 1938 - a small war with Japan at Lake Hassan, 1939 - the Soviet-Japanese war on Halkin-Gol. However, quite unexpectedly, on August 23, 1939 (eight days before the beginning of the World War, the Non-Aggression Pact of Germany and the USSR was called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). The secret protocols to the pact on delimiting the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR in the north and south of Europe, as well as the division of Poland that have become the property of the world community, forced us to take a fresh look (especially domestic researchers) on the role of the USSR in the anti-fascist struggle on the eve of the war, as well as its activities from September 1939 to June 1941, on the history of the opening of the second front and much more.

There is no doubt that the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact drastically changed the balance of forces in Europe: the USSR avoided seemingly inevitable clashes with Germany, while the countries of Western Europe were face to face with the aggressor, whom they continued to pacify (attempt England and France from August 23 to September 1, 1939 to negotiate with Germany in the Polish question on the type of the Munich Agreement).

The beginning of the Second World War . The immediate pretext for the attack on Poland was a fairly frank provocation of Germany at their joint border (the city of Gliwice), after which on September 1, 1939, 57 German divisions (1.5 million people), about 2,500 tanks, 2,000 airplanes invaded Poland . The Second World War began.

Britain and France declared war on Germany already on September 3, without rendering any real help to Poland. From September 3 to 10, Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada entered the war against Germany; The United States declared neutrality, Japan declared non-interference in the European war.

The first stage of the war. Thus, World War II began as a war between bourgeois-democratic and fascist-militarist blocs. The first stage of the war is dated September 1, 1939 - June 21, 1941, at the beginning of which the German army occupied part of Poland until September 17, coming to the line (the city of Lviv, Vladimir-Volynsky, Brest-Litovsk), designated by one of the mentioned secret protocols Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Until May 10, 1940, England and France did not practically conduct military operations with the enemy, therefore this period was called the “strange war”. Germany took advantage of the Allied passivity, expanding aggression, occupying Denmark and Norway in April 1940 and launching an offensive from the shores of the North Sea to the Maginot Line on May 10 of the same year. During May, the governments of Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland capitulated. And on June 22, 1940, France was forced to sign a truce with Germany in Compiegne. As a result of the actual surrender of France, a collaborationist state headed by Marshal A. Petain (1856-1951) and the administrative center in Vichy (the so-called “Vichy regime”) was created in its south. France resisted by General Charles de Gaulle ( 1890-1970).

On May 10, there were changes in the leadership of Great Britain; Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was appointed head of the country's military office (1874-1965), whose anti-German, anti-fascist and, of course, anti-Soviet sentiments were well known. The period of "strange warriors" is over.

From August 1940 to May 1941, the German command organized systematic air raids on cities in England, trying to force its leadership to withdraw from the war. As a result, during this time about 190 thousand high-explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on England, and by June 1941 a third of the tonnage of its merchant fleet had been sunk. Strengthened the onslaught of Germany and the countries of Southeast Europe. The accession to the Berlin Pact (the agreement of Germany, Italy and Japan of September 27, 1940) of the Bulgarian pro-fascist government ensured the success of the aggression against Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941.

Italy in 1940 developed military operations in Africa, attacking the colonial possessions of England and France (East Africa, Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia). However, in December 1940, the British forced the Italian troops to surrender. Germany rushed to the aid of an ally.

The policy of the USSR at the first stage of the war did not receive a uniform assessment. A significant part of Russian and foreign researchers are inclined to interpret it as an auxiliary towards Germany, which is based on the agreement between the USSR and Germany within the framework of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, as well as rather close military-political, trade cooperation between the two countries until the beginning of Germany’s aggression against the USSR. In our opinion, in such an assessment the strategic approach prevails at a pan-European, global level. At the same time, the point of view, which draws attention to the benefits received by the USSR from cooperation with Germany at the first stage of the Second World War, somewhat corrects this unequivocal assessment, making it possible to speak of the USSR’s well-known strengthening in terms of the time it won to prepare for repelling inevitable aggression, ultimately ensured the subsequent Great Victory over fascism of the entire anti-fascist camp.

In this chapter, we confine ourselves to this preliminary assessment of the participation of the USSR in the Second World War, since its other stages are discussed in more detail in ch. 16. Here it is advisable to dwell only on some of the most important episodes of the subsequent stages.

The second stage of the war. The second stage of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 1942) was characterized by the entry of the USSR into the war, the retreat of the Red Army and its first victory (the battle for Moscow), as well as the beginning of the intensive formation of the anti-Hitler coalition. For example, on June 22, 1941, England declared full support for the USSR, and the United States almost simultaneously (June 23) expressed readiness to provide economic assistance to it. As a result, on July 12, in Moscow, the Soviet-British agreement on joint actions against Germany was signed, and on August 16 - on trade between the two countries. In the same month, as a result of the meeting of F. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and Winston Churchill, the Atlantic Charter was signed , which the USSR joined in September. However, the United States entered the war on December 7, 1941 after the tragedy at the Pacific Naval Base Pearl Harbor. Developing the offensive from December 1941 to June 1942, Japan occupied Thailand, Singapore, Burma, Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. On January 1, 1942, in Washington, 27 states that were in a state of war with the countries of the so-called “fascist axis” signed the United Nations Declaration, which completed the difficult process of creating the anti-Hitler coalition.

The third stage of the war. The third stage of the war (mid-November 1942 - the end of 1943) was marked by a radical change in its course, which meant the loss of the strategic initiative of the countries of the fascist coalition on the fronts, the superiority of the anti-Hitler coalition in economic, political and moral aspects. On the Eastern Front, the Soviet Army won the biggest victories at Stalingrad and Kursk. Anglo-American troops successfully attacked in Africa, liberating Egypt, Cyrenaica, Tunisia from German-Italian formations. In Europe, as a result of successful actions in Sicily, the Allies forced Italy to capitulate. In 1943, the allied relations of the countries of the anti-fascist bloc were strengthened: at the Moscow Conference (October 1943) Britain, the USSR and the USA adopted declarations on Italy, Austria and on general security (also signed by China), on the responsibility of the Hitlerites for the crimes committed.

At the Tehran Conference (November 28 - December 1, 1943), where F. Roosevelt, I. Stalin and U. Churchill met for the first time, it was decided to open a Second Front in Europe in May 1944 and adopted a Declaration on Joint Action war against Germany and post-war cooperation. At the end of 1943, the Japanese question was similarly resolved at a conference of leaders in England, China and the United States.

The fourth stage of the war. On the fourth stage of the war (from the end of 1943 to May 9, 1945) was the process of liberation by the Soviet Army of the western regions of the USSR, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, etc. In Western Europe, with some delay (June 6, 1944) The Second Front was opened, the liberation of the countries of Western Europe was going on. In 1945, 18 million people, about 260 thousand guns and mortars, up to 40 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery systems, more than 38 thousand aircraft participated on the battlefields in Europe at the same time.

At the Yalta Conference (February 1945), the leaders of England, the USSR and the USA decided the fate of Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia, discussed the creation of the United Nations (established April 25, 1945), concluded an agreement on the Soviet Union entering the war against Japan.

The result of the joint efforts was the complete and unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945, signed in the outskirts of Berlin by Karl-Horst.

The fifth stage of the war. The final, fifth stage of the Second World War took place in the Far East and in Southeast Asia (from May 9 to September 2, 1945). By the summer of 1945, allied troops and national resistance forces liberated all the lands seized by Japan, and the American troops occupied the strategically important islands of Irojima and Okinawa, launching massive bombing attacks on the cities of the island state. For the first time in world practice, the Americans made two barbaric atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945).

After the lightning defeat of the USSR by the Kwantung Army (August 1945), Japan signed an act of surrender (September 2, 1945).

Results of the Second World War

Results of the Second World War. The Second World War, planned by the aggressors as a series of small blitz wars, turned into a global armed conflict. At its various stages from both sides at the same time participated from 8 to 12.8 million people, from 84 to 163 thousand guns, from 6.5 to 18.8 thousand aircraft. The general theater of operations was 5.5 times larger than the territories covered by the First World War. All in all, the war of 1939-1945. 64 states with an aggregate population of 1.7 billion people were involved. The losses incurred as a result of the war are striking in their scale. More than 50 million people died, and if we take into account the constantly refining data on the losses of the USSR (they range from 21.78 million to about 30 million), this figure cannot be called final. Only in the death camps killed 11 million lives. The economy of most of the warring countries was undermined.

It was these terrible results of the Second World War, which put civilization on the brink of destruction, forced its viable forces to become more active. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact of the formation of an effective structure of the world community - the United Nations (UN), opposing the totalitarian development trends, the imperial ambitions of individual states; the act of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials condemning fascism, totalitarianism, punishing the leaders of criminal regimes; a broad anti-war movement that promoted the adoption of international covenants banning the production, distribution and use of weapons of mass destruction, etc.

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By the time the war began, perhaps, only England, Canada, and the United States remained the reservation centers for the foundations of Western civilization. The rest of the world was increasingly slipping into the abyss of totalitarianism, which, as we tried to show with an example of an analysis of the causes and consequences of world wars, led to the inevitable death of humanity. The victory over fascism strengthened the position of democracy, provided the path to a slow recovery of civilization. However, this path was very difficult and long. Suffice it to say that only since the end of the Second World War until 1982, 255 wars and military conflicts took place, until recently a destructive confrontation between political camps, the so-called “cold war”, lasted, humanity often stood on the verge of the possibility of nuclear war and Yes, even today we can see in the world the same military conflicts, bloody feuds, lingering islands of totalitarian regimes, etc. However, it seems to us that they no longer define the face of modern civilization.

Questions for self-test

1. 1. What were the causes of the First World War?

2. 2. What stages distinguish during the First World War, which groups of countries participated in it?

3. 3. How did World War I end, what consequences did it have?

4. 4. Expand the causes of the emergence and spread of fascism in the XX century., Give its characteristics, compare with totalitarianism.

5. 5. What caused the Second World War, what was the layout of the participating countries, what stages did it go through and how did it end?

6. 6. Compare the size of human and material losses in the First and Second World Wars.

See also

• 15.1. World War I
• 15.3. The Second World War