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Where did the Second World War take place? History of the Second World War

SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-45, the largest war in human history between those who started it Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan and the countries of the anti-fascist coalition. 61 states were drawn into the war, over 80% of the population globe, military operations were carried out on the territory of 40 states, as well as in maritime and ocean theaters of operations.

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. The main reason Its origin was the course of Germany, supported by its allies, towards revenge for the defeat in the First World War of 1914-18 and the violent redivision of the world. In the 1930s, 2 hotbeds of war 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 movements gained the upper hand. With A. Hitler coming 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 840 aircraft were produced in Germany, then in 1936 - 4733. The volume of military production from 1934 to 1940 increased 22 times. In 1935, Germany had 29 divisions, and by the fall of 1939 there were already 102 of them. The German leadership placed special emphasis on training offensive strike forces - armored and motorized troops, bomber aircraft. The Nazi program for gaining 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 the destruction of the USSR. The ruling circles of Western countries, hoping to avoid 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 redivide the world was also characteristic of the fascist regime of 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 occupied the territory of Northeast China in the early 1930s, creating a springboard for attacks on the USSR, Mongolia, etc. 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 conscription. As a result of the plebiscite, the Saar region was annexed to it. In March 1936, Germany unilaterally terminated the Locarno Treaty (see Locarno Treaties of 1925) and sent its troops into the Rhineland demilitarized zone, in March 1938 - into Austria (see Anschluss), eliminating 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 Munich Agreement of 1938). Having a mutual assistance agreement with Czechoslovakia and France, the USSR repeatedly offered military assistance to Czechoslovakia, but the government of E. Benes refused it. In the fall of 1938, Germany occupied part of Czechoslovakia, and in the spring of 1939 - the entire Czech Republic (Slovakia was declared an “independent state”), and captured 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 concluding a non-aggression pact with the USSR in August 1939 (see Soviet-German treaties of 1939), Germany prepared to capture Poland, which received guarantees of military support from Great Britain and France.

The first period of the war (1.9.1939 - 21.6.1941). The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. By September 1, 1939, the strength of the German Armed Forces had 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, and 824 aircraft. Great Britain in the metropolis had an armed forces of 1.3 million people, a strong navy (328 warships of the main classes and over 1.2 thousand aircraft, of which 490 are in reserve) and an air force (3.9 thousand aircraft, of which 2 thousand are 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 practical help Poland was not provided with assistance. 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 introduced its troops into the territory of Western Belarus and Western Ukraine (see March of the Red Army 1939), which were part of Russia until 1917, in order to take under protection the Belarusian and Ukrainian population in connection with the collapse of the Polish state and prevent further advance of the German armies to the east (these lands were classified as part of the Soviet “sphere of interests” according to the Soviet-German secret protocols of 1939). Important political consequences in the initial period of World War II were the reunification of Bessarabia with the USSR and the entry of Northern Bukovina into it, the conclusion of agreements in September - October 1939 on mutual assistance with the Baltic states and the subsequent 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 casualties, the main strategic goal pursued by the Soviet leadership was achieved - to secure the northwestern border. However, there was no complete guarantee that the territory of Finland would not be used for aggression against the USSR, because delivered political goal- the creation of a pro-Soviet regime in Finland - was not achieved, and the hostile attitude towards the USSR intensified. 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 the attack on Finland). Great Britain and France even planned a military invasion of the USSR from Finland, as well as bombing the oil fields of Baku. The course of the Soviet-Finnish war strengthened doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Red Army, which arose in Western ruling circles in connection with the repressions of 1937-38 against its command staff, and gave confidence to A. Hitler in his plans for the quick 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 attack on 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 Norwegian operation 1940). British and French troops landed in Norway and captured Narvik, but were unable to resist the aggressor and were evacuated from the country in June. On May 10, Wehrmacht units invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg and struck France through their territories (see French Campaign of 1940) bypassing the French Maginot Line. Having broken through the defenses in the Sedan area, tank formations of German troops reached the English Channel on May 20. On May 14, the Dutch army capitulated, and on May 28, the Belgian army. The British Expeditionary Force and part of the French troops, blocked in the Dunkirk area (see Dunkirk operation 1940), managed to evacuate to Great Britain, abandoning almost all military equipment. German troops occupied Paris on June 14 without a fight, and France capitulated on June 22. Under the terms of the Compiegne Truce, most of France was occupied by German troops. 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 - “Free France” (from 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, and in September invaded Egypt from Libya, where they were stopped and defeated by British troops in December. An attempt by Italian troops in October to develop an offensive from Albania, which they occupied in 1939, into 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 concluded the Berlin (Tripartite) Pact on September 27 (see Three Power Pact 1940).

In August 1940, aerial bombing of Great Britain by German aircraft began (see Battle of Britain 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, creating military bases there. German submarine activity intensified (see Battle of the Atlantic 1939-45). In January - May 1941, British troops, supported by a rebellious population, expelled the Italians from East Africa. In February, German troops arrived in North Africa, forming the so-called Afrika Korps, led by Lieutenant General E. Rommel. Going on the offensive on March 31, Italian-German troops reached the Libyan-Egyptian border in the 2nd half of April (see North African campaign 1940-43). Preparing an attack on the Soviet Union, the countries of the fascist (Nazi) bloc carried out aggression in the Balkans in the spring of 1941 (see Balkan campaign of 1941). On March 1-2, German troops entered Bulgaria, which joined Tripartite Pact, and on April 6, German troops (later Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops) invaded Yugoslavia (capitulated on April 18) and Greece (occupied on April 30). In May

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

Germany's military successes in the 1st period of the war were largely due to the fact that its opponents were unable to unite their efforts and create unified system military leadership, develop effective plans joint warfare. The economies and resources of the occupied countries of Europe were used to prepare for war against the USSR.

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 opposed the USSR. The Great has begun Patriotic War 1941-45. Since the mid-1930s, the Soviet Union has taken measures to increase the country's defense capability and repel possible aggression. Industrial development proceeded at an accelerated pace, the scale of military production increased, new types of tanks, aircraft, artillery systems, and the like were introduced into production and put into service. In 1939 it was adopted new Law on universal conscription, aimed at creating a massive personnel army (by mid-1941, the number of Soviet armed forces 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 colossal influence on the policies of the leading world powers. The governments of Great Britain and the USA declared support for the USSR on June 22-24, 1941; in July - October, agreements on joint actions and military-economic cooperation were concluded 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 bases in the Middle East. These joint military-political actions marked the beginning of the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. On September 24, at the London International Conference of 1941, the USSR acceded to the Atlantic Charter of 1941.

The Soviet-German front became the main front of World War II, where the armed struggle became extremely fierce. 70% of the German personnel acted against the USSR Ground Forces and SS units, 86% tank, 100% motorized formations, up to 75% artillery. Despite major successes early in the war, Germany failed to achieve the strategic goal of Plan Barbarossa. The Red Army, suffering heavy losses, in fierce battles in the summer of 1941 thwarted the “blitzkrieg” plan. Soviet troops in heavy battles exhausted and bled the advancing enemy groups. German troops failed to capture Leningrad, were shackled for a long time by the defense of Odessa in 1941 and the Sevastopol defense of 1941-42, and were stopped near Moscow. As a result of the defeat of 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.

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

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 of Tobruk, besieged by Italo-German troops, but in January - June the Italo-German troops, launching a counter-offensive, advanced to 1.2 thousand km, captured Tobruk and part of the territory of Egypt. After this, there was a lull on the African front until the fall of 1942. IN Atlantic Ocean German submarines continued to cause great damage to the Allied fleets (by the fall of 1942, the tonnage of sunk ships, mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, amounted to over 14 million tons). At the beginning of 1942, Japan occupied Malaya, the most important islands of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Burma, inflicted a major defeat on the British fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, the British-American-Dutch fleet in the Javanese operation, and seized supremacy at sea. The American Navy and Air Force, significantly strengthened by the summer of 1942, were defeated in naval battles in the Coral Sea (May 7-8) and at Midway Island (June). Japanese fleet. In Northern China, the Japanese invaders launched punitive operations in areas liberated by 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 entered into an agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in waging 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 fulfill 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 launching a counteroffensive. The failure of the German offensive on the Soviet-German front in 1942 and the failures 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, maintaining neutrality, refused to allow the United States to use air bases in the Soviet Far East, from which it could launch attacks on 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 combat operations in the 2nd period of World War II and an increase in the number of armed forces participating in the fight. In contrast to the fascist bloc, an anti-fascist coalition of states was formed, which had enormous economic and military potential. 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 also took on a similar nature in the Pacific Ocean, in Southeast Asia and in other theaters of war. By the autumn of 1942, the adventurism of the aggressive plans of the leadership of Germany and its allies, designed to achieve world domination, became completely obvious. Attempts to crush the USSR were unsuccessful. In all theaters of operations, the offensive of the aggressor armed forces was stopped. However, the fascist coalition continued to remain a powerful military-political organization capable of active action.

The third period of the war (November 1942 - December 1943). The main events of World War II 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 the German allies were operating here. On November 19, the counteroffensive began Soviet troops near Stalingrad (see Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43), which ended with the encirclement and defeat of a 330,000-strong group of German troops. An attempt by the German Army Group Don (commanded by Field Marshal General E. von Manstein) to release the encircled group of Field Marshal F. von Paulus was thwarted. Having pinned down the main forces of the Wehrmacht in the Moscow direction (40% of German divisions), the Soviet command did not allow the reserves Manstein needed to be transferred to the south. The victory of the Soviet troops at 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 and raised doubts among the Germans themselves about the possibility of victory in the war. The Red Army, having seized 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 advance to the Dnieper marked a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. The Battle of the Dnieper in 1943 upset the enemy’s plans for a transition to a protracted positional defensive war.

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

On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany, and in response, German troops occupied Northern Italy. In September, Allied troops landed in southern Italy, but were unable to break the resistance of 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 and German emissaries intensified (see Anglo-American-German contacts 1943-45). In the Pacific and Asia, Japan, switching to strategic defense, sought to retain 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 of New Guinea, ousted the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands, and inflicted a number of defeats on the Japanese fleet.

The 3rd period of World War II went down in history as a period of radical change. 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 the south of the Apennine Peninsula, were of decisive importance for the change in the strategic situation. However, the Soviet Union continued to bear the brunt of the fight against Germany and its European allies. At the Tehran Conference of 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 World War II were unable to win a single major victory and were forced to take a course towards prolonging hostilities and switching to strategic defense. Having passed through a turning point, World War II in Europe entered its final stage.

It began with a new offensive of the Red Army. In 1944, Soviet troops dealt crushing blows to the enemy along the entire Soviet-German front and drove the invaders out 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 the withdrawal of Finland from the war, and created the conditions for the liberation of Albania and Greece. Together with the Red Army, troops from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia took part in the fight against Nazi Germany, and after the truce was concluded with Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, military units of these countries also took part. The Allied forces, having carried out Operation Overlord, opened a second front and launched an offensive in Germany. Having landed on August 15, 1944 in the south of France, British-American troops, with the active support of the French Resistance Movement, joined forces with troops advancing from Normandy by mid-September, but German troops managed to leave France. After the opening of the second front, the main front of World War II continued to be the Soviet-German front, where 1.8-2.8 times more troops from the countries of the fascist bloc operated than on other fronts.

In February 1945, the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945 was held between the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, during which plans for the final defeat of the German Armed Forces were agreed upon, the basic principles of a general policy regarding the post-war structure of the world were outlined, decisions were made to create occupation zones in Germany and an all-German control body, on the collection of reparations from Germany, on the creation of 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 ease the position of the Allies in the Ardennes, at their request, the Red Army began its winter offensive ahead of schedule (see Vistula-Oder Operation of 1945 and 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 in April carried out the Ruhr operation, which ended with the encirclement and capture of a large enemy group. During the Northern 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 carried out 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 formations defeated the last groupings of German troops in the Berlin Operation of 1945 and the Prague Operation of 1945 and met with the Allied forces. The war in Europe is over. The unconditional surrender of Germany was accepted late in the evening of May 8 (at 0:43 a.m. on May 9, Moscow time) by representatives of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France.

During the 4th period of World War II, the struggle reached its greatest scope and tension. It was attended by the largest number of states, armed forces personnel, military equipment and weapons. Germany's military-economic potential declined sharply, while in the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition it reached its highest level during the war years. Military operations took place in conditions when Germany found itself facing the armies of the Allied powers advancing from the east and west. Since the end of 1944, Japan remained Germany's only ally, which indicated the collapse of the fascist bloc and bankruptcy foreign policy Germany. The USSR victoriously completed the unprecedentedly fierce Great Patriotic War.

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

Main results of the Second World War. The Second World War was the largest military conflict in human history. It lasted 6 years, the population of the participating states was 1.7 billion people, 110 million people were in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Military operations took place in Europe, Asia, Africa, in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans. It was the most destructive and bloody of wars. Over 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 and suffered the greatest human casualties (about 27 million people died). Great victims were 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 the military power of the fascist bloc was crushed. IN different periods On the Soviet-German front, from 190 to 270 divisions of Germany and its allies operated. 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 front - up to 350 km, the Italian front - up to 300 km, and the Western European front - 800-1000 km. Active operations on the Soviet-German front took place 1320 days out of 1418 (93%), on the Allied fronts out of 2069 days - 1094 (53%). The irretrievable losses of the allies (killed, died from wounds, missing in action) 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, Union of South Africa - 7 thousand people. The most important result of the war was the defeat of the most aggressive reactionary forces, which radically changed the balance of political forces in the world and determined its entire post-war development. Many peoples of “non-Aryan” origin, who were destined to perish in Nazi concentration camps or become slaves, were saved from physical destruction. The defeat of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan contributed to the rise of national liberation movement, crash colonial system imperialism. For the first time, a legal assessment was given to the ideologists and executors of misanthropic plans for conquest of world domination (see Nuremberg trials of 1945-49 and Tokyo trials of 1946-48). The Second World War had a profound impact on further development military art, aircraft construction. 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 radio electronics, rocket artillery, jet aircraft, projectile aircraft 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 close 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. Münch., 1979-2005. Bd 1-9; World War II: Results and lessons. M., 1985; Nuremberg trials: Sat. materials. M., 1987-1999. T. 1-8; 1939: History lessons. M., 1990; Resistance movement in Western Europe. 1939-1945. M., 1990-1991. T. 1-2; The Second World War: Current Issues. M., 1995; Allies at War, 1941-1945. M., 1995; The Resistance Movement in 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. The Second World War. M., 1998. T. 1-6; Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections. 13th ed. M., 2002. T. 1-2; World wars of the 20th century. M., 2002. Book. 3: World War II: Historical sketch. Book 4: World War II: Documents and materials.

About the Second World War in brief

Vtoraya mirovaya voyna 1939-1945

Beginning of World War II

Stages of the Second World War

Causes of World War II

Results of the Second World War

Preface

• In addition, this was the first war during which nuclear weapons were used for the first time. In total, 61 countries on all continents took part in this war, which made it possible to call this war a world war, and the dates of its beginning and end are considered the most significant for the history of all mankind.

• It is worth adding that First World War, despite the defeat of Germany, did not allow the situation to finally de-escalate and territorial disputes to be resolved.

• Thus, as part of this policy, Austria was given up without firing a shot, thanks to which Germany gained enough strength to challenge the rest of the world.
  The states that united against the aggression of Germany and its allies included the Soviet Union, the United States, France, Great Britain and China.

• After this, the third stage followed, which became devastating for Nazi Germany - within a year, the advance deep into the territory of the Union republics was stopped, and German troops lost the initiative in the war. This stage is considered to be a turning point. During the fourth stage, which ended on May 9, 1945 fascist Germany suffered a complete defeat, and Berlin was taken by the troops of the Soviet Union. It is also customary to highlight the fifth, final stage, which lasted until September 2, 1945, during which the last centers of resistance of the allies of Nazi Germany were broken, and nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan.

Briefly about the main thing

• At the same time, knowing the full extent of the threat, the Soviet authorities, instead of focusing on the defense of their western borders, ordered an attack on Finland. During the bloody capture Mannerheim lines Several tens of thousands of Finnish defenders and more than a hundred thousand Soviet soldiers died, while only a small area north of St. Petersburg was captured.

• However repressive policies Stalin in the 30s significantly weakened the army. After the Holodomor of 1933-1934, carried out in most of modern Ukraine, the suppression of national self-awareness among the peoples of the republics and the destruction of most of the officer corps, there was no normal infrastructure on the western borders of the country, and the local population was so intimidated that at first entire detachments appeared, fighting on the side of the Germans. However, when the fascists treated the people even worse, the national liberation movements found themselves caught between two fires and were quickly destroyed.

• There is an opinion that the initial success of Nazi Germany in capturing the Soviet Union was planned. For Stalin, this was a great opportunity to destroy peoples hostile to him with the wrong hands. Slowing down the advance of the Nazis, throwing crowds of unarmed recruits to slaughter, full-fledged defensive lines were created near distant cities, where the German offensive got bogged down.

• The greatest role during the Great Patriotic War was played by several major battles in which Soviet troops inflicted crushing defeats on the Germans. Thus, in just three months from the beginning of the war, fascist troops managed to reach Moscow, where full-fledged defensive lines had already been prepared. A series of battles that took place near the modern capital of Russia are usually called Battle for Moscow. It lasted from September 30, 1941 to April 20, 1942, and it was here that the Germans suffered their first serious defeat.

• Another, even more important event was the siege of Stalingrad and the subsequent Battle of Stalingrad. The siege began on July 17, 1942, and was lifted on February 2, 1943, during a turning point battle. It was this battle that turned the tide of the war and took away the strategic initiative from the Germans. Then, from July 5 to August 23, 1943, the Battle of Kursk took place; to this day there has not been a single battle in which such a large number of tanks took part.

• However, we must pay tribute to the allies of the Soviet Union. So, after the bloody Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the US naval forces attacked the Japanese fleet, and in the end independently broke the enemy. However, many still believe that the United States acted extremely cruelly by dropping nuclear bombs on cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After such an impressive show of force, the Japanese capitulated. In addition, the combined forces of the USA and Great Britain, which Hitler, despite the defeats in the Soviet Union, feared more than the Soviet troops, landed in Normandy and recaptured all the countries captured by the Nazis, thus diverting the German forces, which helped the Red Army enter Berlin.

• To prevent the terrible events of these six years from happening again, the participating countries created United Nations, which to this day strives to maintain security throughout the world. Usage nuclear weapons also showed the world how destructive this type weapons, so all countries signed an agreement banning their production and use. And to this day, it is the memory of these events that keeps civilized countries from new conflicts that could turn into a destructive and disastrous war.

Humanity constantly experiences armed conflicts of varying degrees of complexity. The 20th century was no exception. In our article we will talk about the “darkest” stage in the history of this century: World War II 1939-1945.

Prerequisites

The preconditions for this military conflict began to take shape long before the main events: back in 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles was concluded, which consolidated the results of the First World War.

Let us list the key reasons that led to the new war:

• Germany's lack of ability to fulfill some of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles in full (payments to affected countries) and unwillingness to put up with military restrictions;
• Change of power in Germany: Nationalists, led by Adolf Hitler, skillfully exploited the discontent of the German population and the fears of world leaders about communist Russia. Their domestic politics was aimed at establishing a dictatorship and promoting the superiority of the Aryan race;
• External aggression by Germany, Italy, Japan, against which the major powers did not take active action, fearing open confrontation.

Rice. 1. Adolf Hitler.

Initial period

The Germans received military support from Slovakia.

Hitler did not accept the offer to resolve the conflict peacefully. 03.09 Great Britain and France announced the beginning of war with Germany.

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The USSR, which at that time was an ally of Germany, announced on September 16 that it had taken control of the western territories of Belarus and Ukraine, which were part of Poland.

On 06.10 the Polish army finally surrendered, and Hitler offered the British and French peace negotiations, which did not take place due to Germany’s refusal to withdraw troops from Polish territory.

Rice. 2. Invasion of Poland 1939.

The first period of the war (09.1939-06.1941) includes:

• Naval battles of the British and Germans in the Atlantic Ocean in favor of the latter (there were no active clashes between them on land);
• War of the USSR with Finland (11.1939-03.1940): victory of the Russian army, a peace treaty was concluded;
• Germany's seizure of Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium (04-05.1940);
• Italian occupation of the south of France, German seizure of the rest of the territory: a German-French truce was concluded, most of France remains occupied;
• Inclusion of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina into the USSR without military action (08.1940);
• England's refusal to make peace with Germany: as a result of air battles (07-10.1940), the British managed to defend the country;
• Battles of the Italians with the British and representatives of the French liberation movement for African lands (06.1940-04.1941): the advantage is on the side of the latter;
• Victory of Greece over the Italian invaders (11.1940, second attempt in March 1941);
• German capture of Yugoslavia, joint German-Spanish invasion of Greece (04.1941);
• German occupation of Crete (05.1941);
• Japanese capture of southeast China (1939-1941).

During the war years, the composition of the participants in the two opposing alliances changed, but the main ones were:

• Anti-Hitler coalition: Great Britain, France, USSR, USA, Netherlands, China, Greece, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico;
• Axis countries (Nazi bloc): Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania.

France and England went to war because of alliance agreements with Poland. In 1941, Germany attacked the USSR, Japan attacked the USA, thereby changing the balance of power of the warring parties.

Main events

Starting from the second period (06.1941-11.1942), the course of military operations is reflected in the chronological table:

Date	Event
	Germany attacked the USSR. Beginning of the Great Patriotic War
	The Germans captured Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Belarus, part of Ukraine (Kyiv failed), Smolensk. Anglo-French troops liberate Lebanon, Syria, Ethiopia
August-September 1941	Anglo-Soviet troops occupy Iran
October 1941	Crimea (without Sevastopol), Kharkov, Donbass, Taganrog captured
December 1941	The Germans are losing the battle for Moscow. Japan attacks the American military base at Pearl Harbor and captures Hong Kong.
January-May 1942	Japan is taking over Southeast Asia. German-Italian troops are pushing back the British in Libya. Anglo-African troops capture Madagascar. Defeat of Soviet troops near Kharkov
	The American fleet defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Midway Islands
	Sevastopol is lost. The Battle of Stalingrad began (until February 1943). Rostov captured
August-October 1942	The British liberate Egypt and part of Libya. The Germans captured Krasnodar, but lost to Soviet troops in the foothills of the Caucasus, near Novorossiysk. Variable success in the battles for Rzhev
November 1942	The British occupied the western part of Tunisia, the Germans - the eastern. Beginning of the third stage of the war (11.1942-06.1944)
November-December 1942	The second battle of Rzhev was lost by Soviet troops
	Americans defeat Japanese in the Battle of Guadalcanal
February 1943	Soviet victory at Stalingrad
February-May 1943	The British defeated German-Italian troops in Tunisia
July-August 1943	Defeat of the Germans in the Battle of Kursk. Victory of the Allied forces in Sicily. British and American aircraft bomb Germany
November 1943	Allied forces occupy the Japanese island of Tarawa
August-December 1943	A series of victories of Soviet troops in battles on the banks of the Dnieper. Left Bank Ukraine liberated
	The Anglo-American army captured southern Italy and liberated Rome
	The Germans retreated from Right Bank Ukraine
April-May 1944	Crimea liberated
	Allied landings in Normandy. The beginning of the fourth stage of the war (06.1944-05.1945). The Americans occupied the Mariana Islands
June-August 1944	Belarus, southern France, Paris recaptured
August-September 1944	Soviet troops recaptured Finland, Romania, Bulgaria
October 1944	The Japanese lost the naval battle of Leyte to the Americans.
September-November 1944	The Baltic states, part of Belgium, were liberated. Active bombing of Germany resumed
	The northeast of France has been liberated, the western border of Germany has been broken through. Soviet troops liberated Hungary
February-March 1945	West Germany was captured, the crossing of the Rhine began. The Soviet army liberates East Prussia, northern Poland
April 1945	The USSR launches an attack on Berlin. Anglo-Canadian-American troops defeated the Germans in the Ruhr region and met with Soviet army on the Elbe. Italy's last defense broken
	Allied troops captured the north and south of Germany, liberated Denmark and Austria; Americans crossed the Alps and joined the Allies in northern Italy
	Germany surrendered
	The liberation forces of Yugoslavia defeated the remnants of the German army in northern Slovenia
May-September 1945	Fifth final stage of the war
	Indonesia and Indochina recaptured from Japan
August-September 1945	Soviet-Japanese War: defeated Kwantung Army Japan. US drops atomic bombs on Japanese cities (August 6, 9)
	Japan surrendered. End of the war

Rice. 3. Japan's surrender in 1945.

Results

Let us summarize the main results of World War II:

• The war affected 62 countries to varying degrees. About 70 million people died. Tens of thousands of settlements were destroyed, of which 1,700 were in Russia alone;
• Germany and its allies were defeated: the seizure of countries and the spread of the Nazi regime stopped;
• World leaders have changed; they became the USSR and the USA. England and France have lost their former greatness;
• The borders of states have changed, new independent countries have emerged;
• War criminals convicted in Germany and Japan;
• The United Nations was created (10/24/1945);
• The military power of the main victorious countries increased.

Historians consider an important contribution to the victory over fascism to be the serious armed resistance of the USSR against Germany (Great Patriotic War 1941-1945), American supplies of military equipment (Lend-Lease), and receipt by aviation Western allies(England, France) air superiority.

What have we learned?

From the article we learned briefly about the Second World War. This information will help you easily answer questions about when World War II began (1939), who were the main participants in the hostilities, in what year it ended (1945) and with what result.

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On September 1, 1939, the armed forces of Germany and Slovakia invaded Poland. At the same time, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired on the fortifications of the Polish Westerplatte peninsula. Since Poland was in an alliance with England, France and Germany, this was regarded as a declaration of war by Hitler.

On September 1, 1939, universal military service was announced in the USSR. The conscription age was lowered from 21 to 19, and in some cases to 18. This quickly increased the size of the army to 5 million people. The USSR began to prepare for war.

Hitler justified the need to attack Poland with the Gleiwitz incident, carefully avoiding "" and fearing the outbreak of military action against England and France. He promised the Polish people guarantees of immunity and expressed his intention only to actively defend against “Polish aggression.”

Gleiwitzky was a provocation on the part of the Third Reich to create a pretext for an armed conflict: SS officers dressed in Polish military uniforms carried out a series of attacks on the border of Poland and Germany. Pre-killed concentration camp prisoners who were taken directly to the scene of events were used as those killed during the attack.

Until the last moment, Hitler hoped that Poland would not stand up for her and Poland would be transferred to Germany in the same way as the Sudetenland was transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1938.

England and France declare war on Germany

Despite the Fuhrer's hopes, on September 3, 1945, England, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Within a short time they were joined by Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal. The USA and Japan declared neutrality.

The British ambassador, who arrived at the Reich Chancellery on September 3, 1939 and delivered an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of troops from Poland, shocked Hitler. But the war had already begun, the Fuhrer did not want to diplomatically abandon what had been won by arms, and the offensive of German troops on Polish soil continued.

Despite the declaration of war, on the Western Front, the Anglo-French troops did not undertake any active operations in the period from September 3 to 10, with the exception of military operations at sea. This inaction allowed Germany to completely destroy Poland's armed forces in just 7 days, leaving only minor pockets of resistance. But they too will be completely eliminated by October 6, 1939. It was on this day that Germany announced the end of the existence of the Polish state and government.

USSR participation at the beginning of World War II

According to the secret additional protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty, the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, including in Poland, were clearly demarcated between the USSR and Germany. Therefore, on September 16, 1939, the Soviet Union introduced its troops into Polish territory and occupied, which subsequently moved into the zone of influence of the USSR and became part of the Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Lithuania.

Despite the fact that the USSR and Poland did not declare war on each other, many historians consider the fact of the entry of Soviet troops into Polish territory in 1939 as the date of the USSR’s entry into World War II.

On October 6, Hitler proposed convening a peace conference between the world's major powers to resolve the Polish issue. England and France set a condition: either Germany withdraws troops from Poland and the Czech Republic and grants them independence, or there will be no conference. The leadership of the Third Reich rejected this ultimatum and the conference did not take place.

TASS DOSSIER. On September 2, every year since 2010, Russia has celebrated a memorable date - the Day of the End of World War II. Established by amendments to federal law“On the days of military glory and memorable dates of Russia” dated March 13, 1995, signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on July 23, 2010.

The international legal basis for establishing a memorial date is the document that marked the end of World War II - the Act of Surrender of Japan, signed on September 2, 1945 on behalf of the United Nations by representatives of the allied states, including the USSR, which were at war with Japan. In the Soviet Union, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Victory Day in Japan was set on September 3, 1945, but this date was not widely celebrated.

The largest military conflict in history

The Second World War lasted six years - from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. It covered territories on three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as four ocean theaters - Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic. The war was started by Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan together with other members of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo "axis" bloc. In total, 61 states with a total population of 1.7 billion people were drawn into it.

Great Patriotic War

On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War began with the German attack on the USSR; in the summer of 1941, the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition with the participation of the Soviet Union began. In 1944, the Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Red Army liberated almost the entire occupied territory of the USSR. At midnight on May 8 (May 9 Moscow time), 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, representatives of the German High Command signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender.

War against Japan

On August 8, 1945, the USSR, in accordance with the obligations assumed at the Crimean Conference, declared war on Japan and began military operations on August 9. The next day, the Mongolian People's Republic came out on the side of the USSR, and on August 11, the People's Liberation Army of China went on the offensive against the Japanese occupiers. After the Red Army defeated Japanese forces in Manchuria (northeastern China), Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945.

On the Day of the End of World War II, September 2, solemn and commemorative events are held in the Russian Federation.

Losses in World War II

Official data on Soviet losses in the war of 1941-1945 (8.6 million people) were published after perestroika in the work “Declassified,” which actually went back to calculations made back in the 1960s. However, on at the moment this data was considered outdated due to obvious errors by the research team led by Colonel General Grigory Krivosheev.

Corrected calculations were presented by Colonel Airat Shabaev and war veteran Colonel Sergei Mikhalev in the book “The Tragedy of Confrontation” in 2002. According to these data, the losses of the armed forces in killed, missing and captured amounted to 13 million 698.2 thousand people. Excluding those who returned from captivity - 10 million 921.9 thousand people are irretrievable losses. The losses of the civilian population of the USSR, according to historian Viktor Zemskov, amounted to 20 million people.

The losses of Germany and its allies, according to calculations made from captured Wehrmacht documents in the USSR, as well as by the German historian Rüdiger Overmans, estimate the losses of Germany and its allies on the Soviet-German front at 4 million people (including 600 thousand people - losses allies). In total, during the war of 1939-1945, Germany lost 5.3 million people based on irrevocable demographic losses. Among Germany's allies, Romania suffered the greatest losses - almost 400 thousand people. Japan's losses, according to official data from this country, amounted to 3.1 million people, of which 2.3 million were military personnel.

The irretrievable demographic losses of the United States in the war of 1941-1945, according to a recent Congressional report on losses in various wars, amounted to 405 thousand people. At the same time, 16 million US citizens went through the war. Great Britain lost a little less - 400 thousand people, including non-combat losses.