When the Second World War began. Stages of the Second World War. On the fronts of the world war

October 2, 1935 - May 1936
Fascist Italy invades, conquers and annexes Ethiopia.

October 25 - November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and fascist Italy conclude a cooperation agreement on October 25; On November 1, the creation of the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.

November 25, 1936
Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan conclude the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the USSR and the international communist movement.

July 7, 1937
Japan invades China and World War II begins in the Pacific.

September 29, 1938
Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France sign the Munich Agreement, obliging the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland (where key Czechoslovak defenses were located) to Nazi Germany.

March 14-15, 1939
Under pressure from Germany, the Slovaks declare their independence and create the Slovak Republic. The Germans violate the Munich Agreement by occupying the remnants of Czech lands and create the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

March 31, 1939
France and Great Britain guarantee the inviolability of the borders of the Polish state.

August 23, 1939
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact and a secret annex to it, according to which Europe is divided into spheres of influence.

September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, starting World War II in Europe.

September 3, 1939
Fulfilling their obligations to Poland, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.

September 27-29, 1939
On September 27, Warsaw surrenders. The Polish government goes into exile through Romania. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between themselves.

November 30, 1939 - March 12, 1940
The Soviet Union attacks Finland, starting the so-called Winter War. The Finns ask for a truce and are forced to cede the Karelian Isthmus and the northern shore of Lake Ladoga to the Soviet Union.

April 9 - June 9, 1940
Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack; Norway resists until June 9.

May 10 - June 22, 1940
Germany invades Western Europe - France and the neutral Benelux countries. Luxembourg occupied on May 10; The Netherlands surrenders on May 14; Belgium - May 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement, according to which German troops occupy the northern part of the country and the entire Atlantic coast. A collaborationist regime is established in the southern part of France with its capital in the city of Vichy.

June 10, 1940
Italy enters the war. June 21 Italy invades southern France.

June 28, 1940
The USSR forces Romania to cede the eastern region of Bessarabia and the northern half of Bukovina to Soviet Ukraine.

June 14 - August 6, 1940
On June 14-18, the Soviet Union occupies the Baltic states, stages a communist coup in each of them on July 14-15, and then, on August 3-6, annexes them as Soviet republics.

July 10 - October 31, 1940
The air war against England, known as the Battle of Britain, ends in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

August 30, 1940
Second Vienna Arbitration: Germany and Italy decide to divide disputed Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of northern Transylvania leads to the fact that the Romanian king Carol II abdicates the throne in favor of his son Mihai, and the dictatorial regime of General Ion Antonescu comes to power.

September 13, 1940
The Italians attack British-controlled Egypt from their own-controlled Libya.

November 1940
Slovakia (November 23), Hungary (November 20) and Romania (November 22) join the German coalition.

February 1941
Germany sends its Afrika Korps to northern Africa to support the hesitant Italians.

April 6 - June 1941
Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria invade and divide Yugoslavia. April 17 Yugoslavia capitulates. Germany and Bulgaria attack Greece, helping the Italians. Greece ends resistance in early June 1941.

April 10, 1941
The leaders of the Ustasha terrorist movement proclaim the so-called Independent State of Croatia. Immediately recognized by Germany and Italy, the new state also includes Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia officially joins the Axis powers on June 15, 1941.

June 22 - November 1941
Nazi Germany and its allies (with the exception of Bulgaria) attack the Soviet Union. Finland, seeking to regain territory lost during the Winter War, joins the Axis just before the invasion. The Germans quickly captured the Baltic states and by September, with the support of the joining Finns, besieged Leningrad (St. Petersburg). On the central front, German troops occupied Smolensk in early August and approached Moscow by October. In the south, German and Romanian troops captured Kyiv in September, and Rostov-on-Don in November.

December 6, 1941
The counteroffensive launched by the Soviet Union forces the Nazis to retreat from Moscow in disarray.

December 8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan and enters World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) and British Singapore. By April 1942, the Philippines, Indochina and Singapore were occupied by the Japanese.

December 11-13, 1941
Nazi Germany and its allies declare war on the United States.

May 30, 1942 - May 1945
The British bomb Cologne, thus bringing hostilities into Germany itself for the first time. Over the next three years, Anglo-American aircraft almost completely destroy large German cities.

June 1942
British and American naval forces stop the advance of the Japanese fleet in the central Pacific Ocean near the Midway Islands.

June 28 - September 1942
Germany and its allies are launching a new offensive in the Soviet Union. By mid-September, German troops make their way to Stalingrad (Volgograd) on the Volga and invade the Caucasus, having previously captured the Crimean peninsula.

August - November 1942
American troops stop the Japanese advance towards Australia at the Battle of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands).

October 23-24, 1942
The British army defeats Germany and Italy at the Battle of El Alamein (Egypt), forcing the forces of the fascist bloc into a disorderly retreat through Libya to the eastern border of Tunisia.

November 8, 1942
American and British troops land at several locations on the coasts of Algeria and Morocco in French North Africa. A failed attempt by the Vichy French army to thwart the invasion allows the Allies to quickly reach the western border of Tunisia and results in Germany occupying southern France on November 11th.

November 23, 1942 - February 2, 1943
The Soviet army counterattacks, breaks through the lines of Hungarian and Romanian troops north and south of Stalingrad and blocks the German Sixth Army in the city. The remnants of the Sixth Army, which Hitler had forbidden to retreat or try to break out of encirclement, capitulate on January 30 and February 2, 1943.

May 13, 1943
The troops of the fascist bloc in Tunisia surrender to the Allies, ending the North African campaign.

July 10, 1943
American and British troops land in Sicily. By mid-August, the Allies take control of Sicily.

July 5, 1943
German troops launch a massive tank attack near Kursk. The Soviet army repels the attack for a week and then goes on the offensive.

July 25, 1943
The Grand Council of the Italian Fascist Party removes Benito Mussolini and assigns Marshal Pietro Badoglio to form a new government.

September 8, 1943
Badoglio's government unconditionally capitulates to the Allies. Germany immediately seizes control of Rome and northern Italy, establishing a puppet regime led by Mussolini, who was released from prison by a German sabotage unit on September 12.

September 9, 1943
Allied troops land on the coast of Salerno near Naples.

January 22, 1944
Allied troops successfully land near Anzio, just south of Rome.

March 19, 1944
Anticipating Hungary's intention to leave the Axis coalition, Germany occupies Hungary and forces its ruler, Admiral Miklós Horthy, to appoint a pro-German prime minister.

June 4, 1944
Allied troops liberate Rome. Anglo-American bombers hit targets in eastern Germany for the first time; this continues for six weeks.

June 6, 1944
British and American troops successfully land on the coast of Normandy (France), opening a Second Front against Germany.

June 22, 1944
Soviet troops launch a massive offensive in Belarus (Belarus), destroying the German Army of Group Center, and by August 1 head west to the Vistula and Warsaw (central Poland).

July 25, 1944
The Anglo-American army breaks out of the Normandy bridgehead and moves east towards Paris.

August 1 - October 5, 1944
The Polish anti-communist Home Army rebels against the German regime, trying to liberate Warsaw before the Soviet troops arrive. The advance of the Soviet army is suspended on the eastern bank of the Vistula. On October 5, the remnants of the Home Army that fought in Warsaw surrender to the Germans.

August 15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France near Nice and quickly move northeast towards the Rhine.

August 20-25, 1944
Allied troops reach Paris. On August 25, the French Free Army, with the support of the Allied forces, enters Paris. By September the Allies reach the German border; by December, virtually all of France, most of Belgium and parts of the southern Netherlands were liberated.

August 23, 1944
The appearance of the Soviet army on the Prut River prompts the Romanian opposition to overthrow the Antonescu regime. The new government concludes a truce and immediately goes over to the Allied side. This turn of Romanian policy forces Bulgaria to surrender on September 8, and Germany to leave the territory of Greece, Albania and southern Yugoslavia in October.

August 29 - October 27, 1944
Underground units of the Slovak Resistance, under the leadership of the Slovak National Council, which includes both communists and anti-communists, rebel against the German authorities and the local fascist regime. On October 27, the Germans captured the town of Banska Bystrica, where the rebels' headquarters were located, and suppressed organized resistance.

September 12, 1944
Finland concludes a truce with the Soviet Union and leaves the Axis coalition.

October 15, 1944
The Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross party stages a pro-German coup d'état to prevent the Hungarian government from negotiating surrender with the Soviet Union.

December 16, 1944
Germany launches a final offensive on the western front, known as the Battle of the Bulge, in an attempt to recapture Belgium and divide the Allied forces stationed along the German border. By January 1, 1945, the Germans were forced to retreat.

January 12, 1945
The Soviet army launches a new offensive: in January it liberates Warsaw and Krakow; February 13, after a two-month siege, captures Budapest; in early April expels the Germans and Hungarian collaborators from Hungary; taking Bratislava on April 4, forces Slovakia to capitulate; April 13 enters Vienna.

April 16, 1945
Soviet troops launch a decisive offensive, encircling Berlin.

April 1945
Partisan troops led by Yugoslav communist leader Josip Broz Tito capture Zagreb and overthrow the Ustasha regime. The leaders of the Ustasha party flee to Italy and Austria.

May 1945
Allied forces capture Okinawa, the last island on the way to the Japanese archipelago.

August 8, 1945
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.

September 2, 1945
Japan, having agreed to the terms of unconditional surrender on August 14, 1945, officially capitulates, thereby putting an end to World War II.

Briefly about the main stages of the Second World War

Briefly point by point, the entire course of World War II is divided into five main stages. We will try to describe them clearly for you.

• The shortest stages in the table for grades 9, 10, 11
• The beginning of the European conflict - initial stage 1
• Opening of the Eastern Front - Stage 2
• Fracture - stage 3
• Liberation of Europe - stage 4
• The end of the war - final stage 5

Table for ninth, tenth, eleventh grades

The stages of the Second World War briefly point by point - the main points
The beginning of the European conflict - The first initial stage of 1939 - 1941

• The first stage of the largest armed conflict in terms of its scale began on the day when Hitler’s troops entered Polish soil and ended on the eve of the Nazi attack on the USSR.
• The beginning of the second conflict, which acquired global proportions, was officially recognized as September 1, 1939. At dawn of this day, the German occupation of Poland began and European countries realized the threat posed by Hitler's Germany.
• 2 days later, France and the British Empire entered the war on the side of Poland. Following them, the French and British dominions and colonies declared war on the Third Reich. Representatives of Australia, New Zealand and India were the first to announce their decision (September 3), then the leadership of the Union of South Africa (September 6) and Canada (September 10).
• However, despite entering the war, the French and British states did not help Poland in any way, and generally did not begin any active actions for a long time, trying to redirect German aggression to the east - against the USSR.
• All this ultimately led to the fact that in the first war period, Nazi Germany managed to occupy not only Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Belgian, Luxembourg and Dutch territories, but also most of the French Republic.
• After which the Battle of Britain began, which lasted more than three months. True, the Germans did not have to celebrate victory in this battle - they never managed to land troops on the British Isles.
• As a result of the first period of the war, most European states found themselves under fascist German-Italian occupation or became dependent on these states.

Opening of the Eastern Front - Second stage 1941 - 1942

• The second stage of the war began on June 22, 1941, when the Nazis violated the state border of the USSR. This period was marked by the expansion of the conflict and the collapse of Hitler's blitzkrieg.
• One of the significant events of this stage was also the support of the USSR from the largest states - the USA and Great Britain. Despite their rejection of the socialist system, the governments of these states declared unconditional assistance to the Union. Thus, the foundation was laid for a new military alliance - the anti-Hitler coalition.
• The second most important point of this stage of the Second World War is considered to be joining the US military action, provoked by an unexpected and rapid attack by the fleet and air force of the Japanese Empire on an American military base in the Pacific Ocean. The attack occurred on December 7, and the very next day war was declared on Japan by the United States, Great Britain and several other countries. And after another 4 days, Germany and Italy presented the United States with a note declaring war.

Turning point during World War II - Third stage 1942-1943

• The turning point of the war is considered the first major defeat of the German army on the approaches to the Soviet capital and Battle of Stalingrad, during which the Nazis not only suffered significant losses, but were also forced to abandon offensive tactics and switch to defensive ones. These events occurred during the third stage of hostilities, which lasted from November 19, 1942 until the end of 1943.
• Also at this stage, the Allies entered Italy, where a power crisis was already brewing, almost without a fight. As a result, Mussolini was overthrown, the fascist regime collapsed, and the new government chose to sign a truce with America and Britain.
• At the same time, a turning point occurred in the theater of operations in the Pacific Ocean, where Japanese troops began to suffer defeats one after another.

Liberation of Europe - Fourth stage 1944 -1945

• During the fourth war period, which began on the first day of 1944 and ended on May 9, 1945, a second front was created in the west, the fascist bloc was defeated and all European states were liberated from the German invaders. Germany was forced to admit defeat and sign an act of surrender.

End of the war - Fifth final stage 1945

• Despite the fact that German troops laid down their arms, the world war was not over yet - Japan was not going to follow the example of its former allies. As a result, the USSR declared war on the Japanese state, after which Red Army units began military operation in Manchuria. The resulting defeat of the Kwantung Army hastened the end of the war.
• However, the most significant moment of this period was the atomic bombing of Japanese cities by the American air force. This happened on August 6 (Hiroshima) and 9 (Nagasaki), 1945.
• This stage ended, and with it the entire war, on September 2 of the same year. On this significant day, on board the American battle cruiser Missouri, representatives of the Japanese government officially signed the act of surrender.

Main stages of World War II

Conventionally, historians divide the Second World War into five periods:

The beginning of the war and the invasion of German troops into Western Europe.

World War II began on September 1, 1939 with an attack fascist Germany to Poland. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany; The Anglo-French coalition included the British dominions and colonies (September 3 - Australia, New Zealand, India; September 6 - Union of South Africa; September 10 - Canada, etc.)

The incomplete deployment of the armed forces, the lack of assistance from Great Britain and France, and the weakness of the top military leadership put the Polish army before a disaster: its territory was occupied by German troops. The Polish bourgeois-landowner government secretly fled from Warsaw to Lublin on September 6, and to Romania on September 16.

The governments of Great Britain and France, after the outbreak of the war until May 1940, continued the pre-war foreign policy course in only a slightly modified form, hoping to direct German aggression against the USSR. During this period, called the “Phantom War” of 1939-1940, the Anglo-French troops were virtually inactive, and armed forces Nazi Germany, taking advantage of the strategic pause, was actively preparing for an offensive against the countries of Western Europe.

On April 9, 1940, formations of the Nazi army invaded Denmark without declaring war and occupied its territory. On the same day, the invasion of Norway began.

Even before the completion of the Norwegian operation, the military-political leadership of Nazi Germany began to implement the Gelb plan, which provided for a lightning strike on France through Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. German main blow fascist troops struck through the Ardennes Mountains, bypassing the Maginot Line from the North through Northern France. The French command, adhering to a defensive strategy, placed large forces on the Maginot Line and did not create a strategic reserve in the depths. Having broken through the defenses in the Sedan area, tank formations of fascist German troops reached the English Channel on May 20. On May 14, the Dutch armed forces capitulated. The Belgian army, the British expeditionary force and part of the French army were cut off in Flanders. On May 28, the Belgian army capitulated. The British and parts of the French troops, blocked in the Dunkirk region, managed to evacuate to Great Britain, having lost all their heavy military equipment. At the beginning of June, fascist German troops broke through the front hastily created by the French on the Somme and Aisne rivers.

On June 10, the French government left Paris. Having not exhausted the possibilities of resistance, the French army laid down its arms. On June 14, German troops occupied the French capital without a fight. On June 22, 1940, hostilities ended with the signing of the act of surrender of France - the so-called. Compiègne Armistice of 1940. According to its terms, the territory of the country was divided into two parts: a Nazi occupation regime was established in the northern and central regions, the southern part of the country remained under the control of the anti-national government of Pétain, which expressed the interests of the most reactionary part of the French bourgeoisie, oriented towards fascist Germany (t .n. produced by Vichy).

After the defeat of France, the threat looming over Great Britain contributed to the isolation of the Munich capitulators and the rallying of the forces of the English people. The government of W. Churchill, which replaced the government of N. Chamberlain on May 10, 1940, began organizing a more effective defense. The US government gradually began to reconsider its foreign policy course. It increasingly supported Great Britain, becoming its “non-belligerent ally.”

Preparing a war against the USSR, Nazi Germany carried out aggression in the Balkans in the spring of 1941. On March 1, Nazi troops entered Bulgaria. On April 6, 1941, Italo-German and then Hungarian troops launched an invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, occupied Yugoslavia by April 18, and the Greek mainland by April 29.

By the end of the First Period of the War, almost all countries of Western and Central Europe found themselves occupied by Nazi Germany and Italy or became dependent on them. Their economy and resources were used to prepare for war against the USSR.

The attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR, the expansion of the scale of the war, the collapse of Hitler's Blitzkrieg doctrine.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941 - 1945 began, which became the most important part of the 2nd World War.

The entry of the USSR into the war determined its qualitatively new stage, led to the consolidation of all the progressive forces of the world in the fight against fascism, and influenced the policies of the leading world powers.

The governments of the leading powers of the Western world, without changing their previous attitude towards the social system of the socialist state, saw in an alliance with the USSR the most important condition for their security and the weakening of the military power of the fascist bloc. On June 22, 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt, on behalf of the British and US governments, issued a statement of support for the Soviet Union in the fight against fascist aggression. On July 12, 1941, an agreement was concluded between the USSR and Great Britain on joint actions in the war against Germany. On August 2, an agreement was reached with the United States on military-economic cooperation and providing material support to the USSR.

On August 14, Roosevelt and Churchill promulgated the Atlantic Charter, to which the USSR joined on September 24, expressing a special opinion on a number of issues directly related to the military actions of the Anglo-American troops. At the Moscow meeting (September 29 - October 1, 1941), the USSR, Great Britain and the USA considered the issue of mutual military supplies and signed the first protocol. To prevent the danger of creating fascist bases in the Middle East, British and Soviet troops entered Iran in August–September 1941. These joint military-political actions marked the beginning of the creation of the Anti-Hitler coalition, which played an important role in the war.

During the strategic defense in the summer and autumn of 1941, Soviet troops offered staunch resistance to the enemy, exhausted and bled the forces of the Nazi Wehrmacht. The fascist German troops were unable to capture Leningrad, as envisaged by the invasion plan, and were shackled for a long time by the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, and stopped near Moscow. As a result of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow and the general offensive in the winter of 1941/42, the fascist plan for a “lightning war” finally collapsed. This victory had world-historical significance: it dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the fascist Wehrmacht, confronted fascist Germany with the need to wage a protracted war, inspired the European peoples to fight for liberation against fascist tyranny, and gave a powerful impetus to the Resistance movement in the occupied countries.

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States with a surprise attack on the American military base at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean. Two major powers entered the war, which significantly affected the balance of military-political forces and expanded the scale and scope of the armed struggle. On December 8, the USA, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan; On December 11, Nazi Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

The entry of the United States into the war strengthened the anti-Hitler coalition. On January 1, 1942, the Declaration of 26 States was signed in Washington; Later, new states joined the Declaration.

On May 26, 1942, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Germany and its partners; On June 11, the USSR and the USA entered into an agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in waging war.

Having carried out extensive preparations, the fascist German command in the summer of 1942 launched a new offensive on the Soviet-German front. In mid-July 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began (1942 - 1943), one of the greatest battles of the 2nd World War. During heroic defense in July–November 1942, Soviet troops pinned down the enemy strike group, inflicted heavy losses on it and prepared the conditions for launching a counteroffensive.

In northern Africa, British troops managed to stop the further advance of German-Italian troops and stabilize the situation at the front.

In the Pacific Ocean in the first half of 1942, Japan managed to achieve supremacy at sea and occupied Hong Kong, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines, the most important islands of Indonesia and other territories. At the cost of great efforts, the Americans managed to defeat the Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea and at Midway Atoll in the summer of 1942, which made it possible to change the balance of forces in favor of the allies, limit Japan's offensive actions and force the Japanese leadership to abandon their intention to enter the war against the USSR.

A radical turning point in the course of the war. The collapse of the offensive strategy of the fascist bloc. The 3rd period of the war was characterized by an increase in the scope and intensity of military operations. The decisive events in this period of the war continued to take place on the Soviet-German front. On November 19, 1942, a counteroffensive of Soviet troops began near Stalingrad, which ended with the encirclement and defeat of a 330-thousand group of troops of the pr-ka. The victory of Soviet troops at Stalingrad shocked Nazi Germany and undermined its military and political prestige in the eyes of its allies. This victory was a powerful incentive further development liberation struggle of peoples in occupied countries, gave it greater organization and purposefulness. In the summer of 1943, the military-political leadership of Nazi Germany made a last attempt to regain the strategic initiative and defeat the Soviet troops

in the Kursk region. However, this plan was a complete failure. The defeat of fascist German troops in the Battle of Kursk in 1943 forced fascist Germany to finally switch to strategic defense.

The USSR's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition had every opportunity to fulfill their obligations and open a 2nd front in Western Europe. By the summer of 1943, the strength of the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain exceeded 13 million people. However, the strategy of the USA and Great Britain was still determined by their policies, which ultimately counted on the mutual exhaustion of the USSR and Germany.

On July 10, 1943, American and British troops (13 divisions) landed on the island of Sicily, captured the island, and in early September they landed amphibious assault forces on the Apennine Peninsula, without encountering serious resistance from Italian troops. The offensive of the Anglo-American troops in Italy took place in the context of an acute crisis in which the Mussolini regime found itself as a result of the anti-fascist struggle of the broad masses led by the Italian Communist Party. On July 25, Mussolini's government was overthrown. The new government was headed by Marshal Badoglio, who signed an armistice with the United States and Great Britain on September 3. On October 13, the government of P. Badoglio declared war on Germany. The collapse of the fascist bloc began. Anglo-American forces landed in Italy launched an offensive against the Nazi troops, but, despite their numerical superiority, they were unable to break their defenses and suspended active operations in December 1943.

During the 3rd period of the war, significant changes occurred in the balance of forces of the warring parties in the Pacific Ocean and in Asia. Japan, having exhausted the possibilities of further offensive in the Pacific theater of operations, sought to gain a foothold on the strategic lines conquered in 1941-42. However, even under these conditions, the military-political leadership of Japan did not consider it possible to weaken the grouping of its troops on the border with the USSR. By the end of 1942, the United States made up for the losses of its Pacific Fleet, which began to surpass the Japanese fleet, and intensified its operations on the approaches to Australia, in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean and on Japan's sea lanes. The Allied offensive in the Pacific Ocean began in the fall of 1942 and brought the first successes in the battles for the island of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands), which was abandoned by Japanese troops in February 1943. During 1943, American troops landed on New Guinea, drove the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands, and a number of significant losses to the Japanese navy and merchant fleet. The peoples of Asia rose more and more decisively in the anti-imperialist liberation struggle.

The defeat of the fascist bloc, the expulsion of enemy troops from the USSR, the creation of a second front, liberation from the occupation of European countries, the complete collapse of fascist Germany, and its unconditional surrender. The most important military-political events of this period were determined by the further growth of the military-economic power of the anti-fascist coalition, the increasing force of the blows of the Soviet Armed Forces and the intensification of the actions of the allies in Europe. On a larger scale, the offensive of the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain unfolded in the Pacific Ocean and Asia. However, despite the well-known intensification of allied actions in Europe and Asia, the decisive role in the final destruction of the fascist bloc belonged to the Soviet people and their Armed Forces.

The course of the Great Patriotic War irrefutably proved that the Soviet Union was capable of, on its own, achieving a complete victory over Nazi Germany and liberating the peoples of Europe from the fascist yoke. Under the influence of these factors, significant changes took place in the military-political activities and strategic planning of the United States, Great Britain and other participants in the anti-Hitler coalition.

By the summer of 1944, the international and military situation was such that a further delay in the opening of the 2nd Front would have led to the liberation of all of Europe by the USSR. This prospect worried the ruling circles of the United States and Great Britain and forced them to rush to invade Western Europe across the English Channel. After two years of preparation, the Normandy landing operation of 1944 began on June 6, 1944. By the end of June, the landing troops occupied a bridgehead about 100 km wide and up to 50 km deep, and on July 25 went on the offensive. It took place in a situation when the anti-fascist struggle of the Resistance forces, which numbered up to 500 thousand fighters by June 1944, was especially intensified in France. On August 19, 1944, an uprising began in Paris; By the time the allied troops arrived, the capital was already in the hands of French patriots.

At the beginning of 1945, a favorable environment was created for the final campaign in Europe. On the Soviet-German front it began with a powerful offensive of Soviet troops from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians.

The last center of resistance to Nazi Germany was Berlin. At the beginning of April, Hitler’s command pulled the main forces to the Berlin direction: up to 1 million people, St. 10 thousand guns and mortars, 1.5 thousand tanks and assault guns, 3.3 thousand combat aircraft, on April 16, the Berlin operation of 1945, grandiose in scope and intensity, began with troops of 3 Soviet fronts, as a result of which the Berlin enemy group. On April 25, Soviet troops reached the city of Torgau on the Elbe, where they united with units of the 1st American Army. On May 6-11, troops from 3 Soviet fronts carried out the Paris Operation of 1945, defeating the last group of Nazi troops and completing the liberation of Czechoslovakia. Advancing on a broad front, the Soviet Armed Forces completed the liberation of the countries of Central and South of Eastern Europe. Carrying out the liberation mission, Soviet troops met with the gratitude and active support of the European peoples, all democratic and anti-fascist forces of the countries occupied by the fascists.

After the fall of Berlin, capitulation in the West became widespread. On the eastern front, Nazi troops continued their fierce resistance where they could. The goal of the Dönitz government, created after Hitler’s suicide (April 30), was to, without stopping the fight against the Soviet Army, conclude an agreement with the United States and Great Britain on partial surrender. Back on May 3, on behalf of Dönitz, Admiral Friedeburg established contact with the British commander Field Marshal Montgomery and obtained consent to surrender the Nazi troops to the British “individually.” On May 4, the act of surrender of German troops in the Netherlands, North-West Germany, Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark was signed. On May 5, fascist troops capitulated in Southern and Western Austria, Bavaria, Tyrol and other areas. On May 7, General A. Jodl, on behalf of the German command, signed the terms of surrender at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, which was to take effect on May 9 at 00:01. The Soviet government expressed categorical protest against this unilateral act, so the Allies agreed to consider it a preliminary protocol of surrender. At midnight on May 8, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, occupied by Soviet troops, representatives of the German High Command, led by Field Marshal W. Keitel, signed an act of unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Unconditional surrender was accepted on behalf of the Soviet government by Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov together with representatives of the USA, Great Britain and France.

Defeat of imperialist Japan. Liberation of the peoples of Asia from Japanese occupation. End of World War 2. Of the entire coalition of aggressive states that started the war, only Japan continued to fight in May 1945.

From July 17 to August 2, the Potsdam Conference of 1945 heads of government of the USSR (J. V. Stalin), the USA (H. Truman) and Great Britain (W. Churchill, from July 28 - K. Attlee) took place, at which, along with a discussion of European problems, a large attention was paid to the situation in the Far East. In a declaration dated July 26, 1945, the governments of Great Britain, the United States and China offered Japan specific terms of surrender, which the Japanese government rejected. The Soviet Union, which denounced the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact in April 1945, confirmed at the Potsdam Conference its readiness to enter the war against Japan in the interests of quickly ending World War II and eliminating the source of aggression in Asia. On August 8, 1945, the USSR, true to its allied duty, declared war on Japan, and on August 9. The Soviet Armed Forces began military operations against the Japanese Kwantung Army concentrated in Manchuria. The entry of the Soviet Union into the war and the defeat of the Kwantung Army accelerated the unconditional surrender of Japan. On the eve of the USSR's entry into the war with Japan, on August 6 and 9, the United States used new weapons for the first time, dropping two atomic bombs. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are beyond any military necessity. About 468 thousand residents were killed, wounded, irradiated, or went missing. This barbaric act was intended, first of all, to demonstrate the power of the United States in order to put pressure on the USSR in solving post-war problems. The signing of the act of surrender of Japan took place on September 2. 1945. World War 2 ended.

Ours won

Figase briefly... To begin with, Stalin and Hitler entered into an alliance and both tore Poland apart. France and England were allies of Poland and declared war on Germany. But Hitler beat them both up, drove the British across the strait, captured Holland, Belgium, Denmark and half of France. I wanted to cross to England, but I realized that I didn’t have enough strength. He went to the Balkans, captured Yugoslavia and Greece. Then he realized that he and Stalin were cramped on the same planet, and Stalin himself was about to attack him, he decided to take an adventure, attack and defeat the Red Army, in order to protect himself for a long time from an attack from the East, and only then deal with England. But he miscalculated, a complete defeat did not happen, and he initially did not have the resources for a long war. At this time, Japan captured everything around itself and also decided to remove its competitor in the Pacific Ocean in the person of the United States - and struck a blow at the American fleet. But in the end they also miscalculated, the Americans recovered quite quickly and began to push the Japanese around all the islands. Hitler suffered a terrible defeat at Stalingrad, then his plan to attack Moscow in the summer of 1943 failed, and after that his resources became very bad; all he could manage was fierce resistance on all fronts. In 1944, after the defeat of Army Group Center in Belarus and the Allied landings in Normandy, things became very bad, and in the spring of 1945 it all ended. Japan was finished off in August after the nuclear bombing of their cities... Well, this is quite simple and brief.

1939, September 1 The attack of Germany and Slovakia on Poland - the beginning of the Second World War. 1939, September 3 Declaration of war on Germany by France and Great Britain (along with the latter, its dominions - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). 1939, September 17 Soviet troops cross the border of Poland and occupy Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. 1939, September 28 Surrender of Warsaw - the end of organized resistance to the Polish army. 1939, September - October The USSR concludes agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the deployment of Soviet military bases on their territory. 1939, November 30 Beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war, which ended on March 12, 1940 with the defeat of Finland, which ceded a number of border territories to the USSR. 1940, April 9 Invasion of German troops into Denmark and Norway - the beginning of the Norwegian campaign. Main events: the Germans captured the main strategic points of Denmark and Norway (by April 10, 1940); landing of allied Anglo-French troops in Central Norway (13-14.4.1940); defeat of the allies and evacuation of their troops from Central Norway (by May 2, 1940); Allied offensive on Narvik (12.5.1940); evacuation of the allies from Nar-vik (by 8/6/1940). 1940, May 10 Beginning of the offensive of German troops on the Western Front. Main events: defeat of the Dutch army and its surrender (by June 14, 1940); encirclement of the British-Franco-Belgian group on the territory of Belgium (by 20.5.1940); surrender of the Belgian army (27.5.1940); evacuation of British and part of French troops from Dunkirk to Great Britain (by 3/6/1940); the offensive of the German army and the breakthrough of the defense of the French army (06/09/1940); signing of an armistice between France and Germany, under the terms of which most of France was subject to occupation (June 22, 1940).

1940, May 10 Formation of a government in Great Britain led by Winston Churchill, a strong supporter of war until victory. 1940, June 16 Entry of Soviet troops into Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1940, June 10, Italy declares war on Great Britain and France. 1940, June 26, the USSR demands that Romania hand over Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which it captured in 1918 (the Soviet demand was satisfied on June 28, 1940). 1940, July 10 The French parliament transfers power to Marshal Philippe Petain - the end of the Third Republic and the establishment of the “Vichy regime” 1940, July 20 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania become part of the USSR. 1940, August 1 Beginning of the air battle for Great Britain, which ended in May 1941 with the recognition by the German command of the impossibility of achieving air superiority. 1940, August 30, Romania cedes part of its territory to Hungary. 1940, September 15, Romania cedes part of its territory to Bulgaria. 1940, October 28 Italian attack on Greece, spreading the war to the Balkans. 1940, December 9 The beginning of the offensive of British troops in North Africa, which led to a heavy defeat for the Italian army. 1941, January 19 The beginning of the offensive of the British army in East Africa, which ended on May 18, 1941 with the surrender of Italian troops and the liberation of the Italian colonies (including Ethiopia). 1941, February Arrival of German troops in North Africa, which went on the offensive on March 31, 1941 and defeated the British. 1941, April 6 The offensive of the German army with the assistance of Italy and Hungary against Yugoslavia (its army capitulated on April 18, 1940) and Gresha (its army capitulated on April 21, 1940). 1941, April 10 Proclamation of the “Independent State of Croatia,” which included the Bosnian lands. 1941, May 20 German parachute landing on Crete, which ended in the defeat of British and Greek troops. 1941, June 22 Attack of Germany and its allies (Finland, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Croatia) on the Soviet Union. ..Further from the source..

September 2 at Russian Federation celebrated as "End of World War II Day (1945)". This memorable date was established in accordance with the Federal Law “On Amendments to Article 1(1) of the Federal Law “On Days of Military Glory and memorable dates Russia”, signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on July 23, 2010. Military Glory Day was established in memory of compatriots who showed dedication, heroism, devotion to their homeland and allied duty to the countries that were members of the anti-Hitler coalition in implementing the decision of the Crimean (Yalta) conference of 1945 on Japan. September 2 is a kind of second Victory Day for Russia, victory in the East.

This holiday cannot be called new - on September 3, 1945, the day after the surrender of the Japanese Empire, Victory Day over Japan was established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. However, for a long time this holiday was practically ignored in the official calendar of significant dates.

The international legal basis for establishing Military Glory Day is the Act of Surrender of the Empire of Japan, which was signed on September 2, 1945 at 9:02 am Tokyo time on board the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. On the Japanese side, the document was signed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Chief of the General Staff Yoshijiro Umezu. Representatives of the Allied Powers were Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur, American Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the British Pacific Fleet Bruce Fraser, Soviet General Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko, Kuomintang General Su Yong-chang, French General J. Leclerc, Australian General T. Blamey, Dutch Admiral K. Halfrich, New Zealand Air Vice-Marshal L. Isit and Canadian Colonel N. Moore-Cosgrave. This document put an end to the Second World War, which, according to Western and Soviet historiography, began on September 1, 1939 with the attack of the Third Reich on Poland (Chinese researchers believe that the Second World War began with the attack of the Japanese army on China on July 7, 1937).

Do not use prisoners of war for forced labor;

Provide units located in remote areas with additional time to cease hostilities.

On the night of August 15, the “young tigers” (a group of fanatical commanders from the department of the War Ministry and the capital’s military institutions, led by Major K. Hatanaka) decided to disrupt the adoption of the declaration and continue the war. They planned to eliminate the "peace supporters", remove the text with a recording of Hirohito's speech about accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and ending the war by the Empire of Japan before it was broadcast, and then persuade the armed forces to continue the fight. The commander of the 1st Guards Division, which guarded the imperial palace, refused to take part in the mutiny and was killed. Giving orders on his behalf, the “young tigers” entered the palace and attacked the residences of the head of government Suzuki, Lord Privy Seal K. Kido, Chairman of the Privy Council K. Hiranuma and the Tokyo radio station. However, they could not find the tapes with the recording and find the leaders of the “peace party”. The troops of the capital garrison did not support their actions, and even many members of the “young tigers” organization, not wanting to go against the emperor’s decision and not believing in the success of the cause, did not join the putschists. As a result, the rebellion failed within the first hours. The instigators of the conspiracy were not tried; they were allowed to commit ritual suicide by cutting open the abdomen.

On August 15, an address from the Japanese Emperor was broadcast on the radio. Given the high level of self-discipline among Japanese government and military leaders, a wave of suicides occurred in the empire. On August 11, the former Prime Minister and Minister of the Army, a staunch supporter of the alliance with Germany and Italy, Hideki Tojo, tried to commit suicide with a revolver shot (he was executed on December 23, 1948 as a war criminal). On the morning of August 15, “the most magnificent example of the samurai ideal” and the Minister of the Army, Koretika Anami, committed hara-kiri; in his suicide note, he asked the emperor for forgiveness for his mistakes. The 1st Deputy Chief of the Naval General Staff (previously the commander of the 1st Air Fleet), the “father of kamikaze” Takijiro Onishi, Field Marshal of the Imperial Japanese Army Hajime Sugiyama, as well as other ministers, generals and officers committed suicide.

The cabinet of Kantaro Suzuki resigned. Many military and political leaders began to favor the idea of ​​a unilateral occupation of Japan by US troops in order to preserve the country from the threat of the communist threat and preserve the imperial system. On August 15, hostilities between the Japanese armed forces and the Anglo-American troops ceased. However, Japanese troops continued to offer fierce resistance to the Soviet army. Parts of the Kwantung Army were not given the order to cease fire, and therefore the Soviet troops were also not given instructions to stop the offensive. Only on August 19, a meeting took place between the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, and the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Hiposaburo Hata, where an agreement was reached on the procedure for the surrender of Japanese troops. Japanese units began to surrender their weapons, a process that dragged on until the end of the month. The Yuzhno-Sakhalin and Kuril landing operations continued until August 25 and September 1, respectively.

On August 14, 1945, the Americans developed a draft of “General Order No. 1 (for the Army and Navy)” on accepting the surrender of Japanese troops. This project was approved by American President Harry Truman and on August 15 it was reported to the allied countries. The draft specified the zones in which each of the Allied powers had to accept the surrender of Japanese units. On August 16, Moscow announced that it generally agreed with the project, but proposed an amendment - to include all the Kuril Islands and the northern half of Hokkaido in the Soviet zone. Washington did not raise any objections regarding the Kuril Islands. But regarding Hokkaido, the American president noted that the Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur, was surrendering Japanese armed forces on all the islands of the Japanese archipelago. It was specified that MacArthur would use token armed forces, including Soviet units.

The American government from the very beginning did not intend to let the USSR into Japan and rejected allied control in post-war Japan, which was provided for by the Potsdam Declaration. On August 18, the United States put forward a demand to allocate one of the Kuril Islands for the American Air Force base. Moscow rejected this brazen advance, declaring that the Kuril Islands, according to the Crimean Agreement, are the possession of the USSR. The Soviet government announced that it was ready to allocate an airfield for landing American commercial aircraft, subject to the allocation of a similar airfield for Soviet aircraft in the Aleutian Islands.

On August 19, a Japanese delegation led by Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General T. Kawabe, arrived in Manila (Philippines). The Americans notified the Japanese that their forces must liberate the Atsugi airfield on August 24, the Tokyo Bay and Sagami Bay areas by August 25, and Kanon Base and the southern part of Kyushu Island by mid-day on August 30. Representatives of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces requested a delay in the landing of the occupying forces by 10 days in order to strengthen precautions and avoid unnecessary incidents. The request of the Japanese side was granted, but for a shorter period. The landing of the advanced occupation forces was scheduled for August 26, and the main forces for August 28.

On August 20, the Japanese in Manila were presented with an Act of Surrender. The document provided for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces, regardless of their location. Japanese troops were required to immediately cease hostilities, release prisoners of war and interned civilians, ensure their maintenance, protection and delivery to designated places. On September 2, the Japanese delegation signed the Instrument of Surrender. The ceremony itself was structured to highlight the United States' primary role in defeating Japan. The procedure for the surrender of Japanese troops in various areas of the Asia-Pacific region dragged on for several months.

WWII is the largest historical event 20th century. It lasted for a long time, covered almost all continents and oceans, and 61 states participated.

Causes:

WWII arose as a result of the uneven decisions of the countries, because of which sharp contradictions arose among them, and opposing coalitions were formed. The states of the “Axis countries” were dissatisfied with the existence of the Versailles-Washington system as a world order, hence the desire to redistribute the world, seize colonies, and expand the sphere of influence. On the other hand, the Versailles-Washington order was not effective way protection against such aspirations and by the beginning of the 1930s practically did not work (as was proven by Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, Germany’s buildup of armaments and its entry into the Rhineland demilitarized zone: the League did not accept sanctions and a precedent emerged for impunity for the aggressor). An attempt to create a system by a team. security failed (England and France pursued their own goals - they carried out political “appeasement of the aggressor”, with the goal of reaching an agreement with Germany on the terms of mutual concessions and sending Germany to the East). Each country, therefore, pursued its own Goals and WWII was the result of the deliberate activities of a small group of aggressor states.

In foreign countries ISG has a number of points on the causes of the war: F. Meinene (“German catastrophe”) – the cause of the war is Hitler’s personal ambitions. Ritter - was considered the aggressor of the USSR, and that Germany launched a preemptive strike; Lidel Hardt - war - a product of the results of WWII; Belov (Prof. Oxford) believed that WWII was the result of the policy of the USSR, which allegedly refused to meet the Western powers halfway.

Stages:

Stage 1. September 1, 1939 – June 22, 1941 (from the German attack on Poland to the beginning of the Second World War). Events: attack on Poland, from 1940 - a “Phantom War” on the Western Front (France and England are at war with Germany, but do not conduct military operations in it), Germany’s invasion of the Scandinavian countries; capital of Holland, Belgium. Encirclement of French-English forces near the city of Dunkirk; capture of France and division of it into 2 parts. England and Italy fought in North Africa. June 22, 1941 - attack on the USSR; creation of the Tripartite Pact; Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Stage 2: June 22, 1941 - November 1942 English landing. on the Moroccan coast, fighting in north and east Africa. US entry into the war. On the eastern front: the Battle of Moscow, the attack of German troops on Stalingrad, the defense of the Caucasus. Stage 3: November 1942 – December 1943 (period of radical change). Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk meant the final transfer of initiative into the hands of the Red Army on the Soviet-German front. The heaviest defeat of Japan at Midway Island; German troops capitulated in Tunisia. Tehran Conference (decided to open a 2nd front). Stage 4: January 1944 - May 9, 1945 (Allied landing in Normandy, liberation of France; successful American military operations in the Pacific Ocean; successful offensive operations of the USSR in Germany; Yalta Conference - (the final defeat of Germany is necessary). Stage 5: May 9, 1945 – September 2, 1945. (final defeat of Germany and Japan. Potsdam Conference - German v-s).

Results:

1. WWII led to a change in growth. strength in the world. 2 superpowers have appeared, the separation is determined. strength 2. The collapse of the Axis states; 3. Changes in state borders, in particular in Europe; 4. Ideological split, the emergence and formation of the socialist camp; 5. The huge human casualties of WWII gave rise to quality. a new trend in the development of capitalism: the emergence of the mining and metals industry, the emergence of transnational corporations, which connected the capitalist world into a single mechanism; 6. Destruction of the colonial system and the emergence of new states (British Empire). Fache and right-wing radical. groups left the political arena. The prestige of communes is increasing; A multi-party system is emerging.

Background of the Second World War

The main events of foreign policy of the 1930s were:

1933 – the establishment of the Nazi-militarist dictatorship of Hitler in Germany and the beginning of preparations for World War II.

1934 – admission of the USSR to League of Nations – international organization European countries, created after the First World War.

1938 – The Munich Agreement between the leading Western powers (England and France) and Hitler on ending his conquests in Europe in exchange for tacit consent to aggression against the USSR. The collapse of the policy of collective security → the policy of “appeasing the aggressor.”

1939, August - non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) with a secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe. The moral side of this agreement, which liberal, and especially Western, historians and politicians pay intense attention to, remains undoubtedly controversial, but it should be recognized that objectively The main culprit of what happened turned out to be the great powers of the West, who, with the help of the Munich deal, hoped to protect themselves from Hitler’s aggression and direct it against the USSR, pitting two totalitarian regimes against each other - communist and Nazi. However they They were cruelly deceived in their calculations.

September– the beginning of the Second World War (initially – Germany against England and France).

1939–1941 – occupation or actual subjugation by Germany of almost the entire European continent, including the defeat and occupation of France in 1940.

1939–1940 – accession to the USSR, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, of Western Ukraine (the result of the division of Poland with Hitler), re-annexation of the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) and Moldova (separated from Romania). Aggression against Finland and exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations. At the same time, the USSR began preparing for the “big war,” which was primarily expressed in an increase in the military budget by 3 times and the restoration of universal conscription, abolished earlier (in 1924).

Causes of World War II can be formulated as follows:

1. Germany’s desire for revenge for defeat in the First World War, which was facilitated by: a) its preservation of economic potential; b) the infringed national feelings of the Germans; c) the establishment of the militant fascist dictatorship of A. Hitler in 1933. Consequently “Great Depression” - the global economic crisis of 1929–1933, from which democratic governments failed to lead the country out.

2. Attempts by democratic countries - winners of the First World War and guarantors that emerged after it Versailles system international relations - to push the other two camps against each other, turned around in the end against themselves .

Unlike the First World War, the outbreaks of the Second World War arose gradually, and this is further evidence that it could have been prevented. Let's trace the main stages of the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system international relations:

1931 – occupation of Manchuria (North-East China) by militaristic-samurai Imperial Japan.

1935 - Hitler restored universal conscription in Germany and deployed a mass army ( Wehrmacht) in violation of the terms of the Versailles Peace.

1937 - the beginning of Japan's aggression to capture all of China.

1938 – Hitler annexes Austria.

In the same year - Munich Agreement between England and France, on the one hand, and Hitler, on the other, giving Germany part of Czechoslovakia given that not to make any more conquests in Europe (about the USSR it is significant was kept silent).

1939 - Hitler's seizure of all of Czechoslovakia contrary to the treaty.

That same year, August - Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on non-aggression between Germany and the USSR with a secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe.

September- Hitler's conquest of Poland and start of World War II England and France against Germany.

The result was the bankruptcy of Western foreign policy. But even despite this, in the first period of the war England and France actually did not conduct military operations(so-called "strange war"), hoping to come to an agreement with Hitler and thereby giving him the opportunity to strengthen himself even more.

1939–1941 - Hitler’s conquest of most of Europe (following Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland - Denmark and Norway, Belgium and Holland, in 1940 France, then Yugoslavia and Greece) and the creation of the fascist bloc of Germany, Italy and the countries that joined them - satellites (Hungary, Romania, Finland). Parallel (in 1939–1940) – occupation by the Soviet Union of Western Ukraine, the Baltic states and Moldova.

The bloody war of the USSR against Finland in the winter of 1939/40 showed the comparative backwardness of Soviet military equipment and the weakness of military organization. After this, from 1939, the USSR began serious preparations for the “big war”: the military budget increased 3 times, universal conscription was restored, plans were drawn up preventive(anticipatory) strike against Germany (kept in deep secrecy and declassified only after the collapse of the Soviet system, they refuted the popular version that Stalin “did not prepare” for war).

June 22, 1941 the attack of Nazi Germany and its satellites on the Soviet Union (in violation of the non-aggression pact) began The Great Patriotic War, which became a defining component of the Second World War (no matter how they try to downplay its significance for political reasons Western historians).

Emergency governing bodies of the country during the war years become: economic(in conditions of transfer of the economy to the service of the front) – GKO(State Defense Committee), military –Bid Supreme Command. The posts of Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Chairman of the State Defense Committee were united in his hands by I.V. Stalin (during the war he became Marshal of the Soviet Union, and at the end of it - Generalissimo).

Hitler's war plan plan "Barbarossa"") consisted of a simultaneous powerful strike to a continuous depth along the entire length of the front, in which the main role was played by cutting tank wedges, with the goal of quickly encircling and defeating the main forces of the Soviet army already in border battles. This plan, brilliantly tested by the Germans in previous military campaigns against Western countries, was called the “lightning war” ( blitzkrieg). Upon achieving victory, partial extermination and partial enslavement of the Slavic peoples were planned, according to Hitler’s “racial theory” they were considered an “inferior race” (below them in the “racial pyramid” of Nazi “ideologists” were only some peoples of Asia and Africa, as well as Jews and Gypsies, who were subject to complete destruction).

The initial period of the war (summer-autumn 1941) was marked by the retreat of Soviet troops along the entire front, a series of “cauldrons” and encirclements of Soviet armies, the largest of which was the Kiev “cauldron”, where the entire Southwestern Front was surrounded. During the first 3 months of the war, the Germans occupied all the western republics of the USSR and part of the internal territories of Russia, reaching Leningrad in the north, Moscow in the center, and the Don in the south (and in 1942, the Volga).

Reasons heavy defeats of the Red Army in initial stage there were wars:

1) the surprise of the German attack (Stalin hoped to the last to delay the war for at least another year);

2) the best organization and most advanced tactics of the German army;

3) combat experience gained during the conquest of Europe;

4) almost double superiority of the Wehrmacht in numbers and technology, Consequently the fact that, firstly, Germany began preparations for war earlier, and secondly, all of conquered Europe worked for it;

5) weakening of the Red Army mass repressions the end of the 30s (most liberal historians consider this reason to be decisive, but this opinion is refuted by the catastrophic defeat of a potentially powerful democratic France that did not know repression in 1940).

However, already in the fall it became clear that the idea blitzkrieg collapses (Hitler's previous military campaigns in the West lasted no more than a month and a half each). It was finally derailed by two major events.

The first event was the war that lasted from September 1941 to January 1943. Leningrad blockade, squeezed into a ring of encirclement. Despite hundreds of thousands of victims of a terrible famine, the second capital withstood an incredible siege, unprecedented in history, and was not surrendered to the enemy.

The main event that marked the collapse blitzkrieg, has become Battle for Moscow, the main events of which unfolded from October to December 1941. Having bled Hitler’s troops in brutal defensive battles (moreover, the latter, like Napoleonic soldiers in 1812, were unprepared for the harsh Russian winter), the Soviet army launched a counter-offensive and threw them back Moscow. The battle for Moscow became first strategic defeat of the Germans throughout World War II.

During this most difficult period of the war, Stalin secretly offered peace to Hitler twice: during the battle for Moscow - on terms close to the Brest Peace Treaty, and after the victory near Moscow - on the terms of the pre-war borders. Both proposals were rejected, which was the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. Hitler repeated Napoleon's mistake by delving deeper into Russia and not calculating either its vast expanses or human potential.

Despite the defeat near Moscow, the German army regrouped its forces and inflicted new major defeats on the Red Army in the spring and summer of 1942, the largest of which was the encirclement near Kharkov. After this, the Wehrmacht launched a new powerful offensive in the south and reached the Volga.

To improve discipline in the Soviet troops, the famous Stalinist order “Not a step back!” was issued. NKVD barrier detachments were brought to the front, which were placed behind military units and which machine-gunned units retreating without orders.

Played a turning point during the war Battle of Stalingrad(July 1942 - February 1943) - the bloodiest battle of the Second World War. After a long fierce defense, Soviet troops, bringing up reserves, launched a counter-offensive in November and surrounded the German army of Paulus, which, after fruitless attempts to break through the encirclement, capitulated, freezing and starving.

After this, the war finally acquired a worldwide character, all the great powers of the planet were drawn into it. In January 1942 has finally taken shape anti-Hitler coalition led by the USSR, USA and England (since France was defeated and mostly occupied by the Germans). According to the agreement with the allies on Lend-Lease The USSR received military and food supplies from them (primarily from the USA).

However, it was not they who played the decisive role, but mobilization of the Soviet economy for the needs of the war. The country literally turned into a single military camp. Factories were transferred to the production of military products, centralization of management and production discipline were sharply tightened, and the 8-hour working day was abolished during the war. In the matter of militarization of the economy The Stalinist regime proved itself unsurpassed: for the first six months war, in conditions of severe defeats and occupation of a third of the European part of the country, were evacuated to the east 1.5 thousand factories. And already in 1943, despite to the continued occupation of a significant part of the country and all of Europe by the Germans, the USSR reached advantage in the production of military equipment over Germany and equaled it in quality, and surpassed it in certain types of weapons (just remember the legendary T-34 tank and the first rocket-propelled mortars - “Katyushas”). At the same time, despite the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition, the Soviet Union continued to bear the brunt of the war with the main aggressor - Nazi Germany.

The war took on a character wars of extermination. Now the Soviet government contributed to the rise of patriotism. Under the influence of the collapse of the idea of ​​world revolution and the experience of Hitler, the turn begun by Stalin even before the war was completed on the national question from the traditional Marxist-Leninist cosmopolitanism To patriotism, up to the revival of imperial national traditions (epaulettes in the army, renaming people's commissars into ministers in 1946, the cult of Russian historical heroes, etc.). An integral part this process was the cessation of persecution of the church and usage her in patriotic work, when saving strict control over it (even to the point of forcing priests to denounce parishioners, following the example of Peter the Great’s times).

During the Great Patriotic War, talented commanders emerged who learned to defeat the best German army in the world: Marshals G.K. Zhukov, K.K. Rokossovsky, I.S. Konev, A.M. Vasilevsky et al.

The turning point in the course of the war in favor of the Soviet Union, begun by the Battle of Stalingrad, has ended battle on Kursk Bulge (July–August 1943) – the largest battle in the entire history of wars in terms of the number of military equipment. After it, the Soviet army goes on the offensive along the entire front, and the liberation of the territory of the USSR begins. Hitler's Wehrmacht finally loses the initiative and goes over to total defense.

Parallel begins collapse of the fascist bloc: one after another in 1943–1945. Italy, Romania, Finland, and Hungary are leaving the war.

Three were of fateful significance for the peoples of Europe conference of the heads of the great powers of the anti-Hitler coalition– Soviet Union, United States of America and Great Britain (England). The first of them was Tehran Conference(November–December 1943), the main participants of which were I.V. Stalin, US President F. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill. At it, the timing of the opening of a second front by the allies in Europe was agreed upon in exchange for Stalin’s statement about dissolution of the Comintern; formally it was indeed dissolved, but actually Stalin retained control over all foreign communist parties and lost nothing.

In June 1944, the Allies finally opened second front in Europe: Anglo-American troops landed in France. Nevertheless, and after that The main theater of World War II remained the Soviet-German front, on which 2/3 of the German armies continued to be located. AND even under this condition the Germans dealt a crushing blow to the Americans in the Ardennes in the winter of 1944/45; only a Russian offensive in Poland in response to panicked calls from the Allies for help saved them from destruction.

Autumn 1944 the liberation of the territory of the USSR was completed, and also in the spring In the same year, the liberation of Europe by Soviet troops from fascism began.

In February 1945 it took place Yalta Conference heads of the great allied powers (in Crimea) with the same main characters - I.V. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill. She made decisions about the post-war world order. The most important of them were: 1) demilitarization (disarmament) and democratization of Germany; 2) punishment of Nazi war criminals (the main ones were convicted in 1945–1946 by an international tribunal for Nuremberg trials), ban worldwide fascist organizations and fascist ideology; 3) the division of Germany after the war into 4 temporary zones of allied occupation (Soviet, American, British and French); 4) the entry of the USSR 3 months after the victory over Germany into the war against Japan; 5) creation United Nations (UN), created in pursuance of the decision of the conference in April 1945); 6) collection reparations from defeated Germany to compensate for the material damage it caused to the victors.

In April-May 1945 there was storming of Berlin Russian Soviet troops. Despite the fierce resistance of German troops to the end, who fought on Hitler’s orders for every house, the capital of the Third Reich was finally taken on May 2. The day before, Hitler, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, committed suicide.

On the night of May 9, 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam, the unconditional surrender of Germany to the USSR and allies was signed (Marshal Zhukov accepted it from the USSR). This date became a national holiday of the Russian people – Victory Day. On June 24, a grandiose Victory Parade was held in Moscow, commanded by Marshal Rokossovsky, and hosted by Marshal Zhukov.

In July–August 1945, the third and final Potsdam Conference heads of the great victorious powers. Its main participants were: from the USSR - I.V. Stalin, from the USA - G. Truman (who replaced Roosevelt, who died on the eve of the Victory), from Great Britain - first W. Churchill, who, after losing the parliamentary elections, was replaced at the conference by K. Attlee . The Potsdam Conference determined the post-war borders of Europe: East Prussia (now the Kaliningrad region of Russia) was transferred to the Soviet Union, and the inclusion of the Baltic states and Western Ukraine was also recognized.

In August 1945, in accordance with the decision of the Yalta Conference, the USSR entered the war with Japan and, with a powerful blow from its armies transferred from Europe, with a multiple superiority of forces and equipment, contributed to its final defeat in less than 3 weeks. At the same time, Americans were the first in the world to use atomic weapons, dropping two atomic bombs on peaceful Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with colossal loss of life. Although the psychological effect of these barbaric bombings contributed to Japan's surrender, they were also aimed at intimidating the entire world, and especially the Soviet Union, by demonstrating US power.

September 2, 1945 Japan's unconditional surrender was signed, marking end of World War II. As a reward for helping the Americans defeat Japan, the USSR regained southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, lost after the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

Basic results of the Great Patriotic War can be divided into two groups.

Positive for the USSR:

1) a gigantic increase in the international weight and military-political power of the Soviet Union, its transformation into one of the two world superpowers (along with the USA);

2) the above-mentioned territorial acquisitions and the establishment of de facto Russian control over the countries of Eastern Europe - Poland, the GDR (East Germany), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, to which communist regimes were imposed with the help of the Soviet troops that liberated them.

Negative:

1) 26 million killed by the USSR - the largest number of victims among all countries participating in World War II (total in the world - 55 million);

2) enormous material damage caused by the war (during the retreat, the Germans destroyed cities, industrial enterprises and railways, burned villages);

3) a new, post-war split of the world into 2 hostile camps - intensified many times over totalitarian-communist led by the USSR and bourgeois-democratic led by the United States, which led to many years of confrontation on the brink of nuclear war;

12. World War II World War II: causes, course, significance

Reasons and progress. "Strange War". Blitzkrieg of the Wehrmacht. Changes in the system of international relations with the entry into the war of the USSR and the USA. Anti-Hitler coalition. Lend-Lease. Military operations in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, Africa and Asia. "Second Front" in Europe. War of technology. The world order of Yalta and Potsdam. The emergence of a bipolar world.

USSR during the Great Patriotic War

Society during the war. Attitudes to war of various national, cultural and social groups: priority of patriotism or communist ideals? Propaganda and counter-propaganda. The role of traditional values ​​and political stereotypes. Soviet culture and ideology during the war. Everyday life at the front and in the rear. Population in the occupied territories. Partisan movement. National policy.

The main stages of military operations. Soviet military art. The heroism of the Soviet people during the war. The role of the Soviet rear.

Political system. Militarization of the apparatus. Economic management in wartime. The influence of pre-war economic modernization on the course of military operations.

The decisive role of the USSR in the defeat of Nazism. The meaning and price of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Basic concepts: blitzkrieg, anti-Hitler coalition, bipolar world, partisan movement, militarization, heroism, patriotism.

Section 13. The world in the second half of the 20th century “Cold War”

Superpowers: USA and USSR. Mutual interest in shaping the image of the enemy. Contradictions: geopolitics or ideology? Arms race and local conflicts. Military blocs. Two Europes - two worlds.

Collapse of the colonial system. Military-political crises within the Cold War. Information wars. Technogenic civilization “on the warpath.” The collapse of the bipolar world. Consequences of the Cold War.

Towards a “Common Market” and a “Welfare State”

European integration. "Welfare State". The role of political parties. Christian democracy. Mass movements: environmental, feminist, youth, anti-war. The world of consumers. Culture as a way to stimulate consumption. A New Look on human rights.

Scientific and technical progress

Transport revolution. A qualitatively new level of energy availability in society, nuclear energy. Breakthrough into space. Development of communications. Computer, information networks and electronic media. Modern biotechnologies. Automated production. Industry and nature. Formation of a new scientific picture of the world. Dehumanization of art. Technocracy and irrationalism in public consciousness XX century

Countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America

The Second World War is a crisis of the metropolises. The American “Great Project” and the “old” empires. Soviet anti-colonialism. Destruction of the colonial myth. Exhaustion of mandate periods in the countries of the Middle East. China is among the winners. The national liberation struggle in the Japanese “sphere of co-prosperity” and its consequences in the Pacific Ocean. Liberation of India. Middle East conflict. Countries of Asia and Africa in the system of a bipolar world. Non-Aligned Movement. Third Way Doctrines. Problems of developing countries. Latin America. Socialism in the Western Hemisphere.

Basic concepts: superpower, local conflicts, cold war, information war, technogenic civilization, scientific and technological progress, internationalization, “conservative wave”, ecumenism, biotechnology, ecology, modernism, technocracy, irrationalism, anti-colonialism, national liberation struggle, non-aligned movement.

44.World War II: causes, periodization, results. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people.

The Second World War was the bloodiest and most brutal military conflict in the entire history of mankind and the only one in which nuclear weapons were used. 61 states took part in it. The dates of the beginning and end of this war, September 1, 1939 - 1945, September 2, are among the most significant for the entire civilized world.

Reasons The Second World War was the imbalance of power in the world and the problems provoked by the results of the First World War, in particular territorial disputes. The winners of the First World War, the USA, England, and France, concluded the Treaty of Versailles on conditions that were most unfavorable and humiliating for the losing countries, Turkey and Germany, which provoked an increase in tension in the world. At the same time, adopted in the late 1930s by England and France, the policy of appeasing the aggressor made it possible for Germany to sharply increase its military potential, which accelerated the Nazis’ transition to active military action.

Members of the anti-Hitler bloc were the USSR, USA, France, England, China (Chiang Kai-shek), Greece, Yugoslavia, Mexico, etc.

On the German side, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, China (Wang Jingwei), Thailand, Finland, Iraq, etc. participated in World War II. Many states that took part in the Second World War did not take action on the fronts, but helped by supplying food, medicine and other necessary resources.

Researchers identify the following main stages Second World War.

First stage from September 1, 1939 to June 21, 1941. The period of the European blitzkrieg of Germany and the Allies.

Second phase June 22, 1941 - approximately mid-November 1942. Attack on the USSR and the subsequent failure of the Barbarossa plan.

Third stage second half of November 1942 - end of 1943. A radical turning point in the war and Germany’s loss of strategic initiative. At the end of 1943, at the Tehran Conference, in which Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill took part, a decision was made to open a second front.

Fourth stage lasted from the end of 1943 to May 9, 1945. It was marked by the capture of Berlin and the unconditional surrender of Germany.

Fifth stage May 10, 1945 – September 2, 1945. At this time, fighting takes place only in Southeast Asia and the Far East. The United States used nuclear weapons for the first time.

The Second World War began on September 1, 1939. On this day, the Wehrmacht suddenly began aggression against Poland. Despite the reciprocal declaration of war by France, Great Britain and some other countries, no real assistance was provided to Poland.

Already on September 28, Poland was captured. A peace treaty between Germany and the USSR was concluded on the same day. Having thus received a reliable rear, Germany begins active preparations for war with France, which capitulated already in 1940, on June 22. Nazi Germany begins large-scale preparations for war on the eastern front with the USSR. Plan Barbarossa was approved already in 1940, on December 18. The Soviet senior leadership received reports of the impending attack, but fearing to provoke Germany, and believing that the attack would be carried out at a later date, they deliberately did not put the border units on alert.

In the chronology of the Second World War, the most important period is the period of June 22, 1941-1945, May 9, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War

Major battles of World War II, which were of great importance for the history of the USSR, are:

The Battle of Stalingrad July 17, 1942 – February 2, 1943, which marked a radical turning point in the war;

Battle of Kursk July 5 – August 23, 1943, during which the largest tank battle of World War II took place near the village of Prokhorovka;

The Battle of Berlin - which led to the surrender of Germany.

But events important for the course of World War II took place not only on the fronts of the USSR. Among the operations carried out by the Allies, it is worth especially noting: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which caused the United States to enter World War II; opening of the second front and landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944; the use of nuclear weapons on August 6 and 9, 1945 to strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The end date of World War II was September 2, 1945. Japan signed the act of surrender only after the defeat of the Kwantung Army by Soviet troops. The battles of World War II, according to rough estimates, claimed 65 million people on both sides. The Soviet Union suffered the greatest losses in World War II - 27 million citizens of the country died. It was he who took the brunt of the blow. This figure is also approximate and, according to some researchers, underestimated. It was the stubborn resistance of the Red Army that became the main cause of the defeat of the Reich.

Results The Second World War horrified everyone. Military actions have brought the very existence of civilization to the brink. During the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, fascist ideology was condemned, and many war criminals were punished. In order to prevent similar possibilities of a new world war in the future, at the Yalta Conference in 1945 it was decided to create the United Nations Organization (UN), which still exists today. The results of the nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the signing of pacts on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and a ban on their production and use. It must be said that the consequences of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still felt today.

The economic consequences of World War II were also serious. For Western European countries it turned into a real economic disaster. The influence of Western European countries has decreased significantly. At the same time, the United States managed to maintain and strengthen its position.

Meaning World War II was huge for the Soviet Union. The defeat of the fascists determined future history countries. As a result of the conclusion of the peace treaties that followed the defeat of Germany, the USSR noticeably expanded its borders. At the same time, the totalitarian system was strengthened in the Union. Communist regimes were established in some European countries. Victory in the war did not save the USSR from the mass repressions that followed in the 50s.

The Great Patriotic War(1941-1945) - the war between the USSR and Germany during the Second World War, which ended with the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazis and the capture of Berlin. The Great Patriotic War became one of the final stages of the Second World War.

Causes of the Great Patriotic War

After defeat in the First World War, Germany was left in an extremely difficult economic and political situation, however, after Hitler came to power and carried out reforms, the country was able to increase its military power and stabilize the economy. Hitler did not accept the results of the First World War and wanted to take revenge, thereby leading Germany to world domination. As a result of his military campaigns, in 1939 Germany invaded Poland and then Czechoslovakia. A new war has begun.

Hitler's army rapidly conquered new territories, but until a certain point, there was a non-aggression peace treaty between Germany and the USSR, signed by Hitler and Stalin. However, two years after the start of World War II, Hitler violated the non-aggression agreement - his command developed the Barbarossa plan, which envisaged a rapid German attack on the USSR and the seizure of territories within two months. In case of victory, Hitler would have the opportunity to start a war with the United States, and he would also have access to new territories and trade routes.

The campaign, designed to last several months, turned into a protracted war, which later became known as the Great Patriotic War.

Main periods of the Great Patriotic War

The initial period of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942). On June 22, Germany invaded the territory of the USSR and by the end of the year was able to conquer Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus - troops moved inland to capture Moscow. Russian troops suffered huge losses, the inhabitants of the country in the occupied territories ended up in German captivity and were driven into slavery in Germany. However, despite the fact that the Soviet army was losing, it still managed to stop the Germans on the approach to Leningrad (the city was besieged), Moscow and Novgorod. Plan Barbarossa did not produce the desired results, and battles for these cities continued until 1942.

Period of radical change (1942-1943) On November 19, 1942, the Soviet counteroffensive began, which produced significant results - one German and four allied armies were destroyed. The Soviet army continued its offensive in all directions, they managed to defeat several armies, begin pursuing the Germans and push the front line back towards the west. Thanks to the build-up of military resources (the military industry worked in a special regime), the Soviet army was significantly superior to the German one and could now not only resist, but also dictate its terms in the war. The USSR army turned from a defensive one into an attacking one.

The third period of the war (1943-1945). Despite the fact that Germany managed to significantly increase the power of its army, it was still inferior to the Soviet one, and the USSR continued to play a leading offensive role in the war effort. The Soviet army continued to advance towards Berlin, recapturing the captured territories. Leningrad was retaken, and by 1944, Soviet troops were moving towards Poland and then Germany. On May 8, Berlin was captured and German troops declared unconditional surrender.

Major battles of the Great Patriotic War

Results and significance of the Great Patriotic War

The main significance of the Great Patriotic War was that it finally broke the German army, preventing Hitler from continuing his struggle for world domination. The war became a turning point during the Second World War and, in fact, its completion.

However, the victory was difficult for the USSR. The country's economy was in a special regime throughout the war, factories worked mainly for the military industry, so after the war they had to face a severe crisis. Many factories were destroyed, most of the male population died, people were starving and could not work. The country was in a difficult state, and it took many years for it to recover.

But, despite the fact that the USSR was in a deep crisis, the country turned into a superpower, its political influence on the world stage increased sharply, the Union became one of the largest and most influential states, on a par with the USA and Great Britain.

People please help, I got a ticket due to history!

1. Great geographical discoveries. The beginning of the formation of the colonial system.
2. World War II: causes, stages, Resistance movement, results.

Rastago†h

2.in brief
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the treacherous invasion of Nazi Germany into Poland. Officially began in 1939. September 3, when English. and France declared war on Nazi Germany.
Possible REASONS: Germany’s acceptance of the humiliating terms of the Peace Treaty (deprivation of most territories, colonies, huge reparations, complete demilitarization)
KEY DATES: 1939 September 3 - English. +French declares war on Germany
1940 - "Strange War". The Germans occupy Norway and Denmark. Evacuation from Durkerk. Defeat of France. Italy enters the war. Battle of England.
1941 - Nazis capture Yugoslavia and Greece. Rommel's offensive in the north. Africa. German invasion of the USSR. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
1942 - defeat of the Germans near Moscow. Rommel's defeat at El Alamein. Allied invasion of northern France. Africa.
1943 - defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad. Allied landings in Italy. Overthrow of Mussolini (in fascist Italy), capitulation of Italy. The Germans occupy the north of the country
1944 The Red Army liberates Ukraine and Belarus. Allied landings in Normandy. Warsaw uprising. Breakthrough of German troops in the Ardennes.
1945 death of Mussolini and Hitler (suicide). Surrender of Germany.
61 states, 80% of the world's population, took part.
3 main periods, STAGES:
1). September 1, 1939 - June 1942 the expanding scale of war while maintaining the superiority of the aggressor forces.
2). June 1942 - January 1944 - a turning point in the course of the war, initiative and superiority in the hands of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition
3). January 1944 - September 2, 1945 - the final stage of the war, the absolute superiority of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, the defeat of the enemy armies, the collapse and collapse of the ruling regimes of the aggressor states.
P.S. Something from NOT:
THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT is a patriotic anti-fascist movement. Participants published illegal newspapers and leaflets, helped prisoners of war, engaged in reconnaissance, and prepared for armed struggle. People of various political and religious views took part in the Resistance movement: communists, social democrats, Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians, trade unionists and non-partisans. Initially, these were a few disparate groups that had no connection with each other. An important condition for the development of the Resistance movement was the unification of anti-fascist forces. Communist parties in 1942 – 1943 After the dissolution of the Comintern, they were able to act as independent national forces. They are actively involved in the Resistance movement. There were various forms of resistance:
collecting and transmitting valuable information to allies
sabotage
disruption of military supplies
sabotage
During these same years, the first partisan detachments began to be created in Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania, and Greece. One of the first acts of European resistance was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. For almost a month, the poorly armed inhabitants of the ghetto, doomed to destruction, fought heroic battles with German troops. The vast majority of resistance members sought the liberation of their countries, but did not want a return to the pre-war order. They all wanted to end fascism, restore and expand democratic freedoms, and carry out profound social changes. At the second stage (from approximately 1942 - 1943), the Resistance movement acquired a more organized character (creation of governing bodies, formation of armed detachments), and its participants began a partisan struggle against the occupiers. Russian emigrants and Soviet citizens who were captured or taken away by the occupiers for forced labor and then escaped from places of imprisonment took an active part in this struggle.
RESULTS:
Deepening of the general crisis of the world capitalist system. Start Cold War, myoitarization, splitting the world into 2 opposites. military -polit. systems (under the influence of the USA and USSR)

Detailed solution paragraph § 14–15 on history for 9th grade students, authors L.N. Aleksashkina 2011

Questions and tasks:

1. *At the end of the 1930s, Germany committed several acts of aggression against European countries. Explain why her attack on Poland marked the beginning of World War II.

Perhaps the reason was that France and Great Britain could no longer resolve the issue diplomatically without declaring war. Firstly, according to the mutual assistance agreement, they had to come to the aid of Poland. Secondly, until the last moment, the French and British governments hoped that Hitler would strike the first blow against the USSR, but after the conclusion of the Soviet-German Pact it became clear that he would not do so, but would direct his aggression towards Western countries. Not entering the war after the attack on Poland meant encouraging Germany's further aggressive policy.

2. Name the chronological framework of the “Phantom War” in Western Europe. What explained this nature of the war?

After the declaration of war on Germany on September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France were in no hurry to get involved in an active struggle. According to Hitler's instructions, German troops were to adhere to defensive tactics on the Western Front during this period in order to “sparing their forces as much as possible, to create the preconditions for the successful completion of the operation against Poland.” The Western powers did not launch an offensive either. 110 French and 5 British divisions stood against 23 German ones, without taking serious military action. It is no coincidence that this confrontation was called a “strange war.” The period of the “Phantom War” ended on May 10, 1940, when German troops crossed the borders of Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg and began an attack on France.

3. Describe the attitude of the French towards the German invasion in 1940. What was the basis of this or that position?

The attitude of the French towards the German invasion was ambivalent. On the one hand, the French government, led by Marshal A.F. Petain, declared Paris an “open city” and accepted defeat. On June 14, it was surrendered to the Germans without a fight.

On the other hand, not all French people supported the position of the official French government. On June 18, 1940, in a broadcast from the London BBC radio station, General Charles de Gaulle stated that France had not been completely defeated and the outcome of the war was not being decided by the battle for France.

After the signing of the Franco-German truce in the Compiegne Forest on June 22, 1940, a government was created on the remaining unoccupied territory of France, headed by A.F. Petain, which expressed its readiness to cooperate with the German authorities (it was located in the small town of Vichy). On the same day, Charles de Gaulle announced the creation of the Free France Committee, the purpose of which is to organize the fight against the occupiers.

4. What were the main results of the fighting in Europe in 1939 – 1940?

As a result of hostilities in Europe in 1939 - 1940. Germany captured Poland and shared a border with the Soviet Union. In the spring of 1940, German troops invaded and captured Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and France. After the surrender of France, Germany began a naval blockade of Great Britain. Thus, Germany secured peace on the Western Front and began preparing for an offensive in the East.

In preparation for this task, Germany was interested in expanding and strengthening the anti-Soviet coalition. In September 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan concluded a military-political alliance for a period of 10 years - the Tripartite Pact. It was soon joined by Hungary, Romania and the self-proclaimed Slovak state, and a few months later by Bulgaria. A German-Finnish agreement on military cooperation was also concluded. Where it was not possible to establish an alliance on a contractual basis, they acted by force. In October 1940, Italy attacked Greece. In April 1941, German troops occupied Yugoslavia and Greece. Croatia became a separate state - a satellite of Germany. By the summer of 1941, almost all of Central and Western Europe was under the rule of Germany and its allies

5. Explain the significance of the failure of the German plan for a lightning war on Eastern Front.

The disruption of the German plan for a lightning war on the Eastern Front was of key importance for the course of the Second World War. The protracted struggle with the USSR led to the fact that Germany was forced to wage a war on two fronts, which significantly weakened the forces of the Wehrmacht. In addition, German troops suffered huge losses in the war with the USSR, which also weakened their position.

6. *Compare the scale of military operations on the Soviet-German front and other fronts of the Second World War. Which front played the decisive role? Why do you think so? (When working on the assignment, use materials from a textbook on Russian history.)

The decisive role in World War II belonged to the Soviet-German front, the scale of hostilities on which significantly exceeded the scale of actions on other fronts of World War II.

Germany's attack on the USSR radically changed the alignment and balance of forces, and the overall military-political situation in the world. The center of gravity of the armed struggle moved to the Soviet-German front, which literally from the first days of military operations there became the decisive front of the Second World War. Major events took place here that radically changed not only the course of this war, but also the entire history of the world.

For a long time, the Armed Forces of the USSR waged virtual combat with the gigantic military machine of Nazi Germany and its European allies. Having seized the initiative and taking advantage of the fact that the Western allies of the USSR did not conduct active military operations on other fronts for a long time, the fascist German command constantly sent new reinforcements to the east.

Until the summer of 1944, there were on average 12-20 times more enemy troops on the Soviet-German front than on other fronts where the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain operated. The length of the Soviet-German front was 4 times greater than the total size of the North African, Italian and Western fronts. True, since June 1944, the number of Wehrmacht formations operating against American, British and French troops on the Western European Front increased significantly, but even then there were 1.8-2.8 times fewer of them than on the Soviet-German front .

Throughout the war, the Soviet-German front pinned down the bulk of the Wehrmacht's troops, as well as military equipment. At its various stages, there were from 8 million to 12.8 million people on both sides, from 84 thousand to 163 thousand guns and mortars, from 5.7 thousand to 20 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns (assault guns) ), from 6.5 thousand to 18.8 thousand aircraft.. World history has never known such a concentration of military masses and military equipment. Active defensive and offensive actions of troops on the Soviet-German front accounted for 93% of the time of its existence. On none of the other fronts was there such an intense, prolonged and fierce struggle. This means that the events on the Soviet-German front were decisive for the course of the entire Second World War. Here, the most important military-political goals were achieved, which had a decisive influence on its final outcome, namely the disruption of the plan for a lightning war and a radical revolution during the Second World War.

1944 was the year of decisive victories for the Soviet Armed Forces. The most important military-political result of the campaigns they conducted this year was the collapse of the defensive strategy of Nazi Germany.

The successful offensive of the Red Army not only brought closer the complete defeat of the Wehrmacht on the Soviet-German front, but also thwarted the plans of the German command in the west. It greatly facilitated the invasion of the USSR-allied troops on the continent and contributed to their subsequent advance on the Western European Front. Thus, the crushing blows of the Soviet Armed Forces in the summer of 1944 allowed the allies, in relatively favorable conditions, to carry out the Normandy landing operation from June 6 to July 24 and finally open a second front in Europe, and in August to carry out the South French landing operation. By the end of autumn 1944, the allied armies reached the front from the mouth of the river. Meuse to the Franco-Swiss border. The attempt of the German command to launch an offensive on the Western Front in order to defeat the Anglo-American troops with a blow through the Ardennes to Antwerp (December 16, 1944 - January 29, 1945) did not produce the expected results. At the request of British Prime Minister W. Churchill, the Soviet Supreme High Command launched a powerful offensive on the Soviet-German front in the zone from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians earlier than planned, which forced the Wehrmacht command to urgently transfer a number of attack formations from west to east, and the crisis situation in the Ardennes was liquidated quite quickly.

The opening of a second front was, of course, important event during the armed struggle against the fascist bloc. However, it should be noted that the Allied military operations in the Western European theater unfolded when the forces of Nazi Germany were already exhausted. There were from 56 to 75 Wehrmacht divisions there, that is, several times less than on the Soviet-German front.

By the beginning of the 1945 campaign in Europe, Nazi Germany, despite all the defeats, still represented an impressive force. In accordance with the adopted course of concentrating the main efforts against the Red Army, the distribution of Wehrmacht troops by the beginning of 1945 was as follows: on the Soviet-German front, as part of five army groups and one operational group, 185 divisions and 21 brigades operated (including 16 divisions and Hungarian brigade), while on the western and Italian fronts there are 105 divisions and 4 brigades, of which 4 divisions and a brigade are Italian. In total, by the beginning of the campaign, the German Eastern Front numbered 3.7 million people (in the west the enemy had only 1.9 million people), 56.2 thousand guns and mortars, 8.1 thousand tanks and assault guns and 4.1 thousand combat aircraft.

It should be noted that with the beginning of the final campaign of World War II in Europe, the strategic interaction of the Armed Forces of the USSR with the troops of the Western allies acquired a closer character. The latter's offensive in Western Germany and Italy developed simultaneously with the attacks of the Red Army on the Vistula, in East Prussia and in the Budapest region. Under these conditions, to coordinate actions against a common enemy and solve the problems of the post-war system in Europe, a conference of the heads of three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - was held on February 4-11, 1945 in Yalta. At meetings on military matters, representatives of the Allied countries assured Soviet participants that offensive operations on the Western Front would resume in early February.

During the second half of February and in March, Anglo-American troops launched a general offensive throughout Western Front, cleared the enemy from the territory west of the Rhine River and crossed it on March 24. In early April, they encircled up to 20 German divisions in the Ruhr industrial region and by April 18 liquidated this group. Subsequently, the Allied armies began to quickly advance into the interior of Germany, encountering almost no resistance, since the Wehrmacht troops practically stopped conducting military operations against them. In the second half of April, the Allies reached the Elbe River in the central sector, where on April 25, in the Torgau region, they met with the advanced units of the Red Army. Germany, thus, found itself cut into two parts - northern and southern.

The offensive of the Anglo-American troops in Italy began in the first half of April 1945, and already on April 29, they, together with the Italian liberation forces, forced the German Army Group C to capitulate.

In general, the armed forces of the Western Allies in the final campaign of World War II in Europe made a significant contribution to the common cause of victory over Nazi Germany. However, it should be borne in mind that military operations on the western and Italian fronts were carried out in conditions when the German High Command sent most of the forces and means at its disposal, as well as almost all the reinforcements that could still be found, to the east in order to to block the Red Army's path to Berlin. In addition, a significant part of the German troops operating against the allies preferred to surrender rather than conduct a stubborn defense.

The results of the armed confrontation on the Soviet-German front, which was distinguished by great scope, exceptional activity, determination and tension, indicate that it was here that the most significant strategic results were achieved. The struggle on the main front of the war ended with the complete defeat of the Wehrmacht and the unconditional surrender of Germany. The Wehrmacht suffered more than 74% of its total losses (10 million out of 13.4 million) in battles and engagements with the Soviet Armed Forces. Assessing the actions of the latter and the impact of these actions on the course of World War II, US President. Red Army troops in 1941-1945. defeated and captured 607 enemy divisions, while the Anglo-American - about 176 divisions. The damage of the fascist German troops on the Soviet-German front in terms of personnel alone was 4 times greater than in the aggregate in the Western European and Mediterranean theaters of military operations, and in terms of the number of killed and wounded - 6 times. On this, the main and decisive front of the Second World War, the bulk of the aggressor’s military equipment was destroyed - about 50 thousand tanks and assault guns (up to 75% of their total losses), over 70 thousand aircraft (about 70%), 167 thousand artillery pieces (74%)9.

The main strategic result of the struggle on the Soviet-German front was the crushing of the military power of the fascist bloc, which led to the collapse of the entire political and military system of Hitler's Germany and its European allies, the complete failure of their strategic plans and plans.

Thus, the results of the armed struggle are convincing evidence that the actions of the Soviet Armed Forces against the armies of Nazi Germany, militaristic Japan and their allies constituted the main content of the military confrontation of coalitions during the Second World War and had a decisive influence on its course and outcome.

7. What goals did the Nazis pursue in the occupied countries? Show with specific facts.

The main goal of the Nazis in the occupied territory was to expand living space for the German population and use all resources (human and material) for the benefit of Germany. For this purpose, Hitler developed special plans.

So, the Soviet Union was supposed to disappear, within 30 years its territory was supposed to become part of the “Greater German Reich”; after the “final victory of Germany” there will be reconciliation with England, a treaty of friendship will be concluded with it; the Reich will include the countries of Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula and other European states; The United States of America will be “permanently excluded from world politics”, it will undergo “complete re-education of the racially inferior population”, and the population “with German blood” will be given military training and “re-education in the national spirit”, after which America will “become a German state” .

Already in 1940, directives and instructions “on the Eastern Question” began to be developed, and an extensive program for the conquest of the peoples of Eastern Europe was outlined in the “Ost” master plan (December 1941). The general guidelines were as follows: part of the population of the occupied territories was to be exterminated on the spot, a significant part was to be resettled in Siberia (the SS organs planned to exterminate 5–6 million Jews in the “eastern regions”, evict 46–51 million people, and the remaining 14 million people reduced to the level of a semi-literate workforce, education limited to a four-year school).

In the conquered countries of Europe, the Nazis began to methodically implement their plans. In the occupied territories, a “cleansing” of the population was carried out - Jews and communists were exterminated. Prisoners of war and some of the young men and women forcibly taken from their homes flocked to the Reich. By the end of 1942 in German industry and agriculture The labor of about 7 million “eastern workers” and prisoners of war was used. In 1943, another 2 million people were added to them.

Any insubordination, and especially resistance to the occupation authorities, was mercilessly punished. One of the terrible examples of the Nazis’ reprisal against civilians was the destruction of the Czech village of Lidice in the summer of 1942. It was carried out as an “act of retaliation” for the murder of a major Nazi official, “Protector of Bohemia and Moravia” Heydrich, committed the day before by members of a sabotage group.

8. Describe the main currents in the Resistance movement. What united its participants? How did their positions differ?

Since the establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany, and then the occupation regimes in European countries, the Resistance movement to the “new order” began. It was attended by people of different beliefs and political affiliations: communists, social democrats, supporters of bourgeois parties and non-party people. German anti-fascists were among the first to join the fight in the pre-war years.

In a number of European countries, immediately after their occupation, an armed struggle began against the invaders. In Yugoslavia, the communists became the initiators of nationwide resistance to the enemy. Already in the summer of 1941 they created Main Headquarters people's liberation partisan detachments (led by I. Broz Tito) and decided on an armed uprising. By the fall of 1941, partisan detachments numbering up to 70 thousand people were operating in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1942, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (PLJA) was created, and by the end of the year it practically controlled a fifth of the country's territory. In the same year, representatives of organizations participating in the Resistance formed the Anti-Fascist Assembly of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ). In November 1943, the veche proclaimed itself the temporary supreme body of legislative and executive power. By this time, half of the country’s territory was already under his control. A declaration was also adopted that defined the foundations of the new Yugoslav state. National committees were created in the liberated territory, and the confiscation of enterprises and lands of fascists and collaborators (people who collaborated with the occupiers) began.

The Resistance movement in Poland consisted of many groups with different political orientations. In February 1942, part of the underground armed forces united into the Home Army (AK), led by representatives of the Polish émigré government, which was located in London. “Peasant battalions” were created in the villages. Detachments of the Army of the People (AL) organized by the communists began to operate.

After the turning point in the fighting on the fronts in the occupied countries, the number of underground groups and armed detachments fighting against the invaders and their accomplices increased significantly. In France, the Maquis became more active - partisans who carried out sabotage on railways, attacked German posts, warehouses, etc.

By mid-1944, leading bodies of the Resistance movement had formed in many countries, uniting different movements and groups - from communists to Catholics. In France it was the National Council of the Resistance, which included representatives of 16 organizations. The most determined and active participants in the Resistance were the communists. For the sacrifices made in the fight against the occupiers, they were called the “party of those executed.” In Italy, communists, socialists, Christian Democrats, liberals, members of the Action Party and the Democracy of Labor party participated in the work of national liberation committees.

All participants in the Resistance sought first of all to liberate their countries from occupation and fascism. But on the question of what kind of power should be established after this, the views of representatives of individual movements diverged. Some advocated the restoration of pre-war regimes. Others, primarily the communists, sought to establish a new, “people's democratic power.”

9. Explain when, due to what events, a turning point occurred during the Second World War.

The turning point in the Second World War occurred on the eastern front during the following events:

1. The battles for Stalingrad lasted more than 3 months. The city was defended by the 62nd and 64th armies under the command of V.I. Chuikov and M.S. Shumilov. On November 19, 1942, the counter-offensive of Soviet troops began (front commanders N.F. Vatutin, K.K. Rokossovsky, A.I. Eremenko) ended with the encirclement of German armies (numbering over 300 thousand people), their subsequent defeat and capture, including commander Field Marshal F. Paulus.

During the Soviet offensive, the losses of the armies of Germany and its allies amounted to 800 thousand people. In total, in the Battle of Stalingrad they lost up to 1.5 million soldiers and officers - approximately a quarter of the forces then operating on the Soviet-German front.

2. Battle of Kursk. In the summer of 1943, the German attempt to attack Kursk from

districts of Orel and Belgorod. On the German side, over 50 divisions (including 16 tank and motorized) took part in the operation. A special role was given to powerful artillery and tank strikes. On July 12, the largest tank battle of World War II took place on a field near the village of Prokhorovka, in which about 1,200 tanks and self-propelled artillery units collided. At the beginning of August, Soviet troops liberated Oryol and Belgorod. 30 enemy divisions were defeated. The losses of the German army in this battle amounted to 500 thousand soldiers and officers, 1.5 thousand tanks. After the Battle of Kursk, the offensive of Soviet troops unfolded along the entire front. In the summer and autumn of 1943, Smolensk, Gomel, Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv were liberated. The strategic initiative on the Soviet-German front passed to the Red Army.

10. Name the main meetings of the leaders of the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition. What significance did they have?

1. Tehran Conference. On November 28 – December 1, 1943, a meeting of the leaders of the three countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition took place in Tehran: the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill discussed mainly the question of the second front, as well as some questions of the structure of the post-war world. US and British leaders promised to open a second front in Europe in May 1944, launching the landing of Allied troops in France.

2. Yalta (Crimean) conference. On February 4–11, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place in Yalta. I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill agreed on plans for military operations against Germany and post-war policy towards it: zones and conditions of occupation, actions to destroy the fascist regime, the procedure for collecting reparations, etc. An accession agreement was also signed at the conference The USSR entered the war against Japan 2 - 3 months after the surrender of Germany.

3. Post-Dame Conference. On July 17 – August 2, 1945, a conference of the heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place in Potsdam (near Berlin). Those who took part in it were I. Stalin, G. Truman (US President after F. Roosevelt, who died in April 1945), and C. Attlee (who replaced W. Churchill as British Prime Minister) discussed “the principles of the coordinated policy of the allies towards the defeated Germany." A program of democratization, denazification, and demilitarization of Germany was adopted. The total amount of reparations it had to pay was confirmed as $20 billion. The Soviet Union was to receive half (it was later calculated that the damage inflicted by the Nazis on the Soviet country amounted to about $128 billion). Germany was divided into four occupation zones - Soviet, American, British and French. Liberated by Soviet troops, Berlin and the capital of Austria, Vienna, were placed under the control of the four Allied powers. Provision was made for the establishment of an International Military Tribunal to try Nazi war criminals. The border between Germany and Poland was established along the Oder and Neisse rivers. East Prussia went to Poland and partly (the region of Königsberg, now Kaliningrad) to the USSR.

11. Compile a historical background on the second front in Europe (tasks, expected and actual opening dates, role in the course of military operations).

The goal of the second front in Europe was to launch a large-scale offensive against Germany and thus provide assistance to the USSR and further defeat Germany as a result of an offensive from two fronts.

The USSR wanted the opening of a Second Front in the summer of 1943 in the south of Italy in Sicily.

But in fact, the second front in Western Europe was opened on June 6, 1944 as a result of the landing of American and British troops in Normandy, on the northern coast of France.

After the landings, the Allied forces liberated France and Belgium and launched an attack on Berlin simultaneously with the frontal attack of the Red Army. Thus, Germany was forced to hold back the offensive from two fronts.

Option. Make a map “Liberation of European countries” (show on it the main actions of armies, Resistance forces, places of liberation uprisings).

The liberation of European countries from occupation and fascism took place through the joint efforts of the anti-Hitler coalition, but the USSR played a decisive role in this event.

The beginning of 1944 was marked by major offensive operations by Soviet troops on the southern and northern sectors of the Soviet-German front. Ukraine and Crimea were liberated, and the 900-day blockade of Leningrad was broken. In the spring of this year, Soviet troops reached the state border of the USSR for more than 400 km, approaching the borders of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Continuing the defeat of the enemy, they began to liberate the countries of Eastern Europe. Next to the Soviet soldiers, units of the 1st Czechoslovak Brigade under the command of L. Svoboda and the 1st Polish Division, formed during the war on the territory of the USSR, fought for the freedom of their peoples. T. Kosciuszko under the command of Z. Berling.

At this time, the Allies finally opened a second front in Western Europe. On June 6, 1944, American and British troops landed in Normandy, on the northern coast of France.

The bridgehead between the cities of Cherbourg and Caen was occupied by 40 divisions with a total number of up to 1.5 million people. The Allied forces were commanded by American General D. Eisenhower. Two and a half months after the landing, the Allies began advancing deeper into French territory. They were opposed by about 60 understrength German divisions. At the same time, resistance units launched an open struggle against the German army in the occupied territory. On August 19, an uprising began in Paris against the troops of the German garrison. General de Gaulle, who arrived in France with the Allied troops (by that time he had been proclaimed head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic), fearing the “anarchy” of the mass liberation struggle, insisted that Leclerc’s French tank division be sent to Paris. On August 25, 1944, this division entered Paris, which by that time had been practically liberated by the rebels.

Having liberated France and Belgium, where in a number of provinces the Resistance forces also launched armed actions against the occupiers, the Allied troops reached the German border by September 11, 1944.

At that time, a frontal offensive by the Red Army was taking place on the Soviet-German front, as a result of which the countries of Eastern and Central Europe were liberated.

Fighting in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in 1944 – 1945.

July 17 - Soviet troops crossed the border with Poland; Chelm, Lublin liberated; In the liberated territory, the power of the new government, the Polish Committee of National Liberation, began to assert itself.

August 1 - the beginning of the uprising against the occupiers in Warsaw; this action, prepared and led by the émigré government located in London, was defeated by the beginning of October, despite the heroism of its participants; By order of the German command, the population was expelled from Warsaw, and the city itself was destroyed.

August 23 – the overthrow of the Antonescu regime in Romania; a week later, Soviet troops entered Bucharest.

September 9 - anti-fascist uprising in Bulgaria, the government of the Fatherland Front came to power.

October 6 - Soviet troops and units of the Czechoslovak Corps entered the territory of Czechoslovakia.

armies liberated Belgrade.

The liberation of European countries was paid for with the lives of many thousands of Soviet soldiers. In Romania, 69 thousand soldiers and officers died, in Poland - about 600 thousand, in Czechoslovakia - more than 140 thousand and about the same in Hungary. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in other, including opposing, armies. They fought on opposite sides of the front, but were similar in one thing: no one wanted to die, especially in the last months and days of the war.

13. What factors and forces played a decisive role in the defeat of Nazi Germany? Give reasons for your point of view.

1. military power of the USSR (more than 2/3 of Germany’s armed forces were constantly on the Eastern Front, Germany suffered its main losses and defeats in the east of the USSR);

2. patriotism of peoples opposing the seizure of their territory;

3. joint actions of the Anti-Hitler coalition, opening of a second front

14. *How do you determine the reasons for Japan's defeat in World War II?

Reasons for Japan's defeat in World War II:

1. The naval blockade caused an economic collapse, causing production to fall below pre-war levels.

2. Strategic bombing caused heavy casualties and destruction, demoralizing the population and weakening their support for the course of total war.

3. The Soviet invasion destroyed hopes for USSR mediation in the matter of peace, and the threat of war on two fronts sharply reduced the time for decision-making.

4. The atomic bombings, coupled with uncertainty about the quantity of these weapons in the United States, created circumstances in which unconditional surrender became the only possible action.

15. Name the most outstanding, from your point of view, commanders of the Second World War. What serves as your assessment criterion (basis) in this case? (When answering, use material from a textbook on Russian history.)

The criterion for evaluation was the effectiveness of the victories of the commanders and their contribution to the victory over Germany.

On the Soviet-German front:

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974) - Marshal of the Soviet Union, Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Armed Forces, member of the Supreme Command Headquarters. He commanded the troops of the Reserve, Leningrad, Western, and 1st Belorussian fronts, coordinated the actions of a number of fronts, and made a great contribution to achieving victory in the battle of Moscow, in the Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk, in the Belarusian, Vistula-Oder and Berlin operations.

Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich (1895-1977) - Marshal of the Soviet Union. Chief of the General Staff in 1942-1945. , member of the Supreme Command Headquarters. He coordinated the actions of a number of fronts in strategic operations, in 1945 - commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front and commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East.

Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich (1896-1968) - Marshal of the Soviet Union, Marshal of Poland. Commanded the Bryansk, Don, Central, Belorussian, 1st and 2nd Belorussian fronts.

Konev Ivan Stepanovich (1897-1973) - Marshal of the Soviet Union. Commanded the troops of the Western, Kalinin, North-Western, Steppe, 2nd and 1st Ukrainian Fronts.

Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich (1898-1967) - Marshal of the Soviet Union. From October 1942 - Deputy Commander of the Voronezh Front, Commander of the 2nd Guards Army, Southern, Southwestern, 3rd and 2nd Ukrainian, Transbaikal Fronts.

Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich (1897-1955) - Marshal of the Soviet Union. From June 1942 he commanded the troops of the Leningrad Front, and in February-March 1945 he simultaneously coordinated the actions of the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts.

Antonov Alexey Innokentievich (1896-1962) - army general. Since 1942 - first deputy chief, chief (since February 1945) of the General Staff, member of the Supreme Command Headquarters.

Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich (1895-1970) - Marshal of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War - People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, member of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Commander-in-Chief of the Western and South-Western directions, from July 1942 he commanded the Stalingrad and North-Western Fronts. Since 1943 - representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters at the fronts.

Tolbukhin Fedor Ivanovich (1894-1949) - Marshal of the Soviet Union. At the beginning of the war - chief of staff of the district (front). Since 1942 - Deputy Commander of the Stalingrad Military District, Commander of the 57th and 68th Armies, Southern, 4th and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.

On other fronts of World War II:

D. Eisenhower - US statesman and military leader, army general (1944). During World War II 1939 - 45 commander (from June 1942) of American troops in Europe, commands. (from November 1942) by allied forces in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Since 1943, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Western Europe; led the landing of Anglo-American troops on the coast of Northwestern France, which meant the opening of a second front in Europe. He was awarded orders from many countries, including the Soviet Order of Victory (1945). After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Eisenhower became commander of the US occupation forces in Germany.

Douglas MacArthur is an American military leader, holder of the highest rank - General of the Army (December 18, 1944), Field Marshal of the Philippine Army (August 24, 1936), holder of many orders and medals.

Bernard Law Montgomery, British field marshal (1944), major military leader of the Second World War. In October–November 1942, at the Battle of El Alamein, Montgomery's army defeated the outnumbered German-Italian forces, finally turning the tide of hostilities in North Africa in favor of the Allies. Montgomery was knighted and given the rank of full general.

16. *What do you think determined the actions and behavior of people during the war? Express your opinion about what heroism in war is. What was it? Give examples.

Heroism presupposes courage, determination, bravery, nobility, and the ability to sacrifice oneself in the name of another person or a significant idea. Soldiers as well as civilians during World War II showed great courage, fighting either at the front or on the home front. The motive for all their actions was the desire to expel the enemy and ensure a bright, peaceful future for themselves and their children.

An example of heroism during World War II is the defense of the Brest Fortress. The Nazi command spent half an hour planning to capture Brest. But about a month passed before German troops were able to do this. The fortress on the western border of the Soviet Union became a symbol of feat and heroism, courage and perseverance. Even our enemies were forced to admit this. In March 1942, in the Orel area, our troops defeated the Nazis' 45th Infantry Division. At the same time, the archive of her headquarters was captured, in which, among other documents, a “Combat report on the capture of Brest-Litovsk” was discovered. His final lines say: “An attack on a fortress in which a brave enemy sits costs a lot of blood. The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought exceptionally persistently and tenaciously. They showed excellent infantry training and proved a remarkable will to fight.”

17. Compare the indicators related to the two world wars (see table on page 145). Identify the most significant differences. What conclusions can be drawn from the comparison?

Indicators related to the two world wars differ in all respects. But what is especially different is the territory covered by the fighting, the number of states involved in the war, and most importantly the total number of deaths on the fronts. From this we can conclude that the Second World War, in terms of its scale and human casualties, was much more severe and inhumane than the First World War.

18. *Describe the main results of the Second World War. What do you think its lessons are? (Also use material from a textbook on Russian history.)

The Second World War is over. 72 states with a total population of over 1.7 billion people took part in it. The fighting took place on the territory of 40 countries. 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces. According to updated estimates, up to 62 million people died in the war, including about 27 million Soviet citizens. Thousands of cities and villages were destroyed, innumerable material and cultural values ​​were destroyed. Humanity paid a huge price for the victory over the invaders who sought world domination.

The war, in which atomic weapons were used for the first time, showed that armed conflicts in modern world threaten to destroy not only an increasing number of people, but also humanity as a whole, all life on earth. The hardships and losses of the war years, as well as examples of human self-sacrifice and heroism, left a memory of themselves in several generations of people. The international and socio-political consequences of the war turned out to be significant.