The causes and prerequisites of the Second World War briefly. Background of the Second World War

The most brutal and destructive conflict in human history was the Second World War. Only during this war were nuclear weapons used. 61 states took part in the Second World War. It began on September 1, 1939 and ended on September 2, 1945.

The causes of World War II are quite varied. But, first of all, these are territorial disputes caused by the results of the First World War and a serious imbalance of power in the world. The Versailles Treaty of England, France and the USA, concluded on extremely unfavorable terms for the losing side (Turkey and Germany), led to a constant increase in tension in the world. But the so-called policy of appeasing the aggressor, adopted by England and France in the 1030s, led to the strengthening of Germany's military power and led to the start of active military operations.

The anti-Hitler coalition included: the USSR, England, France, the USA, China (leadership of Chiang Kai-shek), Yugoslavia, Greece, Mexico and so on. On the side of Nazi Germany, the following countries took part in the Second World War: Japan, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, Finland, China (leadership of Wang Jingwei), Iran, Finland and other states. Many powers, without taking part in active hostilities, helped with the supply of necessary medicines, food and other resources.

Here are the main stages of the Second World War, which researchers highlight today.

• This bloody conflict began on September 1, 1939. Germany and its allies carried out a European blitzkrieg.
• The second stage of the war began on June 22, 1941 and lasted until mid-November of the following 1942. Germany attacks the USSR, but Barbarossa's plan fails.
• The next period in the chronology of the Second World War was the period from the second half of November 1942 to the end of 1943. At this time, Germany is gradually losing strategic initiative. At the Tehran Conference, which was attended by Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill (late 1943), a decision was made to open a second front.
• The fourth stage, which began at the end of 1943, ended with the capture of Berlin and the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945.
• The final stage of the war lasted from May 10, 1945 to September 2 of the same year. It was during this period that the United States used nuclear weapons. Military operations took place in the Far East and Southeast Asia.

The beginning of the Second World War of 1939 - 1945 occurred on September 1. The Wehrmacht launched an unexpected large-scale aggression directed against Poland. France, England and some other states declared war on Germany. But, nevertheless, no real help was provided. By September 28, Poland was completely under German rule. On the same day, a peace treaty was concluded between Germany and the USSR. Nazi Germany thus provided itself with a fairly reliable rear. This made it possible to begin preparations for war with France. By June 22, 1940, France was captured. Now nothing prevented Germany from beginning serious preparations for military action directed against the USSR. Even then, the plan for a lightning war against the USSR, “Barbarossa,” was approved.

It should be noted that on the eve of World War II, the USSR received intelligence information about preparations for the invasion. But Stalin, believing that Hitler would not dare to attack so early, never gave the order to put the border units on combat readiness.

The actions that took place between June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945 are of particular importance. This period is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. Many of the most important battles and events of World War II took place on the territory of modern Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

By 1941, the USSR was a state with a rapidly developing industry, primarily heavy and defense. Much attention was also paid to science. Discipline on collective farms and in production was as strict as possible. A whole network of military schools and academies was created in order to fill the ranks of officers, more than 80% of whom had been repressed by that time. But these personnel could not receive full training in a short time.

The main battles of the Second World War are of great importance for world and Russian history.

• September 30, 1941 - April 20, 1942 - the first victory of the Red Army - the Battle of Moscow.
• July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943 - a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War, the Battle of Stalingrad.
• July 5 – August 23, 1943 – Battle of Kursk. During this period, the largest tank battle of World War II took place - near Prokhorovka.
• April 25 – May 2, 1945 – the Battle of Berlin and the subsequent surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Events that had a serious impact on the course of the war occurred not only on the fronts of the USSR. Thus, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 led to the US entry into the war. It is worth noting the landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944, after the opening of the second front, and the US use of nuclear weapons to strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

September 2, 1945 marked the end of World War II. After the Kwantung Army of Japan was defeated by the USSR, an act of surrender was signed. The battles and battles of World War II claimed at least 65 million lives. The USSR suffered the greatest losses in World War II, taking the brunt of Hitler's army. At least 27 million citizens died. But only the resistance of the Red Army made it possible to stop the powerful military machine of the Reich.

These terrible results of the Second World War could not help but horrify the world. For the first time, war threatened the existence of human civilization. Many war criminals were punished during the Tokyo and Nuremberg trials. The ideology of fascism was condemned. In 1945, at a conference in Yalta, a decision was made to create the UN (United Nations). The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the consequences of which are still felt today, ultimately led to the signing of several pacts on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The economic consequences of the Second World War are also obvious. In many countries of Western Europe, this war provoked a decline in the economic sphere. Their influence has declined while the authority and influence of the United States has grown. The significance of the Second World War for the USSR is enormous. As a result, the Soviet Union significantly expanded its borders and strengthened the totalitarian system. Friendly communist regimes were established in many European countries.

In the lands of the post-Soviet space, this event is usually called the Great Patriotic War and is considered as a feat of the people who rallied overnight to fight the enemy, invader and fascist. For the Soviet Union, the period from 1941 to 1945 was indeed one of the most difficult, but not for it alone.

Horror for the whole world

The Second World War, the causes of which are still being studied by historians, became a real disaster and grief for the entire globe. Starting in 1939, it seemed to cover country after country like an avalanche, destroying thousands, millions of lives, destroying cities, sweeping away everything in its path.

According to currently available information, more than eighty percent of the planet's population was involved in this endless battle, and more than sixty million people died during the fighting. To make the scale of the tragedy clearer, let us take as an example the First World War, during which the losses were 5 times smaller.

Apple from the apple tree

Despite the fact that the battles of 1939-1945 were among the most brutal and bloody in the history of mankind, this event has its own prerequisites. The echo of the first war that captured the whole world had not yet subsided when the Second World War began, the causes of which were almost similar.

The basis of both great tragedies lies, first of all, in the deepest global crisis of international relations. The barely established order of things and the organization of states gave a significant tilt during this period, which served as one of the first impetuses for the outbreak of hostilities.

The military power of Great Britain at this moment weakened significantly, while Germany, on the contrary, gained strength, becoming one of the most powerful and dangerous countries on the globe. This would sooner or later lead to confrontation, which is what happened in the end, as history tells us.

Consequences of certain actions

After the first shock, the world was literally divided into 2 opposing camps: socialist and capitalist. States with opposing ideologies naturally competed and sought to establish a more advantageous order. Partly as a result of this confrontation, the Second World War broke out, the causes of which, as we see, are also the consequences of the first.

Internal fragmentation

If in the case of adherents of the socialist regime there was comparative unanimity, then with the capitalist countries the situation was completely different. In addition to the already different ideology from the opposing one, internal resistance constantly took place in this environment.

The already precarious political situation was aggravated in the mid-30s by a serious split among the capitalists, who were divided into two openly hostile camps. The Second World War, the causes of which are directly related to Germany, began largely because of this split.

In the first camp, in addition to Germany itself, were Japan and Italy, and they were opposed in the political field by the unification of the USA, France and England.

Appeal to fascism

Having exhausted all more or less rational models of government and resistance, Germany is choosing a new path in the matter of establishing its own position. Since 1933, Adolf Hitler has confidently stepped up to the podium, whose ideology quickly finds response and support among the population. Mass discrimination against Jews begins, followed by open persecution.

The causes of World War II become much clearer when one takes a closer look at the policies adopted in countries that turned to fascism. Along with the persecution of representatives of individual nationalities, chauvinism and open anti-democratic ideology were gaining increasing momentum. Naturally, such a development of events could not but entail an aggravation of the global interstate crisis, which is what happened later.

Zero sign position

When listing the causes of the Second World War, one cannot ignore the position that France, the USA and England took at the time of the outbreak of the conflict in opposition to Germany, Italy and Japan.

Wanting to ward off aggression from their own states, their heads came to the conclusion that it was necessary to take a passive and restrained position, which led to an underestimation of the enemy’s forces and the scale of possible aggression.

Random stimulus

There were other causes of the Second World War, which are not particularly commonly remembered in the countries of the post-Soviet space. In this case, we are talking about the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, pursued by I.V. Stalin during a period of increasing danger.

While initially actively opposing fascism, the USSR provided open support to countries suffering from aggression from Italy and Germany. This was expressed both in the provision of military resources and humanitarian assistance.

Moreover, a number of agreements were concluded between the USSR and other countries, according to which, in the event of aggression, all of Europe had to unite to fight the enemy.

Starting from the beginning of 1939, something happened that cannot be ignored when listing the causes of World War II briefly. J.V. Stalin, wanting to avert danger from his country, moves from open resistance to a policy of agreement, trying to find an optimal way out of the brewing conflict for the USSR and Nazi Germany.

Lengthy negotiations finally led to the wrong decision - on August 23, 1939, a non-aggression pact was signed between the countries, according to which the Soviet Union actually became a partner of Nazi Germany, while subsequently laying claim to part of Europe.

Describing the causes of World War II briefly, it should be noted that it was this agreement that became the last, decisive impetus for active hostilities, and already on September 1, 1939, the Third Reich declared war on Poland.

Justifying actions

Despite the obviously large role of the agreement between these countries in the issue of starting a war, this should not be considered the only circumstance of this kind. The causes and nature of the Second World War are complex and multifaceted, so much so that historians are still debating about certain aspects of it.

For example, to hold the USSR responsible for the outbreak of hostilities would not be entirely correct due to the fact that this act simply diverted fire from the state, headed at that time by J.V. Stalin. The whole point is that, according to the “Munich scenario,” it was the Soviet Union that should have been the object of aggression, which subsequently happened. The agreement concluded by the country in August only made it possible to postpone this moment by 2 years.

Ideology and pragmatism

Considering the main causes of the Second World War, we can say the following: the main incentive to end it was, of course, the need to suppress fascism. It is this ideological statement of the fight against evil that is currently considered the main justification for resistance in the Second World War.

However, there were other, no less important aspects regarding the need to fight Nazi Germany. First of all - elementary geographical and political integrity. It cost the whole world enormous sacrifices to preserve the framework and territories that existed at that time. Thus, the economic reasons for the Second World War were combined with ideological ones.

Perhaps it was this feature that helped to win the most brutal, bloodiest and largest battle in the history of all mankind.

The true, underlying reasons for the war were hidden by the rulers in the First and Second World Wars - in particular. After the destruction of the USSR, anti-Soviet and Russophobes are trying to blame the Second World War on the USSR and Stalin. However, the entire course of events shows that preparations for a new world battle began soon after the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The two world wars were separated by a short interwar period, a respite for gathering forces and putting together military-political blocs. World economic crisis 1929 - 1933 exacerbated contradictions and shortened the interwar period. A new bloc of fascist states opposed the previous bloc of victors - England, France and the USA - defeated, but not defeated and revanchist-minded Germany and Italy and Japan, deprived of the division of colonies. Fascist states - totalitarian imperialism - set as their goal the achievement of world domination and the establishment of a “new world order”. England and France were preparing for war to maintain their position as the leading countries of the world and victors in the First World War. The United States, as in the past, expected to enter the war from overseas at its final stage and establish itself as the dominant power among its exhausted opponents. Thus, the Second World War was essentially a continuation of the First. But in contrast to this, inter-imperialist contradictions were also superimposed on inter-formation ones - between capitalism and socialism. Both imperialist blocs sought to either destroy the Soviet Union or weaken it so much as to subordinate it to their interests. Subordination of the USSR to one of the blocs also became an important condition for gaining world domination. The goal of the Soviet leadership was to avoid being drawn into a war between the imperialist blocs or to delay their attack as much as possible, to strengthen its defenses and to weaken the opposing forces through diplomatic measures.

In the 30s Inter-imperialist contradictions came to the fore. The initiators of the world war were the countries of the fascist bloc. It is generally accepted that the Second World War began with the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939. In fact, the world “crept” into it from the beginning of the 30s. a series of local aggressive wars and military conflicts. The first outbreak of the world war arose in the Far East as a result of Japan's aggression against China. On September 19, 1931, Japanese troops captured Mukden, then occupied all of Manchuria, and on March 9, 1932, Japan announced the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo. Japanese militarism began to implement its “great war” plan, in which the occupation of Manchuria was one of the most important components of the general plan of operations of Japanese troops against the USSR.

With Hitler coming to power in Germany in 1933, aggressive actions began in Europe - the second center of the world war was emerging. In January 1935, Germany, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, included the Saar region. On March 7, 1936, German troops occupied the demilitarized Rhineland.

Through the efforts of Soviet diplomacy, in 1935, to prevent German aggression, a system of collective security was created in Europe in the form of mutual assistance treaties between the USSR and France and Czechoslovakia. However, the Western powers refused to take active action against the aggressor.

On October 3, 1935, Italy began the war against Ethiopia. The fierce resistance of this independent African country for seven months was broken by overwhelming superiority of forces. The Western powers took a position of neutrality. They took the same position of neutrality, and in essence, encouragement of aggression, with regard to the civil war that flared up in Spain in 1936 after the fascist rebellion of General Franco. Fascist Germany and Italy began direct intervention against Republican Spain. The war lasted three years and claimed 1 million human lives. The Soviet Union and the progressive forces of the world provided possible support to the Republicans, but the neutrality of France and England contributed to the victory of fascism in Spain.

One of the most important areas of the USSR's foreign policy was assistance to the peoples of Spain and China, who were the first to become targets of fascist aggression.

Our country supplied Spain with 648 aircraft, 347 tanks, 1,186 artillery pieces, 497,813 rifles, 862 million pieces of ammunition and 3.4 million shells. The cost of supplies was paid for by the gold reserves of the Spanish Republic, exported to the Soviet Union.

The flower of the Red Army command corps was sent to the Iberian Peninsula: future Marshals of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky and K. A. Meretskov, chief marshals of artillery N. N. Voronov and M. I. Nedelin, Admiral of the Fleet N. G. Kuznetsov, admirals V. A. Alafuzov and N. P. Egipko, generals P. I. Batov, V. Ya. Kolpakchi, N. G. Lyashchenko, D. G. Pavlov, Colonel General X. U. Mamsurov, A. I. Rodimtsev , G. M. Stern, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of Aviation Y. V. Smushkevich and many others. For their exploits on Spanish soil, 59 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the Chinese open spaces, the future Marshals of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuikov, P.F. Batitsky, Marshal of the Armored Forces P.S. Rybalko, and Air Marshal N.F. Zhigarev took part in the first battles with the aggressors. In the Chinese skies, a constellation of Soviet pilots, future twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, fought against Japanese bombers: S. I. Gritsevets, G. N. Kravchenko, S. P. Suprun, T. T. Khryukin. For helping the Chinese people, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 75 Soviet commanders.

The Chinese people received 1,235 aircraft, 1,140 artillery pieces, 9,720 light and heavy machine guns, 602 tractors, 1,516 cars, 50 thousand rifles, about 180 million cartridges, 2 million shells. A loan provided by the USSR to China for the purchase of weapons in the amount of 201,779 US dollars. dollars (including interest), was almost completely repaid by the Kuomintang government with supplies of non-ferrous metals and food. By 1949, $39.7 million remained outstanding. Doll.

In 1935, the USSR station in London received from its source a transcript of negotiations in Berlin between the British Foreign Minister J. Simon and Hitler. It noted that London was ready to give Austria and Czechoslovakia to Hitler in order to direct his aggression to the East, and to avoid a direct clash with Germany. On November 19, 1937, the new British Foreign Minister, Lord E. Halifax, met with Hitler. England went along with Germany's aggressive plans regarding the Danzig Corridor (Poland's access to the Baltic Sea), Austria and Czechoslovakia. France took a similar position.

From the end of 1937, the established bloc of Germany, Italy and Japan began openly preparing for a further expansion of aggression. By this time, fascist Germany, using loans from the United States and England, managed to recreate the military-economic base and armed forces under the flag of anti-communism. The reactionary politicians of the Western democracies - England and France - hoped to resolve contradictions with the fascist bloc at the expense of the USSR.

The most threatening manifestation of this intention was the position of England and France (with the USA behind them) regarding Germany's claims to annex Austria and Czechoslovakia. March 12-14, 1938 Germany captured Austria (Otto War Plan). This act of aggression was sharply condemned only by the Soviet government, which warned European countries about the danger of further aggression, but England, France and the USA remained deaf to the calls of the USSR to organize a rebuff to the aggressor. A few months later, a threat loomed over Czechoslovakia.

Simultaneously with the threat of Germany's advance to the East against the USSR, provocations of Japan began in the Far East. In July - August 1938, Japanese troops tried to capture an operationally and tactically important area near Lake Khasan near Vladivostok. The decisive actions of the Red Army eliminated this attempt.

The Soviet Union took energetic steps to organize the defense of Czechoslovakia. In March 1938, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M. M. Litvinov appealed to Western European diplomats to provide practical assistance to Czechoslovakia within the framework of the existing treaty between the USSR, Czechoslovakia and France. At the same time, he stated that the USSR would fully fulfill its obligations under the treaty and provide assistance to Czechoslovakia even if France did not. In the spring of 1938, an exchange of military delegations took place between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia to clarify the details of the deployment of large military formations. In April, the first batch of bombers arrived from the USSR to Czechoslovakia. More than 40 Soviet divisions were moved to the western border of the USSR; aviation, artillery and tank units are put on combat readiness. However, under pressure from the governments of France and England, Czechoslovak President E. Beneš avoided cooperation with the Soviet Union and rejected its help.

On September 29, 1938, in Munich, a decision was made at the conference of the heads of four powers - Germany, Italy, England, France (the USSR and Czechoslovakia were not invited) on the fate of Czechoslovakia. England and France, with the consent of the United States, made concessions to the aggressor and signed a shameful agreement on the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government, under pressure from England and France, sacrificed the interests of the nation and took the path of capitulation, refusing help from the USSR. The Sudetenland, which made up 1/5 of its territory with a population of 4 million people and where half of Czechoslovakia's heavy industry was located, was annexed to Germany. The territorial claims of Germany-friendly Hungary for Transcarpathian Ukraine and Poland for the Czech Cieszyn industrial region were also satisfied. Czechoslovakia was dismembered, the morale of the people was crushed. The delicate balance of peace and security in Europe has collapsed.

The Munich Agreement completely destroyed the very limited system of collective security in Europe created in 1935. The states opposing the aggressor lost 45 Czechoslovak divisions with the latest weapons, as well as the Skoda factories in Brno, where modern weapons were produced for the whole of Europe. With the complicity of reactionary Western politicians, Hitler captured Austria and the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in six months in 1938. During this “war without firing a shot,” Germany became the largest capitalist country in Europe with a population of 70 million people (France - 34 million, England - 55 million). By increasing the country's military-economic potential, Hitler significantly strengthened his position in totalitarian Germany.

The political isolation of the USSR became a fact, the military threat became a reality. But a threat also arose for the leading capitalist states of Europe. England and France are seeking to ensure their security through treaties with Hitler. Prime Minister of England N. Chamberlain signed a declaration of non-aggression with Germany on September 30, 1938, France signed a similar declaration in December 1938, the idea of ​​​​concluding a “pact of four” - Germany, Italy, France and England - was discussed. The “Munich policy” extended to the Far East; England provided Japan with serious concessions. The fascist states skillfully played a diplomatic game with the Western powers, playing the “Soviet card.” The Munich residents shamelessly traded in foreign territories, believing that by doing so they were protecting their interests and directing the movement of fascist aggression against the USSR. However, they themselves became victims of the further escalation of the world war.

For further aggressive actions, Hitler's Germany had created a sufficient material, military and political base. The 4-year plan for the militarization of the economy was successfully completed; a powerful army has been deployed, equipped with the latest technology and weapons; an intensified nationalist and misanthropic indoctrination of the population was carried out; A strictly centralized state apparatus was created, all opposition parties and movements were liquidated.

Hitler's leadership felt confident that their “finest hour” had come for a decisive struggle for world domination. During the two spring months of 1939, a cascade of aggressive actions fell on Eastern, South-Eastern and South-Western Europe. In March, the Czechoslovak state is liquidated: Germany occupies and annexes the Czech Republic to the Reich, and Slovakia is declared an independent and friendly country. Almost simultaneously, the Nazis occupied the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda and the surrounding area. By this time, the German-Italian fascists were helping General Franco to finally strangle Republican Spain.

In April, Fascist Italy invaded and occupied Albania. Germany terminates the German-Polish non-aggression pact and demands part of its territory from Poland. At the same time, she denounces the Anglo-German naval agreement of 1935 and puts forward a demand for the return of the colonies taken away by the Treaty of Versailles. In the same month, Hitler approves the plan for war with Poland (“Weiss”) and sets the date for its start - no later than September 1, 1939.

Japan is also taking aggressive actions. At the end of 1938, it captured the main industrial center of Wuhan and the port of Guangzhou from China, isolating this country from the outside world. In May 1939, Japan attacked the USSR ally, the Mongolian People's Republic in the area of ​​the river. Khalkhin Gol. At the same time, it captures the islands of Spartly and Hainan, occupying the most important approaches to the Philippines, Malaya and Indochina - the colonial possessions of the USA, England and France.

In response to Germany’s aggressive actions, England and France, without rejecting certain concessions to the Reich (transferring Danzig and part of the “Polish corridor”), are moving to a policy of demonstrating force. On March 22, the Anglo-French alliance of mutual assistance is concluded. At the end of March, England and France announced guarantees of independence for Poland, and then Romania, Greece, Turkey, Denmark, as well as the provision of external assistance to Holland and Switzerland. These steps, according to the British prime minister, were aimed at warning Hitler against expanding his aggression. But since these acts were not supported by specific military-political treaties and obligations for military support, they did not deter Hitler, but made him want to attack Poland as soon as possible in order to forestall the creation of a united front against him. It is characteristic that such guarantees were not given to the Baltic countries, as if opening the way for Hitler to the east through them. International isolation

The USSR after Munich made this policy direction of the Western powers threatening.

The guarantees given by England and France to countries neighboring the USSR objectively required support from the Soviet Union. The ruling circles of England and France were forced to move closer to the USSR, but at the same time they were negotiating with Germany. Documents from this period are still classified in England and the USA, although their period of secrecy (30 years) has long expired. However, the nature of the negotiations with the USSR clearly shows that rapprochement with the Soviet Union could serve as a means for Western countries to put pressure on Hitler in order to persuade him to make concessions, and an attempt to drag the USSR into a conflict with Germany, remaining on the sidelines for the time being. Turning fascist aggression to the East, Western diplomacy sacrificed the small states that separated Germany and the USSR - Poland and the Baltic countries.

In the situation that developed in the spring of 1939, the US position changed dramatically. If a year ago at the Munich negotiations the United States approved the policy of concessions to Germany, now Roosevelt has taken an irreconcilable position. During the Munich crisis, Germany was still weak, the USSR strongly supported Czechoslovakia, the outcome of the war against Germany in this situation would have been predetermined in a short time. Now Germany had become much stronger, and the war in Europe was expected to be long. The war could have prevented a new recession in the US economy that began in 1938. These factors largely determined the change in the US position in resolving the military-political crisis in Europe. Moreover, according to the US Ambassador to England Kennedy, England and France would never have decided to declare war on Germany over Poland if not for the constant support of Washington.

While preparing an attack on Poland, Hitler sought to prevent the Anglo-French bloc from rapprochement with the Soviet Union. Since May 1939, intensive direct and behind-the-scenes political negotiations have been unfolding on three sides of the triangle: Soviet-British-French, British-German, Soviet-German. The Soviet government is making extensive contacts with each side and is ready to consider and discuss any option, but not to the detriment of its state.

The main direction of the USSR's foreign policy continued to be the desire to conclude a triple Anglo-French-Soviet military-political defensive alliance against the aggressor. However, efforts in this direction have not yielded results for a number of reasons. To conclude the military convention, the Anglo-French delegation arrived very late and consisted of minor persons without the necessary powers. The Polish government took a negative position, refusing to allow Soviet troops through its territory to jointly repel the aggressor, and believed that Poland itself, with some help from its Western allies, would be able to ensure its security without the participation of the USSR. Romania adhered to the same position.

As a result, ten days of empty negotiations with the Anglo-French military delegation in Moscow reached a dead end and were interrupted; their delay could have had dire consequences for the USSR in the very near future. England and France knew exactly the date of Germany’s attack on Poland according to intelligence data; their delay in negotiations by this date indicated a refusal to act jointly. At the same time, England was conducting secret negotiations with Germany behind the backs of the USSR and its ally France, the Soviet leadership knew about this.

In the current conditions, the USSR had two options: either to remain alone in the international arena with the subsequent threat of being subjected to a simultaneous attack by Germany from the west and Japan from the east (there were battles at Khalkhin Gol), or to satisfy the persistent solicitations of Hitler, who proposed concluding a pact with Germany about non-aggression or neutrality. At the same time, the German side made favorable offers for the USSR (preliminary conclusion of a trade agreement, provision of large loans, development of secret protocols on the delimitation of interests in Eastern Europe, preliminary conclusion of non-aggression pacts between Germany and the Baltic countries). If these proposals were rejected, Hitler could accuse the USSR of aggressive plans and make a deal with England, for which purpose a plane was standing by in Germany for Goering to fly to Chamberlain.

To intensify negotiations with London and Paris, the Soviet government reported Hitler's proposals received on August 16 to the American Ambassador Shteynhard. But there was no reaction to this, and the telegram itself about the information received from the Soviet government was sent from Washington to London only on August 19. On August 20, Hitler sent a telegram to Stalin in which he reported that a crisis could “break out every day” in relations between Germany and Poland, which would affect the Soviet Union if it did not immediately agree to a non-aggression pact with Germany. It was almost an ultimatum proposal with a deadline for signing the contract on August 22 - 23. Having exhausted all possibilities to achieve a reliable agreement with the Western powers, Stalin and Molotov concluded a non-aggression pact with Hitler’s Germany on August 23 (received in history the name “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”) and signed a secret protocol with I. Ribbentrop on the delimitation of spheres of interest in Eastern Europe according to lines of the rivers Tissa, Narev, Vistula, San, Prut. The agreement came into force immediately.

The Western powers' evasion of a military alliance with the USSR and simultaneous guarantees to Poland became the beginning of a world military battle between the main imperialist powers. A classic of Western military historiography, British historian and military theorist Liddell-Hart characterized this situation quite accurately: “Guarantees to Poland were the surest way to speed up the explosion and the start of a world war.”

The concluded agreement of August 23, 1939 between the USSR and Germany is quite legitimate from a legal and political point of view. It simply added to the long list of similar documents of the powers of Europe and Asia; declarations of non-aggression with Germany were signed by England and France in 1938. Was the secret protocol legal, which was not presented upon ratification? This question has become a trump card in anti-Soviet propaganda in recent decades. In diplomatic practice both in the past and in the 30s. contracts were often concluded with top secret annexes that were not made public. There were, are, and will remain for a long time in the future in various spheres of human society.

The West was stunned by the diplomatic “audacity” of the Soviet Union, which allowed itself to withdraw from the strictly imposed line of behavior, not wanting to be a bargaining chip in the hands of the Western powers. Under those conditions, this was a justified line of behavior. The USSR slipped out of the tightening noose, delayed entry into the war for two years, pushed its borders to the west and split the fascist coalition. The Japanese leadership was not informed about the preparation of a non-aggression pact with the USSR and considered itself deceived by its ally. The Soviet Union avoided the threat of a war on two fronts under the most unfavorable circumstances. The Soviet leadership had no illusions about the true intentions and plans of both Berlin and London and Paris. He was aware of secret negotiations and contacts between the opposing parties. Stalin stated twice in October 1939 that it was impossible to rely on an agreement with Germany, since the possibility of an attack by German fascists on the USSR “is not excluded.”

It is important to note that the signed non-aggression treaties between the USSR and Germany did not close the possibility of further diplomatic steps to create a collective security system taking into account the interests of the USSR until the moment of Germany’s attack on Poland. After August 23, the Soviet leadership did not remove the possibility of cooperation with England and France from the agenda. There were statements about this by Molotov on August 23 and 24 and by his deputy Lozovsky on August 26. However, neither Paris nor London responded to Soviet steps. The maneuvers around the USSR were over for them. “Western democracy” focused on admonishing Hitler and searching for sophisticated forms of pressure on him.

On August 25, England, in confirmation of its guarantees to Poland, hastily concludes an agreement with it on mutual assistance of a defensive nature. However, on the same day, the British Ambassador in Berlin, F. Hendrikson, discusses with Hitler the conditions that would satisfy German claims on the Munich model. At the same time, Hitler makes the remark that he “will not be offended” if England, in order to preserve prestige, declares an “imaginary war.”

In the fateful days of late August, US policy was ambivalent. Instead of taking a firm position towards the aggressor, Roosevelt began sending messages to the Italian king (August 23), Hitler (August 24 and 26), and the Polish president (August 25) calling for a peaceful compromise in the confrontation between the parties. No constructive steps towards the Soviet Union were ever made on its part, as if there was no such state in the world. But he made it clear to the governments of England and France that they must take an irreconcilable position towards Germany in the event of its aggression against Poland. All the leaders in both opposing blocs were participants in the First World War, and the resolution of the current political contradictions by military means became for them a logical continuation of the previous battle. The Soviet Union, which took a position of non-intervention, was excluded from the general struggle only in the first phase, counting on its subsequent involvement in the unfolding world war. Poland was cynically sacrificed.

The beginning of the European war. Military-political actions of the USSR to strengthen security

German aggression against Poland began on September 1, 1939, on the date set by Hitler back in April. The German-Polish war raged for three days. Nazi troops quickly broke through the Polish front in all directions and rapidly developed an offensive into the interior of the country. On September 3, 1939, England and France declared war on Germany; after England, its dominions declared war. Thus, the German-Polish war turned into a pan-European war, reaching global proportions. The declaration of war on Germany by England and France, ostensibly in defense of Poland, was actually a protest against German encroachments on their imperialist interests. The plans of France and England did not provide for assistance to Poland through active military action. The war between Germany and the Anglo-French bloc was of an imperialist nature; the European war was essentially started by both sides. Poland, sacrificed by its allies, fought a heroic, just war under unequal conditions.

The Stalinist leadership assumed that the war that broke out between the two imperialist blocs, like 20 years ago, would be long-lasting, and the weakening of its participants would make it possible for the USSR to strengthen its position; moreover, a new revolutionary upsurge was brewing in Europe during the anti-war struggle led by the Comintern. However, the above assessments of Stalin refer to the accomplished fact of the outbreak of world war, and the USSR, unlike the Western powers, until the last days was looking for ways to a reliable alliance with them to prevent it, even after concluding a non-aggression pact with Germany.

The United States was counting on a long war in Europe, pushing England and France to declare war on Germany. The military power of the Anglo-French bloc, which opposed the alliance of the Central Powers 20 years ago, seemed sufficient for a long war. Western politicians also did not lose hope by bargaining with Hitler, despite the declared war, to direct the aggressor, who had reached the immediate borders of the USSR, to the East.

Poland was a victim of both the shortsightedness and arrogance of its rulers, and the treachery of its Western allies. It became a testing ground where the first test of the strategy of the German General Staff was carried out - waging war in the form of a “blitzkrieg”. Two weeks later, the Polish army was surrounded and cut into pieces, and battles began for Warsaw. The Polish government and military command fled to Romania on September 17, where they were interned. The Polish people, abandoned by their allies and their leadership, fought an unequal war with the aggressor for more than a month for their lives and national existence. At the end of September, the emigrant government of V. Sikorsky was formed in Paris, which later moved to London.

France and England announced mobilization and began deploying troops on the border. They were opposed by only 23 personnel and 10 reserve divisions, poorly trained and lacking sufficient tank and artillery weapons, as well as air cover. Subsequently, German Field Marshal Keitel and OKW Chief of Staff General Jodl admitted that Germany did not collapse in 1939 only because the Anglo-French troops in the west did not take any action against the German military barrier, which had no real defensive capabilities.

During the Polish campaign, the German leadership repeatedly (September 3, 8 and 10) forced the Soviet government to quickly enter the Red Army into Poland, thereby pushing for allied actions not provided for by the non-aggression pact, hoping to drag the USSR into a war with England and France. The Soviet government stated that troops would enter only to protect the Ukrainian and Belarusian populations and evaded this pressure with "congratulations and greetings" to the German government on the success of its troops in Poland.

On September 17, the Soviet government made a statement: “The Polish state and its government ceased to exist, and consequently, the treaties concluded between the USSR and Poland ceased to be valid. In this regard, the Soviet Union cannot remain neutral and is forced to take under protection the consanguineous Ukrainian and Belarusian populations, as well as remove the impending threat to the borders of the USSR.” By this time, German troops had violated the demarcation line provided for by the secret protocol (Tissa, Narev, Vistula, San), and were rapidly moving towards the river. Western Bug and Lvov. On September 17, Soviet troops began entering the territory of Western Ukraine and Belarus.

The majority of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus greeted Soviet troops as their liberators. Many Polish units offered no resistance and laid down their arms. Near Lvov, Soviet units clashed with German troops for the first time. After this, Hitler gave an urgent order for German troops to withdraw beyond the river. Vistula and r. San. German units voluntarily left Brest, and the Soviet brigade under the command of S. M. Krivoshein entered the city without a fight.

On September 28, 1939, a new agreement on “friendship and border” was concluded between the USSR and Germany, with three protocols attached to it (two of them secret). Agreement was also reached on a broad economic program. This time the border has been revised and moved away from the river. Vistula to the river Bug to the Curzon line, as the Versailles Treaty stipulated the borders of Poland and Soviet Russia (i.e. along the ethnic border). In exchange, Germany renounced its claims to Lithuania. How can we explain the emergence of this agreement? It is characteristic that the joint statement of the Soviet and German governments of September 28 in connection with its signing is rarely mentioned in historiography.

After the completion of the operation in Poland, the German armed forces reached the border with the USSR. England and France, having declared war on Germany, did not conduct military operations - a “strange war” began, which allowed Hitler to defeat Poland in a short time. The Anglo-French leadership continued behind-the-scenes negotiations with Germany. Stalin did not believe in the validity of the non-aggression pact of August 23. The threat of Germany's advance to the east was not removed, and the possibility of a conspiracy between the Western allies and Hitler at the expense of the USSR was not ruled out. Hitler also feared the USSR's rapprochement with the West. The treaty of September 28, signed in the new international situation, consolidated the non-aggression pact of August 23, mutually guaranteeing against military conflict with each other. Stalin could now believe that German aggression would not be continued to the East in the near future. The actions of the Soviet government had their own logic, which was quite accurately expressed by W. Churchill at that time: “Russia is pursuing a cold policy of its own national interests... to protect Russia from the Nazi threat, it was clearly necessary for the Russian army to stand on this line” (the established border with Germany under an agreement - Author's note).

But the analysis cannot be limited to this only. The joint statement of the Soviet and German leadership in connection with the signing of this treaty contained a call for an end to the war between Germany, on the one hand, and England and France, on the other.

Documents and materials:

After the German Government and the Government of the USSR, by the agreement signed today, have finally settled the issues arising as a result of the collapse of the Polish state, and thereby created a solid foundation for lasting peace in Eastern Europe, they mutually agree that the elimination of the present war between Germany, on the one hand, and England and France, on the other hand, would meet the interests of all peoples. Therefore, both Governments will direct their common efforts, if necessary, into agreement with other friendly powers in order to achieve this goal as quickly as possible. If, however, these efforts by both Governments remain unsuccessful, then the fact will be established that England and France are responsible for the continuation of the war, and in the event of a continuation of the war, the Governments of Germany and the USSR will consult each other on the necessary measures.

Based on the fact that the ongoing war has an imperialist character on both sides, Stalin instructs the Comintern to speak out against the war, expose its imperialist character, vote against war loans where there are communist deputies, tell the masses that the war will not give them anything, except hardship and ruin. This was a repetition of the Bolshevik tactics at the beginning of the First World War. He counted on a revolutionary upsurge in Europe associated with anti-war protests. Thus, Stalin, having concluded an agreement on September 28, makes an attempt to stop the world war, gain time to strengthen the position of the Soviet Union and intensify the revolutionary struggle in Western Europe. It should be noted that these were not vain hopes. Thus, on December 15, 1939, US Ambassador to London Kennedy, in a closed report to the command of the US armed forces, said: “By the end of this year, if not earlier, the people of England, France and all of Europe will be ready for communism.” For Hitler, calls for peace were just a camouflage and cover for the impending offensive in the West.

British government circles, although they rejected Hitler’s proposals for peace, expressed their readiness to begin negotiations “with a German government that can be trusted.” And indeed, during this first, strangely peaceful and wait-and-see military winter, probing negotiations were held between British diplomats and German opposition circles on the terms of concluding peace.

In government circles in England and France there was a struggle between supporters of peace and supporters of continuing the war. The most important factor in this situation could be the position of the United States. Roosevelt refused to become a mediator in the negotiations and did not support the idea of ​​concluding peace. At this time, the created special Anglo-French purchasing commission ordered more than 3.5 thousand aircraft from the United States. American military production increased significantly due to investment from France and England.

The entire period of the strategic pause in the fall of 1939 - winter of 1940 received an unflattering name in the historical literature of different countries: among the Americans - a “phantom or imaginary” war; among the British - the “twilight war”; the Germans have a “sitting war”; The French have a “strange war”. For six months, England and France slowly continued to mobilize their armies and deploy them along the Franco-German and Franco-Belgian borders. By the spring of 1940, the Western Allies had 110 French and 10 British divisions there.

While the West was accumulating forces for a military battle, the Soviet Union was taking measures to strengthen its positions and implement the agreements reached with Germany on territorial issues. In the current political situation, the Soviet Union invited the Baltic countries to conclude mutual assistance agreements. They were forced to conclude such agreements: Estonia signed the agreement on September 28, Latvia - on October 5, Lithuania - on October 10. According to the agreements, Soviet military garrisons are stationed on their territories. The Vilnius region, illegally seized from it by Poland, was transferred to Lithuania. Germany evacuated the German population from the Baltic states. The political circles of the Baltic republics understood that in the new political conditions they were not able to ensure their independence between the two great powers. According to the annexes to the treaties between Germany and the USSR, the Baltic states became part of the “zone of interests of the USSR”; otherwise, it would inevitably become the territory of the “Third Reich”. The fate of the Baltic peoples under the fascist yoke is characterized by Hitler’s Ost plan - this is genocide and Germanization, the transformation of the Baltic Sea into a “German lake”.

Defeat and capitulation of France. Fascist domination in Europe. preparations for an attack on the USSR

In the spring of 1940, Hitler's Germany launched a strategic offensive against the Anglo-French bloc. The first blow was struck in April on the northern flank of Europe with aggression against Denmark and Norway. Denmark capitulated without a fight; in Norway, German landings met stubborn resistance. England and France, who carelessly allowed the landing, tried to help Norway, but to no avail. With the help of Norwegian fascists - the “Quis-Lings” - the Germans occupied Norway at the end of April. Germany's strategic position to fight at sea and in the air has been greatly improved, and its northern coast is protected. The prestige of the German Wehrmacht rose even more. In England, Chamberlain's government resigned, and the energetic Churchill, an irreconcilable opponent of Hitler, became prime minister.

On the morning of May 10, a strategic offensive of German troops began against the combined Anglo-French forces in France and an invasion of the territory of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. The powerful attack of seven German tank divisions, supported by dive bombers, through the Ardennes mountain range towards the English Channel coast was unexpected for the Allies, and it decided the fate of the campaign. After 5 days, the main Allied forces were cut off from their rear and pressed against the port of Dunkirk. The British troops were in a critical situation, but Hitler ordered the advance to be stopped for three days and allowed the British and part of the French to evacuate across the strait to England. The mystery of Hitler's “stop order” has not yet been fully revealed, but the meaning of this gesture towards England is clear.

The end of the war in France came quickly. Having not exhausted the possibilities for resistance, the French government capitulated on June 22, 1940. The “fifth column” also played a big role in this - pro-German, pro-fascist circles in the upper strata of France. The Germans occupied northern France, and gave its southern half under the control of a puppet government led by Marshal Petain with its capital in Vichy. At the last moment, Italy entered the war with France, and according to the truce it received several hundred meters of French land. Hitler felt at the height of his glory.

The surrender of France, unexpected for everyone, including Hitler himself, dramatically changed the entire military-political situation in the world. A long war in Europe did not take place. A real threat arose for both the USSR and the USA. In fact, preparations for an attack on the USSR, on Hitler’s orders, began immediately after the defeat of France. On July 2, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, General Brauchitsch, reported to him the main outlines of the plan for the war in the East.

England, left alone, stood on the verge of defeat. Winston Churchill and his comrades managed to strengthen the resilience of the English people in the fight against the enemy. Hitler again proposed to make peace with England. The parliament and government of England hesitated, but Churchill convinced them not to believe Hitler and continue the war. Although history has not received accurate evidence of this fact, Churchill may have already known Hitler’s decision to begin preparations for war against the USSR and the order he gave about this after the capture of Paris. The future joint struggle of the USSR and England with the support of the United States could become an obstacle to the world domination of Nazi Germany, as this ideological opponent of Soviet power believed. In anticipation of such a turn of events, Churchill gave the famous order: to wake him up at night only in two cases - when the Germans landed on British territory or when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.

The struggle between Germany and England unfolded at sea and in the air. The USA supported England, helping it financially and in protecting ocean communications. “Roosevelg’s undeclared war” against Germany began, and in the skies over the British Isles the “Battle of England” began. Roosevelt understood the need to strengthen counteraction to the aggression of German fascism, but was forced to limit US intervention in the European war due to the significant influence of supporters of traditional American “isolationism” in American politics.

Germany continued to assert its dominance in Europe. By the end of 1940, Nazi Germany captured 10 European countries, 7 countries became its allies. England was under continuous air strikes and under an underwater blockade from the sea. In April 1941, fascist troops occupied Yugoslavia and Greece. All of Europe found itself under the fascist yoke. The Soviet Union stood on the path to world domination of German fascism.

Germany had been preparing for an attack on the USSR since the summer of 1940 under the guise of an allegedly planned invasion of England (Operation Sea Lion). Back on July 31, 1940, Hitler, in the circle of the Nazi leadership, declared: “Russia must be liquidated. The deadline is spring 1941. The sooner we defeat Russia, the better.” Preparations for war were masked by active diplomatic activity, widespread disinformation, and the extension of the trade and credit agreement with the USSR. The Soviet Union strictly complied with the terms of the agreements and deliveries under them, but the Soviet government's anxiety was growing. Taking this into account, the Nazi leadership invited Molotov to Berlin (November 12 - 13). The Fuhrer wanted to personally express his views on future relations between the two countries. During Molotov's visit, to Hitler's displeasure, tough clarification of mutual positions on a number of pressing issues took place. Molotov was offered to participate in the division of the inheritance of the British Empire and join the tripartite pact of Germany, Italy and Japan. Having avoided discussing the first, he agreed to discuss the second proposal, but on conditions that would be set out later, after returning to Moscow. On November 26, Molotov presented these conditions to the German Ambassador Schulenburg, who transmitted them to Berlin. They included: the immediate withdrawal of German troops from Finland, the conclusion by the Soviet Union of a mutual assistance agreement with Bulgaria and the creation of a base within reach of the Bosporus and Dardanelles, the cancellation of coal and oil concessions in Northern Sakhalin by Japan, the area south of Batumi and Baku is recognized as the sphere of interests of the USSR . Molotov's statement remained unanswered.

Hitler finally approves on December 18, 1940 the plan of attack on the USSR (“Barbarossa”) and begins to take measures to fully ensure it. This shows that the meeting in Berlin was one of Hitler's political maneuvers to cover up the preparations for the attack.

Preparing the USSR to repel aggression of Nazi Germany.

Having concluded agreements with fascist Germany, the Soviet Union will be its potential enemy and will prepare aggression under favorable circumstances. The only obstacle could be strengthening military power and improving the strategic position of the USSR. The Soviet leadership was active in these areas during those stormy years of the war that unfolded in Europe.

After concluding mutual assistance agreements with the Baltic republics, the next step was to resolve the security problem of Leningrad and Murmansk from Finland. Of all the countries that separated from the Russian Empire, it was Finland that for many years pursued the most hostile policy against the USSR and more than once put forward territorial claims against the USSR in the press (in the event of a war with Japan and Germany); former tsarist dignitaries had a strong influence in government circles.

Back in March 1939, the USSR began negotiations with Finland and offered guarantees of immunity. The USSR requested territorial concessions in the Leningrad area in order to strengthen its security and lease a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland to the Soviet Union. In exchange, part of the territory of Karelia was offered. Finland rejected Moscow's initiative. This issue arose again in early October 1939, when, on the basis of a non-aggression pact with Germany, Finland was included in the sphere of interests of the USSR. Soviet territorial claims were expanded, but on a compensatory basis. Once again the Finns rejected these proposals, and to strengthen their position, the Finnish government began mobilizing the army and evacuating major cities in the border area. Stalin makes a decision: “Since the peace negotiations have not led to results, it is necessary, with the help of military force, to organize, approve and consolidate the security of Leningrad and, therefore, the security of our country.” Stalin's recently published report at a meeting of the commanding staff on April 17, 1940 emphasizes the military-economic and military-political importance of Leningrad as the second capital of the USSR. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War showed the need to move the border away from Leningrad for its defense.

On the morning of November 30, 1939, Soviet troops of the Leningrad Military District crossed the border of Finland and began hostilities. The so-called “winter”, “unfamous” Soviet-Finnish war began. Since the military action began without preliminary preparation, which the General Staff insisted on and for which he was removed from the leadership of military operations, serious disruptions, setbacks and significant losses began. Stubborn resistance of the Finnish army was ensured by powerful fortifications of the deeply echeloned defensive “Manner-Game Line”. The Soviet troops were not prepared for its breakthrough, and the harsh winter complicated the conduct of hostilities. The war dragged on for almost three and a half months.

After stubborn fighting, Soviet troops broke the resistance and captured the city of Vyborg, creating a threat to the Finnish capital. The Finnish cabinet and the foreign policy commission of the Sejm were forced to conclude peace, but on more stringent Soviet conditions, without any territorial compensation. On March 11, 1940, a peace treaty was signed and hostilities ceased. The border was moved away from Leningrad by 150 km, from Murmansk - by 50 km, and the Hanko Peninsula was leased for a period of 30 years. The USSR's strategic position in the northwest was improved, but the USSR lost significantly in public opinion and was expelled from the League of Nations. It is characteristic that of the 52 states that were part of the League, 12 did not send their representatives to the conference, and 11 did not vote for expulsion. Among these 11 were Sweden, Norway and Denmark, who knew well the positions of Finland and the USSR and did not consider the Soviet Union an aggressor. This war gave rise to the idea in the West that the USSR was a minor power militarily. It also created an acute conflict with England, France, and the USA.

The sharp change in the foreign policy situation after the defeat of France in the early summer of 1940 intensified the activities of the Stalinist leadership to improve the strategic position of the country. During the period of Germany's offensive in the West, the Soviet government feverishly took measures to realize the opportunities received in accordance with the pact of August 23, 1939. This was hampered by the position of the governments of the Baltic states. On June 14, 1940, the government of the Soviet Union demanded that the government of Lithuania, and on June 16, 1940, the governments of Latvia and Estonia, resign and ensure the formation of new governments capable of implementing mutual assistance agreements. A. Zhdanov, A. Vyshinsky, and V. Dekanozov were sent to the Baltics to monitor the implementation of the put forward requirements. Under their supervision, new cabinets of ministers were created, which legalized the activities of the Communist parties and prepared public opinion for holding elections to the highest government bodies. On July 14, representatives of communist parties and public organizations close to them won the elections in the Baltic states. On July 21, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia adopted declarations on Soviet-type state power and on joining the USSR. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR granted the request of the Baltic republics to join the Soviet Union. This was not a forced occupation, as Baltic nationalists now claim. The political acts of the governments of the republics were based on internal political forces; they were based on the real situation of that time and reflected the desire of the people to protect themselves from the threat of fascist aggression.

At the same time, the problem of Bessarabia was resolved. On June 26, 1940, the USSR in the form of an ultimatum demanded that Romania return Bessarabia captured in 1918 and transfer Northern Bukovina within 4 days. The latter's appeal to England and Germany for help remained without consequences. On June 27, the Crown Council of Romania satisfied the USSR's demand. On June 28, Soviet tank units and motorized infantry occupied the entire required territory. Northern Bukovina was transferred to Ukraine, and the Moldavian Soviet Republic was formed on the basis of the Moldavian ethnic group.

The Soviet leadership continues to accelerate measures to strengthen its defense capabilities. The transfer of the army to a unified personnel system is being vigorously completed, it is being rapidly re-equipped with the latest military equipment, the number of troops is being increased to 5.3 million, their combat training is being deployed, and the network of military educational institutions is expanding. Allocations for military needs have sharply increased, the military industry and the production of the latest weapons and military equipment are growing. However, all this was marked by haste due to the obvious

growing military threat. In the spring of 1941, the General Staff of the Red Army, together with the headquarters of districts and fleets under the leadership of the Chief of the General Staff G.K. Zhukov, developed the “Plan for the Defense of the State Border of 1941.” According to this plan, the troops of the first strategic echelon of the 5 border districts should, in the event of a German attack, cover the mobilization, concentration and deployment of the main forces of the Red Army with a stubborn defense and create conditions for their decisive offensive against the invading aggressor. During April and May, troops from border districts were replenished and second-echelon formations were secretly transferred to concentration areas under the guise of exercises. Attempts by anti-Soviet historians and publicists to present these events as “preparation of the USSR for a preventive attack on Germany” only show their bias and military-historical incompetence. German researchers in work edited by prof. Rurup's "Germany's War against the USSR 1941 - 1945", published in 2000, once again documented Hitler's initiative to prepare for an attack on the USSR.

By this time, Hitler’s army was completing the deployment of its forces for the offensive according to the Barbarossa plan, approved by Hitler on December 18, 1940. Four strike groups concentrated 190 German and allied divisions (5 million people), about 3 thousand tanks, 5 thousand. aircraft, 43 thousand guns and mortars, 200 warships (there were 103 divisions in the first echelon). The main strike was aimed at Moscow, two more strikes were planned for Kyiv and Leningrad, the Finnish group was heading for Murmansk and Karelia.

The Nazi leadership was so confident in the success of the Barbarossa plan that from the beginning of 1941 they began developing a large-scale plan to gain world domination. It was set out in draft directive No. 32 of June 11, 1941. It provided for the procedure for taking possession of the British Isles, all colonies of England, the Near and Middle East and planned a connection with Japanese troops in India, as well as the capture of North and Central Africa and access to the Atlantic coast with the prospect of transferring hostilities to South America.

What did Hitler count on when he launched a war against the USSR? First of all, he believed that he had a united German Empire, the most powerful in its history, huge, well-trained armed forces at the zenith of its glory and power.

For the first time in history, Germany relied on the economy of the entire Europe. Hitler's strategists hoped to win the decisive battle in a short time with the preemptive deployment of armed forces and the unprecedented power of the first surprise strike, after which the Soviet Union, they believed, would inevitably collapse.

Turning the full power of the military machine to the East, Hitler counted on a quick victory over the Soviet “colossus with feet of clay.” However, England's stubborn resistance and its support for the United States filled him with fear. Taking into account the experience of the First World War, he sought to avoid a war on two fronts and is again trying to persuade England to a peace agreement. “The Hess Mission” - one of the secrets of World War II - has not yet been fully revealed. Hess (Hitler's first deputy in the party) flew to England on a private plane in May 1941 and was arrested and held as a prisoner, but repeatedly put forward various proposals to the British government for an agreement with Germany during the war. In 1990, M. Thatcher extended the secrecy of the Hess dossier for another 30 years. Recently published NKVD documents prepared for Stalin state: “Hess was sent by Hitler for peace negotiations. If Germany agrees, it will immediately attack the Soviet Union.”

The lessons of the First World War were not learned by the major powers, so in 1939 the world was again shocked by large-scale armed clashes, which escalated into the most brutal and massive military conflict of the 20th century. We propose to find out what were the main causes of World War II.

Background

Oddly enough, the preconditions for the outbreak of the Second World War began to emerge literally after the end of the First (1914-1918). A peace treaty was concluded at Versailles (France, 1919), some of the conditions of which the people of the new German state entity, the Weimar Republic, were physically unable to fulfill (large reparations).

Rice. 1. Treaty of Versailles.

As a result of the Treaty of Versailles and the Washington Conference (1921-1922), France, England, and the United States built a world order (Versailles-Washington system) without taking into account the interests of Soviet Russia, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the Bolshevik government. This prompted her to establish political relations with Germany (Treaty of Rapallo, 1922).

The Russian and German armies began secret cooperation, which made it possible to improve the military potential of both countries. Soviet Russia gained access to German developments, and Germany received the opportunity to train its soldiers on Russian territory.

In 1939, unlike Great Britain and France, which delayed concluding an alliance with the USSR, Germany offered Russia mutually beneficial conditions. So on August 23, the German-Russian Non-Aggression Treaty and a secret additional protocol on the division of spheres of influence were signed. The Germans were confident that the British were not ready for war, so it was worth protecting themselves from Soviet Russia.

Rice. 2. Signing of a non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany.

Causes

Let's talk briefly about the causes of World War II point by point:

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• The imperfections of the system of international relations formed after the First World War:
  Britain, the USA, and France ignoring the interests of other countries (including the victors), the lack of common goals among major powers, and the exclusion of Soviet Russia from resolving issues of international politics led to the collapse of the Versailles-Washington world order;
• World economic crisis that began in 1929:
  The German economy was weakened by unaffordable reparations payments, and the crisis further increased the lack of financial resources (decrease in wages, increase in taxes, unemployment). This increased the discontent of the population;
• The National Socialists, led by Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany (1933):
  Hitler sought concessions in military restrictions and assistance in paying reparations, intimidating world leaders with the threat of the spread of the communist regime. Active propaganda of national interests was carried out within the country;
• Non-compliance by Germany with the main points of the Treaty of Versailles (since 1935):
  military buildup, cessation of payments;
• Conquest actions:
  Germany annexed Austria (1938), occupied the Czech Republic, Italy captured Ethiopia (1936), Japan invaded China;
• Formation of two military-political alliances (by 1939):
  Anglo-French and German-Italian, to which Japan leaned.

Germany's violation of the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty was largely possible due to the connivance of Great Britain and France, who made concessions, not wanting to start a war, and limited themselves to only formal expressions of discontent. So, with their permission (Munich Agreement), in 1938 Germany annexed the border region of the Czech Republic (Sudetenland). In the same year, the British and French signed non-aggression declarations with the Germans.

Introduction

1. The world situation on the eve of World War II

Conclusion

Introduction

The Second World War was the largest military conflict in human history. More than 60 states with a population of 1.7 billion people took part in it. Military operations took place on the territory of 40 countries. The total number of fighting armies was more than 110 million people, military expenditures were more than 1384 billion dollars. The scale of human loss and destruction was unprecedented. More than 60 million people died in the war, including 12 million in death camps: the USSR lost more than 26 million, Germany - approx. 6 million, Poland – 5.8 million, Japan – approx. 2 million, Yugoslavia - approx. 1.6 million, Hungary – 600 thousand, France – 570 thousand, Romania – approx. 460 thousand, Italy - approx. 450 thousand, Hungary – approx. 430 thousand, USA, UK and Greece - 400 thousand each, Belgium - 88 thousand, Canada - 40 thousand. Material damage is estimated at 2600 billion dollars. The terrible consequences of the war strengthened the global tendency to unite in order to prevent new military conflicts, the need to create a more effective system of collective security than the League of Nations. Its expression was the establishment of the United Nations in April 1945. The question of the origin of the Second World War is the subject of acute historical struggle, since it is the question of guilt in the most serious crime against humanity. There are several points of view on this issue. Soviet science on the question of the causes of World War II gave an unequivocal answer that the culprit was the militaristic Axis countries with the support of other capitalist countries. Western historical science accuses countries of inciting war: Germany, Italy, Japan. Modern researchers of this problem consider the entire range of documents currently available and come to the conclusion that it is wrong to blame only one country.

1. The situation in the world on the eve of World War II

In the two decades after the First World War, acute economic, socio-political and national problems have accumulated in the world, especially in Europe.

As in the 19th century, one of the main geopolitical problems of Europe was the objective desire of a significant part of the Germans, who historically lived in addition to Germany: in Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, to unite in a single national state. In addition, Germany, which experienced national humiliation after its defeat in the First World War, according to many German politicians, sought to regain its lost position as a world power. Thus, particularly favorable conditions were created for a new wave of growth in German expansionism.

The rivalry between other powers and their desire to redistribute spheres of influence in the world also persisted. World economic crises of the 20-30s. accelerated the growth of military-political confrontation in the world. Realizing this, many politicians and statesmen in Europe, America and Asia sincerely sought to prevent or at least delay the war. In the 1930s, negotiations were held on the creation of a collective security system, agreements on mutual assistance and non-aggression were concluded. And at the same time, again, two opposing blocs of powers were gradually but steadily emerging in the world. The core of one of them consisted of Germany, Italy and Japan, who openly sought to solve their internal economic, social, political and national problems through territorial seizures and plunder of other countries. The second bloc, which was based on England, France and the United States, supported by large and small countries, adhered to a policy of containment.

From the entire previous history of mankind, it is known that under these conditions, it was historically inevitable and normal in the pre-nuclear era to resolve the conflict of interests of the great powers through war. In this respect, the Second World War differed from the First World War only in the increased scale of military operations and the associated disasters of peoples, and it is often presented as another round or rematch in the struggle of old geopolitical opponents. However, along with the obvious similarities between the first and second world wars, there were significant differences.

Almost all Germans believed that their country had been treated unfairly in 1919. And they expected that when Germany accepted the Fourteen Points and became a democratic republic, the war would be forgotten and there would be mutual recognition of rights. She had to pay reparations; she was forcibly disarmed; It lost part of the territory; in other parts there were Allied troops. Almost all of Germany was eager to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles, and few saw the difference between the annulment of this treaty and the restoration of the dominant role that Germany played in Europe before its defeat. Germany was not alone in feeling resentment. Hungary was also dissatisfied with the peace settlement, although its dissatisfaction meant little. Italy, seemingly among the victors, emerged from the war almost empty-handed - or so it seemed to her; Italian dictator Mussolini, a former socialist, called it a proletarian country. In the Far East, Japan, also among the victors, looked increasingly disapprovingly at the superiority of the British Empire and the United States. And, in truth, Soviet Russia, although it eventually joined those who defended the status quo, was still dissatisfied with the territorial losses it suffered at the end of the First World War. But the main driving force among the dissatisfied was Germany, and Adolf Hitler became its spokesman from the moment he entered the political arena.

All these grievances and claims were not dangerous in the 20s, during the short period of restoration of the pre-war economic order, with more or less unlimited foreign trade, a stable currency, and private enterprises in the activities of which the state hardly interfered. But this recovery was destroyed by a large-scale economic crisis that broke out in 1929. A catastrophic decline in foreign trade began, mass unemployment - over 2 million unemployed in England, 6 million in Germany and 15 million in the USA. A sharp currency crisis in 1931 - with the abolition of the gold standard - shook the sacred pound sterling. In the face of this storm, countries concentrated their activities within their own national systems; and the more intensely this happened, the more industrialized the country was. In 1931, the German mark ceased to be a freely convertible currency, and the country switched to barter foreign trade. In 1932, Great Britain, which traditionally adhered to the principle of free trade, established protective tariffs and soon extended them to its colonies. In 1933, the newly elected President Roosevelt devalued the dollar and, independently of other countries, began to pursue a policy of economic recovery.

The economic struggle began largely unexpectedly. At first it was a struggle of all against all, then its character changed and the division of the world intensified. Soviet Russia has always been a closed economic system, although this did not protect it from the consequences of the global crisis. Some other great powers, primarily the United States, as well as the British and French empires, could, at worst, make do with internal resources. Germany, Japan and other major industrial powers lost: they could not provide for themselves, they needed imported raw materials, but the crisis deprived them of the opportunity to obtain it in the normal way through foreign trade. Those who ran the economies in these countries undoubtedly felt that their countries were suffocating and that they needed to create their own economic empires. The Japanese chose the simplest route and sent their troops first into Manchuria and then into the coastal regions of China. But Germany, still bound by the Treaty of Versailles in the early 1930s, did not have such an easy way out. She had to fight through economic means; this increased her isolation, the autarky imposed by the will of circumstances.

At first, German leaders were reluctant to fight economically, then Hitler came to power in January 1933. He perceived autarky as a good thing. Subsequently, there was debate about what gave birth to Hitler and the National Socialist movement he led. The country's economic troubles brought Hitler to power, but his fight against the Treaty of Versailles had already created a certain reputation for him. In his opinion, the crisis in Germany was caused by defeat, and those means that will help overcome the crisis will lead Germany to political victory. Autarky will strengthen Germany for political victories, and these in turn will contribute to the further development of autarky.

Here, right up to the Second World War, there was a hidden contradiction. The USA and England regretted the need to wage an economic struggle and considered it a temporary matter. For the Japanese and Germans, economic struggle was a constant factor and the only way to become great powers. This led to paradoxical consequences. Usually the stronger power is more aggressive and restless, because it is convinced that it is able to capture more than it has.

The outbreak of the Second World War was preceded by aggressive actions of Japan, Italy and Germany in various regions of the globe. The countries of the fascist-militarist bloc, united by the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo "axis", embarked on the path of implementing a broad program of conquest. The initiatives of the Soviet Union aimed at creating a system of collective security, for various reasons, did not receive the support of England and France and did not lead to the achievement of a coordinated policy of containing aggression. Having sealed Hitler's dictatorship with their signatures in Munich, Chamberlain and Daladier pronounced the death sentence on Czechoslovakia (September 1938).

In the first years of the so-called peaceful existence, the USSR struggled to establish more or less acceptable diplomatic relations with capitalist countries. Throughout the 20s and 30s, foreign trade was given not only economic but also political importance.

1934 - The USSR joins the League of Nations, where it makes its proposals regarding the creation of a system of collective security and resistance to conquerors, which, however, do not find support. At the beginning of 1934, the Soviet Union came up with a convention on the definition of the attacking party (aggressor), which emphasized that aggression is an invasion of the territory of another country with or without a declaration of war, as well as bombing the territory of other countries, attacks on ships, blockade coasts or ports. The governments of the leading powers reacted coldly to the Soviet project. However, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and later Finland signed this document in the USSR. In the 30s, the Soviet government actively developed relations with fascist Germany, which grew into active efforts to organize collective resistance to aggressive fascist states. The idea of ​​creating a system of collective security and the practical work of Soviet diplomacy were highly appreciated and recognized by the progressive world community. Joining the League of Nations in 1934, concluding alliance treaties with France and Czechoslovakia in 1935, appeals and specific actions in support of one of the powers subjected to aggression - Ethiopia, diplomatic and other assistance to the legitimate republican government of Spain during the Italian-German intervention, readiness to provide military assistance under the treaty of Czechoslovakia against Nazi Germany in 1938, and finally, a sincere desire to develop joint measures to support aggression on the eve of the Second World War - this is a brief chronicle of the consistent struggle of the Soviet Union for peace and security.

2. Analysis of the causes of World War II

The Second World War was prepared and unleashed by the states of the aggressive bloc led by Hitler's Germany.

The emergence of this global conflict had its roots in the Versailles system of international relations, based on the dictates of the countries that won the First World War and put Germany in a humiliating position. Thus, conditions were created for the development of the idea of ​​revenge and the revival of a hotbed of militarism in the center of Europe.

German imperialism restored and expanded its military-economic base on a new material and technical basis, and it was assisted in this by large industrial concerns and banks of Western countries. Terrorist dictatorships dominated in Germany and its allied states - Italy and Japan, and racism and chauvinism were instilled.

The aggressive program of Hitler's "Reich", which set a course for the enslavement and extermination of "inferior" peoples, provided for the liquidation of Poland, the defeat of France, the displacement of England from the continent, the mastery of the resources of Europe, and then the "march to the East", the destruction of the Soviet Union and the establishment on its territory "new living space". After establishing control over Russia's economic wealth, Germany hoped to launch another round of conquests to extend the power of German monopolies over large areas of Asia, Africa and America. The ultimate goal was to establish world domination of the "Third Reich". On the part of Hitler's Germany and its allies, the war was imperialistic, aggressive, and unfair from beginning to end.

The bourgeois-democratic regimes of England and France, which advocated the preservation of the traditional values ​​of Western society, did not realize the universal threat of Nazism. Their inability and unwillingness to subordinate selfishly understood national interests to the common task of defeating fascism, their desire to solve their problems at the expense of other states and peoples led to a war in conditions most favorable to the aggressors.

The leadership of the Western powers entered the war based on the desire to weaken competitors and maintain and strengthen their own positions in the world. They did not intend to destroy fascism and militarism, betting on the collision of Germany and Japan with the Soviet Union and their mutual exhaustion. Feeling distrustful of the Soviet Union, British and French leaders did not make significant differences between the policies of the Nazi rulers of Germany and the course of the authoritarian Stalinist leadership of the USSR. The strategy and actions of the Western powers on the eve and at the beginning of the war caused enormous damage to the peoples of these countries, led to the defeat of France, the occupation of almost all of Europe, and the creation of a threat to the independence of Great Britain.

The expansion of aggression threatened the independence of many states. For the peoples of the countries that became victims of the invaders, the struggle against the occupiers from the very beginning acquired a liberating, anti-fascist character.

Confident that England and France would not provide real assistance to Poland, Germany attacked it on September 1, 1939. The Polish people offered armed resistance to the aggressors, despite their significant superiority in forces. Poland became the first state in Europe whose people rose up to defend their national existence and waged a just, defensive war. The Nazis were unable to completely encircle the Polish army. A large group of Polish troops managed to escape to the east, but they were captured by the Nazis and, after stubborn fighting on September 23-25, capitulated. Some units continued to resist until October 5. In Warsaw, Silesia and other areas, the civilian population actively came out in defense of independence. However, since September 12, the general direction of military operations has practically ceased. On September 17-18, the Polish government and military command crossed into Romanian territory.

Poland turned out to be unprepared in military-political terms to defend national independence. The reason was the backwardness of the country and the disastrous course of its government, which did not want to “spoil relations” with Germany and pinned its hopes on Anglo-French help. The Polish leadership rejected all proposals to participate together with the Soviet Union in a collective rebuff to the aggressor. This suicidal policy led the country to a national tragedy.

Having declared war on Germany on September 3, England and France saw it as an unfortunate misunderstanding that was soon to be resolved. “The silence on the Western Front,” wrote W. Churchill, “was broken only by an occasional cannon shot or a reconnaissance patrol.”

The Western powers, despite the guarantees given to Poland and the agreements signed with it, did not actually intend to provide active military assistance to the victim of aggression. During the tragic days for Poland, the Allied troops were inactive. Already on September 12, the heads of government of England and France came to the conclusion that help to save Poland was useless, and made a secret decision not to open active hostilities against Germany.

When the war began in Europe, the United States declared its neutrality. In political and business circles, the prevailing opinion was that the war would bring the country's economy out of crisis, and military orders from the warring states would bring huge profits to industrialists and bankers.

None of the pre-war diplomatic events now arouses such interest as the Soviet-German non-aggression pact of August 23, 1939. Much has been written about it by Soviet historians. When considering a contract, it is important to proceed from the reality that existed at its conclusion, and not to be guided by considerations taken out of the context of time.

In accordance with the initial plans, the Nazis planned to begin the main military operations to ensure “living space” in 1942-1945. But the current situation brought the start of these operations closer. Firstly, the militarization of Germany and the rapid growth of its armed forces created internal difficulties for the Nazis: the country was threatened by a financial and economic crisis, which could cause discontent among the population. The Nazis saw the simplest and fastest way to overcome the difficulties that arose in expanding the economic base by seizing the wealth of other countries, and for this it was necessary to start a war as soon as possible.

Secondly, Germany and other fascist-militarist states were pushed to a more rapid transition to aggressive actions by the connivance of the ruling circles of the Anglo-French-American camp. The compliance of the ruling circles of the Western powers to the fascist aggressors was especially clearly demonstrated by the Munich Agreement in September 1938. By sacrificing Czechoslovakia, they deliberately pushed Germany against the USSR.

In accordance with the concept of conquest adopted by the military-political leadership, Germany intended to deliver successive attacks on its opponents with the goal of defeating them one by one, first the weaker ones, and then the stronger ones. This meant the use not only of military means, but also of various methods from the arsenal of politics, diplomacy and propaganda with the task of preventing the unification of Germany’s opponents.

Knowing about the expansionist plans of Nazi Germany, the Western powers sought to direct its aggression against the USSR. Their propaganda tirelessly spoke about the weakness of the Red Army, the fragility of the Soviet rear, and presented the USSR as a “colossus with feet of clay.”

In the Nazi press one could also find many statements about the weakness of the USSR. This fueled the hopes of the ruling circles of the Anglo-French-American camp that German expansion would be directed eastward. However, the German General Staff in 1938-1939. (unlike 1940-1941) he assessed the Red Army as a very serious enemy, a clash with which he considered undesirable for now.

Based on an assessment of the strength of its opponents, the fascist leadership identified Poland as the first victim of aggression, although shortly before this, Ribbentrop suggested that the Polish government pursue a “common policy towards Russia.” And when Poland refused to be a vassal of Berlin, the Nazis decided to deal with it militarily, taking into account the fact that the war with the Soviet Union, as a very strong enemy, was postponed by them to a later date.

From the beginning of 1939, intensive preparations for a military campaign against Poland began in Germany. A plan was developed, called "Weiss". It provided for delivering “unexpected strong blows” and achieving “quick successes.” By order of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces. V. Keitel dated April 3, 1939 the Weiss plan was to begin "at any time beginning on September 1, 1939." The political leadership of Germany sought to “isolate Poland as much as possible” and to prevent interference in Polish affairs by England, France and the Soviet Union.

The measures taken by Germany to prepare an attack on Poland were no secret to the governments of England, France, the USSR and other countries. The world was aware of the danger of fascist aggression. Sincerely striving to create a collective front for the defense of peace, to unite the forces of non-aggressive countries, on April 17, 1939, the Soviet government turned to England and then to France with specific proposals to conclude an agreement on mutual assistance, including a military convention, in the event of aggression in Europe . It proceeded from the fact that the most decisive and effective measures are needed to prevent war, especially a firm position of the great powers regarding the problem of collective salvation of the world.

The governments of England and France greeted the Soviet proposals with restraint. At first they took a wait-and-see attitude, and then, realizing the danger that threatened them from Germany, they changed their tactics somewhat and agreed to negotiations with Moscow, which began in May 1939.

The seriousness of the USSR's intention to reach an equal agreement on military cooperation with England and France was especially evident at the special negotiations of the military missions of the three powers, which began on August 12, 1939 in Moscow. The negotiating partners were provided with a detailed plan, according to which the USSR pledged to field 136 divisions, 9-10 thousand tanks and 5-5.5 thousand combat aircraft against the aggressor in Europe.

In contrast to the Soviet Union, the governments of England and France, as is known from open archives, acted insincerely during the negotiations in Moscow and played a double game. Neither London nor Paris wanted to establish equal allied relations with the USSR, as they believed that this would lead to the strengthening of the socialist state. Their hostility towards him remained the same. Agreement to negotiations was only a tactical step, but did not correspond to the essence of the policy of the Western powers. From exhorting and encouraging fascist Germany with concessions, they moved on to intimidating it, trying to force Germany to come to an agreement with the Western powers. Therefore, in negotiations with the USSR, England and France proposed agreements that would only put the Soviet Union at risk, and were not bound by their obligations towards the USSR. At the same time, they tried to secure his support in case Germany, contrary to their wishes, moved not to the east, but to the west. All this testified to the desire of England and France to put the Soviet Union in an unequal, humiliating position, and to their reluctance to conclude an agreement with the USSR that would meet the principles of reciprocity and equality of obligations. The failure of the negotiations was predetermined by the position taken by the governments of Western countries.

The ineffectiveness of the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations negated the efforts of the USSR government to create a coalition of non-aggressive states. The Soviet Union continued to remain in international isolation. He was in danger of a war on two fronts with very strong opponents: Germany in the west and Japan in the east. From the point of view of the leadership of the USSR, the danger of an anti-Soviet conspiracy by the entire imperialist camp also continued to exist. In this extremely difficult situation, fraught with grave consequences, the government of the USSR had to think first of all about the security of its own country.

Since May 1939, when negotiations between the USSR and England and France began, employees of the German Foreign Ministry persistently entered into contacts with representatives of the USSR in Berlin, and in various unofficial ways made it clear that Germany was ready to move closer to the USSR. Until mid-August 1939, while there was hope for concluding an Anglo-Franco-Soviet treaty on mutual assistance, the Soviet government left the German side’s probing unanswered, but at the same time closely monitored its actions.

On August 20, Hitler addressed a personal message to Stalin, proposing to receive on August 22 or at the latest August 23 the German Foreign Minister, who “will be invested with all emergency powers to draw up and sign a non-aggression pact.” Thus, a minimum of time was allocated for making extremely important decisions.

The Soviet government was faced with a direct question: to reject the German proposal or to accept it? The proposal, as is known, was accepted. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was signed for a period of 10 years. It meant a sharp turn in the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, had a significant impact on the military-political situation in the world, and also to some extent influenced internal life in the USSR.

The agreement was accompanied by a secret protocol that delimited the parties' spheres of influence in Eastern Europe: Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and Bessarabia were included in the Soviet sphere; in German - Lithuania. It did not directly talk about the fate of the Polish state, but in any case, the Belarusian and Ukrainian territories included in it under the Riga Peace Treaty of 1920 should have gone to the USSR.

When Stalin made the decision to conclude an agreement with Germany, the Japanese factor also played a role. The treaty with Germany, according to Stalin, saved the USSR from such a threat. Japan, shocked by the “betrayal” of its ally, later also signed a Non-Aggression Treaty with the USSR.

The decision of the USSR government to conclude a non-aggression pact with Germany was forced, but quite logical in the conditions of that time. In the current situation, the Soviet Union had no other choice, since it was not possible to achieve the signing of a mutual assistance treaty with England and France, and there were only a few days left before the predetermined date for Germany’s attack on Poland.

From a moral point of view, the Soviet Union, having concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany, suffered certain damage in world public opinion, as well as in the international communist movement. The unexpected change in the policy of the USSR and in relations with Nazi Germany seemed unnatural to progressive-minded people. They could not know everything that was known to the Soviet government.

In the context of a rapidly changing situation and the growing danger of the German army reaching the Soviet-Polish border, using the opportunities provided by the “secret additional protocol,” on September 17, the Soviet government sent its troops into Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were transferred to Poland under the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 Officially, this was justified by the fact that Poland had become a convenient field for all sorts of accidents and surprises that could pose a threat to the USSR, and the treaties concluded between the USSR and Poland had ceased. The Soviet side declared its duty to protect the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus. Moscow's assertion that the Polish state had actually ceased to exist was contrary to the norms of international law, because a temporary occupation could not erase the fact of the existence of the state as a subject of international law.

The reaction of Polish society to the entry of the Red Army into the eastern regions of Poland was painful and even hostile. The Ukrainian and Belarusian population, for the most part, welcomed the Red Army units. Soviet troops were stopped approximately at the “Curzon Line,” defined back in 1919 as the eastern border of Poland. According to the Treaty of Friendship and Border, signed by the USSR and Germany on September 28, 1939, the border of “mutual state interests” was established along the San and Western Bug rivers. Polish lands remained under German occupation, Ukrainian and Belarusian lands went to the USSR. Recognizing the ethnic dividing line as a border between two states meant a gross violation of international law. Stalin's serious political mistake was his promise to develop friendship with Nazi Germany. Immoral in essence, it actually whitewashed fascism, deformed people’s consciousness and trampled on the principles of Soviet foreign policy.

The signing of the Soviet-German treaties had dire consequences for the anti-war movement and led to the disorientation of leftist forces. The Executive Committee of the Comintern, weakened by repression, was unable to resist Stalin's dictates. At his request, the leadership of the Comintern refused to consider fascism the main source of aggression and removed the slogan of the Popular Front. The outbreak of the war was called imperialistic and unfair on both sides, with emphasis placed on the fight against Anglo-French imperialism. The Comintern did not have a clear position on the issue of the struggle for the national liberation of peoples subjected to Nazi aggression.

In the plans of England and France, a significant place was occupied by the war between Finland and the USSR, which began at the end of November 1939. The Western powers sought to turn a local armed conflict into the starting point of a united military campaign against the USSR. Providing extensive military assistance to Finland, England and France developed a plan to land a 100,000-strong expeditionary force to capture Murmansk and occupy the territory south of it. A project was also hatched to attack the USSR in the Transcaucasus region and carry out air strikes on the oil fields of Baku.

For seven months there was no fighting on the Western Front. British and French weapons and material resources exceeded the military-economic potential of Germany, which at that time was not ready for a long war. But London and Paris still made it clear to Hitler that he was given freedom of action in the East. In the countries of Western Europe, an atmosphere of complacency remained, generated by the “strange” war, which was essentially a continuation of the previous Munich policy. Meanwhile, Germany was intensively preparing for an offensive on the Western Front.

Main conclusions

The Second World War was generated by a whole complex of various complex reasons. The discovery in the 90s of historical, military, diplomatic, and intelligence archives in many countries of the world that participated in this war caused the emergence of a huge flow of literature, some of which reveals the reasons for the preparation and beginning of the Second World War and the course of world events in the pre-war years. But the causes of the war are still the subject of controversy and debate in many countries around the world.

1) One of the causes of World War II was territorial disputes and claims that arose after World War I as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, ended the First World War. It was signed on the one hand by the victorious countries - Britain, France, USA, Italy, Japan, Belgium, on the other hand - by defeated Germany. Germany returned Alsace and Lorraine to France, large territories were taken from Germany and returned to Poland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, German and Ottoman colonies were divided between the victorious countries. As a result of this war, the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires collapsed, and on their ruins 9 new states with disputed borders arose - Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the future Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Poland. The country that lost its territories wanted to return them, and the countries that received these territories wanted to preserve them. The desire for a new redistribution and seizure of European territories, and at the same time the plunder of other countries - this is one of the reasons for WWII.

2) The next reason for the war matured and took shape in Germany itself. Since the time of the King of Prussia and the German Emperor Wilhelm II in Germany, the views of pan-Germanism, the superior race - the Aryans, views of other peoples as inferior, as manure for German culture, have been instilled among the German elite and ordinary Germans. Therefore, the bitterness of defeat after the First World War, national despair and humiliation, the desire to come to the aid of those compatriots who remained in other countries after the division were very acute, inciting in the Germans hatred and desire for revenge, revenge, psychological readiness for war, as well as desire find a “scapegoat” for your misfortunes and blame the bitterness of failure on him. According to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to pay huge reparations, could have a small army of volunteers of 100 thousand people, armed with light weapons, could not have tanks, military aircraft, or heavy artillery. Universal conscription was abolished, the German navy was captured and sunk by the victors, the building of warships and the establishment of a General Staff was prohibited. However, on April 16, 1922, Germany and the USSR signed the Treaty of Rapallo, according to which Germany could restore its military power on Soviet territory. German tank crews trained in Kazan, German pilots in Lipetsk, the German concern Junkers designed military aircraft in Fili, and German factories for the production of heavy artillery and chemical weapons were built in Central Asia. This allowed Germany to quickly restore its military production in subsequent years. In 1924, under the Dawes Plan, Germany was able to obtain loans from the United States to pay off reparations, and then, due to the crisis, received a deferment in the payment of reparations. This allowed Germany to restore its military-industrial potential by 1927, and then by the beginning of the 30s to overtake the victorious countries. In the wake of revanchist sentiments, the National Socialist Party began to gain increasing popularity among the German public, and Nazi leader A. Hitler attracted the attention of Germans from top to bottom with his aggressive slogans. Hitler's main slogans were the idea of ​​a "superior race", which gave the average person a feeling of superiority over other peoples, atoned for the bitterness of defeat and romanticized, allowed brutal violence and militarism, the idea of ​​the need for "living space" for the Germans, and also called the cause of all problems for the Germans - Versailles system, communists and Jews within the country. At the beginning of 1933, Hitler was appointed head of the German government - chancellor, and after that - brazenly, contrary to the Treaty of Versailles, completely ignoring it, universal conscription was introduced in the country, aviation, tank, artillery and other factories were built. The corresponding military units are created and the armed forces and economy of Germany are surpassing the victorious countries. By September 1939 Germany has an army of 4.6 million people, France - 2.67 million, Great Britain - 1.27 million, USSR - 5.3 million. Preparations for World War II are in full swing in Germany.

3) One of the reasons for the worldwide nature of this war was Japan’s aggressive policy. The fact is that in 1910 - 30. China was in a state of fragmentation. The Japanese Empire, which had scarce natural resources, wanted to take advantage of China's weakness to gain control over its richest resources and markets, and therefore pursued aggressive policies, conflicts, and military campaigns there. In November 1936, Germany and Japan concluded the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy joined a year later. By the end of the 1930s, the Japanese army occupied the entire northeast of China, and in 1937. The full-scale Sino-Japanese War began, which in 1939 became part of the Second World War and lasted until 1945. At the same time, on April 13, 1941, a neutrality agreement was signed between Japan and the USSR in Moscow for a period of 5 years.

A short work cannot examine all the causes of the Second World War; for this, historians write monographs and multi-volume studies; debates about its causes have been going on in world science for more than 60 years.

Conclusion

war destruction damage conflict

The emergence of the Second World War, compared to the First World War, took place in an immeasurably more intense mutual struggle between powers. Kaiser's Germany, which had colonies in Africa, in the Pacific Ocean and widely enjoyed Turkey's possessions in the Middle East, after its defeat in the war of 1914 - 1918. lost all overseas possessions. The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution reduced the spheres of capitalist exploitation and led to a strengthening of the national liberation movement, which weakened the deep imperialist “rear areas.” At the same time, the struggle in foreign markets - the alpha and omega of imperialist foreign policy - has become even more “vitally necessary” for capitalist countries than before the First World War. The severe crises of overproduction of 1923 - 1924, 1929 - 1933 had a significant impact on the aggravation of foreign policy contradictions. The preparations for a new world war began by the imperialists long before the formation of its main centers and resulted in a whole system of coordinated and purposeful actions and activities that covered all spheres of public life. It was especially intense and intense in the diplomatic and military spheres, reflecting (often in hidden form) the severity of the contradictions that were tearing apart the capitalist world. In the conditions of the growth of state-monopoly capitalism, the development of massive regular armies, and secret diplomacy, this preparation in aggressive countries led to an ever-increasing increase in the share of the national budget, uncontrollably spent on ensuring predatory plans for a new redivision of the world. Germany had the most powerful and developed military-economic base, where, with Hitler’s rise to power, the Wehrmacht was created and technically re-equipped. During 1933 - 1935 a small group of financial and industrial tycoons who dominated the country's economy created a centralized military-bureaucratic machine that was supposed to mobilize the nation's resources for the war. This was also facilitated by the criminal cooperation of international monopoly associations of the USA, England, France and Germany, which put weapons into the hands of revanchists and fascists. The preparation for the Second World War was associated with the gradual restructuring of the entire bourgeois system of ideological and psychological influence on the masses. The establishment of fascist political regimes was accompanied by monstrous social demagoguery aimed at intoxicating the population, especially young people, with the ideas of class “cooperation” and class “harmony”, nationalism that reached extreme racism and chauvinism. The media were used to praise the cult of power, inciting zoological hatred towards nations against which aggression was being prepared.

As a result of the actions of German fascism, the European continent, which had made a colossal contribution to the treasury of world civilization and culture, by the mid-30s was faced with a dilemma: either soon turn into a powerless colony of the “Third Reich”, or unite and overthrow the aggressor in the fight against the aggressor. his plans. It was necessary to make a choice as soon as possible, since the first foreign policy actions of the Hitlerite state showed its complete opposition to the interests of freedom-loving peoples.

The production of military equipment and weapons in the capitalist world, especially in the aggressor countries - Japan, Germany, Italy - grew rapidly. The aggressors chose the optimal methods for recruiting massive armies, improved their organizational structure, logistics and logistics support, and stationed troops in the proposed theaters of military operations and operational directions. The foundations of various kinds of aggressive theories were developed, among which priority was given to “lightning war.”

The peculiarity of the historical situation at the birth of the Second World War was that world imperialism viewed Germany and Japan as a military-political force opposing the Soviet Union and capable of crushing it with a blow from two sides. England, France and the USA, which occupied a leading position in the capitalist world, through various kinds of diplomatic intrigues, secret deals, economic and political agreements, contributed to the development of Japanese aggression in the Far East, the remilitarization of Germany and its transformation into the main weapon in the fight against revolutionary movements and the USSR. The anti-Soviet orientation of the ruling circles of England, France and the United States in the 20s and early 30s was reflected in attempts to prevent the Soviet Union from building socialism, to discredit the successes of the new system, to prove the impossibility of agreements between countries with different social systems, to convince the public of the whole world of the inability the socialist state and its army to resist the pressure of fascism.

In the works of some historians, the idea is often conveyed that the question of the origin of the war is so clear that there is no need to deal with it. At the same time, consideration of the causes of wars is very relevant today. The history of the origins of the Second World War showed what a terrible threat to humanity is posed by connivance and secret diplomacy.

List of used literature

1. Bezymensky, L.A. Soviet-German treaties of 1939: new documents and old problems // New and recent history. -1998. -No. 3. -WITH. 18-32

2. Foreign policy of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War. T. 1-3. - M. 1986.

3. World history. Edited by G.B. Polyak, A.N. Markova. Moscow, UNITY: 1997;

4. World history: in 3 hours. Part 3./ O.A. Yanovsky, O.V. Brigadina, P.A. Shuplyak. -Minsk: Unipress LLC, 2002. -464 p.

5. Deborin G.A. The Second World War. - M., 1988.

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