How many years ago did World War II end? Who fought in World War II, which countries were involved in the conflict and who was on whose side

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

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

The war went on for six years. The armies of 61 countries with a total population of 1,700 million people, that is, 80% of the entire earth's population, stood up under arms. The fighting covered 40 countries. And the worst thing is that the number of civilian deaths exceeded the number of those killed in hostilities by several times.

Previous events

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

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

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

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

An important factor in the preparation future war became dictatorships. They began to multiply in Europe in the pre-war years with amazing speed. Dictators first asserted themselves in their own countries, developing armies to appease their peoples, with a further aim at capturing new territories.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beginning of World War II

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

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

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

Major events of World War II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results and consequences of World War II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Humanity is constantly experiencing armed conflicts. varying degrees difficulties. The 20th century was no exception. In our article we will talk about the "darkest" stage in the history of this century: World War II 1939 1945.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for the named military conflict began to take shape long before the main events: since 1919, when the Versailles Peace Treaty was concluded, which consolidated the results of the First World War.

We list the key reasons that led to a new war:

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

Rice. 1. Adolf Hitler.

Initial period

Slovakia provided military support to the Germans.

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

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

On October 6, the Polish army finally surrendered, and Hitler offered the British and French peace negotiations, which did not take place due to Germany's refusal to withdraw troops from Polish territory.

Rice. 2. Invasion of Poland 1939.

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

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

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

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

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

Main events

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

Rice. 3. Surrender of Japan in 1945.

results

Let's sum up the main results of the Second World War:

• The war affected 62 countries to varying degrees. About 70 million people died. Tens of thousands of settlements were destroyed, of which only in Russia - 1700;
• Germany and its allies were defeated: the occupation of countries and the spread of the Nazi regime ceased;
• Changed world leaders; they were the USSR and the USA. England and France have lost their former greatness;
• The borders of states have changed, new independent countries have appeared;
• War criminals have been convicted in Germany and Japan;
• The United Nations Organization was created (10/24/1945);
• The military power of the main victorious countries has increased.

Historians consider the serious armed resistance of the USSR against Germany (the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945), American supplies military equipment(lend-lease), obtaining aviation of the Western allies (England, France) air superiority.

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

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The first major defeat of the Wehrmacht was the defeat of the Nazi troops in the Battle of Moscow (1941-1942), during which the Nazi "blitzkrieg" was finally thwarted, and the myth of the Wehrmacht's invincibility was dispelled.

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States with the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 8, the United States, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The entry of the United States and Japan into the war affected the balance of power and increased the scale of the armed struggle.

In North Africa, in November 1941 and in January-June 1942, hostilities were conducted with varying success, then until the autumn of 1942 there was a lull. In the Atlantic, German submarines continued to inflict great damage on the Allied fleets (by the autumn of 1942, the tonnage of ships sunk, mainly in the Atlantic, amounted to over 14 million tons). At the beginning of 1942, Japan occupied Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma in the Pacific Ocean, inflicted a major defeat on the British fleet in the Gulf of Thailand, the Anglo-American-Dutch fleet in the Java operation and established dominance at sea. The American Navy and Air Force, significantly reinforced by the summer of 1942, defeated the Japanese fleet in naval battles in the Coral Sea (May 7-8) and at Midway Island (June).

Third period of the war (November 19, 1942 - December 31, 1943) began with the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops, which ended with the defeat of the 330,000th German group during the Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943), which marked the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and had big influence on the further course of the entire Second World War. The mass expulsion of the enemy from the territory of the USSR began. The Battle of Kursk (1943) and access to the Dnieper completed a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War. The battle for the Dnieper (1943) overturned the enemy's plans for a protracted war.

At the end of October 1942, when the Wehrmacht was fighting fierce battles on the Soviet-German front, the Anglo-American troops intensified military operations in North Africa, conducting the El Alamein operation (1942) and the North African landing operation (1942). In the spring of 1943 they carried out the Tunisian operation. In July-August 1943, the Anglo-American troops, using the favorable situation (the main forces of the German troops participated in the Battle of Kursk), landed on the island of Sicily and captured it.

On July 25, 1943, the fascist regime in Italy collapsed; on September 3, it concluded a truce with the Allies. The withdrawal of Italy from the war marked the beginning of the disintegration of the fascist bloc. On October 13, Italy declared war on Germany. Nazi troops occupied its territory. In September, the Allies landed in Italy, but could not break the defense of the German troops and in December they suspended active operations. In the Pacific Ocean and in Asia, Japan sought to hold on to the territories captured in 1941-1942 without weakening the groupings near the borders of the USSR. The Allies, having launched an offensive in the Pacific Ocean in the autumn of 1942, captured the island of Guadalcanal (February 1943), landed on New Guinea, and liberated the Aleutian Islands.

Fourth period of the war (January 1, 1944 - May 9, 1945) began with a new offensive of the Red Army. As a result of the crushing blows of the Soviet troops, the Nazi invaders were expelled from the borders of the Soviet Union. During the subsequent offensive, the USSR Armed Forces carried out a liberation mission against the countries of Europe, played a decisive role with the support of their peoples in the liberation of Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and other states. Anglo-American troops landed on June 6, 1944 in Normandy, opening a second front, and launched an offensive in Germany. In February, the Crimean (Yalta) Conference (1945) was held by the leaders of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, which considered the issues of the post-war structure of the world and the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan.

In the winter of 1944-1945, on the Western Front, the Nazi troops inflicted a defeat on the Allied forces during the Ardennes operation. To alleviate the position of the allies in the Ardennes, at their request, the Red Army began its winter offensive ahead of schedule. Having restored the situation by the end of January, the Allied forces crossed the Rhine River during the Meuse-Rhine operation (1945), and in April they carried out the Ruhr operation (1945), which ended with the encirclement and capture of a large enemy grouping. During the North Italian operation (1945), the Allied forces, slowly moving north, with the help of Italian partisans, completely captured Italy in early May 1945. In the Pacific theater of operations, the allies carried out operations to defeat the Japanese fleet, liberated a number of islands occupied by Japan, approached Japan directly and cut off its communications with the countries of Southeast Asia.

In April-May 1945, the Soviet Armed Forces defeated the last groupings of Nazi troops in the Berlin operation (1945) and the Prague operation (1945) and met with the Allied forces. The war in Europe is over. On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally. May 9, 1945 became Victory Day over Nazi Germany.

At the Berlin (Potsdam) conference (1945), the USSR confirmed its consent to enter the war with Japan. On August 6 and 9, 1945, for political purposes, the United States carried out atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 8, the USSR declared war on Japan and on August 9 began hostilities. During the Soviet-Japanese War (1945), Soviet troops, having defeated the Japanese Kwantung Army, eliminated the center of aggression in the Far East, liberated Northeast China, North Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, thereby hastening the end of World War II. On September 2, Japan surrendered. World War II is over.

The Second World War was the largest military clash in the history of mankind. It lasted 6 years, there were 110 million people in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Over 55 million people died in World War II. The greatest victims were the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people. Damage from direct destruction and destruction material assets on the territory of the USSR amounted to almost 41% of all countries participating in the war.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

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

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

World War II began on September 1, 1939 with Nazi Germany's attack on Poland. September 3 Great Britain and France declared war on Germany; the Anglo-French coalition included British dominions and colonies (September 3 - Australia, New Zealand, India; September 6 - South African Union; September 10 - Canada, etc.)

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

The governments of Great Britain and France, after the outbreak of the war until May 1940, continued only in a slightly modified form the pre-war foreign policy, hoping to direct Germany's aggression against the USSR. During this period, called the "strange war" of 1939-1940, the Anglo-French troops were actually inactive, and the armed forces of fascist Germany, using a strategic pause, were actively preparing for an offensive against the countries of Western Europe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, the expansion of the scale of the war, the collapse of the Hitlerite doctrine of Blitzkrieg.

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

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

The governments of the leading powers of the Western world, without changing their previous attitude towards the social system of the socialist state, saw in an alliance with the USSR the most important condition for their security and the weakening of the military might of the fascist bloc. On June 22, 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt, on behalf of the governments of Great Britain and the United States, issued a statement of support for the Soviet Union in the fight against fascist aggression. On July 12, 1941, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on joint actions in the war against Germany. On August 2, an agreement was reached with the United States on military-economic cooperation and the provision of material support to the USSR. On August 14, Roosevelt and Churchill promulgated the Atlantic Charter, which the USSR acceded to on September 24, while expressing a dissenting opinion on a number of issues directly related to the military operations of the Anglo-American troops. At the Moscow meeting (September 29 - October 1, 1941), the USSR, Great Britain and the USA considered the issue of mutual military supplies and signed the first protocol. In order to prevent the danger of creating fascist strongholds in the Middle East, British and Soviet troops entered Iran in August-September 1941. These joint military-political actions laid the foundation for the creation of the Anti-Hitler coalition, which played an important role in the war.

In the course of the strategic defense in the summer and autumn of 1941, Soviet troops offered stubborn resistance to the enemy, exhausting and bleeding the forces of the Nazi Wehrmacht. The fascist German troops were unable to capture Leningrad, as the invasion plan envisaged, they were for a long time fettered by the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol, and stopped near Moscow. As a result of the counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Moscow and the general offensive in the winter of 1941/42, the fascist plan finally collapsed. lightning war". This victory was of world-historical significance: it dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the fascist Wehrmacht, forced fascist Germany to wage a protracted war, inspired the European peoples to fight for liberation against fascist tyranny, and gave a powerful impetus to the resistance movement in the occupied countries.

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

The US entry into the war strengthened the anti-Hitler coalition. On January 1, 1942, the Declaration of 26 states was signed in Washington; in the future, new states acceded to the Declaration. On May 26, 1942, an agreement was signed between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Germany and its partners; On June 11, the USSR and the USA concluded an agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in the conduct of war.

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

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

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

A turning point in the course of the war. The collapse of the offensive strategy of the fascist bloc. The third period of the war was characterized by an increase in the scope and intensity of hostilities. The decisive events in this period of the war continued to take place on the Soviet-German front. On November 19, 1942, a counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad began, culminating in the encirclement and defeat of 330,000 troops of the pr-ka. The victory of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad shocked Nazi Germany and undermined its military and political prestige in the eyes of its allies. This victory became a powerful stimulus for the further development of the liberation struggle of the peoples in the occupied countries, giving it greater organization and purposefulness. In the summer of 1943, the military-political leadership of fascist Germany made a last attempt to regain the strategic initiative and defeat the Soviet troops.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After the fall of Berlin, capitulation in the West took on a massive character. On the eastern front, the fascist German troops continued, wherever they could, fierce resistance. The purpose of the Dönitz production, created after Hitler's suicide (April 30), was to, without stopping the fight against the Soviet Army, conclude an agreement with the USA and Great Britain on partial surrender. As early as May 3, on behalf of Dönitz, Admiral Friedeburg established contact with the British commander, Field Marshal Montgomery, and obtained consent to the surrender of Nazi troops to the British "individually." On May 4, an act was signed on the surrender of German troops in the Netherlands, Northwest Germany, Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark. On May 5, fascist troops capitulated in Southern and Western Austria, Bavaria, Tyrol and other areas. On May 7, General A. Jodl, on behalf of the German command, signed the terms of surrender at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, which was to come into force on May 9 at 00:01. The Soviet government expressed a categorical protest against this unilateral act, so the allies agreed to consider it a preliminary protocol of surrender. At midnight on May 8, on the outskirts of Berlin, Karlshorst, occupied by Soviet troops, representatives of the German high command, headed by Field Marshal W. Keitel, signed an act of unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Unconditional surrender was accepted on behalf of the Soviet government by Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov together with representatives of the USA, Great Britain and France.

Defeat of imperialist Japan. The liberation of the peoples of Asia from the Japanese occupation. End of the 2nd World War. Of the entire coalition of aggressive states that unleashed the war, only Japan continued the struggle in May 1945. From July 17 to August 2, the Potsdam Conference of 1945 was held by the heads of government of the USSR (JV Stalin), the USA (G. Truman), and Great Britain (W. attention was paid to the situation in the Far East. In a declaration of July 26, 1945, the governments of Great Britain, the United States, and China offered Japan specific terms of surrender, which the Japanese government rejected. The Soviet Union, which denounced the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945, confirmed at the Potsdam Conference its readiness to enter the war against Japan in the interests of ending World War II as soon as possible and eliminating the hotbed of aggression in Asia. On August 8, 1945, the USSR, true to its allied duty, declared war on Japan, and on August 9. The Soviet Armed Forces began military operations against the Japanese Kwantung Army concentrated in Manchuria. The entry of the Soviet Union into the war and the defeat of the Kwantung Army hastened Japan's unconditional surrender. On the eve of the USSR's entry into the war with Japan on August 6 and 9, the United States first used a new weapon, dropping two atomic bombs on the cities. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are beyond any military necessity. About 468 thousand inhabitants were killed, wounded, irradiated, missing. This barbaric act was intended, first of all, to demonstrate the power of the United States in order to put pressure on the USSR in solving post-war problems. The signing of the act of surrender of Japan took place on September 2. 1945. The 2nd World War ended.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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