Briefly, the entire course of the Second World War is divided by points into five main steps. We will try to describe them in an accessible way for you.
- The shortest stages in the table for grades 9, 10, 11
- The beginning of the European conflict - 1 stage initial
- Opening of the Eastern Front - stage 2
- Fracture - stage 3
- Liberation of Europe - Stage 4
- End of the war - stage 5 final
Table for the ninth, tenth, eleventh grades
The beginning of the European conflict - First First stage 1939 - 1941
- The first stage of the largest armed conflict in terms of its scale began on the day when the Nazi troops entered the Polish land and ended on the eve of the Nazi attack on the USSR.
- September 1, 1939 is officially recognized as the beginning of the second conflict, which has acquired global proportions. At the dawn of that day, the German occupation of Poland began and the countries of Europe realized the threat posed by Nazi Germany.
- After 2 days, France and the British Empire entered the war on the side of Poland. Following them, the French and British dominions and colonies declared war on the Third Reich. The representatives of Australia, New Zealand and India (3.09) were the first to announce their decision, then the leadership of the Union of South Africa (6.09) and Canada (10.09).
- However, despite the entry into the war, the French and British states did not help Poland in any way, and in general did not start any active actions for a long time, trying to redirect German aggression to the east - against the USSR.
- All this eventually led to the fact that in the first war period Nazi Germany managed to occupy not only the Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Belgian, Luxembourgish and Dutch territories, but also most of the French Republic.
- After that, the battle for Britain began, which lasted more than three months. True, in this battle the Germans did not have to celebrate the victory - they never managed to land troops on the British Isles.
- As a result of the first period of the war, most European states found themselves in fascist German-Italian occupation or became dependent on these states.
Opening of the Eastern Front - Second stage 1941 - 1942
- The beginning of the second stage of the war was June 22, 1941, when the Nazis violated state border USSR. This period was marked by the expansion of the scale of the conflict and the collapse of the Nazi blitzkrieg.
- One of the landmark events of this stage was also the support of the USSR by the largest states - the USA and Great Britain. Despite their rejection of the socialist system, the governments of these states declared unconditional assistance to the Union. Thus, the foundation was laid for a new military alliance - the anti-Hitler coalition.
- The second most important point of this stage of the Second World War is the joining of the US military operations, provoked by an unexpected and swift attack by the fleet and aviation of the Japanese Empire on the American military base in pacific ocean. The attack took place on December 7, and the very next day war was declared on Japan by the United States, Great Britain and a number of other countries. And after another 4 days, the German and Italian presented the United States with a note declaring war.
Turning point in the course of World War II - Third stage 1942-1943
- The turning point of the war is considered the first major defeat of the German army on the outskirts of the Soviet capital and the Battle of Stalingrad, during which the Nazis not only suffered significant losses, but were also forced to abandon offensive tactics and switch to defensive ones. These events took place during the third stage of hostilities, which lasted from November 19, 1942 until the end of 1943.
- Also at this stage, the allies practically without a fight entered Italy, in which a crisis of power was already ripe. As a result, Mussolini was overthrown, the fascist regime collapsed, and the new government chose to sign a truce with America and Britain. On October 13, Italy entered the war with its former ally.
- At the same time, a turning point occurred in the theater of operations in the Pacific Ocean, where Japanese troops began to suffer defeat one after another.
Liberation of Europe - Fourth stage 1944-1945
- During the fourth war period, which began on the first day of 1944 and ended on May 9, 1945, a second front was created in the west, the fascist bloc was crushed, and all European states were liberated from the German invaders. Germany was forced to admit defeat and sign the act of surrender.
End of the war - Fifth final stage 1945
- Despite the fact that the German troops laid down their arms, World War not yet over - Japan was not going to follow the example of its former allies. As a result, the USSR declared war on the Japanese state, after which the Red Army detachments began a military operation in Manchuria. As a result, the defeat of the Kwantung Army led to an accelerated end to the war.
- However, the most significant moment of this period was the atomic bombing of Japanese cities, which was carried out by the American air force. It happened on 6 (Hiroshima) and 9 (Nagasaki) August 1945.
- This stage ended, and with it the whole war on September 2 of the same year. On this momentous day, aboard the US battlecruiser Missouri, the representatives of the Japanese government officially signed their act of surrender.
World War II (September 1, 1939 - September 2, 1945) is a military conflict between two world military-political coalitions.
It has become the largest armed conflict in mankind. 62 states took part in this war. About 80% of the entire population of the Earth participated in hostilities on one side or another.
We bring to your attention a brief history of World War II. From this article you will learn the main events associated with this terrible tragedy on a global scale.
First period of World War 2
September 1, 1939 The armed forces entered the territory of Poland. In this regard, after 2 days, France and Germany declared war.
The Wehrmacht troops did not meet decent resistance from the Poles, as a result of which they managed to occupy Poland in just 2 weeks.
At the end of April 1940, the Germans occupied Norway and Denmark. After that, the army annexed. It is worth noting that none of the listed states could adequately resist the enemy.
Soon the Germans attacked France, which was also forced to capitulate in less than 2 months. This was a real triumph for the Nazis, since at that time the French had good infantry, aviation and navy.
After the conquest of France, the Germans turned out to be head and shoulders stronger than all their opponents. In the process of conducting the French campaign, Italy became an ally of Germany, headed by.
After that, Yugoslavia was also captured by the Germans. Thus, Hitler's lightning offensive allowed him to occupy all the countries of Western and Central Europe. Thus began the history of World War II.
Then the Nazis began to seize African states. The Fuhrer planned to conquer countries on this continent within a few months, and then launch an offensive in the Middle East and India.
At the end of this, according to Hitler's plans, the reunification of the German and Japanese troops was to take place.
Second period of World War 2
The battalion commander leads his soldiers on the attack. Ukraine, 1942 This came as a complete surprise to Soviet citizens and the country's leadership. As a result, the USSR united against Germany.
Soon, the United States joined this alliance, agreeing to provide military, food and economic assistance. As a result, countries have been able to rationally use their own resources and support each other.
Stylized photo "Hitler vs Stalin" At the end of the summer of 1941, British and Soviet troops entered Iran, as a result of which Hitler had certain difficulties. Because of this, he was unable to place military bases there, necessary for the full conduct of the war.
Anti-Hitler coalition
On January 1, 1942 in Washington, representatives of the Big Four (USSR, USA, Great Britain and China) signed the Declaration of the United Nations, thus laying the foundation for the Anti-Hitler coalition. Later, 22 more countries joined it.
The first serious defeats of Germany in World War II began with the Battle of Moscow (1941-1942). Interestingly, Hitler's troops approached the capital of the USSR so close that they could already see it through binoculars.
Both the German leadership and the entire army were confident that they would soon defeat the Russians. Napoleon once dreamed of the same thing, entering during the year in.
The Germans were so overconfident that they didn't even bother with appropriate winter gear for their soldiers, because they thought the war was almost over. However, everything turned out quite the opposite.
The Soviet army accomplished a heroic feat by launching an active offensive against the Wehrmacht. He commanded the main military operations. It was thanks to the Russian troops that the blitzkrieg was thwarted.
A column of captured Germans on the Garden Ring, Moscow, 1944 Fifth period of World War 2
So, in 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the Soviet Union announced its intention to go to war with Japan, which did not surprise anyone, because the Japanese army fought on the side of Hitler.
The USSR was able to win without much difficulty Japanese army, liberating Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, as well as some territories.
The military operation, which lasted less than 1 month, ended with the surrender of Japan, which was signed on September 2. The biggest war in human history is over.
Results of World War II
As mentioned earlier, World War II is the largest military conflict in history. It lasted for 6 years. During this time, more than 50 million people died in total, although some historians give even higher numbers.
The USSR suffered the most damage from the Second World War. The country lost about 27 million citizens, and also suffered severe economic losses.
On April 30, at 22:00, the Banner of Victory was hoisted over the Reichstag In conclusion, I would like to say that the Second World War is a terrible lesson for all mankind. Until now, a lot of documentary photo and video material has been preserved, helping to see the horrors of that war.
What is worth - the angel of death of the Nazi camps. But she was not alone!
People should do everything possible so that such tragedies of a universal scale never happen again. Never again!
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On September 1, 1939, the armed forces of Germany and Slovakia invaded Poland. At the same time, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired on the fortifications of the Polish Westerplatte peninsula. Since Poland was in an alliance with England, France and, this was regarded as a declaration of war by Hitler.
On September 1, 1939, universal military service was declared in the USSR. The draft age was reduced from 21 to 19, and in some cases to 18. This quickly increased the size of the army to 5 million people. The USSR began to prepare for war.
Hitler justified the need to attack Poland with the incident at Gleiwitz, carefully avoiding "" and fearing the start of hostilities against England and France. He promised the Polish people guarantees of inviolability and expressed his intention only to actively defend against "Polish aggression."
Gleiwicki was a provocation on the part of the Third Reich to create a pretext for an armed conflict: SS officers dressed in Polish military uniform, made a number of attacks on the border of Poland and Germany. Pre-killed concentration camp prisoners and those taken directly to the scene were used as those who died during the attack.
Until the last moment, Hitler hoped that Poland would not stand up for her and that Poland would be transferred to Germany in the same way that the Sudetenland was transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1938.
England and France declare war on Germany
Despite the Fuhrer's hopes, on September 3, 1945, England, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Within a short time they were joined by Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa and Nepal. The US and Japan declared neutrality.The British ambassador, who arrived at the Reich Chancellery on September 3, 1939 and delivered an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of troops from Poland, shocked Hitler. But the war had already begun, the Fuhrer did not want to leave by diplomatic means what had been won by weapons, and the German offensive on Polish soil continued.
Despite the declared war, on the Western Front, the Anglo-French troops did not take any active actions from 3 to 10 September, with the exception of military operations at sea. This inaction allowed Germany to completely destroy the Polish armed forces in just 7 days, leaving only minor pockets of resistance. But they will be completely eliminated by October 6, 1939. It was on this day that Germany announced the end of the existence of the Polish state and government.
The participation of the USSR at the beginning of World War II
According to the secret additional protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty, spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, including in Poland, were clearly demarcated between the USSR and Germany. Therefore, on September 16, 1939, the Soviet Union sent its troops into Polish territory and occupied, which subsequently retreated to the zone of influence of the USSR and included in the Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Lithuania.Despite the fact that the USSR and Poland did not declare war on each other, many historians consider the fact that Soviet troops entered Polish territory in 1939 the date the USSR entered World War II.
On October 6, Hitler proposed to convene peace conference between the major world powers to resolve the Polish question. England and France set a condition: either Germany withdraws its troops from Poland and the Czech Republic and grants them independence, or there will be no conference. The leadership of the Third Reich rejected this ultimatum and the conference did not take place.
September October.
On the basis of mutual assistance pacts concluded with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Soviet troops are deployed on the territory of these countries.
1940
14 - 16 June.
Ultimatum of the Soviet leadership to the Baltic countries. The introduction of an additional number of Soviet troops and equipment in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
1941
June 22 - 27.
Romania, Italy, Slovakia, Finland, and Hungary enter the war against the USSR.
August.
The German offensive continues in three main directions - Leningrad, Moscow, Kyiv.
8 September.
The Germans occupy Shlisselburg and thereby close the ring around Leningrad. The beginning of the blockade of Leningrad.
1942
January.
The territory of the Moscow region was completely liberated from German troops.
December.
The failure of Field Marshal Manstein's attempt to free the Paulus group surrounded by Stalingrad.
1943
January.
The beginning of the retreat of the German troops in the Caucasus.
12 - 18 January.
The capture of Shlisselburg by Soviet troops. Partial lifting of the blockade of the city on the Neva.
April 13th.
The German leadership declares numerous remains of Polish prisoners of war found near Katyn and sends an international commission to investigate the circumstances of this crime near Smolensk.
1944
February March.
Liberation of the Right-bank Ukraine, crossing of the Dniester and Prut.
December.
Soviet offensive in Hungary. Surroundings of Budapest.
1945
January 12th.
The beginning of a major winter offensive of Soviet troops in East Prussia, Western Poland and Silesia.
August 9th.
Soviet troops launch an offensive in Manchuria, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuriles.
It would seem that the answer to this question is absolutely clear. Any more or less educated European will name the date - September 1, 1939 - the day the Nazi Germany attacked Poland. And the more prepared will explain: more precisely, the world war began two days later - on September 3, when Great Britain and France, as well as Australia, New Zealand and India, declared war on Germany.
True, they did not immediately participate in hostilities, waging the so-called waiting strange war. For Western Europe the real war began only in the spring of 1940, when German troops invaded Denmark and Norway on April 9, and on May 10, the Wehrmacht launched an offensive in France, Belgium and Holland.
Recall that at that time the largest powers of the world - the USA and the USSR remained out of the war. For this reason alone, there are doubts about the complete validity of the date of the beginning of the planetary slaughter established by Western European historiography.
And therefore, I think, by and large it can be assumed that it would be more correct to consider the date of involvement in hostilities as the starting point of the Second World War Soviet Union- June 22, 1941. Well, from the Americans it was possible to hear that the war acquired a truly global character only after the treacherous Japanese attack on the Pacific naval base at Pearl Harbor and the announcement in December 1941 by Washington of war against militaristic Japan, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.
However, the most persistent and, let's say, from their own point of view, convincingly defend the illegitimacy of the countdown of the world war adopted in Europe from September 1, 1939, Chinese scientists and politicians. I have repeatedly encountered this at international conferences and symposiums, where Chinese participants invariably defend the official position of their country that the start of World War II should be considered the date of the unleashing of a full-scale war in China by militaristic Japan - July 7, 1937. There are also such historians in the "Celestial Empire" who believe that this date should be September 18, 1931 - the beginning of the Japanese invasion of the North-Eastern provinces of China, then called Manchuria.
One way or another, it turns out that this year the PRC will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the start of not only the Japanese aggression against China, but also the Second World War.
One of the first in our country to seriously pay attention to such a periodization of the history of the Second World War was the authors of the collective monograph prepared by the Foundation for Historical Perspective “The Score of the Second World War. Thunderstorm in the East” (author-comp. A.A. Koshkin. M., Veche, 2010).
In the preface, the head of the Foundation, Doctor of Historical Sciences N.A. Narochnitskaya notes:
“According to the established in historical science and in public consciousness According to ideas, the Second World War began in Europe with an attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, after which Great Britain, the first of the future victorious powers, declared war on the Nazi Reich. However, this event was preceded by large-scale military clashes in other parts of the world, which are unreasonably considered by Eurocentric historiography as peripheral, and therefore secondary.
By September 1, 1939, a truly world war was already underway full swing in Asia. China, fighting Japanese aggression since the mid-1930s, has already lost twenty million lives. In Asia and Europe, the Axis powers - Germany, Italy, and Japan - have been delivering ultimatums, bringing in troops, and redrawing borders for several years. Hitler, with the connivance of Western democracies, seized Austria and Czechoslovakia, Italy occupied Albania and waged war in North Africa, where 200,000 Abyssinians died.
Since the end of the Second World War is considered the surrender of Japan, the war in Asia is recognized as part of the Second World War, but the question of its beginning needs a more reasonable definition. The traditional periodization of World War II needs to be rethought. In terms of the scale of the redistribution of the world and military operations, in terms of the scale of the victims of aggression, the Second World War began precisely in Asia long before the German attack on Poland, long before the Western powers entered the world war.
The word in the collective monograph was also given to Chinese scientists. Historians Luan Jinghe and Xu Zhiming note:
“According to one of the generally accepted points of view, the Second World War, which lasted six years, began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. Meanwhile, there is another view of the starting point of this war, in which different time involved more than 60 states and regions and disrupted the lives of over 2 billion people around the world. The total number of mobilized from both sides amounted to more than 100 million people, the death toll - more than 50 million. The direct costs of waging the war amounted to 1.352 trillion US dollars, financial losses reached 4 trillion dollars. We cite these figures to once again indicate the scale of those huge disasters that the Second World War brought to mankind in the 20th century.
There is no doubt that education Western Front meant not only the expansion of the scale of hostilities, it also played a decisive role in the course of the war.
However, an equally important contribution to the victory in World War II was made on the Eastern Front, where the eight-year war of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders was going on. This resistance became important integral part world war.
An in-depth study of the history of the Chinese people's war against the Japanese invaders and understanding of its significance will help to create a more complete picture of the Second World War.
This is what the proposed article is devoted to, in which it is argued that the actual date of the start of the Second World War should be considered not September 1, 1939, but July 7, 1937 - the day when Japan unleashed a full-scale war against China.
If we accept this point of view and do not strive to artificially separate the Western and Eastern fronts, there will be all the more reason to call the anti-fascist war ... the Great World War.
The author of the article in the collective monograph, a prominent Russian sinologist, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.S. Myasnikov, who does a lot to restore historical justice, to properly assess the contribution of the Chinese people to the victory over the so-called "Axis countries" - Germany, Japan and Italy, who aspired to enslave peoples and world domination. An eminent scientist writes:
“As for the beginning of the Second World War, there are two main versions: European and Chinese ... Chinese historiography has long been saying that it is time to move away from Eurocentrism (which, in essence, is similar to negritude) in assessing this event and admit that the beginning of this war is falling on July 7, 1937 and is connected with the open aggression of Japan against China. Let me remind you that the territory of China is 9.6 million square meters. km, that is, approximately equal to the territory of Europe. By the time the war broke out in Europe, most of China, where they were Largest cities and economic centers - Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, was occupied by the Japanese. Almost the entire railway network of the country fell into the hands of the invaders, its sea coast was blocked. Chongqing became the capital of China during the war.
It should be borne in mind that China lost 35 million people in the war of resistance against Japan. The European public is not sufficiently aware of the heinous crimes of the Japanese military.
So, on December 13, 1937, Japanese troops captured the then capital of China - Nanjing and carried out a mass extermination of civilians and a robbery of the city. 300 thousand people became victims of this crime. These and other crimes were condemned by the International Military Tribunal for Far East at the Tokyo trial (1946 - 1948).
But, finally, objective approaches to this problem began to appear in our historiography... The collective work gives a detailed picture of military and diplomatic moves, which fully confirms the need and validity of revising the outdated Eurocentric point of view.”
For our part, I would like to note that the proposed revision will cause resistance from Japan’s pro-government historians, who not only do not recognize the aggressive nature of their country’s actions in China and the number of victims in the war, but also do not consider the eight-year extermination of the Chinese population and the all-out plunder of China to be a war. They stubbornly call the Japanese-Chinese war an “incident” allegedly caused by China, despite the absurdity of such a name for military and punitive actions, during which tens of millions of people were killed. They do not recognize Japan's aggression in China as an integral part of the Second World War, claiming that they participated in the global conflict, opposing only the United States and Great Britain.
In conclusion, it should be recognized that our country has always objectively and comprehensively assessed the contribution of the Chinese people to the victory of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II.
High marks for the heroism and self-sacrifice of Chinese soldiers in this war are also given in modern Russia, and both historians and leaders Russian Federation. Such assessments are duly contained in the issued by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the 70th anniversary Great Victory The 12-volume work of prominent Russian historians "The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945". Therefore, there is reason to expect that our scientists and politicians, during the events planned for the upcoming 80th anniversary of the start of the Japanese-Chinese war, will treat with understanding and solidarity the position of the Chinese comrades, who consider the events that took place in July 1937 the starting point that then fell upon almost the entire a world of unprecedented planetary tragedy.
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