Òable of contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………….3
1. The end of the Great Patriotic War: prerequisites and course of events…………………………………………………………………..……5
2. The end of the World War II: military and political course of events………………………………………………………………..………8
3. Aftermath of World War II from the USSR and West: immediate effects……………………………………………………………………..….10
Ñonclusion………………………………………………………………….13
Glossary ………………….………………………………………………...15
List of sources used………………………………………………………...21
Introduction
It has been 70 years since the end of World War II. And most people would assume that the broad outlines of that terrible conflict had been established a long since. Innumerable books have been published on the subject. Thousands of films have been screened, portraying every aspect of the military events. Hundreds of monuments and museums have been created to keep the memory of the war alive. At least, one is tempted to think that way until one starts to examine what actually is said and what is not said.
World War II had a tremendous impact on the destinies of mankind. It was attended by 72 States (80% of the world population). Military operations were conducted in 40 countries. The armed forces were mobilized 110 million people. Total casualties reached 60-65 million people, of them were killed at the front of 27 million people, many of them citizens of the USSR. Also, large human losses suffered China, Germany, Japan and Poland.
The prevailing view of the above Germany as the main culprit for the war today looks very unconvincing in the light of recently declassified documents. The declassified today, the documents give a right to claim the existence of pre-war Europe is not one, but two hotbeds of war, And even now it is difficult to argue which of them was more aggressive.
Previous view rested on the indisputable fact: that Germany started the Second World War and Russian in particular. But this interpretation is given without objective studies of the processes taking place in the Soviet Union before the war. Available now allow documents to shed light on the true causes of the emergence and spread of the conflict.
The catastrophic results of the war against the fascist bloc countries could not doubt Germany has lost more than 8 million. Man suffered a nuclear attack, Japan, Italy was in ruins. But let"s turn our attention to the so-called winners.
Let us recall what Western countries have allowed Germany to restore its economy and army. Germany had to act as a kind of shield against the penetration of communism in Europe, and in the future instrument for its total destruction. Western countries are not unduly worried about the Soviet Union harboring plans for a new reorganization of the world. Of course, at some stage, Germany is out of control and admittedly with the help of the Soviet Union. With what result came to Western countries after World War II? Half of Europe at least for forty years was under the complete control of the Soviet Union.
But an even greater defeat suffered Soviet Union. Based on the objectives, the conquest of Europe was only the first stage in the development of the world revolution. German preemptive strike, absolutely senseless and self-destructive in terms of the ratio of military and economic potential, allowed to delay the "liberation" of the Soviet Union in Europe for four years. In the bloody World War II the Soviet Union suffered enormous human and material losses, and still came out of it much stronger than the others powers. But time was lost. The United States has a new super-powerful weapon, to enable them to nullify all subsequent attempts of the Soviet Union to arrange a new redivision of the world. Stalin had to confine ourselves to half of Europe and part of Asia.
As we can see, none of the countries could achieve its goals and objectives, so it would be wrong to talk of any country as victors of the Second World War.
The debate about the role of the Soviet Union in World War II remains open. Is he ready to strike against Germany? Based on the documents, we can confidently assert that they are ready. But of course, this view is not accepted at least in the near future, because its adoption would require a revision of pre-war and post-war history across the country for several generations.
1. The end of the Great Patriotic War: prerequisites and course of events
After reviewing all of its strategic options, the Stavka began planning the Red Army’s winter campaign in late October 1944. The victories of the summer and fall had created a much more favorable situation for Red Army offensive action; the overall length of the main front shortened from over 1,000 miles to 780 miles, significant German forces uselessly isolated in Courland and Budapest, and the Soviet Union clearly held the strategic initiative. Soviet intelligence estimates indicated that, during 1944, 96 German divisions had been captured or destroyed, and another 33 so weakened that they were disbanded. Still, even the seemingly inexhaustible strength of the Soviet Union had its limits, and the planners sought a means for rapid and relatively bloodless victory. The shortened front meant that the Red Army could conduct fewer but far more powerful offensives to accomplish its objectives of seizing Berlin and destroying Nazi Germany.
This was necessary since German defenses thickened as Red Army forces advanced west. In addition, Stalin restructured his command and control methods to insure greater efficiency. In late October he decided to control the Red Army’s operating fronts directly from Moscow, dispensing with the Stavka representatives and coordinators who had represented it in the field during the previous three years. Instead, he restructured his forces for the new offensives into a smaller number of extremely powerful fronts and reshuffled his front commanders. The 1st Belorussian Front, now personally commanded by Zhukov, was to advance directly on Berlin with Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front advancing on a parallel course just to its south. The 2nd Belorussian Front, now under Rokossovsky’s command, was to advance westward north of the Vistula River toward Danzig and Pomerania to protect the 1st Belorussian Front’s right flank.
Based upon the plan formulated by the Stavka, the Red Army conducted a two stage operation to destroy Hitler’s Third Reich. First, as described above, Malinovsky’s 2nd and Tolbukhin’s 3rd Ukrainian Fronts continued their advance in Hungary during November and December to draw German reserves away from the Warsaw-Berlin axis. Then the main offensive, which was tentatively scheduled to begin between 15 and 20 January 1945 but began on 13 January to relieve German pressure on the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge, shattered the Germans’ Vistula and East Prussian defenses in two large-scale operations. The lesser of these attacks, conducted by Cherniakhovsky’s 3rd and Rokossovsky’s 2nd Belorussian Fronts, performed the difficult task of clearing Army Group Center from East Prussia. While the former bulled its way westward through the German defenses towards Konigsberg, the latter, with a single tank army (the 5th Guards), enveloped East Prussia from the south and protected the 1st Belorussian Front’s right flank. At the same time, Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian and Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Fronts, each spearheaded by two tank armies (the 1st and 2nd Guards and the 3rd and 4th Guards, respectively), conducted main offensive across Poland against German Army Group “A,” to which Hitler had assigned responsibility for defending the vital Warsaw-Berlin axis.
Both offensives achieved immediate and spectacular success. After utterly shattering Army Group “A’s” defenses opposite their bridgeheads, the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts’ forces pushed aside German panzer reserves and raced westward with their four tank armies far in advance. The Wehrmacht’s front in Poland vaporized, and by 1 February the lead elements of the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies captured bridgeheads over the Oder River only 36 miles from Berlin. To the south, the 1st Ukrainian Front kept pace, reaching and crossing the Oder north and south of Breslau. In their wake thousands of Wehrmacht troops remained helplessly encircled in numerous pockets and bypassed cities and towns.
To the north, Rokossovsky’s 2nd and Cherniakhovsky’s 3rd Belorussian Fronts smashed Army Group Center’s defenses in East Prussia and, by the end of January, isolated the remnants of the army group in a pocket around the city of Konigsberg. However, the 2nd Belorussian Front was not able to smash totally German defenses in the Danzig region of eastern Pomerania, leaving a sizable German force hanging threateningly over the 1st Belorussian Front’s left flank. Given the twin threats posed to the 1st Belorussian Front by Wehrmacht forces in Pomerania and in Silesia to the south, on 2 February Stalin ordered Zhukov and Konev to halt their offensives until their flanks could be secured. Subsequently, the Red Army mounted four major and several minor offensives in February and March designed to clear Wehrmacht forces from Pomerania and Silesia. During this period, the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts eliminated the threat in Silesia, and the 1st Ukrainian Front did the same in Silesia.
To the south in Hungary, from 6-15 March 1945, Hitler conducted his final offensive of the war by launching his Sixth SS Army in a dramatic but futile attempt to crush Red Army defenses west of Budapest and protect the vital Balaton oilfields. Just as this offensive faltered in mid-March, the Malinovsky’s 2nd and Tolbukhin’s 3rd Ukrainian Fronts launched another major offensive and several minor offensives against the depleted forces of Army Group South, driving them from Hungary and Slovakia and liberating Vienna on 13 April, only three days before the Red Army began its onslaught against Berlin.
In late January 1945, when it appeared that Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian and Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Fronts were about to reach the Oder River within striking distance of Berlin, Stalin ordered both fronts to prepare subsequent operations to capture Berlin. Contrary to existing Russian accounts that claim Stalin halted the fronts’ Berlin offensive on 2 February, the 1st Ukrainian Front began the operation only to abandon Berlin as an objective on 10 February. It remains unclear whether increased German resistance or a military or political decision by made Stalin prompted the abrupt end to the February offensive against Berlin.
In accordance with the Stavka’s strategic plan for the spring campaign, the Red Army dealt first with Army Group Vistula defending Berlin and only then engaged Army Group Center in Czechoslovakia. The Red Army’s objectives were limited to those boundaries that had already been mutually agreed upon with the Allies. Three reinforced fronts took part in the Berlin offensive. Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front attacked directly toward Berlin from the Kustrin bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder River to envelop the city from the north, Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front thrust across the Oder to the south to envelop Berlin from the southwest, and, to the north, Rokossovsky’s 3rd Belorussian Front attacked across the Oder several days later to destroy German in the coastal plain north of Berlin and link up with Allied forces along the Elbe River. The ensuing struggle, in particular, the advance by Zhukov’s front into Berlin proper was prolonged and bloody, but ended on 7 and 8 May when Red Army forces linked up with Allied forces along the Elbe River and Wehrmacht forces in Germany capitulated. During the course of the Berlin operation, Red Army forces crushed the remnants of Army Group Vistula and captured 480,000 German troops. The cost, however, had been great as 361,367 Soviet and Polish soldiers fell in the effort. While three Red Army fronts conducted the climactic Berlin offensive, other Red Army forces completed the liberation of Austria and liquidated resisting pockets of German forces in Courland and on the Samland Peninsula, west of Konigsberg. The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts liberated Vienna from Army Group South, captured Brno, Czechoslovakia and approached Graz, Austria. The 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts destroyed the remnants of Army Group North (renamed Army Group Courland on 26 January) in Courland, seizing up to 100,000 prisoners. Finally, and the 3rd Belorussian Front liquidated the remaining forces of former Army Group Center (renamed Operational Group Samland) in the Samland pocket west of Konigsberg, taking another 189,000 prisoners.
As early as 1 May, the Stavka ordered Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front to relieve all elements of Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front engaged in mopping up in Berlin so that Konev’s forces could turn southwestward and, in conjunction with the Malinovsky’s 2nd and Eremenko’s 4th Ukrainian Fronts, advance on Prague against the Red Army’s old nemesis, Army Group Center, whose 600,000 men awaited inevitable destruction, ironically, not in Germany, but in Czechoslovakia, which had been one of Hitler’s initial victims.
While the Reichstag was still under assault, between 1 and 6 May, the 1st, 4th and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts regrouped their forces and began their rapid advance toward Prague. The combined force of over 2 million Soviet and Polish soldiers relied heavily on tank forces, including three tank armies and a cavalry-mechanized group, to spearhead a rapid thrust directly on the Czech capital. According to the hastily formulated plan, the 1st Ukrainian Front attacked west of Dresden, penetrate the Erzgeberg Mountain passes in southern east Germany, and committed two tank armies (the 3rd Guards and 4th Guards) in the rapid dash to Prague. Polish and Soviet forces under the 1st Ukrainian Front’s control launched a supporting attack in the Gorlitz sector, and simultaneously, the 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts launched tank-heavy offensives toward Prague in a wide arc spanning the eastern and southern frontiers of Czechoslovakia. The forward detachments of the 1st Ukrainian Front’s 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies captured Prague on 9 May. During the following two days, Red Army forces accepted the surrender of more than 600,000 German troops of Army Group Center. On 11 May the lead elements of the 4th Guards Tank Army linked up with the Third U.S. Army east of Pilsen, ending the major wartime field operations of the Red Army. [1]
2. The end of the World War II: military and political course of events
From February 4 to 11, 1945, held the Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin. The conference convened in the Livadia Palace, near Yalta, in Crimea.
Yalta was the second of three wartime conferences among the Big Three. It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943 and was followed by the Potsdam Conference in July 1945.
All three leaders were attempting to establish an agenda for governing post-war Europe. They wanted to keep peace between post–war countries world. On the Eastern Front, the front line at the end of December 1943 remained in the Soviet Union but, by August 1944, Soviet forces were inside Poland and parts of Romania as part of their drive west. By the time of the Conference, Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukov"s forces were 65 km from Berlin. Stalin"s position at the conference was one which he felt was so strong that he could dictate terms. Moreover, Roosevelt hoped for a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations.
Roosevelt wanted the USSR to enter the Pacific War with the Allies. One Soviet precondition for a declaration of war against Japan was an American official recognition of Mongolian independence from China (Mongolian People"s Republic had already been the Soviet satellite state in World War One and World War Two), and a recognition of Soviet interests in the Manchurian railways and Port Arthur (but not asking the Chinese to lease), as well as deprivation of Japanese soil (such as Sakhalin and Kuril Islands) to return to Russian custody since the Treaty of Portsmouth; these were agreed without Chinese representation, consultation or consent, with the American desire to end war early by reducing American casualties. Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the Pacific War three months after the defeat of Germany. Stalin pledged to Roosevelt to keep the nationality of the Korean Peninsula intact as Soviet Union entered the war against Japan.
All three leaders ratified previous agreements about the post-war occupation zones for Germany: three zones of occupation, one for each of the three principal Allies: The Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They also agreed to give France a zone of occupation, carved out of the U.S. and UK zones.
Also, the Big Three agreed that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries (with the exception of France, whose government was regarded as collaborationist; Romania and Bulgaria, where the Soviets had already liquidated most of the governments; and Poland whose government-in-exile was also excluded by Stalin) and that all civilians would be repatriated.
On March 1, Roosevelt assured Congress that "I come from the Crimea with a firm belief that we have made a start on the road to a world of peace." [2] However the Western Powers soon realized that Stalin would not honor his free elections promise regarding Poland. After receiving considerable criticism in London following Yalta regarding the atrocities committed in Poland by Soviet troops, Churchill wrote Roosevelt a desperate letter referencing the wholesale deportations and liquidations of opposition Poles by the Soviets. [2] On March 11, Roosevelt responded to Churchill, writing, "I most certainly agree that we must stand firm on a correct interpretation of the Crimean decision. You are quite correct in assuming that neither the Government nor the people of this country will support participation in a fraud or a mere whitewash of the Lublin government and the solution must be as we envisaged it in Yalta." [3]
Following Yalta, in Russia, when Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov expressed worry that the Yalta Agreement"s wording might impede Stalin"s plans, Stalin responded "Never mind. We"ll do it our own way later."[2] While the Soviet Union had already annexed several occupied countries as (or into) Soviet Socialist Republics, other countries in eastern Europe that it occupied were converted into Soviet-controlled satellite states, such as the People"s Republic of Poland, the People"s Republic of Hungary, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the People"s Republic of Romania, the People"s Republic of Bulgaria, the People"s Republic of Albania, and later East Germany from the Soviet zone of German occupation. Eventually the United States and the United Kingdom made concessions in recognizing the then Communist-dominated regions, sacrificing the substance of the Yalta Declaration, while it remained in form. [4]
In the Pacific theatre, American forces accompanied by the forces of the Philippine Commonwealth advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and recaptured Manila in March following a battle which reduced the city to ruins. Fighting continued on Luzon, Mindanao, and other islands of the Philippines until the end of the war. On the night of 9–10 March, B-29 bombers of the US Army Air Forces struck Tokyo with incendiary bombs, which killed 100,000 people within a few hours. Over the next five months, American bombers firebombed 66 other Japanese cities, causing the destruction of untold numbers of buildings and the deaths of between 350,000–500,000 Japanese civilians.
From 17 July to 2 August 1945 the Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany. Stalin, Churchill, and Truman—as well as Attlee, who participated alongside Churchill while awaiting the outcome of the 1945 general election, and then replaced Churchill as Prime Minister after the Labour Party"s defeat of the Conservatives—gathered to decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on 8 May. The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of the war and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces by Japan, specifically stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction". [5] The Allies called for unconditional Japanese surrender in the Potsdam declaration of 27 July, but the Japanese government was internally divided on whether to make peace and did not respond. In early August the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Like the Japanese cities previously bombed by American airmen, the US and its allies justified the atomic bombings as military necessity to avoid invading the Japanese home islands which would cost the lives of between 250,000–500,000 Allied troops and millions of Japanese troops and civilians. Between the two bombings, the Soviets, pursuant to the Yalta agreement, began on 9 August 1945, with the Soviet invasion of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and was the last campaign of the Second World War and the largest of the 1945 Soviet–Japanese War which resumed hostilities between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace. Soviet gains on the continent were Manchukuo, Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia) and northern Korea. The Soviet entry into the war and the defeat of the Kwantung Army was a significant factor in the Japanese government"s decision to surrender unconditionally, as it made apparent the USSR would no longer be willing to act as a third party in negotiating an end to hostilities on conditional terms. [6] The Red Army also captured Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. On 15 August 1945, Japan surrendered, with the surrender documents finally signed aboard the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri on 2 September 1945, ending the war. The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that formalized the surrender of the Empire of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Dominion of New Zealand. The signing took place on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. [7]
3. Aftermath of World War II from the USSR and West: immediate effects
The number of Soviet deaths in the Great Patriotic War was one of crucial historical numbers. In March 1989 arrived at a figure for Soviet losses of 26-27 million war deaths. This figure is basically an estimate of the excess deaths of the population of the USSR between 22 June 1941 and 31 December 1945. It includes people who were part of the Soviet population in June 1941 but had left the USSR by the end of 1945. It is an estimate of excess deaths during the war, rather than of deaths directly caused by the war, and hence naturally also includes victims of Soviet repression. Similarly, it also includes Soviet citizens who died in German service fighting partisans or the Soviet armed forces. Military losses give figure of 8.7 million people only includes the regular armed forces and the frontier troops and internal troops. The total number of medical losses was 18.3 million. Of these 15.2 million were injured, 3.0 million ill and 0.1 million frost-bitten. The 19 million non-combat deaths had a variety of causes: starvation in the siege of Leningrad; conditions in German prisons and concentration camps; mass shootings of civilians; harsh labor in German industry; famine and disease; conditions in Soviet camps; and service in German or German-controlled military units fighting the Soviet Union. [8]
Although the Soviet Union was victorious in World War II, its economy had been devastated in the struggle. Roughly a quarter of the country"s capital resources had been destroyed, and industrial and agricultural output in 1945 fell far short of prewar levels. To help rebuild the country, the Soviet government obtained limited credits from Britain and Sweden but refused assistance proposed by the United States under the economic aid program known as the Marshall Plan. Instead, the Soviet Union compelled Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe to supply machinery and raw materials. Germany and former Nazi satellites (including Finland) made reparations to the Soviet Union. The Soviet people bore much of the cost of rebuilding because the reconstruction program emphasized heavy industry while neglecting agriculture and consumer goods. By the time of Stalin"s death in 1953, steel production was twice its 1940 level, but the production of many consumer goods and foodstuffs was lower than it had been in the late 1920s. [9]
At the end of the war, millions of people were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and much of the European industrial infrastructure had been destroyed. The Soviet Union, too, had been heavily affected. In response, in 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall devised the "European Recovery Program", which became known as the Marshall Plan. Under the plan, during 1948-1952 the United States government allocated US$13 billion for the reconstruction of Western Europe.
Europe"s economies were recovering slowly, as unemployment and food shortages led to strikes and unrest in several nations. In 1947 the European economies were still well below their pre-war levels and were showing few signs of growth. Agricultural production was 83% of 1938 levels, industrial production was 88%, and exports only 59%. [10] In Germany in 1945–46 housing and food conditions were bad, as the disruption of transport, markets and finances slowed a return to normality. In the West, bombing had destroyed 5,000,000 houses and apartments, and 12,000,000 refugees from the east had crowded in. Food production was only two-thirds of the pre-war level in 1946–48, while normal grain and meat shipments no longer arrived from the East. Furthermore, the large shipments of food stolen from occupied nations during the war no longer reached Germany. Industrial production fell more than half and reached pre-war levels only at the end of 1949. [11]
While Germany struggled to recover from the destruction of the War, the recovery effort began in June 1948, moving on from emergency relief. The currency reform in 1948 was headed by the military government and helped Germany to restore stability by encouraging production. The reform revalued old currency and deposits and introduced new currency. Taxes were also reduced and Germany prepared to remove economic roadblocks.
During the first three years of occupation of Germany the UK and US vigorously pursued a military disarmament program in Germany, partly by removal of equipment but mainly through an import embargo on raw materials, part of the Morgenthau Plan approved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. [12]
In the view of the State Department under President Harry S. Truman, the United States needed to adopt a definite position on the world scene or fear losing credibility. The emerging doctrine of containment (as opposed to rollback) argued that the United States needed to substantially aid non-communist countries to stop the spread of Soviet influence. There was also some hope that the Eastern Bloc nations would join the plan, and thus be pulled out of the emerging Soviet bloc, but that did not happen.
Ñonclusion
The defeat of Nazi Germany and its allies in Europe and Asia, was achieved as a result of joint actions of the Soviet Union and its Western allies and the forces of the anti-fascist resistance. Paying tribute to all the fighters against fascism, we should recognize that the main contribution in the defeat of Hitler"s Germany belongs to the Soviet Union. The historical and global significance of the Soviet victory in World War II is not only in the liberation of its territory, but also in the liberation of the peoples of Europe from fascist enslavement. It was under the blows of the Soviet forces that the defensive strategy of the Wehrmacht and the block the fascist states collapsed. By its scale Soviet-German front during the war was the chief one. It is here that the Wehrmacht had lost more than 73% of staff, up to 75% of tanks and artillery pieces, over 75% aviation.
The victory immeasurably increased the international prestige of the USSR, which has become a world power, without, which no longer could decide any important question could be decided.
After defeating the main forces of the fascist bloc, the Soviet people not only defended their freedom and sovereignty of the state, but also brought the release of hundreds of millions of people in Europe and Asia. Victory in the war not only contributed to the growth of sympathy among the peoples of the liberated countries and objectively contributed to the strengthening of the Stalinist political regime. The declared "victory of Stalin"s genius," in real life, had a very different basis - unprecedented courage and heroism of the Soviet people. Patriotism is manifested in the creation of the People"s Militia, volunteer battalions, regiments and divisions, a powerful guerrilla movement in the mass heroism at the front and selfless work in the rear.
Through the efforts of all anti-fascist forces the threat of enslavement by fascist powers was eliminated. The defeat of the German war machine was a complete disarmament, the elimination of monopolies and the military industry, banning Nazi parties and organizations. Germany and Berlin were divided temporarily into zones of occupation, East Prussia with the city of Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) transferred to the Soviet Union, defined the new western and eastern borders of Poland. The Western Allies were forced to accept the inclusion of the countries of Central and Southern Europe (except Austria), liberated by Soviet troops in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Soviet sphere of influence spread to China and North Korea. The Soviet leadership viewed the outcome of the war as a "victory of socialism", its economic and political system and seek to export this model to countries in Europe and Asia. As a result of these changes significantly improved the situation in most of the borders of the USSR. Since that time, the country was surrounded by mostly friendly state.
One of the main results of the war was a new geopolitical situation. This new situation is characterized by growing confrontation between the leading powers of the capitalist world (of which confirmed the primacy of the US) and the Soviet Union, extend the influence of a number of countries in Europe and Asia. The war, which had used the most sophisticated weapons, including atomic, caused the rise of pacifist sentiment and the struggle for peace. Victory in the war foiled danger of the spread of fascism, but caused a new confrontation between the two former allies, will soon put the world on the brink of a new war, the now nuclear. The main lesson of the World War II has not been learned by the heads of the leading world powers.
The World War II left a mark on the whole history of not only Russia but also the world. It was defeated by fascism, fascist aggressors surrendered, fascist parties were banned, fascist ideology - condemned.
For the second time in the XX century, Russia was in a state of full-scale war with Germany. Once again, such a turn of events has brought suffering to the people. The price paid for the victory of the peoples of the Soviet Union was extremely high.
The Western democracies, as if recognizing the communist totalitarian regime was an internal affair of the country went into an alliance, on the one hand, to use the vast resources of the Soviet Union to fight Hitler, on the other hand - to neutralize Stalin"s future political arena. One of the main results of the war has become a new geopolitical situation. It is characterized by the increase of confrontation between the powers of the capitalist world and the Soviet Union, when extended its influence on a number of European and Asian countries where the government came to power oriented towards Moscow. The world is becoming for many years "bipolar", focusing around the two superpowers - the USA and the USSR.
Glossary
A
1. Abandon
îñòàâëÿòü
2. Administer
íàçíà÷àòü
3. Admittedly ïî îáùåìó ñîãëàñèþ
4. Aggressors
àãðåññîðû
5. Agenda
ïîâåñòêà äíÿ
6. Agreement
ñîãëàøåíèå
7. Aid
ïîìîùü
8. Airmen
ëåò÷èêè
9. Allies
ñîþçíèêè
10.
Allocated
âûäåëåíî
11.
Annexed
ïðè
ñîåäèíåíû
12.
Apparent
ÿâíûé
13.
Arc
äóãà
14.
Assault
øòóðì
15.
Atrocities
çâåðñòâà
B
16.
Banning
çàïðåùåíèå
17. Battleship áîåâîé êîðàáëü
18.
Bay
áóõòà
19.
Bipolar
äâ
óõïîëþñíîé
20.
Bombers
áîìáàðäèðîâ
ùèêè
21.
Boundaries
ãðàíèöû
C
22.
Campaign
êàìïàíèÿ
23.
Chief
îñíîâíîé
24.
Clearly
î÷åâèäíî
25.
Coastal
áåðåãîâîé
26. Collaborationist êîëëàáîðàöèîíèñòñêèé
27.
Commander
êîìàíäóþ
ùèé
28. Commitment îáÿçàòåëüñòâî
29. Commonwealth ñîäðóæåñòâî
30. Compelled âûíóæäåí
31.
Condemned
îñóæäåíî
32.
Conditions
óñëîâèÿ
33. Confrontation ïðîòèâîñòîÿíèå
34.
Conjunction
ñîåä
èíåíèå
35. Consumer ïîòðåáèòåëüñêèé
36.
Contribution
âêëàä
37.
Convened
ïðîõîäèëà
38.
Courage
îòâàãà
39.
Credibility
äîñòîâ
åðíîñòü
40.
Crowded
çàïîëíèëè
41.
Ñulprit
ïðåñòóïíèê
D
42.
Deck
ïàëóáà
43.
Declaration
äåê
ëàðàöèÿ
44.
Defeat
ïîðàæåíèå
45.
Defense
çàùèòà
46.
Defined
îïðåäåëåíû
47.
Demand
òðåáîâàíèå
48.
Deportations äåïîð
òàöèè
49.
Deprivation
ëèøåíèå
50.
Decision
ðåøåíèå
51.
Desperate
îò÷àÿííûé
52.
Detachments
îòðÿäû
53.
Disarmament ðàçîðóæå
íèå
54.
Disruption
ðà
çðóøåíèå
55.
Doctrine
äîêòðèíà
56.
Dominion âëà
äû÷åñòâî
E
57.
Economies
ýê
îíîìèêè
58.
Eliminated
ó
ñòðàíåíû
59.
Embargo
ýìáàðãî
60.
Emerging
âîçíèêí
îâåíèå
61. Emphasized àêöåíòèðîâàííûé
62.
Empire
èìïåðèÿ
63.
Enslavement ïîðàáîùåíè
å
64.
Equipment îñí
àùåíèå
65. Establishment óñòàíîâëåíèå
F
66.
Famine
ãîëîä
67.
Fascist
ôàøèñòñêèé
68.
Fighters
ñð
àæàþùèåñÿ
69. Firebombed çàæèãàòåëüíûå áîìáû
70.
Flank
ôëàíã
71.
Foodstuffs
ïðîäîâîëüñ
òâèå
72.
Forces
âîîðóæåí
íûå ñèëû
73.
Formalized
îôîðìèë
74.
Frontier
ðóáåæ
75.
frost-bitten
îáìîðîæåí
íûé
G
76.
gains
âûãîäû
77. Geopolitical ãåîïîëèòè÷åñêèé
78.
Goals
öåëè
79. Government ïðàâèòåëüñòâî
80. government-in-exile ïðàâèòåëüñòâî â èçãíàíèè
81.
Guerrilla ïàðò
èçàíñêèé
H
82.
Harsh
òÿæåëûé
83.
Hastily
ñïåøíî
84. Hostilities âîåííûå äåéñòâèÿ
I
85. Immeasurably íåñîèçìåðèìûé
86.
Incendiary
çàæèãàòå
ëüíûé
87.
Independence
íåçàâèñèìîñò
ü
88.
Influence
âëèÿíèå
89.
Intelligence
ðàçâåäêà
90. International ìåæäóíàðîäíûé
91.
Internal
âíóòðåííèé
92.
Invading
âòîðæåíèå
J
93.
Join
ïðèñîåäèíèòüñÿ
K
L
94.
Leadership
ðóêîâ
îäñòâî
95.
Liberated
îñâîáîæä
åííûé
96.
Losses
ïîòåðè
M
97.
Major
ãëàâíûé
98.
Manifested
âûðàæàëñÿ
99.
Membership
÷
ëåíñòâî
100.
Military
âîåí
íûé
101. Ìopping up çà÷èñòêà
102. Mutually îáîþäíî
N
103.
Nazi
íàöèñòñêèé
104. Necessity íåîáõîäèìîñòü
105. Neglecting ïðåíåáðåãàþùèé
106.
Nuclear ÿäå
ðíûé
O
107. Occupation îêêóïàöèÿ
108. Îffensive íàñòóïëåíèå
P
109.
Peace
ìèð
110. Penetrate ïðîõîäèòü
111. Peninsula ïîëóîñòðîâ
112. post–war ïîñëåâîåííûé
113.
pre-war
äîâîåíí
ûé
114.
primacy
ïåðâåíñò
âî
115.
principal
âåäóù
èé
116. Provisional âðåìåííîå
117. Punishment íàêàçàíèå
118. Puppet state ìàðèîíåòî÷íîå ãîñóäàðñòâî
Q
119.
Question âîïð
îñ
R
120.
Rear
òûë
121. Recovery âîññòàíîâëåíèå
122. Regarded ðàññìàòðèâàëîñü
123.
Regiment
ï
îëê
124. Refugees áåæåíöû
125. Release îñâîáîæäåíèå
126.
Remnants
îñòàòê
è
127. Reparations ðåïàðàöèè
128. Repatriated ðåïàòðèèðîâàííûé
129. Repression ðåïðåññèè
130. Reshuffled ïåðåñòàâëåíû
131. Resistance ñîïðîòèâëåíèå
132. Revalued ïåðåîöåíåíû
133.
Rollback îòìå
íà
S
134. Sacrificing æåðòâóÿ
135. Satellites ñàòåëëèòû
136. Security Council Ñîâåò Áåçîïàñíîñòè
137.
Seizing
çàõâàò
138. Selfless ñàìîîòâåðæåííûé
139. Sentiment íàñòðîåíèå
140.
Service
ñëóæáà
141. Shipments îòïðàâêè
142. Shootings ðàññòðåëû
143.
Shortages
íåõâàòê
à
144.
Signed
ïîäïèñ
àíû
145. Significance çíà÷åíèå
146.
Siege
áëîêàäà
147.
Soil òå
ððèòîðèÿ
148. Sophisticated ñëîæíûé
149. Southwestward þãî-çàïàäíîå íàïðàâëåíèå
150. Sovereignty ñóâåðåíèòåò
151. Starvation ãîëîäàíèå
152. Strengthening óêðåïëåíèå
153.
Struck
ïîð
àæàòü
154.
Struggle
áî
ðüáà
155. Suffering ñòðàäàíèÿ
156. Surrender êàïèòóëÿöèÿ
T
157.
Taxes
íàëîãè
158. Totalitarian òîòàëèòàðíûé
159. Transferred ïåðåäàíû
160.
Troop
îòðÿä
U
161. Unconditionally áåçîãîâîðî÷íî
162. Unemployment áåçðàáîòèöà
163.
Unit
ïîäðàçäåë
åíèå
164. Unprecedented áåñïðåöåäåíòíûé
V
165.
Victims
æå
ðòâû
166. Volunteer äîáðîâîëü÷åñêèé
W
167. Weapon âîîðóæåíèå
168. Wehrmacht âîîðóæåííûå ñèëû íàöèñòñêîé Ãåðìàíèè
169. Whitewash ñêðûòü íåäîñòàòêè
170. Wholesale ìàññîâàÿ
171. Wartime ïåðèîä âîéíû
Z
172.
Zones
çîíû
List of sources used
1. The Soviet-German War 1941-1945: Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay by David M. Glantz. [Electronic resource] / Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs Clemson University October 11, 2001. – P. 85-94. – Mode of access: http://sti.clemson.edu/publications-mainmenu-38/publications-library/cat_view/33-strom-thurmond-institute/153-sti-publications-by-subject-area/158-history. - Date of access: 14.11.2015.
2. Berthon, Simon; Potts, Joanna. Warlords: An Extraordinary Re-creation of World War II Through the Eyes and Minds of Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin / Berthon, Simon; Potts, Joanna. Da Capo Press, 2007. - 384 pages
3. Telegram, President Roosevelt to the British Prime Minister, Washington, 11 March 1945, in United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States [Electronic resource] / Diplomatic Papers: 1945 Volume V, Europe (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1967), pp. 509-510. – Mode of access:http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgibin/FRUS/FRUSidx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1945v05.p0007&id=FRUS.FRUS1945v05&isize=text. - Date of access: 14.11.2015.
4. Black, Cyril E.; English, Robert D.; Helmreich, Jonathan E.; McAdams, James A. Rebirth: A Political History of Europe since World War II / Black, Cyril E.; Robert D.; Helmreich, Jonathan E.; McAdams, James A. Westview Press, 1999. - 720 pages.
5. Miscamble, Wilson D. From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War. / Wilson D. Miscamble, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008. - 416 pages.
6. David M. Glantz. August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria / David M. Glantz, Leavenworth Papers No. 7, Combat Studies Institute, 1983, Kansas, Fort Leavenworth. – 308 pages.
7. Beevor, Antony. The Second World War / A.Beevor. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012. – 863 pages.
8. Michael Ellman & S. Maksudov. Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: A Note / Michael Ellman & S. Maksudov // Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 4, 1994. - p. 671-680
9. Glenn E. Curtis, ed. Russia: A Country Study, Washington: Library of Congress, 1996 [Electronic resource] / Washington: Library of Congress. – Mode of access: http://countrystudies.us/russia/12.htm. - Date of access: 14.11.2015.
10. Hogan, Michael J. The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947–1952. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. - 500 pages.
11. Alan S. Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe: 1945–51 / Alan S. Milward, University of California Press, 1984. - 528 pages
12. Price, Harry Bayard. The Marshall Plan and Its Meaning [Electronic resource] / Price, Harry Bayard, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1955. - Ð. 264. – Mode of access: http://marshallfoundation.org/library/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2014/05/The_marshall_Plan_and_its_Meaning.pdf - Date of access: 14.11.2015.
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