The lesson of the beginning of the Second World War. Lesson on world history on the topic "The beginning of the Second World War" (Grade 9). Germany USSR England, France

9a grade 11, 10/16/2017 year ur. No. 12-13

Lesson topic: World War II.

The purpose of the lesson:

To form in students an idea of ​​the turning point of the Second World War. Tell about the main battles on the fronts of 1943-1945. Demonstrate clearly all the hardships of hostilities. To highlight the activities of the anti-Hitler coalition.

To trace the contribution of the USSR to the victory over the Axis countries, thereby helping to instill in students a sense of pride and patriotism for the country and people.

To continue the formation of students' skills to retell the text, to highlight the main thing, to work with the text.

Basic concepts and terms: anti-Hitler coalition, radical change, “Second Front”, capitulation.

During the classes:

1) Organizational moment.

2) Updating students' knowledge on the topic:

So, the beginning of the Second World War was a number of reasons. And, first of all, that by the beginning of the 30s. In the 20th century, states with different political systems developed in the world, aggressor countries appeared.

1. Remember what political regimes have been established in the world? In what states?

Answer: Democratic - England, USA, France;

Totalitarian - USSR, Germany, Italy.

2. Name the countries that have chosen an aggressive foreign policy.

Answer: Germany, Italy, Japan.

3. What was the foreign policy situation on the eve of World War II? What policy was pursued by the Western states and the USSR to appease the aggressor?

Answer: Western countries and the USSR were negotiating behind the scenes with Germany.

4. What did it lead to? What agreements have been made?

5. Who was involved in this conspiracy? What decisions have been made?

Answers: Great Britain (N.Chamberlain), France (E.Daladier), Germany (A.Hitler), Italy (B.Mussolini). An agreement was signed on the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

6. Why did England and France collude with Germany?

Answer: in case of refusal, Hitler threatened war in Europe.

7. What did the Soviet-German negotiations lead to? What assessment can be given to the diplomacy of these countries?

Answer: On August 23, 1939, the Non-Aggression Pact was signed and. The victory of the diplomacy of fascist Germany and the defeat of the Anglo-French and Soviet diplomacy.

8. Does everyone agree with this opinion?

Answer: No. As a result of the winter war, the USSR discovered the unpreparedness of the army for the conduct of hostilities and the destruction of command personnel as a result of the repressions of 1937, the need for rearmament. It was these reasons that forced the USSR to move closer to Germany and sign the pact.

9. Was it only the question of non-aggression that was resolved by the pact signed by Germany and the USSR?

The treaty was accompanied by a secret additional protocol on the division of countries of Eastern Europe on the spheres of German and Soviet interests in the event of a "territorial and political rearrangement" of these countries. This protocol provided for the possibility of including Latvia, Estonia, Eastern Poland, Finland and Bessarabia in the sphere of interests of the USSR.

10. When did World War II start?

11. The most significant stage in World War II is the Great Patriotic War. When did WWII start?

12. In the first days of the war, 28 Soviet divisions were completely defeated, 72 - more than half. German troops advanced 300-600 km. deep into Soviet territory. They captured Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova.

What reasons contributed to the defeat of the Red Army?

The military-economic potential of Germany, which subjugated almost all of Europe, significantly exceeded the capabilities of the USSR.

Hitler's army was very powerful, had two years of experience in waging war in Europe. The Red Army was inferior in professionalism, especially the command staff (which was influenced by mass repressions in the army on the eve of the war).

The miscalculations of the Soviet leadership in defining military doctrine, in particular, underestimating the role of mechanized formations, etc.

The miscalculations of the country's leadership in the analysis of the international situation on the eve of the war, as well as in determining the timing of the start of the war, which led to the element of surprise.

4) New theme:

1) Root fracture

3) Anti-Hitler coalition

4) The final stage of World War II

6) the results of the Second World War.

5) assessment of students.

The presentation of the text is accompanied by a demonstration of the presentation "The main battles of the Second World War 1943-1945".

1) Root fracture

November 19 1942 Red Army goes on the counteroffensive Stalingrad, as a result of which it is possible to surround and defeat two German, two Romanian and one Italian armies.

IN July 1943 the German command in last time trying to regain the strategic initiative in battle of Kursk, but it ends in a serious defeat German troops. The retreat of German troops begins along the entire front line - they have to leave Eagle, Belgorod, Novorossiysk. Fights for Belarus And Ukraine. In the battle for the Dnieper, the Red Army inflicts another defeat on Germany, liberating Left-Bank Ukraine and Crimea.

2) Military operations in other theaters of war.

Question to students

In which theaters did the Allies mostly fight?

Answer: Pacific with Japan and North Africa with Germany and Italy

November 8 1942 in Morocco a large Anglo-American landing force lands, having overcome 900 km, enter into Tunisia, where by this time the Germans had transferred part of their troops from Western Europe.

Meanwhile, the British army goes on the offensive in Libya. The Italo-German troops stationed here could not hold out at El Alamein and by February 1943, having suffered heavy losses, they retreat to Tunisia. 20th of March United Anglo-American troops go on the offensive deep into the territory Tunisia. The Italo-German command is trying to evacuate its troops to Italy, but by that time british navy fully owned Mediterranean and cut off all escape routes. may 13 Italo-German troops capitulate.

July 10 1943 allies landed in Sicily. The Italian troops stationed here surrender almost without a fight. In September 1943 Anglo-American troops land in the south of the Apennine Peninsula. Badoglio signs a truce with them and announces Italy's withdrawal from the war. However, taking advantage of the confusion of the allies, Hitler liberates Mussolini, and a puppet state is created in the north of the country Republic of Salo.

Troops USA And UK rather slowly moving north. At the beginning 1944 they make three unsuccessful attempts to break through the enemy defenses on the river Garigliano and log in Rome. Only June 4 Allied armies succeed break through the defenses of the Italian capital held by German troops.]

From August 1942 to February 1943, Japanese and American forces fight for control of the island. Guadalcanal within the archipelago Solomon islands. In this battle of attrition, in the end, the winner is United States. In November 1943 Allies manage to capture the Japanese island Tarawa.

3) Anti-Hitler coalition

Anti-Hitler coalition - an association of states and peoples who fought in World War II 1939-45 against bloc of Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan and them satellites. The anti-Hitler coalition was not a formal association, and the contribution of its participants to the fight against fascism is extremely uneven: some participants conducted active hostilities with Germany and its allies, others helped them with the supply of military products, and others participated in the war only nominally. So the military formations of some countries - Poland, Czechoslovakia, especially Yugoslavia, as well as Australia, Belgium, India, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, Ethiopia and others - took part in hostilities. Individual states of the anti-Hitler coalition (for example, Mexico) helped its main participants mainly with the supply of military raw materials. The number of coalition members increased during the war; By the time the war with Japan ended, 53 states of the world were at war with Germany and its allies.

The forerunner of the Anti-Hitler coalition, the coalition " Western Allies» arose after the invasion Nazi Germany to Poland in 1939, when allied mutual assistance agreements connected with the latter and among themselves entered the war Great Britain, France and some other countries.

Before the German attack in 1941, the USSR was not among the Anti-Hitler coalition.

The broad Anti-Hitler coalition formed first in spirit after the governments' statements USA and Great Britain on supporting the Soviet Union after the German attack on it, and then on bilateral and multilateral documents as a result of lengthy negotiations between the governments of the three powers on mutual support and joint actions.

Question for students: Did the help of the Anti-Hitler Coalition of the USSR play a role?

Answer: Yes, the shortage of weapons and ammunition was filled at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War precisely with the help of the Anti-Hitler coalition, with the supply of weapons.

Most significant events in the course of the coalition: Moscow meeting (1941), Atlantic charter(August 1941), Washington Declaration of Twenty-Six(Declaration of the United Nations, January 1942), Tehran conference (1943), Bretton Woods Conference (1944), Yalta Conference(March 1945).

The assistance received by the Soviet Union from participation in the Anti-Hitler Coalition, unlike that for other countries, can be assessed by various sources as significant and as insignificant - see below. lend-lease.

The influence of the coalition on the military and post-war political landscape is enormous; on its basis, UN

4) The final stage of World War II.

June 6 1944 allied forces USA, UK And Canada after two months of diversionary maneuvers, they conduct a major landing operation and land in Normandy, thereby opening second front.

In August, landings were dropped in the south France, liberated cities Toulon And Marseilles. 25-th of August allies are in Paris, which by that time was already almost completely controlled by the French resistance units.

In September, the allied offensive into the territory begins Belgium. By the end 1944 the Germans with great difficulty manage to stabilize the front line in the west. December 16 The Germans launch a counteroffensive Ardennes, which becomes a complete surprise for the allies. The Germans manage to advance 100 km inland Belgium, however, by the end of January 1945, they stop, and then completely transfer troops to the Eastern Front, where the Soviet army begins the Vistula-Oder operation. Since February 1945, hostilities have been transferred to German territory. Germany by that time, she had begun to transfer her main forces to defense Berlin, and therefore the Germans did not have serious defense in the west.

IN Italy The Allied advance was very slow. Despite their best efforts, they never succeeded in the end. 1944 break through the front line and cross the river By.April 28 1945 Italian partisans capture and execute Mussolini. Completely Northern Italy was cleared of the Germans only in May 1945.

Soviet offensive

Question to students: in what year did Finland leave the war?

Reply in 1944

In summer 1944 The offensive of the Red Army begins along the entire front line. By autumn, almost all of the Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic States. Only in the west of Latvia was the encircled grouping of German troops able to hold out until the end of the war.

As a result of the offensive of Soviet troops in the north Finland announced its withdrawal from the war. However, German troops refuse to leave Finnish territory. As a result, the former "brothers in arms" are forced to fight against each other. In August, as a result of the offensive, the Red Army withdraws from the war Romania, in September - Bulgaria. The Germans begin to evacuate troops from the territory Yugoslavia And Greece where people's liberation movements take power into their own hands.

In February 1945, the Budapest operation, after which the last European ally of Germany - Hungary- forced to capitulate. The attack begins at Poland, the Red Army occupies East Prussia.

At the end of April 1945, the battle for berlin. Realizing my complete defeat, Hitler And Goebbels committed suicide. May 8 after stubborn two-week battles for the German capital, the German command signs an act of unconditional surrender. Germany is divided into four occupation zones: Soviet, American, British and French.

May 14-15 in northern Slovenia the last battle of World War II took place in Europe, during which People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia defeated the German troops and numerous forces of collaborators.

Pacific Theater of Operations

On the pacific ocean the fighting was also quite successful for the allies. IN June 1944 Americans have mastered Mariana Islands. In October In March 1945, stubborn battles began for the southern Japanese islands. Iwo Jima And Okinawa.

After the end of the war in Europe, the last enemy of the countries of the anti-fascist coalition remained Japan. By that time, about 60 countries had declared war on Japan. However, despite the prevailing situation, the Japanese were not going to capitulate and announced the conduct of the war to a victorious end. In June 1945, the Japanese lost Indonesia were forced to leave Indochina. 26 July In 1945, the United States, Great Britain and China issued an ultimatum to the Japanese, but it was rejected. August 6 on the Hiroshima, and three days later Nagasaki were dropped atomic bombs, and as a result, two cities were almost wiped off the face of the earth. 8 August The USSR declared war on Japan, and on August 9 launched an offensive and within 2 weeks inflicted a crushing defeat on the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria. On September 2, an act of unconditional surrender was signed. Japan. The biggest war in human history is over.

5) The results of the war

The Second World War had a huge impact on the fate of mankind. 62 states participated in it (80% of the population the globe). Military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states. 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces. The total human losses reached 50-55 million people, of which 27 million people were killed on the fronts. The greatest human losses were suffered by the USSR, China, Germany, Japan and Poland.

Military spending and military losses totaled $4 trillion. Material costs reached 60-70% of the national income of the warring states. Only industry the USSR, USA, UK And Germany manufactured 652.7 thousand aircraft (combat and transport), 286.7 thousand tanks, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles, over 1 million artillery pieces, over 4.8 million machine guns (excluding Germany), 53 million rifles, carbines and machine guns, and great amount other weapons and equipment. The war was accompanied by colossal destruction, destruction of tens of thousands of towns and villages, incalculable disasters of tens of millions of people.

As a result of the war, the role of Western Europe in global politics. The main powers in the world were the USSR and the USA. Great Britain and France, despite the victory, were significantly weakened. The war showed the inability of them and other Western European countries to support huge colonial empires. In the countries of Africa and Asia, the anti-colonial movement intensified. IN Eastern Europe busy Soviet troops socialist regimes were established. One of the main results of World War II was the creation United Nations, based on the Anti-Fascist Coalition formed during the war, to prevent world wars in the future.

Fascist And Nazi ideologies were recognized as criminal in Nuremberg Trials and prohibited. Support has risen in many Western countries communist parties, thanks to their active participation in the anti-fascist struggle during the war.

Europe capitalist) and eastern ( socialist cold war.

Lesson Summary:

So, today we looked at the turning point during the Second World War. We traced the contribution of the countries of the anti-fascist alliance to the victory over Germany and Japan, the main battles and treaties. However, the most surprising thing in the history of the war is that our country, being in catastrophic conditions in 1941, was able to stop the German troops and go on the offensive, liberating their cities from the invaders, under the fire of the enemy, the soldiers achieved success, and the population gave the front in a timely manner uniforms, provisions, developed in as soon as possible weapons, analogues of which simply did not exist.

As they say, someone with a sword will come to us from the sword and die.

Consolidation of the lesson:

Today we have considered the turning point and the end of the Second World War.

1. What event is considered the beginning of a turning point in the course of World War II?

Germany's defeat in the Battle of Kursk. However, many tend to believe that the foundation was laid in the Battle of Talingrad.

2. What assistance did the Anti-Hitler Coalition of the USSR provide?

the shortage of weapons and ammunition was replenished at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War precisely with the help of the Anti-Hitler coalition, with the supply of weapons.

3. What was the result of the war?

The division of Berlin between the USSR, Britain, USA, France. Europe was divided into two camps: Western ( capitalist) and eastern ( socialist). Relations between the two blocs deteriorated sharply within a couple of years after the end of the war. started cold war.

6) Student assessment

Homework:

§twenty. pp.141-146. Draw up a prospectus "the main events of World War II"

An open lesson on the history of Russia in the 9th grade at the regional professional competition "Teacher of the Year-2002"

TOPIC: “BEGINNING OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. SOVIET-GERMAN RELATIONS.

The place of this lesson in the system of lessons on the topic: this is lesson 1 in the section "The Soviet Union in World War II (1939-1945)".

At the lesson, * knowledge is worked out on the course "Foreign policy of the USSR
on the eve of the Second World War”;

* skills of independent work, analysis
historical facts;

* analytical thinking skills.

Objectives: 1. To clarify that the reasons for the new Soviet-German rapprochement were, on the one hand, the obvious unwillingness of Western countries to implement the idea of ​​creating a collective security system, and on the other hand, to solve all their geopolitical problems - to expand the territory of the USSR to the size of the Russian Empire.

2. To develop the ability of students to independently work with the text of the textbook, analyze historical facts based on the study of historical documents.

3. Raising interest in national history.

The main stage of the lesson: * learning a new topic.

Other stages of the lesson: * problem statement,

* updating of basic knowledge,

* Consolidation of what has been learned.

The most effective forms and methods: * conversation,

* independent planning,

*independent work with historical

Czech sources and textbook * teacher's story,

* video clips.

Type of lesson: combined, in the technology of developing education:

* projective technology,

*brainstorming - group regeneration of ideas on

problem,

* Identification of cause-and-effect relationships.

Equipment: textbook A.A. Danilova, L.G. Kosulina "History of Russia 20th century", 9th grade,

Wall map "Second World War",

Handout and illustrative material,

Magazine "Rodina" 1995 No. 12,

Video fragments from the film “G.K. Zhukov".

SCHEME - SUPPORT

(created on the board during the lesson).

GERMANY USSR ENGLAND, FRANCE

non-aggression pact breakdown of negotiations

Poland

treaty "On friendship and borders"

April 1940 - Denmark Western Ukraine

Norway Western Belarus November 1939

May 1940 - Belgium Latvia, Lithuania

Holland Estonia, Moldova 1940

From July 1940 - plan

"Barbarossa"

DURING THE CLASSES:

1. Organizational moment.

2. Preparation for the study of a new topic.

What is this date? - the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic war... It lives in each of us. She got stuck in fragments in my grandfather, who was wounded near Yelnya during the counteroffensive near Moscow. As a result of this offensive, he was released on January 11, 1942. city ​​of Kirov, Kaluga region.

You are already great-grandchildren of those who stood and survived in this war. Raise your hands, please, those through history, whose families went through the war, whose loved ones fought at the front or worked in the rear? (students raise their hands).

Yes, this war has gone through the history of every family, through the history of

not only our city, our country, but also other states.

To understand the history of that war, one must understand not only marshals and generals, but also ordinary soldiers and civilians. Because war is not only military operations, defeats and victories on the battlefield, but also the economy, diplomacy, national traditions and the ambitions of the leaders - without them we are unlikely to understand what happened and how.

Now there is a mass of previously unknown documents, many complex questions arise. The answers to them may be unexpected. THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY, ESPECIALLY WAR, IS NOT DONE IN WHITE GLOVES. / The teacher takes out white gloves /

White gloves are an element of a diplomat's costume, which also make history.

What historical event is the Great Patriotic War a part of? - World War II. Each event has its own beginning ... And so, the TOPIC of our lesson

THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR /writing on the board/.

To explore this topic What questions should we consider?

(As a result of the conversation, students themselves identify the main questions):

1. international relationships
2. causes of war
3. Soviet-German relations on the eve of the war
4. trace the course of historical events.

Let these questions be the plan of our lesson, we will dwell in more detail on Soviet-German relations, the reasons for the rapprochement between the USSR and Germany. Studying the topic, we will draw up a reference diagram: I am on the board, and you are in a notebook.

What events brought the world to war? /video - fragment/.

Which countries pursued aggressive plans in the 1930s?

Germany - Italy - Japan (work with the map).

How could other states protect themselves, what did the Security Council propose to create? – Collective security system

1. what is its essence? - (students tell the material of section 1 of section 28 of paragraph).

After the conclusion of what agreement did the USSR begin searching for a new foreign policy line? –1938 Munich Agreement.

After the conclusion of the Munich Agreement, the heads of the governments of England and France proclaimed the offensive in Europe of the "ERA OF PEACE".

Was it really? - A word to our archivist (an employee of the archive), who kindly agreed to become ... (the name of the student is called, with whom the actions were agreed before the lesson).

Germany made claims to Poland about the annexation of Danzig.

April 1939 - Italy occupied Albania.

ALL THIS forced the ruling circles of Britain and France to agree to the Soviet proposal to begin negotiations on measures to curb aggression.

So, the word "representatives of the countries." Independent work of students with DMK is organized - the search for answers to pre-assigned questions:

*What is the fundamental difference between the position of the USSR and the position of its European partners in the negotiations?

*What position did Poland take and why?

DMK:

Proposals of the British government on the conclusion of a joint declaration of the USSR, Great Britain, France and Poland of March 21, 1939.

… Should European peace and security be affected by any action that threatens the political independence of any European State, our respective governments hereby undertake to immediately consult on the steps to be taken for joint resistance.

1. Great Britain, France, the USSR conclude an agreement between themselves for a period of 5-10 years on the mutual obligation to provide each other immediately with all assistance, including military, in the event of aggression in Europe against any of the contracting states.
2. Great Britain, France, and the USSR undertake to provide all possible support, including military assistance, to the Eastern European states located between the Baltic and Black Seas and bordering on the USSR, in the event of aggression against these states.

From the memorandum of the British government to the government of the French Republic dated May 22, 1939:

It seems desirable to conclude some agreement by which the Soviet Union will come to our aid if we are attacked from the East, not only for the purpose of compelling Germany to fight a war on two fronts, but also for the reason ... that in case of war it is important to involve in her Soviet Union.

Students answer questions and make a conclusion about the difference between the position of the USSR and the position of its European partners in the negotiations.

On August 11, 1939, the British and French Military Missions arrived in Moscow, but their leaders did not have mandates to sign the treaty.

What do you think, will the representatives of the countries be able to agree among themselves if initially they stand on different positions and their interests do not coincide? - Students express their opinion. The negotiations stalled.

At the same time:

ARCHIVIST: From cipher telegram No. 175 of the German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop to the German Ambassador to the USSR von Schulenberg dated August 14, 1939:

There is no doubt that today the German-Soviet have come to a turning point in their history...

The crisis in German-Polish relations, provoked by the policy of England ... makes it desirable to clarify German-Russian relations as soon as possible. Otherwise, regardless of Germany's actions, things may take such a turn that both governments will be deprived of the opportunity to restore German-Soviet friendship and jointly resolve territorial issues related to Eastern Europe ...

... The Imperial Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop is ready to arrive in Moscow on a short visit in order to present the views of the Fuhrer to Mr. Stalin on behalf of the Fuhrer ...

What does this telegram indicate?

1. Hitler invited Stalin to start negotiations on the conclusion of a non-aggression pact and the delimitation of spheres of influence.
2. Stalin faced a difficult choice.

What decision do you think he will come to and why?

1. secure the western borders,
2. D. Vostok (May 39, Khalkhin-Gol),
3. disruption of negotiations between England and France.

The USSR and Germany signed a non-aggression pact.

TASK FOR INDEPENDENT WORK: before you is the text of the agreement, read it, and pay special attention to the additional protocol to this agreement.

Why was the additional treaty kept secret?

What issues did he address?

What territories went into the sphere of influence of Germany (Lithuania, Poland), and the USSR (Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, Eastern Poland, the Baltic States, Finland, Northern Bukovina).

Why was this agreement beneficial to both countries?

What event followed?

You will find the main causes of World War II in the textbook p.196

(work with the text of the textbook, students name the reasons).

VIDEO FRAGMENT

How were the secret protocols implemented by Germany and the USSR?

1. September 39 - Poland
2. April 40 - Denmark, Norway
3. May 1940 - Belgium. Holland
4. June 1940 - France (recording in the reference scheme).

ASSIGNMENT: From the textbook - section "Secret protocols in action"

(pp. 196-197) find out:

When and what territories became part of the USSR? - write in the reference diagram.

What are the causes of the Soviet-Finnish war?

What was the name of the most fortified Finnish defense line? (Mannerheim line).

When was this line of defense broken? (February 1940).

By the troops of which front and under whose command? (North-Western, Timoshenko).

Why, as soon as France asked for peace, did the USSR agree to sign it?

What territories became part of the USSR (Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg, the northern coast of Ladoga, the western part of the Rybachy and Sredny Peninsulas; a naval base was created on the Khanko Peninsula).

What did the war with Finland show?

The unpreparedness of the army and the state for the conditions of modern warfare.

What do you think it was necessary to do to strengthen the defense capability of the state?

1. an increase in budget allocations for defense
2. tightening labor laws
3. new types and increase in the production of military equipment
4. increase in the size of the armed forces

Give examples from the DMC - What trend do these facts reflect?

(Koloskov A.G. History of Russia. XX century. 11th grade: Didactic materials.- M .: Bustard, 2000, p.138.

Growth of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1939-1941.

On 01.01.1939 On June 22, 1941

Personnel (thousand people) 1943 5710

Divisions 136,303

Guns and mortars (thousand) 55.8 115.9

Tanks (thousand) 18.4 23.3

Combat aircraft (thousand) 17.5 22.4

At this time in Germany (VIDEO FRAGMENT-plan Barbarossa)

Work on the map: show the direction of attacks on the USSR.

Initially, the offensive was planned for May 15, 1941, then it was postponed to June 22, 1941. How this plan was carried out, you will learn in the next lesson.

Fixing: I option.

What have we learned in class today?

1. Work according to the reference scheme (dates, countries and territories).
2. Schematically depict the plan "Barbarossa" on an additional map: the main directions of attacks, the location of the armies (one student is optional).
3. P - position - I think ... each of us should know the history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War.

Oh - justification - because ... it touched the fate of every family, my family.

P - example - for example ... (refer to the beginning of the lesson).

C - consequence - therefore ... we will study the history of the Fatherland in order to prevent humanity from starting a new world war in the future.

II option.

Peer-to-peer testing (attached).

D/C: §30. Prepare Messages: Examples of Heroism and Courage Soviet people during the first months of the Great Patriotic War.

History lesson in grade 9 on the topic "The beginning of the Second World War."

The purpose of the lesson: to understand that the reasons for the new Soviet-German rapprochement were, on the one hand, the obvious unwillingness of the Western countries to implement the Soviet idea of ​​​​creating a collective security system, and on the other hand, an attempt to solve their geopolitical problems through an alliance with Germany - to expand the territory of the USSR to the size of the Russian Empire; to show the full depth of the danger hanging over our Motherland and its peoples in connection with the development of a plan for Germany's attack on the USSR.

Tasks:

educational : find out the political and economic situation in the USSR on the eve of World War II, show the reasons, conditions and significance of the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, find out the role of the Soviet Union and Germany in unleashing the war;

Educational: to promote the development of the ability to work with the text of the textbook, a chronicle of events, historical documents, extract the necessary information, analyze, compare, draw conclusions, express one's point of view.

Educational : to cultivate a sense of patriotism, rejection of totalitarian regimes, diligence, conscientious attitude to one’s work, interest in the historical past, feelings of patriotism, one’s citizenship in assessing the events of those years, empathy and pride for the generation of people of that time

Main content: 1. The balance of power in the world at the end of the 30s.

2. Soviet-German agreements of 1939 and secret protocols to them: calculations and miscalculations of Soviet diplomacy.

3. Was the USSR an accomplice in World War II? (The military actions of the USSR in Poland and the Baltic states, the expansion of the “fraternal family” of the Soviet republics, the Soviet-Finnish war.)

4. Preparation of German aggression against the USSR.

5. “If tomorrow there is a war…” (the country's defense capability by June 1941)

Basic concepts: secret protocols; plan "Barbarossa"; plan "Ost"; blitzkrieg.

Lesson equipment: the documents; table; maps “International position and foreign policy USSR (1921 - 1941)”, “Strategic plan of the war of fascist Germany against the USSR (Plan “Barbarossa”).

Form of the lesson: overview lecture with elements of laboratory work on documents.

Lesson type: non-traditional, using ICT

lesson learning new material

Type of lesson: problematic - search

Lesson plan: 1. Reasons for the new Soviet-German rapprochement. Soviet-German non-aggression pact 1939.

3. War with Finland.

During the classes.

Stage 1. Organizing time.

The lesson begins with an excerpt from the poem "Thank you, soldier, for the victory!" Yuri Yurkoy to the accompaniment of music.

Successfully Hitler launched his blitz plan:
Crawled through the world, multiplying, an evil force
At the expense of the resources of the conquered countries ...
It's terrible, but it was!

Dreaming of turning the whole world into slaves,
The fascists made soap out of people,
They heated stoves with them instead of firewood ...
It's terrible, but it was!

The topic of our lesson Beginning of World War II"

The purpose of the lesson: Describe the causes and start of World War II

Lesson objectives: today in the lesson we must

Find out the role of the Soviet Union and Germany in unleashing the war;

Strengthen the ability to work with documents;

Show the depth of the danger hanging over our Motherland

Checking homework. (Not conducted, as there was a generalizing lesson the day before).

Our lesson plan:

1. The reasons for the new Soviet-German rapprochement. Soviet-German non-aggression pact 1939.

2. Expansion of the territory of the USSR.

3. War with Finland.

4. Preparation of Germany to attack the USSR.

5.Strengthening the country's defense capability

Stage 2. Learning new material.

1. Causes of the new Soviet-German rapprochement. Soviet-German non-aggression pact 1939.

You can name the reasons for the Soviet-German rapprochement yourself. To do this, you must remember the lesson “International Relations and Foreign Policy of the USSR in the 1930s.

Student responses(students talk about the USSR's attempt to create a system of collective security)

The threat for the USSR to be left face to face with German aggression led the USSR to accept Germany's proposal to conclude a non-aggression pact and interrupt negotiations with England and France, which began on August 12, 1939. in Moscow, convinced of their complete futility. Since the representatives of the delegation of England and France received instructions to play for time in order to prevent an agreement between the USSR and Germany. August 23, 1939 A Soviet-German non-aggression pact was signed for a period of 10 years and secret protocols delimiting the "spheres of influence" of these countries.

Work with document No. 1. Non-aggression pact.

Consider a fragment from this contract and answer the questions:

2. Why did Hitler agree to sign an agreement with the USSR?

3. What benefits did the USSR and Germany receive from the conclusion of this treaty?

4. What do you see as the pros and cons of this agreement?

Working with Document No. 2. Secret Additional Protocol of August 23, 1939.(students read it)

Analyze and conclude

Benefits for every country from secret protocols ?

1) the interests of the USSR

2) German interests

2. Expansion of the territory of the USSR.

At dawn on September 1, 1939, the very day that Hitler had chosen on April 3 to launch Operation Weiss, the German army crossed the borders of Poland and moved towards Warsaw from the north, south and west.

German planes roared in the air, approaching their targets - columns Polish troops, ammunition trains, bridges, railways, undefended cities. A few minutes later, the Poles - military and civilian - understood what death is, suddenly falling from the sky. This has never happened before in the world, but in the next six years, hundreds of millions of men, women and children in Europe and Asia experienced this feeling. The shadow of this horror, especially after the creation of the atomic bomb, will haunt humanity, reminding it of the threat of total annihilation.

Even the German soldiers, who saw who was attacking whom on the Polish border, were bombarded with Hitler's lies. On September 1, Hitler's grandiose proclamation addressed to the German army stated:

“The Polish state refused a peaceful settlement of the conflict, as I proposed to do, and took up arms ... Several violations of the border, which are unbearable for a great state, prove that Poland does not intend to respect the borders of the Reich.

To stop this madness, I have no other choice but to oppose force from now on.”

Hitler only once told the truth that day.

"I do not ask any German," he declared in the Reichstag, "to do Furthermore, for which I have been preparing all these four years ... From now on I am the first soldier of the German Reich. I put on again the uniform that was dear and sacred to me. I will not remove it until victory is won, for defeat for me is tantamount to death."

He kept his promise.

September 3, 1939 England and France, in response to the invasion of Poland, declared war on Germany. But Poland's allies did not provide her with real help. German troops, without encountering serious resistance, quickly moved inland. And already on September 28, 1939, the first campaign of World War II ended. Poland was completely occupied.

Thus began

Length of days

Number of participating countries

Number of neutral states

Number of states in whose territory hostilities took place

Population - countries participating in the war

1700 million people

(80% of the population)

Number of mobilized

110 million people

The number of deaths in the war

More than 60 million people

On September 17, Soviet troops entered the Polish lands and returned the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

In November, these territories became part of the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR. Accelerated industrialization and collectivization began on their territory..

In Brest, after the defeat of Poland, a joint parade of Soviet and German troops took place.

On September 28, 1939, an agreement on friendship and border was signed between the USSR and Germany.

Document handling 3.FRIENDSHIP AGREEMENT AND BORDER BETWEEN THE USSR AND GERMANY.

After the defeat of Poland, the USSR concluded agreements on "mutual assistance" with the Baltic countries. They envisaged the deployment of naval and military air bases Red Army. This created the conditions for the communists to come to power. In June 1940, the Soviet Union demanded the appointment of new governments with the participation of the Communists. This requirement was soon fulfilled.

"People's governments" turned to the Soviet Union with a request to join the USSR on the rights of union republics. In October 1940, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a corresponding decision. In June 1940, after the Soviet ultimatum, Romania returned Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which had been torn away in 1920. Thus, the western borders of the USSR were pushed back by 200-600 km.

Thus, almost all the western provinces that had previously been part of the Russian Empire were returned, with the exception of Poland and Finland.

3. War with Finland. (Watching the film "World War II - Lightning War"

The expansion of Soviet territory took place almost without armed conflicts. Relations with Finland developed differently.

Negotiations were started in secret mode, which suited both sides. April 14, 1938 second secretary Boris Yartsev arrives in Helsinki. The USSR government is confident that Germany is preparing a side strike through Finland. And guarantees from the Finns that they would not let the Germans through their territory were not enough. The USSR demanded a secret agreement: to participate in the defense of the Finnish coast, the construction of fortifications on the Aland Islands, and to receive military bases for the fleet and aviation on about. Gogland. Territorial requirements were not put forward. Yartsev's proposal was rejected at the end of August 1938.

In October-November, Finland was invited to official talks in Moscow. On October 14, 1939, the Soviet side provided the Finns with a memorandum.

Ensuring the security of Leningrad

Confidence that Finland will stand on the basis of friendly relations with the USSR.

Finland, feeling the secret support of Germany and the open support of England and France, rejected these proposals and announced a general mobilization.

On November 26, 1939, the Finnish side of the border Soviet village north of Mainila was shelled.

4 soldiers were killed and 9 wounded. The Finns denied the fact of provocation on the part of their troops, and offered to conduct a bilateral investigation.

On November 30, 1939, the USSR, under the pretext that its territory was shelled from Finland, began military operations against it. The calculation was made for a quick victory. However, the Soviet-Finnish war dragged on.

The Soviet Union was on the verge of conflict with Britain and France. The League of Nations recognized the USSR as an aggressor and expelled from its membership. Finland's sympathies were also openly expressed by Germany.

USSR: The Korelsky Isthmus with Vyborg, the northern coast of Ladoga, at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland on the island of Hanko, a Soviet naval base was being created.

4. Preparation of Germany and the USSR for war

Student presentation: German conquest of European countries.

Plan Barbarossa - student performance

Plan Ost - student performance

Stage 3. Consolidation of the material covered.

1. What are the main causes of World War II.

2. Which states were responsible for the outbreak of World War II?

3. Could the war have been prevented? Why?

Conclusion: Germany and the USSR are aggressor countries; both Germany and the USSR in 1939-1940. waged aggressive wars (only the USSR, of course, on a much smaller scale); Germany and the USSR in the summer of 1941 were preparing aggression against each other. The one who quickly carried out the deployment of troops received a huge advantage. The Wehrmacht turned out to be faster than the Red Army in this matter. From this position, it is easy to explain the fact that in the initial period of the war, Stalin was in a deep depression: this is not surprising, because the greatest aggression broke out, as a result of which, perhaps (who knows?), all of Europe would be under the control of the USSR.

Stage 4. Reflection and homework.

I want to finish my lesson with the words of Dmitry Rumat

I dare not talk about the war

I dare not talk about the war,

But I will say - there is a kindred memory,

God forbid we see in a dream

What you have experienced!

History lesson in grade 9 on the topic "The beginning of the Second World War"

Lesson stages

Teacher activity

Student activities

1. Organizational stage

The teacher welcomes the students, announces the topic, goals and objectives of the lesson.

Students listen and write down the topic of the lesson in their notebooks.

Recognize the goals and objectives of the lesson.

2. Stage of learning new material

3. The stage of fixing the material covered

4. Reflection

M.Yu. Myagkov

FIFTEEN LESSONS OF THE SECOND WORLD
Non-anniversary notes on the "battlefields" for historical memory

First and main lesson World War II lies in the fact that the third world war should not happen, since there will be no winners in it, only the ruins of human civilization will remain. “I don’t know with what weapons they will fight in the 3rd World War,” said the great scientist A. Einstein, “but in the 4th World War they will fight with sticks and stones.” According to some estimates, humanity lost 55 million people in World War II. During the war years, the Nazis sent 18 million people to concentration camps and extermination camps, 11 million of them were destroyed.

In the Soviet Union, human casualties reached 26.6 million people. This was largely due to the inhumane Nazi treatment of our prisoners of war and civilians. The birth rate in the USSR decreased during the war by 15.5 million people. In the RSFSR, 23 regions, territories and autonomous republics were completely or partially occupied. Stalingrad, Sevastopol, Novorossiysk, Kerch, Rzhev were turned into ruins. The troubles experienced by people are boundless. The victory suffered by our people is priceless for all time, and attempts to cast a shadow on it are not only a moral crime, but a step towards unleashing new wars.

War is accompanied by cruelty and hatred, and a war of conquest kills not only the bodies, but also the souls of people who embark on the path of crimes against humanity. This is what happened to the Nazi Reich. And only decades later, the Germans were able to get rid of that terrible Nazi vaccination that was injected into them by the German Fuhrer.

It is sometimes said that wars are the engines of progress. But these are statements from the evil one. Who counted the number of discoveries that didn't happen, creative insights ruined, geniuses never seen the light of day because someone wanted to rule over others with the help of military force? The United Nations has helped to keep humanity from global conflicts that threaten a worldwide catastrophe. But in the last 70 years since the end of World War II, there have been hundreds of small wars and regional conflicts that have cost millions of lives. The fuse of war continues to smolder and may flare up before our eyes.

Second lesson says that the war could have been avoided, that the fight against this danger must be waged while the war has not yet begun. However, between the USSR and Western democracies in the 1920s-1930s there was a crisis of confidence, which predetermined the involvement of humanity in a global conflict.

It is well known that the appetites of Nazi Germany and its allies in the absence of real opposition from England, France and the United States only grew in the 1930s. IN civil war in Spain 1936-1939 Italy and Germany openly supported the fascist rebellion against the legitimate republican government. next victim Austria became the fascists, where on March 11, 1938 German troops were introduced. This was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. But England and France did not defend Austria. The Soviet government appealed to all powers to organize collective defense of all countries threatened by aggression. But this call went unanswered, concessions to Hitler continued.

In turn, the USSR took real steps towards improving relations with neighboring countries. In the early 1930s, non-aggression or neutrality pacts were signed with Afghanistan, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, France, and Italy. In 1933, Moscow secured the signing of a convention with a number of states that defined aggression, including direct aggression and indirect aggression.

In September 1934 the USSR was invited to join the League of Nations and took the place of a permanent member of its Council. In May 1935, Moscow signed bilateral agreements on mutual assistance in case of aggression with Czechoslovakia and France. However, at the suggestion of the government in Prague, military assistance to Czechoslovakia from the USSR was conditional on the same assistance from France, which largely depreciated these important obligations. Despite the fact that the Soviet foreign policy (M.M. Litvinov was the head of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs until 1939) after the Nazis came to power reoriented towards cooperation with the “Western democracies”, the ruling circles of the latter were dominated by an egotistical attitude towards interaction with the USSR, mistrust of his policies. They rejected Moscow's proposals to conclude a regional pact to maintain peace in the Pacific, and the so-called. "Eastern Pact" on collective security in Europe.

It is worth noting that among the Western powers themselves there was no complete understanding about the methods of countering aggression. The United States, which pursued a policy of isolationism, did not seek to use its potential to protect even its potential allies. On the eve of the pan-European conflict, in the first half of 1939, Washington was extremely wary of raising the question of possible assistance from Great Britain and France. Some researchers point out that President Roosevelt's hands were tied by the main provisions of the Neutrality Act, isolationist pressure, student peace activists, various religious groups, especially Catholics. In addition, a significant part of American business circles provided material assistance to Germany, which was largely due to the structure of monopolistic ties. Almost 2.5 thousand aircraft engines in 1933-1939. were purchased German firms in USA; a number of German factories for the production of motors worked on the basis of the latest American technology.

The role of the Soviet Union in the crisis that erupted before the war was seen in Washington mainly from the negative side. There, the image of the Soviet Union was organically connected with such concepts as the "expansion of the revolution" and the "aggressiveness" of the communist regime. Accordingly, the idea of ​​entering into a possible allied alliance with such a state was initially doomed to harsh criticism within America itself.

Roosevelt's policy of cooperation with the USSR, the logical consequence of which was the recognition of the Soviet Union in 1933, seemed to be able to reverse the established negative ideas about dialogue with Moscow. Soviet Russia also pinned certain hopes on strengthening its economic and foreign policy position through closer interaction with the United States. But, unfortunately, there was no breakthrough in the relations between the two countries, both in the field of trade and the maintenance of international security. Enough for the President and the State Department strong influence supporters of the "hard" line against the USSR - Ch. Bohlen, W. Bullitt, N. Henderson and others.

In modern conditions, we must remember that the conditions for building a common, not only European, but also world home, exist. But what is important is a positive view of your partner, the search for compromises with him in order to achieve the main goal - a stable world in which there would be no place not only for total, but also for small wars, terrorism. The source of the threat (which became Germany after 1933) was underestimated by Western democracies, just as terrorist and neo-fascist movements in various Asian and European countries are underestimated today. And this is a dangerous symptom of an impending new global crisis.

Third lesson. The experience of the war shows that the policy of "appeasement" of the aggressor (the policy of Munich), unprincipled deals and secret protocols, misunderstanding of the difference between democracy and fascism does not lead to anything good.

Only after the aggressor had seized almost all Western Europe, England and the USA began to look for real contacts with the Soviet side, as a result of which, after June 22, 1941, the Anti-Hitler coalition was formed. In the pre-war years, Western leaders did not part with the illusory hope of reaching a compromise with Germany, while their course "was based on real calculations ... to direct fascist aggression against the USSR."

The policy of the Soviet government was aimed primarily at ensuring the security of the USSR and preventing war. The state and party leadership believed that the capitalist encirclement, hostile to socialism, would inevitably take military action against the Soviet Union. In the mid-1930s, it became clear that the most potential adversaries Germany, Italy and Japan will participate in the war. At the same time, the Soviet leadership considered it necessary to strengthen the country's international position by expanding ties with non-aggressive capitalist states and to create a system of collective resistance to aggression on a contractual basis.

One of the key events that eventually led to World War II was the Munich Agreement of 1938.

On September 29-30, 1938, in Munich, the leaders of Germany (A. Hitler), Italy (B. Mussolini), Great Britain (N. Chamberlain) and France (E. Daladier) ordered the government of Czechoslovakia to transfer to Germany about 1/5 of their territory - the Sudetenland, in which the so-called. Sudeten Germans. Czechoslovakia was losing a quarter of its population, about half of its heavy industry, powerful fortifications on the border with Germany, the new line of which now actually rested on the outskirts of Prague. The negative attitude of the government of Czechoslovakia to this diktat was not taken into account.

Significant was the joint coercion of Czechoslovakia by the aggressive dictatorial regimes of Germany and Italy and Western democracies (the United States approved the Munich agreement). In exchange, Germany signed declarations with England (September 30) and France (December 6), which, in fact, were non-aggression pacts. November 16 England recognized the capture of Ethiopia by Italy.

The Munich deal was being prepared for a long time and overnight destroyed the framework of the collective security system in Europe, which was created with such difficulty, the basis of which was the Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak mutual assistance treaties. Hungary and Poland became accomplices of the Munich agreement and the division of Czechoslovakia. Poland occupied the Teshin region, Hungary - Transcarpathian Ukraine. In Moscow, they made an unambiguous and in general correct conclusion: the Munich agreement is a direct military threat to the Soviet Union.

The illusions of the Anglo-French strategists dispelled pretty soon. In December 1938, a preliminary agreement was reached on the conclusion of a military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. On March 15, 1939, German troops went beyond the borders of the Sudetenland and soon entered the capital of Czechoslovakia, Prague. On 31 March England and then France announced their own guarantees to Poland. On April 11, Hitler, using Poland's refusal to comply with German demands and demonstrative support by England and France, approved the Weiss plan (war with Poland) and set a deadline for readiness for it - September 1, 1939.

The countdown to the beginning of the war has already been started. However, there was still a hope that if the USSR, England and France acted as a single camp, then Germany would be afraid of a war on two fronts, Hitler would remember the results of the First World War and would not risk starting hostilities. The period of March - August 1939 is the maneuvers of potentially and actually opposing forces, aimed at searching for allies and dividing opponents. For the Soviet leadership, there was an alternative: to reach an agreement with London and Paris or with Berlin. The goal is unequivocal: to prevent the USSR from being drawn into the war, to create more favorable foreign policy conditions for the defense of the country. In turn, each of the great powers sought to win over the USSR as an ally.

The talks of the military missions of the USSR, Great Britain and France, which met in Moscow on August 12-22, 1939, were of the greatest importance in the specific situation. country. The head of the French military mission, General J. Doumenc, reported from Moscow to Paris on August 20: "The failure of the negotiations is inevitable if Poland does not change its position." In the face of military danger and the reluctance of Western democracies to make effective agreements, the USSR decided to drastically change priorities and respond to Germany's proposals to conclude a bilateral treaty.

On the night of August 23-24, a non-aggression pact was signed between the USSR and Germany in the Kremlin for a period of 10 years. This political decision of the Soviet government for some time guaranteed the country from war with Germany, with its real and potential allies. Germany got rid of the threat of war on two fronts when attacking Poland and counted on the neutrality of England and France, but miscalculated in the latter.

The secret protocol to the treaty provided for the division of "spheres of interest" between Germany and the USSR and was an important part of the signed document. The "sphere of interest" of the USSR included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, the eastern part of Poland (Western Belarus and Western Ukraine), Bessarabia, which limited the advance of the German armies to the borders of the USSR in the event of a war in Europe. These were the states or territories that were wrested from Russia after the First World War by decisions taken at Versailles or by direct annexations.

Historians are still arguing about the military, political and moral consequences of the division of the USSR with Germany in 1939 of the spheres of interest in Eastern Europe. The fact that these agreements took place behind the backs of other states and contradicted the previous course of Soviet foreign policy towards the creation of a system of collective security is a fact. The agreement between a socialist country and fascist Germany disorientated and weakened the world communist movement, which considered the struggle against fascism to be its main task. However, we must not forget that the Soviet Union acted at that time in the conditions of the growth of the aggressive aspirations of the leadership of the Third Reich, the lack of mutual understanding with England and France, and the presence of a threat to its Far Eastern borders from militaristic Japan. Besides, Soviet intelligence reported to Moscow that Germany was preparing the ground for the entry of its armed forces into the Baltic States - and this was already a direct threat to Leningrad and the central regions of the USSR. Going to a deal with Germany, Moscow was aware of its unpreparedness for a big war. In other words, the agreement between the USSR and Germany of August 23, 1939 made it completely impossible to create an Anti-Hitler coalition with the participation of the USSR before the start of the world war. But the pact with Germany (which, after the names of the people who signed it, is more often called the “Ribbentrop-Molotov” pact) was a forced deal for the USSR, inevitable in the light of the breakdown of the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations. The main conclusions regarding this document are as follows: firstly, one cannot ensure one's security at the expense of other countries, one must constantly emphasize the connection between politics and morality. And, secondly, the breakdown of negotiations aimed at creating a coalition against aggression should not be allowed. The exit from it of one of the members, its actual collapse - gives green light war.

The United States could at that time provide some assistance in concluding an alliance against the aggressors. But American foreign policy took a rather wait-and-see attitude. As long as they were not touched, the United States did not want to get involved in the fight. Professor V.L. Malkov notes that “in Washington there was no unified position regarding the ongoing negotiations between the USSR, on the one hand, and England and France, on the other, and in certain influential circles even the opinion prevailed that they could not be useful. There was a very strong influence of the negative reaction of the public to the wave of political repression that swept the country (USSR) in 1937-1938.” The "professionals" from the State Department were not shocked by the Soviet-German non-aggression pact of August 23, 1939. In their eyes, this only proved the correctness of previous predictions about the potentially "expansionist" nature of the Soviet foreign policy. Needless to say, such forecasts were by no means based on a deep analysis of Moscow's active attempts in the mid-1930s to participate in the creation of a system of collective security in Europe.

In Western democracies, including the United States, before the German attack on the USSR, the prevailing opinion was that the USSR could not become an effective ally in the fight against Hitler because of his military weakness. This is largely why the alliance with the USSR, which could have prevented the Second World War, did not become a reality. The prevailing assessments were that the Red Army was only capable of short-term resistance. The tendency to regard the USSR as a "giant with feet of clay" prevailed. Negative comments were circulated, such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, V. Munters, who stated that “from 1921 to 1923. Soviet Russia seemed an imminent danger, and everyone thought that its army would sweep across Europe with its idea of ​​a world revolution. But then Russia got tired and ceased to be the threat that it used to be ... The USSR is not only incapable of waging an offensive war, but also unlikely to be able to reliably defend its own territory.

Such assessments testify not only to the lack of the necessary information among Western politicians, but also to a predetermined tendency to see only irreconcilable evil in the USSR. This trend was based on ideological and political contradictions. Judgments about the inefficiency of the Red Army did not take into account the accelerated industrial development of the USSR in the 1920s and 30s. All this cost the Western democracies dearly, predetermining the defeat of the Anglo-French coalition in 1940. The latter circumstance made it possible for Hitler to begin direct preparations for war against the Soviet Union.

fourth lesson- our country must always be ready for a big war, and not meet it the way it happened on June 22, 1941.

During the war, formed new church policy Soviet power. Its main features were relative religious tolerance in the control of religious activities by the government. This policy also contributed to broader support for the USSR in foreign countries. Such a turn was the most difficult for the party leadership, who considered atheism the most important basis for the existence of the entire state system after October 1917.

By the mid-1920s, the church had dissociated itself from opposition to the new state, but by that time the persecution of its ministers was only gaining momentum. In 1932, the so-called. "five years of godlessness". By the end of 1939, only a few of the church leadership remained free. Taking into account that, according to the 1937 census, there were more than 40 million believing Christians in the USSR, the rapprochement of the state with the church was of fundamental importance for mobilizing maximum forces to fight the invaders and the prestige of power both within the country and abroad.

The first step in this direction was taken by Metropolitan Sergius (I. Stragorodsky), who on June 22, 1941 addressed the faithful with a message in which he blessed all Orthodox "to defend the sacred borders of our Motherland." In turn, in the summer of 1941, anti-religious propaganda and the publication of the journals Bezbozhnik, Antireligious and others ceased. The influence of religion increased in the most difficult moments of the war. Divine services in besieged Leningrad were held at overcrowded churches. Believers raised funds for the construction of a tank column. Dmitry Donskoy and aviation squadron. Alexander Nevsky. It is noteworthy that funds were donated even in the territory occupied by the enemy. So, the priest F. Puzanov from the Pskov region collected among the believers gold and church utensils in the amount of 500 thousand rubles and transferred them through the partisans to the "Great Land". Many priests took an active part in the war. In Krasnoyarsk during the war, Bishop Luka (L. Voino-Yasnetsky) worked as the chief surgeon in the evacuation hospital. Later for treatise he was awarded the Stalin Prize, most of which he donated to orphans who suffered from the fascist invaders.

The church gradually gained state support. On September 4, 1943, Stalin met with Metropolitan Sergius, at which the government agreed to the election of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, a post that, after the death of Tikhon, was empty for many years. On September 18, 1943, Metropolitan Sergius was elected Patriarch by the Council of Bishops. After the death of Sergius in 1945, the new head of the Russian Orthodox Church became Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Alexy.

seventh lesson, which must be taken into account that in the USSR a positive attitude towards its allies was purposefully stimulated. The war was coalition, and the defeat of your comrade-in-arms on the other front could not but be perceived as a blow to your own army.

The USSR waged war in alliance with the Western powers. Lend-lease material assistance and the solidarity of the international community strengthened the Soviet people's faith in the justice of the war. A desire was born for mutual understanding with the allies, overcoming distorted ideas about their way of life. Of great importance in the positive development of this process were Stalin's decision to dissolve the Comintern (1943), the new national anthem of the USSR (1944), high marks by F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill, and other Western political leaders of the military efforts of the USSR.

Support for the Soviet people in the war by the population of Western countries acquired a very wide scale and was met with enthusiasm in the USSR. This primarily applies to mass campaigns in Great Britain and the United States for the opening of a second front, an increase in the output of military products for the Red Army. On this basis, the contacts of the Soviet trade unions with the trade unions of Great Britain and the USA were developed. Soviet, British and American scientists, public and cultural figures carried on active correspondence.

The subsequent unfriendly actions of the leadership of the United States and Great Britain in the post-war period, as well as the propaganda of the Soviet government, aroused in people other feelings and interpretations of the position of the Western powers in relation to the USSR. However, warm feelings for ordinary soldiers and workers of the USA, Great Britain, China and other allied countries remained unchanged among the Soviet population.

Eighth lesson This is an incomparable labor feat of the people, which seems fantastic today. And this feat was based, first of all, on moral components - not to spare one's stomach, just as fighters at the front do not spare their lives.

During the war years, people gave maximum effort to defend the country. In July 1941, a young Moscow turner F. Bukin took the initiative to work not only for himself, but also for a comrade who had gone to the front, that is, to fulfill two norms daily (200%). His initiative was taken up by other workers. This is how the mass movement of the "Two Hundreds" arose. Soon the “three hundred”, “four hundred” and even “thousanders” became known. This patriotic movement originated in military industry gradually covered all sectors of the economy. The patriotism of the home front workers was clearly manifested in the competition between the teams of young workers of the Komsomol brigades for the title of "front brigades". In the middle of 1945, such brigades united more than a million boys and girls. It was prestigious to receive the title of winner in the competition, it brought cash prizes and additional food.

Women made the greatest contribution to securing the front. Replacing the sons, husbands, fathers who went to the front, they took a leading position in the economy. In 1945, women accounted for 59% of workers and employees. They often had to perform work that was traditionally considered male (electric welders, turners, blacksmiths, and even miners). In agriculture, women made up over 70% of the labor force.

Soviet scientists worked selflessly during the war years. In July 1941, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences decided to direct all efforts towards the defense of the country. Scientists provided operational assistance to enterprises in the development of new types of products, made an indispensable contribution to the search for mineral deposits, the creation of new types of weapons, etc. At the same time, fundamental research continued. Since the summer of 1943 at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the leadership of Academician I.V. Kurchatov resumed research in the field of nuclear physics.

Work aimed at improving military power countries, performed by those scientists who were repressed. Special design bureaus (OKB) were created under the supervision of the NKVD. The people called them "sharashka". One of them was led by aircraft designer A.N. Tupolev, who, with his assistants from among the prisoners, designed the Tu-2 front-line bomber and was released from prison in 1941.

The people lived hard, often starving. Supply norms were differentiated according to social and production characteristics. The advantage was enjoyed by workers and employees of defense industry enterprises, transport workers. Workers who fulfilled and overfulfilled the norm were entitled to additional benefits. Privileges in the supply of food were vested in leading officials of the party and state apparatus.

On collective farms, after deliveries to the state, there was often nothing left of the harvest. Personal farms were scanty. The village was starving.

Prices compared with pre-war increased 13 times. Exchange trade developed. It was only towards the end of the war that the situation on the collective-farm markets began to improve. In order to prevent starvation in the cities, the government decided in the spring of 1942 to allocate land to plants and factories for the development of subsidiary plots, and workers and employees - for vegetable gardens. Since 1944 state commercial trade began to develop. In commercial stores without cards it was possible to buy food and non-grocery goods, but at prices many times higher than their actual value.

Despite all the difficulties, spontaneous material and financial assistance to the Red Army from the population began from the first days of the war. In total, during the war years, up to 20% of budget funds for military needs were received through voluntary contributions, mandatory payments, and loans taken from the population. According to some estimates, thanks to the warm clothes collected during the war, up to 10 million soldiers could be dressed. It should be said separately about the gifts to the soldiers of the Red Army. Most often they were unsophisticated, reflecting the life and way of life of that time. These are tobacco, a pouch, a bar of soap, mittens, all the more valuable because children took part in their collection and shipment. During the war, only the Vologda Oblast sent 95 wagons with gifts to the front.

The French historian A. Michel in his two-volume book World War II writes: “Magnitogorsk defeated the Ruhr... The Germans were defeated by an enemy who, of course, surpassed the Wehrmacht not only in the number of manpower, but in the quantity and quality of weapons. They were defeated by the Soviet economy, capable of producing, despite the loss of the richest territories of the USSR, more weapons than the German economy ... The Germans had in front of them masses of people with great enthusiasm and combat readiness, the source of which was love for their land and devotion to a certain political system ".

The Gulag also played a certain role in the Victory in the war. By June 22, 1941, the number of prisoners in the camps and colonies was 2.3 million people. When the war began, many camps were evacuated from threatened areas to the rear. In July and November 1941, decrees were issued on the release from punishment of convicts for certain categories of crimes - disciplinary violations, hooliganism, petty theft, etc. A significant part of those released under these decrees - 420 thousand people. was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. In total, until May 1945, 1.2 million prisoners were drafted into the Red Army, about 840 thousand of whom were released ahead of schedule.

At the same time, in relation to other categories of convicts, the application of legislation has become tougher. In April 1943, a decree was issued "On the measures of punishment for traitors to the Motherland and traitors and on the introduction for these persons, as a punishment, of hard labor." In the field army, courts-martial were created, which received the right to sentence the perpetrators to death by hanging or hard labor for a period of 15 to 20 years.

In 1943, 1.5 million people were kept in the camps and colonies of the Gulag, and another 240,000 were in prisons. IN extreme conditions During the war, the situation of the prisoners deteriorated seriously. Despite the intensification of labor, the norm of their nutrition has decreased significantly. All this is reflected in the increase in mortality. During 1941-1944, about 800 thousand prisoners died.

Most of the prisoners were patriotic. The number of those who refused to work was reduced by five times. During the war, the Gulag carried out orders for the needs of the front. The prisoners produced military materials, participated in the construction of defensive lines, economic facilities (factories, railways, coal mines and cuts, etc.). Through their efforts, metallurgical plants were built in Nizhny Tagil, Chelyabinsk, Norilsk, many airfields, highways, oil pipelines. In total, about 2 million people were employed in the construction under the jurisdiction of the NKVD during the first three years of the war.

Ninth lesson, concerns how our people endured life under occupation.

During the Great Patriotic War, the enemy captured up to 10% of the territory of the Soviet Union. All Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic republics, many regions of the Russian Federation were under the heel of the invaders. These were the most developed areas, where about 45% of the country's population lived before the war. The Nazis divided the captured territory into parts. On one, which lay closer to the front, the military authorities were in charge, on the other, a civil administration was created in the form of the Reichskommissariats - "Ostland" and "Ukraine", which were subordinate to the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Regions, headed by A. Rosenberg.

At the beginning of 1942, under the leadership of Himmler, " General plan Ost", which provided for "Germanizing the Baltic countries", "resolving the Polish, Ukrainian, and Czech issues in such a way as to create conditions for the settlement of these territories by Germans." It was envisaged, in particular, to Germanise up to 50% of the Latvian population, and to deport the rest of the Latvians to Siberia. It was necessary to evict, and in fact - to destroy from 30 to 50 million of the indigenous population of the USSR. One of the documents of this plan concluded that in order to establish German domination in Europe, it is necessary to achieve "the complete destruction of the Russians" or their significant weakening in order to "defeat the Russians as a people, divide them."

Millions of Soviet civilians died at the hands of the occupiers, of which 3.2 million in Ukraine and 2.4 million in Belarus (figures are still being verified by historians). The Nazis committed mass acts of violence, executions of innocent people. SS units were especially atrocious, but ordinary military personnel also committed mass crimes. German propaganda and orders ordered not to feel sorry for Soviet citizens. During the war, the invaders completely destroyed 5295 villages in Belarus alone. 186 villages could not be revived, as they were destroyed with all the inhabitants, including mothers and babies, infirm old people and the disabled. In concentration camps, millions of prisoners of war, women, children, and the elderly were killed, including with the help of poison gases. About 5 million civilians from the occupied regions of the USSR were driven away to work in Germany. Of these, hundreds of thousands died in captivity.

Open action against the occupiers of the majority of the population was impossible for the simple reason that it was unarmed, they were mostly women, children and elderly men. To survive, they needed a livelihood. By the middle of 1942, approximately 22 million people worked under the strict supervision of the occupiers, of whom 20.8 million were peasants.

Having plans to turn the USSR into a colony of the Third Reich and mass extermination of its population, the occupiers propagated that Germany was waging war allegedly in the name of some "liberation goals". Among the population there were many collaborators on whom the power of the invaders relied, using them as employees of city and district governments, burgomasters, elders and their assistants in the villages. Auxiliary police and auxiliary military units were formed from local residents and prisoners of war, paid agents and provocateurs were hired. Most of the population and prisoners of war despised them and treated them as enemies of their homeland.

The German leadership, before the attack on the USSR, believed that it would be able to intimidate and subjugate the population of the occupied regions by destroying its most active political part - communists, Komsomol members, members local councils etc. For this purpose, punitive units, the so-called Einsatzgruppen, were created, each of which consisted of 500-800 murderers. The Wehrmacht command did not expect to meet any serious resistance in the rear of its troops. The reality turned out to be different.

Since before the war we thought to fight "with little bloodshed and on foreign territory", many pre-assembled "cache" and disguised bases for partisan resistance in the late 1930s were eliminated. But the partisan movement in our country unfolded in full force. The German command simply did not expect this.

A week after the start of Operation Barbarossa, on July 1, 1941, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces wrote in his diary: “Serious concerns are caused by the problem of pacifying the rear area ... Security divisions alone are completely insufficient. We will have to allocate several divisions from the army for this.

The first attempts at resistance were a natural reaction of people to the invasion of the Wehrmacht. Together with the local population, many soldiers and officers of the Red Army, who were surrounded, spoke out against the invaders. On September 16, 1941, the Chief of Staff of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, W. Keitel, issued an order according to which, for an attempt on the life of one German, it was ordered to take hostages and destroy from 50 to 100 people. from among the local residents.

Far from always people went to fight for political convictions. They stood up to defend their homeland, their families and their way of life from the Nazi "new order", many sought to avenge their loved ones. The motives were different, but those who rose up against the invaders defended the honor and dignity of the country.

On July 3, 1941, in a radio speech by Stalin, there were calls for the deployment of a partisan movement. Having received the support of the local population and help from the "mainland", the struggle behind enemy lines turned into a mass popular movement. A huge role in the organization of partisan and sabotage detachments operating behind the front line was played by the Soviet special services (NKVD). On May 30, 1942, the State Defense Committee decided to create the Central Headquarters of the partisan movement. P. Ponomarenko, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Belarus, was appointed head of the TsShPD. At the same time, headquarters for the leadership of the partisan movement were created under the military councils of the fronts. Improved provision partisan detachments means of communication, ammunition, explosives, the scope and effectiveness of their combat operations have increased. From the summer of 1942, the command of the German ground forces used up to 10% of the German divisions located on the Soviet-German front to fight the partisans.

The number of partisans constantly grew. By the end of 1942, 1,770 partisan detachments and brigades were operating behind enemy lines, in which there were 125,000 people. In 1943, the rapid growth of partisan forces began. By the end of this year, they had doubled, reaching 250,000 people.

The activity of the partisans was wide. They disrupted the enemy's communications, carried out military raids in his deep rear, provided the command of the Red Army with important intelligence information that contributed to the success of offensive operations, etc.

The largest in 1943 was the Operation Rail War carried out by the partisans, which was an integral part of the Battle of Kursk. The central headquarters of the partisan movement attracted about 100 thousand people to participate in this operation, 215 thousand rails were blown up. Entire partisan territories were created behind enemy lines - large territories recaptured from the invaders and held by the partisans.

The partisans did a lot to prevent the mass deportation of Soviet people by the occupiers for forced labor in Germany. In late 1943 - early 1944, up to 40% of the citizens forcibly taken out by the invaders were liberated by partisans and the advancing Red Army.

During the war years, the Soviet underground operated behind enemy lines. Its important function was to provide the partisans with intelligence information, supply them with medicines, weapons, and ammunition. The feat of the Young Guards - an underground organization of Komsomol members in the occupied Krasnodon (O. Koshevoy, U. Gromova, V. Tretyakevich, S. Tyulenin - more than a hundred people in total) is forever inscribed in the history of the war. They put up leaflets, killed policemen, committed daring acts of sabotage against German troops. In early 1943, the German authorities managed to track down the "Young Guard" and massacre many of its members brutally. In September 1943, the underground executed Hitler's viceroy in Belarus, Gauleiter V. Kube, who was guilty of the destruction of thousands of Soviet citizens. With the help of the underground legendary Soviet spy N. Kuznetsov liquidated the Deputy Reich Commissar of Ukraine G. Knut and a number of other German war criminals.

An important place in the activities of the underground was occupied by the organization of sabotage and sabotage on captured Soviet industrial enterprises. The German leadership was never able to use many Soviet factories and plants to meet their own military and economic needs.

The total number of partisans approached 2.8 million people. They were supported by 220,000 underground workers who participated in sabotaging the activities of the occupation authorities. Together with the Soviet partisans, thousands of foreign citizens - Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Spaniards, Yugoslavs and others - fought on the temporarily occupied territory of the USSR. At the same time, up to 40 thousand citizens of the USSR, who found themselves outside their homeland, participated in the European resistance movement.

For heroism and courage, more than 300 thousand partisans were awarded orders and medals, 249 partisans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and two leaders of the partisan movement - S. Kovpak and A. Fedorov - were awarded this high rank twice. The names of partisan heroes went down in history.

The popular struggle in the rear of the German troops is one of the bright pages of the Great Patriotic War. It was of great military, political and economic importance. The losses of the enemy as a result of the actions of partisans and underground fighters reached 1 million people. The partisans blew up or disabled thousands of bridges, locomotives, wagons, and motor vehicles.

tenth lesson- a big war taking place on a vast territory, unfortunately, is not complete without a large number of prisoners and persons who have gone to cooperate with the enemy.

Captivity is the eternal companion of war, but military history, perhaps, did not know so many soldiers captured by enemy armies, as in World War II. It must be clearly recognized that the USSR was not ready for such a turn of events.

In total, during the war years, according to various estimates, from 5.2 to 5.7 million Soviet prisoners of war passed through the German camps. Of this number, from 3.3 to 3.9 million died in captivity - more than 60%. At the same time, of all Western prisoners of war, about 4% died in German captivity. In the verdict Nuremberg Tribunal ill-treatment of Soviet prisoners of war was qualified as a crime against humanity.

The fate of Soviet prisoners of war is one of the greatest tragedies of the war. Already by the beginning of 1942 in German camps(“stalags” for ordinary soldiers and “flags” for officers) killed up to half of the Soviet prisoners captured at that time. The Nazi leadership pursued a deliberate policy of their destruction. Even at the stage of convoying prisoners of war to "dulags" (transit camps), German guards shot the wounded and exhausted. On August 6, 1941, the Wehrmacht High Command signed a directive on the supply of Soviet prisoners of war with food, which provided for a daily ration: 200 g of bread, 13 g of meat, 15 g of fat. But even this meager norm was practically not issued. People were doomed to a slow death.

The main cause of death in the camps in 1941-1942. there were famines and epidemics. The most common were typhoid and tuberculosis. They mowed down prisoners of war by the tens of thousands. Qualified medical care was not provided. Only imprisoned Soviet doctors could follow them, but they did not have medicines at their disposal. For participation in the Resistance, prisoners were either killed immediately or transferred to death camps, where mass executions were regularly carried out. The world will forever remember such names of camps as Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald, Majdanek, Salaspils, Treblinka, Mauthausen.

From the very beginning, the Germans, under pain of death, exploited the labor of prisoners. Since 1942, due to the increased shortage of labor, Germany has stepped up the involvement of Soviet prisoners in various jobs. Soviet prisoners of war, unlike citizens of other countries (the French, British, Belgians and others) were sent to the most difficult work in the mining, chemical and construction industries. The working day lasted 11-12 hours, accommodation and meals were sometimes the same as in the camps.

It should be noted that the Soviet government at the very beginning of the war officially announced its intention to observe the Hague Convention on a reciprocal basis. As for the Geneva Convention, although the USSR did not put its signature under it, all its requirements were fulfilled by them in relation to the German and other prisoners of the enemy. On July 1, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars approved the "Regulations on Prisoners of War", which guaranteed life and safety to enemy prisoners, and medical care to the wounded and sick. It is known that before May 9, 1945, the Red Army captured more than 3 million 777 thousand enemy servicemen. 381 thousand soldiers of the Wehrmacht and 137 thousand soldiers and officers of the allied armies of Germany (except Japan) died in captivity, that is, a total of 518 thousand people, which is 14.9% of all recorded enemy prisoners of war. After the end of the Soviet-Japanese war, Of ​​the 640 thousand soldiers of the Japanese army captured in August-September 1945, 62 thousand people (less than 10%) did not return home. These data cannot be compared with the number of Soviet soldiers and officers who died in enemy captivity (recall, more than 60%).

Those who were captured in the first weeks of the war did not know their fate. In the future, propaganda reported on the torture and execution of captured Red Army soldiers. Already after hundreds of thousands of our soldiers were captured, the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 270 of August 16, 1941 was issued, according to which each Soviet unit that was surrounded was obliged to "fight to the last opportunity." Voluntary surrender was considered the gravest crime. The families of prisoners of war of the Red Army were to be deprived of state benefits and assistance, the families of surrendered or deserted commanders were to be arrested. Although in practice, repressive measures against relatives of prisoners of war were used quite rarely. Most of the soldiers who were taken prisoner were listed in the documents of their units as missing.

Not wanting to put up with the Nazi hell, Soviet prisoners of war fled en masse from the dungeons. According to incomplete data, there were about 450 thousand such people. Many were captured by the guards, killed, but thousands made it to their troops. Escapes of this magnitude were not known by any army in the world. The capture by the captured Soviet pilot M. Devyataev and nine of his comrades of a German aircraft at the Swinemünde airfield in February 1945, on which they flew to the Soviet side, is rightfully considered the most daring.

Captivity and inhuman conditions of existence are the main reasons that a physically and morally weakened person goes to cooperate with the enemy (often wanting to defect to his own at the first opportunity). The exception was ardent opponents of Soviet power and nationalists. Those who collaborated with the German Wehrmacht, at the height of the war, began to be called "Vlasovites" - by the name of the former commander of the 2nd shock army, General A. Vlasov, who surrendered in July 1942 and launched an agitation for cooperation with Germany.

The irreconcilable enemies of the Soviet government were primarily white emigrants who found themselves in the territory occupied by the German Wehrmacht (P. Krasnov, A. Shkuro, V. Kayum Khan and others), as well as some of the repressed and for other reasons dissatisfied Soviet power citizens. However, cooperation with enemies never reached such proportions as, for example, in France, Belgium or Holland. The Soviet Union avoided the fate of many European countries, where the so-called "fifth columns" operated in full force.

Attempts to create such a "column" on the territory of the USSR were made. This is evidenced by the activities of some nationalist, including Muslim formations - the "Turkestan Committee", "Volga-Tatar Committee", "Crimean Center", "North Caucasian Headquarters" and others. All of them were under the close attention of the Nazi secret services, one of the activities of which was to promote the split of the Soviet Union, the introduction of national hatred. These "committees" and "headquarters" actively helped the German authorities to create various military formations in the occupied regions. As a rule, people were driven there by fraudulent means. The so-called eastern legions were created: Turkestan, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Armenian, North Caucasian and others. They were based on battalions of 900 people each. In total, 90 such battalions were created during the war, and, in addition, a separate Kalmyk cavalry corps.

In 1943, the German command began to create combat units in the rear from prisoners of war of Slavic nationalities. At various times, the Russian National People's Army, the Cossack camp of General T. Domanov, the Cossack Cavalry Corps of General G. Pannwitz and others acted on the side of the enemy. In the rear of the German army groups on Eastern Front acted "Baltic", "Ukrainian", "Russian" and other formations of the SS.

A significant part of the "eastern legions", as well as the Cossacks, was used by the occupation authorities of Germany to suppress the resistance movement in various countries Europe, incl. in Poland, Yugoslavia and Italy. Beginning in mid-1943, more and more collaborators began to go over to the side of the partisans and resistance fighters.

By the end of 1944, the creation of the first combat units of the so-called. Russian Liberation Army (ROA) General A. Vlasov, who twice unsuccessfully took part in the hostilities. Most of the Vlasovites failed to escape retribution for betrayal.

At the beginning of 1945, the mass liberation of Soviet prisoners of war and civilians by the Red Army began. The Western allies handed over 2.3 million people from their occupation zone to the Soviet representatives, of which 960 thousand were former prisoners of war. Those who had anything to do with the service in the German units, Vlasov, police, etc. were sent to the special camps of the NKVD, which actually meant arrest. In total, out of 1.8 million former prisoners of war of the Red Army who passed the test, 283 thousand people were arrested and handed over to the NKVD. Secondary in active army 939 thousand military personnel were called up. In total, by March 1, 1946, 5.3 million people were repatriated to the USSR, including prisoners of war and civilians.

Eleventh lesson World War II lies in the fact that victory in it was achieved by the collective efforts of the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition. In fact, in terms of creating conditions for creating a coalition against the aggressors, the Soviet Union did a lot, even despite the pre-war complications with its main potential allies - Great Britain and the USA.

Since the outbreak of World War II, Soviet foreign policy did not lose sight of the possibility of creating a coalition of states and peoples to fight the aggressors. Despite the Soviet-German agreement concluded in August 1939, in October 1939 negotiations between the USSR and Great Britain resumed. In April 1940, rapprochement with the United States began. The possibility of uniting the efforts of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain to fight the fascist bloc took on a real shape. However, Stalin did not want to arouse Germany's suspicions.

After the German attack on the USSR, finding themselves, in fact, in the face of a common enemy, the responsible statesmen The USA and Great Britain were interested in organizing effective cooperation with the USSR, although they did not hide their rejection of the ideals Soviet system. The statement of Senator and future US President G. Truman is well known: “If we see that Germany is winning, then we should help Russia, and if Russia wins, then we should help Germany, and thus let them kill as many as possible although I do not want a German victory under any circumstances." Estimates began to change after a visit to the USSR at the end of July 1941 and a meeting with Stalin by Roosevelt's personal representative G. Hopkins. The presidential aide saw in Moscow a readiness to fight, "boundless determination to win" and called on Roosevelt to provide the most active assistance to the USSR. On July 3, J. Stalin, for his part, declared his confidence that the just struggle of the Soviet people for the freedom of the country "will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic freedoms." The path to the creation of a military-political alliance of the three powers was open.

Hundreds of millions of people united countries with different socio-political systems in the struggle for freedom and a secure post-war world. At the head of the coalition were the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, which, simultaneously with the solution of military tasks, discussed the pressing issues of the organization of the future world. Important role in the Grand Union belonged to China, France, Canada and a number of other countries. The decisive force of the coalition was the Soviet Union, which made the main contribution to achieving victory. However, from the very beginning of the existence of the Anti-Hitler coalition, there were two opposite tendencies in it. One led to the consolidation of inter-allied ties, real combat interaction and the achievement of mutual understanding on security issues in the post-war world, the other led to an increase in distrust, a desire to drag "chestnuts out of the fire" by proxy, and a refusal to recognize the legitimate national interests of an ally.

The most important stages in the formation of the Anti-Hitler coalition were the conclusion of the Anglo-Soviet agreement in July 1941; the signing of the Atlantic Charter and the Declaration of 26 states; Anglo-Soviet treaty and US-Soviet agreement 1942, negotiations of allied representatives 1941-1942. The Conferences of the Allied Powers of 1943-1945, at which military tasks and questions of the organization of the future world were decided, became a vivid manifestation of the effective strength of the coalition.

The USSR declared in September 1941 its agreement with the basic principles of the Atlantic Charter - a declaration on the joint goals of the policy of Great Britain and the United States, signed by Roosevelt and Churchill on August 14, 1941. The entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941 turned the Soviet-American cooperation into a factor of paramount military and political importance.

The main purpose of Winston Churchill's visit to Moscow in August 1942 was to convince the Soviet leader of the impossibility of opening a second front before the end of this year and to show Stalin the prospects for an Allied offensive in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Despite the sometimes harsh tone of negotiations between the Soviet and British leaders, they managed to find mutual language on a number of issues and build closer relationships.

The start of a powerful Soviet counter-offensive near Stalingrad at the end of 1942 was an event that forced the United States and Great Britain to finally recognize the decisive importance of the actions of the Red Army for the further course of the war and its results.

However, after the Stalingrad victory and the landing of American troops in North Africa in November 1942, Roosevelt began to fear that the policy of a rising Russia would run counter to the interests of the West. Influential members of his entourage also opposed close rapprochement with the USSR. W. Churchill also expressed concern about the future behavior of the USSR.

One of the indisputable facts of this period of the struggle is that the opening of a second front could significantly hasten the end of the war and reduce Soviet losses. But the allies did not go for it. The opening of the second front of Soviet diplomacy had to be fought with all possible measures.

Stalin raised the question of a second front in his correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt shortly after the start of the German aggression. But Western leaders noted the impossibility of landing in the near future due to the superiority of German forces, the lack of landing craft and the unpreparedness of their troops. The offensive of the Anglo-American forces in North Africa (1942) and their subsequent landing on about. Sicily (1943) tied up only a limited number of enemy forces with battles and did not have a cardinal influence on the course of the struggle on the Soviet-German front. Churchill pursued with his "Mediterranean strategy" in many respects the British interests of maintaining post-war control over the region.

In general, the problem of the second front during 1941-1944. occupied a paramount place in the relations of the USSR with the USA and Great Britain. In the first half of 1943, it caused the most serious disagreements between the Allies. The Anglo-American Conference in Casablanca (January 1943) showed that there would be no Allied landing in France in 1943 either. Tensions mounted, and the parties made a number of harsh statements. Soviet ambassadors I.M. were recalled from London and Washington. Maisky and M.M. Litvinov. A.A. was appointed the new ambassador to the USA. Gromyko is the future Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

Nevertheless, at the Tehran conference in November-December 1943, where I. Stalin, F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill met for the first time at the same table, the issue of the timing of the opening of the second front was finally resolved. The Allies officially announced that they would land their troops in France in May 1944. The merit of the Soviet side, specifically Stalin, in this is undeniable.

The second front was opened by the landing of the Allied troops in Normandy on June 6, 1944. From that moment on, the actions of the Red Army began to be closely coordinated with the actions of the armies of the Western Allies in Europe. Almost simultaneously, the Red Army launched a strategic offensive coordinated with the Western allies in Belarus.

For its part, the Red Army helped the Allies resolve the Ardennes crisis in late 1944 and early 1945. We moved the start of the Red Army's winter offensive from January 20 to January 12. By that time, the Allies had largely managed to repel the German attack. But after the news that the Soviet troops went on a broad offensive, the German command began the transfer of a number of formations from the West to the East, which further contributed to the stabilization of the front in the Ardennes.

The second front accelerated the defeat of Nazi Germany, but over the two-year period of waiting for its opening - from May 1942 to June 1944. - only the irretrievable losses of the Soviet armed forces (killed, captured and missing) amounted to more than 5 million people.

Twelfth lesson“For the future of the world and a peaceful order, it is necessary to fight even when the cannons have not died down.

The Moscow Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain (V. Molotov, A. Eden, K. Hull), with the active participation of Stalin, was held from October 19 to 30, 1943 and was devoted mainly to the issues of the post-war peace settlement. German and French problems and the creation of a new international security organization were discussed. At the Conference of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill in Tehran on November 28 - December 1, 1943, problems related to the post-war structure, including territorial ones, were discussed. No definite decision was reached on the question of the dismemberment of Germany, which Roosevelt had long pondered, although his plan seemed to be received in principle positively. However, Stalin avoided taking any initiative in this matter. He spoke in favor of eliminating the very possibility of future German aggression, establishing allied control in Germany over the main strategic points, and raised the question of transferring Konigsberg to the USSR.

In Tehran, Roosevelt outlined a scheme already known to his interlocutors for building a future international security organization. The leaders of the three powers discussed the most complicated Polish problem, which included the future political structure of this state and the passage of its borders. The position of the Soviet side on the need to restore the Soviet-Polish border as of 1941 and to receive territorial compensation from Germany at the expense of Poland did not arouse fundamental objections from Western leaders. However, both Churchill and Roosevelt tried to induce Stalin to improve relations with the Polish government in exile, which was unacceptable given the latter's hostile attitude towards Moscow. The main discussion on the Polish question unfolded later - during the Yalta Conference.

In general, the Western allies considered the Soviet point of view about the need to restore the pre-war borders of the USSR justified. This also applied to the issue of joining the Baltic republics to the USSR.

The conference also touched upon the question of the free exit of the USSR to " warm seas". It was raised by Churchill, who stated that the USSR should have access to "freezing ports."

The aggravation of contradictions between the allies escalated towards the end of the war, and this was fully shown by the consequences of the Yalta Conference.

With the entry of the Red Army into the territory of the countries of Eastern Europe, contradictions escalated between the allies on the issue of the post-war order of the world, which strengthened the tendency in influential American and British circles to distrust Moscow, unwillingness to put its interests on a par with the interests of the United States and Great Britain. The Western allies feared that the USSR would not limit itself to including the Eastern European countries in its sphere of influence and establishing a pro-Soviet regime in them, but would go further.

One of important points At the Yalta Conference on February 4-11, 1945, the conditions for the surrender of Germany, worked out at meetings of the European Consultative Commission, and the zone of its occupation became for discussion. The leaders of the three countries confirmed that the armed forces of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain would occupy their zones of occupation, with Berlin being set aside as a special area where a joint occupation regime would be implemented. The issue of dismembering Germany, as discussed earlier in Tehran, remained unresolved. With regard to reparations from Germany, the negotiators were able to agree on a total amount of reparations for the USSR as a basis for further negotiations - 10 billion dollars.

The heaviest discussions among the conference participants unfolded on the question of Poland. It was decided to postpone the final determination of the borders of Poland. A few months later, the Potsdam Conference of the Three Powers secured the Oder and Western Neisse rivers as Poland's western frontier. Thus, the territory of Poland expanded significantly at the expense of the former German regions.

The most significant part of the Polish question was the problem of creating a new government of the state. Roosevelt did not want to recognize the Lublin (pro-Soviet) government and advocated a government with the participation of bourgeois politicians who were in exile. Roosevelt was supported by Churchill, who noted that the question of Poland, after the attack on which Great Britain entered the war, was "a matter of honor" for the British. For his part, Stalin noted that "for the Russians, the question of Poland is not only a matter of honor, but also a matter of security ... Throughout history, Poland has always been a corridor through which the enemy attacked Russia passed." As a result of all the discussions, the Yalta Conference of the Leaders of the Three Powers adopted the following decision on Poland: "The provisional government should be reorganized on a broader democratic basis, with the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and Poles from abroad."

Discussions about the new government of the state and its socio-political course continued and became one of the reasons for the aggravation of relations between the leading members of the Anti-Hitler coalition at the final stage of the Second World War and immediately after its end.

The issue of establishing an international security organization was positively resolved. The conference participants agreed to convene a conference on April 25, 1945 in San Francisco to establish the United Nations (UN).

Thirteenth lesson—the role of diplomacy in the final stage of the war becomes even more important.

And the determining role in this diplomacy is played, of course, by its main actors - the leaders of states. Their personal relationships were at times the basis for accepting or not accepting the most complex military-political and even geopolitical problems. Let's take an example.

The most complicated Baltic problem escalated at the Tehran conference. What was the Soviet leader to do in the face of the unwillingness of either England or the United States to recognize the entry of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania into the Union after 1940? But if this does not work out de jure, then it is possible to conduct negotiations in such a way that all parties remain in their positions, their dignity is not infringed, and the matter is resolved by personal agreement. This is what happened with the Baltics.

At the Tehran Conference on December 1, 1943, the following dialogue took place between Roosevelt and Stalin:

Roosevelt stated that "The question of incorporating the Baltic Republics into the Soviet Union may be raised in the United States, and I believe that world public opinion will deem it desirable that sometime in the future the opinion of the peoples of these republics on this matter be expressed in some way. . Therefore, I hope that Marshal Stalin will take this wish into account. I personally have no doubt that the peoples of these countries will vote for joining the Soviet Union as unanimously as they did in 1940.

Stalin. Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia did not have autonomy until the revolution in Russia. The tsar was then in alliance with the United States and with England, and no one raised the question of withdrawing these countries from Russia. Why is this question being asked now?

Roosevelt. The fact is that public opinion does not know history. I would like to speak with Marshal Stalin about the internal situation in the United States. Elections are coming up in the United States next year. I do not want to put forward my candidacy, but if the war continues, then I may be forced to do so. There are six or seven million citizens of Polish origin in America, and therefore, being a practical person, I would not like to lose their votes ... There are also a certain number of Lithuanians, Letts and Estonians in the United States. I know that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, both in the past and very recently, were part of the Soviet Union, and when the Russian armies re-enter these republics, I will not fight the Soviet Union because of this. But public opinion may demand a plebiscite there.

Stalin. As regards the will of the peoples of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, we will have many occasions to give the peoples of these republics the opportunity to express their will.

Roosevelt. This will be useful to me.

Stalin. This, of course, does not mean that the plebiscite in these republics should be held under any form of international control.

Roosevelt. Of course not. It would be useful to announce at the appropriate time that elections will be held in these republics in due course.

Stalin. Of course, this can be done. I would like to know whether the question of leaving tomorrow has been finally decided ... ".

At the last stage of the Second World War, the Baltic issue, as it were, faded into the shadows. Stalin considered it resolved, believing that the American president would be completely satisfied with such a form of expression of the will of the peoples of the Baltic states as participation in elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which de facto proved the desire of the population of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to live, work and participate in social processes as part of Union of the SSR.

Stalin strove to maintain a respectful attitude towards the leader of Britain, Churchill, however, he considered it necessary and right to resolve the main issues in the first place with the President of the United States. This was also manifested in the coordination of positions on the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan. Roosevelt understood this too. As Professor A. Koshkin notes: “In an effort not to annoy the Soviet leader with “minor issues”, but to focus primarily on coordinating actions in the war against Japan, he considered it expedient, even before the discussion of the Far Eastern problems, to inform Stalin in writing about his agreement with the political conditions and wishes THE USSR. As the then USSR Ambassador to the United States Gromyko said, in the morning next day after the opening of the Yalta Conference, Stalin received "a very urgent package from the president" through a special messenger. In this letter, Roosevelt announced the recognition by the US government of the rights of the Soviet Union to the half of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands that was under Japanese occupation. Stalin was very pleased with this letter. We can say, - concludes Professor A. Koshkin, - the position of the US President and his administration on the issue of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, as well as on the issue of the second front, to a large extent explained Stalin's attitude towards Roosevelt and as a person "

In this regard, it can be added that Roosevelt sincerely cared about the future of Soviet-American relations, he did not want to lose the spirit of cooperation that had developed in wartime, and wanted to transfer it to the post-war period, although with obvious benefits for American political and economic interests in Europe and around the world. For Roosevelt, the foundations of the future world order were mutual understanding between the "four policemen" (USA, USSR, England and China), but the guarantors of security lasting peace in the future, it is the USA and the USSR that should become.

One more example. The United States and Great Britain initially did not want the inclusion of other union republics of the USSR in the UN, but, in the end, under pressure from our delegation, they pledged to support the admission of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSR to it. In Yalta, the question of the UN voting procedure was also considered. The Soviet side, having made some concessions to Roosevelt and Churchill, defended the need unanimity permanent members of the UN Security Council on major decisions regarding the preservation of peace, including military and economic coercive measures.

The Crimean Conference became the largest international event of the final stage of the war, evidence of the high level of interaction between the allies in the Anti-Hitler coalition. However, the Yalta talks, marked by many compromises, also highlighted many of the differences between the leaders of the Big Three.

During the years of World War II, a relationship of mutual respect and honest partnership developed between Roosevelt and Stalin. Personal friendly relations were sometimes overshadowed by such incidents as negotiations between special American and German representatives in Bern without the participation of the USSR on the surrender of a German group in Italy. But at the end of his life, Roosevelt considered this “incident” to be a thing of the past, an episode that should not be repeated anymore. Most importantly, as long as Roosevelt was alive, personal trust remained between him and the Soviet leader. And what was the disappointment of Stalin, who learned about the death of Franklin Roosevelt! How quickly the climate of relations has changed not only between leaders, but also among leading diplomats.

According to the note of the American ambassador to the USSR A. Harriman, entering Stalin's office, which also included Molotov and translator Pavlov, he noted that Stalin, obviously, was very deeply worried about the news of Roosevelt's death. The Soviet leader silently greeted the ambassador and held his hand in his for about 30 seconds before asking him to sit down. Stalin asked Harriman many questions about the president and the circumstances of his death. "The new president, Mr. Truman," the ambassador added, "is the kind of person that Marshal Stalin will like - a man of deeds, not words." Molotov noted that Truman did not make many speeches, that in order to carry out his peace plans, he would need the approval of the Senate. The Ambassador did not hide the fact that Truman's personality, of course, could not have such prestige as that of Roosevelt. The Americans do not yet know how Truman will behave. However, Harriman said that Marshal Stalin could assist the new president, which would have a positive effect on stabilizing all public opinion in the United States. Americans knew Roosevelt and Stalin as people with close personal relationships. At this point, the Soviet leader interrupted the ambassador with the following words: “President Roosevelt is dead, but his cause must live on. We will support President Truman with all our strength and desire." Stalin then asked the ambassador to convey these words to Truman himself.

It went on to say that the Kremlin would agree to the visit of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. Molotov to the United States to participate in the opening of the San Francisco Conference. But what happened there, at the very first meeting between Molotov and Truman?

Truman felt that the time had come to put stronger and more immediate pressure on Moscow regarding "Polish" and other post-war issues. The new president chose a hard line in relations with the USSR. 10 days after the death of Roosevelt, Truman, in a conversation with Molotov, touched upon the agreements reached at the conference in Yalta on holding free elections in Poland and the existing contradictions on this issue. After that, the negotiations took on a rather sharp character. The President led the conversation in an unambiguously accusatory manner. To Molotov’s words that “no one in his life spoke to him like that”, Truman sharply replied: “Fulfill the agreements you have concluded, and they will not talk to you like that!”.

What words could now characterize the relations between the two states after such a passage of the new president? You can't even call them normal anymore.

Fourteenth lesson The end of a hot war often means the start of a cold war. .

As early as May 22, 1945, the Joint Planning Headquarters of the British War Cabinet presented Churchill with a plan for Operation Unthinkable, which indicated the directions of attacks by the troops of the Western Allies in Europe against the troops of the Red Army. The date of the start of hostilities was indicated in the document - July 1, 1945. The goal was to inflict a total defeat on the Russian troops. However, having studied the issue, the imperial general staff came to the conclusion that this plan was unfeasible due to the superiority of the ground forces of the Red Army.

The Potsdam Conference, held in the suburbs of Berlin (July 17 - August 2, 1945), was the last conference of the heads of government of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain during the war years. The Soviet delegation was headed by I. Stalin, the American after the death of F. Roosevelt in April - by President G. Truman, the British - by Prime Minister W. Churchill, and from July 28, after the victory of the Labor Party in the parliamentary elections - by K. Attlee.

The participants of the conference adopted a draft organization of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CMFA) of representatives of the five great powers - the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, France and China. The immediate tasks of the Council of Foreign Ministers included the development of peace treaties for Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland.

Main place of work Potsdam conference occupied by the problem of Germany. The basic principles of a joint policy towards this country were agreed upon. The disarmament and demilitarization of the country was envisaged. Discussions revolved around the issue of reparations from Germany. In the end, the zonal principle of collecting reparations was approved - by each power from its own zone of occupation. In addition, the USSR was provided for partial receipt of reparations from the western zones. The USSR undertook to transfer part of the reparations to Poland. In Potsdam, as well as earlier in Yalta, the question of the future of Poland arose again. Stalin insisted that Polish representatives led by B. Bierut arrive in Potsdam, who confirmed their position regarding the western borders of the state and promised to hold democratic elections in the country. The American and British delegations also confirmed their agreement regarding the transfer of the city of Koenigsberg (since 1946 Kaliningrad) with the adjacent territories to the USSR.

At the conference, the question of Turkey was raised, as well as the possibility of establishing a Soviet base in the Black Sea straits. But proposals for Soviet bases and changes in the Soviet-Turkish border were rejected.

The talks at Potsdam showed that the differences between the allies became more and more frequent, and, nevertheless, it remained possible to resolve them through compromises. Such an approach undoubtedly met the interests of the peaceful coexistence of states with different socio-political systems in the post-war world. However, here, at the Potsdam Conference, a new factor arose that radically changed the very idea of ​​future security - the successful test of the American atomic bomb. On July 24, in a conversation with Stalin, Truman announced that the United States had a new weapon of unprecedented destructive power. Stalin pretended not to understand the significance of this event, although he knew about the American nuclear project and hurried Soviet scientists involved in such developments. The use of atomic weapons had a dual purpose - on the one hand, to show Japan what awaits it if the war continued, and, on the other hand, to demonstrate American power to the Soviet Union, which could induce him to agree with the American point of view on a wide range of international issues.

The Anti-Hitler coalition was not formed or dissolved by any special decision. Having achieved its main goal - the defeat of the aggressors - the Grand Union took its rightful place in the history of the twentieth century. Among the most important results of cooperation between the states of the Anti-Hitler coalition, it is necessary to single out the creation of the United Nations, the Charter of which was signed at the final meeting of the San Francisco Conference on June 26, 1945 by the highest body of the UN, which was entrusted with the main responsibility for maintaining in the future international peace and security, became the Security Council of 11 members of the organization, including 5 permanent members - the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, France and China. The activities of the UN and the Security Council contributed to the fact that after the end of World War II, the world did not collapse again into the chaos of an all-destroying global war.

However, former allies in the "hot" war soon became adversaries in the "cold" war. The force factor that exacerbated the contradictions between the three great powers and strengthened their distrust of each other was the creation and use of atomic weapons by the United States of America against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the war (August 6 and 9, 1945). With the atomic monopoly and the coming to power in the United States of President G. Truman, American policy towards the USSR changed significantly. Allied principles were increasingly replaced by demands and unilateral decisions. Churchill's speech on March 5, 1946 in Fulton in the presence of Truman, which contained a negative assessment of the policy of the USSR and spoke of the "Iron Curtain" that had fallen over Europe through the fault of the Soviet Union, was regarded in Moscow as "a dangerous act calculated to to sow the seeds of discord among the allied states." The world began to be drawn into a new arms race.

Perhaps the last lesson we should all learn from the Second World War is that its results must be defended. Otherwise, flashes of a new global conflict will flare up again.

Firstly, to defend the Victory won with such difficulty, the honor and pride of the Soviet warrior-liberator who raised the banner of victory over the Reichstag. It seemed that this fact could not be refuted by anyone and at any time. But today the bookshelves of Moscow are full of titles: “Washed with blood” (this is about our army), “How I beat Marshal Zhukov”, etc. In Germany, the film "Our Mothers, Our Fathers" was held - where there are scenes with Soviet soldiers "rapists". Books like The Fall of Berlin are being written, where its author E. Beevor brings the number of German women raped by Soviet soldiers to 2 million. The image of a holy warrior in Western consciousness is leveled, which means that a basis is created for the idea that the war was really won by “subhumans” (Nazi terminology!), which means they won unfairly. Is it time to take revenge? some neo-fascists ask.

Even worse is the situation when the Stalinist and Hitlerite regimes are trying to put on the same plane in terms of unleashing the Second World War. Domestic historical science and the historiography of the Great Patriotic War, like society as a whole, experienced a crisis in the 1990s caused by the revision of traditional values. For many historians, political and pseudo-moral factors have become a priority rather than clear philosophical and scientific methodological positions. The history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War turned out to be a "battlefield" for historical memory, interpretation of past events in accordance with the new ideological, political and geopolitical conjuncture. Introduced in the 1990s new archival materials made it possible for a number of domestic and foreign historians and publicists to initiate a discussion around the problem of “preventing” a German attack, preparing the Soviet Union for an “offensive war” or for delivering a preemptive strike. The severity and scale of the discussion were associated with the publication of the books of the fugitive intelligence officer V. Suvorov (Rezun) “Icebreaker”, “M Day”, etc., containing accusations against the Soviet leadership of provoking World War II and preparing an attack on Germany in 1941.

As for the writings of Rezun himself, exposing him as a falsifier does not mean that attempts to impose on the public consciousness the corresponding ideas about the prehistory of the Great Patriotic War have ceased. For example, in a book edited by Professor A. Zubov, prepared with the participation of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu. Pivovarov, the version of a “preemptive strike” turns, without citing sources, into a statement that the USSR had an “aggression plan”, which meant “the actual start of a war - sudden and devastating, as it happened to Finland on November 30, 1939.”

In other words, the struggle for the truth of the history of the Second World War does not stop. Its price is very high. If we remain on the position of truth, the achievement of victory by freedom-loving peoples, in the name of peace, then this peace will be easier to preserve, to prevent a new massacre. Half-truths or outright lies lead to what we are now seeing in Ukraine or in some other states neighboring Russia.

We long time did not focus on this issue, apparently because in Russia in the 1990s, there was also confusion and vacillation in historical science and education, and often open substitution of concepts and distortion of facts: heroes were declared fanatics, traitors - regime fighters, etc. Now we have come to our senses, we are taking steps towards writing objective scientific papers and textbooks on the history of the Fatherland. But in such countries as Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, etc., the process of distorting the truth is gaining momentum. Information about significant events is presented in a distorted mirror. For example, in Ukrainian textbooks, the term “Great Patriotic War” is simply thrown out - Ukraine, they say, waged its own separate war within the framework of World War II, and it had ambiguous consequences for it: “In September 1939, Ukraine entered World War II. Having suffered heavy losses, the Ukrainian people made a worthy contribution to the victory of the United Nations over the aggressor.” Not only is the fact of the common victory of the peoples that were then part of the USSR ignored, the “alternative” of this victory is obscured - the destruction of any statehood, the physical extermination and enslavement of all Soviet people, incl. and Ukrainians. Some textbooks go so far as to write: “Detachments of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army under the leadership of Stepan Bandera liberated Ukrainian cities and villages from the fascist invaders, protected the civilian population. However, the Soviet government did not want Ukraine to have its own army. Therefore, when in 1943 the Ukrainian lands were liberated from the fascist invaders, the Bolsheviks began to fight the UPA.” There is a desire to fence off at all costs from a common history with Russia, the Soviet Union. When searching for "new heroes" of Ukraine, not only controversial figures emerge to the surface, but also the faces of outright accomplices of the Nazis and bloody murderers. Instead of assessing the actions of Bandera, on whose conscience tens of thousands of victims of the Lvov and Volyn massacres, burned Belarusian, Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian villages, the murders of women and children - there is growing hatred of "strangers", xenophobia, which, sadly, began to determine consciousness of Ukrainians (and not only in Western Ukraine, but also in the central regions) in recent times. Now that generation of residents of the “square” has grown up, which is ready to perceive Russia not only as a “rude” and “drinking” neighbor, but also as a long-standing adversary, a cunning enemy who has always sought to harm Ukraine. What, for example, are the lines of textbooks about the Battle of Poltava - this is a battle in which "the royal hordes defeated the Cossacks and Swedes", "the defeat of the Swedish-Ukrainian army" had "extremely unfavorable" consequences for Ukraine, "the Poltava catastrophe of 1709". From here lies a direct path not only to whipping up hatred, but also to justifying the open hostilities that are currently being waged in the Donbass.

But small wars are a direct danger to large global conflicts.

In conclusion, I would like to say a few more words about the price of Victory. Without its awareness, one cannot talk about any lessons of the past war.

We have already talked about the number of losses of the USSR in 1941-1945. - 26.6 million people, incl. 8.6 million - irretrievable losses of the Red Army. We lost in the war the color of the nation, people selflessly devoted to their homeland. It is worth recalling that England and the USA lost fewer people during the entire war (the USA - 450 thousand, England - 350 thousand people) than died in one besieged Leningrad - from 800 thousand to 1.5 million people.

We must also remember the cost of the liberation mission of the Red Army in Europe - more than 1 million people, that only on the territory of modern Poland 600 thousand of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers remained forever lying. Today, some politicians in the West somehow forget that if it were not for our fallen, then in these countries they would probably still raise their hands in a Nazi salute or remain slaves of the German Aryan race. Our soldier defended not only his freedom and independence, but also the great European values, to which today in words they are committed in Poland, Germany, and Ukraine.

Someone calculated that if all our dead soldiers paraded along Red Square today, this march would last 21 days. Nobody should be forgotten!

But what interpretations of the history of the Second World War do we hear in the West today? Basically, there is either a direct lie, or a distortion of facts. Here are the main areas of falsification:

1) an attempt to put the USSR and Germany on the same plane of historical responsibility for the outbreak of World War II;

2) demonization of the Red Army;

3) glorification of Nazi criminals;

4) the assertion that Soviet soldiers allegedly overwhelmed the enemy with their corpses.

The purpose of the falsification is clear:

1. Prove that modern Russia an entirely criminal past, and since we have not abandoned it, then a “civilized society” (Europe and the USA) cannot cooperate with such a country.

2. Review the results of the war (including territorial and political).

3. To create from the Nazi henchmen who fought against the Red Army (members of the SS legions, Bandera), an example to follow. The glorification of their activities is aimed at growing hatred for Russia in a number of Eastern European countries.

There is a zombification of the population of Ukraine. But the division of our peoples will have the most sad consequences for the future of our countries, and, above all, for the most modern generation of Ukrainians, who are brought up to hate, by the way, for their own past - for the real heroes of Ukraine - the soldiers of the Red Army who defended their land in 1941-1945. After all, the Ukrainians also defended Sevastopol, Moscow and Stalingrad, as the Russians and other peoples of the USSR stood up to defend Odessa, Kiev, Kharkov.

4. To say that we have overwhelmed the enemy with corpses means to humiliate the feat of our army and people. They are trying to convince us that if we fought like that, i.e. did not spare their people, then what right do we have then to enter a civilized society?

But to claim this is an outright lie. The overall ratio of losses between our army and the armies of Germany and its allied countries on the Soviet-German front is 1.3/1. Yes, there was everything at the beginning of the war - the enemy attacked unexpectedly, the army, in many respects, was not ready for such a war that had begun. But in Stalingrad, in the Belorussian, Iasi-Kishinev, Crimean, Vistula-Oder, Berlin operations, we showed how to crush the enemy, incurring fewer losses than the enemy. Through hard experience we have learned to fight with little bloodshed. We have become the strongest land army in the world. Both our enemies and our allies undoubtedly knew about it. True, today they try to forget.

The tragic pages of the Second World War call on the peoples of the world to be vigilant. Indeed, even today, violence and terror remain one of the main instruments of the policy of some countries. The democratic forces only by their good will are not capable of resisting the massive war propaganda (now under the flag of the fight for supposedly democracy itself). But democracy must serve the peace and freedom of the people, not kill or enslave them. There is a substitution of concepts - a very dangerous trend in the real world. The history of the Second World War in this regard should be not only a teacher, but also an overseer, so that under the guise of "good-natured" and "democratic" businessmen, new Hitlers do not break through to power.

Soviet-American relations during the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945. Sat. documents. In 2 vols. M .: Publishing house of political literature, 1984. T. 1. S. 482.

Soviet-American relations during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. T. 1. S. 453-456.

Koshkin A.A. Marshal Stalin's Japanese Front Russia and Japan: Tsushima's century-long shadow Facts. The documents. M.2003. p.501

A. Harriman to Department of State, April 13, 1945 (Memorandum "Meeting with Stalin"). - US. Library of Congress. Manuscript Division. W.A. Harriman Papers (Hereinafter: WAHP). Chronological file. cont. 178.

Encyclopedia of Russian-American relations of the 18th-20th centuries. / Aut. and comp. E. Ivanyan. M.: International relations, 2001. S. 571.

Cm.: Historical memory of the wars of the twentieth century. as an area of ​​ideological, political and psychological confrontation // Patriotic history. 2007. No. 2. S. 139-151; No. 3. S. 107-121; Senyavsky A.S., Senyavskaya E.S. World War II and historical memory: the image of the past in the context of modern geopolitics // "Tomorrow may be too late ..." Bulletin of MGIMO University. Special issue for the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. M., 2009. S. 299-310.

See: Was Stalin preparing an offensive war against Hitler? (unscheduled discussion). M.: AIRO-XX, 1995; Bobylev P.N. What war was the General Staff of the Red Army preparing for in 1941? // National history. 1995. No. 5; Danilov V.D. Was Stalin preparing an attack on Germany? // TVNZ. 1992. January 4; Meltyukhov M.I."And on the enemy's land we will defeat the enemy ..." (Soviet scenario of the 41st year) // Motherland. 1995; and etc.

Suvorov V. Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?: Non-fantastic story-document. M., 1992; Suvorov V. Day-"M": When the Second World War began. M., 1994; and etc.

Lesson Plan 1. Beginning of World War II. 2. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union. 3. Military operations in other theaters of the world war. 4. A radical change in the course of the war. 5. The end of World War II. Results of the war.

The scale of the Second World War 61 states took part 80% of the world's population was engulfed in war 110 million people were drafted into the army 65 million people died Duration - 6 years

THIS IS WAR: Many blitzkriegs Distant fronts Technological innovations Mobilized economies Different ideological systems Huge losses (61 million dead) 12 times more in damage than the First World War

Periodization of the Second World War I Expanding scale September 1, 1939 - war while maintaining the June 1942 superiority of the aggressor forces. Turning point in the course of the war, June 1942 - the initiative and superiority in January 1944 in forces pass into the hands of the II countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The superiority of the countries January 1944 - the anti-Hitler coalition. III September 2, 1945 The defeat of the enemy armies. Crisis and collapse of the ruling regimes of the aggressor state.

USSR at the beginning of World War II On September 16, the Germans occupied Warsaw. September 17, Soviet troops entered the western regions of Poland

USSR at the beginning of World War II, Soviet troops returned the lands of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.

USSR at the beginning of World War II On September 28, the USSR and Germany signed the Treaty of Friendship and Border. The Polish state was liquidated. Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were ceded to the USSR, and the Polish lands bordering on Germany were declared a German general government ruled from Berlin. English caricature of Hitler and Stalin

The USSR at the beginning of the Second World War, the USSR demanded that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania conclude agreements on mutual assistance and agree to the deployment of Soviet garrisons on its territory. These requirements have been accepted. Signing of the Soviet-Lithuanian treaty

September 3, 1939 - May 1940 - "sitting war" French fortifications on the Maginot Line

Defeat of the Allies In the spring of 1940, Hitler launched an offensive against Western front. In April, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. Denmark capitulated without a fight, in Norway the leader of the local fascists, Quisling, came to power. In May, the Germans invaded the Low Countries and bypassed the Maginot Line on the French border. The Allies were trapped on the coast at Dunkirk.

The fight against England Hitler was going to land troops on the British Isles. The English fleet prevented this attempt. Germany unleashed the full power of the Luftwaffe on England. The British Air Force and Air Defense gave the Germans a rebuff. German bomber over London W. Churchill on the ruins after the bombing The stubborn resistance of England prompted Hitler to begin preparations for war with the USSR.

The USSR at the Beginning of World War II In August 1940, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia officially joined the USSR as union republics. The Moldavian USSR was formed on Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, which had passed from Romania.

USSR at the start of World War II At the same time, the USSR demanded that the Finnish border be moved away from Leningrad, offering a large but sparsely populated territory in Soviet Karelia. Finland refused. November 30, 1939 - March 12, 1940 - Soviet-Finnish War Breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line by the Red Army The Red Army met stubborn resistance, especially on the Mannerheim Line. Combat operations were accompanied by heavy losses of the Red Army (95 thousand killed and died of wounds against 23 thousand from the Finnish side). December 1939 - expulsion of the USSR from the League of Nations

USSR at the beginning of the Second World War Peace treaty of March 12, 1940. The USSR withdrew: the Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg Part of the Rybachy Peninsula Rent about. Hanko for 30 years Formed by Karelo. Finnish SSR

Italian actions in East Africa Summer 1940 Italian troops stationed in Italian Somalia launched an offensive against the neighboring British colony of Somalia and against British troops stationed in Egypt. Spring 1941 In the spring of 1941, the British, with the support of Ethiopian partisans, expelled the Italians from British Somalia and Ethiopia, occupying all of East Africa.

Capture of the Balkans Autumn 1940 October 28, 1940 Italy attacked Greece. The Italian troops faced stubborn resistance from the Greek army. At the request of Mussolini, Germany came to the rescue. Spring 1941 On April 6, 1941, German troops attacked Greece and Yugoslavia. They quickly broke the resistance of the Greek and Yugoslav armies.

Growth of Soviet-German contradictions In September 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which provided for the division of the world. Stalin was also ready to join the Tripartite Pact, claiming the Black Sea straits, but Germany was also striving for this. Relations between the two countries began to deteriorate rapidly. "Moscow Buddha". English caricature of Stalin

Fascist occupation regime liquidated democratic freedoms disbanded political parties, trade unions banned strikes and demonstrations the economy worked for the needs of the occupiers the program of extermination of millions of people

Holocaust The policy of extermination by the Hitler regime in 1933-1945 of over 16 million civilians and prisoners of war in concentration camps.

Destroyed: § 35% Jews 6 million people § 30% Gypsies 200 thousand people § § Belarusians Ukrainians Russian Poles) 16 million people

Germany's preparations for war with the USSR The Barbarossa plan, drawn up taking into account the experience of the war in Europe, provided for a "blitzkrieg". 3 groups: "North" - to Leningrad, "Center" - to Moscow, "South" - to Ukraine. In 6 weeks, defeat the Red Army and reach the line Arkhangelsk - Astrakhan.

The forces of the parties on the eve of the war Germany Divisions The number of troops Guns and mortars Tanks Aircraft of the USSR 190 170 is approximately equal, in total about 6 million 48 thousand 47 thousand 4.3 thousand 9.2 thousand 5 thousand 8.5 thousand

USSR in the first days of the war, V. M. Molotov ended his speech on June 22, 1941 with the words: “Our cause is just. Victory will be ours!" . At loudspeakers on the streets of Moscow. June 22, 1941 I. Toidze. Motherland is calling! Poster. 1941

German attack on the USSR General mobilization was announced in the country. On June 23, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command is created. On June 30, in accordance with the Constitution, the State Defense Committee was created, which received full power in the country. Both bodies were headed by I. Stalin. Registration of volunteers in the first days of the war To the front ...

Failures of the Red Army in the summer - autumn of 1941 Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) July - Powerful offensive of the Nazi German troops November, occupation of the Baltic states, Belarus, 1941 of Ukraine, Moldova, attack on the Donbass. Captured Soviet soldiers drag their wounded comrades

Failures of the Red Army in the summer - autumn of 1941 Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) July - September Heroic Defense Smolensk. July - August Heroic defense of Kiev.

Failures of the Red Army in the summer - autumn of 1941 Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) July - September Beginning of the blockade of Leningrad.

Failures of the Red Army in the summer - autumn of 1941 Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) August - October Heroic defense of Odessa. November Beginning of the defense of Sevastopol. A. Deineka. Defense of Sevastopol

Battle for Moscow Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) September-November 1941 The offensive of the Nazi troops on Moscow. Soviet poster 1941

Defense of Moscow Workers of "Tryokhgornaya manufactory" dig anti-tank ditches near Moscow. Autumn 1941 Moscow militia go to the front. 1941

Battle for Moscow Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) December 5 - 6 Counteroffensive of Soviet troops near Moscow. Liberation of Kaluga, Orel, 1941 Kalinin. The Germans lost 38 divisions and were thrown back from Moscow by 250 km. Blitzkrieg failed.

German offensive of 1942. Periodization of the Great Patriotic War I period (June 22, 1941 - November 18, 1942) Spring - Defeats of Soviet troops in the south of the country in autumn (near Kharkov and in the Crimea), due to 1942 strategic miscalculations of the Headquarters. The Wehrmacht went to the North Caucasus and the Volga. The direction of German attacks in the summer and autumn of 1942. Hitler and Manstein at the map

Japan's offensive in the Pacific Ocean The victory of the Red Army near Moscow forced Japan to refuse to enter the war against the USSR. On December 7, 1941, a squadron of 6 Japanese aircraft carriers with 441 aircraft on board, secretly approaching Pearl Harbor, attacked American ships from the air. Pacific Fleet The USA was neutralized for 6 months. The battleship Arizona burns after an explosion caused by a Japanese bomb

Japan's offensive in East Asia By the summer of 1942, Indochina, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Malaya, and Indonesia, where about 150 million people lived, were under Japanese rule. Japanese air force kamikaze pilots

Stages of the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition The Soviet-British agreement on joint actions in the war against Germany July 12, 1941 Moscow The Atlantic Charter of the USA and Great Britain on August 14, 1941, which was joined by the USSR on September 24, 1941 Moscow Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, England, USA September 29 - October 1, 1941 Beginning of deliveries to the USSR under lend-lease from the USA Signing of the Washington Declaration of 26 states on the aims of the war against fascism January 1, 1942 The Soviet-British Treaty of Alliance in the war against Germany May 26, 1942 London Soviet -American agreement on the principles of mutual assistance in the conduct of war against aggression June 11, 1942 Washington

The anti-Hitler coalition is an association of states and peoples who fought in the Second World War of 1939-1945 against the block of the Axis countries of Germany, Italy, Japan and their satellites. Change in the territory controlled by the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition ( green color) and the Axis (red) during World War II.

The development of the war economy During 1942, the forces of the anti-fascist coalition increased. The USSR restored a significant part of the enterprises taken out of the occupied regions. New factories, mines, railways were built. Evacuated factory in a new location

The development of the military economy The slogan "Everything for the front, everything for the Victory" became the motto of life. Women replaced husbands who had gone to the front at the machine A tank column built with the money of collective farmers

The Development of the War Economy The Soviet Army adopted new models of tanks, aircraft, and artillery pieces that were not inferior to or superior to the German ones. Assembly of KV tanks in the workshop of the Kirov plant In the workshop of the aviation plant

The development of the war economy British industry was able to meet the needs of the armed forces. The US economy grew even faster. At the expense of state funds, military factories were built, entire industries were created. By the autumn of 1942, the USSR, USA, Great Britain produced 5 times more artillery pieces and mortars, 3 times more aircraft and almost 10 times more tanks than Germany, Italy and Japan combined. American women at an aircraft factory

The Development of the War Economy Part of the weapons and equipment produced in America and England were sent under Lend-Lease to the USSR. The main directions of lend-lease 400 thousand vehicles 18.7 thousand aircraft over 10 thousand tanks industrial equipment

A radical turning point in the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War II period (from November 19, 1942 to the end of 1943) November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943 The counteroffensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad.

A radical turning point in the war On November 19, 1942, Soviet troops went on the offensive and surrounded the 330,000 German group. On February 2, 1943, the Germans, led by Field Marshal Paulus, capitulated. Stalingrad. Fights for every house Columns of captured Germans on the streets of Stalingrad. February 1943

A radical turning point in the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War II period (from November 19, 1942 to the end of 1943) July 5 - Battle of Kursk. Acquisition of a strategic initiative on August 23 Soviet army. Advance along the entire front. 1943 Battle of Prokhorovka 12 July 1943

A radical turning point in the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War II period (from November 19, 1942 to the end of 1943) Summer - autumn Liberation of Orel, Belgorod, Kharkov, Smolensk, Kiev. 1943 Soviet offensive in July–December 1943

A radical turning point in the war Simultaneously with the Soviet troops, the armed forces of England and the United States went on the offensive. On November 8, 1942, American troops under the command of D. Eisenhower landed in North Africa, in the French possessions of Morocco and Algeria. Interacting with the British troops of General B. Montgomery, advancing from Egypt, the Americans in November 1942 defeated the Italo-German group near El Alamein in North Africa.

A radical turning point in the war March-May 1943 - the offensive of the Anglo-American troops in Tunisia North Africa secured control of the Mediterranean for the Allies and opened the way for an invasion of Italy.

The turning point in the war on July 10, 1943 was the landing of Anglo-American troops in southern Italy. Some of the leaders of the fascist party and the army, with the support of the king, organized a conspiracy to eliminate Mussolini, break with Germany and go over to the side of England and the United States. By order of King Mussolini was arrested. The king appointed Marshal Badoglio as head of government, who entered into secret negotiations with England and the United States. September 8, 1943 - signing of an armistice agreement by Italy and withdrawal from the war.

A turning point in the war In response, German troops occupied northern and central Italy and blocked the path of the Anglo-American troops moving north from southern Italy. A front arose that divided Italy into two parts.

The Second Front in Europe The victories of the Red Army and the rise of the resistance movement in the occupied countries changed the attitude of Britain and the United States to the problem of the second front. November - December 1943 - Tehran Conference Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill in Tehran Decisions: opening a second front in France by the summer of 1944, Stalin's promise after the end of the war in Europe to enter the war with Japan.

Second front in Europe June 6, 1944 - landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy in northern France.

Plot against Hitler July 20, 1944 - assassination attempt on Hitler Colonel Stauffenberg Hitler's Headquarters July 20, 1944

The second front in Europe August 15, 1944 - the landing of the American and French armies in the south of France. Charles de Gaulle in liberated Paris. November 1944

The USSR at the final stage of the Second World War The superiority of the Soviet Red Army by the beginning of 1944

USSR at the final stage of the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War III period (from January 1944 to May 9, 1945) January Lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. German troops in 1944 were driven back to Narva and Pskov. V. Perov. Breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad

USSR at the final stage of the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War III period (from January 1944 to May 9, 1945) February - Korsun-Shevchenko operation. March 1944 Liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine and Crimea

USSR at the final stage of the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War III period (from January 1944 to May 9, 1945) April - May 1944 Defeat of German troops in the Crimea. Liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine and Crimea

USSR at the final stage of the war Periodization of the Great Patriotic War III period (from January 1944 to May 9, 1945) June 1944 Offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. Capture of Vyborg, Petrozavodsk. Peace talks with Finland. Soviet poster