The years 1941-1945 were a terrible test for the USSR, which the citizens of the country withstood with honor, emerging victorious from the armed confrontation with Germany. In our article we will briefly talk about the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and its final stage.
Since 1939 Soviet Union, acting in their territorial interests, tried to maintain neutrality. But when the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began, it automatically became part of the Second World War, which lasted for the second year already.
Anticipating a possible clash with Britain and France (the capitalist countries opposed communism), Stalin had been preparing the country for war since the 1930s. In 1940, the USSR began to regard Germany as its main adversary, although a non-aggression pact (1939) was concluded between the countries.
However, thanks to competent disinformation, the invasion of German troops into Soviet territory on June 22, 1941 without official warning came as a surprise.
Rice. 1. Joseph Stalin.
The first, on the orders of Rear Admiral Ivan Eliseev, at three o'clock in the morning, the Black Sea Fleet rebuffed the Nazis, firing at German aircraft that had invaded Soviet airspace. Border battles followed later.
Officially, the beginning of the war was announced to the Soviet ambassador in Germany only at four in the morning. On the same day, the decision of the Germans was repeated by the Italians and Romanians.
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A number of miscalculations (in military construction, the timing of the attack, the time of deployment of troops) led to losses Soviet army during the first years of resistance. Germany captured the Baltic States, Belarus, most of Ukraine, southern Russia. Leningrad was taken into the blockade ring (from 09/08/1941). Moscow managed to defend. In addition, hostilities began again on the border with Finland, as a result of which the Finnish troops recaptured the lands occupied by the Union during the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940).
Rice. 2. Besieged Leningrad.
Despite the serious defeats of the USSR, the German plan "Barbarossa" for the occupation of Soviet lands failed in one year: Germany was bogged down in the war.
Successful operations in the second stage of the war (November 1942-December 1943) allowed the Soviet troops to continue the counteroffensive.
For four months (December 1943-April 1944) the Right-bank Ukraine was recaptured. The army reached the southern borders of the Union and began the liberation of Romania.
In January 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted, in April-May - the Crimea was recaptured, in June-August - Belarus was liberated, in September-November - the Baltic states.
In 1945, liberation operations of Soviet troops began outside the country (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Austria).
On April 16, 1945, the USSR army launched the Berlin operation, during which the capital of Germany surrendered (May 02). Hoisted on May 1 on the roof of the Reichstag (parliament building), the assault flag became the Banner of Victory and was transferred to the dome.
05/09/1945 Germany capitulated.
Rice. 3. Banner of Victory.
When the Great Patriotic War ended (May 1945), World War II was still going on (until September 02). Having won the war of liberation, the Soviet army, according to the preliminary agreements of the Yalta Conference (February 1945), transferred its forces to the war with Japan (August 1945). Defeating the strongest Japanese ground troops(Kwantung Army), the USSR contributed to the rapid surrender of Japan.
Celebrate 70th Anniversary Great Victory. Unfortunately, preparations for the celebrations timed to coincide with this anniversary are taking place in a situation where in some states they are trying to belittle the role of the Soviet people in the destruction of fascism. Therefore, today is the time to study those events in order to reasonably fight against attempts to rewrite history and even present our country as an aggressor who carried out an “invasion of Germany”. In particular, it is worth knowing why the beginning of the Second World War became a time of catastrophic losses for the USSR. And how our country nevertheless managed not only to expel the invaders from its territory, but also to end the war by hoisting the banner of Victory over the Reichstag.
First of all, let's deal with what is meant by the Second World War. The fact is that such a name is present only in Soviet sources, and for the whole world, the events that took place between the end of June 1941 and May 1945 are only part of the hostilities of the Second World War, localized in the Eastern European region of the planet. The term Great Patriotic War itself first appeared on the pages of the Pravda newspaper the day after the start of the invasion of the Third Reich troops into the territory of the USSR. As for German historiography, the expressions "Eastern campaign" and "Russian campaign" are used instead.
Adolf Hitler declared his desire to conquer Russia and "the outlying states that are subordinate to it" back in 1925. Eight years later, after becoming Reich Chancellor, he began to pursue a policy aimed at preparing for war in order to expand "living space for the German people." At the same time, the “Fuhrer of the German nation” constantly and very successfully played diplomatic multi-way combinations in order to lull the vigilance of the alleged opponents and further quarrel the USSR and the countries of the West.
In 1936, Germany sent its troops into the Rhine zone, which was a kind of protective barrier for France, to which there was no serious reaction from the international community. A year and a half later, the German government, as a result of a plebiscite, annexed Austria to Germany, and then occupied the Sudetenland, inhabited by Germans, but belonging to Czechoslovakia. Feeling intoxicated by these almost bloodless victories, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland, and then went "blitzkrieg" throughout Western Europe, almost nowhere met with serious resistance. The only country that continued to resist the troops of the Third Reich in the year the Second World War began was Great Britain. However, in this war, ground military units from none of the conflicting parties were involved, so the Wehrmacht was able to concentrate all its main forces near the borders with the USSR.
Speaking briefly about the beginning of the Second World War, one cannot but mention the annexation of the Baltic states that preceded this event, in which government coups took place in 1940 with the support of Moscow. In addition, the USSR demanded that Romania return Bessarabia and transfer Northern Bukovina to it, and as a result of the war with Finland, a part of the Karelian Isthmus, controlled by the Soviet Union, was added. Thus, the borders of the country were moved to the west, but it included territories, part of the population of which did not accept the loss of independence of their states and was hostile to the new authorities.
Despite the prevailing opinion that the Soviet Union was not preparing for war, preparations, and very serious ones, were nevertheless carried out. In particular, since the beginning of 1940, significant funds were directed to the development of the sector of the economy focused on production. military equipment and serving the needs of the Red Army. As a result, at the time of the German attack on the USSR, the Red Army was armed with more than 59, 7 thousand guns and mortars, 12,782 tanks and 10,743 aircraft.
At the same time, according to historians, the beginning of the Second World War could have been completely different if the repressions of the second half of the 1930s had not deprived the Armed Forces of the country of thousands of experienced military personnel, who simply had no one to replace. But be that as it may, back in 1939 it was decided to increase the terms of active service in the army and reduce the draft age, which made it possible to have more than 3.2 million soldiers and officers in the ranks of the Red Army at the start of the war.
As already mentioned, among the priority tasks of the Nazis initially there was a desire to seize "lands in the East." Moreover, Hitler even directly pointed out that the main mistake of German foreign policy over the previous 6 centuries was to strive to the south and to the west, instead of striving to the east. In addition, in one of his speeches at a meeting with the high command of the Wehrmacht, Hitler stated that if Russia was defeated, then England would be forced to capitulate, and Germany would become "the ruler of Europe and the Balkans."
The Second World War, and more specifically, the Second World War, also had an ideological background, since Hitler and his closest associates fanatically hated the Communists and considered the representatives of the peoples inhabiting the USSR to be subhuman, who should become "fertilizer" in the field of prosperity of the German nation.
Until now, historians have not subsided disputes related to why Germany chose June 22, 1941 to attack the Soviet Union.
Although there are many who are trying to find a mystical justification for this, most likely the German command proceeded from the fact that on the day of the summer solstice the most short night in a year. This meant that around 4 o'clock in the morning, when most of the inhabitants of the European part of the USSR would sleep, it would be twilight in the yard, and in an hour it would be completely light. In addition, this date fell on a Sunday, which means that many officers could be absent from the units, having gone to visit their relatives on Saturday morning. The Germans were also aware of the habit of the “Russians” to allow themselves a fair amount of strong alcohol on weekends.
As you can see, the start date of the Second World War was not chosen by chance, and the pedantic Germans provided for almost everything. Moreover, they managed to keep their intentions secret, and the Soviet command found out about their plans only a few hours before the attack on the USSR from a defector. The relevant directive was immediately sent to the troops, but it was already too late.
Half an hour before the onset of June 22, an order was received in 5 border districts of the USSR to bring them to combat readiness. However, the same directive prescribed not to succumb to provocations and contained not entirely clear wording. The result was that the local command began to send requests to Moscow with a request to specify the order instead of taking decisive action. So precious minutes were lost, and the warning about the impending attack did not play any role.
At 0400 in Berlin, the German Foreign Minister presented the Soviet ambassador with a note by which the imperial government declared war on the USSR. At the same time, after aviation and artillery preparation, the troops of the Third Reich crossed the border of the Soviet Union. On the same day, at noon, Molotov spoke on the radio, and it was from him that many citizens of the USSR heard about the beginning of the war. WWII in the first day after the invasion of German troops was perceived Soviet people as an adventure on the part of the Germans, since they were confident in the defense capability of their country and believed in a quick victory over the enemy. However, the leadership of the USSR understood the seriousness of the situation and did not share the optimism of the people. In this regard, already on June 23, the State Defense Committee and the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command were formed.
Since the Finnish airfields were actively used by the German Luftwaffe, on June 25 Soviet aircraft launched an air raid aimed at destroying them. Helsinki and Turku were also bombed. As a result, the beginning of the Second World War was also marked by the unfreezing of the conflict with Finland, which also declared war on the USSR and in a few days regained all the territories lost during the Winter Campaign of 1939-1940.
The beginning of the Second World War was perceived by government circles in the United States and England as a gift of providence. The fact is that they hoped to prepare for the defense of the British Isles, while "Hitler will free his feet from the Russian swamp." However, already on June 24, President Roosevelt announced that his country would provide assistance to the USSR, as he believed that the main threat to the world came from the Nazis. Unfortunately, at that time these were just words that did not mean that the United States was ready to open a Second Front, since the start of the war (WWII) was beneficial for this country. As for Great Britain, on the eve of the invasion, Prime Minister Churchill announced that his goal was to destroy Hitler, and he was ready to help the USSR, because, “having finished with Russia,” the Germans would invade the British Isles.
Now you know what was the history of the beginning of the Second World War, which ended with the victory of the Soviet people.
AT post-war years historians are constantly trying to restore the chronology of the beginning of hostilities of the Great Patriotic War. It is generally accepted that the war began on June 22 at exactly 4 am. But in fact, Georgy Zhukov, who at that time was the chief of the General Staff, already at 03:06 received the first signal about military clashes with the Germans. And at 4:00 soviet ambassador V. G. Dekanozov, who was in Berlin, received from Ribbentrop, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a package of official documents on the beginning of the war, which included a note and several appendices to it.
On June 22, in the early morning, having carefully prepared aviation and artillery forces, German troops crossed the borders of the Soviet Union. After 2 hours, V.M. Molotov had already hosted the German Ambassador W. Schulenberg. This visit took place at exactly 05:30, as evidenced by entries in the visitor's book. The German ambassador provided an official statement containing information about the sabotage actions of the USSR against Germany. The documents also spoke of the political manipulations of the Soviet Union directed against Germany. The essence of this statement was that Germany is taking military action to counter the threat and protect its territory.
Molotov officially declared the beginning of the war. And this fact raises many questions. First, the announcement was made much later. The speech on the radio was heard by the population of the country only at 12:15. More than 9 hours have passed since the start of hostilities, during which the Germans bombed our territory with might and main. With German side the appeal was recorded at 6:30 (Berlin time). It was also a mystery that Molotov, and not Stalin, reported the outbreak of hostilities. Modern historians put forward more than one version. Some argue that the head of the USSR was on vacation at that time. According to the version of foreign historians Brackman and Payne, during this period, Stalin was resting in Sochi. There is also an assumption that he was on the spot and simply refused, shifting all responsibility to Molotov. Such a statement is based on entries in the visitor's log - on this day, Stalin hosted a reception and even received the British ambassador.
There are also disagreements regarding the authorship of the text, which was compiled for an official speech. According to G. N. Peskova, who worked on restoring the chronology of events, the text of the message was handwritten by Molotov. But from the style of presentation and the corrections made later in this text, they came to the conclusion that the content of the text was edited by Stalin. Subsequently, Molotov spoke on the radio mentioning that he was acting on behalf of Joseph Vissarionovich. Later, when comparing the content of the written text and the spoken speech, historians found some differences, which mainly related to the extent of the territories that were attacked. There were other discrepancies, but they were not of great strategic importance. In any case, the fact that the war began earlier than indicated in official sources time, the researchers documented.
143,000,000 Soviet citizens killed, 1,800,000 dead in captivity or immigrated - the Great Patriotic War broke into every house on June 22, 1941. For 4 terrible years on the fronts, fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers and wives remained “lying with bones”. The Second World War is called "a terrible lesson of the past", "a political miscalculation", "a bloody massacre". Why did the terrible war begin, what is its course, what are the results?
The prerequisites are hidden in the Versailles-Washington system established after the First World War. Germany with her ambitions was humiliated and brought to her knees. In the 1920s, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which promoted ultra-right views, entered the political lease. Supporters of the party proclaimed the ideas of "revenge for the defeat in the First World War", establishing the world domination of the German nation. European politicians looked at a "rising Germany" and thought they could manage it. France and Great Britain "pushed" the country to the borders of the Union, pursuing own benefits. But they could not think that on September 1, 1939, German troops would invade Poland (the Second World War).
ATTENTION! The Second World War lasted more than 6 years (September 1, 1939 - September 2, 1945). WWII - June 22, 1941 - May 9, 1945.
Historians talk about dozens of factors that influenced the start of the war. To be honest, the war began with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. "Behind Europe's back" Germany and the Soviet Union agree that they will be "on the same side." After the start of World War II, the USSR invaded Poland on September 17, 1939. On September 22, 1939, the parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army is solemnly held in Brest.
Joseph Stalin did not believe that Hitler would "stab a knife in the back" and attack the USSR. Moreover, when Minsk fell on June 28, 1941, the leader was in a panic (and even thought that he would be arrested for a crime against the people). The first days of the Second World War, the Red Army retreated, and the Germans easily took one city after another.
Let's not forget that repressions were widespread in the USSR: during the last "purge" in June 1941, experienced military leaders were destroyed (shot, expelled).
The causes of WWII lie in:
German tacticians and strategists had several plans on the territory of the Soviet Union.
By the summer of 1941, 5,500,000 soldiers trained to kill were stationed near the borders of the USSR against 2,900,000 Soviet soldiers (this is exactly the number of military men who were concentrated in the border districts). It’s not worth talking about weapons: one rifle for three, a limited number of bullets, “rusty iron” - all this “surfaced” more than once in the memoirs of veterans.
The Soviet Union was not ready for war:
Despite all the miscalculations and problems, soviet soldiers then they wrested victory with blood. In the rear, women, children, the elderly, and the disabled produced weapons day and night; partisans risked their lives trying to collect as much information as possible about enemy groups. The Soviet people rose to the defense of the Motherland with their breasts.
Historians talk about 3 main stages. Each of them is divided into dozens of small stages, and behind every success of the Red Army are the shadows of dead soldiers.
At this time, the Barbarossa plan collapsed. At the first stages, the enemy troops took Ukraine, the Baltic States and Belarus without any problems. Ahead was Moscow - an important geopolitical and economic goal. The capture of Moscow would automatically mean the fragmentation of the Red Army and the loss of control.
September 30, 1941 - January 7, 1942, i.e. for almost 4 months there were heavy battles with varying success, but the Soviet troops were able to push the enemy back.
The Battle of Moscow was Hitler's first failure. It became clear that the "blitzkrieg" had failed; the Western world saw that the "invincible Adolf" could lose; the morale and fighting spirit of the people rose.
But ahead were Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The victory near Moscow gave a "respite". A partisan struggle gradually unfolds, an anti-Hitler coalition is formed. The USSR is transferring the economy to a military footing, so the supply of the army is improving (KV-1 and T-34 tanks, Katyusha rocket launcher, IL-2 attack aircraft).
Until the autumn of 1942, victories were either on the side of the USSR or on the side of Germany. At this stage, the strategic initiative passes into the hands of the Soviet Union: 26 strategic operations (23 of them offensive), allied assistance and lend-lease, the “first news” of the collapse of the Nazi coalition, strengthening the authority of the USSR.
All results were given in sweat and blood. At this stage, a number of major battles who turned the tide of the war.
The stage ends at the end of 1943 with the liberation of Kyiv and the “forcing of the Dnieper”.
Recall that World War II ended on September 2, 1945. But Europe was freed from the shackles of Nazism in the spring.
In the autumn of 1944, the Soviet command carried out a number of operations to liberate the country's territory from enemy armies: Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya, Lvov-Sandomierz, Iasi-Kishinevskaya. Released besieged Leningrad, which found itself "cut off" from food and security. Thanks to the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, West Carpathian operations, it was possible to create all the conditions to "go to Berlin."
On May 1, 1945, Adolf Hitler takes poison and leaves the people "to their fate." The provisional government, which "by chance" was headed by K. Doenitz, in "death convulsions" is trying to bargain for a separate peace with Great Britain and France, but fails. Ahead of the tribunals, high-profile scandals, trials and sentences. On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender is signed in Karlshorst (a suburb of Berlin). Germany is defeated.
May 9, 1945 becomes Victory Day, a symbol of endless courage, unity and ability to repulse the enemy.
The Great Patriotic War is a terrible lesson in history, for which the Soviet Union paid too high a price. The exact number of dead cannot be calculated (figures in different sources are different). But before Soviet people another task arose - to raise the ruined economy from its knees.
The opposition of the Russian people to the aggression of Germany and other countries seeking to establish a "new world order". This war became a battle between two opposing civilizations, in which the Western world set as its goal the complete destruction of Russia - the USSR as a state and nation, the seizure of a significant part of its territories and the formation of puppet regimes subject to Germany in the rest of its parts. The Judeo-Masonic regimes of the USA and England, who saw Hitler as an instrument for the implementation of their plans for world domination and the destruction of Russia, pushed Germany to war against Russia.
On June 22, 1941, the German armed forces, consisting of 103 divisions, including 10 tank divisions, invaded Russia. Their total number numbered five and a half million people, of which more than 900 thousand were military personnel of the Western allies of Germany - Italians, Spaniards, French, Dutch, Finns, Romanians, Hungarians, etc. 4300 tanks and assault guns were attached to this perfidious Western international , 4980 combat aircraft, 47200 guns and mortars.
The Russian armed forces of five western border military districts and three fleets opposing the aggressor were twice as inferior to the enemy in manpower, and in the first echelon of our armies there were only 56 rifle and cavalry divisions, which were difficult to compete with the German tank corps. The aggressor also had a great advantage in terms of artillery, tanks and aircraft of the latest designs.
By nationality, more than 90% of the Soviet army opposing Germany were Russians (Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians), which is why it can be called the Russian army without exaggeration, which does not in the least detract from the feasible contribution of other peoples of Russia in confronting the common enemy.
Treacherously, without declaring war, having concentrated overwhelming superiority on the direction of strikes, the aggressor broke through the defenses of the Russian troops, seized the strategic initiative and air supremacy. The enemy occupied a significant part of the country, moved inland up to 300 - 600 km.
On June 23, the Headquarters of the High Command was created (from August 6 - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command). All power was concentrated in the State Defense Committee (GKO), created on June 30. Since August 8, I.V. Stalin became the Supreme Commander. He gathered around him the outstanding Russian commanders G. K. Zhukov, S. K. Timoshenko, B. M. Shaposhnikov, A. M. Vasilevsky, K. K. Rokossovsky, N. F. Vatutin, A. I. Eremenko, K. A. Meretskov, I. S. Konev, I. D. Chernyakhovsky and many others. In his public speeches, Stalin relies on the feeling of patriotism of the Russian people, urging them to follow the example of their heroic ancestors. The main military events of the summer-autumn campaign of 1941 were the Battle of Smolensk, the defense of Leningrad and the beginning of its blockade, the military catastrophe of the Soviet troops in Ukraine, the defense of Odessa, the beginning of the defense of Sevastopol, the loss of Donbass, the defensive period of the Moscow battle. The Russian army retreated 850-1200 km, but the enemy was stopped in the main directions near Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov and went on the defensive.
The winter campaign of 1941-42 began with a counteroffensive by Russian troops in the western strategic direction. In the course of it, a counteroffensive near Moscow, the Luban, Rzhev-Vyazemskaya, Barvenkovsko-Lozovskaya and Kerch-Feodosiya landing operations were carried out. Russian troops removed the threat to Moscow and North Caucasus, facilitated the situation of Leningrad, completely or partially liberated the territory of 10 regions, as well as over 60 cities. The blitzkrieg strategy collapsed. About 50 enemy divisions were destroyed. A major role in defeating the enemy was played by the patriotism of the Russian people, which was widely manifested from the first days of the war. Thousands of folk heroes, like A. Matrosov and Z. Kosmodemyanskaya, hundreds of thousands of partisans behind enemy lines, already in the first months greatly shook morale aggressor.
In the summer-autumn campaign of 1942, the main military events unfolded in the southwestern direction: the defeat of the Crimean Front, the military catastrophe of the Soviet troops in the Kharkov operation, the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad, Donbass, Stalingrad defensive operations, the battle in the North Caucasus. In the northwestern direction, the Russian army held the Demyansk and Rzhev-Sychev offensive operations. The enemy advanced 500 - 650 km, went to the Volga, captured part of the passes of the Main Caucasian Range. The territory was occupied, where before the war 42% of the population lived, a third of the gross output was produced, and more than 45% of the sown area was located. The economy was transferred to the war footing. A large number of enterprises were relocated to the eastern regions of the country (only in the second half of 1941 - 2,593, including 1,523 large ones), and 2.3 million heads of cattle were exported. In the first half of 1942, 10,000 aircraft, 11,000 tanks, approx. 54 thousand guns. In the 2nd half of the year, their output increased by more than 1.5 times.
In the winter campaign of 1942-43, the main military events were the Stalingrad and North Caucasian offensive operations, the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad. The Russian army advanced 600-700 km to the west, liberating a territory of over 480 thousand square meters. km, defeated 100 divisions (40% of the enemy forces on the Soviet-German front). In the summer-autumn campaign of 1943, the Battle of Kursk was the decisive event. The partisans played an important role (Operation Rail War). During the battle for the Dnieper, 38 thousand settlements were liberated, including 160 cities; with the capture of strategic bridgeheads on the Dnieper, conditions were created for an offensive in Belarus. In the battle for the Dnieper, the partisans carried out Operation Concert to destroy enemy communications. The Smolensk and Bryansk offensive operations were carried out in other directions. The Russian army fought up to 500 - 1300 km, defeated 218 divisions.
During the winter campaign of 1943-44, the Russian army carried out an offensive in the Ukraine (10 simultaneous and consecutive front-line operations united by a common plan). Completed the defeat of the Army Group "South", went beyond the border with Romania and moved fighting to her territory. Almost simultaneously, the Leningrad-Novgorod offensive operation unfolded; Leningrad was finally released. As a result of the Crimean operation, Crimea was liberated. Russian troops advanced west by 250 - 450 km, liberated approx. 300 thousand sq. km of territory, reached the state border with Czechoslovakia.
In June 1944, when the United States and Britain realized that Russia could win the war without their participation, they opened the 2nd front in France. This worsened the military-political position of Germany. In the summer-autumn campaign of 1944, Russian troops carried out the Belorussian, Lvov-Sandomierz, East Carpathian, Iasi-Kishinev, Baltic, Debrecen, East Carpathian, Belgrade, partly Budapest and Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive operations. The liberation of Belarus, Little Russia and the Baltic states (except for some regions of Latvia), partially Czechoslovakia was completed, Romania and Hungary were forced to surrender and entered the war against Germany, liberated from the invaders Soviet Arctic and northern regions of Norway.
The 1945 campaign in Europe included the East Prussian, Vistula-Oder, completion of the Budapest, East Pomeranian, Lower Silesian, Upper Silesian, West Carpathian, Vienna and Berlin operations, which ended unconditional surrender Nazi Germany. After the Berlin operation, Russian troops, together with the 2nd Army of the Polish Army, the 1st and 4th Romanian armies and the 1st Czechoslovak corps, carried out the Prague operation.
The victory in the war greatly raised the spirit of the Russian people, contributed to the growth of their national self-consciousness and faith in own forces. As a result of the victory, Russia regained most of what was taken from her as a result of the revolution (except for Finland and Poland). The historical Russian lands in Galicia, Bukovina, Bessarabia, etc. returned to its composition. Most of the Russian people (including Little Russians and Belarusians) again became a single entity in one state, which created the preconditions for their unification in a single Church. The fulfillment of this historic task was the main positive outcome of the war. The victory of Russian weapons created favorable conditions for Slavic unity. At some stage, the Slavic countries united with Russia in something like a fraternal federation. The peoples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia for a certain period realized how important it was for the Slavic world to stick together in the fight against the West's encroachments on the Slavic lands.
At the initiative of Russia, Poland received Silesia and a significant part of East Prussia, from which the city of Konigsberg with its surrounding territory passed into the possession of the Russian state, and Czechoslovakia regained the Sudetenland occupied by Germany earlier.
The great mission to save humanity from the “new world order” was given to Russia at a huge price: the Russian people and the fraternal peoples of our Fatherland paid for this with the lives of 47 million people (including direct and indirect losses), of which approximately 37 million people were actually Russians (including Little Russians and Belarusians).
Most of all, it was not the military who directly participated in the hostilities that died, but civilians, the civilian population of our country. The irretrievable losses of the Russian army (killed, dead from wounds, missing, killed in captivity) amount to 8 million 668 thousand 400 people. The remaining 35 million are the lives of the civilian population. During the war years, about 25 million people were evacuated to the East. Approximately 80 million people, or about 40% of the population of our country, turned out to be in the territory occupied by Germany. All these people became "objects" of the implementation of the misanthropic program "Ost", were subjected to brutal repressions, died from the famine organized by the Germans. About 6 million people were driven into German slavery, many of them died from unbearable living conditions.
As a result of the war, the genetic fund of the most active and viable part of the population was significantly undermined, because in it, first of all, the strongest and most energetic members of society, capable of producing the most valuable offspring, perished. In addition, due to the fall in the birth rate, the country missed tens of millions of future citizens.
The enormous price of victory fell most heavily on the shoulders of the Russian people (including the Little Russians and Belarusians), because the main hostilities were fought on their ethnic territories, and it was to them that the enemy was especially cruel and merciless.
In addition to huge human losses, our country suffered colossal material damage. Not a single country in its entire history and in the Second World War had such losses and barbaric destruction from aggressors that fell on Great Russia. The total material losses of Russia in world prices amounted to more than a trillion dollars (US national income over several years).
