Crimean (Yalta) conference

Successful troop offensive anti-Hitler coalition at the beginning of 1945 testified that the war would soon end. 411 February 1945 A conference of the heads of government of three allied states was held in Yalta: the USSR (Stalin), the USA (Roosevelt), Great Britain (Churchill). At the conference, the military plans of the allies for the final defeat of Germany were determined and agreed upon and the basic principles of the post-war organization of the world were outlined. It was decided that for a long period Germany would be occupied by the troops of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and also France, and the troops of each of the countries should occupy a certain part, or zone, of Germany. Despite disagreements on the future structure of Germany, the heads of government came to an agreed thought - to destroy German militarism and Nazism and create guarantees that "Germany will never again violate world peace", "disarm and disband all German armed forces and forever to destroy the German General Staff. "

The heads of government of the states participating in the conference decided to convene a United Nations conference on April 25, 1945 in San Francisco. An agreement was reached that the principle of unanimity of the great powers - the permanent members of the UN Security Council - will be put in the basis of the UN's activities in resolving the cardinal issues of ensuring peace.

The conference decided on the post-war borders of Poland and the creation of a government from a wide range, including democratic leaders from Poland itself and Poles from abroad.

At the conference, the Soviet government committed itself to entering the war against Japan 2-3 months after the end of the war with Germany. The agreement between the conference participants, in particular, provided that after the end of the war, the USSR would return the southern part of Sakhalin and all the islands adjacent to it, as well as the Kuril Islands.

The conference participants adopted the "Declaration on a Liberated Europe", in which the Allied States declared their readiness to help the European peoples "to create democratic institutions of their own choice." However, staying in countries of Eastern Europe Soviet troops actually allowed Stalin to establish Soviet control over them.

Military defeat and surrender of Germany

In December 1944, there was a lull on the Soviet-German front, and the Soviet command began to regroup its forces. Hitler decided to use this respite on the eastern front to conduct offensive operation on the western front... Its goal was to defeat the Allied forces, which, according to Hitler, would create the preconditions for separate negotiations with the United States and Britain. The offensive of German troops in the Ardennes, which began at the end of 1944, was successful: for the first time, Anglo-American troops fought not with reserve divisions, but with selected units of the Wehrmacht. The Germans managed to completely defeat two American divisions, nine more suffered losses.

The position of the Allies was difficult. Churchill turned to Stalin for help. On January 12, Soviet troops on three fronts: First Ukrainian (I.S.Konev), First Belorussian (G.K. Zhukov), Second Belorussian (K. Rokossovsky) - 8 days ahead of schedule began the Vistula-Oder operation. Simultaneously with this operation, Soviet troops carried out a powerful offensive on a wide front from the Baltic to the Carpathians. The troops of G.K. Zhukov liberated the capital of Poland, Warsaw, and reached the Oder, seizing an important bridgehead on its western coast. In February, the Germans' Budapest group was defeated. In the area of ​​Lake Balaton (Hungary), the enemy began a last attempt to go over to the offensive, but was defeated. In April, Soviet troops liberated the Austrian capital Vienna, and in East Prussia captured the city of Konigsberg. There were 60 km to Berlin.

The German command had to urgently transfer significant forces to the Soviet-German front, stopping the offensive on the British and American units. Allied troops went on the offensive, crossed the Rhine and rushed to the Elbe River. Meanwhile, Soviet troops were breaking through here from the east, overcoming the fierce resistance of the Nazis. The historic meeting of the allies took place on April 25 on the banks of the Elbe, in the area of ​​the city of Torgau.

In April 1945, Anglo-American forces resumed their offensive in Northern Italy. Their actions were supported by the fighters of the Italian Resistance, who managed to liberate a number of industrial centers of the country. They captured and executed Mussolini. The actions of the rebels made it easier for the Allied armies to advance. German troops in Italy were forced to surrender.

The Berlin operation began on April 16. The Germans built powerful defensive lines on the outskirts of Berlin. Goebbels declared total war. The children took up arms. By April 30, Soviet troops, overcoming stubborn resistance, broke through to the center of Berlin - the Reich Chancellery and the Reichstag. A red flag was raised over the Reichstag. Hitler committed suicide. General V. Chuikov accepted the surrender of the German garrison. After the capture of Berlin, the troops of the First Ukrainian Front made a rapid march to help Prague, rebelled, and on the morning of May 9 entered the streets of the Czechoslovak capital. On the night of May 8-9, 1945, in Karlshorst (near Berlin), representatives of defeated Germany, on the one hand, and the military leaders of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France, on the other, signed the Act of unconditional surrender of the German troops. Military operations in Europe ended in victory for the forces of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Berlin (Potsdam) conference

The Berlin (Potsdam) conference was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945. Delegations of the leading countries of the anti-Hitler coalition were represented at it: the USSR, headed by I. Stalin, the USA - with President G. Truman, Great Britain - with W. Churchill, who is 28 July, the new prime minister, C. Attlee, took over. The decisions of the Yalta conference were confirmed at the conference. The issue of the demilitarization and democratization of Germany has been resolved; the International Military Tribunal established to try major war criminals; the exact borders of Poland have been established; established sizes and sources of reparations. According to the agreements, Eastern Europe and Finland fell into the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.

Defeat of Japan

The end of hostilities in Europe did not mean the end of World War II. On the Far East the war was still going on. During the military operations of 1944 - early 1945, American and British troops inflicted a number of defeats on the Japanese and cleared a significant part of the occupied territories. However, the American command planned to carry out an invasion of the Japanese islands not earlier than 1946. The fight against Japan would have required enormous material costs and human losses from the United States (up to 1 million). The USSR, according to the agreements in Yalta, denounced the pact of neutrality with Japan and declared war on it on August 8.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Americans subjected atomic bombing the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Total number the death toll, according to some sources, has reached 300 thousand people. The use of atomic weapons has become an act of intimidation rather than a military necessity.

Soviet Union By August 1945, he concentrated significant forces on the Far Eastern border of the USSR and in Mongolia, the majority of which were troops that had gone through the war in Europe. Having a 2.53-fold superiority over the enemy, the Red Army in the first days of the operation defeated the Japanese troops and wedged into the depths of the territory of Manchuria. On August 14, the Japanese government decided to surrender, but units of the Kwantung Army continued to resist. Soviet troops launched new attacks, occupied Mukden and Harbin. On August 19, the mass surrender of the Japanese began. On the twentieth of August, Port Arthur, Dalny, and Pyongyang were occupied. Soviet troops landed on South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. On September 2, aboard the American battleship Missouri, the Japanese delegation signed the Unconditional Surrender Act. The second World War ended.

Results, consequences and lessons of World War II

The Second World War was the most difficult and bloody war in the history of mankind. It was attended by 61 states with a population of 1.7 billion people. During the war, at least 60 million people died, including 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union. Tens of millions were injured and disabled. The war devastated entire countries, destroyed cities and villages. More than 11 million people were forced to leave their place of residence.

The war was fought brutally and mercilessly. Hitlerite Germany set itself the goal of enslaving the population of the occupied territories, undermining the vitality of the Slavs, and completely exterminating Jews and Gypsies. V concentration camps the Nazis killed 12 million people, including 6 million Jews.

The states of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USA, England, the USSR - responded with massive bombing of enemy cities, deportation of the population suspected of collaborating with the invaders - sometimes entire peoples, as was the case in the USSR with the Volga Germans, Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks. At the final stage of the war, the United States used a weapon of mass destruction - an atomic bomb.

The main result of the Second World War is the victory over fascism. Fascist and militarist aggressor states - Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies were completely defeated.

The immediate result of the war was the bipolar division of the world. The United States has become a giant "superpower", the leader of the capitalist world, claiming world hegemony. The second "superpower" was the Soviet Union. By the end of the war, the USSR had the world's largest land army and enormous industrial potential. His armed forces were stationed in many countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in North Korea... The Soviet Union led all the social forces opposing capitalism. Two main poles of attraction of world forces, two ideological and military-political blocs, the confrontation of which led to the beginning of the Cold War, were formed.

The defeat of fascism and militarism caused significant territorial changes in Europe and Asia, which were approved at the Potsdam Conference of the heads of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain (July-August 1945) and the Paris Peace Conference of Foreign Ministers (summer and autumn 1946). These forums recognized the territorial acquisitions of the Soviet Union in 1939-1940. In the Far East, the USSR returned the territory of South Sakhalin, lost as a result of the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905, and also received the Kuril Islands.

Another important result of the Second World War is the beginning of the collapse of the colonial system. Occupied by Japan, the Asian countries got out of the control of the metropolitan countries. In other colonial countries, the war awakened the masses of the population to political activity, who more and more insistently demanded independence. The power of the colonialists was shaken. The irreversible disintegration of the colonial system began.

The main lesson of World War II is to prevent another war. Experience also teaches: in order to defend peace, all peace-loving countries should unite. To survive, humanity must unite and disarm.

1. The end of hostilities in Europe. Capitulation of Germany

From the beginning of 1945, decisive battles began to defeat Nazi Germany. January 12, 1945Soviet and Polish troops launched the Vistula-Oder operation, which later developed into the Berlin. During the very first days of the offensive, the German defense was broken through and Warsaw was liberated on January 17. Developing the offensive, at the beginning of 1945, Soviet troops entered the Oder River, 60-70 km from Berlin. Also, the German group in East Prussia was surrounded, which was soon destroyed.

After the start of the Soviet offensive in Poland (Vistula-Oder operation), the German command decided to end the offensive in the Ardennes and transferred the most combat-ready units to the Eastern Front, to the region of Lake Balaton (Hungary), where German troops unsuccessfully tried to release the encircled group in Budapest with offensive actions. Enemy Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive. Overcoming fierce resistance and suffering significant losses, Soviet troops captured Budapest on February 13, Bratislava on April 4, and Vienna on April 7. The southern grouping of the German-Hungarian troops was defeated.

On February 8, 1945, the Allied troops, regrouping and replenishing the units, incurred significant costs during the German offensive, began an operation to cross the Rhine and capture the Ruhr (industrial center of Germany). This operation was accompanied by strategic bombing of Germany. During the bombing of Dresden, 135 thousand civilians were killed. As a result of the successful crossing of the Rhine, the German group in the Ruhr area was surrounded and on April 17, 1945 it ceased resistance. 325 thousand were captured. soldier. After this defeat, German troops offered almost no resistance on the Western Front, moreover, they did not have prepared positions where resistance could be organized. Allied troops moved rapidly eastward and on April 18, their advance units reached the Elbe. On April 26, a meeting of American and Soviet troops took place in the Torgau area. Meanwhile, Soviet troops completed the destruction of the Berlin garrison, surrendered on May 2.

On May 7, at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, General Jodl signed the preliminary protocol of Germany's surrender.

April 9, 1945 began the offensive of Anglo-American troops in northern Italy, completing the liberation of the country together with the partisans on May 2. A group of millions of German troops laid down weapons. During these battles, the partisans captured Mussolini and many leaders of the fascist party and state. They were all executed. The bodies of Mussolini and his mistress Petacci were hung by their legs and put on public view.

Building on the success of the allied forces, they liberated Bavaria, western Austria and part of the Czech Republic (the cities of Pilsen and Karlovy Vary).

The dramatic page of the Second World War was the Berlin operation.

During the defense of the capital, the Reich Hitler command did everything to implement the slogan: "Berlin will remain German! The entire population capable of holding weapons was mobilized. Tank destroyers were formed from the Hitler Youth, residential quarters turned into fortresses. About 400 thousand people are employed in defense work. combat-ready units created army groups to strike at the flanks of the Soviet troops.Hitler's refusal to surrender, his calculations of feuds among the allies delayed the end of the bloody war, led to unnecessary casualties.Soviet losses amounted to 78 thousand, German - 150 thousand killed.

The ratio of forces at the beginning of the Berlin operation

	Personnel	Tanks	Cannons	Aircraft
Soviet troops	2.5 million people	6250	41600	7500
German troops and their allies	1 million people	1500	10400	3300

From the Soviet side, troops of three fronts participated in the Berlin operation: 2nd Belorussian, 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian. They were commanded accordingly by K. K. Rokossovsky, G. K. Zhukov and I. S. Konev.

The battle began on April 16. About the third now in the morning, Berlin time, under the light of searchlights, tanks and infantry went on the attack. The troops under the command of Zhukov advanced through the so-called Seelow Heights. The enemy's line of defense in front of the heights was overcome quite quickly, then complications began. The battle lasted all day and did not subside even at night. Only on the morning of April 18 was the line taken. Fighting began on the outskirts of Berlin. Four days later the fronts of Zhukov and Konev closed the ring around the city.

Hitler decides not to leave the country, but to personally lead the struggle for Berlin.

On April 25, the small town of Torgau on the Elbe embankment became known to the whole world. On this day, the advance units of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the American army squadrons met here.

Meeting of Nar. Elbi Soviet, American and British military.

Meanwhile, in Berlin, the fighting was already in the center of the city, where the enemy offered stubborn resistance. All attempts to unblock the city by other groups of Hitler's troops were in vain. Almost every house had to be taken by storm. “On the third day of the fighting in Berlin,” Zhukov recalled, “fortress cannons were fed from the Silesian railway station to a specially widened track, which opened fire on the city center. The weight of each of them projectile was half a ton. Berlin's defense was scattered to smithereens. Even the Imperial Chancellery understands that the battle for the German capital is approaching ... ”On April 30, the Reichstag was taken by storm. A red flag fluttered over him.

Victory Banner over the Reichstag. April 30, 1945 R.

Interesting to know

In the 3rd Shock Army, which stormed the central part of Berlin, 9 battle banners (in the number of divisions) were made, which had to be hoisted over the Reichstag. One of them is the proportion of the 150th rifle division with the Banner of Victory, which was hoisted over the Reichstag on April 30 by Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria. In addition, every soldier who stormed the Reichstag had a red flag, which sought to be hooked on the defeated symbol of Nazi Germany.

On May 1, General Krebs, Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces of Germany, was delivered to the command post of the 8th Guards Army. Declaring that Hitler committed suicide on April 30 (as early as April 28, 1945, Italian partisans, while carrying out the verdict of the popular tribunal, shot and hanged Mussolini, his mistress of the supporters, by the legs). April 30, 1945 Hitler poisoned his wife Eva Braun and himself. Their corpses, along with the corpse of Goebbels, his wife and their six-daughters, were burned by the SS in the courtyard), he proposed to start negotiations for an operemist agreement. This was reported to Stalin, who demanded to negotiate only an unconditional surrender. There was no response from Hitler's successors, and hostilities resumed. The next day, the Berlin Defense Headquarters ordered an end to hostilities. Berlin fell. During the assault on the German capital, Soviet troops lost 300thousand killed and wounded.

The remnants of German troops in the north of Germany, pressed against the coast of the Baltic Sea, also surrendered. 8May 1945 in the suburb of Berlin Karlshorst in front of representatives of the USSR, USA, England, France, Field Marshal V. Keitel on behalf of the German government signed the Act of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces. It wasVictory.

V. Keitel signs the Act of Unconditional Surrender. Karlhorst (Germany), May 1945

However, the grouping of German troops on the territory of Czechoslovakia and Austria has not yet drawn up weapons. His units in Prageveli fought with participants in the anti-fascist uprising, which began on May 5. Throwing troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front, formerly of tank units, made it possible to save the city and its inhabitants.

Interesting to know

It so happened that Prague was voted out by German troops twice. For the first time, it was "liberated" by units of the ROA (Russian Liberation Army), which, fleeing from the Soviet troops and realizing that their fate would be tragic in Soviet captivity, tried to appear to the Anglo-American troops. Their escape route had to go through Prague. But on their way were German troops who sought to suppress the anti-fascist uprising. Then the ROA units decided to pave the way with weapons, striking at the German troops. Having broken through to the city, they were greeted by the citizens of Prague as liberators. Indiscernible in Prague, the ROA columns moved further to the West. Meanwhile, from the north, Soviet troops breaking through resistance broke through to Prague. On May 9, they entered the streets of the city. The German group "Center" were surrounded and surrendered.

Destroyed a house in Prague after the bombing. 1945

To commemorate the victory of nad-fascist Germany in Moscow, a parade was held on Red Square on June 24, which went down in history as the Victory Parade. The march of the combined regiments of the fronts was completed by a column of soldiers who threw 200 warrant officers into the mausoleum of Lenin fascist armies... The parade was commanded by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rokossovsky, and the parade was received by Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal Zhukov.

Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974) - Mashal of the Soviet Union

2. Crimean (Yalta) and Potsdam conferences and their solutions.

The approach of the end of the war increasingly put on the agenda the question of the post-war structure of Europe and the world. The resolution of this issue was attributed to two conferences, the Yalta and Potsdam leaders of the United States, Britain and the USSR, which took place in 1945, and the decisions adopted at these conferences formed the basis of the Yalta system of the post-war world, which changed the Versailles-Washington one.

At the Crimean Conference:

W. Churchill, F.-D. Roosevelt, I. Stalin, Yalta, 1945

On February 4-11, 1945, the "Big Three" gathered in Yalta in the same composition as in Tehran. This became a culmination in the development of relations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. The atmosphere of future victory seemed to be overshadowed by disagreements and the desire of each side to strengthen its position in the post-war world. 3 many issues managed to reach real agreements. Among them - the coordination of the principles of unconditional surrender of Hitlerite Germany: the elimination of such institutions as the Nazi party, the repressive apparatus of the Hitlerite regime, the dissolution of the armed forces, the establishment of control over the German military industry, the punishment of war criminals.

The "Declaration of a Liberated Europe" adopted by the conference provided for the implementation of a coordinated policy in the liberated European countries, the complete eradication of the consequences of fascism in them, support for democratic institutions, and assistance to the liberated peoples.

An important achievement of the Yalta Conference was the decision to establish the United Nations. For the adoption of the UN Charter, the parties agreed to convene a conference in San Francisco. The issue of the participation of the Soviet Union in the war with Japan was also resolved. Roosevelt believed that this was necessary for an early end to the war in the Far East. That is why he did not object to Stalin's proposal to fix in a special document the return of the USSR after the victory over Japan to South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, the restoration of the right to Port Arthur as a naval base of the USSR, ensuring the interests of the Soviet Union in the port of Dairen on the territory of China. Other distant problems were also agreed.

There were also heated discussions. The issue of the military occupation zone of Germany and reparations in favor of the winners was not yet agreed upon. The Soviet side proposed to collect reparations not in money, but in kind - with the simultaneous withdrawal of equipment from enterprises, ships, rolling stock of railways, and deliveries of goods for ten years. In this matter, Stalin was supported by Roosevelt, who emphasized the need to meet the demands of the USSR. Churchill, speaking of the difficulty of compensating the Soviet Union for its huge losses, actually slowed down the solution of this problem. And yet it was possible to agree on the creation of a reparations commission.

The most difficult were the discussions with Polish problems. If the question of Poland's borders with the USSR was in principle decided - the border should run along the "Curzon Line" with some deviations in favor of Poland, it was said along the western border only in a general form: "Poland should receive a significant increase in the north and west." The question with which the Polish government to deal was not finally resolved. Finally, it was not postponed, but in the declaration "On Poland" it was said that "the current interim government in Poland should be ... reorganized on a broader democratic basis with the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and Poles from abroad."

Yalta (Crimean) Conference (February 4-11, 1945) with the participation of W. Churchill, Stalin, F. Roosevelt

German Question	Polish question	Japanese issues	The issue of creating an international organization and others.
1.Viznacheni zone of the future occupation of Germany by the troops of the USSR, Great Britain, the USA and France. Berlin stood out as a special area. Which also pays off by the troops of four states. 2.Rule of Germany was to be carried out by the Allied Control Council, which included the commanders-in-chief of the occupying forces. 3. Nimechina has to pay reparations of 20 billion. Doll. 4. An agreement was reached on the deployment and dissolution of the German armed forces, the establishment of control over the military industry, the ban of the Nazi party, and the punishment of war criminals.	1. The wicked border of Poland was determined by the rivers Oder and Neisse. Western Ukraine and Western Belarus remained part of the USSR. 2. The Radiansky Union agreed to recognize the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity, which was supposed to hold free elections in the country.	The USSR pledged to enter the war with Japan no later than three months after the defeat of Germany on the terms of the annexation of South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, the rights to lease Port Arthur and joint operation of railways in Manchuria with China.	1.A decision was made to convene a constituent UN conference to develop the charter of the organization. The basic principles of the organization's activity and its structure have been determined. 2. The "Declaration on the Liberation of Europe" was adopted, in which it was stated that the allied states would coordinate their actions in solving the political and economic problems of the liberated Europe.

The rest of the unrelated issues was considered at the Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945), held after the end of hostilities in Europe.

There were changes in the composition of its participants: the interests of the United States were represented by G. Truman, who became president after the death of F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill were changed from July 28 by the newly elected Prime Minister K. Attlee. Only Stalin remained from the Big Three.

The focus was on the German issue: demilitarization and denazification of the country, punishment of war criminals, reparations, Germany's borders with neighbors, etc. The Soviet Union confirmed that it would enter the war with Japan in accordance with the Yalta deal.

The agenda included the issue of peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland. Despite the contradictions between the conference participants (the United States tried to influence the course of the conference by announcing the successful tests of the atomic bomb), it gave a positive impetus to the development of international relations under the conditionspost-war world.

From the expression of G. Truman (1945)

"(The atomic bomb) is the world's smartest thing? Our $ 2 billion investment has paid off. The balance of power in the world has changed dramatically? Nuclear weapons are not only revolutionizing war, they can also change the course of history."

Harry Truman

Unfortunately, this historic chance was not used by the victorious countries. A year later, the "cold war" began, which occupied an entire historical era.

Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945) I. Stalin, H. Truman, who became President of the United States after the death of F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill

German question	Polish question	Japanese issues	Question peace treaties with Germany's allies
1.Uzgodzheni and approved the general principles of the occupation policy: denazification, demilitarization, democratization and decartelization. Creation of the International Tribunal for the Punishment of Major War Criminals. 2.Radyansky of the Union was transferred to the territory of the former East Prussia with the city of Konigsberg.	The borders of Poland were established in accordance with the agreements at the Yalta Conference.	The conditions for the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan were confirmed.	Creation of a permanent body - the Council of Foreign Ministers (USA, USSR, Great Britain, France, China) to agree on issues of common interest. The CFM should first of all prepare draft peace treaties with Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Finland.

3. The defeat of Japan. The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The defeat of Nazi Germany did not mean the end of World War II. Japan still continued to resist the allies.

At the end of 1944, the United States virtually destroyed the Japanese fleet, which is little defining in this theater of operations. The victory obtained at sea allowed the United States to liberate the Philippines and a number of Pacific islands from Japanese troops. In the spring of 1945, British troops drove the Japanese out of Birma. American "flying fortresses" (B-17, B-29) continued to increase the systematic bombing of the Japanese islands. One of the American generals assured that Japan "will soon return to stone age."

Despite this, the Japanese were determined to fight to the last. This was evidenced by the battles for the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. So, for the capture of the small island of Okinawa, which was defended by 120 thousand Japanese forces, the American army of five hundred thousand, with full advantage at sea and in the air, required two months of fierce fighting (May-June 1945). The Japanese only then ceased resistance when the last defender was killed. In the battle for the island, the Japanese also lost the remnants of their combat-ready aviation - 4 thousand aircraft, as well as the last large ships of the fleet.

American losses amounted to 50 thousand killed and wounded, 763 aircraft and 36 ships.

Interesting to know

During this battle, the Japanese command decided to throw the remnants of the Japanese fleet into the last battle, led by the Yamato slinkboat, the largest battleship in the world with 460-mm cannons. Meeting in open combat with this ship did not bring anything good for the American fleet. Japanese fleet was equipped with the maximum amount of ammunition and fuel only one way. The Americans learned in time that this monster was going to sea and decided to destroy it with the help of aircraft. On April 7, 1945, a bloody battle broke out. About 700 Japanese aircraft (of which 355 were kamikaze) attacked the American fleet. In turn, American aircraft attacked the Yamato, which sank after 4 hours of continuous bombing, taking the lives of 2,488 Japanese sailors. A Japanese cruiser and 4 destroyers were also sunk. The Japanese fleet ceased to exist. The losses of the Americans amounted to only 15 aircraft.

Realizing that the battles for Japan will be no less fierce and bloody, the American leadership dared to use a new weapon against Japan - the atomic bomb. Although, to a greater extent, the decision on the atomic bombing has little political significance: to show the whole world, including the USSR, the power of the United States.

Nuclear explosion

On August 6, 1945, two days before the supposed entry of the USSR into the war with Japan, an atomic bomb was dropped from a heavy American B-29 bomber on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On August 9th this "experiment" was repeated in the city of Nagasaki. The total number of deaths reached 200 thousand people. The number of victims has reached 500 thousand people. It is impossible to justify the use of atomic weapons against civilians.

Nagasaki after the explosion of the American atomic bomb

As early as April 5, 1945, on behalf of the Soviet government, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow made a statement that the USSR would denounce a pact of neutrality with Japan. The reasons for the denunciation were said that "The situation has changed radically ... Japan, an ally of Germany, helped the latter in its war against the USSR. In addition, Japan is at war with the United States and Britain, which are allies of the Soviet Union." In Japan itself, this announcement led to a change of government. On August 8, 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan.

The ratio of the forces of the USSR and Japan in the Far East on the eve of the Soviet offensive (August 1945)

	Soviet troops	Japanese Forces (Kwantung Army)
Personnel	1.570 million people	1.1 million people
Guns and mortars	27086	6640
Tanks and self-propelled guns	5250	1215
Aircraft	3721	About 2000

In accordance with their plans, the Soviet troops dealt the main blow to the Kwantung Army, which was stationed in Manchuria and numbered 1.1 million people. The general leadership of the troops was carried out by A.M. Vasilevsky. The troops of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army took part in the battles. Soviet troops had to overcome mountains, rivers, taiga, swamps, semi-desert steppes. Fanatical Japanese units, especially suicide units, stubbornly resisted. Despite this, the Kwantung Army in a short time was defeated. August 14, the Japanese government decides to surrender.

Actually, we declared war on America and Britain out of a sincere desire to ensure the self-preservation of Japan and the stabilization of East Asia, in no way intending to carry out territorial acquisitions, not to limit the sovereignty of other nations.

But now the war has been going on for almost four years. Despite the maximum efforts of each - the valiant struggle of our armies, the navy, the inviolable diligence of our civil servants and the devoted service of our 100 million people - military situation has not changed in Japan's favor, while all world trends have turned against our interests.

In addition, the enemy began to use a new, most brutal bomb, whose ability to destroy a large number of innocent lives is truly immense. If we continue to fight, it will not only lead to the final death of the Japanese nation, but also lead to the complete extinction of human civilization. "

Under the blows of the Soviet army, Japanese troops lay down their arms. About 640 thousand people were taken prisoner. On September 1, a Soviet landing force landed on the southern islands of the Kuril ridge. The entire campaign of Soviet troops against Japan lasted 24 days. The losses of the Japanese troops were 84 thousand, the Soviet -12 thousand killed.

September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay, aboard the American cruiser Missouri, in the presence of representatives of the countries that participated in the war with Japan, the signing ceremony of the act of Japan's unconditional surrender took place.

Aktao signing of Japan's surrender. 1945

The end of the war against Japan provided for the conclusion of a peace treaty with him. However, the United States, in violation of its previous agreements, refused to hand over the preparation of a peace treaty with Japan to the RA Foreign Ministers, and postponed the resolution of the issue of a peaceful settlement in the Pacific Basin.

Japan and the territories it seizedwere divided into zones of occupation between the United States, USSR, England, China. Japan itself fell into the American occupation zone and on September 6, 1945, American troops landed on its territory.

4. Results of the Second World War.

The Second World War did not have a large scale of hostilities, the use of military equipment, the number of participants and victims, political, economic and technological consequences.

Tab .: Human costs of the main participants in World War II

The country	Losses
the USSR	27 million people
USA	297 K people
England	335 thousand (Australia -23 (34) * thousand, Canada - 37 (43) thousand, India - 24 (48) thousand, New Zealand - 10 (12) thousand, PASS - 6 (9) thousand people)
France	373 (418) thousand people
Belgium	100 thousand people
Netherlands	256 K people
Norway	13 thousand people
Poland	According to various estimates, from 4.5 to 6.6 million people.
Yugoslavia	1.7 million people (3/4 victims of ethnic massacre, civil war)
Czechoslovakia	317 K people
Greece	170 (408) thousand people
China	About 20 million people
Germany	13 million people
Italy	373 (556) thousand people
Japan	2.23 (3.553) million people
Hungary	427 K people
Romania	558 K people
Bulgaria	More than 20 thousand people
Finland	90 thousand people

* In brackets - according to other data.

Of all the continents, Eurorp suffered the most. Its fields were plowed with trenches, trenches, stuffed with mines, shells, and shrapnel. Many cities and villages were destroyed to the ground. Millions of people were left homeless, found themselves in a foreign land. Industrial production in European countries fell by 40%. All modes of transport were badly damaged. The financial position of most of the belligerent countries has become disastrous. Inflation was raging everywhere. The franc is 80% thinner, the pound 38%. England even had to sell 19% of its overseas property. To stabilize your financial condition. Significant losses were incurred and Agriculture: yield dropped, large areas remained unseeded. The quality and size of the workforce has undergone major changes.

World War II was a complex political and social phenomenon. Over the course of six years, its character and goals of the participants have changed. The experience of the war has shown that the political aspirations of leaders play an important role in it. The ambitions of the state leaders especially increased at the end of the war, when the troops, on the orders of their commanders-in-chief, in spite of any human losses, sought to seize as much territory as possible in order to achieve post-war geopolitical advantages.

But the main result of the war was the defeat of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan. Fascism (Nazism), one of the most reactionary and human-hating models of totalitarianism, suffered a crushing defeat. Fascist regimes were liquidated, fascist parties were banned, fascist leaders were justly punished. Fascist (Nazi) ideology discredited itself.

The victory over fascism was a victory for democracy and humanism. Thanks to her, democracy has strengthened its position in the world. Became a determining force in social development.

However, the victory did not eliminate all contradictions in the world. For the peoples of Eastern Europe and parts of Asian countries, the victory over fascism and militarism did not become a triumph of freedom and democracy, but turned into the implantation of totalitarianism but of the Soviet model. Totalitarianism of the Soviet model (communism), thanks to a temporary alliance with democratic countries and a common victory over fascism, strengthened its position in the world, expanded the area of ​​its domination and raised the challenge to the same democracy and freedom.

The strategic goal of putting an end to Stotalitarianism, which was nurtured by the most daring and far-sighted politicians of the West, was not achieved. The victory in this regard was half-hearted, not for everyone. In this situation, a confrontation between East and West, communism and democracy began to form. This struggle was embodied in the confrontation between the two superpowers - the USA and the USSR, which resulted in the Cold War: an unrestrained arms race, undisguised mistrust and enmity of the opposing camps.

The war marked the beginning of the collapse of the colonial system. The struggle of the peoples of the colonies against aggression merged with the national liberation movement against the metropolises, the growth of national consciousness in the countries of Asia and Africa, eventually led to the fall of colonial empires and the democratization of a number of European countries.

World War II changed not only political map peace, but also the fate of entire peoples, in particular, the deported and those who were subjected to mass genocide (Jews, Gypsies, Serbs, etc.). The split of individual peoples and countries into two state formations (Vietnam, Korea, Germany, China) took place, delaying the process of their unification for many years.

The Second World War gave a powerful impetus to the development of science and technology. TO greatest discoveries The period of the war should include the production of an atomic bomb by the joint efforts of scientists from a number of countries, which ultimately affected the entire development of science and technology. Radar installations, which were invented in England to detect German air armada, gave a powerful impetus for the further development of radio electronics. On the whole, both of these areas in the field of physics contributed to the accelerated development of cybernetics.

The Germans managed, albeit at the end of the war, to begin the serial production of aircraft with jet engines. The German FAU-1 and FAU-2 missiles are also significant discoveries during the war, which later, thanks to the efforts of scientists from the USA and the USSR, transformed into carrier rockets of nuclear weapons and spacecraft.

The huge paradox of science was that the efforts of scientists were subordinated to the invention of effective means of mass destruction of people, and not the means of their protection.

Outcomes

The final battles of World War II in Europe and Pacific were no less bloody between in previous years. The war took the lives of people until the last day. However, the winners and losers were already known in the war. The last months of the war were the culmination of cooperation between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. It seemed that after such a terrible war with tens of millions of victims, enormous destruction, a lasting peace would come and cooperation between states would reign. However, during this period, subtle symptoms of the future confrontation between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, began to appear. The actions of the army were no longer dictated by military needs, but by political calculations for the future. The end of World War II was at the same time the beginning of a new nuclear era.

Questions and questions:

1. What are the key events of the last stage of the war?

2. According to the English historian L. Garth, the military policy of England in 1939-1945 was determined by the principle: "During the conduct of a war, you must constantly remember the goals that you are striving to achieve after the war." Expand the content of this expression and support it with facts from the history of World War II.

3. Find out the main decisions of the Crimean and Potsdam Peace Conferences. How was the German question resolved? How was the Polish question resolved?

4. What is the role of the Berlin operation in World War II? Why were the Berlin operations carried out by Soviet troops, and not by the Allied troops?

5. What caused the entry of the USSR into the war against Japan?

6. What was the goal of the United States using atomic bombs against Japan?

7. Consider the reasons for the defeat of Germany and her allies and the victory of the countries of the Anti-Hitler Coalition.

8. Who is the main contributor to the victory in World War II?

9. What are the main results of the Second World War?

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Results of the second world war

What are the consequences of the course and outcome of the Second World War for the great powers participating in it and for the whole international system? 1 For Great Britain, in essence, the very decision to enter the war in 1939 predetermined the further weakening of its position as a world power, which had been shaken even during the First World War, which it had achieved between 1815 and 1860. and - after the phase of internal reforms - in the classical period of the empire in the last third of the 19th century

No matter how the war ended in Europe, it was impossible to hope for the restoration of British influence in Eastern and Central Europe, as it was after the First World War due to the weakening of Russia as a result of the war and revolution, which made it possible for another two decades later to restore the "equilibrium. forces "in Europe. One could not hope for this either in the event of a victory for Germany, or in the event of a victory for Great Britain, possible only with the help (or with intervention in the war on its own initiative) by the Soviet Union. Thus, the European equilibrium under the indirect British leadership, the equilibrium traditionally viewed as a prerequisite for an active international policy of Great Britain, although this axiom became controversial since the end of the First World War, could by no means be restored. Against this background, the policy of appeasement pursued by Great Britain in the 30s should be regarded as a realistic political strategy aimed at preserving the world empire with insufficient means in the long term and at the same time preparing for internal changes as it is necessary for the system in the face of such a challenge. ... In accordance with British tradition, since 1815, the politics of power was associated with moral aspects, and specifically in the 30s with the need for peace in Europe and throughout the world.

Back in the war of 1914-1918, in order to establish itself in Europe, Great Britain was forced to meet the dominions with the white population, as well as the colonial peoples, and to agree to the weakening of its empire, though still insignificant. This tendency towards gaining independence determined the entire interwar period and, as expected, intensified during the Second World War. During the crisis of 1941-1942. The British government had to pledge independence to India in the post-war period in order to at least localize the incipient - since independence was not immediately granted - an uprising and to prevent India from going over to the side of the Three-Power Pact. In general, the need to use the potential of the Commonwealth of Nations and Colonies for the purpose of waging war resulted in the fact that the centrifugal forces in the British Commonwealth sharply intensified. Canada, Australia, New Zealand went their own way and in the event of a threat - for example, in 1942 in connection with the Japanese offensive - relied on the United States, no matter how much the British Conservatives, led by Churchill, were trying to weaken the tendency to disintegration.

Added to this was the third, perhaps, decisive moment. When in 1940 the German successes on the European continent reached their apogee, the long-standing problem arose before Great Britain - either to become a "junior partner" of the threatening German world power, or to recognize the US leadership, which, on the other hand, also meant becoming " a junior partner "of a stronger one. For traditionally historical, as well as for fundamental reasons, the first decision for Great Britain was out of the question. To avoid such dependence on the super-great Germany of Hitler's type, and not at all to save Poland, the Chamberlain government, after delays and hesitation, decided to declare war on Germany. It was consistent (which confirms the continuity of the main line of British policy during the transfer of power from Chamberlain to Churchill) and the adoption in the summer of 1940 of a decision in favor of reliance on America, which Chamberlain wanted to avoid in the process of appeasement until the summer of 1939 - with greater freedom of action. in spite of the British-American trade agreement of 1938. Equality preserved in the First World War and in the interwar period and, for example, important in the global strategic plan, the "division of labor" between Great Britain and the United States, in which the Atlantic was completely transferred to the British partner for broad strategic support, gave way to the unwanted but inevitable submission of Great Britain to the United States with its international political goals. This happened all the faster, the longer the war lasted and it became clearer that for Great Britain it meant a colossal overextension of forces. The unexpected outcome of the British elections in July 1945, forcing the resignation of a fighter for the old imperial tradition of Churchill, despite his triumph in the war against Hitler, and leading to power in Britain, the Labor Party, insisting on social reform and satisfied with more modest foreign policy goals ( although still imperialist), showed that the majority of the British were reconciled with the retreat to the second tier of powers and, in accordance with British tradition, again sought through internal reforms to adapt to the new situation.

The impact of World War II on France - by analogy with this main line in British history - should apparently be viewed in terms of the sudden, often revolutionary breaks that have characterized French history since the Great Revolution. On the one hand, the collapse of the Third Republic in 1940, so strikingly fast for all those waging a war and at that time still neutral or "not waging a war" on the side of the victors, but was also recognized by them, at least formally, albeit with some restrictions, again a great power - two deep breaks in just a few years - on the other, created the preconditions for the ambiguity so characteristic of French politics in the following decades, discrepancies between a sober, realistic assessment of the current situation, still remaining, very limited opportunities for France and a huge exaggeration of its own greatness, as well as the role of France in world politics.

Of course, General de Gaulle bore special responsibility for this; but at the same time he was simply an outstanding representative of the prevailing point of view. The resulting ambiguity extended both to French policy in Europe and, with even greater consequences, to French colonial and transatlantic policies. The desire to assert his independence within the framework of the "anti-Hitler coalition", carried through by de Gaulle, despite all the humiliation, through the years of great weakness in France, resulted in 1944-1945. in an effort to be an equal partner on the European continent, recognized by both Britain and the Soviet Union. The aim of such a policy of equilibrium was to get the opportunity to throw France's supposedly decisive weight on the scales in favor of the East or West, both against the revival of the German "Reich" in any form, and against Anglo-Saxon supremacy. But the discrepancy between desire and capabilities was already so obvious in 1945 that a possible special alliance with France could not play more than a secondary role neither for the Soviet Union, nor for the United States and Great Britain. Such an alliance as an alternative on a large scale was out of the question for the supporters of the course of cooperation with the Soviet Union due to the weakness of France. And for the representatives of the confrontational course towards the Soviet Union in America, the presence of France in the Western bloc seemed possible not on the basis of special agreements, but because with the aggravation of relations between the East and West of France, there was no other way out; this and so corresponded to the logic of the development of events. France could acquire greater political importance in Europe if it recognized the freedom and independence of its colonies, as de Gaulle proclaimed - albeit hesitantly - during the war as his program. And at the moment of victory in 1945, the forces defending the colonial status of France prevailed. For the last time, demonstrating the discord between their continental European and overseas affairs, characteristic since the time of Louis XIV, they attempted, in spite of the "spirit of the times," to restore the colonial empire. The actions that France for more than fifteen years carried out by military means in regions located far from Europe (Indochina, then Algeria), led it to incapacity in the field of foreign policy and to even greater dependence on the United States, which, in general, and without that it could not have been avoided, given the balance of power on the world stage.

If, therefore, both Great Britain and France belonged to the powers that had to pay for participation in the victory over Germany by the loss of their leading position in the world system of powers, but which at such a price managed to maintain inner freedom and thus a chance to fulfill new functions as "middle powers" 2 in world politics, the Soviet Union and the United States, both main victorious powers, although they have now finally risen to the position of leading world powers, which, by the way, Tocqueville predicted a hundred years ago, Russia and America, based on their exceptional potential, experienced the most in various ways what may be called the dual consequences of any great military victory.

This applied primarily to the Soviet Union. The main principle of his foreign policy, which since the 1920s has been that the Soviet Union is opposed by a group or circle of "imperialist", that is, fundamentally hostile to the communist system, powers, has not lost its significance during the Second World War, despite all the changes in the alignment of forces and the changing role of the Soviet Union. This consistently determined the tasks of Soviet foreign policy, which consisted in the fact that even during the war, through diplomatic efforts and correct use The Red Army will ensure for itself a large foreign policy and - taking into account the rapid development of military technology - all the more necessary strategic freedom of action in Europe and around the world.

In 1939, a pact with Hitler began, and then Stalin's attempt failed to direct the "imperialist" powers against each other so that they exhausted their forces, and he himself remained in a wait-and-see position, so that in the looming post-war situation he could throw the entire weight of the Sotk Union on the bowl scales of the future confrontation with the weakened "imperialist" powers. This attempt ended in shock from the German attack on June 22, 1941 and the defeats of the Red Army in the next six months, which almost led to a total catastrophe and continued until the Battle of Moscow. The military successes achieved since 1942 thanks to the huge sacrifices and the sober, rational as well as cruel, cunning determination of Stalin nevertheless ensured in the end the Soviet Union the greatest successes among all the victorious powers, although its territory suffered incomparably more from the war. 20 million dead (USA - 259 thousand, Great Britain - 386 thousand) and completely devastated areas in the west of the country - such was the extremely high cost per turn, which led from the brink of disaster in 1941 to the triumph of 1945.

Thanks to the dominant position that the Soviet Union secured for itself in Europe up to the Elbe, the possibility of re-creating anti-Soviet combinations in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe in the style of the 1920s and 1930s was ruled out in the future. An important prerequisite for this was the social and revolutionary transformations subordinated to the goals of strategic support and serving it in a large region outside the already spread far to the west of the Soviet territory (that is, within the framework of the old "cordon sanitaire" and regions that in a narrow sense belonged to 1939 . to Central Europe).

Conversely, the projected outer ring of security, that is, a wide buffer zone covering a number of neutral or "to be neutralized" countries between the two-way expanded Soviet empire and the region of Western influence from Scandinavia and the rest of Germany (within the borders of the Potsdam agreements) to Italy due to reorientation American post-war policy from cooperation to confrontation with the USSR, existed only in outline. As a result, in the end, direct contact with the region of "Western" influence had to be chosen as the worst alternative in the most painful place - in Germany. Thus, as a result of the great weight that the Soviet Union acquired within the framework of the "anti-Hitler coalition," the prerequisites were created for its rise to the rank of a world power, whose various demands now determined the entire Soviet policy.

The aforementioned dual consequences of the 1945 triumph were that, despite the elimination of the two "imperialist" great powers, under the pressure of which the Soviet Union had been on both sides since the world economic crisis in the early 1930s, Germany and Japan, now he felt himself still surrounded by "imperialist" powers, albeit at a greater distance than before 1939. In addition, improved military equipment, above all the qualitative leap that the United States achieved in 1945 thanks to nuclear weapons, partially eliminated the advantage of the achieved remoteness. The Soviet Union acquired a "half-hegemonic position" in Europe with all the dangers and burdens that have long been associated with such an ambivalent position. They soon manifested themselves in the defensive reaction of all European states that were not under Soviet rule, in their direct or indirect reliance on the enemy of the Soviet Union in the international arena, on the United States. Moreover, if before the Second World War there was a chance to use against each other various groups of "imperialist" states, namely, the "have-nots" against the rich, now the economic, as well as military and technological superiority of the world power of the United States among the remaining "imperialist" states was so great that a conflict between "imperialist" states, comparable to the events of 1939-1945, was ruled out, at least for the foreseeable future.

On the contrary, the new world power, the USA, in the event of a crisis in the changed conditions - moreover, due to the American monopoly on atomic weapons (and later nuclear superiority), in principle, did not improve for the Soviet Union - conditions could recreate the situation of a war on two fronts - in Central Europe and in East Asia. In this case, the Soviet Union would find itself in the face of a much stronger "imperialist" "bloc", which, moreover, in the event of war, unlike Hitler, would certainly play the card of an incendiary call to fight for freedom, addressed to the peoples forcibly united in the Soviet empire ... In 1945, the Soviet Union had not yet made a political leap towards freedom in order to really equalize the chances with the strongest rival power in the course of the struggle between the world powers that was entering a new stage.

US supremacy was seen as a threat; their turn to confrontation, made by President Truman in the field of international politics back in 1945, reinforced, from the Soviet point of view, these still ambiguous results of the war, which could only be corrected with the help of huge new efforts. After a pause, after a pause from the conquered in the last phase of the war, in 1944-1945, the "bridgehead" in Central and Eastern Europe, one could take a risk and try to expand the international political, military-strategic and military-technical positions of the Soviet Union and achieve global goals ... However, the Soviet Union was still exposed to the dangers that had long been faced by countries striving for complete hegemony in Europe, and which were complicated for it by the problem of a second front in the East (the United States with Japan or China) and increased by the growth of internal difficulties in a thin ruling layer. Soviet-communist cadre party and ethnic tensions within the Soviet empire.

Thus, the idea is indirectly expressed here that, no matter how high after the victory of 1945 the "Soviet Union" factor in world politics is estimated, nevertheless, the United States withdrew from the war as economically and strategically - naval and air military forces were dominant and very an attractive world power with its liberal-democratic tendencies and principles. For the next ten years, America actually had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, or at least as much superiority in this area that it was equal to a monopoly. It seemed that the mission of the United States was to dictate the world to the world in accordance with its principles. Although America was not ready for such an exceptional situation, when for the first time in the history of mankind, any power received a real chance to establish its world domination, no matter how it was later evaluated, and, therefore, was not able to adequately use it to its advantage. As for Great Britain in the 19th century, for the USA in the 20th century, the most appropriate, based on its internal structure, was the informal domination of the world.

All this taken together, as well as the optimistic hope that the United States, with its ideals, would indirectly many times increase its attractiveness, kept this advanced power from trying to use its monopoly of power to establish direct dominance on a global scale. In addition, even during the war, due to an incorrect assessment of the Soviet Union that changed over many years (from "an insignificant value that can be neglected" in 1941-1942 to a superpower surpassing the United States, at least in Europe, in 1943- 1944), there was a hesitation between setting the global goal of an American-style world (Atlantic Charter 1941) with the dominant position of the United States around the world and, by comparison, the relatively limited goal of establishing hegemony in a large region encompassing the American dual continent, two oceans and their border zones with Europe and Asia, as well as part of East Asia.

When, after the battle of Stalingrad in early 1943, the Americans found out that, contrary to previous estimates, the Soviet Union would withdraw from the war as a first-class power, this alternative - a dominant position in the world or hegemony in one (Atlantic-West European) large region - began to get involved in setting goals. with a different issue, namely, cooperation or confrontation with the Soviet Union in the post-war period. At the moment of victory in Europe, due to unexpected death President Roosevelt and the uncertainty of his successor, Truman, it seemed that the question remained open in what direction American policy would develop in the future, although the scales - including thanks to some preliminary decisions of the first months of 1945, even under Roosevelt - were already inclined towards conflict and the formation of a bloc in the West. But as soon as it became clear that territorial changes of a more or less large scale were no longer possible without a new major military catastrophe, it became obvious that, based on the polarity of the two blocs and on the division of the continent (with defeated Germany as the core), peace in Europe was more secure. stable equilibrium than the precarious equilibrium of the order that existed in 1919-1920. The possibility of the existence of another choice, in fact imaginary after the First World War, namely, between a return to isolation in the sphere of the American double continent and constant participation in world politics, was now irrelevant, completely outdated. And the really existing alternative of the 1920s: direct political and military involvement or - what America decided then - the indirect, subordinate to economic and financial interests, influence on world politics - now could not be solved, as then, according to the principle "either - or", it could only be solved in accordance with the principle "how - so and ".

The logic of the extremist military policy of the "anti-Hitler coalition", which was concentrated in the formula of "unconditional surrender" and which was to be understood as a "response" to the "challenge of the aggressors", implied that the defeated states should not only be weakened, but also completely excluded from among the great powers. Such a result, of course, would have been achieved in fact without such a sharpening of the military goals of the allies, even if a compromise peace was concluded on the basis of the status quo. For the rapid development of military technology and the military strategy based on this, emanating from "wide spaces", which left a chance for military-political "sovereignty" only to states with large powers to provide for themselves economically within the national borders made it necessary to expand the territory under their control for a state of such size as Germany, Italy or Japan, beyond the limits they still need to assert their status as a great power, if they wanted to keep a step with such powers that have an advantage in size and economic potential, like the United States and Russia, and did not want to be thrown back into the category of "average" states without a fight.

Pushing the borders forward, beyond the national-state borders, was, therefore, not only the program of ideological extremists, but the goal of much larger numerically moderate forces in the leadership of these states still professing great-power thinking, which (objectively speaking, also on the basis of the identity of partial interests) supported the extremists. The desire to preserve or restore state-political "sovereignty" in the changed conditions of the mid-20th century was also the main a common feature so to speak, the only connecting link between the three "poor" powers, which in other respects differed from each other in many respects. But their pushing back onto the old national-state borders was, on the other hand, the minimal goal of the most moderate groups in the ruling circles of the United States and Great Britain, groups that, during the war, after disillusionment with the German opposition against Hitler (winter 1939/40) and until the outlined turn in the last weeks of the war, they found themselves in isolation.

Judging by these initial data, for all three defeated great powers, such an outcome of the war meant the end of a historical era, the end of them, although interrupted by failures, but, nevertheless, a previously unstoppable rise from the circle of "average" states, which continued from the 50 x and 60s of the XIX century. Thus, they all managed to play their role of "sovereign" great powers within the European or world system of states only for 80-90 years.

At first glance, the most profound, but in perspective, the least painful turn in 1945 was for Japan, which, after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, despite repeated crises, made a striking leap forward into the ranks of the first-class powers. True, the surrender of Japan ended its function as a politically strong, completely "sovereign" great power and thus the first attempt by a "non-white" Asian state to enter the circle of great powers and act on an equal footing with them. This could be interpreted as a belated triumph of its "white" competitors. The imperialist wave of Western powers in late XIX century, after the whole land was directly or indirectly under the rule of the "whites", it crashed against the resistance of Japan. And its rise after the Japanese-Chinese and especially after the Russian-Japanese war became a symbol of the fact that resistance forces began to form - never achieved - the sole domination of the "whites" over the whole world. But, as it soon became clear, the defeat of Japan in 1945 did not at all mean, as it was initially assumed, given the debunking of the authority of the Japanese imperial house and partly forced, partly occurring supposedly voluntarily in the process of adaptation, the adoption in Japan of many American ideas and institutions, the sudden end of a certain development; this meant, figuratively speaking, only a reorientation of development in a changed, more modern direction.

This was facilitated by various favorable factors: dependence on only one victorious power; the reverse impact of the coup d'état that took place shortly after the end of the war in China, where under the leadership of Mao Zedong, in accordance with the outcome of the conflict in East Asia after 1937 and the anti-colonialist tendencies accompanying it, the rise of the second "non-white" Asian state to the "sovereign" positions of a great power began , the rise that Chiang Kai-shek tried unsuccessfully to make in cooperation with the United States of America after the Cairo Conference of 1943, and, finally, the reassessment of Japan's role in the global strategy of the United States, resulting from the Soviet-American confrontation in the Far East.

From all of this, a change followed that allowed Japan to enter a new era in its history with the chance to tap into the enormous economic potential of course no longer fully "sovereign" large state again as a factor of the first magnitude. In an era that contained many more traditional elements than expected immediately after the 1945 surrender, one cannot fail to see a certain similarity to the situation in Germany after the First World War. This finds its expression in stubborn demands on the Soviet Union regarding the revision of the results of the war. The USSR is required to return the four southern islands of the Kuril ridge, located in the immediate vicinity of the island of Hokkaido.

The fate of Italy was similar to the fate of Japan in the sense that this state, after defeat in the war, actually dealt with only one victorious power or with a group of powers very close to each other (USA and Great Britain), as a result of which it retained unity. In contrast to the very peculiar path of Japan after the Meiji restoration, Italy, after the Machiavellian entry into big politics during the Crimean War, which in 1856 at the Paris Peace Conference brought Sardinia - Piedmont recognition as the alleged sixth European great power, could play its role as a great power always only with the support of other, stronger powers. For a long time, Italy was under British protection, but in the end it leaned towards an alternative solution, like that, which was adopted on the occasion of joining the Triple Alliance during the Bismarck era before the beginning of the era of world wars, and in a significantly changed situation once again became a "junior partner" of Germany. As a result of the war, Italy's attempts were completely suppressed, using the contradictions between other countries, to carry out imperial expansion in the Balkans and in Africa, during which she, acting from a bridgehead on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea - Libya, wanted, with the support of Hitlerite Germany, to create a Mediterranean empire. Italy was thrown back to her difficult internal political and social problems, which the fascist regime had been able to neutralize for over twenty years. But in the American system of priorities, Italy (unlike Japan did not have such of great importance to consolidate (intra-Italian relations, not to mention emergency situations, was seen as vital important condition American hegemony in the Mediterranean region. The consequence was that, in essence, it had to rely on its own insufficient forces and be content with the role of a "middle" power, which it, in fact, remained in the period between 1861 and 1945.

Unlike Japan and Italy, Germany under Hitler did not limit itself to gaining a hegemonic position in some large region for its own purposes. Although Japan and Italy intended to oust the other great powers from important colonial regions and deprive them of their military bases, they did not seek to endanger their existence as great powers or eliminate them altogether. The peculiarity of Hitler's goals was that they went beyond the traditional hegemonism in expanded Central Europe, which the German "Reich" aspired to in the First World War of 1914-1918. Both quantitatively and qualitatively, they went far beyond this framework and were aimed at making Germany a world power, and then becoming the first power in the world and even gaining world domination in the course of the implementation of the "phased program". France and Russia should have ceased to be great powers, and France should have slipped to the level of a dependent "middle" state, and Russia as a whole should have become an object of colonial rule, a kind of German India. shows a plan for the forcible relocation of more than 30 million people from the eastern part Central Europe and from Eastern Europe in the course of the so-called "East" master plan, the eradication of the Jews was radical, extremist, though not the only result, stemming from the racial ideological dogmas of the most extreme universal anti-Semitism, social Darwinism and the doctrine of "inferior race". Within the framework of the history of the Prussian-German great power, Hitler's goals in their place were the last "peak" and extreme development of the previous goal-setting. But in their essence they carried a different quality, they led to a break with the German past. True, during the war, they did not pay attention to all this, because after the initial great successes, there were failures, and this war ended in catastrophe, as a result of which only a partial implementation of the National Socialist program was successful. The full implementation of this program would completely destroy and ruin Europe. The concentration of the majority of Germans on the war effort made it easier to disguise much of the "final solution" to the Jewish question.

Since, on the other hand, it was known in advance that, unlike in 1918, in the event of defeat, the German "Reich" would not survive as a great power, because, unlike the First World War, an avalanche of hostile powers from the East and West, the end of Hitler's power of a new quality would mean at the same time the end of Germany as a great power of the traditional quality, the end of the Bismarck empire. Hitler and his regime, as well as the old ruling circles of the state bureaucracy in the economy, military sphere and diplomacy, understood that they were sitting in the same boat. This led to the cruelty and firmness of the German will to resist the enemy alliance, which demanded "unconditional surrender", by the way, and after the question of "who will whom" had long been resolved. When it became obvious that it was the prolongation of the already lost war that made it possible to complete the criminal extermination of the Jews, as well as the commission of many other war crimes, it was for the above reasons that the surrender became for the Germans not only a military and political, but also a moral catastrophe.

Never before has the discrepancy between the desired and the achieved, and under Hitler also between the Germans, who thought in traditional great-power categories, and the Germans who naively believed the slogans of the "Great Germany's struggle for freedom", was it so great as at that time in Germany. It was from these positions that they tried to take stock of the last segment of its history. Lost in 1945 was not only the status of a great power, won by the "Reich" during the Bismarck era, was lost on the basis of a new alignment of forces in the international arena, after, figuratively speaking, the window between East and West was closed again, which opened for the Central Europe as a result of the Crimean War and for eighty years served as a decisive precondition for the Prussian-German great-power policy. Lost was not only a quarter of the old, uncontested and in Versailles territory of the "Reich", from which in the last weeks of the war almost 6.9 million people fled to the remaining territory of the four occupation zones in Germany between the Oder and the Rhine (or were expelled after the end of the war). No, as a result of what was done on behalf of the Germans, the very right of Germans to their own national life, at least in a modest framework, was called into question. As a response to the crimes committed by the German state, the ideological, economic and political pressure exerted on the Germans by the victorious powers of the East and West was so strong from the very beginning that most Germans felt futile any attempt to preserve national-state ties after the catastrophe. this was the goal of the representatives of the German Resistance movement who had escaped the National Socialist terror in the first period after 1945, when the situation in Germany around it was still relatively open.

But development did not stop there. Given the Cold War, in which the remaining German potential was also used, the hesitation in one direction or the other between the overestimation of the surviving and even growing chances to re-enter the games of "big politics" and the fatalistic agreement with the partition of the rest of Germany, and also placing oneself at the disposal of new "allies" determined the transition to a completely new era in German history, which, despite a certain consistency in certain details, on the whole still represented a much greater break with the past than was typical for Italy or Japan, - not least because Germany was thrown back, beyond the framework of national unity.

In the framework of world politics, the fate of Germany, with which the victorious powers could not conclude a peace treaty due to their diametrically opposed positions, was intertwined with the decisive question of the entire post-war period in general, namely: will it be possible to establish a universal peaceful order after the greatest military catastrophe in world history? or development will lead - and this, despite all the hopes, seemed more likely from the very beginning to most people in all countries - the formation of ideological and political "blocs", which would cause a particularly high degree of tension in the divided residual part of Germany, for here "blocs "directly in contact with each other. This tendency should have led to a similar division of the world, albeit with a different political and geographic structure, and the countries would be grouped around one or another hegemonic power and in the event of the victory of the Pact of Three Powers, which had already competed during the war, over the "anti-Hitler coalition ".

In the long, full of continuous failures and collapses history of European peace agreements and projects after the Peace of Westphalia, the new order after the Second World War was of particular importance, for the military technology, which had received unprecedented development, with its destructive capabilities, the victims of which in 1939-1945. became over 50 million people, would lead in the third world war in accordance with all forecasts to the destruction of humanity as such. All the efforts of the American President Roosevelt at the last stage of the Second World War, in 1943-1945, taking into account this threat to humanity, to focus the efforts of the "anti-Hitler coalition" on the creation of a capable world organization with great executive power, which could eliminate any conflict in the bud between the world powers, including those of a regional nature, meanwhile did not lead to the achievement of decisive success. The stubborn adherence to the ideas of state sovereignty, characteristic of the Soviet Union in the first place, but also for the United States, Great Britain, and partly for France, especially under de Gaulle, which found its expression in the right of great powers to veto in the UN Security Council, led to the continuation of the traditional power politics after 1945

And only in the region that suffered the most from the Second World War - in the central region of continental Europe - the claims of states to sovereignty in 1945 were so weakened that, under the influence of military experience, the idea of ​​a wide rallying of the former nation states with the abandonment of their sovereign rights became predominant, making it seem that there is a prospect of implementing this idea in terms of federal unification at least Western Europe... However, as the distance from the end of the war began, efforts began to weaken, and finally the idea of ​​national-state restoration prevailed. Since all the young states of Asia and Africa were blinded by their national sovereignty, decolonization, as one of the most important results of the Second World War, paradoxically intensified the general tendency to return to the outdated principle of sovereignty in all, even the smallest, states.

The Second World War had a decisive impact on the history of all the great powers participating in it, on their further rise or fall. The system of states itself has undergone significant changes. It concentrated around a few superpowers and a number of "middle" states, but continued to exist, and, moreover, it strengthened itself under the sign of the formation of ideological and state-political "blocs." Eliminating this system, based more than ever on an extremely precarious balance of power and finally expanding to global proportions, as well as preventing the growing conflicts emanating from it - these are still clearly insoluble tasks posed by the Second World War. to decide for future generations.

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Acquaintance with the preconditions, goals and course of the Second World War 1939-1945. Analysis of the situation in the international society of Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, the USA, England and France; features of post-war reconstruction National economy these countries.

(pod .: according to the "Chronicle of Humanity". M., 1994; the book "World War II. Discussions. Main trends. Transl. from German. M., 1997, the textbook 1989 and the course of lectures by E. F. Yazkov)

The Second World War had a decisive impact on the history of all the great powers participating in it, on their further rise or fall. The system of states itself has undergone significant changes. It concentrated around a few superpowers and a number of "middle" states, but continued to exist, and, moreover, it strengthened itself under the sign of the formation of ideological and state-political "blocs."

1.General - victory over fascism. Fascist. parties are banned, the leaders are on trial (Nuremberg trials), the ideology of fascism has discredited itself.

2.Countries and peoples who were threatened by the loss of independence and fascisation, preserved their statehood defended democratic freedoms

3.Grown international authority THE USSR. Stalin's cunning determination nevertheless ensured in the end the Soviet Union the greatest successes among all the victorious powers, although its territory suffered incomparably more from the war. 26 million dead (US - 259 thousand, UK - 386 thousand), devastated areas in the west - extremely. high cost per turn, to international recognition. In the future, the possibility of re-creating anti-Soviet combinations in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe in the style of the 20s and 30s was ruled out.

4. Before the war, there was 1 state, building. sots-m, after it (it does not matter: on the "Soviet bayonets" or independently) began to form world socialist system. Later, in the late 1950s, this allowed Soviet ideologists to say that "the victory of socialism is complete and final, since the restoration of capitalism is impossible." In the 30s. only "in the main" was said about the victory of socialism. After World War II, 11 states (1945-1949) stood on the path indicated by the USSR, forming a kind of belt between the USSR and Europe.

5.Capitulation of the Axis countries ( Germany, Italy, Japan) completely changed the situation in the world, since they temporarily dropped out of the category of "great powers". It got out of the situation the worst of all with time, Ger (split into 2 states!) A little faster, and Japan - excellent - “economical. miracle "of the 60s.

6.All Old Europe more and more began to lose its leading role in world politics. Especially "got" France : in 1940 she capitulated to Germany and dropped out of the "great powers", her position was much worse than that of her rival England. France was recognized as a victorious country, but economically it was not. This determined for many years the duality of its position: Fr herself was still aware of her greatness, but on a global scale she was no longer perceived as a "power". But also England lagged behind the United States. For her, the very decision to enter the war in 1939 predetermined the further weakening of her position as a world power, which had been shaken even during the First World War.

7.The power vacuum was filled after the war by the victorious powers - USSR and USA ... Exactly these 2 powers(although the losses are human and material, and their contribution to the victory was unequal) began to determine the nature of political decisions on a global scale... Having acquired nuclear weapons - the USA in 1945, the USSR in 1949 - they received powerful levers of influence on world politics. The transformation of the USSR and the USA into "superpowers" is associated with the creation hydrogen bomb(1952 - USA, 1953 - USSR) In connection with the role of the USSR and the USA, the world politics has transformed from multipolar to bipolar(“Two blocs”, the policy of confrontation in the form of the “cold war” since 1946, two idological systems, the carriers of which believed their life values ​​and attitudes to be the only true ones). At the same time, the United States (+ An) initially insisted on the idea of ​​a “liberal united world"[Against the policy of violence, for the right of nations to self-determination, international disarmament, freedom of trade, cooperation in all areas] - developed in 1941 within the framework of" Atlantic Charter"(Roosevelt-Churchill signed). But Stalin believed that “whoever occupies some kind of theory territory will give it an appropriate social system,” and therefore insisted - thus. was going to strengthen the influence of sots-ma in Europe and create a system of state in a pro-Soviet orientation, which has been consistently implemented since 1943. The first step in this direction is the non-recognition by the USSR of the Polish émigré government and the creation of a state of pro-Soviet orientation in Poland. Further - a consistent striving for the partition of Germany. All this prompted Churchill to act in March 1946 and declare the Cold War. The Cold War as a result of the Second World War had its own plus (from the point of view of the modern German. IS): instead of the principle of "either-or", it forced the world to gradually recognize the principle "as well, so ..."

8.In a number of countries (primarily England), the focus was on displaced to internal problems... [The outcome of the British elections in July 1945 - Churchill's resignation (despite his triumph in the war) and the rise to power of Labor, who insisted on social reforms, showed that most Britons are reconciled to the retreat to the second row of powers and want to have other priorities] [Example of Japan: she was among the defeated, but concentrating on solving internal economics. problems made the famous leap = Japanese miracle = and became one of the powers that play an important role in the modern world economy. And this despite the fact that it developed independently, remained faithful to tradition, incl. monarchical, im-ru]

9. The need for the United States and England to use the potential of the "Commonwealth of Nations and Colonies" for the purpose of waging war (so that the colonies do not go over to the side of the enemy; in 1942 England promised the independence of India so that it would not go over to the side of the Pact of 3 Powers or the "Axis" ) had as its consequence that after the war everything revived. motion. France could acquire greater political importance in Europe if it recognized the freedom and independence of its colonies, as de Gaulle proclaimed - albeit hesitantly - during the war as his program. But at the moment of victory in 1945 in France, the forces defending the colonial status of France prevailed. After the war, however, a number of colonial countries declared themselves independent- Syria, Lebanon, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. The disintegration of the colonial system that began, continued in the 60-70s.

“Since all the young states of Asia and Africa were blinded by their national sovereignty, decolonization, as one of the most important results of World War II, paradoxically strengthened the general trend of returning to the outdated principle of sovereignty in all, even the smallest, states "(opinion of the German historian Hilgruber from the book. World War II")

10.The rise of the worker and the communist. movement In all countries. In some countries, communists began to be included in govt-va and other executive authorities (Italy, Fr, Belg, Finlyan). In others, the communists won the right to legal activity (the countries of Asia and LatAmerica). The strength of the union has grown. movement

The closest and most obvious outcome of World War II was enormous destruction and loss of life. The war devastated entire countries, turned cities and villages into ruins, and led to the death of many millions of people. The greatest human losses - 26.6 million people - were suffered by the Soviet Union. Germany and its European allies lost, according to various estimates, from 8 to 13 million people. Killed at least 6 million Polish citizens, 6 million Jews, 2-3 million Japanese, 1.7 million residents of Yugoslavia.

China's military losses amount to approximately 5 million people, and in total during the war years in China, about 18 million people died - mainly from hunger and disease. The loss of the indigenous people of Asian and African countries, on the territory of which hostilities were conducted: Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaya, Tunisia, Syria, Ethiopia, Somalia - no one counted. The military losses of France, the United States and Great Britain were relatively small: 635 thousand killed in France, about 300 thousand in the United States, over 400 thousand in Great Britain. England has been badly hit by aerial bombardments; there was no military destruction in the USA. In relation to the total population, Poland (17.2%), the Soviet Union (13.5%) and Yugoslavia (11%) suffered the most severe human losses.

However, the results of the Second World War are not limited to losses and destruction. As a result of the war, the face of the world changed: new borders and new states appeared, new trends in social development were outlined, major inventions and discoveries were made.

The war gave a strong impetus to the development of science and technology. Radar, jet aircraft, ballistic missiles, antibiotics, electronic computers, and many other inventions and discoveries were made or came into widespread use during the war. The beginning of the mastery belongs to wartime atomic energy, thanks to which the twentieth century. often referred to as the atomic age. It was then that the foundations were laid scientific and technological revolution that has transformed and continues to transform the post-war world.

The main political outcome of the Second World War is the victory over the fascist aggressors. Countries and peoples who were threatened by fascism defended their independence and freedom. Aggressive states: Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies were defeated. Their armed forces, economics, politics, ideology have collapsed; their leaders were put on trial, and they received the punishment they deserved.

The ideology of fascism, Nazism, racism, colonialism has completely discredited itself; on the contrary, the ideas of anti-fascism, anti-colonialism, democracy, and socialism gained wide popularity. Human and civil rights recorded in the UN Charter have received international recognition. Members of the Resistance and former front-line soldiers have won enormous prestige. They provided big influence on public and political life, entered the elite of society, and in some countries - came to power. The influence of the parties and groupings fighting for democracy and social transformation - the communists, socialists, social democrats, Christian democrats and other democratic forces - has sharply increased. The measures they proposed: the nationalization of industry and banks, the transfer of land to those who cultivate it, the participation of workers in the management of production, the creation of a comprehensive social insurance system - found a wide response among the population. In many countries, including Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, socialist, social-democratic and Christian-democratic parties have become the leading political force and have headed governments.

The communist parties have grown and strengthened considerably. In France, the Communist Party became the largest political party, in Italy, the communists stood at the head of the largest trade unions. They were part of the government, millions of voters voted for them.

In addition to Italy and France, in seven other countries of Western Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Luxembourg) and in four Latin American countries (Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica, Ecuador) communists also participated in the first post-war years. in governments.

In many countries, major reforms were carried out: partial nationalization of industry and banks, the creation of a state social insurance system, the expansion of workers' rights, in some places (in Germany, Italy, Japan) land reforms were carried out. A number of countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Japan, adopted new, democratic constitutions. There has been a profound renewal of society; democratization of state and public institutions.

A very important result and consequence of the Second World War was the collapse of the colonial system. Before the war, the vast majority of the world's population lived in colonies, the area and population of which were many times greater than the metropolitan countries: Great Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Japan. During the Second World War and especially after its end, part of the dependent and colonial countries: Syria, Lebanon, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma, Philippines, Korea - declared themselves independent. In 1947, India became virtually independent, divided into two dominions: India and Pakistan. A stormy process of liberation of the colonial peoples began, which continued until the complete liquidation of the colonies in the second half of the century.

As a result of the war, the balance of power in the world changed dramatically. Germany, Italy, Japan, which before the war were among the great powers, having suffered defeat, for a time turned into dependent countries occupied by foreign troops. Their economy was destroyed by the war, and for a number of years they could not compete with their former competitors. Compared to pre-war times, the positions of France and even Great Britain have significantly weakened. Of all the great capitalist powers, only the United States of America emerged from the war greatly strengthened. Far ahead of all other countries economically and militarily, the United States has become the sole leader of the capitalist world, a giant "superpower" claiming world leadership.

The second "superpower" was the Soviet Union. Having won a victory, despite colossal sacrifices and destruction, having played a decisive role in the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union increased its power and international prestige to an unprecedented degree. By the end of the war, the Soviet Union had the largest land army in the world and an enormous industrial potential that surpassed that of any other country except the United States. The armed forces of the USSR were stationed in many countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in East Germany and in North Korea. The Soviet Union was unconditionally supported by all the communist parties, whose influence greatly increased due to their participation in the struggle against fascism. A significant part of world public opinion saw in the USSR not only the victor of the fascist aggressors, but also a country paving the way for a socialist future.

A number of countries liberated by the Soviet Union embarked on the path of non-capitalist development. After liberation from the occupiers in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, people's democratic governments were created with the participation or under the leadership of the communists, which began to carry out deep social transformations. In accordance with the Yalta agreements, these countries were tacitly considered the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union and were in fact under its control.

Similar transformations were carried out in East Germany and North Korea, which were occupied by Soviet troops. In China, after defeating the Chiang Kai-shek government in Civil war 1945-1949 the communists also came to power.

If the United States of America became the leader of the capitalist world, then the Soviet Union led the social forces opposing capitalism. Formed two main poles of attraction of world forces, conventionally called East and West; Two ideological and military-political blocs began to form, the opposition of which largely determined the structure of the post-war - bipolar - world.

Churchill's speech, which he delivered on March 5, 1946, in the American city of Fulton in the presence of US President Truman, is considered to be the first public signal of such a confrontation. In this famous speech, which went down in history, Churchill publicly repeated the thoughts that he had confidentially expounded to Eden and Truman at the end of the war.

In Fulton, Churchill said that the Soviet Union divided Europe with an "iron curtain", established "tyranny" in its sphere of influence, was guided by "expansionist tendencies" and wanted "the unlimited spread of its power and its doctrines." He called to oppose the USSR "with all the strength of the countries speaking English language"And possessing a monopoly on atomic weapons. Stalin immediately replied that Churchill's position "is an orientation towards war, a call for war with the USSR." A fierce polemic unfolded with mutual accusations of preparing a new war, which for many years remained a dominant feature of public and political life, determined the main content of international relations.

The anti-fascist coalition has split. Its members entered into a fight with each other, and began " cold war”, Which lasted more than 45 years, until the collapse of the USSR, the collapse of the socialist states and the bipolar system of the world.

The post-war world was not like the pre-war one. The border between them was held by the Second World War - the most grandiose event in the history of the XX century.

Other chapters from this book

• World War II was the biggest, most destructive and bloodiest war ever famous history... In scale, it far surpassed all wars of the past, including the Hundred Years War of the XIV-XV centuries, Thirty Years' War XVII century, Napoleonic wars began ...