Russia in the wars of the 20th century. Major local wars and armed conflicts of the second half of the 20th century Wars and conflicts of the 20th century

For almost three hundred years, the search has been ongoing for a universal way to resolve contradictions that arise between states, nations, nationalities, etc., without the use of armed violence.

But political declarations, treaties, conventions, negotiations on disarmament and the limitation of certain types of weapons only temporarily removed the immediate threat of destructive wars, but did not eliminate it completely.

Only after the end of World War II, more than 400 various clashes of so-called “local” significance, and more than 50 “major” local wars were recorded on the planet. More than 30 military conflicts annually - these are the real statistics of the last years of the 20th century. Since 1945, local wars and armed conflicts have claimed more than 30 million lives. Financially, the losses amounted to 10 trillion dollars - this is the price of human belligerence.

Local wars have always been an instrument of policy in many countries of the world and the global strategy of opposing world systems - capitalism and socialism, as well as their military organizations - NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

In the post-war period, more than ever before, an organic connection began to be felt between politics and diplomacy, on the one hand, and the military power of states, on the other, since peaceful means turned out to be good and effective only when they were based on a sufficient basis for the protection of the state and their interests military power.

During this period, the main thing for the USSR was the desire to participate in local wars and armed conflicts in the Middle East, Indochina, Central America, Central and South Africa, Asia and the Persian Gulf region, into which the United States and its allies were drawn in to strengthen own political, ideological and military influence in vast regions of the world.

It was during the Cold War that a series of military-political crises and local wars took place with the participation of domestic armed forces, which, under certain circumstances, could develop into a large-scale war.

Until recently, all responsibility for the emergence of local wars and armed conflicts (in the ideological coordinate system) was placed entirely on the aggressive nature of imperialism, and our interest in their course and outcome was carefully masked by declarations of selfless assistance to peoples fighting for their independence and self-determination.

So, the origin of the most common military conflicts unleashed after the Second World War is based on the economic rivalry of states in the international arena. Most other contradictions (political, geostrategic, etc.) turned out to be only derivatives of the primary feature, i.e., control over certain regions, their resources and labor. However, sometimes crises were caused by the claims of individual states to the role of “regional centers of power.”

A special type of military-political crisis includes regional, local wars and armed conflicts between state-formed parts of one nation, divided along political-ideological, socio-economic or religious lines (Korea, Vietnam, Yemen, modern Afghanistan, etc.) . However, their root cause is precisely the economic factor, and ethnic or religious factors are just a pretext.

A large number of military-political crises arose due to attempts by the leading countries of the world to retain in their sphere of influence states with which, before the crisis, they maintained colonial, dependent or allied relations.

One of the most common reasons that caused regional, local wars and armed conflicts after 1945 was the desire of national-ethnic communities for self-determination in various forms (from anti-colonial to separatist). The powerful growth of the national liberation movement in the colonies became possible after the sharp weakening of the colonial powers during and after the end of the Second World War. In turn, the crisis caused by the collapse of the world socialist system and the weakening influence of the USSR and then the Russian Federation led to the emergence of numerous nationalist (ethno-confessional) movements in the post-socialist and post-Soviet space.

A huge number of local conflicts that arose in the 90s of the 20th century pose a real danger of the possibility of a third world war. And it will be local-focal, permanent, asymmetrical, networked and, as the military says, non-contact.

As for the first sign of the third world war as a local focal point, we mean a long chain of local armed conflicts and local wars that will continue throughout the solution of the main task - mastery of the world. The commonality of these local wars, spaced from each other over a certain time interval, will be that they will all be subordinated to one single goal - mastery of the world.

Speaking about the specifics of the armed conflicts of the 1990s. -beginning of the 21st century, we can talk, among others, about their next fundamental point.

All conflicts developed in a relatively limited area within one theater of military operations, but with the use of forces and assets located outside it. However, conflicts that were essentially local were accompanied by great bitterness and resulted in a number of cases in the complete destruction of the state system (if there was one) of one of the parties to the conflict. The following table presents the main local conflicts of recent decades.

Table No. 1

	Country, year.	Features of armed struggle, number of dead, people	results armed struggle
		The armed struggle was air, land and sea in nature. Conducting an air operation, widespread use of cruise missiles. Naval missile battle. Military operations using the latest weapons. Coalitional nature.	The Israeli Armed Forces completely defeated the Egyptian-Syrian troops and seized territory.
	Argentina;	The armed struggle was mainly of a naval and land nature. The use of amphibious assaults. widespread use of indirect, non-contact and other (including non-traditional) forms and methods of action, long-range fire and electronic destruction. Active information warfare, disorientation of public opinion in individual states and the world community as a whole. 800	With the political support of the United States, Great Britain carried out a naval blockade of the territory
		The armed struggle was mainly aerial in nature, and command and control of troops was carried out mainly through space. High influence of information warfare in military operations. Coalition character, disorientation of public opinion in individual states and the world community as a whole.	Complete defeat of Iraqi forces in Kuwait.
	India - Pakistan;	The armed struggle was mainly on the ground. Maneuverable actions of troops (forces) in isolated areas with the widespread use of airmobile forces, landing forces and special forces.	Defeat of the main forces of the opposing sides. Military goals have not been achieved.
	Yugoslavia;	The armed struggle was mainly aerial in nature; troops were controlled through space. High influence of information warfare in military operations. Widespread use of indirect, non-contact and other (including non-traditional) forms and methods of action, long-range fire and electronic destruction; active information warfare, disorientation of public opinion in individual states and the world community as a whole. The desire to disorganize the system of state and military administration; the use of the latest highly effective (including those based on new physical principles) weapons systems and military equipment. The growing role of space reconnaissance.	The defeat of the troops of Yugoslavia, the complete disorganization of military and government administration.
	Afghanistan;	The armed struggle was ground and air in nature with the widespread use of special operations forces. High influence of information warfare in military operations. Coalitional nature. Troop control was carried out mainly through space. The growing role of space reconnaissance.	The main Taliban forces have been destroyed.
		The armed struggle was mainly air-ground in nature, with troops controlled through space. High influence of information warfare in military operations. Coalitional nature. The growing role of space reconnaissance. Widespread use of indirect, non-contact and other (including non-traditional) forms and methods of action, long-range fire and electronic destruction; active information warfare, disorientation of public opinion in individual states and the world community as a whole; maneuverable actions of troops (forces) in isolated directions with the widespread use of airborne forces, landing forces and special forces.	Complete defeat of the Iraqi Armed Forces. Change of political power.

After World War II, for a number of reasons, one of which was the emergence of nuclear missile weapons with their deterrent potential, humanity has so far managed to avoid new global wars. They were replaced by numerous local, or “small” wars and armed conflicts. Individual states, their coalitions, as well as various socio-political and religious groups within countries have repeatedly used force of arms to resolve territorial, political, economic, ethno-confessional and other problems and disputes.

It is important to emphasize that until the beginning of the 1990s, all post-war armed conflicts took place against the backdrop of intense confrontation between two opposing socio-political systems and military-political blocs unprecedented in their power - NATO and the Warsaw Division. Therefore, local armed clashes of that time were considered primarily as an integral part of the global struggle for the spheres of influence of two protagonists - the USA and the USSR.

With the collapse of the bipolar model of the world structure, the ideological confrontation between the two superpowers and socio-political systems has become a thing of the past, and the likelihood of a world war has significantly decreased. The confrontation between the two systems “ceased to be the axis around which the main events of world history and politics unfolded for more than four decades,” which, although it opened up wide opportunities for peaceful cooperation, also entailed the emergence of new challenges and threats.

Initial optimistic hopes for peace and prosperity, unfortunately, did not materialize. The fragile balance on the geopolitical scales was replaced by a sharp destabilization of the international situation and an exacerbation of hitherto hidden tensions within individual states. In particular, interethnic and ethno-confessional relations did not become complicated in the region, which provoked numerous local wars and armed conflicts. In the new conditions, the peoples and nationalities of individual states remembered old grievances and began to make claims to disputed territories, gaining autonomy, or even complete separation and independence. Moreover, in almost all modern conflicts there is not only a geopolitical, as before, but also a geocivilizational component, most often with an ethnonational or ethnoconfessional overtone.

Therefore, while the number of interstate and interregional wars and military conflicts (especially those provoked by “ideological opponents”) has declined, the number of intrastate confrontations, caused primarily by ethno-confessional, ethnoterritorial and ethnopolitical reasons, has sharply increased. Conflicts between numerous armed groups within states and crumbling power structures have become much more frequent. Thus, at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, the most common form of military confrontation became an internal (intrastate), local in scope, limited armed conflict.

These problems manifested themselves with particular severity in the former socialist states with a federal structure, as well as in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Thus, the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia led only in 1989-1992 to the emergence of more than 10 ethnopolitical conflicts, and in the global “South” around the same time more than 25 “small wars” and armed clashes broke out. Moreover, most of them were characterized by unprecedented intensity and were accompanied by mass migration of the civilian population, which created a threat of destabilization of entire regions and necessitated the need for large-scale international humanitarian assistance.

If in the first few years after the end of the Cold War the number of armed conflicts in the world decreased by more than a third, then by the mid-1990s it increased significantly again. Suffice it to say that in 1995 alone, 30 major armed conflicts took place in 25 different regions of the world, and in 1994, in at least 5 of the 31 armed conflicts, participating states resorted to the use of regular armed forces. According to estimates by the Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflicts, in the 1990s, the seven largest wars and armed confrontations alone cost the international community $199 billion (excluding the costs of the countries directly involved).

Moreover, a radical shift in the development of international relations, significant changes in the field of geopolitics and geostrategy, and the emerging asymmetry along the North-South line have largely aggravated old problems and provoked new ones (international terrorism and organized crime, drug trafficking, smuggling of weapons and military equipment, danger environmental disasters) that require adequate responses from the international community. Moreover, the zone of instability is expanding: if earlier, during the Cold War, this zone passed mainly through the countries of the Near and Middle East, now it begins in the Western Sahara region and spreads to Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia, South-Eastern and Central Asia. At the same time, we can assume with a reasonable degree of confidence that such a situation is not short-term and transitory.

The main feature of the conflicts of the new historical period was that there was a redistribution of the role of various spheres in armed confrontation: the course and outcome of the armed struggle as a whole is determined mainly by confrontation in the aerospace sphere and at sea, and land groups will consolidate the achieved military success and directly ensure the achievement political goals.

Against this background, increased interdependence and mutual influence of actions at the strategic, operational and tactical levels in the armed struggle has emerged. In fact, this suggests that the old concept of conventional wars, both limited and large-scale, is undergoing significant changes. Even local conflicts can be fought over relatively large areas with the most decisive goals. At the same time, the main tasks are solved not during a collision of advanced units, but through fire engagement from extreme ranges.

Based on an analysis of the most general features of conflicts at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, the following fundamental conclusions can be drawn regarding the military-political features of armed struggle at the present stage and in the foreseeable future.

The armed forces reaffirm their central role in carrying out security operations. The actual combat role of paramilitary forces, paramilitary forces, militias, and internal security forces units turns out to be significantly less than expected before the outbreak of armed conflicts. They turned out to be unable to conduct active combat operations against the regular army (Iraq).

The decisive moment for achieving military-political success is to seize the strategic initiative during an armed conflict. Passive conduct of hostilities in the hope of “exhaling” the enemy’s offensive impulse will lead to the loss of controllability of one’s own group and subsequently to the loss of the conflict.

The peculiarity of the armed struggle of the future will be that during the war, not only military facilities and troops will come under enemy attacks, but at the same time the country’s economy with all its infrastructure, civilian population and territory. Despite the development of the accuracy of weapons of destruction, all the studied armed conflicts of recent times were, to one degree or another, humanitarian “dirty” and entailed significant casualties among the civilian population. In this regard, there is a need for a highly organized and effective system of civil defense of the country.

The criteria for military victory in local conflicts will be different, however, in general, it is obvious that the main importance is the solution of political problems in an armed conflict, while military-political and operational-tactical tasks are primarily of an auxiliary nature. In none of the conflicts examined was the victorious side able to inflict the planned damage on the enemy. But, nevertheless, she was able to achieve the political goals of the conflict.

Today there is a possibility of escalation of modern armed conflicts both horizontally (drawing new countries and regions into them) and vertically (increasing the scale and intensity of violence within fragile states). Analysis of trends in the development of the geopolitical and geostrategic situation in the world at the current stage makes it possible to assess it as crisis-unstable. Therefore, it is absolutely obvious that all armed conflicts, regardless of the degree of their intensity and localization, require an early settlement, and ideally, complete resolution. One of the time-tested ways to prevent, control and resolve such “small” wars are various forms of peacekeeping.

Due to the increase in local conflicts, the world community, under the auspices of the UN, developed in the 90s such a means for maintaining or establishing peace as peacekeeping, peace enforcement operations.

But, despite the opportunity that emerged with the end of the Cold War to initiate peace enforcement operations, the UN, as time has shown, does not have the necessary potential (military, logistical, financial, organizational and technical) to carry them out. Evidence of this is the failure of the UN operations in Somalia and Rwanda, when the situation there urgently demanded an early transition from traditional peacekeeping operations to forced ones, and the UN was unable to do this on its own.

That is why, in the 1990s, a tendency emerged and subsequently developed for the UN to delegate its powers in the field of military peacekeeping to regional organizations, individual states and coalitions of states ready to take on crisis response tasks, such as NATO, for example.

Peacekeeping approaches create the opportunity to flexibly and comprehensively influence the conflict with the aim of resolving it and further final resolution. Moreover, in parallel, at the level of the military-political leadership and among the broadest sections of the population of the warring parties, work must necessarily be carried out aimed at changing psychological attitudes towards the conflict. This means that peacekeepers and representatives of the international community must, whenever possible, “break” and change the stereotypes of relations between the parties to the conflict that have developed in relation to each other, which are expressed in extreme hostility, intolerance, vindictiveness and intransigence.

But it is important that peacekeeping operations comply with fundamental international legal norms and do not violate human rights and sovereign states - no matter how difficult it may be to combine this. This combination, or at least an attempt at it, is especially relevant in the light of new operations in recent years, called “humanitarian intervention”, or “humanitarian intervention”, which are carried out in the interests of certain groups of the population. But, while protecting human rights, they violate the sovereignty of the state, its right to non-interference from outside - international legal foundations that have evolved over centuries and were considered unshakable until recently. At the same time, in our opinion, it is impossible to allow outside intervention in the conflict under the slogan of the struggle for peace and security or the protection of human rights to turn into overt armed intervention and aggression, as happened in 1999 in Yugoslavia.

The small victorious war, which was supposed to calm down revolutionary sentiments in society, is still regarded by many as aggression on the part of Russia, but few people look into history textbooks and know that it was Japan that unexpectedly began military action.

The results of the war were very, very sad - the loss of the Pacific fleet, the lives of 100 thousand soldiers and the phenomenon of complete mediocrity, both of the tsarist generals and the royal dynasty itself in Russia.

2. First World War (1914-1918)

A long-brewing conflict between the leading world powers, the first large-scale war, which revealed all the shortcomings and backwardness of Tsarist Russia, which entered the war without even completing rearmament. The Entente allies were frankly weak, and only heroic efforts and talented commanders at the end of the war made it possible to begin to tip the scales towards Russia.

However, society did not need the “Brusilovsky breakthrough”; it needed change and bread. Not without the help of German intelligence, the revolution was accomplished and peace was achieved, under very difficult conditions for Russia.

3. Civil War (1918-1922)

The troubled times of the twentieth century for Russia continued. The Russians defended themselves against the occupying countries, brother went against brother, and in general these four years were one of the most difficult, on par with the Second World War. It makes no sense to describe these events in such material, and military operations took place only on the territory of the former Russian Empire.

4. The fight against Basmachism (1922-1931)

Not everyone accepted the new government and collectivization. The remnants of the White Guard found refuge in Fergana, Samarkand and Khorezm, easily incited the dissatisfied Basmachi to resist the young Soviet army and could not calm them down until 1931.

In principle, this conflict, again, cannot be regarded as external, because it was an echo of the Civil War, “White Sun of the Desert” will help you.

Under Tsarist Russia, the CER was an important strategic object of the Far East, simplified the development of wild areas and was jointly managed by China and Russia. In 1929, the Chinese decided that it was time to take away the railway and adjacent territories from the weakened USSR.

However, the Chinese group, which was 5 times larger in number, was defeated near Harbin and in Manchuria.

6. Providing international military assistance to Spain (1936-1939)

500 Russian volunteers went to fight the nascent fascist and General Franco. The USSR also supplied about a thousand units of ground and air combat equipment and about 2 thousand guns to Spain.

Reflecting Japanese aggression near Lake Khasan (1938) and fighting near the Khalkin-Gol River (1939)

The defeat of the Japanese by small forces of Soviet border guards and subsequent major military operations were again aimed at protecting the state border of the USSR. By the way, after the Second World War, 13 military commanders were executed in Japan for starting the conflict at Lake Khasan.

7. Campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (1939)

The campaign was aimed at protecting the borders and preventing military action from Germany, which had already openly attacked Poland. The Soviet Army, oddly enough, during the fighting, repeatedly encountered resistance from both Polish and German forces.

Unconditional aggression on the part of the USSR, which hoped to expand the northern territories and cover Leningrad, cost the Soviet army very heavy losses. Having spent 1.5 years instead of three weeks on combat operations, and received 65 thousand killed and 250 thousand wounded, the USSR moved the border and provided Germany with a new ally in the coming war.

9. Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

The current rewrites of history textbooks shout about the insignificant role of the USSR in the victory over fascism and the atrocities of Soviet troops in the liberated territories. However, reasonable people still consider this great feat to be a war of liberation, and advise at least looking at the monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator, erected by the people of Germany.

10. Fighting in Hungary: 1956

The entry of Soviet troops to maintain the communist regime in Hungary was undoubtedly a show of force in the Cold War. The USSR showed the whole world that it would use extremely cruel measures to protect its geopolitical interests.

11. Events on Damansky Island: March 1969

The Chinese again took up the old ways, but 58 border guards and the Grad UZO defeated three companies of Chinese infantry and discouraged the Chinese from contesting the border territories.

12. Fighting in Algeria: 1962-1964.

Assistance with volunteers and weapons to the Algerians who fought for independence from France again confirmed the growing sphere of interests of the USSR.

This will be followed by a list of combat operations involving Soviet military instructors, pilots, volunteers, and other reconnaissance groups. Undoubtedly, all these facts are interference in the affairs of another state, but in essence they are a response to exactly the same interference from the United States, England, France, Great Britain, Japan, etc. Here is a list of the largest arenas of confrontation in the Cold War.

• 13. Fighting in the Yemen Arab Republic: from October 1962 to March 1963; from November 1967 to December 1969
• 14. Combat in Vietnam: from January 1961 to December 1974
• 15. Fighting in Syria: June 1967: March - July 1970; September - November 1972; March - July 1970; September - November 1972; October 1973
• 16. Fighting in Angola: from November 1975 to November 1979
• 17. Fighting in Mozambique: 1967-1969; from November 1975 to November 1979
• 18. Fighting in Ethiopia: from December 1977 to November 1979
• 19. War in Afghanistan: from December 1979 to February 1989
• 20. Fighting in Cambodia: from April to December 1970
• 22. Fighting in Bangladesh: 1972-1973. (for personnel of ships and auxiliary vessels of the USSR Navy).
• 23. Fighting in Laos: from January 1960 to December 1963; from August 1964 to November 1968; from November 1969 to December 1970
• 24. Fighting in Syria and Lebanon: July 1982

25. Deployment of troops into Czechoslovakia 1968

The “Prague Spring” was the last direct military intervention in the affairs of another state in the history of the USSR, which received loud condemnation, including in Russia. The “swan song” of the powerful totalitarian government and the Soviet Army turned out to be cruel and short-sighted and only accelerated the collapse of the Department of Internal Affairs and the USSR.

26. Chechen wars (1994-1996, 1999-2009)

A brutal and bloody civil war in the North Caucasus happened again at a time when the new government was weak and was just gaining strength and rebuilding the army. Despite the coverage of these wars in the Western media as aggression on the part of Russia, most historians view these events as the Russian Federation’s struggle for the integrity of its territory.

World War I

The birth of fascism. The world on the eve of World War II

The Second World War

The world wars of the 20th century brought world civilization to the brink of destruction and were a difficult test for humanity and the humanistic values ​​developed throughout its entire previous history. At the same time, they were a reflection of the fundamental changes that had taken place in the world, one of the terrible consequences of the very process of development of civilization.

causes of world wars

Since wars in our century have acquired a global scale, it is more logical to start with an analysis of causes that are global in nature, and first of all, with a characterization of the state of Western civilization, the values ​​of which have dominated and continue to play the same role in the modern world, determining the general direction of human development.

By the beginning of our century, the crisis phenomena that accompanied the industrial stage of development of the West throughout the 19th century resulted in a global crisis, which actually lasted throughout the first half of the 20th century. The material basis of the crisis was the rapid development of market relations on the basis of industrial production and technological progress in general, which, on the one hand, allowed Western society to make a sharp leap forward compared to other countries, and on the other, gave rise to phenomena that threatened Western civilization with degeneration. Indeed, the filling of markets with goods and services more and more fully satisfied the needs of people, but the price for this was the transformation of the overwhelming mass of workers into an appendage of machines and mechanisms, conveyors, technological processes, which increasingly gave labor a collective character, etc. This led to the depersonalization of man, which was clearly manifested in the emergence of the phenomenon of mass consciousness, which supplanted individualism and personal interests of people, i.e. values ​​on the basis of which humanistic Western civilization actually arose and developed.

As industrial progress developed, humanistic values ​​increasingly gave way to corporate, technocratic, and finally totalitarian consciousness with all its known attributes. This trend clearly manifested itself not only in the spiritual sphere in the form of a reorientation of people towards new values, but contributed to an unprecedented strengthening of the role of the state, which turned into the bearer of a national idea, replacing the ideas of democracy.

This most general characteristic of the historical and psychological changes underlying the phenomenon of world wars we are considering can be a kind of background when considering their geohistoric, socio-economic, demographic, military-political and other reasons.

The First World War, which began in 1914, affected 38 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. It was carried out over a vast territory, which amounted to 4 million square meters. km and involved more than 1.5 billion people, i.e. more than 3/4 of the world's population.

The reason for the war was the tragic shot in Sarajevo, but its true causes were rooted in complex contradictions between the participating countries.

Above we talked about the growing global crisis of civilization as a result of industrial progress. By the beginning of the 20th century. the logic of socio-economic development led to the establishment of a monopolistic regime in the economies of industrialized countries, which affected the internal political climate of countries (the growth of totalitarian tendencies, the growth of militarization), as well as world relations (increased struggle between countries for markets, for political influence). The basis of these trends was the policy of monopolies with their exclusively expansionist, aggressive nature. At the same time, monopolies merged with the state, the formation state monopoly capitalism, which made government policy increasingly expansionist

character. This was, in particular, evidenced by: the widespread growth of militarization, the emergence of military-political alliances, the increasing frequency of military conflicts, which until then were of a local nature, the strengthening of colonial oppression, etc. The aggravation of rivalry between countries was also determined to a large extent by the relative unevenness of their socio-economic development, which influenced the degree and forms of their external expansion.

15.1. First World War

The situation on the eve of the war

At the beginning of the 20th century. blocs of countries participating in the First World War took place. On the one hand, these were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, which formed into Triple Alliance(1882), and on the other - England, France and Russia, who created Entente(1904-1907). The leading role in the Austro-German and Romano-British blocs was played by Germany and England, respectively. The conflict between these two states lay at the heart of the future world war. At the same time, Germany sought to win a worthy place in the sun, England defended the existing world hierarchy.

At the beginning of the century, Germany took second place in the world in terms of industrial production (after the USA) and first place in Europe (in 1913, Germany smelted 16.8 million tons of pig iron, 15.7 million tons of steel;

England, respectively - 10.4 million tons and 9 million tons (for comparison, France - 5.2 million and 4.7 million tons, respectively, and Russia - 4.6 million tons and 4.9 million tons) . Other areas of the German national economy, science, education, etc., developed at a fairly rapid pace.

At the same time, Germany's geopolitical position did not correspond to the growing power of its monopolies and the ambitions of the strengthening state. In particular, Germany's colonial holdings were very modest compared to other industrial countries. Out of 65 million sq. km of the total colonial possessions of England, France, Russia, Germany, the USA and Japan, in which 526 million natives lived, Germany accounted for 2.9 million square meters at the beginning of the First World War. km (or 3.5%) with a population of 12.3 million people (or 2.3%). It should be borne in mind that the population of Germany itself was the largest of all Western European countries.

Already at the beginning of the 20th century. Germany's expansion in the Middle East is intensifying due to the construction of the Baghdad Railway; in China - in connection with the annexation of the port of Jiaozhou (1897) and the establishment of its protectorate over the Shandong Peninsula. Germany also establishes a protectorate over Samoa, the Caroline and Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and acquires the colonies of Togo and Cameroon in East Africa. This gradually aggravated Anglo-German, German-French and German-Russian contradictions. In addition, German-French relations were complicated by the problem of Alsace, Lorraine and the Ruhr; German-Russian - by Germany's intervention in the Balkan issue, its support there for the policies of Austria-Hungary and Turkey. German-American trade relations in the field of exports of mechanical engineering products in Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East also worsened (at the beginning of the century, Germany exported 29.1% of world exports of machinery, while the US share was 26.8%. Harbingers The First World War was the Moroccan crises (1905, 1911), the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the Italian seizure of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, the Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912), the Balkan Wars (1912-1913 and 1913).

On the eve of the First World War, the propaganda of militarism and chauvinism sharply intensified in almost all countries. She lay down on the fertilized soil. Developed industrial states, which have achieved tangible superiority in economic development in comparison with other peoples, began to feel their racial and national superiority, the ideas of which began to emerge from the middle of the 19th century. were cultivated by individual politicians, and by the beginning of the 20th century. become an essential component of the official state ideology. Thus, the Pan-German Union, created in 1891, openly declared England to be the main enemy of the peoples included in it, calling for the seizure of the territories belonging to it, as well as Russia, France, Belgium, and Holland. The ideological basis for this was the concept of the superiority of the German nation. In Italy there was propaganda for expanding dominance in the Mediterranean; In Turkey, the ideas of pan-Turkism were cultivated, pointing to the main enemy - Russia and pan-Slavism. At the other pole, the preaching of colonialism flourished in England, the cult of the army in France, and the doctrine of the protection of all Slavs and pan-Slavism under the auspices of the empire in Russia.

Preparing for war

At the same time, military-economic preparations for world slaughter were underway. So, since the 90s. by 1913, the military budgets of leading countries grew by more than 80%. The military-defense industry developed rapidly: in Germany it employed 115 thousand workers, in Austria-Hungary - 40 thousand, in France - 100 thousand, in England - 100 thousand, in Russia - 80 thousand people. By the beginning of the war, military production in Germany and Austria-Hungary was only slightly inferior to similar indicators in the Entente countries. However, the Entente received a clear advantage in the event of a protracted war or expansion of its coalition.

Taking into account the latter circumstance, German strategists have long been developing a blitzkrieg plan (A. Schliefen(1839-1913), X Moltke (1848-1916), 3. Schlichging, F. Bernardi and etc.). The German plan provided for a lightning-fast victorious strike in the West with simultaneous deterrent, defensive battles on the eastern front, followed by the defeat of Russia; The Austro-Hungarian headquarters planned a war on two fronts (against Russia and in the Balkans). The plans of the opposing side included an offensive by the Russian army in two directions at once (northwest - against Germany and southwest - against Austria-Hungary) with a force of 800 thousand bayonets, with the passive wait-and-see tactics of the French troops. German politicians and military strategists pinned their hopes on England's neutrality at the beginning of the war, for which purpose in the summer of 1914 they pushed Austria-Hungary into a conflict with Serbia.

Beginning of the war

In response to the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke, on June 28, 1914 Franz Ferdinand In Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary immediately opened military operations against Serbia, in support of which on July 31, Nicholas II announced general mobilization in Russia. Russia refused Germany's demand to stop mobilization. On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, and on August 3, on France. Germany's hopes for the neutrality of England did not materialize; it issued an ultimatum in defense of Belgium, after which it began military operations against Germany at sea, officially declaring war on it on August 4.

At the beginning of the war, many states declared neutrality, including Holland, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, the USA, and Sweden.

Military operations in 1915-1918.

Military operations in 1914 on the Western European Front were offensive from Germany, whose troops, having passed Belgium from the north, entered French territory. At the beginning of September, a grandiose battle took place between the cities of Verdun and Paris (about 2 million people took part), which was lost by German troops. The Russian army was advancing in the Eastern European direction: troops of the Northwestern and Western fronts (under the command of General Raninkampff and the general Samsonova) were stopped by the Germans; The troops of the Southwestern Front achieved success by occupying the city of Lvov. At the same time, hostilities unfolded on the Caucasian and Balkan fronts. In general, the Entente managed to thwart the blitzkrieg plans, as a result of which the war acquired a protracted, positional character, and the scales began to tip in its direction.

In 1915, there were no major changes on the Western European Front. Russia as a whole lost the 1915 campaign, surrendering Lviv to the Austrians, and Liepaja, Warsaw, and Novogeorgievsk to the Germans.

Contrary to pre-war obligations, in 1915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, as a result of which a new Italian front opened, where military operations did not reveal a clear advantage of the parties. This advantage in favor of the Entente in southern Europe was neutralized by the registration in September 1915. Fourth Ausgro-German-Bulgaro-Turkish Union. One of the results of its formation was the defeat of Serbia with the subsequent evacuation of its army (120 thousand people) to the island of Corfu.

In the same year, actions on the Caucasian front were transferred to the territory of Iran with the participation of not only Russia and Turkey, but also England; After the landing of the Anglo-French troops in Thessaloniki, the Thessaloniki Front took shape, and the British occupied the territory of South-West Africa. The most significant naval battle of 1915 was the battle for the capture of the Bosporus and Dardanelles.

1916 on the Western European Front was marked by two major battles: near the city. Verdun and on the river Somme, where 1 million 300 thousand people were killed, wounded and captured on both sides. This year, the Russian army carried out offensive operations on the Northwestern and Western fronts in support of the Allies during the Battle of Verdun. In addition, a breakthrough was made on the Southwestern Front that went down in history.

Military operations on the Eastern and Western Fronts (1914-1918)gg.)

Military operations on the Eastern Front in 1914-1917.

Military operations on the Western Front in 1914

named after the general A, Brusilova(1853-1926), as a result of which 409 thousand Austrian soldiers and officers were captured and an area of ​​25 thousand square meters was occupied. km.

In the Caucasus, units of the Russian army occupied the cities of Erzurum, Trebizond, Ruvanduz, Mush, and Bitlis. England was victorious in the North Sea in the largest naval battle of the First World War (Battle of Jutland).

IN In general, the successes of the Entente provided a turning point in the course of military operations. German command (generals Ludendorff(1865-1937) and Hindenburg) From the end of 1916 it switched to defense on all fronts.

However, the following year Russian troops left Riga. The weakened positions of the Entente were strengthened by the entry into the war on its side of the United States, China, Greece, Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Liberia and Siam. On the Western Front, the Entente failed to gain a decisive advantage, while on the new Iranian front the British occupied Baghdad, and in Africa they consolidated victory in Togo and Cameroon.

In 1918, a unified allied command of the Entente countries was created. Despite the absence of the Russian Front, the Germans and Austrians still kept up to 75 divisions in Russia, playing a difficult game in the prevailing conditions after the October Revolution. The German command launched a major offensive on the river. Somme, which ended in failure. The Allied counter-offensive forced the German General Staff to request an armistice. It was signed on November 11, 1918 in Compiegne, and on January 18, 1919. A conference of 27 allied countries opened at the Palace of Versailles, which determined the nature of the peace treaty with Germany. The treaty was signed on June 28, 1919; Soviet Russia, which concluded a separate peace with Germany in March 1918, did not participate in the development of the Versailles system.

Results of the war

By Treaty of Versailles The territory of Germany decreased by 70 thousand square meters. km, it lost all its few colonies; the military articles obliged Germany not to introduce conscription, to dissolve all military organizations, not to have modern types of weapons, and to pay reparations. The map of Europe was completely redrawn. With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian dualist monarchy, the statehood of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia was formalized, and the independence and borders of Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania were confirmed. Belgium, Denmark, Poland, France and Czechoslovakia regained the lands seized by Germany, receiving part of the original German territories under their control. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine were separated from Turkey and transferred as mandated territories to England and France. The new western border of Soviet Russia was also determined at the Paris Peace Conference (Curzon Line), while the statehood of parts of the former empire was consolidated:

Consequences of the First World War

Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Estonia. The First World War demonstrated the crisis state of civilization. Indeed, in all the warring countries, democracy was curtailed, the sphere of market relations was narrowed, giving way to strict state regulation of the sphere of production and distribution in its extreme statist form. These trends contradicted the economic foundations of Western civilization.

No less striking evidence of the deep crisis was the dramatic political changes in a number of countries. Thus, following the October Revolution in Russia, revolutions of a socialist nature took place in Finland, Germany, and Hungary; in other countries there was an unprecedented rise in the revolutionary movement, and in the colonies - in the anti-colonial movement. This seemed to confirm the prediction of the founders of communist theory about the inevitable death of capitalism, which was also evidenced by the emergence of the Communist 3rd International, the arrival the Socialist International, the coming to power of socialist parties in many countries and, finally, the lasting conquest of power in Russia by the Bolshevik Party.

The First World War was a catalyst for industrial development. During the war years, 28 million rifles, about 1 million machine guns, 150 thousand guns, 9,200 tanks, thousands of aircraft were produced, a submarine fleet was created (more than 450 submarines were built in Germany alone over these years). The military orientation of industrial progress became obvious; the next step was the creation of equipment and technologies for the mass destruction of people. However, already during the First World War, monstrous experiments were carried out, for example, the first use of chemical weapons by the Germans in 1915 in Belgium near Ypres.

1 Statism is the active participation of the state in the economic life of society, mainly using direct methods of intervention.

The consequences of the war were catastrophic for the national economies of most countries. They resulted in widespread, long-term economic crises, which were based on the gigantic economic imbalances that arose during the war years. Direct military expenditures of the warring countries alone amounted to $208 billion. Against the background of a widespread decline in civilian production and living standards of the population, monopolies associated with military production were strengthened and enriched. Thus, by the beginning of 1918, the German monopolists had accumulated 10 billion gold marks as profits, the American ones - 35 billion gold dollars, etc. Having strengthened during the war years, the monopolies increasingly began to determine the paths of further development, leading to the disaster of Western civilization . This thesis is confirmed by the emergence and spread of fascism.

15.2. The birth of fascism. The world on the eve of World War II

Fascism was a reflection and result of the development of the main contradictions of Western civilization. His ideology absorbed (to the point of grotesquery) the ideas of racism and social equality, technocratic and statist concepts. An eclectic interweaving of various ideas and theories resulted in the form of an accessible populist doctrine and demagogic politics. The National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany grew out of the Free Workers' Committee for the Achievement of a Good World, a circle founded in 1915 by workers Anton Drexler. At the beginning of 1919, other National Socialist organizations were created in Germany. In November 1921, a fascist party was created in Italy, numbering 300 thousand members, of which 40% were workers. Recognizing this political force, the King of Italy instructed the leader of this party in 1922 Benito Mussolini(1883-1945) form a cabinet of ministers, which from 1925 becomes fascist.

According to the same scenario, the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. Party leader Adolf Gitler(1889-1945) receives the position of Reich Chancellor from the hands of the President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934).

From the first steps, the fascists established themselves as irreconcilable anti-communists, anti-Semites, good organizers capable of reaching all segments of the population, and revanchists. Their activities could hardly have been so rapidly successful without the support of the revanchist monopolistic circles of their countries. The existence of their direct connections with the fascists is beyond doubt, if only because the leaders of the criminal regime and the largest economic magnates of fascist Germany (G. Schacht, G. Krupp) were nearby in the dock at Nuremberg in 1945. It can be argued that the financial resources of the monopolies contributed to the fascisation of countries, the strengthening of fascism, designed not only to destroy the communist regime in the USSR (anti-communist idea), inferior peoples (the idea of ​​racism), but also to redraw the world map, destroying the Versailles system of the post-war system (revanchist idea).

the phenomenon of fascisation in a number of European countries even more clearly demonstrated the critical state of the entire Western civilization. Essentially, this political and ideological movement represented an alternative to its foundations by curtailing democracy, market relations and replacing them with the politics of statism, building a society of social equality for selected peoples, cultivating collectivist forms of life, inhumane attitude towards non-Aryans, etc. True, fascism did not imply complete destruction of Western civilization. Perhaps this, to a certain extent, explains the relatively loyal attitude of the ruling circles of democratic countries towards this formidable phenomenon for a long time. In addition, fascism can be classified as one of the varieties of totalitarianism. Western political scientists have proposed a definition of totalitarianism based on several criteria, which have received recognition and further development in political science. Totalitarianism characterized by: 1) the presence of an official ideology covering the most vital spheres of human life and society and supported by the overwhelming majority of citizens. This ideology is based on rejection of the previously existing order and pursues the task of uniting society to create a new way of life, not excluding the use of violent methods; 2) the dominance of a mass party, built on a strictly hierarchical principle of management, usually with a leader at its head. Party - performing the functions of control over the bureaucratic state apparatus or dissolving in it; 3) the presence of a developed system of police control that permeates all public aspects of the country’s life; 4) almost complete party control over the media; 5) complete control of the party over the security forces, primarily the army; 6) the leadership of the central government in the economic life of the country.

A similar characteristic of totalitarianism is applicable both to the regime that developed in Germany, Italy and other fascist countries, and in many ways to the Stalinist regime that developed in the 30s in the USSR. It is also possible that such similarity in the various faces of totalitarianism made it difficult for politicians who were at the head of democratic countries to understand the danger posed by this monstrous phenomenon in that dramatic period of modern history.

Already in 1935, Germany refused to implement the military articles of the Versailles Treaty, which was followed by the occupation of the Rhineland demilitarized zone, withdrawal from the League of Nations, Italian assistance in the occupation of Ethiopia (1935-1936), intervention in Spain (1936-1939), the Anschluss (or annexation) of Austria (1938), dismemberment of Czechoslovakia (1938-1939) in accordance with the Munich Agreement, etc. Finally, in April 1939, Germany unilaterally terminated the Anglo-German naval agreement and the non-aggression pact with Poland, and thus a casus arose belli (cause for war).

15.3. The Second World War

Foreign policies of countries before the war

The Versailles system finally fell with the outbreak of World War II, for which Germany was quite thoroughly prepared. Thus, from 1934 to 1939, military production in the country increased 22 times, the number of troops - 35 times, Germany took second place in the world in terms of industrial production, etc.

Currently, researchers do not have a common view on the geopolitical state of the world on the eve of World War II. Some historians (Marxists) continue to insist on two polis characteristics. In their opinion, there were two socio-political systems in the world (socialism and capitalism), and within the framework of the capitalist system of world relations, there were two centers of a future war (Germany in Europe and Japan in Asia). A significant part of historians believe that on the eve of World War II there were three political systems: bourgeois-democratic, socialist and fascist-militarist. The interaction of these systems, the balance of power between them could ensure peace or disrupt it. A possible bloc of bourgeois-democratic and socialist systems was a real alternative to World War II. However, the peace alliance did not work out. “The bourgeois-democratic countries did not agree to create a bloc before the start of the war, because their leadership continued to view Soviet totalitarianism as the greatest threat to the foundations of civilization (the result of revolutionary changes in the USSR, including the 30s) than its fascist antipode, which openly proclaimed a crusade against communism. The USSR's attempt to create a system of collective security in Europe ended with the signing of treaties with France and Czechoslovakia in 1935. But these treaties were not put into effect during the period of German occupation of Czechoslovakia due to the “policy of appeasement” opposed to them, pursued by the majority at that time European countries in relation to Germany.

Germany, in October 1936, formalized a military-political alliance with Italy (“Berlin-Rome Axis”), and a month later the Anti-Comintern Pact was signed between Japan and Germany, to which Italy joined a year later (November 6, 1937). The creation of a revanchist alliance forced the countries of the bourgeois-democratic camp to become more active. However, only in March 1939 did England and France begin negotiations with the USSR on joint actions against Germany. But the agreement was never signed. Despite the polarity of interpretations of the reasons for the failed union of anti-fascist states, some of which shift the blame for the unbridled aggressor onto capitalist countries, others attribute it to the policies of the leadership of the USSR, etc., one thing is obvious - the skillful use by fascist politicians of contradictions between anti-fascist countries, which led to grave consequences for the whole world.

USSR politics on the eve of the war

The consolidation of the fascist camp against the backdrop of a policy of appeasement of the aggressor pushed the USSR into an open fight against the spreading aggressor: 1936 - Spain, 1938 - small war with Japan at Lake Khasan, 1939 - Soviet-Japanese war at Khalkin Gol. However, quite unexpectedly, on August 23, 1939 (eight days before the outbreak of World War II, the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR (called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) was signed. The secret protocols to this pact on delimiting the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR in the north became known to the world community and the south of Europe, as well as the division of Poland, forced a new look (especially domestic researchers) at the role of the USSR in the anti-fascist struggle on the eve of the war, as well as its activities from September 1939 to June 1941, at the history of the opening of the second front and much more.

There is no doubt that the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact dramatically changed the balance of forces in Europe:

The USSR avoided a seemingly inevitable collision with Germany, while the countries of Western Europe found themselves face to face with the aggressor, whom they continued to pacify by inertia (an attempt by England and France from August 23 to September 1, 1939 to come to an agreement with Germany on the Polish issue type of the Munich Agreement).

Beginning of World War II

The immediate pretext for the attack on Poland was a fairly open provocation of Germany on their common border (Gliwice), after which on September 1, 1939, 57 German divisions (1.5 million people), about 2,500 tanks, 2,000 aircraft invaded the territory Poland. The Second World War began.

England and France declared war on Germany on September 3, without, however, providing real assistance to Poland. From September 3 to 10, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Canada entered the war against Germany; The United States declared neutrality, Japan declared non-intervention in the European War.

Thus, World War II began as a war between the bourgeois-democratic and fascist-militarist blocs. The first stage of the war dates from September 1, 1939 - June 21, 1941, at the beginning of which the German army up to

First stage of the war

On September 17, it occupied part of Poland, reaching the line (the cities of Lvov, Vladimir-Volynsky, Brest-Litovsk), designated by one of the mentioned secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Until May 10, 1940, England and France conducted virtually no military operations with the enemy, so this period was called the “Phantom War.” Germany took advantage of the passivity of the Allies, expanding its aggression, occupying Denmark and Norway in April 1940 and going on the offensive from the shores of the North Sea to the Maginot Line on May 10 of the same year. During May, the governments of Luxembourg, Belgium, and Holland capitulated. And already on June 22, 1940, France was forced to sign an armistice with Germany in Compiegne. As a result of the actual surrender of France, a collaborationist state was created in its south, led by Marshal A. Pétain(1856-1951) and the administrative center in Vichy (the so-called “Vichy regime”). France's resistance was led by a general Charles de Gaulle ( 1890-1970).

On May 10, changes occurred in the leadership of Great Britain; Winston Churchill(1874-1965), whose anti-German, anti-fascist and, of course, anti-Soviet sentiments were well known. The period of the "strange warrior" is over.

From August 1940 to May 1941, the German command organized systematic air raids on English cities, trying to force its leadership to withdraw from the war. As a result, during this time, about 190 thousand high-explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on England, and by June 1941, a third of the tonnage of its merchant fleet was sunk at sea. Germany also intensified its pressure on the countries of South-Eastern Europe. The accession of the Bulgarian pro-fascist government to the Berlin Pact (an agreement between Germany, Italy and Japan of September 27, 1940) ensured the success of the aggression against Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941.

Italy in 1940 developed military operations in Africa, attacking the colonial possessions of England and France (East Africa, Sudan, Somalia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia). However, in December 1940, the British forced the Italian troops to surrender. Germany rushed to the aid of its ally.

The policy of the USSR at the first stage of the war did not receive a single assessment. A significant part of Russian and foreign researchers are inclined to interpret it as complicit in relation to Germany, which is supported by the agreement between the USSR and Germany within the framework of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, as well as fairly close military-political and trade cooperation between the two countries until the start of German aggression against the USSR. In our opinion, in such an assessment, a more strategic approach at the pan-European, global level prevails. At the same time, a point of view that draws attention to the benefits received by the USSR from cooperation with Germany at the first stage of World War II somewhat corrects this unambiguous assessment, allowing us to talk about a certain strengthening of the USSR within the framework of the time it gained to prepare to repel the inevitable aggression, which ultimately ensured the subsequent Great Victory over fascism of the entire anti-fascist camp.

In this chapter we will limit ourselves to only this preliminary assessment of the USSR’s participation in World War II, since its remaining stages are discussed in more detail in Chapter. 16. Here it is advisable to dwell only on some of the most important episodes of the subsequent stages.

The second stage of the war (June 22, 1941 - November 1942) was characterized by the entry of the USSR into the war, the retreat of the Red Army and its first victory (the battle for Moscow), as well as the beginning of the intensive formation of the anti-Hitler coalition. Thus, on June 22, 1941, England declared full support for the USSR, and the United States almost simultaneously (June 23) expressed its readiness to provide economic assistance to it. As a result, on July 12, a Soviet-British agreement on joint actions against Germany was signed in Moscow, and on August 16, trade turnover between the two countries was signed. In the same month, as a result of the meeting of F. Roosevelt(1882-1945) and W. Churchill was signed Atlantic Charter, to which the USSR joined in September. However, the United States entered the war on December 7, 1941 after the tragedy at the Pacific Naval Base Pearl Harbor. Developing an offensive from December 1941 to June 1942, Japan occupied Thailand, Singapore, Burma, Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Philippines. On January 1, 1942, in Washington, 27 states that were at war with the countries of the so-called “fascist axis” signed the United Nations Declaration, which completed the difficult process of creating an anti-Hitler coalition.

Second stage of the war

The Second World War. Military operations from 1.1X 1939 to 22.VI. 1941

Third stage of the war

The third stage of the war (mid-November 1942 - end of 1943) was marked by a radical change in its course, which meant the loss of strategic initiative by the countries of the fascist coalition at the fronts, the superiority of the anti-Hitler coalition in the economic, political and moral aspects. On the Eastern Front, the Soviet Army won major victories at Stalingrad and Kursk. Anglo-American troops successfully advanced in Africa, liberating Egypt, Cyrenaica, and Tunisia from German-Italian forces. In Europe, as a result of successful actions in Sicily, the Allies forced Italy to capitulate. In 1943, the allied relations of the countries of the anti-fascist bloc were strengthened: at the Moscow Conference (October 1943), England, the USSR and the USA adopted declarations on Italy, Austria and universal security (also signed by China), on the responsibility of the Nazis for the crimes committed.

On Tehran Conference(November 28 - December 1, 1943), where f. met for the first time. Roosevelt, I. Stalin and W. Churchill, it was decided to open a Second Front in Europe in May 1944 and the Declaration on joint actions in the war against Germany and post-war cooperation was adopted. At the end of 1943, at a conference of leaders of England, China and the United States, the Japanese issue was resolved in a similar way.

Fourth stage

At the fourth stage of the war (from the end of 1943 to May 9, 1945), there was an active process of liberation by the Soviet Army of the western regions of the USSR, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, etc. In Western Europe, with some delay (6 June 1944 d.) The Second Front was opened, the liberation of Western European countries was underway. In 1945, 18 million people, about 260 thousand guns and mortars, up to 40 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and over 38 thousand aircraft simultaneously participated on the battlefields in Europe.

On Yalta Conference(February 1945) the leaders of England, the USSR and the USA decided the fate of Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia, discussed the issue of creating United Nations(established on April 25, 1945), concluded an agreement on the USSR's entry into the war against Japan.

The result of joint efforts was the complete and unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945, signed in the Berlin suburb of Karl-Horst.

Fifth stage of the war

The final, fifth stage of the Second World War took place in the Far East and Southeast Asia (from May 9 to September 2, 1945). By the summer of 1945, allied troops and national resistance forces liberated all the lands captured by Japan, and American troops occupied the strategically important islands of Irojima and Okinawa, carrying out massive bombing attacks on the cities of the island state. For the first time in world practice, the Americans carried out two barbaric atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945).

After the lightning defeat of the USSR Kwantung Army (August 1945), Japan signed an act of surrender (September 2, 1945).

Results of World War II

The Second World War, planned by the aggressors as a series of small lightning wars, turned into a global armed conflict. At its various stages, from 8 to 12.8 million people, from 84 to 163 thousand guns, from 6.5 to 18.8 thousand aircraft simultaneously participated on both sides. The total theater of military operations was 5.5 times larger than the territories covered by the First World War. In total, during the war of 1939-1945. 64 states with a total population of 1.7 billion people were involved. The losses suffered as a result of the war are striking in their scale. More than 50 million people died, and if we take into account the constantly updated data on the losses of the USSR (they range from 21.78 million to about 30 million), this figure cannot be called final. 11 million lives were destroyed in the death camps alone. The economies of most of the countries at war were undermined.

It was these terrible results of the Second World War, which brought civilization to the brink of destruction, that forced its vital forces to become more active. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact of the formation of an effective structure of the world community - the United Nations (UN), which opposes totalitarian trends in development and the imperial ambitions of individual states; the act of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, which condemned fascism, totalitarianism, and punished the leaders of criminal regimes; a broad anti-war movement that contributed to the adoption of international pacts banning the production, distribution and use of weapons of mass destruction, etc.

By the time the war began, only England, Canada and the United States remained, perhaps, centers of reservation for the foundations of Western civilization. The rest of the world was increasingly sliding into the abyss of totalitarianism, which, as we tried to show by analyzing the causes and consequences of world wars, led to the inevitable destruction of humanity. The victory over fascism strengthened the position of democracy and provided the path to the slow recovery of civilization. However, this path was very difficult and lengthy. Suffice it to say that only from the end of the Second World War until 1982, there were 255 wars and military conflicts, until recently the destructive confrontation between political camps, the so-called “Cold War,” lasted, humanity more than once stood on the brink of the possibility of nuclear war, etc. etc. Even today we can see in the world the same military conflicts, bloc feuds, remaining islands of totalitarian regimes, etc. However, as it seems to us, they no longer determine the face of modern civilization.

Self-test questions

What were the causes of the First World War? What stages are distinguished during the First World War, what groupings of countries participated in it? How did the First World War end, what consequences did it have?

Reveal the reasons for the emergence and spread of fascism in the 20th century, characterize it, and compare it with totalitarianism. What caused the Second World War, what was the alignment of the countries participating in it, what stages did it go through and how did it end? Compare the size of human and material losses in the First and Second World Wars.

For reference:

There are also portraits and biographies of famous traitors: Kim Philby, Richard Sorge. Alfred Redl, and the lives and photographs of those who conducted the Services at various times. Numerous original posters of original posters. This outstanding example was given to Prince Faisal: the weapon was delivered to a British soldier captured at the fall of Gallipoli, and it was given to the prince by the Turks. Death occurred a few days later. The blind aiming finger is hidden inside the hydrogen cyanide spray device.

Pages of periodicals containing propaganda or misinformation for the population. Large numbers of falsified letters or small messages transmitted by spy networks, especially during the First World War. This is just a brief description of the objects on display, which is very reductive. Significantly large number of paper documents. The entire show gives a deep and comprehensive picture of what the secret wars were until about 20 years ago. Accompanying the exhibition is a book catalog with approximately thirty essays by material experts, scientists and Information Server historians who accompany the various sections of the exhibition with their studies, creating intelligence activities in past and present history.

Among the various studies, all of which are visually interesting, are Olivier Forcadet, Olivier Lahaie, Frederic Helton, Hervé Lenning of Maurice Weiss. At the beginning of this century it was widely believed that human progress has no limits. Now, as we conclude, we know that the high ideals and great goals imagined at the very beginning have been disappointed by the extremist ideologies that have crossed the world, leaving conflicts and carnage in their wake. Perhaps no other century has seen such endless tragedy and human madness: the natural environment has suffered greatly and the gap between rich and poor is deeper than ever.

The role of the initial period of armed conflict or war has increased significantly. As an analysis of the outcome of armed conflicts shows, it was the seizure of the initiative at the initial stage of hostilities that predetermined the outcome.

The closer we get to its end, the greater the sense of anguish faced by the futility and waste that characterize this period of human history. At a time when the first warning voices arose in the face of the danger of nuclear war on a planetary scale, the terrible expression of excess was often used. Later, thanks to the courageous efforts of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and other world leaders, the configuration he brought about was dismantled, and today the nightmare of a nuclear apocalypse seems somewhat more distant.

The influence of Western civilization. Compared to the order that prevailed in pre-modern communal societies, our post-modern world is far from sorted and, in fact, “overloaded.” Toynbee's hypothesis then moves quickly to a thousand years in the future. Therefore, according to Toynbee, long before the globalization that is discussed today, especially in terms of global economic integration, is mainly based on the spontaneous awareness of all citizens of the world who shares the same fate as passengers that could call it "Earth's spaceship."

The use of various forms and methods of combat operations, including unconventional ones;

At the same time, the Soviet Union launched the Cominform and began talking about producing nuclear weapons. We cannot ignore the significance of Toynbee's vision, proclaimed at a time when people had much more immediate problems and were influenced by the interests of myopia. His view covers such a large scale that it could easily be dismissed as pure fantasy, not sufficiently supported by facts. Indeed, his macroscopic vision has been critically defined as the product, not of a historian, but of a fatalistic visionary.

The end of the era of nuclear weapons! Three hundred and fifty years have passed since the Peace Treaty of Westphalia, which laid down the foundations of the modern political position on statehood. It is clear that today such a structure is not suitable for solving global problems. To give one example: although appeals have been launched over time for the creation of a permanent court capable of trying those who violate international law against genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, such an organism has not yet been born.

In addition to assessing those responsible for crimes against international law, which govern respect for humanity and human rights, such a body would also be responsible for punishing and compensating the victims of these crimes. Human rights issues and problems cannot be reintroduced within the framework of one country, and finally, we understand that the commitment and cooperation of the international community is necessary to solve them. However, to date, states have tended to view various attempts to create systems and organisms capable of responding effectively to such a need as attempts to limit and relativize national sovereignty - which is true to some extent - and there must be repeated resistance to the idea of ​​a permanent international criminal court .

military conflict . Its mandatory characteristic is the use of military force, all types of armed confrontation, including large-scale, regional, local wars and armed conflicts.

The vision of a world less centered on the nation-state may still be vague and distant, but it is clear that the individual will have more influence in a world where the state is smaller. The role and responsibility of individuals - as protagonists and story builders - must grow. It is increasingly important for us to learn to live and act as "global" citizens, active and creative, capable of recognizing and completing our respective responsibilities for the next millennium.

Military conflict

Armed conflict

We need to raise international public opinion and urge nuclear-weapon states to begin immediate negotiations on a treaty for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. He urges us to follow the campaign for the World Tribunal, which gave rise to the opinion of the International Court of Justice with its main and overarching goal of the complete abolition of any form of nuclear weapons. It urges all states equipped with nuclear weapons to conclude, within the next two thousand years, a treaty providing for a precise program aimed at the complete elimination of such weapons.

- Local war

These weapons were invented in this century and pose the greatest threat ever known to the survival of mankind. We strongly urge all nuclear weapon states to express to the world their will to end the era of nuclear power this century. To build a society in which people can lead truly human lives, and not just to end the nuclear threat, it is absolutely necessary that we build a new civil society that has roots in popular initiative.

- Regional war

Last year there was a debate about environmental conditions, another global issue. We must never forget that only the commitment of responsible and capable citizens, those who do not expect others to take the initiative, can give birth to a third millennium inspired by respect for the sanctity of life, free from war and nuclear, an enlightened living rainbow of diversity. As the clouds of World War II approached, Czechoslovakian writer Karel Kapek denounced sentences such as “someone must,” “everything is not that simple,” as examples of spiritual poverty that only passively accepts the status quo: If someone drowns, you there is no need to stop thinking that "someone must go to save him."

- Large scale war - a war between coalitions of states or the largest states of the world community, in which the parties will pursue radical military-political goals. A large-scale war can result from the escalation of an armed conflict, a local or regional war involving a significant number of states from different regions of the world. It will require the mobilization of all available material resources and spiritual forces of the participating states.

Massive use of weapons systems and military equipment based on new physical principles and comparable in effectiveness to nuclear weapons;

Most likely closest them consequences :

Death, injury, illness;

Environmental pollution;

Violation of control systems;

Economic paralysis.

Environmental consequences .

Economic consequences –

Medical consequences

Social consequences

Demographic implications

The level of threats and uncertainty factors have a significant impact on the development of the military-political and military-strategic situation in the world, on the creation of hotbeds of tension and conflict zones, on the nature of wars and armed conflicts.

For reference: The uncertainty factor is understood as a situation or process of a political or military-political nature, the development of which can significantly change the geopolitical situation in a region that is a priority for the interests of the state or create a direct threat to its security).

Objects used in the Cold War as a reversible coat, tweed on one side and khaki gabardine on the other, used by British agents operating in the German Democratic Republic. To show how the agents were misled, other documents show the passport the Czechoslovakian agent gave to the nun.

In this regard, a box of camouflage accessories, including female bushes, various wigs. Enigma codes and portraits of famous traitors. An evening shoe whose heel holds a sharp retractable blade, an object also featured in one of the first James Bond films. A lot of encryption finds: books, ciphers, codes.

Analysis of the specifics of armed conflicts of the 1990s. - the beginning of the 21st century revealed several fundamental points.

No generalized type of armed conflict was found. Conflicts in the forms and principles of warfare were very different.

A significant part of the conflicts were asymmetrical in nature, that is, they occurred between opponents at different stages in technical terms, as well as in the qualitative state of the armed forces.

There are also portraits and biographies of famous traitors: Kim Philby, Richard Sorge. Alfred Redl, as well as the lives and photographs of those who performed the Services at various times. Numerous original posters of original posters. This outstanding example was given to Prince Faisal: the weapon was delivered to a British soldier captured at the fall of Gallipoli, and it was given to the prince by the Turks. Death occurred a few days later. The blind aiming finger is hidden inside the hydrogen cyanide spray device.

Pages of periodicals containing propaganda or misinformation for the population. Large numbers of falsified letters or small messages transmitted by spy networks, especially during the First World War. This is just a brief description of the objects on display, which is very reductive. Significantly large number of paper documents. The entire show gives a deep and comprehensive picture of what the secret wars were until about 20 years ago. Accompanying the exhibition is a book catalog with approximately thirty essays by material experts, scientists and Information Server historians who accompany the various sections of the exhibition with their studies, creating intelligence activities in past and present history.

All conflicts developed in a relatively limited area within the same theater of operations, but often with the use of forces and assets located outside it. However, essentially local conflicts were accompanied by great bitterness and resulted in a number of cases in the complete destruction of the state system (if there was one) of one of the parties to the conflict.

Among the various studies, all of which are scientifically interesting, are Olivier Forcadet, Olivier Lahaie, Frederic Helton, Hervé Lenning of Maurice Weiss. At the beginning of this century it was widely believed that human progress has no limits. Now, as we conclude, we know that the high ideals and great goals imagined at the very beginning have been disappointed by the extremist ideologies that have crossed the world, leaving conflicts and carnage in their wake. Perhaps no other century has seen such endless tragedy and human madness: the natural environment has suffered greatly and the gap between rich and poor is deeper than ever.

The role of the initial period of armed conflict or war has increased significantly. As an analysis of the outcome of armed conflicts shows, it was the seizure of the initiative at the initial stage of hostilities that predetermined the outcome.

The main role in the initial period of the war, of course, was assigned to long-range precision weapons operating in conjunction with aviation. However, in the future, the main burden of combat operations fell on the Ground Forces.

The closer we get to its end, the greater the sense of anguish confronted by the futility and waste that characterize this period of human history. At a time when the first warning voices arose in the face of the danger of nuclear war on a planetary scale, the terrible expression of excess was often used. Later, thanks to the courageous efforts of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and other world leaders, the configuration he brought about was dismantled, and today the nightmare of a nuclear apocalypse seems somewhat more distant.

Military conflicts were caused by objective contradictions in the vital interests of various states or various socio-political groupings within these states, the desire of some of them to dominate others and the inability or unwillingness of their political leaders to resolve these contradictions by non-military means.

However, excess still operates and, like the curse of Cain, torments the entire world. The philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote: “No century has seen so many brutal and repeated massacres of people as the one we are experiencing.” 2. According to many intellectuals, including the American historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

The influence of Western civilization. Compared to the order that prevailed in pre-modern communal societies, our post-modern world is far from sorted and, in fact, “overloaded.” Toynbee's hypothesis then moves quickly to a thousand years in the future. Therefore, according to Toynbee, long before the globalization that is discussed today, especially in terms of global economic integration, is mainly based on the spontaneous awareness of all citizens of the world who shares the same fate as passengers that could call it "Earth's spaceship."

The characteristic features of the wars of recent decades include:

The use of various forms and methods of combat operations, including unconventional ones;

The combination of military operations (conducted in accordance with the rules of military science) with guerrilla and terrorist actions;

Widespread use of criminal groups;

At the same time, the Soviet Union launched the Cominform and began talking about producing nuclear weapons. We cannot ignore the significance of Toynbee's vision, proclaimed at a time when people had much more immediate problems and were influenced by the interests of myopia. His view covers such a large scale that it could easily be dismissed as pure fantasy, not sufficiently supported by facts. Indeed, his macroscopic vision has been critically defined as the product, not of a historian, but of a fatalistic visionary.

The end of the era of nuclear weapons! Three hundred and fifty years have passed since the Peace Treaty of Westphalia, which laid down the foundations of the modern political position on statehood. It is clear that today such a structure is not suitable for solving global problems. To give one example: although appeals have been launched over time for the creation of a permanent court capable of trying those who violate international law against genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, such an organism has not yet been born.

Transience of military operations (30-60 days);

Selectivity of hitting objects;

Increasing the role of long-distance combat using high-precision radio-controlled equipment;

Conducting targeted strikes on key facilities (critical elements of economic facilities);

A combination of powerful political-diplomatic, informational, psychological and economic influence.

But finally, given the widespread view that the international community's response to the situation in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and other countries was painfully inadequate, an international conference was planned in Rome this June leading to the creation of a permanent international criminal court.

In addition to assessing those responsible for crimes against international law, which govern respect for humanity and human rights, such a body would also be responsible for punishing and compensating the victims of these crimes. Human rights issues and problems cannot be reintroduced within the framework of one country, and finally, we understand that the commitment and cooperation of the international community is necessary to solve them. However, to date, states have tended to view various attempts to create systems and organisms capable of responding effectively to such a need as attempts to limit and relativize national sovereignty - which is true to some extent - and there must be repeated resistance to the idea of ​​a permanent international criminal court .

2. Types of military conflicts and their main characteristics

One of the most brutal forms used by society to resolve interstate or intrastate contradictions is military conflict . Its mandatory characteristic is the use of military force, all types of armed confrontation, including large-scale, regional, local wars and armed conflicts.

The vision of a world less centered on the nation-state may still be vague and distant, but it is clear that the individual will have more influence in a world where the state is smaller. The role and responsibility of individuals - as protagonists and story builders - must grow. It is increasingly important for us to learn to live and act as "global" citizens, active and creative, capable of recognizing and completing our respective responsibilities for the next millennium.

It is important for ordinary citizens to develop greater wisdom and energy and face their responsibilities to create a better future. And they have been actively involved in solving problems related to the issue of security and the use of weapons, areas that have traditionally had exclusive state competence.

Military conflict - a form of resolving interstate or intrastate contradictions with the use of military force (the concept covers all types of armed confrontation, including large-scale, regional, local wars and armed conflicts).

Armed conflict - armed conflict of a limited scale between states (international armed conflict) or opposing parties within the territory of one state (internal armed conflict);

These are initiatives that give confidence and hope to all who love peace. Often these are weapons to draw the fire of those regional conflicts that represent the tragic legacy left to the world. Effective measures must be taken to prevent the spread.

Along with efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate weapons of mass destruction, control of conventional weapons used to kill, maim and terrorize people in conflicts around the world must be introduced: this is a key step towards creating an institutional framework for peace . Solving such hot-button issues should not be left to governments alone.

An armed conflict may result from the escalation of an armed incident, a border conflict, an armed action and other armed clashes of a limited scale, during which means of armed struggle are used to resolve contradictions.

An armed conflict can be international in nature (involving two or more states) or internal in nature (involving armed confrontation within the territory of one state).

The International Court of Justice's opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons expresses the unanimous concept: "Must act in good faith to conclude negotiations and agreements aimed at nuclear disarmament in all forms and strict and effective international control."

We need to raise international public opinion and urge nuclear-weapon states to begin immediate negotiations on a treaty for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. He urges us to follow the campaign for the World Tribunal, which gave rise to the opinion of the International Court of Justice with its main and overarching goal of the complete abolition of any form of nuclear weapons. It urges all states equipped with nuclear weapons to conclude, within the next two thousand years, a treaty providing for a precise program aimed at the complete elimination of such weapons.

Military conflicts can take place in several types.

- Local war - a war between two or more states, pursuing limited military-political goals, in which military operations are conducted within the borders of opposing states and which primarily affects the interests of only these states (territorial, economic, political and others);

These weapons were invented in this century and pose the greatest threat ever known to the survival of mankind. We strongly urge all nuclear weapon states to express to the world their will to end the era of nuclear power this century. To build a society in which people can lead truly human lives, and not just to end the nuclear threat, it is absolutely necessary that we build a new civil society that has roots in popular initiative.

We must use the last three years of the twentieth century to lay concrete foundations for the future of a new global society, a civilization that is made up of “people, people, people.” A number of activities have already been planned to enable this commitment to be fulfilled.

- Regional war - a war involving two or more states of the same region, waged by national or coalition armed forces using both conventional and nuclear weapons, on the territory of the region with adjacent waters and in the air (space) space above it, during which the parties will pursue important military-political goals;

This Assembly will be held jointly with the United Nations Millennium Assembly. In his Document on the Revival of the United Nations: An Agenda for Reform, UN Secretary-General Annan makes precise reference to this House of the People.

Last year there was a debate about environmental conditions, another global issue. We must never forget that only the commitment of responsible and capable citizens, those who do not expect others to take the initiative, can give birth to a third millennium inspired by respect for the sanctity of life, free from war and nuclear, an enlightened living rainbow of diversity. As the clouds of World War II approached, Czechoslovakian writer Karel Kapek denounced sentences such as “someone must,” “everything is not that simple,” as examples of spiritual poverty that only passively accepts the status quo: If someone drowns, you there is no need to stop thinking that "someone must go to save him."

- Large scale war - a war between coalitions of states or the largest states of the world community, in which the parties will pursue radical military-political goals. A large-scale war can result from the escalation of an armed conflict, a local or regional war involving a significant number of states from different regions of the world. It will require the mobilization of all available material resources and spiritual forces of the participating states.

It is assumed that large-scale wars will have the following characteristic features:

Integrated use of military force, non-military forces and means;

Massive use of weapons systems and military equipment based on new physical principles and comparable in effectiveness to nuclear weapons;

Expanding the scope of the use of troops (forces) and assets operating in aerospace;

Strengthening the role of information warfare;

Reducing the time parameters for preparing for military operations;

Increasing the efficiency of command and control as a result of the transition from a strictly vertical command and control system to global network automated systems for command and control of troops (forces) and weapons;

Creation of a permanent war zone in the territories of the warring parties.

Modern military conflicts will be distinguished by the unpredictability of their occurrence, transience, selectivity and high degree of destruction of objects, speed of maneuver by troops (forces) and fire, and the use of various mobile groupings of troops (forces). Mastering strategic initiative, maintaining stable state and military control, ensuring superiority on land, sea and in aerospace will be decisive factors in achieving the goals. There will be advance implementation of information warfare activities to achieve political goals without the use of military force, and subsequently, in the interests of forming a favorable reaction from the world community, a decision to use military force.

Military operations will be characterized by the increasing importance of high-precision, electromagnetic, laser, infrasonic weapons, information and control systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous marine vehicles, controlled robotic weapons and military equipment.

Nuclear weapons, on the one hand, will remain an important factor in preventing the emergence of nuclear military conflicts and military conflicts using conventional weapons (large-scale war, regional war). But in the event of a large-scale or regional war that threatens the very existence of the state, the possession of nuclear weapons can lead to the escalation of such a military conflict into a nuclear military conflict.

Most likely closest them consequences mi military conflicts are :

Death, injury, illness;

Environmental pollution;

Massive psychological information impact;

Violation of control systems;

Destruction of life support systems for the population;

Economic paralysis.

The long-term consequences of military conflicts are environmental, economic, health, social and demographic consequences.

Environmental consequences manifest themselves in the form of an environmental crisis . For example, the large-scale use of chemicals by American troops during the Second Indochina War (1961-1975) led to dire consequences. Mangrove forests (500 thousand hectares) were almost completely destroyed, 60% (about 1 million hectares) of the jungle and 30% (more than 100 thousand hectares) of lowland forests were affected. Since 1960, rubber plantation yields have declined by 75%. American troops destroyed from 40 to 100% of the crops of bananas, rice, sweet potatoes, papaya, tomatoes, 70% of coconut plantations, 60% of hevea, 110 thousand hectares of casuarina plantations. In the affected areas, out of 150 bird species, 18 remained, amphibians and insects almost completely disappeared, the number of fish in the rivers decreased and their composition changed. The microbiological composition of the soil was disrupted and plants were poisoned. The number of species of trees and shrubs in the tropical rainforest has sharply decreased: in the affected areas only a few species of trees and several types of thorny grasses, unsuitable for livestock feed, remain. Changes in the fauna of Vietnam resulted in the displacement of one species of black rat by other species that are carriers of plague in South and Southeast Asia. Ticks that carry dangerous diseases have appeared in the species composition of ticks. Similar changes have occurred in the species composition of mosquitoes: instead of harmless endemic mosquitoes, mosquitoes that carry malaria have appeared.

Economic consequences – This is primarily poverty and hunger.

Medical consequences manifest themselves in the form of disability for amputees and other victims, long-term consequences of combat head injuries, post-traumatic chronic alcohol addiction, drug addiction, consequences of mental trauma, and all kinds of psychological consequences.

Social consequences in the form of aggravation of national hatred, deformation of family culture and other negative manifestations are a consequence of any armed conflict.

Demographic implications manifest themselves in a sharp decrease in the share of the male population and subsequent waves of decline in the birth rate.