The Second World War is the most bloody, the most destructive and the largest in the modern history of mankind. It lasted six years (from 1939 to 1945). During this period, 1 billion 700 million people fought, as 61 states participated, which accounted for 80% of the inhabitants of the entire globe. The main warring powers were Germany, the Soviet Union, France, Great Britain, the USA, and Japan. The most bloody civil war is nothing compared to the Second World War, which covered the territories of forty states of three continents and all the oceans. A total of 110 million people were mobilized in all these countries, tens of millions participated in the guerrilla war and in the resistance movement, the rest worked in military factories and built fortifications. In general, the war covered 3/4 of the population of the entire Earth.
World War II - the bloodiest in world history
The destruction and losses caused by the Second World War were very great and practically unrivaled. They simply cannot be counted even approximately. In this infernal war, casualties approached 55 million people. In World War I, five times fewer people died, and material damage was estimated to be 12 times less. This war was of colossal proportions, as it was the most immeasurable event in world history.
In the Second, as in the First World War, the reasons lay in the redistribution of the world, territorial acquisitions, raw materials, and markets. However, the ideological content was more pronounced. The fascist and anti-fascist coalitions opposed each other. The Nazis unleashed a war, they wanted to dominate the world, to establish their rules and orders. States belonging to the anti-fascist coalition defended themselves as best they could. They fought for freedom and independence, for democratic rights and freedoms. This war was liberating. The resistance movement has become the main feature of the Second World War. The anti-fascist and national liberation movement arose in the states of the bloc of aggressors and in the occupied countries.
Literature on the war. Credibility
Many books and articles have been written about the most bloody war, a large number of films have been shot in all countries. The literary works written about this are immense; hardly anyone will be able to read them in their entirety. However, the stream of various publications is not coming to an end today. The history of the most bloody war has not yet been fully explored and is closely linked to the burning problems of the modern world. And all because this interpretation of military events still serves as a kind of justification and justification in the revision of borders, the creation of new states in order to positively or negatively assess the role of nations, parties, classes, rulers and political regimes. Such situations constantly disturb national interests and feelings. A lot of time has passed and until now, along with serious historical research, a large number of absolutely false allegations, essays and falsifications are being written.
The true history of the Second World War has already been overgrown with some myths and legends, supported by government propaganda, which was stable and widespread.
War movies
In Russia, few people know about the maneuvers of the Anglo-American troops in Africa and on the water expanses of the Pacific Ocean during this period. And in the USA and England, people also have a poor idea of the huge range of military battles on the Soviet-German front.
It is not surprising that the Soviet-American multi-part documentary about the most bloody war in history (1978 release) in America was given the name "Unknown War", because there they really know nothing about it. One of the French films about the Second World War also received the name "Unknown War". It is a pity that a public opinion poll of different countries (including Russia) showed that a generation born already in the post-war period sometimes simply does not have the most ordinary knowledge about the war. Interviewees sometimes do not really know when the war started, who were Hitler, Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill.
Start, reasons and preparation
The most bloody war in the history of mankind began on September 1, 1939 , and formally ended on September 2, 1945. It was unleashed by Nazi Germany (in alliance with Italy and Japan) with the anti-fascist coalition. The fighting took place in Europe, Asia and Africa. At the end of the war, at the final stage, atomic bombs were used against Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) on September 6 and 9. Japan capitulated.
For the defeat in the First World War (1914-1918), Germany, with the support of its allies, wanted revenge. In the 30s, two military centers were deployed in Europe and the Far East. The excessive restrictions and reparations that the victors imposed on Germany contributed to the development of a powerful nationalist motivation in the country, where extremely radical movements took control of themselves.
Hitler and his plans
In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power, who turned Germany into a militaristic country, dangerous to the whole world. The scale and growth rate were impressive in their scope. The volume of military production increased 22 times. By 1935, Germany had 29 military divisions. The plans of the Nazis included the conquest of the whole world and absolute domination in it. Their main goals were Great Britain, France, and the USA were also included in this list. However, the most important and most important goal was the destruction of the USSR. The Germans longed for a redivision of the world, created their coalition, and did a great job on this issue.
First period
On September 1, 1939, Germany treacherously invaded Poland. The most bloody war began. By that time, the armed forces of Germany had reached 4 million people and possessed a huge number of various kinds of equipment - tanks, ships, planes, guns, mortars, etc. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany, but did not go to Poland to help. Polish rulers flee to Romania.
On September 17 of the same year, the Soviet Union introduced troops into the territory of Western Ukraine and Belarus (which had been part of the USSR since 1917), so that with the collapse of the Polish state in the event of an attack, the Germans would not be allowed to move further east. This was indicated in their secret documents. On the way of their advance, the Germans took control of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, then they took Bulgaria, the Balkans, Greece and Fr. Crete.
Mistakes
At this time, Italian troops fighting on the side of Germany captured British Somalia, parts of Sudan, Kenya, Libya and Egypt. In the Far East, Japan occupied the southern regions of China and the northern part of Indochina. On September 27, 1940, the Berlin Pact of the three powers was signed - Germany, Italy and Japan. The military leaders in Germany at that time were A. Hitler, G. Himmler, G. Goering, and Keitel.
In August 1940, the bombing of the British Nazis began. In the first period of the most bloody war in history, Germany’s military successes were determined by the fact that her opponents acted separately and could not immediately develop a unified leadership system for joint warfare and draw up effective plans of military operations. Now the economy and resources from the occupied European countries went to prepare for war with the Soviet Union.
The second period of the war
The 1939 non-aggression Soviet-German treaties did not play a role, so on June 22, 1941 Germany (together with Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Slovakia) attacked the Soviet Union. The Great Patriotic War began with the most bloody battles and heavy human losses.
This was a new stage of the war. The governments of Great Britain and the USA supported the USSR, signed an agreement on joint actions and military-economic cooperation. The USSR and Great Britain brought their troops into Iran in order to prevent the possibility of the creation of support bases in the Middle East by the fascists.
First steps to victory
The Soviet-German front acquired forms of an extremely fierce nature. All the most powerful armed forces of the Nazis, according to the Barbarossa plan, were sent to the USSR.
The Red Army suffered huge losses, but it was able to frustrate the plans for a “lightning war” (blitzkrieg) in the summer of 1941. There were heavy battles, exhausting and bloodless enemy groups. As a result of this, the Germans could not capture Leningrad, they were held back for a long time by Odessa in 1941 and the Sevastopol defense of 1941-1942. The defeat in the Moscow battle of 1941-1942 dispelled myths about the omnipotence and omnipotence of the Wehrmacht. This fact inspired the occupied peoples to fight against the oppression of enemies and the creation of the Resistance Movement.
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US military base Pearl Harbor and launched a war against America. On December 8, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan along with their allies. On December 11, Germany, together with Italy, declared war on America.
Third period of war
At the same time, the main events took place on the Soviet-German front. It was here that the whole military power of the Germans was concentrated. The most bloody battle of the Great Patriotic War began on November 19. This was a counterattack near Stalingrad (1942-1943), which ended with the encirclement and destruction of the 330,000th group of German troops. The victory at Stalingrad of the Red Army was a fundamental turning point in the Great Patriotic War. Then the Germans themselves already had doubts about victory. From this moment began the mass expulsion of enemy troops from the Soviet Union.
Mutual assistance
A radical turning point in the victory occurred in the Battle of Kursk in 1943. The battles for the Dnieper in 1943 led the enemy to a protracted defensive war. When all German forces participated in the Battle of Kursk, British and American troops (July 25, 1943) destroyed the fascist regime of Italy, it left the fascist coalition. Great victories were shown by the allies in Africa, Sicily, in the south of the Apennine Peninsula.
In 1943, at the request of the Soviet delegation, the Tehran Conference was held, at which it was decided to open a second front no later than 1944. In the third period, the Nazi army could not win a single victory. The war in Europe has moved to its final stage.
The fourth period
In January, the Red Army launched a new offensive. Crushing blows fell on the enemy, by May the USSR managed to drive the fascists out of the country. During the ongoing offensive, the territories of Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria, northern Norway were liberated. Out of the war, Finland, Albania and Greece. The Allied forces, having carried out Operation Overlord, launched an offensive on Germany and thus opened a second front.
In February 1945, a conference of leaders of three countries — the USA, Great Britain, and the USSR — was held in Yalta. At this meeting, the plans for the defeat of the Nazi army were finally agreed, political decisions were taken to control and repaire Germany.
Fifth period
Three months after winning the Berlin Conference, the USSR agrees to wage war with Japan. At the 1945 conference in San Francisco, representatives of fifty countries worked out the UN Charter. The United States wanted to demonstrate its power and new weapons by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9) in 1945.
The USSR, having entered the war with Japan, defeated its Kwantung army, liberated part of China, North Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. On September 2, Japan surrendered. World War II is over.
Losses
In the most bloody war, approximately 55 million people died at the hands of the Nazis. The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war, losing 27 million people, receiving huge damage from the destruction of material assets. For Soviet people, the Great Patriotic War was the most bloody and most monstrous in its cruelty.
Poland - 6 million, China - 5 million, Yugoslavia - 1.7 million, and other states suffered heavy human losses. The total losses of Germany and its allies amounted to about 14 million. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, died of wounds or disappeared.
Summary
The main outcome of the war was the defeat of reactionary aggression by Germany and its allies. Since then, the alignment of political forces in the world has changed. Many peoples of "non-Aryan origin" who were supposed to die in concentration camps or become slaves were saved from physical destruction. The Nuremberg trials of 1945-1949 and the Tokyo trial of 1946-1948 gave legal assessments to the executors of hate plans and the conquest of world domination.
Now, I think, there should no longer be a question about which war is the most bloody. We must always remember this and not let our descendants forget about it, because "whoever does not know history is doomed to repeat it."