According to military experts, by the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) was considered the strongest army in the world. Why, then, did the Barbarossa plan, according to which Hitler hoped to end the USSR in 6-8 weeks, fail? Instead, the war dragged on for a long 1,418 days and ended in a crushing defeat of the Germans and their allies. How did it happen? What were the reasons for the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War? What was the mistake of the Nazi leader?
Reasons for the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War
Unleashing a war with the Soviet Union, Hitler, in addition to the power of his army, counted on the help of that part of the population of the USSR that was dissatisfied with the existing system, party and power. He also believed that in a country where so many peoples live, there should be ethnic hatred, which means that the invasion of German troops will provoke a split in society, which again will play into Germany’s hands. And here was Hitler's first puncture.
Everything happened exactly the opposite: the outbreak of the war only rallied the people of a huge country, turning it into a single fist. Issues of personal attitude to the authorities faded into the background. The defense of the fatherland from a common enemy has erased all sorts of ethnic lines. Of course, in a huge country, there were some traitors, but their number was negligible in comparison with the mass of people consisting of real patriots who were ready to die for their land.
Therefore, the main reasons for the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War can be called the following:
- The unprecedented patriotism of the Soviet people, manifested not only in the regular army, but also in the partisan movement, in which more than a million people took part.
- The cohesion of the social system: the Communist Party had such a powerful authority that it was able to ensure unity of will and high diligence at all levels of society, from the very top of the government to simple people: soldiers, workers, peasants.
- Professionalism of Soviet military leaders: during the war, commanders quickly gained practical experience in conducting effective military operations in various conditions.
- No matter how modern scribes of history sneer at the notion of “friendship of peoples”, claiming that it supposedly never existed in reality, the facts of war prove the opposite. Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Ossetians, Moldavians ... - all the peoples of the USSR took part in the Patriotic War, freeing the country from invaders. And for the Germans, regardless of their true nationality, they were all Russian enemies to be destroyed.
- The rear made a huge contribution to the victory. Old men, women and even children stood day and night at the factory machines, making weapons, equipment, ammunition, uniforms. Despite the deplorable situation of agriculture (many of the country's grain-growing territories were under occupation), the workers of the village supplied the front with food, and often themselves remained on a starvation diet. Scientists and designers created new weapons: rocket mortars, lovingly nicknamed the Katyusha army, the legendary T-34, IS and KV tanks, and combat aircraft. Moreover, the new equipment was not only highly reliable, but also easy to manufacture, which made it possible to use low-skilled workers (women, children) in its production.
- Not the last role in the victory over Nazi Germany was played by the successful foreign policy pursued by the country's leadership. Thanks to her, in 1942 the anti-Hitler coalition was organized, consisting of 28 states, and by the end of the war it included more than fifty countries. But still the leading roles in the union belonged to the USSR, England and the USA.
By the way, in modern literature, many authors, voicing the reasons for the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War, highlight the successful actions of the allies of the Soviet state. But what was the reality?
Allies of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War
Almost immediately after the outbreak of the war, the USSR government tried to convince the Allies of the need for an early opening of a second, western front, which would force Hitler to weaken the onslaught against the Soviet state, dividing its forces in two. By the way, then the price of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War would be completely different, but more on that later. The Allies had a different opinion on this score: they took a wait-and-see attitude, without taking any active actions in Europe. The main help to the Soviet Union consisted in the supply of long-term rental equipment, vehicles, ammunition. At the same time, the volumes of foreign military assistance amounted to only 4% of the total amount of products going to the front.
In reality, the allies of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War proved themselves only in 1944, when its outcome was already understood. On June 6, a joint Anglo-American landing landed in Normandy (northern France), marking the opening of a second front. Now the Germans, already so badly battered, had to fight both with the West and the East, which, of course, significantly brought closer such a long-awaited date - Victory Day.
The price of victory over fascism
The price of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet people paid, was extremely high: 1710 cities and large settlements, 70 thousand villages and villages were completely or partially destroyed. The Nazis destroyed 32 thousand enterprises, 1876 state farms and 98 thousand collective farms. In general, the Soviet Union during the war lost one third of its national wealth. Twenty-seven million people died in battlefields, occupied territories and in captivity. The losses of Nazi Germany are fourteen million. Several thousand people were killed in the United States and England.
What ended the war for the USSR
The consequences of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War were not at all the same as Hitler had counted on when he attacked the Soviet Union. The victorious country ended the fight against fascism, having the largest and most powerful army in Europe - 11 million 365 thousand people.
At the same time, the USSR was assigned rights to the territory of Bessarabia, Western Ukraine, the Baltic states, Western Belarus and Northern Bukovina, as well as to Koenigsberg with the territories adjacent to it. Klaipeda became part of the Lithuanian SSR. However, it was not at all the expansion of the state’s borders that became the main result of the war with Hitler.
What does the victory of the USSR over Germany mean for the whole world
The significance of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War was grandiose both for the country itself and for the whole world. After all, firstly, the Soviet Union became that main force that stopped fascism in the person of Hitler, striving for world domination. Secondly, thanks to the USSR, the lost independence was returned not only to the countries of Europe, but also to Asia.
Thirdly, the victorious country has significantly strengthened its international authority, and the socialist system has gone beyond the territory of one country. The USSR turned into a great power that changed the geopolitical situation in the world, which eventually turned into a confrontation between capitalism and socialism. The settled colonial system of imperialism cracked and began to disintegrate. As a result, Lebanon, Syria, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Korea declared their independence.
New page in history
With the victory of the USSR, the situation in world politics radically transformed. The position of countries in the international arena was rapidly changing - new centers of influence were formed. Now America has become the main power of the West, and the Soviet Union - of the East. Thanks to its victory, the USSR not only got rid of the international isolation it was in before the war, but also became a full-fledged, and most importantly, a very powerful world power, which was already difficult to ignore. Thus, a new page was opened in world history, and the Soviet Union was assigned one of the main roles in it.