When it started 2. From the new "to the topic"

It would seem that the answer to this question is absolutely clear. Any more or less educated European will name the date - September 1, 1939 - the day the Nazi Germany attacked Poland. And the more prepared will explain: more precisely, the world war began two days later - on September 3, when Great Britain and France, as well as Australia, New Zealand and India, declared war on Germany.

True, they did not immediately participate in hostilities, waging the so-called waiting strange war. For Western Europe, the real war began only in the spring of 1940, when German troops invaded Denmark and Norway on April 9, and on May 10, the Wehrmacht launched an offensive in France, Belgium and Holland.

Recall that at that time the largest powers of the world - the USA and the USSR remained out of the war. For this reason alone, there are doubts about the complete validity of the date of the beginning of the planetary slaughter established by Western European historiography.

And therefore, I think, by and large it can be assumed that it would be more correct to consider the starting point of the Second World War as the date of involvement in the hostilities of the Soviet Union - June 22, 1941. Well, from the Americans it was possible to hear that the war acquired a truly global character only after the treacherous Japanese attack on the Pacific naval base at Pearl Harbor and the announcement in December 1941 by Washington of war against militaristic Japan, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

However, Chinese scholars and politicians most persistently and, say, from their own point of view, convincingly defend the illegality of the countdown of the world war adopted in Europe from September 1, 1939. I have repeatedly encountered this at international conferences and symposiums, where Chinese participants invariably defend the official position of their country that the start of the Second World War should be considered the date of the unleashing of a full-scale war in China by militaristic Japan - July 7, 1937. There are also such historians in the "Celestial Empire" who believe that this date should be September 18, 1931 - the beginning of the Japanese invasion of the North-Eastern provinces of China, then called Manchuria.

One way or another, it turns out that this year the PRC will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the start of not only the Japanese aggression against China, but also the Second World War.

One of the first in our country to seriously pay attention to such a periodization of the history of the Second World War was the authors of the collective monograph prepared by the Foundation for Historical Perspective “The Score of the Second World War. Thunderstorm in the East” (author-comp. A.A. Koshkin. M., Veche, 2010).

In the preface, the head of the Foundation, Doctor of Historical Sciences N.A. Narochnitskaya notes:

“According to the ideas established in historical science and in the public consciousness, World War II began in Europe with an attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, after which Great Britain, the first of the future victorious powers, declared war on the Nazi Reich. However, this event was preceded by large-scale military clashes in other parts of the world, which are unreasonably considered by Eurocentric historiography as peripheral, and therefore secondary.

By September 1, 1939, a truly world war was already in full swing in Asia. China, fighting Japanese aggression since the mid-1930s, has already lost twenty million lives. In Asia and Europe, the Axis powers - Germany, Italy, and Japan - have been delivering ultimatums, bringing in troops, and redrawing borders for several years. Hitler, with the connivance of Western democracies, seized Austria and Czechoslovakia, Italy occupied Albania and waged war in North Africa, where 200,000 Abyssinians died.

Since the end of the Second World War is considered the surrender of Japan, the war in Asia is recognized as part of the Second World War, but the question of its beginning needs a more reasonable definition. The traditional periodization of World War II needs to be rethought. In terms of the scale of the redistribution of the world and military operations, in terms of the victims of aggression, the Second World War began precisely in Asia long before the German attack on Poland, long before the Western powers entered the world war.

The word in the collective monograph was also given to Chinese scientists. Historians Luan Jinghe and Xu Zhiming note:

“According to one of the generally accepted points of view, the Second World War, which lasted six years, began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. Meanwhile, there is another view of the starting point of this war, which at different times involved more than 60 states and regions and which disrupted the lives of over 2 billion people around the world. The total number of mobilized from both sides amounted to more than 100 million people, the death toll - more than 50 million. The direct costs of waging the war amounted to 1.352 trillion US dollars, financial losses reached 4 trillion dollars. We cite these figures to once again indicate the scale of those huge disasters that the Second World War brought to mankind in the 20th century.

There is no doubt that the formation of the Western Front meant not only the expansion of the scale of hostilities, it also played a decisive role in the course of the war.

However, an equally important contribution to the victory in World War II was made on the Eastern Front, where the eight-year war of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders was going on. This resistance became an important part of the world war.

An in-depth study of the history of the Chinese people's war against the Japanese invaders and understanding of its significance will help to create a more complete picture of the Second World War.

This is what the proposed article is devoted to, in which it is argued that the real date of the start of the Second World War should be considered not September 1, 1939, but July 7, 1937 - the day when Japan unleashed a full-scale war against China.

If we accept this point of view and do not strive to artificially separate the Western and Eastern fronts, there will be all the more reason to call the anti-fascist war ... the Great World War.

The author of the article in the collective monograph, a prominent Russian sinologist, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.S. Myasnikov, who does a lot to restore historical justice, to properly assess the contribution of the Chinese people to the victory over the so-called "Axis countries" - Germany, Japan and Italy, who aspired to enslave the peoples and world domination. An eminent scientist writes:

“As for the beginning of the Second World War, there are two main versions: European and Chinese ... Chinese historiography has long been saying that it is time to move away from Eurocentrism (which, in essence, is similar to negritude) in assessing this event and admit that the beginning of this war is falling on July 7, 1937 and is connected with the open aggression of Japan against China. Let me remind you that the territory of China is 9.6 million square meters. km, that is, approximately equal to the territory of Europe. By the time the war began in Europe, most of China, where its largest cities and economic centers were located - Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, was occupied by the Japanese. Almost the entire railway network of the country fell into the hands of the invaders, its sea coast was blocked. Chongqing became the capital of China during the war.

It should be borne in mind that China lost 35 million people in the war of resistance against Japan. The European public is not sufficiently aware of the heinous crimes of the Japanese military.

So, on December 13, 1937, Japanese troops captured the then capital of China - Nanjing and carried out a mass extermination of civilians and a robbery of the city. 300 thousand people became victims of this crime. These and other crimes were condemned by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East at the Tokyo Trial (1946-1948).

But, finally, objective approaches to this problem began to appear in our historiography... The collective work gives a detailed picture of military and diplomatic moves, which fully confirms the need and validity of revising the outdated Eurocentric point of view.”

For our part, I would like to note that the proposed revision will cause resistance from pro-government historians of Japan, who not only do not recognize the aggressive nature of their country's actions in China and the number of victims in the war, but also do not consider the eight-year extermination of the Chinese population and the all-out plunder of China as a war. They stubbornly call the Japanese-Chinese war an “incident” allegedly caused by China, despite the absurdity of such a name for military and punitive actions, during which tens of millions of people were killed. They do not recognize Japan's aggression in China as an integral part of the Second World War, claiming that they participated in the global conflict, opposing only the United States and Great Britain.

In conclusion, it should be recognized that our country has always objectively and comprehensively assessed the contribution of the Chinese people to the victory of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II.
High marks for the heroism and self-sacrifice of Chinese soldiers in this war are also given in modern Russia, both by historians and leaders of the Russian Federation. Such assessments are duly contained in the 12-volume work of prominent Russian historians "The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" published by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory. Therefore, there is reason to expect that our scientists and politicians, during the events scheduled for the upcoming 80th anniversary of the start of the Japanese-Chinese war, will treat with understanding and solidarity the position of the Chinese comrades, who consider the events of July 1937 to be the starting point that then fell upon almost the entire a world of unprecedented planetary tragedy.

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When World War II started.

Monologue of a non-historian in three parts.

Part one. Fakes.

History - Hooker Politics (C)

For almost the entire 20th century, local wars were waged in different parts of the Earth, which twice developed into world wars. Here's how it happened the second time and the conversation will go.
World War II began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. As an indisputable truth, this phrase is used in school textbooks and encyclopedias, in scientific works and works of art. Yes, not in all, in Chinese, for example, there are completely different dates, and in the USA there are works that also have other dates. Recently, a modernized version has sometimes been used: World War II in Europe began on September 1, 1939.
A simple question: “Who decided that the Second World War began exactly on September 1, 1939, and not on some other day?”. The simple answer is that no one, none of those whose powers are difficult to challenge, did not decide that way, namely: the big three - Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill (surnames are given in the order of the Russian alphabet) did not decide that way. There is no corresponding UN resolution either, and the Nuremberg Tribunal did not discuss this date. Thus, the statement "World War II began on September 1, 1939", first expressed by some English or American journalist in December 1941, has no official status and no legal force.
The Second World War ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of Japan's surrender. Japan did not attack Poland, and the question arises, when did Japan enter the Second World War? There are two possible answers. Japan began to seize Asian countries, either from September 18, 1931, or from July 7, 1937, which date is not so important, the main thing is that by September 1, 1939, Japan had captured territories comparable in area and population to Western Europe, with Hundreds of thousands, if more, of Asians were killed in this. In any case, the local wars that turned into the Second World War began in Asia, not in Europe, hence the statement “The Second World War began on the first of September 1939” is a fake.

The first of September 1939 was called the beginning of the Second World War in order to accuse the Soviet Union of starting it, and the key words of this accusation are the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact." Through the efforts of falsifiers, under the words "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact", the following sequence of events began to be perceived: "So, Stalin and Hitler each sat down in front of their own globe and agreed on the division of the world by phone, and Molotov and Ribbentrop formalized these agreements on paper, signed - that's a week later The Second World War has begun."
In the eight days that have passed since the signing of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR and before the start of the local German-Polish war, it is simply impossible to plan and prepare a war of this size - there is too little time, it is difficult for a non-specialist to imagine the amount of work to prepare for a war of such a scale, but if the supporters of this version want to laugh at specialists and just people with common sense, then let them laugh, and archival documents show how much time it actually took Germany to prepare for an attack on Poland.
There are two documents in the archives: the "White Plan", which was signed by Hitler on April 3, 1939, and the directive of the German High Command "On the unified preparation of the armed forces for war," signed on April 11, 1939. The "White Plan" refers to the political decision on the war with Poland , and the directive describes a detailed plan for preparing an attack with a readiness to start a war on September 1, 1939. On April 28, 1939, Germany officially informed Poland that the Non-Aggression Protocol, which was signed by Poland and Germany in 1934, was terminated, thus, back in April 1939, Germany warned Poland about the imminent start of the war.
The German war plan provided for the following distribution of German troops: 57 professional divisions, including all tank and mechanized divisions against 39 divisions and 16 separate brigades of the Polish army, and 23 reserve divisions against 65 personnel and 45 reserve French plus several personnel British divisions stationed in France, such the distribution proves that long before the attack on Poland, Hitler already knew that England and France would not defend Poland by military action. When and under what circumstances he learned this is one of the main secrets of this period of world history.
The non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR was signed on August 23, 1939, and the German documents in April 1939, from a comparison of these dates it follows that the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR has nothing to do with Germany's decision to attack Poland, nor to the date of this attack, and the accusation of the USSR of unleashing the Second World War is a fake.
Treaty and pact are different types of diplomatic documents, for example, on September 29, 1939, the newspaper Trud published on one page the German-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and the Border between the USSR and Germany and the Mutual Assistance Pact between the USSR and the Republic of Estonia.
If the document is called a non-aggression pact, then it is difficult to attribute any aggressive articles to it, and if the document is called the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact", then anything can be attributed to its content. That is why the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR was given the fake name "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" and used instead of the real name. The use of the term "Molotov-Ribbetrop Pact" serves to hide the true meaning of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR, as well as to create new fakes.
Here is an example of using the term "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" to create another fake. From June 29 to July 3, 2009, the eighteenth annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly took place in Vilnius. Among the resolutions adopted at it was the resolution “The reunification of a divided Europe: the promotion of human rights and civil liberties in the region in the 21st century.” Here are paragraphs 10. and 11. of this resolution:
"10. Recalling the initiative of the European Parliament to declare 23 August, i.e. day of the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact 70 years ago, a pan-European day of remembrance for the victims of Stalinism and Nazism in the name of preserving the memory of the victims of mass deportations and executions, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
11. Reaffirms its united position, which rejects totalitarian rule in any form, regardless of its ideological basis; …”
There is no document entitled "Pact "Ribbebtrop-Molotov"" and signed by Molotov and Ribbebtrop, therefore it could not be signed either on September 23, 1939, or on any other day, and any content can be attributed to a non-existent document, in an agreement on non-aggression between Germany and the USSR does not say anything about mass deportations and executions, and the very concept of "divided Europe" is based on a fake called "secret additional protocol".
It is also a lie to say that the Second World War in Europe began on September 1, 1939, because. the German-Polish war that began on that day was not the first local war in Europe after the end of the First World War.
About when the first local war began in Europe and about the true meaning of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR will be discussed in the second part.

Part two. Restoring the truth

Stalin is not my friend, but the truth is dearer.

First, a little about the art of war. The ideal military operation of any level is an operation in which the object of attack is captured without damage, there are no losses of personnel and there is no consumption of ammunition, and it doesn’t matter what the object of attack is: a barn on the outskirts of an abandoned village, a city like Paris, or an entire country. In recent history, a generally recognized example of such a carefully planned, prepared and carried out operation is the capture of Denmark by Germany on April 9, 1940 during a local war.
And now a little about the laws. The first local war in Europe was preceded by the events of February 22, 1938. Until that date, Germany and Italy were lawbreakers in Europe, and on this day England joined them. Until February 22, 1938, security and international law in Europe were ensured by the observance of the Charter of the League of Nations, Hitler's attempts to seize Austria were stopped not only by diplomatic demarches, but also by the advancement of troops to defend Austria.
On February 22, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared in Parliament that Austria could no longer count on the protection of the League of Nations: “We must not deceive, much less reassure small weak states, promising them protection from the League of Nations and appropriate steps with our side, because we know that nothing of the kind can be done.” Translated from the diplomatic language, this means: Great Britain will no longer abide by the Charter of the League of Nations, from that moment international law in Europe ceases to operate, laws will no longer be observed - save yourself, who can! .
Hitler took advantage of this and on the night of March 11 to 12, 1938, German troops, previously concentrated on the border in accordance with the Otto plan, invaded Austrian territory. Austria was invaded by Germany during a local war, the first local war in Europe after the end of the First World War. From a military point of view, the capture of Austria by Germany is absolutely no different from the capture of Denmark and will be the result of the same carefully planned, prepared and conducted local war. If the German takeover of Austria is not a war, then what is the German takeover of Denmark?
As a result of the capture of Austria, Hitler had industry at his disposal, including the military, developed agriculture, and most importantly, the citizens of Austria, who were later turned into cannon fodder. With the German capture of Austria, lawlessness and war continued their march across Europe, and it began with the invasion of the Italo-German troops in Spain, which decided the outcome of the civil war in that country in favor of Franco.
In the fall of 1938, Germany made claims against Czechoslovakia. The problem could be solved in several ways: France was obliged to provide military assistance to Czechoslovakia in accordance with the existing agreement, but France acted illegally, refusing to fulfill its obligations. The USSR alone was ready to provide Czechoslovakia with any military assistance under the only condition - Poland had to allow the Red Army to cross Polish territory. The Soviet Union did not have a common border with Czechoslovakia. France and England did not force Poland to give such permission, Poland could give such permission on its own, but refused to let the Red Army through. With its refusal to fulfill its obligations under the treaty for the defense of Czechoslovakia, France not only added to the list of lawlessness, but also warned Poland that France would not defend Poland in the coming war, but the Polish rulers did not understand this.
The problem was solved by the signing of the Munich Treaty, as a result of which Germany captured one part of the Czech Republic during a local war, as a result of another local war Poland occupied another part of the Czech territory, Hungary captured another part of the territory of Czechoslovakia in the third local war, and finally the subsequent local war Germany completed the occupation of the rest of the Czech Republic. The Munich Treaty mentions the territorial claims of Hungary to Czechoslovakia, but nothing is said about the claims of Poland, thus, by attacking the Czech Republic, Poland violated not only the charter of the League of Nations, but also the Munich Treaty, i.e. demonstrated double wrongdoing.
The fighting of the German, Polish and Hungarian armed forces are local wars because they are no different from the capture of Denmark by Germany.
Everyone knows that the Czech Republic is a small country in the center of Europe, but few people know that the Czech military industry is one of the largest in the world, then, in 1938, only the Skoda concern produced more military products than the entire military industry of England combined, and apart from Skoda, weapons other factories also produced, ready-made weapons for dozens of divisions were stored in Czech warehouses. One of the largest military industries in the world and huge stocks of weapons - such a gift was given to Hitler by the rulers of England and France by illegally disposing of someone else's property. By signing the Munich Treaty, the rulers of England and France officially transferred power in Europe to lawlessness.
The next war was the Italo-Albanian. It began on April 7, 1939 with an Italian attack. For those who believe that I inserted bloodless wars to falsify the numbering of local wars in Europe, I clarify that the Italo-Albanian war was a war of fighting, casualties and destruction, so the first shot of World War II in Europe was fired on April 7, 1939.
In August 1939, Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations were held in Moscow to develop a plan for joint military operations in the event of a German attack on any of the European countries. The Soviet delegation was headed by the People's Commissar (Minister) of Defense, British and French minor generals and admirals, who did not even have the authority to sign anything. The negotiations ended in vain in the second half of August, by their actions the governments of England and France clearly and unequivocally announced their position: England and France will not fight against Germany, and therefore they do not need help from the Soviet Union, therefore, in the event of a war between Germany and the Soviet Union England and France also will not fight against Germany. The question of whether England and France would fight against the Soviet Union together with Germany remained open.
In fact, the negotiations themselves were a magnificent operation of the Anglo-French intelligence, which received first-hand the most detailed information about the size of the composition and weapons of the Red Army, about the capabilities of the military industry and the capacity of roads, etc.
Ribbentrop arrived in Moscow on August 21, 1939. The detailed content of his negotiations with the Soviet leadership is unknown, but at least Ribbentrop did not deny that, in accordance with the directive of the German High Command of April 11, 1939, the German troops were completing preparations for the war against Poland and would begin hostilities on September 1, 1939.
So, the Soviet leadership, continuing the war with Japan, an ally of Germany, at Halkin Gol, had a choice of three options:
1. Start a war against Germany on the territory of Poland.
2. Wait until Germany conquers Poland and start a war against Germany on the Soviet-Polish border.
If one of these options was chosen, the Soviet Union was guaranteed a war on two fronts, with the risk of a third front, in the event of an attack by England and France, the third option was naturally chosen:
3. Without fear of a German attack, end the war with Japan. Maintain neutrality in the beginning war of Germany against Poland, England, France. Adjust your policy depending on the course of this war.
From the moment Hitler came to power, neither the leaders of Germany nor the leaders of the USSR had any doubts about the upcoming German-Soviet war, and when the possibility of war began to turn into a reality in August 1939, the German and Soviet leadership realized that if Germany and the USSR began to fight each other with a friend in the military-political conditions of August 1939, then the winner in this war, even Germany, even the USSR, will be so weakened that he will be forced to fulfill the will of England and France, and if he tries to resist, he will be immediately attacked, defeated and occupied by the Anglo-French troops.
The presence of such Anglo-French plans is proved by the actions of Churchill at the beginning of 1945: by his order, the German troops captured by the British were placed in ordinary military camps, where they were under symbolic British protection, but in full accordance with the German charters, their weapons and combat equipment in full readiness for use were nearby. This was preparation for a joint Anlo-American-German attack on the USSR, and Churchill urged the American leadership to lead and carry out this attack as quickly as possible. The allies, including the USSR and England, defeated Germany, the USSR was greatly weakened in this war, England was also weakened, she herself was not able to attack, so she was putting together a new coalition to attack the USSR - England's foreign policy is famous for its consistency and perseverance ...
On August 23, 1939, the leaders of Germany and the USSR signed a non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR in Moscow. No secret additional protocols were signed. This is proven in the article "Secret protocol - another fake."
The true meaning of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR simply follows from its name, content and international situation in August 1939: Germany and the USSR will not fight among themselves for Anglo-French interests.
Protocol phrases about the terms of the non-aggression pact were a formality, because. both sides knew that war between Germany and the USSR would begin when Hitler decided that Germany was ready for a victorious war. Other German-Soviet treaties concluded a little later were used by each side to create for themselves the best conditions for a future war.
Although the non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR caused intense diplomatic activity by the leaders of England and France, it did not change their decision not to fight Germany.

Part three. Local wars

On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, but there were no headlines in the newspapers "The Second World War has begun", and when England and France declared war on Germany a couple of days later, there were no headlines "England and France entered the world war" either.
Here I planned to indicate the name of the person who was the first in the world to say: "The Second World War began on the first of September 1939", it may not be possible to find this person, but it is quite possible to establish the first newspaper.
In the process of searching, I found the following: during the whole of 1939 there was no hint of an allegedly ongoing world war, in 1940 Churchill once mentioned a world war, but in a geographical sense, when the German fleet began attacks on British ships across the world's oceans , and only in December 1941, almost simultaneously in a number of American and British newspapers, articles appeared with hints that a world war was going on and it began in September 1939. Maybe there is someone who wants to conduct a study on the topic: "The emergence, spread and conquest of almost the entire world by the myth of the beginning of the Second World War on September 1, 1939"?
On September 1, 1939, a local German-Polish war began, purely formally it should be called German-Polish-French-English, but such a name is an insult to the memory of the dead Polish soldiers. 110 French and no matter how many English divisions stood against 23 German divisions while the rest of the German army was grinding the Polish army. Since England and France were not fighting, the German army was rapidly moving deep into Poland. There was a danger that the German army would go directly to the Soviet-Polish border. To prevent this, on September 17, 1939, the Red Army group moved towards the German troops. There was no predetermined line of separation of the Soviet and German troops, everything was decided promptly, not always in a timely manner, which led to small clashes with losses in manpower and military equipment on both sides.
The Polish state ceased to exist. The border between the USSR and Germany was clarified and legally formalized by the German-Soviet Treaty of September 28, 1939, this line divided the territory on which the Polish state existed until September 17, 1939.
The question of the legality of this section can be answered in two ways: if we admit that de facto international laws have not worked in Europe since February 22, 1938, then Germany and the USSR did not violate anything by partitioning Poland, and if we consider that formally the charter of the League of Nations continued to operate, then the partition of Poland took place in accordance with the same law by which England and France gave Austria to Germany, by which England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary divided Czechoslovakia, and by which Italy captured Albania. This law does not yet have a name, and I propose to call it Chamberlain's lawlessness law.
The time has come for the USSR to prepare for a big war, whether against Germany or England and France, or even all of them together. It was decided to start with Finland. The border with Finland ran 15-18 kilometers from Leningrad, the largest center of the defense industry, and the Finns had cannons with a range of up to 30 kilometers, from which they could fire at the largest defense factories. To prevent this, the USSR began a local war against Finland.
Meanwhile, inaction continued on the Franco-German border, which contemporaries called "a strange war", "the losses of the French army from September 1, 1939 to December 31, 1939 amounted to 1 person - the regimental scout shot himself out of boredom", this is an example of the French humor of those times. "Why are the French and English soldiers standing?" - this question was asked by the dying Polish soldiers, it was asked by everyone, including the English and French soldiers themselves, only those who knew the answer were silent - the rulers of England and France.
There are many versions explaining the inaction of the British and French armies, I will give my own: English and French soldiers did not fight the Germans, because the rulers of England and France were going to fight against the USSR.
Weapons were flowing into Finland and the first 100,000-strong expeditionary corps was preparing to be sent. Time is the main reason for the stupid, unprepared attacks of the Red Army on the Mannerheim Line, it was necessary to have time to win the war with Finland before England and France entered it, this task was solved with the blood of the Red Army - Finland was forced to sign a peace treaty before the landing of the Anglo-French troops, and there were no major battles on the Franco-German border, but according to the accepted chronology, this stand-up should be called: "England and France are waging the Second World War against Germany."
But not all British and French troops were idle, many were very, very busy, especially the high command. Reconnaissance flights were made over Baku, and its bombardment was planned. The German leadership was well aware of the impossibility of Germany winning a war on two fronts, but now it was able to concentrate absolutely all forces against France, without any fear of a blow from the USSR. The German command took advantage of the situation, and on May 10, 1940, German troops went on the offensive against France and its neighbors. Here are the main reasons for the lightning defeat of France:

1. Refusal to fulfill obligations to protect Czechoslovakia and the signing of the Munich Agreement.
2. The actual refusal to fulfill allied obligations towards Poland.
3. Wrong disposition of troops - the main forces were preparing to repel the German offensive from the north.
4. Too high hopes for the Maginot Line, which the Germans simply bypassed. French experts provided for the possibility of such a detour, but some routes were considered impassable for tanks and did not cover them in any way, it was along these routes that the German tanks bypassed the Maginot line.
Hitler decided not to litter the beaches of Dunkirk with the British, and ordered the German troops to stop 10-15 km from the coast. By this, Hitler demonstrated his peacefulness and offered England to end the war. Having abandoned their equipment and weapons, the British and part of the French troops crossed over to England, and the local Anglo-French-German war ended with the defeat of France. England refused to negotiate with Germany and a local Anglo-German war began, the first part of which is rightly called the "Battle for England".
On June 14, 1940, the USSR began to neutralize the danger of the Baltic foothold being unoccupied. The dictatorial regimes of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia tended to cooperate extensively with Germany, and the presence of German troops on their territory gave Germany a strategic advantage in the upcoming German-Soviet war. To include Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the USSR, the Soviet leadership developed and applied a set of political technologies, which are still used in a modernized form today under the name "color revolutions".
The United States used the term "Inclusion" to name this process even then and did not recognize its legality, but the very use of this term proves that from the point of view of international law, the Baltic countries were included in the USSR without war and occupation.
On September 13, 1940, hostilities began in Africa.
With a series of local wars, Germany captured almost all of Europe, and the USSR improved its strategic position at the expense of Romania, and on June 22, 1941, a local German-Soviet war began.
All this time, Japan continued a series of local wars in Asia and the Pacific, and on December 8, 1941, Japanese troops attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan declared war on the US. Germany declared war on the United States three days later. This day, December 11, 1941, united the battles on the thousand-kilometer European, Asian and African fronts and on the thousand-mile Pacific front into one big battle, on this day a series of local wars in Asia and the Pacific, merging with a series of European local wars, turned into the Second World War.
Formally, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany's declaration of war on the United States are three days apart, but in fact the battle of Pearl Harbor is the very first battle of World War II, its true place in world history, which the falsifiers stole from the American people.
So when did World War II start?
Maybe it's time to convene a plenipotentiary international conference that will reasonably and honestly answer this question and give the answer an official status?

At first glance, this question is absolutely simple. Any resident of Europe who graduated from a secondary school will confidently answer that the beginning of World War II is considered the day the German Nazis invaded Poland ....

At first glance, this question is absolutely simple. Any resident of Europe who graduated from a secondary school will confidently answer that the beginning of World War II is considered the day the German Nazis invaded Poland. People who are a little more educated will say that the correct date is September 3, when five other countries declared war on Nazi Germany (France, England, India, Australia and New Zealand) and the war really became a world war.

Evacuation of Liuchou residents. November 1944

However, these countries have not yet entered into military battles, but were waiting for further developments. In the west of Europe, hostilities unfolded only in the spring of 1940, when the Germans moved on April 9 to Norway and Denmark, and on May 10, Hitler led his comrades-in-arms to Belgium, Holland and France.

At the same time, during this period, the two largest states, the Soviet Union and the United States, did not yet take part in the war. And, taking into account this circumstance, the date of the beginning of the Second World War, which was determined by the historians of Western Europe, is being questioned.

For this reason, according to some pundits, or rather, the date of the start of the world war can be called precisely June 22, 1941, when the USSR, one of the superpowers, entered this massacre on a planetary scale. And some Americans generally express the opinion that the war received the status of a truly world war in the full sense of the word only after the Japanese attack on the American Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean and the fact that the United States declared war on the Japanese, Germans and Italians in the last month of 1941.

At the same time, prominent politicians and historians from the Celestial Empire are even more convinced of the incorrectness of the date of the start of World War II, defined by the Europeans as September 1, 1939. The author of the article heard this opinion many times at world symposiums and conferences, where official representatives of China confidently voice the version accepted in their homeland that July 7, 1937, when Japan attacked the Chinese people, should be considered the starting point in World War II. And some scholars from China even believe that the significant date in this topic is September 18, 1931, when Japanese troops launched an offensive against Manchuria (North-East of the Celestial Empire).

Among the first, this information was taken into account in all seriousness by the dissenting opinion of the Chinese about the historical beginning of the Second World War, the authors of the scientific monograph “Score of the Second World War. Thunderstorm in the East” (author-comp. A.A. Koshkin. M., Veche, 2010).

Japanese military in China

This scientific work was published by the Historical Perspective Foundation. Its leader, a prominent Russian scientist N. A. Narochnitskaya, wrote in the preface that the vast majority of historians and ordinary people around the world consider September 1, 1939, the day the Second World War began, when the Germans entered Poland, as a result of which England was the first of the countries Allies declared war on Hitler. But it should also undoubtedly be recognized that a few years before that, major military conflicts took place in other regions of the planet, which are judged as events of secondary importance in the countries of Europe, which consider themselves the center of the world, since China is a periphery for prudish Europeans.

The scientist also writes that in fact, even before September 1939, there were real world battles in Asia. In China alone, since the mid-1930s, Japanese militarists have killed 20 million people. And in these few years, the fascist countries - Germany, Japan and Italy - put their ultimatums, took away territories, sent their armies to other states. The Nazis then subjugated Austria and Czechoslovakia, Italy established control over Albania and fought in North Africa, destroying two hundred thousand Abyssinians.

And since the end of the Second World War is considered the day when the Japanese surrendered, and military operations in Asia, too, therefore, are attributed to the Second World War, the question of the date of its beginning also remains, in fact, open. Many Russian scientists believe that the periodization of World War II needs to be revised. Because the scale of military clashes and the change in the borders of world countries clearly indicates that this war started precisely in the Asian region of our planet, and this happened several years earlier than the occupation of Poland by the Germans and before the USSR and the USA entered the war. This concludes the speech of the scientist Narochnitskaya.

Chinese officers. Quaylin, June 1944

The author of the article also considers it necessary to note that if the world scientific community nevertheless undertakes to revise the indicated date, then this will certainly cause discontent and active opposition from official representatives of Japan, since their politicians and historians have not officially recognized their aggression in China and do not even call it a war the fact that they systematically destroyed and robbed the people of the Celestial Empire for 8 years. They confidently call these military clashes an "incident" initiated by the Chinese side, although it is clear to anyone that this full-scale aggression, during which several tens of millions of Chinese were killed, was really a war. Also, the Japanese do not want to recognize their punitive operations in China as part of the Second World War, since they say that in the World War they fought only with England and the United States.

We also want to remind you once again that in the USSR in all historical periods they recognized and appreciated the help of the Chinese to the allied countries that defeated Hitler and his minions.

They also highly appreciate the courage and strength of Chinese soldiers during their participation in World War II and in today's Russia. This is recognized by both scientists and politicians in our country, up to the very top leadership. This is covered to a significant extent in the work published by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the Victory. This is a book in 12 volumes by recognized historians called "The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945".

The great Second World War... Everyone knows about it now. There has never been a bigger war on our planet than this one, and let's hope there won't be. Sixty-one states took part in the Second World War, at that time it was about 80% of the population of the entire globe.

The best minds of science are still studying the Second World War. Many controversial questions arise, such as when World War II began. The official start date is September 1, 1939. The Third Reich declared war on Poland. Then the war began to develop, different states entered it gradually and also gradually declared war on their opponents. Russia, then the USSR, declared war on Finland on November 30, 1939, and on June 22, 1941, the Third Reich began hostilities against our country. This war ended on September 2, 1945.

Prerequisites for the outbreak of war

It would seem that this is the official date for the start of the war, what is the point of controversy about it? It turns out that not everything is so simple. It turns out that Germany was preparing for a major war long before 1939, so the official date is not entirely correct. The prerequisites for the outbreak of the Second World War must be sought much earlier. It all started with the establishment of Hitler's regime of power in Germany, and other countries did not prevent this.

The first attempts at German aggression can be found in Northeast China (1931), Ethiopia (1935), Spain (1936). And even these years will not be the absolute beginning of German aggression. The plot, as many scientists think, must be sought on June 28, 1919, when Germany and other countries signed the Treaty of Versailles on the results of the First World War. The treaty assumed that Germany, in comparison with other countries, had fewer rights. Germany had to give other countries the conquered territory, among these countries were Belgium, France, Poland, West Prussia. The victorious countries, among which Germany was not included, had great advantages.

Later, the leader-dictator Adolf Hitler came to power, who successfully launched his Nazi activities. The stronger Hitler's power became, the more attacks on other countries from Germany arose. In addition to the attacks, Germany ceased to comply with the agreement between the countries, and Hitler at that time, together with his assistants, created a plan to seize foreign territories. All this eventually led to the outbreak of World War II. And when the Second World War began, you already know.

War is a great pain

World War II is the bloodiest war in human history. Lasted 6 years. The armies of 61 states with a total population of 1,700 million people, that is, 80% of the total population of the earth, participated in the hostilities. The fighting took place in the territories of 40 countries. For the first time in the annals of mankind, the number of civilian dead exceeded the number of those killed directly in battles, and almost twice.
finally dispelled the illusions of people about human nature. No progress will change this nature. People remained the same as they were two or a thousand years ago: animals, only slightly covered with a thin layer of civilization and culture. Anger, envy, self-interest, stupidity, indifference are qualities that are manifested in them to a much greater extent than kindness and compassion.
dispelled illusions about the importance of democracy. The people don't decide anything. As always in history, he is driven to the slaughterhouse to kill, rape, burn, and he dutifully goes.
dispelled the illusion that humanity learns from its own mistakes. It doesn't study. World War I, which claimed 10 million lives, is only 23 years away from World War II

Participants of the Second World War

— Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic - on the one hand
— USSR, Great Britain, USA, China - on the other

Years of World War II 1939 - 1945

Causes of World War II

— not only drew a line under the First World War, in which Germany was defeated, but his terms humiliated and ruined Germany. Political instability, the danger of the victory of the left forces in the political struggle, economic difficulties contributed to the coming to power in Germany of the ultranationalist National Socialist Party led by Hitler, whose nationalist, demagogic, populist slogans appealed to the German people
"One Reich, one people, one Fuhrer"; "Blood and soil"; "Wake up Germany!"; “We want to show the German People that there is no life without Justice, but Justice without Power, Power without Power, and all Power is within our People”, “Freedom and Bread”, “Death of Lies”; "End Corruption!"
— After World War I, pacifist sentiment swept Western Europe. The peoples under no circumstances did not want to fight, for nothing. These feelings of voters were forced to be taken into account by politicians who in no way or very sluggishly, yielding in everything, reacted to the revanchist, aggressive actions and aspirations of Hitler

* early 1934 - Plans for the mobilization of 240 thousand enterprises for the production of military products were approved by the Working Committee of the Reich Defense Council
* October 1, 1934 - Hitler gave the order to increase the Reichswehr from 100,000 to 300,000 soldiers.
* March 10, 1935 - Goering announces that Germany has an air force
* March 16, 1935 - Hitler announced the restoration of the system of general recruitment into the army and the creation in peacetime of an army of thirty-six divisions (that's about half a million people)
* On March 7, 1936, German troops entered the territory of the Rhine demilitarized zone, violating all past treaties.
* March 12, 1938 - Accession to Germany by Austria
* September 28-30, 1938 - German transfer of the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia
* October 24, 1938 - Germany's demand to Poland to allow the accession to the Reich of the free city of Danzig and the construction of extraterritorial railways and roads on Polish territory to East Prussia
* November 2, 1938 - Germany forced Czechoslovakia to transfer the southern regions of Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine to Hungary
* March 15, 1939 - German occupation of the Czech Republic and its inclusion in the Reich

— In the 20-30s, before the Second World War, the West watched with great apprehension the actions and policies of the Soviet Union, which continued to broadcast about the world revolution, which Europe perceived as a desire for world domination. The leaders of France and England, Stalin and Hitler, seemed to be of the same field, and they hoped to direct Germany's aggression to the East, pushing Germany and the USSR with cunning diplomatic moves, and themselves to stay on the sidelines.
As a result of the disunity and inconsistency of the actions of the world community, Germany gained strength and confidence in the possibility of its hegemony in the world.

Major events of World War II

• , September 1 - the German army crossed the western border of Poland
• September 3, 1939 - Britain and France declared war on Germany.
• 1939, September 17 - The Red Army crossed the eastern border of Poland
• 1939, October 6 - capitulation of Poland
• May 10 - German attack on France
• 1940, April 9-June 7 - German occupation of Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Norway
• 1940, June 14 - The German army entered Paris
• 1940, September - 1941, May - Battle for England
• 1940, September 27 - Formation of the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy, Japan, hoping after the victory to share influence in the world

Later Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Thailand, Croatia, Spain joined the Union. The Triple Alliance or the Axis countries in the Second World War was opposed by the Anti-Hitler Coalition consisting of the Soviet Union, Great Britain and its dominions, the USA and China

• , March 11 - Adopted in the USA
• 1941, April 13 - Treaty of the USSR and Japan on non-aggression and neutrality
• 1941, June 22 - German attack on the Soviet Union. The beginning of the Great Patriotic
• 1941, September 8 - the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad
• 1941, September 30-December 5 - Battle for Moscow. Defeat of the German army
• November 7, 1941 - The Lend-Lease Law was extended to the USSR
• December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor. Beginning of the Pacific War
• 1941, December 8 - US entry into the war
• December 9, 1941 - China declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy
• 1941, December 25 - Japan captured the British-owned Hong Kong
• , January 1 - Washington Declaration of 26 States on cooperation in the fight against fascism
• 1942, January-May - heavy defeats of the British troops in North Africa
• 1942, January-March - Japanese troops occupied Rangoon, the islands of Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bali, part of New Guinea, New Britain, the Gilbert Islands, most of the Solomon Islands
• 1942, the first half - the defeat of the Red Army. The German army reached the Volga
• 1942, June 4-5 - the defeat by the US Navy of part of the Japanese fleet at Midway Atoll
• 1942, July 17 - the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad
• 1942, October 23-November 11 - the defeat of the German army from the Anglo-American troops in North Africa
• 1942, November 11 - German occupation of southern France
• , February 2 - the defeat of the Nazi troops near Stalingrad
• 1943, January 12 - breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad
• 1943, May 13 - the surrender of German troops in Tunisia
• 1943, July 5-August 23 - the defeat of the Germans near Kursk
• 1943, July-August - the landing of the Anglo-American troops in Sicily
• 1943, August-December - the offensive of the Red Army, the liberation of most of Belarus and Ukraine
• 1943, November 28-December 1 - Tehran Conference of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
• , January-August - the offensive of the Red Army on all fronts. Its access to the pre-war borders of the USSR
• 1944, June 6 - landing of the allied Anglo-American troops in Normandy. Opening of the Second Front
• 1944, August 25 - Paris in the hands of the allies
• 1944, autumn - the continuation of the offensive of the Red Army, the liberation of the Baltic States, Moldova, Northern Norway
• 1944, December 16-1945, January - a heavy defeat of the Allies during the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes
• , January-May - offensive operations of the Red Army and allied forces in Europe and the Pacific
• 1945, January 4-11 - Yalta conference with the participation of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the post-war structure of Europe
• April 12, 1945 - US President Roosevelt dies, succeeded by Truman
• 1945, April 25 - the assault on Berlin began by units of the Red Army
• 1945, May 8 - the surrender of Germany. End of the Great Patriotic War
• 1945, July 17-August 2 - Potsdam Conference of the Heads of Government of the USA, USSR, Great Britain
• 1945, July 26 - Japan rejected the offer of surrender
• 1945, August 6 - atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• 1945, August 8 - USSR of Japan
• September 2, 1945 Japan surrenders. End of World War II

World War II ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of Japan's surrender.

Major battles of World War II

• Air and naval battle for England (July 10-October 30, 1940)
• Battle of Smolensk (July 10-September 10, 1941)
• Battle for Moscow (September 30, 1941-January 7, 1942)
• Defense of Sevastopol (October 30, 1941-July 4, 1942)
• Attack of the Japanese fleet on the US naval base Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
• Naval battle at Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean of the US and Japanese fleets (June 4-June 7, 1942)
• Battle of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in the Pacific (August 7, 1942-February 9, 1943)
• Battle of Rzhev (January 5, 1942-March 21, 1943)
• Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943)
• Battle of El Alamein in North Africa (October 23-November 5)
• Battle of Kursk Bulge (July 5-August 23, 1943)
• Battle for the Dnieper (forcing the Dnieper on September 22-30) (August 26-December 23, 1943)
• Allied landings in Normandy (June 6, 1944)
• Liberation of Belarus (June 23-August 29, 1944)
• Battle of the Ardennes in southwest Belgium (December 16, 1944-January 29, 1945)
• Storming of Berlin (April 25-May 2, 1945)

Generals of World War II

• Marshal Zhukov (1896-1974)
• Marshal Vasilevsky (1895-1977)
• Marshal Rokossovsky (1896-1968)
• Marshal Konev (1897-1973)
• Marshal Meretskov (1897 - 1968)
• Marshal Govorov (1897 - 1955)
• Marshal Malinovsky (1898 - 1967)
• Marshal Tolbukhin (1894 - 1949)
• Army General Antonov (1896 - 1962)
• Army General Vatutin (1901-1944)
• Chief Marshal of the Armored Troops Rotmistrov (1901-1981)
• Marshal of the Armored Troops Katukov (1900-1976)
• General of the Army Chernyakhovsky (1906-1945)

• General of the Army Marshall (1880-1959)
• General of the Army Eisenhower (1890-1969)
• General of the Army MacArthur (1880-1964)
• General of the Army Bradley (1893-1981)
• Admiral Nimitz (1885-1966)
• Army General, Air Force General H. Arnold (1886-1950)
• General Patton (1885-1945)
• General Divers (1887-1979)
• General Clark (1896-1984)
• Admiral Fletcher (1885-1973)