The Soviet Union In World War II

The Soviet Union In World War II

At the beginning of the second world war (1939-ish), the Soviet Union was not involved. This was because she had a secret pact with Germany that kept the two countries from fighting each other in a war (when else would two countries fight?) and that divided up parts of Eastern Europe between them, even though the Treaty of Versailles (signed at the end of WWI) did not allow secret treaties.

Hitler felt that he needed this pact because otherwise, he was certain that when he invaded the baltic states near the Soviet Union, the Soviets would resist and try to scoop up some land. Another reason he wanted this pact was that Stalin was a powerful enemy; Hitler feared that if he started off the war with too many hostilities, Stalin (amungst others) would crush him. The treaty also nearly promised Hitler 'free' Polish land, as Stalin would not resist with the treaty in play. Despite this, however, Hitler feared that communism was a great threat to his facist Germany, and he disaproved of this.

Stalin felt that the pact was necesary because he needed to stall for time in order to build up his military and defences, and he feared Germany's facist influence on his communist country, just as Hitler feared his communism. The bargain also gave the Soviet Union an opportunity to make territorial gains in Poland and the like, as they were now presented with an excuse to snatch up some of the European lands to their west, while remaining neutral.

*This image is making fun of the pact between Stalin and Hitler, as such a thing really did come as a surprise.

Well, despite his previous invasions of Czechoslovakia which Britain and France had allowed, when Hitler invaded Poland (complimenting his secret treaty with Stalin) Britain and France declared war on Germany becuase they had promised to protect Poland. This is baisically what triggered the second world war. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was getting away totally clean. Germany invaded Poland from the west, and the Soviet Union continued to nip at the lands Germany had promised her from the east. One month after the invasion, the country of Poland was no more; she had been wholly consumed by Germany and the Soviet Union.

For a following while, Hitler held his troops still. Stalin, however, had his troops march further west in to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and part of Finland.

Everything seemed to be happening in favour of the Soviet Union up to this point, but apparently Hitler's many victories in the West and the surrender of France provoked him further. Besides of which, that affirmentioned threat of communism and an equally powerful country with an iron leader (or, in this case, a man of steel, hahahaa.) had just about reached its due time to be rid of. Hitler claimed that, "If I had the Ural Mountains with their incalculable store of treasures in raw materials, Siberia with its vast forests, and the Ukraine with its tremendous wheat fields, Germany under National Social leadership would swim in plenty." And so, Hitler executed 'Operation Barbarossa' which was the conquest of the Soviet Union.

*Nazi troops invading some Russian farmland

Hitler dumped some three million German troops into the Soviet Union, and caught Stalin unwary. Of course, what with killing off and/or imprisoning all his military's officers, I can see where an attack was not anticipated. Of course, Stalin pretended that these guys were a threat to the government, but he was probably just being slightly more paranoid than necessary. Russian troops reacted immediaetly, but they suffered monstrous losses of up to two million and five hundred thousand casualties in defending themselves, and so they began to retreat.

*A german cartoon entitled 'Reverie in a Moscow study. Little Father in his trophy room.' Evidently the Germans found this Great Purge comical to some extent.

Now, le good ole late Empereur Napol�on must have flickered to mind for Stalin and inspired his move. Now came arguably the biggest history exam ever! Had Hitler read up on our late Frenchman? Stalin just had to see!

*Another picture of the Nazis invading some Russian land with a panzer. I guess you can always count on the panzer groups to take lots of pictures of their trips.

As the Russian troops retreated, they burned down farmlands, killed farm animal that couldnt be taken east, and destroyed factories. If this does not sound like the most redundant Russian tactic, I do not know what is. It was autumn when Hitler's troops had 'thunderstormed' (haha) their way about the farthest east as Napol�on had ever gone (which is Moscow. Though the Germans never actually took Moscow, it was in that vicinity.) Suddenly, uh-oh! Back home, Stalin flipped his calender to the early winter months, and temperatures outside began to play the limbo and pretend they were olympic divers! In merely early december, the tempuratures started to play a new game where they impersonated submarine captains, and thus dropped to -20 degrees, causing a good majority of the German troops to die and be driven out. (Only -20 degrees? Hah, my submarine can go lower! Wanna see?) Apparently, Hitler failed the exam.

*This is a Russian cartoon that makes fun of those types who invaded Russia. The title reads: 'Museum Of Those Beaten', the subtitle reads, 'He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.' and the labels on the pedastals are: (from left to right, if you please) 'A Teuton, Charles XIII of Sweden, Napol�on, Hitler, A Samourai'

Well, despite such thermometer games, the Germans were later able to siege Leningrad (Known again today as Sankt Petersburg). The people of Leningrad were desprate and ate anything with everything. Quite literally, they ate their paper products like writing paper and wallpaper, and also boiled and ate leather products such as briefcases and the like. Despite this frantic eating, there was still frantic starving, and many people of Leningrad died. Stalin was not pleased with this, and he asked that Great Britain start battles on the western front so that Germany would be weaker in the East. Winston Churchill did agree to join up with Stalin, but there was realistically little he could do.

*Oh, just a fun note: where French, British, American, German etc. women could only serve as nurses or mechanics and never see battle, Russian women were allowed to serve right along side the men! This is because, of course, the idea behind communism was total equality, was it not? And equality Russian women did in fact earn with the rise of the Soviet Union, and were able to get the same jobs men did, such as research associates/scientists in Soviet labs, construction workers, and, of course, in the armed forces. For example, in the Soviet Air Force (Hey, if it was the Russian Air Force, would there be copyright problems becuase it could be called the RAF, just like Britain's Royal Air Force? Just a thought...) there served a woman flying ace named Lily Litvak who shot down 12 Nazi planes.

Ok, let us get back on track, here. Hitler decided that Leningrad was not enough, and that he needed Russia's southern oil fields, so he pressed south. He was stopped, however, at Stalingrad, which the Germans surrounded. After this, Russian troops surrounded the surrounding German troops, and the battle of Stalingrad was drawn-out over petty skirmishes for buildings and factories within the city. After a while, the German commander finally realized what with Russians on the inside and Russians outside, he stood no chance, and he surrendered.

After their victory in Stalingrad, the Red Army counterattacked and was able to lift the seige off of Leningrad, then commence to drive the Nazis wholly out of the Soviet Union. As a result of this, Hitler suffered trmendous losses of troops and equipment that could not be replaced. Soon, the Soviet Union was pressing on to claim Eastern Europe. The victories in Stalingrad and Leningrad were two of the handful of victories that eventually gave the allies the upper hand in the war. Another was the D-day invasion, where allies invaded German-owned France, and regained it for the French.

*Those two guys are Hitler and Mussolini. If you need me to explain it, you either were not reading, or you do not belong here.

Well, they might as well had everything ended while they had the upper hand, so they did. Western allies crossed in to Western Germany, and tried to squeeze their way in to Berlin. Meanwhile, Soviet troops swarmed in from the East, and soon found themselves in Berlin. While the Soviet troops advanced more and more in to the city in which Hitler currently was, Hitler saw no plan for escape feesible; not even to the West, as the western Allies were trying their luck there. And so, Hitler committed suicide so the Soviets could not capture him. (Pretty good choice, seeing how Stalin could not be very happy with Hitler's betrayal.) On May 7, Germany surrendered, and this baisically summed up the war in Europe. Japan was still sore at America for not being allowed to go in to China, but that has little to do with Russia.

If you are interested in World War II, I cannot recomend visiting "The Third Reich Factbook" to you more. This is a site mainly about the Axis forces, and it is very informative (it goes much more into depth than I did here). Plus, it has several images and even some sound files! A click would be well worth your time:

Well, baisically only the USA and the USSR were still on their toes. This led to the Space and Arms Race!
Hey, come on back!

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The Soviet Union In World War II

	At the beginning of the second world war (1939-ish), the Soviet Union was not involved. This was because she had a secret pact with Germany that kept the two countries from fighting each other in a war (when else would two countries fight?) and that divided up parts of Eastern Europe between them, even though the Treaty of Versailles (signed at the end of WWI) did not allow secret treaties. Hitler felt that he needed this pact because otherwise, he was certain that when he invaded the baltic states near the Soviet Union, the Soviets would resist and try to scoop up some land. Another reason he wanted this pact was that Stalin was a powerful enemy; Hitler feared that if he started off the war with too many hostilities, Stalin (amungst others) would crush him. The treaty also nearly promised Hitler 'free' Polish land, as Stalin would not resist with the treaty in play. Despite this, however, Hitler feared that communism was a great threat to his facist Germany, and he disaproved of this. Stalin felt that the pact was necesary because he needed to stall for time in order to build up his military and defences, and he feared Germany's facist influence on his communist country, just as Hitler feared his communism. The bargain also gave the Soviet Union an opportunity to make territorial gains in Poland and the like, as they were now presented with an excuse to snatch up some of the European lands to their west, while remaining neutral. This image is making fun of the pact between Stalin and Hitler, as such a thing really did come as a surprise. Well, despite his previous invasions of Czechoslovakia which Britain and France had allowed, when Hitler invaded Poland (complimenting his secret treaty with Stalin) Britain and France declared war on Germany becuase they had promised to protect Poland. This is baisically what triggered the second world war. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was getting away totally clean. Germany invaded Poland from the west, and the Soviet Union continued to nip at the lands Germany had promised her from the east. One month after the invasion, the country of Poland was no more; she had been wholly consumed by Germany and the Soviet Union. For a following while, Hitler held his troops still. Stalin, however, had his troops march further west in to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and part of Finland. Everything seemed to be happening in favour of the Soviet Union up to this point, but apparently Hitler's many victories in the West and the surrender of France provoked him further. Besides of which, that affirmentioned threat of communism and an equally powerful country with an iron leader (or, in this case, a man of steel, hahahaa.) had just about reached its due time to be rid of. Hitler claimed that, "If I had the Ural Mountains with their incalculable store of treasures in raw materials, Siberia with its vast forests, and the Ukraine with its tremendous wheat fields, Germany under National Social leadership would swim in plenty." And so, Hitler executed 'Operation Barbarossa' which was the conquest of the Soviet Union. Nazi troops invading some Russian farmland Hitler dumped some three million German troops into the Soviet Union, and caught Stalin unwary. Of course, what with killing off and/or imprisoning all his military's officers, I can see where an attack was not anticipated. Of course, Stalin pretended that these guys were a threat to the government, but he was probably just being slightly more paranoid than necessary. Russian troops reacted immediaetly, but they suffered monstrous losses of up to two million and five hundred thousand casualties in defending themselves, and so they began to retreat. A german cartoon entitled 'Reverie in a Moscow study. Little Father in his trophy room.' Evidently the Germans found this Great Purge comical to some extent. Now, le good ole late Empereur Napol�on must have flickered to mind for Stalin and inspired his move. Now came arguably the biggest history exam ever! Had Hitler read up on our late Frenchman? Stalin just had to see! Another picture of the Nazis invading some Russian land with a panzer. I guess you can always count on the panzer groups to take lots of pictures of their trips. As the Russian troops retreated, they burned down farmlands, killed farm animal that couldnt be taken east, and destroyed factories. If this does not sound like the most redundant Russian tactic, I do not know what is. It was autumn when Hitler's troops had 'thunderstormed' (haha) their way about the farthest east as Napol�on had ever gone (which is Moscow. Though the Germans never actually took Moscow, it was in that vicinity.) Suddenly, uh-oh! Back home, Stalin flipped his calender to the early winter months, and temperatures outside began to play the limbo and pretend they were olympic divers! In merely early december, the tempuratures started to play a new game where they impersonated submarine captains, and thus dropped to -20 degrees, causing a good majority of the German troops to die and be driven out. (Only -20 degrees? Hah, my submarine can go lower! Wanna see?) Apparently, Hitler failed the exam. This is a Russian cartoon that makes fun of those types who invaded Russia. The title reads: 'Museum Of Those Beaten', the subtitle reads, 'He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.' and the labels on the pedastals are: (from left to right, if you please) 'A Teuton, Charles XIII of Sweden, Napol�on, Hitler, A Samourai' Well, despite such thermometer games, the Germans were later able to siege Leningrad (Known again today as Sankt Petersburg). The people of Leningrad were desprate and ate anything with everything. Quite literally, they ate their paper products like writing paper and wallpaper, and also boiled and ate leather products such as briefcases and the like. Despite this frantic eating, there was still frantic starving, and many people of Leningrad died. Stalin was not pleased with this, and he asked that Great Britain start battles on the western front so that Germany would be weaker in the East. Winston Churchill did agree to join up with Stalin, but there was realistically little he could do. Oh, just a fun note: where French, British, American, German etc. women could only serve as nurses or mechanics and never see battle, Russian women were allowed to serve right along side the men! This is because, of course, the idea behind communism was total equality, was it not? And equality Russian women did in fact earn with the rise of the Soviet Union, and were able to get the same jobs men did, such as research associates/scientists in Soviet labs, construction workers, and, of course, in the armed forces. For example, in the Soviet Air Force (Hey, if it was the Russian Air Force, would there be copyright problems becuase it could be called the RAF, just like Britain's Royal Air Force? Just a thought...) there served a woman flying ace named Lily Litvak who shot down 12 Nazi planes. Ok, let us get back on track, here. Hitler decided that Leningrad was not enough, and that he needed Russia's southern oil fields, so he pressed south. He was stopped, however, at Stalingrad, which the Germans surrounded. After this, Russian troops surrounded the surrounding German troops, and the battle of Stalingrad was drawn-out over petty skirmishes for buildings and factories within the city. After a while, the German commander finally realized what with Russians on the inside and Russians outside, he stood no chance, and he surrendered. After their victory in Stalingrad, the Red Army counterattacked and was able to lift the seige off of Leningrad, then commence to drive the Nazis wholly out of the Soviet Union. As a result of this, Hitler suffered trmendous losses of troops and equipment that could not be replaced. Soon, the Soviet Union was pressing on to claim Eastern Europe. The victories in Stalingrad and Leningrad were two of the handful of victories that eventually gave the allies the upper hand in the war. Another was the D-day invasion, where allies invaded German-owned France, and regained it for the French. Those two guys are Hitler and Mussolini. If you need me to explain it, you either were not reading, or you do not belong here. Well, they might as well had everything ended while they had the upper hand, so they did. Western allies crossed in to Western Germany, and tried to squeeze their way in to Berlin. Meanwhile, Soviet troops swarmed in from the East, and soon found themselves in Berlin. While the Soviet troops advanced more and more in to the city in which Hitler currently was, Hitler saw no plan for escape feesible; not even to the West, as the western Allies were trying their luck there. And so, Hitler committed suicide so the Soviets could not capture him. (Pretty good choice, seeing how Stalin could not be very happy with Hitler's betrayal.) On May 7, Germany surrendered, and this baisically summed up the war in Europe. Japan was still sore at America for not being allowed to go in to China, but that has little to do with Russia. If you are interested in World War II, I cannot recomend visiting "The Third Reich Factbook" to you more. This is a site mainly about the Axis forces, and it is very* informative (it goes much more into depth than I did here). Plus, it has several images and even some sound files! A click would be well worth your time: Well, baisically only the USA and the USSR were still on their toes. This led to the Space and Arms Race! Hey, come on back!