USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War: foreign and domestic policy, factors of defense, international position, expansion of borders, economy

One of the most difficult topics in the domestic and world historical science is the assessment of what the state of the USSR was on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. Briefly, this issue should be considered in several aspects: from a political and economic point of view, taking into account the complex international situation in which the country found itself before the beginning of the aggression of Hitler's Germany.

The European direction of the policy of the Soviet government

During the period under review, two foci of aggression have emerged on the continent. In this regard, the position of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War has become very menacing. Urgent measures were urgently needed to secure their borders from a possible attack. The situation was complicated by the fact that the European allies of the Soviet Union - France and Britain - allowed the seizure of Czechoslovakia by Germany by the Sudetenland, and, in fact, closed their eyes to the occupation of the whole country. In such circumstances, the Soviet leadership proposed its own solution to the problem of ending German aggression: a plan to create a series of alliances that were to rally all countries in the fight against the new enemy.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, in connection with the aggravation of the militaristic threat, the USSR signed a series of treaties on mutual assistance and common actions with European and Eastern countries. However, these agreements were not enough, and therefore more serious measures were taken, namely: a proposal was made to France and Britain to form an alliance against Hitlerite Germany. For this purpose, embassies from these countries came to our country for negotiations. This happened 2 years before the fascists attacked our country.

Relations with Germany

The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War found itself in a very difficult situation: potential allies did not fully trust the Stalinist government, which, in turn, had no reason to make concessions after the Munich Treaty, which essentially authorized the partition of Czechoslovakia. Mutual misunderstandings led to the fact that the parties that had gathered failed to reach an agreement. This balance of power allowed the Hitler government to offer the Soviet side a non-aggression pact, which was signed in August of the same year. After that, the French and British delegations left Moscow. A secret protocol was attached to the non-aggression treaty, which provided for the redistribution of Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union. According to this document, the Baltic countries, Poland, Bessarabia were recognized as the sphere of interests of the Soviet Union.

Soviet-Finnish War

After signing the pact, the Soviet Union began a war with Finland, which lasted for 5 months and revealed serious technical problems in armament and strategy. The goal of the Stalinist leadership was to push the western borders of the country by 100 km. Finland was offered to cede the Karelian Isthmus, to surrender the Hanko Peninsula to the Soviet Union for the construction of naval bases there. In return, the northern country was offered territory in Soviet Karelia. The Finnish authorities rejected this ultimatum, and then Soviet troops began fighting. With great difficulty the Red Army managed to bypass the Mannerheim Line and take Vyborg. Then Finland made concessions, giving the enemy not only the aforementioned isthmus and peninsula, but also the area to the north of them. Such a foreign policy of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War caused international condemnation, as a result of which he was excluded from membership in the League of Nations.

Political and cultural state of the country

Another important direction of the internal policy of the Soviet leadership was the consolidation of the monopoly of the Communist Party and its unconditional and total control over all spheres of society. To this end, in December 1936 a new constitution was adopted that proclaimed that socialism had won the country, in other words, this implied the final destruction of private property and exploiter classes. This event was preceded by the victory of Stalin in the course of the inner-Party struggle, which lasted throughout the second half of the 1930s.

In fact, it was during this period of time in the Soviet Union that a totalitarian political system emerged. The personality cult of the leader was one of its main components. In addition, the Communist Party has established complete control over all spheres of society. It was this strict centralization that allowed the mobilization of all the country's resources to rebuff the enemy rather quickly. All the efforts of the Soviet leadership at this time were aimed at preparing the people for the struggle. Therefore, much attention was paid to military and sports training.

But considerable attention was paid to culture and ideology. The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War needed the cohesion of society for a common struggle with the enemy. It was for this that the works of fiction, films that were published at the time under consideration were calculated. At that time, military-patriotic pictures were shot in the country, which were designed to show the heroic past of the country in the fight against foreign invaders. Also on the screen were films that glorified the labor feat of the Soviet people, its achievements in production and economy. A similar situation was observed in fiction. Famous Soviet writers composed works of monumental character, which were supposed to inspire Soviet people to fight. In general, the party has reached its goal: with the German attack, the Soviet people rose to defend the Motherland.

Strengthening defense - the main direction of domestic policy

The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was in a very difficult situation: the actual international isolation, the threat of external invasion, which by April 1941 had already touched almost the whole of Europe, demanded urgent measures to prepare the country for the upcoming military operations. It was this task that determined the course of the party leadership in the decade under consideration.

The economy of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was at a fairly high level of development. In previous years, thanks to two full five-year plans, a powerful military-industrial complex was created in the country. In the course of industrialization, machine, tractor plants, metallurgical plants, hydroelectric stations were built. In a short time, our country has overcome the gap from the Western countries in terms of technology.

Factors of the defense capability of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War included several directions. First of all, the course for the predominant development of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy continued, and also armament was accelerated. Just a few years, its production was increased 4-fold. New tanks, high-speed fighters, stormtroopers were created, but their mass production was not yet established. Machine guns and machine guns were constructed. The law on universal military service was adopted, so that by the beginning of the war the country could put several million people under arms.

Social policy and repression

Factors of the defense capability of the USSR depended on the efficiency of the organization of production. For this purpose, the party took a number of decisive measures: a decision was adopted on an eight-hour working day, a seven-day working week. Unauthorized leaving of enterprises was banned. For the late work was followed by severe punishment - arrest, and for industrial marriage, a person was threatened with forced labor.

At the same time, repressions were extremely detrimental to the state of the Red Army. The officers were particularly injured: more than 500 of their representatives, about 400 were repressed. As a result, only 7% of representatives of the higher command staff had higher education. There is news that Soviet intelligence has repeatedly warned of the impending enemy attack on our country. Nevertheless, the leadership did not take decisive measures to repel this invasion. However, in general, it should be noted that the defense capability of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War allowed our country not only to withstand the terrible onslaught of fascist Germany, but subsequently to proceed to the offensive.

The situation in Europe

The international situation of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was extremely difficult because of the emergence of militaristic foci. In the West it was, as already mentioned above, Germany. At her disposal was the whole industry of Europe. In addition, she could expose more than 8 million well-armed soldiers. The Germans occupied such leading and developed European states as Czechoslovakia, France, Poland, Austria. In Spain, they supported the totalitarian regime of General Franco. In the conditions of the aggravation of the international situation, the Soviet leadership, as was said above, turned out to be isolated, the reason for which was the mutual misunderstandings and misunderstandings between the allies, which subsequently led to unfortunate consequences.

The situation in the East

In a difficult situation, and because of the situation in Asia, the USSR was on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. Briefly, this problem can be explained by the militaristic aspirations of Japan, which invaded neighboring states and came very close to the borders of our country. It came to armed clashes: the Soviet troops had to repel the attacks of new enemies. There was a threat of war on two fronts. In many respects, it was precisely this alignment of forces that prompted the Soviet leadership after unsuccessful negotiations with Western European representatives to agree to an agreement with Germany on non-aggression. Subsequently, the eastern front played an important role in the course of the war and its successful completion. It was at this time that the strengthening of this direction of military policy was one of the priority.

A country's economy

The internal policy of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was aimed at the development of heavy industry. For this, all the forces of Soviet society were thrown. Pumping money from the countryside and loans for the needs of heavy industry became the main steps of the party to create a powerful military-industrial complex. At a rapid pace, two five-year plans were held, during which the Soviet Union overcame the backlog of Western European states. Large collective farms were created in the village and private property was liquidated. Agricultural products went to the needs of an industrial city. At that time a wide Stakhanovite movement developed in the working environment , which was supported by the party. Before the producers, the task was to overfulfill the norms of blanks. The main goal of all emergency measures was to strengthen the defense capability of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War.

Territorial changes

By 1940 there was an expansion of the borders of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. This was the result of a whole range of foreign policy measures undertaken by the Stalinist leadership to ensure the security of the country's borders. First of all, it was about pushing the border line in the north-west, which, as already mentioned above, led to a war with Finland. Despite the great losses and the obvious technical backwardness of the Red Army, the Soviet government achieved its goal by obtaining the Karelian Isthmus and the Hanko Peninsula.

But even more important territorial changes occurred on the western borders. In 1940, the Soviet Union included the Baltic republics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Similar changes at the time considered were of fundamental importance, since they created a kind of protective zone from the enemy's incoming invasion

Studying the topic in schools

In the course of the history of the twentieth century, one of the most difficult is the theme "The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War." Grade 9 is the time of studying the problem, which is so ambiguous and complex that the teacher must carefully select the material and interpret the facts. First of all, this concerns, of course, the infamous non-aggression pact, the content of which raises questions and represents a wide field for discussions and disputes.

In this case, the age of students should be taken into account: adolescents are often prone to maximalism in their assessments, so it is very important to convey to them the idea that signing such a document, if difficult to justify, can be explained by the complex foreign policy situation, when the Soviet Union, in fact, Was isolated in his attempts to create a system of alliances against Germany.

Another no less controversial issue is the problem of joining the Baltic countries to the Soviet Union. Very often it is possible to meet opinions about their forcible adherence and interference in internal affairs. The study of this point requires a careful analysis of the entire foreign policy environment. Perhaps, the same situation develops with this issue as with the non-aggression pact: in the pre-war period, redistribution of territories and change of borders were inevitable phenomena. The map of Europe has been constantly changing, therefore, any political steps of the state should be regarded as preparation for war.

The lesson plan for the "USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War", the summary of which should include both the foreign policy and the internal political state of the state, should be compiled taking into account the age of the students. In grade 9, we can confine ourselves to the main facts stated in this article. For the pupils of the 11th grade, a number of controversial points on the topic should be identified and offer a discussion on its various aspects. It should be noted that the problem of Soviet foreign policy before the outbreak of the Second World War is one of the most controversial in the national historical science, and therefore occupies a prominent place in the school curriculum.

With the topic studied, the entire preceding period of the development of the Soviet Union should be taken into account. The foreign and domestic policy of this state was aimed at strengthening its foreign policy and creating a socialist system. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that it was these two factors that largely determined the actions that the party leadership undertook in the face of the aggravation of the military threat in Western Europe.

In the previous decades, the Soviet Union was trying to secure its place in the international arena. The consequence of these efforts was the creation of a new state and the expansion of spheres of its influence. The same leadership continued to implement after the political victory in Germany of the fascist party. However, now this policy has taken an accelerated character in view of the emergence of centers of world war in the West and East. The topic "The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War", the table of which is presented below, clearly shows the main directions of the party's foreign and domestic policy.

So, the state of the state on the eve of the outbreak of the war was extremely difficult, which explains the features of politics both on the international scene and inside the country. Factors of the USSR's defensive capability on the eve of the Great Patriotic War played a decisive role in the victory over fascist Germany.