One of the most difficult topics in domestic and world historical science is the assessment of what the state of the USSR was like on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. Briefly, this issue should be considered in several aspects: from a political, economic point of view, taking into account the difficult international situation in which the country found itself before the start of the aggression of Nazi Germany.
The European direction of the policy of the Soviet government
At the time under review, two hotbeds of aggression emerged on the continent. In this regard, the position of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War became very threatening. It was necessary to take urgent measures in order 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 Great Britain - allowed Germany to seize the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, and subsequently, in fact, turned a blind eye to the occupation of the entire country. Under such conditions, the Soviet leadership offered itssolution to the problem of ending German aggression: a plan to create a series of alliances that were supposed to rally all countries in the fight against a new enemy.
The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War, in connection with the aggravation of the militaristic threat, signed a series of agreements 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 Great Britain to create an alliance against Nazi Germany. For this, embassies from these countries arrived in our country for negotiations. This happened 2 years before the Nazi attack on 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 to them after the Munich Treaty, which essentially sanctioned the division of Czechoslovakia. Mutual misunderstandings led to the fact that the assembled parties failed to reach an agreement. This alignment of forces allowed the Nazi government to offer the Soviet side to conclude 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 pact, providing for the redistribution of Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union. According to this document, countriesThe B altic States, Poland, Bessarabia were recognized as the sphere of interests of the Soviet Union.
Soviet-Finnish war
After signing the pact, the USSR started a war with Finland, which lasted for 5 months and revealed serious technical problems in weapons and strategy. The goal of the Stalinist leadership was to push back the western borders of the country by 100 km. Finland was asked to cede the Karelian Isthmus, lease the Hanko Peninsula to the Soviet Union for the construction of naval bases there. Instead, the northern country was offered a territory in Soviet Karelia. The Finnish government rejected this ultimatum, and then the Soviet troops began hostilities. 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 it was excluded from membership in the League of Nations.
Political and cultural state of the country
Another important direction of the domestic policy of the Soviet leadership was to consolidate the monopoly of the Communist Party and its unconditional and total control over all spheres of society. To do this, in December 1936, a new constitution was adopted, which proclaimed that socialism had won in the country, in other words, itmeant the final abolition of private property and the exploiting classes. This event was preceded by Stalin's victory in the internal party struggle, which continued throughout the second half of the 1930s.
In fact, it was during the period under review that a totalitarian political system developed in the Soviet Union. 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 rigid centralization that made it possible to quickly mobilize all the country's resources to repulse the enemy. All the efforts of the Soviet leadership at that time were aimed at preparing the people for the struggle. Therefore, much attention was paid to military and sports training.
But significant 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 fight against the enemy. This is what the works of fiction, films that came out at the time in question were designed for. At that time, military-patriotic films were shot in the country, which were designed to show the heroic past of the country in the fight against foreign invaders. Also, films were released on the screens glorifying the labor feat of the Soviet people, their achievements in production and the economy. A similar situation was observed in fiction. KnownSoviet writers wrote works of a monumental nature, which were supposed to inspire the Soviet people to fight. In general, the party achieved its goal: when Germany attacked, the Soviet people rose to defend their homeland.
Strengthening defense capacity is the main direction of domestic policy
The USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War was in a very difficult situation: actual international isolation, the threat of external invasion, which by April 1941 had already affected almost all of Europe, required urgent measures to prepare the country for the upcoming hostilities. It was this task that determined the course of the party leadership in the decade under review.
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 and tractor plants, metallurgical plants, and hydroelectric stations were built. In a short time, our country has overcome the lag behind Western countries in technical terms.
The factors of the defense capability of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War included several directions. First of all, the course towards the predominant development of ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy continued, and weapons began to be produced at an accelerated pace. In just a few years, its production was increased by 4 times. New tanks, high-speed fighters, attack aircraft were created, but their mass production has not yet been established. Machine guns and machine guns were designed. A law on universal conscription was passed, 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. To this end, the party took a number of decisive measures: a resolution was adopted on an eight-hour working day, a seven-day working week. Unauthorized exit from enterprises was prohibited. For being late for work, a severe punishment followed - arrest, and for a production marriage, a person was threatened with forced labor.
At the same time, the repressions had an extremely detrimental effect on the state of the Red Army. The officer corps suffered especially: out of more than five hundred of their representatives, approximately 400 were repressed. As a result, only 7% of senior officers had a higher education. There is news that Soviet intelligence has more than once issued warnings about an 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 Nazi Germany, but subsequently go on the offensive.
Situation in Europe
The international situation of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic Warwas extremely difficult due to the emergence of militaristic centers. In the West it was, as mentioned above, Germany. It had all the industry of Europe at its disposal. In addition, she could field 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 context of the aggravation of the international situation, the Soviet leadership, as mentioned above, found itself isolated, the reason for which was mutual misunderstandings and misunderstandings between the allies, which subsequently led to sad consequences.
The situation in the East
The USSR found itself in a difficult situation because of the situation in Asia 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 close to the borders of our country. It came to armed clashes: the Soviet troops had to repel the attacks of new opponents. There was a threat of war on 2 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 a non-aggression agreement with Germany. Subsequently, the eastern front played an important role in the course of the war and its successful conclusion. It was at the time in question that the strengthening of this direction of military policy was one of the priorities.
Economy of the country
The internal policy of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War wasaimed at the development of heavy industry. For this, all the forces of Soviet society were thrown. Pumping money out of the countryside and loans for the needs of heavy industry became the main steps taken by the Party to create a powerful military-industrial complex. Two five-year plans were carried out at an accelerated pace, during which the Soviet Union overcame the backlog from the Western European states. Large collective farms were created in the countryside and private property was abolished. Agricultural products went to the needs of the industrial city. At this time, a broad Stakhanovist movement unfolded among the workers, which was supported by the party. The manufacturers were given the task of overfulfilling 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 taken by the Stalinist leadership to ensure the security of the country's borders. First of all, it was about moving the border line in the northwest, which led, as mentioned above, to the war with Finland. Despite heavy losses and the obvious technical backwardness of the Red Army, the Soviet government achieved its goal by obtaining the Karelian Isthmus and the Khanko Peninsula.
But even more important territorial changes have taken place on the western borders. In 1940, the B altic republics - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - became part of the Soviet Union. Such changes at the time in question were of fundamental importance, since they created a kind of protective zone from the enemy's impending invasion
Studying the topic in schools
In the course of the history of the 20th century, one of the most difficult topics is the topic “USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War”. Grade 9 is the time to study this problem, which is so ambiguous and complex that the teacher must be extremely careful in choosing the material and interpreting the facts. First of all, this concerns, of course, the infamous non-aggression pact, the content of which raises questions and presents a wide field for discussions and disputes.
In this case, the age of students should be taken into account: teenagers 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 difficult The Union, in fact, found itself isolated in its attempts to create an alliance system against Germany.
Another no less controversial issue is the problem of the accession of the B altic countries to the Soviet Union. Very often you can find opinions about their forcible accession and interference in internal affairs. The study of this point requires a thorough analysis of the entire foreign policy situation. Perhaps, the situation with this issue is the same as with the non-aggression pact: in the prewar period, the redistribution of territories and changes in borders were inevitable phenomena. The map of Europe was constantly changing, so any political steps taken by the stateshould be seen as preparation for war.
The lesson plan “USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War”, the summary of which should include both the foreign and domestic political state of the state, must be drawn up taking into account the age of the students. In grade 9, you can limit yourself to the basic facts set forth in this article. For students of grade 11, a number of controversial points on the topic should be identified and invited to discuss on its various aspects. It should be noted that the problem of the foreign policy of the USSR before the start of World War II is one of the most controversial in Russian historical science, and therefore occupies a prominent place in the school curriculum.
When studying this topic, one should take into account the entire previous period of development of the Soviet Union. The foreign and domestic policy of this state was aimed at strengthening its foreign policy position and creating a socialist system. Therefore, it must be taken into account that it was these 2 factors that largely determined the actions taken by the party leadership in the face of an aggravated military threat in Western Europe.
Even in previous decades, the Soviet Union sought to secure its place in the international arena. The result of these efforts was the creation of a new state and the expansion of its spheres of influence. The same leadership continued after the political victory of the fascist party in Germany. However, now this policy has assumed an accelerated character due to the emergence of hotbeds of globalwars in the West and East. The topic "USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War", the table of theses of which is presented below, clearly shows the main directions of the foreign and domestic policy of the party.
| Foreign policy | Domestic Policy |
| Disruption of Franco-Anglo-Soviet talks | Industrialization and collectivization |
| Signing a non-aggression pact with Germany | Strengthening the country's defense capability |
| Soviet-Finnish war | Adoption of the Constitution of victorious socialism |
| Expansion of borders in the west and northwest | Creating new weapons |
| Unsuccessful attempt to create an alliance system | Development of heavy metallurgy |
So, the position of the state on the eve of the start of the war was extremely difficult, which explains the peculiarities of politics both in the international arena and within the country. The factors of the defense capability of the USSR on the eve of the Great Patriotic War played a decisive role in the victory over Nazi Germany.
