In the study of human history, much attention is paid to military losses. This theme is stained with blood and reeks of gunpowder. For us, those terrible days of severe battles are a simple date, for warriors - a day that completely turned their lives around. Wars in Russia in the 20th century have long become textbook entries, but this does not mean that they can be forgotten.
General Features
Today it has become fashionable to accuse Russia of all mortal sins and call it an aggressor, while other states "simply protect their interests" by invading other powers and carrying out mass bombing of residential areas in order to "protect citizens". In the 20th century, there were indeed many military conflicts in Russia, but whether the country was an aggressor still needs to be sorted out.
What can be said about the wars in Russia in the 20th century? The First World War ended in an atmosphere of mass desertion and the transformation of the old army. During the Civil War, there were many bandit groups, and the fragmentation of the fronts wassomething for granted. The Great Patriotic War was characterized by the conduct of large-scale hostilities, perhaps for the first time the military faced the problem of captivity in such a broad sense. It is best to consider in detail all the wars in Russia in the 20th century in chronological order.
War with Japan
At the beginning of the century, a conflict broke out between the Russian and Japanese empires over Manchuria and Korea. After a break of several decades, the Russo-Japanese War (period 1904-1905) became the first confrontation with the use of the latest weapons.
On the one hand, Russia wanted to provide its territory with an ice-free port in order to trade all year round. On the other hand, Japan needed new industrial and human resources for further growth. But most of all, European states and the United States contributed to the outbreak of war. They wanted to weaken their rivals in the Far East and manage on the territory of Southeast Asia on their own, so they obviously did not need the strengthening of Russia and Japan.
Japan was the first to start hostilities. The results of the battle were sad - the Pacific Fleet and the lives of 100 thousand soldiers were lost. The war ended with the signing of a peace treaty, according to which the Liaodong Peninsula, South Sakhalin and part of the CER from Port Arthur to the city of Changchun went to Japan.
World War I
The First World War was the conflict that revealed all the shortcomings and backwardness of the troops of Tsarist Russia, which entered the battle without even completingrearmament. The allies in the Entente were weak, only thanks to the talent of military commanders and the heroic efforts of the soldiers, the scales began to tilt towards Russia. The battles were fought between the Triple Alliance, which included Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary, and the Entente with Russia, France and England in the composition.
The reason for hostilities was the assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, which was committed by a Serbian nationalist. Thus began the conflict between Austria and Serbia. Russia joined Serbia, Germany joined Austria-Hungary.
The course of the battle
In 1915, Germany conducted a spring-summer offensive, recapturing from Russia the territories it conquered in 1914, the honor of the lands of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and the B altic states.
The battles of the First World War (1914-1918) were fought on two fronts: Western in Belgium and France, Eastern - in Russia. In the autumn of 1915, Turkey joined the Triple Alliance, which greatly complicated the position of Russia.
In response to the approaching defeat, the military generals of the Russian Empire developed a plan for a summer offensive. On the Southwestern Front, General Brusilov managed to break through the defenses and inflict serious damage on Austria-Hungary. This helped the Russian troops to significantly advance to the West and at the same time save France from defeat.
Truce
On October 26, 1917, at the Second All-Russian Congress, a Decree on Peace was adopted, all the warring parties were invited to start negotiations. On 14 October Germany agreedfor negotiations. A temporary truce was concluded, but Germany's demands were rejected, and its troops launched a full-scale offensive along the entire front. The signing of the second peace treaty took place on March 3, 1918, Germany's conditions became more stringent, but for the sake of peace, they had to agree.
Russia was supposed to demobilize the army, pay financial indemnity to Germany and transfer the ships of the Black Sea Fleet to it.
Civil War
When the First World War was still going on, the Civil War in Russia (1917-1922) began. The beginning of the October Revolution was marked by fighting in Petrograd. The reasons for the rebellion were sharp political, social and ethnic contradictions that escalated after the February Revolution.
Nationalization of production, the ruinous Brest peace for the country, tense relations between the peasantry and food detachments, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly - these actions of the government, together with a strong desire to retain power, caused burning discontent.
Stages of the revolution
Mass discontent resulted in a revolution in 1917-1922. The civil war in Russia took place in 3 stages:
- October 1917 - November 1918. Armed forces were established and the main fronts formed. The Whites fought the Bolsheviks. But since this was in the midst of World War I, neither side had an advantage.
- November 1918 - March 1920. The turning point in the war - control over the main part of the territory of Russia receivedRed Army.
- March 1920 - October 1922. The fighting migrated to the border areas, the Bolshevik government was no longer in danger.
The result of the Russian Civil War in the 20th century was the establishment of Bolshevik power throughout the country.
Opponents of Bolshevism
The new government that emerged as a result of the Civil War was not supported by everyone. The soldiers of the "White Guard" found refuge in Fergana, Khorezm and Samarkand. At that time, the military-political and / or religious movement in Central Asia was called Basmachi. The White Guards were looking for disgruntled Basmachi and incited them to resist the Soviet Army. The fight against Basmachism (1922-1931) lasted almost 10 years.
Points of resistance appeared here and there, and it was difficult for the young Soviet Army to suppress the uprisings once and for all.
USSR and China
During the time of Tsarist Russia, the Chinese Eastern Railway was an important strategic object. Thanks to the Chinese Eastern Railway, wild territories could develop, moreover, Russia and China divided the income from the railway in half, as they managed it jointly.
In 1929, the Chinese government noticed that the USSR had lost its former military power, and in general, due to constant conflicts, the country was weakened. Therefore, it was decided to take away from the Soviet Union its part of the CER and the territories adjacent to it. Thus began the Soviet-Chinese military conflict of 1929.
True, this idea was not successful. Despite the numericaladvantage of the troops (5 times), the Chinese were defeated in Manchuria and near Harbin.
The Little-Known War of 1939
These events not covered in the history books are also called the Soviet-Japanese war. The fighting near the Khalkin Gol River in 1939 continued from spring to autumn.
In the spring, numerous Japanese troops set foot on Mongolian territory to mark a new border between Mongolia and Manchukuo, which would run along the Khalkhin Gol River. At this time, Soviet troops came to the aid of friendly Mongolia.
Useless attempts
The joint army of Russia and Mongolia gave a powerful rebuff to Japan, and already in May, Japanese troops were forced to retreat to China, but did not surrender. The next strike from the Land of the Rising Sun was more thoughtful: the number of soldiers increased to 40 thousand, heavy equipment, aircraft and guns were brought to the borders. The new military formation was three times larger than the Soviet-Mongolian troops, but after three days of bloodshed, the Japanese troops were again forced to retreat.
Another offensive took place in August. By that time, the Soviet Army had also strengthened and unleashed all its military might on the Japanese. Half of September, the Japanese invaders tried to take revenge, but the outcome of the battle was obvious - the USSR won this conflict.
Winter War
On November 30, 1939, a war broke out between the USSR and Finland, the purpose of which was to secure Leningrad by moving the northwestern border. After the USSR signedGermany's non-aggression pact, the latter started a war with Poland, and relations in Finland began to heat up. The pact assumed the expansion of the influence of the USSR on Finland. The government of the Soviet Union understood that Leningrad, which was located 30 kilometers from the border with Finland, could come under artillery fire, so it was decided to move the border further north.
The Soviet side first tried to negotiate peacefully by offering Finland the lands of Karelia, but the country's government did not want to negotiate.
Consequences of the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940)
As the first stage of the battle showed, the Soviet Army is weak, the leadership saw its real combat power. Starting the war, the government of the USSR naively believed that it had a strong army at its disposal, but this was not so. During the war, many personnel and organizational changes were made, thanks to which the course of the war also changed. It also made it possible to prepare a combat-ready army for the Second World War.
Echoes of World War II
The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 is a battle between Germany and the USSR within the boundaries of World War II. The battle ended with the victory of the Soviet Union over fascism and put an end to World War II.
After Germany lost the First World War, its economic and political situation was very unstable. When Hitler came to power, the country managed to build up military power. The Fuhrer did not want to recognize the results of the First World Warand wanted to take revenge.
But the unexpected attack on the USSR did not give the desired result - the Soviet Army was better equipped than Hitler expected. The campaign, which was designed for several months, stretched out for several years and lasted from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR did not conduct active military operations for 11 years. Later there was the Daman conflict (1969), fighting in Algeria (1962-1964), Afghanistan (1979-1989) and the Chechen wars (already in Russia, 1994-1996, 1999-2009). And only one question remains unresolved: were these ridiculous battles worth the human cost? It's hard to believe that people in the civilized world have not learned to negotiate and compromise.
