Introduction: It was their Finest Hour
No drama in the Second World War is more enshrined in myth then that frigid, hundred-day episode along the shores of Karelia. Not that the veneration is ill merited, however. For three months, the Finnish state, equipped with but a dozen antiquated tanks and ten infantry divisions, managed to not just resist, but also humiliate the colossal Red Army on an international stage. “This was to be the icy Thermopylae – a Thermopylae every day - upon which the fate of European democracy rested” – and endure it did, until the sheer scale of Soviet forces shattered the Mannerheim Line and coerced Finland to sign a draconian armistice (Mannerheim 1954, p. 272). Ennobled by a sense of sacred obligation to Suomi,
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Instead, they were planted in a subterranean Kremlin bunker on August 23rd, 1939. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact officially guaranteed that neither Nazi Germany nor the Soviet Union would intervene in their respective military aspirations. A hidden protocol established ‘spheres of influence’ for each nation: Germany was to exercise political control over portions of Poland, while the Soviet Union was assured hegemony along the Baltic coastline, Finland, and segments of Poland and Rumania. On September 1st, Germany invaded Poland by blitzkrieg and dismantled the Warsaw government, which activated a web of self-defense alliances and guarantees and plunged Europe into a Second World War. The Allied powers, preoccupied with potential German aggression along the Maginot Line, failed to recognize the looming Soviet menace along the Baltic. In Estonia, the Soviet Politburo interpreted the Orzeł Incident, in which Estonia failed to intern a Polish submarine that allegedly sunk a Soviet tanker, as a ‘hostile’ act. By September 28th, the Estonian government signed a ‘treaty of mutual assistance,’ which “rendered inert the concept of an independent, democratic Estonian nation” (Overy 2004, p. 407). Lithuania and Latvia, likewise, succumbed to the Soviet monolith in early October. Although the Baltic States were not formally incorporated into the USSR …show more content…
On October 5th, 1939, Stalin summoned the Finnish cabinet to Moscow to discuss concrete political questions. This was not a unique phenomenon – over the past eighteen months, Finland had engaged in a desultory dialogue with Russia, with no substantial results. What differed now was the substance - “this time, there had been steel in Molotov’s voice” (Jakobsen 1961, p. 106). Citing the vulnerability of the Leningrad frontier, Stalin insisted that Finland dismantle the Mannerheim Line and shift the Finnish border approximately thirty miles west, cede a set of islands in the Gulf of Finland, and lease the Hanko peninsula to the USSR for thirty years. In compensation, the USSR would yield control of White Karelia to Finland. It was not an entirely unreasonable proposition. Leningrad was a mere seven miles from the international border; in light of its importance to the Soviet state, a degree of border readjustment was a logical, brutally realistic objective. To stalwart Finnish nationalists, Karelia was an integral component of the Finnish nation, and reunification by diplomatic mechanisms was infinitely superior to violence. Yet, at the same time, agreeing to such stringent terms would leave Finland vulnerable to further acts of Soviet aggression. Finland “was a sovereign nation, and had every legal and moral right to refuse any Russian demands for territory” (Trotter 1991, p. 17). The Finnish cabinet was acrimoniously divided between
Crockatt, Richard. The fifty years war : the United States and the Soviet Union in world politics, 1941-1991. London; New York; Routledge, 1995.
Sajer describes the pride he felt at Chemnitz—and continues to feel—but struggles to reconcile with the ragged image of himself and his comrades under such incredible duress (Sajer 49-50). Sajer recounts how, soaked in rain and mud and subjected to ongoing artillery fire, he felt “like nothing.” (Sajer 50) This description exposes a break in the sense of significance he felt in the eyes of Germany while at Chemnitz, a significance that seemed to abandon him as he traveled deeper into Russia.
This meant that neither Germany, nor the Soviet Union, would invade the other country. This pact was made because the USSR wanted to remain at peace with Germany and secure time to build up their military, however, the pact did not last long (“Nonaggression Pact”). On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union without provocation. This lead the Soviet Union to join the Allied side of the fight. They were accompanied by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and many others. Although Stalin had led his country into joining the Allies, there were always underlying tensions between the countries.
Following the beginning of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union would start what would become two of the worst genocides in world history. These totalitarian governments would “welcome” people all across Europe into a new domain. A domain in which they would learn, in the utmost tragic manner, the astonishing capabilities that mankind possesses. Nazis and Soviets gradually acquired the ability to wipe millions of people from the face of the Earth. Throughout the war they would continue to kill millions of people, from both their home country and Europe. This was an effort to rid the Earth of people seen as unfit to live in their ideal society. These atrocities often went unacknowledged and forgotten by the rest of the world, leaving little hope for those who suffered. Yet optimism was not completely dead in the hearts of the few and the strong. Reading Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag by Janusz Bardach and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi help one capture this vivid sense of resistance toward the brutality of the German concentration and Soviet work camps. Both Bardach and Levi provide a commendable account of their long nightmarish experience including the impact it had on their lives and the lives of others. The willingness to survive was what drove these two men to achieve their goals and prevent their oppressors from achieving theirs. Even after surviving the camps, their mission continued on in hopes of spreading their story and preventing any future occurrence of such tragic events. “To have endurance to survive what left millions dead and millions more shattered in spirit is heroic enough. To gather the strength from that experience for a life devoted to caring for oth...
During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388). Each side believed its political and economic systems were better than the other's. Each strengthened its armed forces. Both sides viewed the Cold War as a dispute between right and wron...
Even though half of a century separates us from the unforgettable event, it left horrible memories especially in those who saw, felt and experienced World War II which was waged on land, on sea, and in the air all over the earth for approximately six years. Whether it’s a battle, hospital, or holocaust, there are so many stories from the survivors, who can teach us not only about the profession of arms, but also about military preparations, global strategies and combined operations in the coalition war against fascism.
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
The battle fought between the Soviet Red Army and the Nazi Wehrmacht over the “city of Stalin” for four long months in the fall and winter of 1942-3 stands as not only the most important battle of the Eastern front during World War II, but as the greatest battle ever fought. Germany’s defeat at Stalingrad ended three years of almost uninterrupted victory and signaled the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. In this way, Stalingrad’s significance was projected beyond the two main combatants, extending to all corners of the world.
Bartov, Omer. The Eastern Front, 1941-45: German troops and the barbarisation of warfare. Palgrave, 2001.
Llewellyn, Jennifer, et al. “The Cold War.” The Cold War. Alpha History, n.d. Web. 29 October 2013.
On the 22nd June 1941, German forces invaded the Soviet Union under Directive 21. Under the codename “Operation Barbarossa”, it was recorded as the largest military operation ever seen in history as it involved more than 3 million Axis soldiers and 3,500 armoured vehicles. Throughout the war Operation Barbarossa was a conflict that demoralised the Germans and significantly contributed to the Allied victory. Catalysts for the Event: The invasion of Russia came as no surprise to the Soviets as Hitler made it evident on multiple occasions that he would invade the country.
There were also secret agreements that were made but kept secret until the end of the war. It was said that the Soviet Union were to enter the war against Japan two to three months after the end of the war in Europe. This was necessary in order for The Soviet Union to regroup because of the heavy causalities in Europe. The Soviet Union had a great advantage in the secret agreement. It received much land and did not have to do much in the end for it because of the use of the atomic bomb which ended the war much earlier then expected and the Soviet Union did not even have to fight Japan.
The Cold War (1945-1991) was a substantial war that was fought on an. economic, philosophical, cultural, social and political level. This impacted globally and changed the majority of the world’s societies to a. liberated fashion, rather than the archaic and conservative ways. Global war is a war engaged in by all if not most of the principle nations of the world, a prime example of such would be of the two great wars. Therefore the cold war can’t be classified as a global war in terms of the military and actual warfare’s, as the two superpowers (Soviet Union and USA) fought indirectly with each other, however to an extent the cold war can be said it’s a global war in terms of its politics and economics. The The effects of the Cold War were definitely felt globally and had an aftermath.
... I 1944 [Over Warsaw - Warsaw Thermopylae 1939 and 1944], Warsaw: Fundacja Wystawa Warszawa Walczy 1939-1945, 2000.
Taubman, William. Stalin's American Policy: From Entente to Detente to Cold War. New York: Norton, 1982. Print.