Was there World War II?
A prominent part of the general anti-Russian discourse is the denial of the Great Patriotic War. There was no Great Patriotic War, there was a part of the Second World War, so there is nothing to show off, opposing oneself to the enlightened West.
For me, the question of recognizing the Patriotic War is not worth it.
But I want to ask a counter question: was there a World War II, and if it was, then in what time frame? Is everything clean here?
Let's think together what does the word "world" mean in the name of the war? Obviously, this is a war in which the whole world fought. But what is "the whole world"? The entire territory of the planet or the entire population of the planet, or more than half of them?
Obviously, "the whole world" is not a territory. Otherwise, any war involving the British Empire, on which the sun never sets, turns into a world war, even an Anglo-Boer one. After all, fighting with a small European island called "England", the Boers simultaneously fought with Asia (India), and with America (Canada), and with Australia, and even with Africa (Cape Colony of England, Rhodesia, etc.).
Therefore, the point is not in the territory, but in the numbers involved.
It is believed that in total 62 of the 73 independent states that existed at that time participated in the Second World War, although the independence of many of them is doubtful. If we remove the colonies, there will be about 50 really independent countries, including such states as Tuva and Honduras, dear to the Russian ear. But this is really the majority of the world's population.
When did the intra-European war start?
Now let's find out when more than half of the world's population entered into a general war?
It's definitely not September 1, 1939.
Let me remind you that in that year about 2,3 billion people lived on Earth.
By the official date of the start of World War II, as many people know, Japan and China had been fighting on the Asian continent for two years. The population of China was 530-540 million people, Japan - 70 million, which in total gives 600 million or 26% of the population of the Earth.
No, this is not a world war, neither in scope nor in recognition, although of all the participants in the massacre, these countries were the first to start and the last to finish, because the day Japan surrendered is the day the Second World War officially ended. It turned out funny. Japan ended the war, although Japan did not start it. Formally, Japan broke off relations with the United States on December 7, 1941.
It is also interesting that China declared war on Japan only on December 10, 1941. That is, legally, before that, the countries had not fought with anyone. There was no war, and that's it. They kneaded each other just like that, like a neighbor. And if so, then appointing the Second World War in 1937 is somehow not logical.
Okay, let not 1937. Then let's see what happened on September 1, 1939?
A local intra-European war began between the alliance of Germany (including Austria and the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) plus Slovakia on the one hand and the alliance of Poland plus England and France. Together, including the colonies, these participants give 720-730 million people.
600 million plus 730 million add up to 1 million or 330% of the world's population. Everything seems to be correct now? Everything, but not everything.
Do not forget, at that moment Japan was not at war with Poland, England and France, and with Germany she had an Anti-Comintern Pact, not hostile to the rest of Europe.
In turn, China was not at war with Germany and Slovakia. And between themselves, Japan and China, as we know, at that time legally lived in good neighborly relations.
Here such, you understand, the squiggle turns out.
In 1940, when Germany was smashing France, and a lot of European trifles, the European population involved increased by only 70 million, and that was mainly due to Italy.
But that's not all.
In parallel, in 1939-1941. there were two more troubles - the Soviet-Finnish and German-Yugoslav. That is, 4 separate wars were going on in the world almost simultaneously, two of which are not officially part of the Second World War, and the Yugoslav one, in fact, too. Moreover, their participants were neither allies nor opponents of participants in other wars, they did not send ultimatums to each other, they did not send troops to help.
Following this logic, World War II began only when the European and Asian wars merged into one. Say, it happened on June 22, 1941? And here it is not.
On June 22, the size of the European battle increased from 800 million to a billion at the expense of the USSR and the German satellites, and that's it. There were still two parallel conflicts going on in the world, in which the participants did not always sympathize with their future allies.
And yet it happened.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, Japan declared war on Britain. On December 9, the government of Chiang Kai-shek declared war on the Axis countries: Germany and Italy, becoming at that moment an ally of the USSR and Great Britain, and the next day it was finally able to do the same with respect to the samurai.
Here! Here it is the real date, when indeed more than half of the Earth's population officially, openly and legally divided into two clearly defined blocks. That is, in fact, the Second World War lasted from December 9, 1941 to September 2, 1945.
And what about the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945?
Surprising as it may seem, but legally the USSR fought Hitler's Europe on its own, just like Great Britain. Yes, on July 12, 1941, an agreement on joint actions was signed in Moscow, but a full-fledged agreement between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Nazi Germany was signed only on May 26, 1942. But only against Germany.
Although Japan joined the Axis countries in 1940, it stipulated in the Berlin Pact that in the event of a clash between Germany and the Soviet Union, it would remain neutral. In fact, the Berlin Pact legally divided the war in Europe and the war in Asia into absolutely independent events. And with Japan, the USSR had a neutrality treaty that lasted until 1945.
What does this mean?
Three wars
Firstly, the current concept of the Second World War is nothing more than a conditional name for a series of events, the start date of which can be disputed. And many do this, recalling the partition of Czechoslovakia in 1938.
Secondly, the Great Patriotic War cannot be part of the Second World War, because, as we found out, it started earlier and ended earlier.
Thirdly, in the period 22.06.1941/8.12.1941/XNUMX - XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX, three wars were going on in parallel in the world:
- Japanese-Chinese (unannounced);
- Anglo-German (including Italy, but without Finland, because England declared war on Finland on December 6, 1941);
- Soviet-German (The Great Patriotic War).
Fourth, the Second World War arose only because European and Asian wars united. And they might as well not unite.
This would not have happened if the British did not decide on December 8 to oppose Japan, but allowed her to deal only with America and the ownerless French Cochinchina, and Germany and Italy did not decide on December 11 to declare war on the United States.
Well, the British are more or less clear. But now, one wonders, why would Hitler need it, especially given the counteroffensive near Moscow that began the day before? I understand, allied duty and all that, but how could he help the samurai? Why deprive yourself of maneuver, even taking into account the unfolding deliveries to the USSR under Lend-Lease? This mystery is great.
25 days
As a result, we have the following.
The Great Patriotic War is an absolutely independent battle of the Soviet Union against a united Europe, from which, only by misunderstanding, Spain and Sweden, spiritually close to Germany, fell out, with Switzerland in addition.
Yes, England is an ally. But the ally is forced and before the entry into the European war the United States is of little use. Plus, the Soviet Union did not wage a war in Asia, did not have an allied treaty with China against Japan, although it helped to the best of its ability.
World War II officially lasted 6 years and one day. The Soviet Union participated in its own war for 1 days, and from May 418 to August 10, 8, it generally lived in peace. In fact, he fully entered the Second World War not only in the West, but also in the East, only joining the final of the general war against Japan, and this participation lasted 1945 days. Unexpected number, right?
And if so, then we have every right to our own Patriotic War with the European integrators, which we fought in parallel with other wars going on on different continents, despite the fact that in time and in terms of a set of random allies, but rather fellow travelers, it coincided with historical period, conventionally referred to today as the Second World War.
PS
The Yugoslavs have exactly the same full right to their own Patriotic War. After all, on March 27, 1941, after the coup, the pact with the Axis countries was not terminated. That is, at the time of the outbreak of hostilities on April 6, 1941, Yugoslavia was formally an ally of Germany with Italy and the victim of a treacherous attack.
In general, I congratulate everyone on the Victory Day. Our Great Victory!