Victims of countries in the second world war. How many Soviet people died in World War II

The United States was forced into the war on December 7, 1941, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And although the scope of the battles was not the same as on the Eastern Front, this does not negate their fierceness. Getting bogged down in battles with the Japanese, the United States was able to secure the rear of the USSR, and subsequently opening a second front, brought the defeat of Germany closer and made its collapse inevitable. In total, the main losses in World War II are due to the following factors:

The contribution of the Allies to victory cannot be underestimated. In fact, while fierce battles were going on in the east and the blitzkrieg thundered, Great Britain and the United States also did not sit idly by, stretching the forces of the Germans and their allies in several directions, thereby reducing the pressure on the USSR.

During the entire war in the United States, a huge number of recruits were mobilized - more than 16 million people. Such reserves were enough to fight long wars of attrition, in addition, american soldiers they did not have the worst level of training, which allowed them to withstand even superior enemy forces.

After the unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor and the destruction of one of the most powerful military bases, the United States entered the war. Just hours after the attack, the Americans declared war on Japan and began planning their response.

Starting from 1942, the Japanese army lost its advantage and stopped gaining significant victories, which led to the defeat in the Battle of Midway, and dealt a crushing blow to the imperial troops.

After that, the Americans continued their systematic offensive, freeing all the islands that came across on the way. The Japanese refused to capitulate, even when they found themselves in a completely stalemate in 1945. Anticipating heavy losses at the beginning of the assault on the main island of Japan, the US command decided to drop two atomic bombs, which finally broke the spirit of the Japanese and led to the subsequent complete surrender.

In total, during the war with the Japanese, the Americans lost about 300 thousand soldiers and sailors killed, captured and subsequently died from wounds. In addition, it is known about the injured civilians. So the Japanese managed to intern more than 12 thousand civilians.

One of the main "meat grinders" - the place where the Allies suffered the greatest losses - was the beaches during Operation Overlord. The infantry had to storm the enemy bunkers, advancing across open terrain, under furious artillery and machine gun fire. However, due to the disagreements of the German commanders, who as a result could not provide organized assistance to each other, the defense was broken through. The battle for Normandy went on for about two months. The main task of the allies was to capture, expand and strengthen the coastal bridgeheads in order to create favorable conditions for subsequent attacks on the enemy. This operation went down in history as the largest landing, as it involved more than 3 million soldiers who crossed the English Channel.

Great losses were inflicted on the allies by powerful German armored vehicles - outdated military doctrine. The main tank of the US Army at that time was the M4 Sherman, equipped with a short-barreled 75-mm gun, which was not able to adequately deal with enemy tanks that destroyed Shermans at distances of more than a kilometer. The use of specialized self-propelled guns did not give significant results, which is why the Americans lost heavily to the mechanized divisions of the Wehrmacht. As a result, due to the heavy casualties, the Americans had to quickly develop new types of tanks, as well as figure out how to modernize the current ones that remained in service.

Even despite the complete dominance of the Americans in the air, the German forces continued to offer serious resistance. Especially here the Hitler Youth managed to distinguish itself. Teenagers, under the guidance of experienced officers, managed to inflict enormous damage on American forces, turning French vineyards into a real hell. However, they didn't stand a chance, as the Americans were better trained and already had combat skills by the time the operation began. Some units had real combat experience gained during the battles with the Japanese. That played with the US Marines bad joke, since the Germans used a completely different battle tactic, which also led to heavy losses at first.

In total, during the bloody battles in Europe, the United States lost almost 186,000 servicemen killed, which, of course, is quite small when compared with the losses of the USSR.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, he made the biggest contribution to the victory over the Third Reich. Allies could only indirectly help Soviet troops, diverting the attention of the Wehrmacht command and forcing them to disperse their forces. They also additionally supplied weapons for the Soviet army under the Lend-Lease program. In total, US losses in World War II amounted to 405,000 killed and 671,000 wounded.

Our planet knew a lot bloody battles and battles. Our whole history consisted of various internecine conflicts. But only human and material losses in World War II made mankind think about the importance of everyone's life. Only after it did people begin to understand how easy it is to unleash a massacre and how difficult it is to stop it. This war showed all the peoples of the Earth how important peace is for everyone.

The Importance of Studying the History of the 20th Century

The younger generation sometimes does not understand how the history differs over the years that have passed since their end, it has been rewritten many times, so the youth is no longer so interested in those distant events. Often these people do not even really know who took part in those events and what losses humanity suffered in the Second World War. But the history of your country should not be forgotten. If today you watch American films about the Second world war, you might think that it was only thanks to the US Army that victory over Nazi Germany became possible. That is why it is so necessary to convey to our younger generation the role Soviet Union in these sad events. In fact, it was the people of the USSR who suffered the greatest losses in World War II.

Background of the bloodiest war

This armed conflict between the two world military-political coalitions, which became the biggest massacre in the history of mankind, began on September 1, 1939 (in contrast to the Great Patriotic War, which lasted from June 22, 1941 to May 8, 1945 G.). It ended only on September 2, 1945. Thus, this war lasted 6 years. There are several reasons for this conflict. These include: a deep global crisis in the economy, the aggressive policy of some states, Negative consequences the then Versailles-Washington system.

Participants in the international conflict

62 countries were involved in this conflict to one degree or another. And this despite the fact that at that time there were only 73 sovereign states on Earth. Fierce battles took place on three continents. Naval battles conducted in four oceans (Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic). The number of opposing countries changed several times throughout the war. Some states participated in active hostilities, while others simply helped their coalition allies in any way (with equipment, equipment, food).

Anti-Hitler coalition

Initially, there were 3 states in this coalition: Poland, France, Great Britain. This is due to the fact that it was after the attack on these countries that Germany began to carry out active fighting within these countries. In 1941, such countries as the USSR, the USA, and China were drawn into the war. Further, Australia, Norway, Canada, Nepal, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Belgium joined the coalition, New Zealand, Denmark, Luxembourg, Albania, Union of South Africa, San Marino, Turkey. To one degree or another, such countries as Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Honduras, Chile, Paraguay, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, Bolivia. They joined and Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Liberia, Mongolia. During the war years, even those states that had ceased to be allies of Germany joined the anti-Hitler coalition. These are Iran (since 1941), Iraq and Italy (since 1943), Bulgaria and Romania (since 1944), Finland and Hungary (since 1945).

On the side of the Nazi bloc were such states as Germany, Japan, Slovakia, Croatia, Iraq and Iran (until 1941), Finland, Bulgaria, Romania (until 1944), Italy (until 1943), Hungary (until 1945), Thailand (Siam), Manchukuo. In some occupied territories, this coalition created puppet states that had virtually no influence on the world battlefield. These include: Italian Social Republic, Vichy France, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. On the side of the Nazi bloc, various collaborationist troops, created from among the inhabitants of the opposing countries, often fought. The largest of them were RONA, ROA, SS divisions created from foreigners (Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Estonian, Norwegian-Danish, 2 Belgian, Dutch, Latvian, Bosnian, Albanian and French each). Volunteer armies of such neutral countries as Spain, Portugal and Sweden fought on the side of this bloc.

Consequences of the war

Despite the fact that during the long years of the Second World War the alignment on the world stage changed several times, the result of it was the complete victory of the anti-Hitler coalition. This was followed by the creation of the largest international organization United Nations (abbreviated as UN). The result of victory in this war was the condemnation of fascist ideology and the prohibition of Nazism during the Nuremberg trials. After the end of this world conflict, the role of France and Great Britain in world politics significantly decreased, and the USA and the USSR became real superpowers, dividing new spheres of influence among themselves. Two camps of countries with diametrically opposed socio-political systems (capitalist and socialist) were created. After the Second World War, a period of decolonization of empires began throughout the planet.

theater of war

Germany, for which the Second World War was an attempt to become the only superpower, fought in five directions at once:

• Western European: Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France.
• Mediterranean: Greece, Yugoslavia, Albania, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Libya, Egypt, North Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq.
• East European: USSR, Poland, Norway, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Yugoslavia, Barents, Baltic and Black Seas.
• African: Ethiopia, Somalia, Madagascar, Kenya, Sudan, Equatorial Africa.
• Pacific (in commonwealth with Japan): China, Korea, South Sakhalin, Far East, Mongolia, Kurile Islands, Aleutian Islands, Hong Kong, Indochina, Burma, Malaya, Sarawak, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, Brunei, New Guinea, Sabah, Papua, Guam, Solomon Islands, Hawaii, Philippines, Midway, Marianas and numerous other Pacific Islands.

Beginning and end of the war

They began to be calculated from the moment the German troops invaded Poland. Hitler long time prepared the ground for an attack on this state. On August 31, 1939, the German press reported on the capture by the Polish military of a radio station in Gleiwitz (although this was a provocation by saboteurs), and already at 4 am on September 1, 1939, the Schleswig-Holstein warship began shelling the fortifications in Westerplatte (Poland). Together with the troops of Slovakia, Germany began to occupy foreign territories. France and Great Britain demanded that Hitler withdraw troops from Poland, but he refused. Already on September 3, 1939, France, Australia, England, New Zealand declared war on Germany. Then they were joined by Canada, Newfoundland, the Union of South Africa, Nepal. So the bloody World War II began to quickly gain momentum. USSR, although it urgently introduced a universal military duty, until 22. 06. 1941 did not declare war on Germany.

In the spring of 1940, Hitler's troops began the occupation of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Then she went to France. In June 1940, Italy began to fight on Hitler's side. In the spring of 1941, she quickly captured Greece and Yugoslavia. On June 22, 1941, she attacked the USSR. On the side of Germany in these hostilities were Romania, Finland, Hungary, Italy. Up to 70% of all active Nazi divisions fought on all Soviet-German fronts. The defeat of the enemy in the battle for Moscow thwarted Hitler's notorious plan - "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Thanks to this, already in 1941, the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition began. On December 7, 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States also entered this war. The army of this country for a long time fought with its enemies only in pacific ocean. Great Britain and the United States promised to open the so-called second front in the summer of 1942. But, despite the fiercest fighting on the territory of the Soviet Union, the partners in the anti-Hitler coalition were in no hurry to engage in hostilities in Western Europe. This is due to the fact that the United States and Britain were waiting for the complete weakening of the USSR. Only when it became obvious that at a rapid pace began to liberate not only its territory, but also countries of Eastern Europe, the allies hurried to open a second front. This happened on June 6, 1944 (2 years after the promised date). From that moment on, the Anglo-American coalition sought to be the first to liberate Europe from German troops. Despite all the efforts of the allies, Soviet army the first to occupy the Reichstag, on which she hoisted her own. But even the unconditional surrender of Germany did not stop the Second World War. For some time there were hostilities in Czechoslovakia. Also in the Pacific, hostilities almost did not stop. Just after the bombing atomic bombs cities of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945), carried out by the Americans, the Japanese emperor understood the futility of further resistance. As a result of this attack, about 300 thousand civilians died. This bloody international conflict ended only on September 2, 1945. It was on this day that Japan signed the act of surrender.

Victims of the global conflict

The first large-scale losses in World War II were suffered by the Polish people. The army of this country could not resist a stronger enemy in the face of the German troops. This war had an unprecedented impact on all of humanity. About 80% of all people living on Earth at that time (more than 1.7 billion people) were drawn into the war. Military operations took place on the territory of more than 40 states. For 6 years of this world conflict, about 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces of all armies. According to the latest data, human losses are about 50 million people. At the same time, only 27 million people were killed on the fronts. The rest of the victims were civilians. Most human lives lost countries such as the USSR (27 million), Germany (13 million), Poland (6 million), Japan (2.5 million), China (5 million). The casualties of other warring countries were: Yugoslavia (1.7 million), Italy (0.5 million), Romania (0.5 million), Great Britain (0.4 million), Greece (0.4 million). ), Hungary (0.43 million), France (0.6 million), USA (0.3 million), New Zealand, Australia (40 thousand), Belgium (88 thousand), Africa (10 thousand .), Canada (40 thousand). More than 11 million people were killed in fascist concentration camps.

Losses from international conflict

It is simply amazing what losses the Second World War brought to mankind. History testifies to 4 trillion dollars that went to military spending. The warring states material costs accounted for about 70% of the national income. For several years, the industry of many countries was completely reoriented to the production of military equipment. Thus, the USA, USSR, Great Britain and Germany during the war years produced more than 600 thousand combat and transport aircraft. The weapons of World War II have become even more effective and deadly in 6 years. The most ingenious minds of the warring countries were busy only with its improvement. Many new weapons were forced to come up with the Second World War. The tanks of Germany and the Soviet Union were constantly modernized throughout the war. At the same time, more and more advanced machines were created to destroy the enemy. Their number numbered in the thousands. So, only armored vehicles, tanks, self-propelled guns more than 280 thousand were produced. More than 1 million different artillery pieces; about 5 million machine guns; 53 million submachine guns, carbines and rifles. Colossal destruction and destruction of several thousand cities and other settlements brought with it the Second World War. The history of mankind without it could go according to a completely different scenario. Because of it, all countries were thrown back in their development many years ago. Colossal funds and forces of millions of people were spent on eliminating the consequences of this international military conflict.

USSR losses

A very high price had to be paid for the fact that the Second World War ended faster. The losses of the USSR amounted to about 27 million people. (according to the last count of 1990). Unfortunately, it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to obtain accurate data, but this figure is most consistent with the truth. There are several different estimates of the losses of the USSR. So, according to the latest method, about 6.3 million are considered killed or died from their wounds; 0.5 million who died from diseases, were sentenced to death, died in accidents; 4.5 million missing and captured. The total demographic losses of the Soviet Union amount to more than 26.6 million people. In addition to the huge number of deaths in this conflict, the USSR suffered huge material losses. According to estimates, they amounted to more than 2600 billion rubles. During World War II, hundreds of cities were partially or completely destroyed. More than 70 thousand villages were wiped off the face of the earth. 32 thousand large industrial enterprises were completely destroyed. Almost completely destroyed Agriculture European part of the USSR. It took several years of incredible efforts and huge expenses to restore the country to the pre-war level.

The Soviet Union suffered the most significant losses in World War II - about 27 million people. At the same time, the division of the dead according to nationality never welcomed. However, such statistics exist.

History of counting

For the first time total number victims among Soviet citizens in World War II were named by the Bolshevik magazine, which published in February 1946 the figure of 7 million people. A month later, Stalin gave the same figure in an interview with the Pravda newspaper.

In 1961, at the end of the post-war population census, Khrushchev announced corrected data. “Can we sit with folded hands and wait for a repeat of 1941, when the German militarists unleashed a war against the Soviet Union, which claimed two tens of millions of lives Soviet people?” wrote the Soviet Secretary General to Swedish Prime Minister Fridtjof Erlander.

In 1965, on the 20th anniversary of the Victory, the new head of the USSR, Brezhnev, said: “No nation has suffered such a cruel war that the Soviet Union suffered. The war claimed more than twenty million lives of Soviet people.

However, all these calculations were approximate. Only in the late 1980s, a group of Soviet historians led by Colonel General Grigory Krivosheev was admitted to the materials General Staff, as well as the main headquarters of all types of the Armed Forces. The result of the work was the figure of 8 million 668 thousand 400 people, reflecting the losses of the power structures of the USSR throughout the war.

The final data of all human losses of the USSR for the entire period of the Great Patriotic War was published by the state commission, which worked on behalf of the Central Committee of the CPSU. 26.6 million people: this figure was announced at the solemn meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 8, 1990. This figure turned out to be unchanged, despite the fact that the methods of calculating the commission were repeatedly called incorrect. In particular, it was noted that the final figure included collaborators, "Khivi" and other Soviet citizens who collaborated with the Nazi regime.

By nationality

Counting the dead in the Great Patriotic War for a long time no one was engaged on a national basis. Such an attempt was made by the historian Mikhail Filimoshin in the book “Casualties of the Armed Forces of the USSR”. The author noted that the lack of a nominal list of the dead, dead or missing with an indication of nationality greatly complicated the work. Such a practice was simply not provided for in the Report Card of Urgent Reports.

Filimoshin substantiated his data with the help of proportionality coefficients, which were calculated on the basis of reports on the payroll of the Red Army military personnel according to socio-demographic characteristics for 1943, 1944 and 1945. At the same time, the researcher failed to establish the nationality of approximately 500,000 conscripts called up in the first months of the war for mobilization and missing along the way to the unit.

1. Russians - 5 million 756 thousand (66.402% of the total number of irretrievable losses);

2. Ukrainians - 1 million 377 thousand (15.890%);

3. Belarusians - 252 thousand (2.917%);

4. Tatars - 187 thousand (2.165%);

5. Jews - 142 thousand (1.644%);

6. Kazakhs - 125 thousand (1.448%);

7. Uzbeks - 117 thousand (1.360%);

8. Armenians - 83 thousand (0.966%);

9. Georgians - 79 thousand (0.917%)

10. Mordva and Chuvash - 63 thousand each (0.730%)

The demographer and sociologist Leonid Rybakovsky in his book "The USSR's Human Losses in the Great Patriotic War" separately calculates civilian casualties using the ethno-demographic method. This method includes three components:

1. Death of civilians in combat areas (bombing, shelling, punitive operations, etc.).

2. Non-return of part of the Ostarbeiters and other population who voluntarily or under duress served the occupiers;

3. increase in mortality of the population over normal level from hunger and other deprivations.

According to Rybakovsky, Russians lost 6.9 million civilians in this way, Ukrainians - 6.5 million, Belarusians - 1.7 million.

Alternative estimates

Historians of Ukraine give their own methods of counting, which relate primarily to the losses of Ukrainians in the Great Patriotic War. The researchers of the Independent refer to the fact that Russian historians adhere to certain stereotypes when counting victims, in particular, they do not take into account the contingent of corrective labor institutions, where a significant part of the dispossessed Ukrainians were kept, whose sentence was replaced by being sent to penal companies.

Head of the Research Department of the Kyiv "National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" Lyudmila Rybchenko refers to the fact that Ukrainian researchers have collected a unique fund of documentary materials on accounting for the human military losses of Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War - funerals, lists of missing persons, correspondence on the search for the dead, loss records.

In total, according to Rybchenko, more than 8.5 thousand archival files were collected, in which about 3 million personal testimonies about the dead and missing soldiers called up from the territory of Ukraine. However, the museum worker does not pay attention to the fact that representatives of other nationalities also lived in Ukraine, which could well be included in the number of 3 million victims.

Belarusian experts also give independent estimates of the number of losses during the Second World War. Some believe that every third inhabitant of 9 million Belarus became a victim of Hitler's aggression. One of the most authoritative researchers of this topic is Professor of the State Pedagogical University, Doctor of Historical Sciences Emmanuil Ioffe.

The historian believes that in total 1 million 845 thousand 400 inhabitants of Belarus died in 1941-1944. From this figure, he subtracts 715,000 Belarusian Jews who became victims of the Holocaust. Among the remaining 1 million 130 thousand 155 people, in his opinion, about 80% or 904 thousand people are ethnic Belarusians.

The Second World War, which involved four-fifths of the world's population, became the bloodiest in the history of mankind. Through the fault of the imperialists, mass extermination of people took place for six years in various regions of the globe.

More than 110 million people were mobilized into the armed forces. Many tens of millions were killed, injured, left disabled. Civilian casualties increased sharply. They made up almost half total losses, while in the First World War - 5 percent.

It is extremely difficult to accurately determine the number of dead military personnel and civilians for a number of countries, since in many of them there are no statistics on population losses for the war as a whole, or these data do not reflect the actual situation. In addition, the fascists tried in every possible way to hide their atrocities, and after the war their ideological advocates deliberately distorted the indicators of the casualties of individual countries. All this was the reason for significant discrepancies in the estimate of the number of deaths. The most authoritative studies show that more than 50 million people died during the Second World War.

In addition to direct human losses, many warring states also suffered large indirect losses. The mobilization of a significant part of the male population into the armed forces, the accelerated involvement of women in the system of socially organized labor, material and domestic difficulties, etc., dramatically changed the mode of population reproduction, lowered birth rates and increased mortality.

The states of Europe suffered the largest direct and indirect population losses. About 40 million people died here, that is, significantly more than on other continents combined. During the war years, almost all European countries ah on long time the conditions for the existence and development of the population worsened.

In 1938, the population of European countries was 390.6 million people, and in 1945 - 380.9 million. If not for the war, with the same birth and death rates, it would have increased over the years by about 12 million people . The war seriously deformed the age, gender, family and marriage structure of the population of the continent. The quality and, in many countries, the level of general education and vocational training have declined significantly.

Half of the human losses in Europe are in the USSR. They amounted to over 20 million people, a significant part of them - the civilian population who died in the Nazi death camps, as a result of fascist repression, disease and hunger, from enemy air raids. The losses of the USSR significantly exceed the human losses of its Western allies. The country has lost a large part of the population of the most able-bodied and productive ages, with labor experience and professional training. The great losses of the Soviet Union were due primarily to the fact that it took upon itself the main blow of Nazi Germany and for a long time alone opposed the fascist bloc in Europe. They are explained by the particularly cruel policy of mass extermination of Soviet people, which was pursued by the aggressor.

A difficult demographic situation developed after the Second World War in Poland and Yugoslavia, which lost a significant part of their population: Poland - 6 million, Yugoslavia - 1.7 million people.

The fascist leadership set as its goal to change the demographic process in Europe, and subsequently throughout the world. This provided for the mass physical destruction of the conquered peoples, as well as forcible birth control. Along with this, the Nazis sought to stimulate the growth of the "chosen" nations in order to gain a foothold in the occupied territories. However, the war led to great losses in Germany itself - over 13 million people were killed, wounded, captured, missing. Fascist Italy lost 500,000 dead.

The population losses of countries such as France (600 thousand) and Great Britain (370 thousand) are less than the losses of a number of other states participating in the war, but they also had a negative impact on their post-war development.

The peoples of Asia suffered considerable human losses during the war years. The number of dead and wounded in China amounted to over 5 million people. Japan lost 2.5 million people - mostly military personnel. Of the 350,000 civilians who died in Japan, most of- more than 270 thousand people were victims of the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Compared to Europe and Asia, other continents suffered significantly less human losses. In general, they amounted to 400 thousand people. The United States lost about 300 thousand people dead, Australia and New Zealand - over 40 thousand, Africa - 10 thousand people (206).

Large differences in human losses in relation to individual countries, groups of states, regions of the world are due, on the one hand, to the nature and degree of their participation directly in the armed struggle, and on the other hand, to the class and political goals pursued by the warring countries. The latter determined their different attitude towards prisoners of war and the civilian population of the enemy, as well as to the fate of the population. allied states and the world in general.

Many hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war and millions of civilians were destroyed in the territories occupied by the Nazi and Japanese invaders. With particular ferocity, the Nazis applied their carefully developed policy of the physical destruction of the Soviet people. The Nazis carried out mass deportation of the civilian population to Germany, where they ended up either in hard labor or in concentration camps. Executions, poisoning in gas chambers, beatings, torture, monstrous medical experiments, forced to overwork - all this led to the mass destruction of people. Thus, out of 18 million European citizens who ended up in Nazi concentration camps, more than 11 million people were killed.

The aggressors themselves, although their armed forces were defeated and forced to unconditional surrender, suffered comparatively smaller losses, which was evidence of the humane attitude towards prisoners of war and the civilian population of the defeated countries on the part of the victors, primarily the USSR.

The war had a great impact not only on the natural reproduction of the population in all countries of the world, but also on its interstate and internal migration. Already the coming of the fascists to power and the preparation of aggression begun by them caused the flight of the population from Germany and other European states in Africa, North and Latin America. The offensive of the fascist armies led to the displacement of the population in almost all countries of Europe. In addition, the Nazis resorted to mass forcible export of labor force from the occupied regions to Germany. War-induced internal migration, accompanied by great hardship and hardship, contributed to an increase in mortality and a decrease in the birth rate. Similar processes took place in Asia.

Thus, the Second World War brought about major changes in the structure of population throughout the world. For a number of countries, including socialist ones, the demographic consequences of the war became one of the most unfavorable factors.

The Second World War confirmed the conclusions of Marxism-Leninism about the enormous impact of the economic factor on the outbreak of wars, the methods of their conduct, their course and results. In the second world war, the most bloody and fierce, the interconnection and interdependence of economic, scientific, social, moral-political and military factors intensified. The results of the actions of the armed forces, along with other factors, were determined by the degree of their economic support. The volume and qualitative structure of the material needs of the armed forces have sharply expanded, and the importance of the timing of the main military-economic measures has increased. The influence of the social system of states on the military economy, its ability to meet the needs of the front, manifested itself with particular force.

One of the important lessons of the Second World War is the strengthening of its feedback on the economy. Subordination has risen sharply National economy the needs of the war. Almost all branches of the economy worked for her to some extent. The credit and financial system of states, money circulation, domestic and foreign trade underwent a deep restructuring.

In terms of the number of human and material losses, in terms of their immediate and long-term consequences, the Second World War has no equal in history. It far surpassed the First World War in terms of human casualties, expended material resources, the volume of production of military equipment, the intensity of economic efforts and the hardships that most of its participants had to endure.

The experience of the Second World War reminds us that not only the war itself and its consequences, but also the preparations for it, the arms race lead to a serious aggravation of population problems and to undermining the economy. Only durable democratic world creates the necessary conditions for the development of economic and demographic processes in directions that meet the interests of social progress.

There are various estimates of the losses of the Soviet Union and Germany during the war of 1941-1945. The differences are related both to the methods of obtaining the initial quantitative data for different groups of losses, and to the calculation methods.

In Russia, official data on losses in the Great Patriotic War are those published by a group of researchers led by Grigory Krivosheev, a consultant at the Military Memorial Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in 1993. According to updated data (2001), the losses were as follows:

• The human losses of the USSR - 6.8 million soldiers killed, and 4.4 million captured and missing. General demographic losses (including dead civilians) - 26.6 million Human;
• German casualties - 4.046 million servicemen dead, dead from wounds, missing (including 442.1 thousand who died in captivity) 910.4 thousand returned from captivity after the war;
• The casualties of Germany's allied countries - 806 thousand military personnel who died (including 137.8 thousand who died in captivity) 662.2 thousand returned from captivity after the war.
• Irretrievable losses of the armies of the USSR and Germany (including prisoners of war) - 11.5 million and 8.6 million people (not to mention 1.6 million prisoners of war after May 9, 1945) respectively. The ratio of irretrievable losses of the armies of the USSR and Germany with the satellites is 1,3:1 .

History of calculation and official state recognition of losses

The study of the losses of the Soviet Union in the war actually began only in the late 1980s. with the advent of publicity. Prior to that, in 1946, Stalin announced that the USSR had lost during the war years 7 million people. Under Khrushchev, this figure increased to "more than 20 million". Only in 1988-1993. a team of military historians led by Colonel General G.F. Krivosheev conducted a comprehensive statistical study of archival documents and other materials containing information about casualties in the army and navy, border and internal troops NKVD. In this case, the results of the work of the commission of the General Staff to determine the losses, headed by General of the Army S. M. Shtemenko (1966-1968) and a similar commission of the Ministry of Defense under the leadership of General of the Army M. A. Gareev (1988) were used. The team was also admitted to the declassified in the late 1980s. materials of the General Staff and the main headquarters of the branches of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the border troops and other archival institutions of the former USSR.

The final figure of casualties in the Great Patriotic War was for the first time made public in rounded form (" almost 27 million people”) at the solemn meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 8, 1990, dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War. In 1993, the results of the study were published in the book Classified Removed. Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts: Statistical study", which was then translated into English language. In 2001, a reprint of the book “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century. Losses of the Armed Forces: A Statistical Study".

To determine the scale of human losses, this team used various methods, in particular:

• accounting and statistical, that is, by analyzing the available accounting documents (primarily reports of losses personnel Armed Forces of the USSR)
• balance, or the method of demographic balance, that is, by comparing the number and age structure population of the USSR at the beginning and end of the war.

In the 1990-2000s. both papers have appeared in the press suggesting corrections to official figures (in particular, due to the refinement of statistical methods), and completely alternative studies with very different loss data. As a rule, in works of the latter type, the estimated human losses far exceed the officially recognized 26.6 million people.

For example, the modern Russian publicist Boris Sokolov estimated the total human losses of the USSR in 1939-1945. in 43,448 thousand people, and the total number of deaths in the ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1941-1945. in 26.4 million people (of which 4 million people died in captivity). According to his calculations about the loss 2.6 million German soldiers on the Soviet-German front, the loss ratio reaches 10:1. At the same time, the total human losses in Germany in 1939-1945. he appreciated in 5.95 million people (including 300 thousand Jews, gypsies and anti-Nazis who died in concentration camps). His estimate of the dead soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS (including foreign formations) is 3 950 thousand Human). However, it must be borne in mind that Sokolov also includes demographic losses in the losses of the USSR (that is, those who could have been born, but were not born), but does not conduct such a calculation for Germany. The calculation of the total losses of the USSR is based on frank falsification: the population of the USSR in the middle of 1941 was taken at 209.3 million people (12-17 million people higher than the real one, at the level of 1959), at the beginning of 1946 - at 167 million (by 3, 5 million more than the real one) - which in total just gives the difference between the official and Sokolov's figures. B. V. Sokolov’s calculations are repeated in many publications and the media (in the NTV film “Victory. One for All”, interviews and speeches by writer Viktor Astafiev, I. V. Bestuzhev-Lada’s book “Russia on the eve of the 21st century”, etc.)

human losses

Overall rating

A group of researchers led by G. F. Krivosheev estimates the total human losses of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War, determined by the demographic balance method, in 26.6 million people. This includes all those who died as a result of military and other actions of the enemy, who died as a result of advanced level mortality during the war in the occupied territory and in the rear, as well as persons who emigrated from the USSR during the war years and did not return after its end. For comparison, according to the estimates of the same team of researchers, the decline in the population of Russia during the First World War (losses of military personnel and civilians) amounted to 4.5 million people, and a similar decline in civil war- 8 million people.

As for the sex composition of the deceased and the dead, the overwhelming majority, of course, were men (about 20 million). On the whole, by the end of 1945, the number of women between the ages of 20 and 29 was twice the number of men of the same age in the USSR.

Considering the work of the group of G. F. Krivosheev, American demographers S. Maksudov and M. Elman come to the conclusion that the estimate of human losses given to her at 26-27 million is relatively reliable. However, they indicate both the possibility of underestimating the number of losses due to incomplete accounting of the population of the territories annexed by the USSR before the war and at the end of the war, and the possibility of overestimating losses due to not taking into account emigration from the USSR in 1941-45. In addition, official calculations do not take into account the drop in the birth rate, due to which the population of the USSR by the end of 1945 should have been approximately 35-36 million people more than in the absence of war. However, this figure is recognized by them as hypothetical, since it is based on insufficiently rigorous assumptions.

According to another foreign researcher M. Haynes, the figure of 26.6 million, obtained by the group of G. F. Krivosheev, sets only the lower limit of all the losses of the USSR in the war. The total population decline from June 1941 to June 1945 amounted to 42.7 million people, and this figure corresponds to the upper limit. Therefore, the real number of military casualties is in this interval. However, he is objected to by M. Harrison, who, on the basis of statistical calculations, comes to the conclusion that even taking into account some uncertainty in assessing emigration and declining birth rates, the real military losses of the USSR should be estimated within 23.9 to 25.8 million people.

military personnel

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, irretrievable losses during the fighting on the Soviet-German front from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945 amounted to 8,860,400 Soviet military personnel. The source was data declassified in 1993 - 8,668,400 military personnel and data obtained during prospecting work Watch of Memory and in historical archives. Of these (according to 1993 data):

• Killed, died from wounds and diseases, non-combat losses - 6,885,100 people, including
• Killed - 5,226,800 people.
• Died from inflicted wounds - 1,102,800 people.
• perished by various reasons and accidents, shot - 555,500 people.

According to M.V. Filimoshin, during the Great Patriotic War, 4,559,000 Soviet servicemen and 500,000 conscripts called up for mobilization, but not included in the lists of troops, were captured and went missing.

According to the data of G. F. Krivosheev: during the Great Patriotic War, 3,396,400 servicemen were missing and taken prisoner; returned from captivity 1,836,000 military personnel, did not return (died, emigrated) - 1,783,300.

Civilian population

A group of researchers led by G.F. Krivosheev estimated the losses of the civilian population of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War at approximately 13.7 million people. The final figure is 13.684.692 people. consists of the following components:

• was deliberately exterminated in the occupied territory - 7.420.379 people.
• died and perished from the brutal conditions of the occupation regime (hunger, infectious diseases, lack of medical care etc.) - 4.100.000 people.
• died in forced labor in Germany - 2.164.313 people. (another 451.100 people per different reasons did not return and became emigrants)

However, the civilian population also suffered heavy losses from the combat impact of the enemy in the front-line areas, besieged and besieged cities. There are no complete statistical materials on the considered types of civilian casualties.

According to S. Maksudov, in the occupied territories and in besieged Leningrad about 7 million people died (of which 1 million were in besieged Leningrad, 3 million were Jewish victims of the Holocaust), and about 7 million more died as a result of increased mortality in non-occupied territories.

Property losses

During the war years, 1,710 cities and urban-type settlements and more than 70,000 villages and villages, 32,000 industrial enterprises were destroyed on Soviet territory, 98,000 collective farms and 1,876 state farms were destroyed. The State Commission found that material damage amounted to about 30 percent of the national wealth of the Soviet Union, and in areas subjected to occupation - about two-thirds. In general, the material losses of the Soviet Union are estimated at about 2 trillion. 600 billion rubles. For comparison, the national wealth of England decreased by only 0.8 percent, France - by 1.5 percent, and the United States, in essence, avoided material losses.

Losses of Germany and their allies

human losses

In the war against the Soviet Union, the German command involved the population of the occupied countries by recruiting volunteers. Thus, there were separate military units from among the citizens of France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Croatia, as well as from the citizens of the USSR who were captured or in the occupied territory (Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Muslim, etc.). How exactly the losses of these formations were taken into account, there is no clear information in the German statistics.

Also, a constant obstacle to determining the real number of losses of personnel of the troops was the mixing of losses of military personnel with losses of the civilian population. For this reason, in Germany, Hungary, and Romania, the losses of the armed forces are significantly reduced, since some of them are counted among the civilian casualties. (200 thousand people lost military personnel, and 260 thousand civilians). For example, in Hungary this ratio was "1:2" (140 thousand - the loss of military personnel and 280 thousand - the loss of the civilian population). All this significantly distorts the statistics on the losses of the troops of the countries that fought on the Soviet-German front.

A German radiotelegram dated 22 May 1945 from the Wehrmacht Loss Records Department addressed to the Quartermaster General of the OKW provides the following information:

According to the certificate of the organizational department of the OKH dated May 10, 1945, only ground forces, including the SS troops (without the Air Force and Navy), for the period from September 1, 1939 to May 1, 1945, lost 4 million 617.0 thousand people.

Two months before his death, Hitler announced in one of his speeches that Germany had lost 12.5 million killed and wounded, of which half were killed. With this message, he, in fact, refuted the estimates of the scale of human losses made by other fascist leaders and government bodies.

General Jodl after the end of hostilities said that Germany, in total, lost 12 million 400 thousand people, of which 2.5 million were killed, 3.4 million were missing and captured and 6.5 million were wounded, of which approximately 12-15% did not return to service for one reason or another.

According to the annex to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany "On the preservation of burial sites", the total number of German soldiers buried in the USSR and Eastern Europe is 3.226 million, of which the names of 2.395 million are known.

Prisoners of war of Germany and its allies

Information on the number of prisoners of war of the armed forces of Germany and its allied countries, recorded in the camps of the NKVD of the USSR as of April 22, 1956

Alternative theories

In the 1990s-2000s, publications appeared in the Russian press with data on losses that differed greatly from those accepted historical science. As a rule, the evaluated Soviet losses are far superior to those cited by historians.

For example, the modern Russian publicist Boris Sokolov estimated the total human losses of the USSR in 1939-1945 at 43,448 thousand people, and the total number of deaths in the ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1941-1945. 26.4 million people (of which 4 million people died in captivity). According to his calculations about the loss of 2.6 million German soldiers on the Soviet-German front, the loss ratio reaches 10:1. At the same time, he estimated the total human losses of Germany in 1939-1945 at 5.95 million people (including 300 thousand Jews, gypsies and anti-Nazis who died in concentration camps). His estimate of the dead soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS (including foreign formations) is 3,950 thousand people). However, it must be borne in mind that Sokolov also includes demographic losses in the losses of the USSR (that is, those who could have been born, but were not born), but does not conduct such a calculation for Germany. The calculation of the total losses of the USSR is based on frank falsification: the population of the USSR in the middle of 1941 was taken at 209.3 million people (12-17 million people higher than the real one, at the level of 1959), at the beginning of 1946 - at 167 million (by 3, 5 million below the real one), which in total just gives the difference between the official and Sokolov's figures. B. V. Sokolov’s calculations are repeated in many publications and the media (in the NTV film “Victory. One for All”, interviews and speeches by writer Viktor Astafiev, I. V. Bestuzhev-Lada’s book “Russia on the eve of the 21st century”, etc.)

In contrast to the highly controversial publications of Sokolov, there are works by other authors, many of which are driven by the establishment of a real picture of what was happening, and not by the requirements of the current political situation. The work of Garibyan Igor Ludwigovich stands out from the general series. The author uses open official sources and the data, while clearly pointing out inconsistencies in them, focuses attention on the methods used to manipulate the statistics. The methods that he used for his own assessment of Germany's losses are interesting: the female preponderance in the sex and age pyramid, the balance method, the method of assessing the structure of prisoners and the assessment of the rotation of army formations. Each method gives similar results - from 10 before 15 million people of irretrievable losses, excluding the losses of the satellite countries. The results obtained are often confirmed by indirect and sometimes direct facts from official German sources. The paper deliberately makes a bias towards the indirectness of multiple facts. It is more difficult to falsify such data, because it is impossible to foresee the totality of facts and their ups and downs during falsification, which means that attempts at fraud will not stand the test under different methods of assessment.