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Do not fill this in! ===World War II=== In the late 1930s, [[Joseph Stalin]] had worked with Foreign Minister [[Maxim Litvinov]] to promote [[popular front]]s with capitalist parties and governments to oppose [[fascism]], although their primary enemy was the so-called "[[social fascism]]" of rival socialist parties, which in part paved the way for the rise of the [[Nazis]] in Germany.<ref name="Haro 2011">{{cite journal |last=Haro |first=Lea |year=2011 |title=Entering a Theoretical Void: The Theory of Social Fascism and Stalinism in the German Communist Party |journal=[[Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory]] |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=563–582 |doi=10.1080/03017605.2011.621248 |s2cid=146848013}}</ref><ref name="Hoppe 2011">{{cite book|last=Hoppe|first=Bert|year=2011|title=In Stalins Gefolgschaft: Moskau und die KPD 1928–1933|publisher=Oldenbourg Verlag|language=de|isbn=9783486711738}}</ref> In 1939, after attempts to form a military alliance with Britain and France against Germany failed, the Soviet Union made a dramatic shift towards Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why didn't the USSR join Allies in 1939? |last=Yegorov |first=Oleg |url=https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii |date=26 September 2019 |access-date=5 February 2022 |website=Russia Beyond |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206011636/https://www.rbth.com/history/331039-ussr-britain-france-talks-wwii |url-status=live }}</ref> Almost a year after Britain and France had concluded the [[Munich Agreement]] with Germany, the Soviet Union made agreements with Germany as well, both militarily and economically during [[German–Soviet Axis talks|extensive talks]]. Unlike the case of Britain and France, the Soviet Union's agreement with Germany, the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] (signed on 23 August 1939), included a secret protocol that paved the way for the Soviet invasion of Eastern European states and [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union|occupation of their territories]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/moscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry|title=Molotov-Ribbentrop: why is Moscow trying to justify Nazi pact?|work=[[The Guardian]]|author=Andrew Roth|date=23 August 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Leffler|2008|pp=18–19}} The pact made possible the Soviet occupation of [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia]], [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina|Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region]], and [[Soviet invasion of Poland|eastern Poland]].{{sfn|Kalnins|2015|pp=126–127}} In late November 1939, unable to coerce the [[Finland|Republic of Finland]] by diplomatic means into moving its border {{Convert|25|km}} back from [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], Stalin ordered the [[Winter War|invasion of Finland]]. On 14 December 1939, the Soviet Union was expelled from the [[League of Nations]] for invading Finland.<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV USSR expelled from the League of Nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914013927/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ussr-expelled-from-the-league-of-nations?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV |date=14 September 2021 }}. www.history.com. 5 November 2009</ref>{{sfn|Tucker|2016|pp=612–613}}{{sfn|De Gruyter|2010|pp=171–172}} In June 1940, the Soviet Union forcibly annexed [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania]].{{sfn|Otfinoski|2014|p=14}} [[File:RIAN archive 44732 Soviet soldiers attack house.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], considered by many historians as a decisive turning point of World War II]] Germany broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]] on 22 June 1941 starting what is known in Russia and some other post-Soviet states as the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Great Patriotic War]]. The [[Red Army]] stopped the seemingly invincible German Army at the [[Battle of Moscow]]. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], which lasted from late 1942 to early 1943, dealt a severe blow to Germany from which they never fully recovered and became a turning point in the war. After Stalingrad, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before [[End of World War II in Europe|Germany surrendered in 1945]]. The German Army suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front.<ref>{{Cite book |first=William J. |last=Duiker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC |title=Contemporary World History |date=31 August 2009 |publisher=Wadsworth Pub Co |isbn=978-0-495-57271-8 |page=128 |access-date=25 May 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622200541/https://books.google.com/books?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC |url-status=live }}</ref> Though operational cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union was notably less than that between other allied powers, the United States nevertheless provided the Soviet Union with huge quantities of weapons, ships, aircraft, rolling stock, [[strategic material]]s, and food through the [[Lend-Lease]] program.{{sfn|Herring|1973}}{{sfn|Gaddis|1990|pp=151–153}} In total, the U.S. deliveries through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 [[1,000,000,000 (number)|billion]] in materials: over 400,000 [[jeep]]s and trucks; 12,000 [[armored vehicle]]s (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386<ref>Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) p. 28, 30, 31</ref> of which were [[M3 Lee]]s and 4,102 [[Lend-Lease Sherman tanks|M4 Shermans]]);<ref>''Lend-Lease Shipments: World War II'', Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, 31 December 1946, p. 8.</ref> 11,400 aircraft (4,719 of which were [[Bell P-39 Airacobra]]s)<ref>{{harvnb|Hardesty|1991|p=253}}</ref> and 1.75 million tons of food.<ref>[http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf ''World War II The War Against Germany And Italy''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506174749/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |date=6 May 2017 }}, US Army Center Of Military History, page 158.</ref> [[File:Map US Lend Lease shipments to USSR-WW2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.6|270px|U.S. [[Lend Lease]] shipments to the USSR]] Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line.<ref>{{cite web|title=The five Lend-Lease routes to Russia |url=http://www.o5m6.de/Routes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031212063805/http://www.o5m6.de/routes.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2003 |website=Engines of the Red Army |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Motter |first1=T.H. Vail |title=The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia |date=1952 |publisher=Center of Military History |pages=4–6 |url=https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/index.htm |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref> [[File:Teheran conference-1943.jpg|thumb|From left to right, the Soviet General Secretary [[Joseph Stalin]], US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] [[Tehran Conference|confer]] in Tehran, 1943]] The USSR, in fulfillment of its agreement with the Allies at the [[Yalta Conference]], broke the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945 which Japan had been honoring despite their alliance with Germany,<ref name="denunciation">[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp Denunciation of the neutrality pact] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092519/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s3.asp |date=20 May 2011 }} 5 April 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> and [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories]] on 9 August 1945.<ref name="declarationofwar">[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp Soviet Declaration of War on Japan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520092513/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/s4.asp |date=20 May 2011 }}, 8 August 1945. ([[Avalon Project]] at [[Yale University]])</ref> [[Soviet–Japanese War|This conflict]] ended with a decisive Soviet victory, together with the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] by the U.S. contributing to the unconditional [[surrender of Japan]] and the end of World War II. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page