8
France entered World War II on September 3, 1939. Until May 1940, there were sluggish military actions between the French troops and the supporting British Expeditionary Force on one side, and the German troops (Wehrmacht) on the other, which contemporaries called the “Phoney War.” On May 10, 1940, the German army launched a decisive offensive, and within a month, France capitulated. The British troops evacuated through the port of Dunkirk, leaving all heavy weaponry. Most of France was occupied, while southern France and French colonies retained nominal independence (Vichy regime) in alliance with Germany. In November 1942, due to the support of the French colonial administration and the French fleet for the Anglo-American landings in Algeria and Morocco, German troops conducted Operation “Anton” and occupied the remaining territory of France. France was liberated after the Allied landings in Normandy (Operation “Overlord”) in late 1944 to early 1945.
9
The Great Depression was the largest global economic crisis, lasting from 1929 until the beginning of World War II. It had a particularly severe impact on the economy of the United States.
10
Under the Lend-Lease military supply program, the United States provided weapons, equipment, fuel, ammunition, and food to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Provision was carried out under the conditions of return or redemption of surviving property and the write-off of what was rendered unusable or consumed during combat operations.
11
The first antibiotic, penicillin, was created in 1940 – 1941. By the end of the war, the use of penicillin had become widespread, leading to a sharp decrease in mortality from bacterial infections.
12
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN in 1948.
13
“The White Man’s Burden” is a term originating from the poem of the same name by R. Kipling, declaring the responsibility of colonizers for the economic, social, and cultural development of the peoples of colonized countries.
14
The Comintern was a supranational body established in Soviet Russia in 1919 to promote communist ideas and the subsequent transition of all states to the communist path of development. The Comintern existed until 1943 and was dissolved at the request of the Western allies of the USSR as one of the conditions for continuing military cooperation.
15
The dictatorship of the proletariat is a nominal characterization of the social system established in the USSR, in which the priority of the working class over other categories of the population was declared. In practice, the dictatorship of the proletariat was more of a propaganda slogan, although individuals from the working class indeed had certain political and career advantages.
16
From the beginning of World War II on September 1, 1939, until its official entry into the war on June 22, 1941, the USSR annexed: as a result of the Polish campaign and the joint division of Poland with Germany – Western Ukraine and Western Belarus; as a result of troop deployments and political ultimatums: the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; by fait accompli – Romanian Bessarabia; as a result of military actions (“Winter War”) – eastern Finland.
17
The Treaty of Versailles was the agreement to end World War I following Germany’s capitulation. It restricted Germany’s right to have its own army and navy, and also imposed a huge indemnity on the defeated, which was never fully paid by the start of World War II due to it being unmanageable for the German economy. The Treaty of Versailles was perceived by Germany as a colossal political humiliation, disproportionate to the successes of the German army in the war. A significant portion of Germans accused the government of betrayal, and the German Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic as a result of the revolution.
18
The attempt by the German occupation authorities and German propaganda to position the capture of territories as their “liberation” had limited success only in the Baltics. In other cases, the German authorities, as well as the army, behaved as a dominant race, which was dictated by the ideology and internal policy of the Third Reich. Such inherently arrogant behavior of the conquerors caused a natural rejection by the majority of the population, including even relatively loyal countries like Czechoslovakia.
19
The Japanese government was confident that the capture of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and British colonies would automatically lead to the United States entering the war with Japan and planned a preemptive strike on the American fleet, assuming that war with America was inevitable. As it became known later, the US did not plan to enter the war unless there was an attack on its own territory. Thus, with the preemptive attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, extremely successful from a military standpoint, the Japanese fleet provoked an entirely unnecessary war with America, which had an incomparably greater economic potential.
20
The Monroe Doctrine, proposed by U.S. President Monroe in the first half of the 19th century, declared non-interference by the United States in the affairs of European countries in exchange for non-interference by Europe in the affairs of the American continent.
21
The October Revolution in Russia was accompanied by soldiers almost universally abandoning the front line, which allowed German troops to launch an offensive on the Eastern Front. To prevent territorial losses and concentrate military forces for the Civil War, the Soviet government signed a separate Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty with Germany and withdrew from World War I, to the detriment of the interests of the Allies in the Entente coalition.
22
Winston Churchill was the grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough.
23
The Night of the Long Knives is the unofficial name for the intra-party conflict of 1934 in the NSDAP, which escalated into an armed confrontation between SS militants and SA militants, ending with the victory of the former and the selective executions of SA leaders. As a result of the subsequent redistribution of power within the party, the SA was completely subordinated to the SS and no longer actively participated in the political life of Germany.
24
Rudolf Hess, the deputy of the Führer of the NSDAP, in 1941 flew alone in a fighter to Britain to convince the English elite of the necessity of an alliance with Germany. He was arrested on Churchill’s personal orders and died in 1987 after 40 years of imprisonment in Spandau Prison under unclear circumstances. After the failure of his mission, he was officially declared insane in Germany, having made the flight solely on his personal initiative. The history of Hess’s stay in the United Kingdom remains classified to this day.
25
Edward VIII, the King of the United Kingdom, was forced to abdicate the throne as a result of unprecedented pressure from the government, formally due to his desire to marry a divorced woman of non-British and non-noble origin. He openly sympathized with the Nazis, met with Hitler, and repeatedly expressed his support for him.
26
Until August 1945, the USSR and Japan did not engage in military actions against each other. Moreover, despite the USSR and the USA being allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, American planes landing in the Soviet Far East were interned along with their crews, who were later transferred to the USA through secret channels after signing a pledge not to participate in the war with Japan. During the most difficult months of 1941—1942, the Soviet Union almost completely moved its troops from the east to the German front, yet Japan maintained neutrality. On August 6, 1945, the Soviet army began an operation against the