Participants of the Second World War by nationality. How many nations fought against the USSR on the side of Hitler? The peoples who had the most heroes
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 along ethnic lines was never welcomed. However, such statistics exist.
History of counting
For the first time, the total number of victims among Soviet citizens in World War II was named by the Bolshevik magazine, which published the figure of 7 million people in February 1946. 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. “How can we sit back 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 of Soviet people?” The Soviet Secretary General wrote to Swedish Prime Minister Fridtjof Erlander.
In 1965, on the 20th anniversary of the Victory, the new head of the USSR, Brezhnev, declared: “No nation has suffered such a cruel war that the Soviet Union endured. 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 allowed access to the materials of the General Staff, as well as the main headquarters of all branches 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 on all human losses in 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
For a long time, no one was engaged in counting the dead in the Great Patriotic War 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. Mordvins and Chuvashs - 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. an increase in the death rate of the population above the 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 Nezalezhnaya 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 located, whose sentence was replaced by being sent to penal companies.
Head of the Research Department of the Kiev "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 accounting books.
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 the professor of the State Pedagogical University, Doctor of Historical Sciences Emmanuil Ioffe.
The historian believes that a total of 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.
This article was published in the scientific local history journal "Pskov" No. 2 for 1995. And over the past 20 years, the problems of devaluing our victory in the Great War have only gotten worse. If, as the author complains in the article, when commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy, they didn’t even consider it necessary to call us there, now,— in 2014— our presence is mockingly marked by a push-through meeting between Putin and Poroshenko. Moreover, it is the German chancellor who defiantly organizes communication with marionic head of Ukraine forlegitimization of the neo-Bandera coup staged by the West.
The article is given with minor abbreviations (reference apparatus).
Preparing for war against the USSR, Hitler and his accomplices viewed their next victim as a loose state formation that would soon disintegrate as soon as the Red Army suffered serious defeats. In accordance with these ideas, a plan was developed that provided for the defeat of the Soviet Union in a "fast-moving campaign." These goals were also subordinated to the actions of the Nazis to incite nationalist sentiments that could quarrel the peoples of the USSR and thus cause the collapse of the rear of the Soviet Armed Forces. Concerning the fate of the peoples conquered in the East, the German Eastern Ministry explained: “It is not only about the defeat of the state with its center in Moscow. Achieving this historical goal would never mean a complete solution to the problem. , separate them."
The Nazis began the fulfillment of their barbaric plans with the establishment of a cruel occupation regime in the occupied territory of the USSR, "cleansing the living space" for the Germans through the mass destruction of the Soviet population.
The war against the Nazi invaders imposed on the peoples of the USSR turned out to be the hardest and most cruel of all wars in the history of our Motherland. It became a severe test of the viability of the Soviet Union, the Great Patriotic War of the peoples of the USSR for their freedom and independence. It is the Great Patriotic War. We emphasize this assessment of the war especially, since efforts have recently been made in some circles to prove the opposite.
For this purpose, the books of the notorious V. Rezun, a former Soviet intelligence officer, a traitor, published under the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov", were persistently promoted. Although Mr. Rezun did not say anything new on the merits of the issues covered. He only deployed a long-disproved concept, which the German government officially stated in a note to the government of the USSR, and Goebbels - in the obedient mass media.
Some so-called "democratic" publications hastened not only to approve the writings of Mr. Rezun, but also went further in their rejection of the heroic struggle of the peoples of the USSR against the Nazi invaders. Addressing them, the writer V.E. Maksimov, who devoted many years to the fight against totalitarianism, wrote not so long ago: “What bright plans are you building now, when for several years now in your most liberal publications you have been procrastinating a dirty little thought about the benefits for Russia of defeat in the war with Nazi Germany? Moreover, these touching researches, as a rule, are signed by the corresponding authors. To what extent, to what extent, you need to hate the country where you live, and the people inhabiting it, in order to even forget in your pathological malice what fate is in the case Nazi victory would have awaited the half-brothers of the authors of these studies! It is difficult to say what beats in their cobwebbed hearts, except for evil pus, but, without a doubt, only the ashes of Majdanek and Auschwitz.
Such defeatist motives were absolutely alien to journalism and historical research published on the territory of the former USSR, including the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in pre-perestroika times. The collapse of the communist ideology and ideals caused a social crisis that had a heavy impact on morality and morality, on the perception of the history of the Fatherland. On the pages of newspapers and magazines, as a result, numerous attempts were made to de-heroize the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders, and patriotism was spoken of in a derogatory sense. Moreover, those who betrayed him, having gone over to the side of the Nazis, began to be passed off as true heroes of the Fatherland. The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people for the freedom and independence of their Motherland, for the liberation of the peoples of Europe from German enslavement began to be covered only in those aspects that provided material for exposing what was called totalitarianism and Stalinism.
After the destruction of the USSR, when the states of the so-called Commonwealth of Independent States were literally overwhelmed by interethnic conflicts, armed clashes and even wars, the stories traditional for historians of previous years about fraternal mutual assistance and military commonwealth of the peoples of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany practically disappeared from the works on the Great Patriotic War. invaders.
There is a systematic, as if planned and directed by someone, deletion from the historical memory of the Soviet Union and its multinational people, who became the main creators of the victory over fascism in World War II.
Not so long ago, on June 6, 1994, the allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition celebrated the 50th anniversary of the landing of their troops on the French coast in Normandy. Among those invited to the celebrations were monarchs, heads of state and government: the Queen of Great Britain, the King of Belgium, the President of the United States, the President of Poland ... However, neither President Yeltsin nor any of the Russian officials were among them. Among those invited there were no high-ranking representatives from any CIS state. The flags of 13 victorious states in World War II solemnly fluttered on the Atlantic coast: the USA, England, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. But there was no place for either the flag of the USSR, or Russia, or Ukraine, or Belarus, or any other CIS state. The victorious troops marched solemnly: Americans, British, French, Canadians, Belgians, Dutch, Greeks, Poles, a battalion from Luxembourg. And - no one from Russia or from other CIS countries. It was as if they were not the ones who bore the brunt of the struggle against a whole bloc of states led by Nazi Germany on their shoulders.
The German fascist bloc was defeated in World War II as a result, as is well known, of the joint efforts of the states of the anti-Hitler coalition. However, the contribution of individual countries to the victory was not the same for various reasons. A particularly significant role in the defeat of fascist Germany and its allies was played by the Soviet Union and its historical successors, which have now become independent states. The outcome of World War II was predetermined on the Soviet-German front of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people. Here the fascist German army suffered more than 73 percent of its total losses. On the Soviet-German front, 74 percent of the artillery pieces and up to 75 percent of the tanks and assault guns that were in service with the German army as a whole were destroyed. Its losses in killed and wounded were six times greater than in the Western European and Mediterranean theaters of operations.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the Soviet Union was another victim of German aggression, it was one of the largest states, whose territory was equal to one sixth of the inhabited land. Its population, according to the latest data, has reached 200.1 million people. It was a unique community of peoples, numbering (according to the 1926 census) more than 190 ethnic units. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics included 16 union and 20 autonomous republics, 9 autonomous regions and 10 national districts - national-state formations designed to ensure the interests of large and small peoples within a single state.
Each of the republics, although history allotted an extremely limited time for this, in the pre-war years passed the path of accelerated development of industry. Illiteracy was eliminated, personnel were trained to work in the newly created sectors of the economy, science and culture. In comparison with 1913, the gross output of large-scale industry in 1940 increased, for example, in the Uzbek SSR by 7.2 times, in the Turkmen SSR by 11 times, in the Kazakh SSR by 20 times, in the Kirghiz SSR by 153 times, in the Tajik SSR by 153 times. 324 times. The USSR has become one of the largest industrial powers in the world, capable of providing its armed forces with everything necessary in the event of war.
The high level of industrial development achieved in the pre-war period, especially in the Urals, the Volga region, Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan, made it possible in these regions not only to locate and quickly put into operation hundreds of evacuated enterprises, but also to carry out new industrial construction on the scale they are. did not know in the past. The powerful economy, created by the efforts of all the peoples of the Soviet Union, became a solid foundation for victory in the Great Patriotic War, and each union and autonomous republic, each region not occupied by the enemy, became the arsenal of the front. Even in those catastrophic conditions, when a significant part of the productive forces ended up in the territory occupied by the enemy and, consequently, was lost for the country for a considerable time, the industry of the USSR was able to satisfy the basic needs of the front in all types of weapons, military equipment, equipment, and agriculture - in food.
Thanks to the efforts of the entire multinational Soviet people, their intelligence and tireless work, the USSR won the economic confrontation with Germany in its decisive sphere - the production of military equipment. Although it was very difficult to achieve this. As you know, on the eve of the war, and during the war years - especially - the USSR produced the main types of industrial products much less than Germany, for example, electricity - 1.8 times, coal - 4.8, steel - 2.6 times. However, in terms of the average annual production of field artillery, the Soviet Union exceeded the average annual production of Germany by more than 2 times, mortars - 5 times, anti-tank guns - 2.6 times. While the Soviet industry in 1942-1944. monthly produced over 2 thousand tanks, the German industry only in May 1944 reached a maximum - 1450 tanks. Starting from 1943, most types of Soviet aircraft surpassed the German ones in terms of their flight performance.
The entire multinational Soviet people rose up to fight against the Nazi invaders, for the freedom and independence of their Fatherland, although the citizens of such a vast state as the USSR did not have, and could not have, an unambiguous attitude towards the system that had established itself in the country, towards what was done during, for example, collectivization and other so-called socialist transformations, especially to violations and direct violation of the rule of law and human rights under the flag of the fight against "enemies of the people". Only a few of the Soviet citizens consciously embarked on the path of cooperation with the Nazis, while most of those who found themselves in the camp of the enemy of their Fatherland did so under duress, when cooperation with the enemy became the only way to survive. In the occupied territory, the Nazis took decisive measures to activate (and in many cases re-create) the anti-Russian factor. Often they succeeded. This was facilitated by the complexity of the ethnic structure in the USSR, exacerbated by historical vestiges, nationalist prejudices, mistakes and excesses in national politics.
During the Great Patriotic War, the defense of the USSR from the Nazi invaders became the main concern of the multinational Soviet people.
According to A. M. Sinitsin, which, as he claimed, are incomplete, during the war, citizens of the USSR submitted more than 20 million applications to military, party and Soviet organizations and institutions with a request for voluntary enlistment in the army. However, for a number of reasons (age, state of health, work at defense enterprises, etc.), not all requests were granted. The flow of volunteers to the Red Army did not dry up until the end of the war. The multinational composition was its important feature.
The movement of volunteers helped to reveal more fully and more extensively and use the vast military mobilization potential of the Soviet state in the fight against the enemy. At their expense, 78 fighter battalions of Belarus, 657 of Ukraine, over 1000 of the Russian Federation, 63 of Moldova, about 40 detachments of the party and Soviet activists of Lithuania, etc. were completed. with a total number of more than 328 thousand people, of which more than 250 thousand in 1941 joined the active army. About 60 divisions of the people's militia, 200 separate regiments, a large number of separate battalions and companies with a total strength of about 2 million fighters were formed. Over 40 divisions of the people's militia (mainly in Moscow and Leningrad) in the summer and autumn of 1941 entered the fight against the enemy as independent formations.
Together with units of the Red Army, the militias participated in the defense of Siauliai, Obialai and other Lithuanian cities. They defended the capital of Latvia, Riga, and many settlements of the republic. Estonian volunteers bravely fought the enemy. The fighters of the destruction battalions and formations of the people's militia distinguished themselves in the defense of Kiev, Odessa, Sevastopol, Gomel, Kursk, Tula, and Moscow. Courage making up for the shortcomings of military skill, they showed stamina and courage in battles, which forced the enemy to stop and retreat.
The friendship and brotherhood of the peoples of the USSR withstood the most severe tests that the war with the Nazi invaders brought. It was attended by sons and daughters of all nationalities of our country, who were liable for military service for more than 30 ages of the most active part of the Soviet population. Each part of the Red Army was an example of the military brotherhood of soldiers of different nationalities. Yes, it could not be otherwise in a country where there were no interethnic conflicts. Fighting at the front, the soldiers realized, felt that behind them was the whole vast country, the whole multinational people.
On the battlefields and in labor for the sake of victory, the wonderful qualities inherent in the multinational Soviet people were fully revealed. The first and foremost among them is patriotism, which has become a source of steadfastness, courage and heroism, selfless service to one's Fatherland. For the worldview of the peoples of the USSR during the war years, it was characteristic, in the words of a famous poet, "the feeling of a united family." It manifested itself especially sharply in the days of the retreat of the Red Army and the abandonment of Soviet land to the enemy. The whole country helped the victims of the invaders, gave shelter to the evacuees. The scale of this assistance is incomparable to anything that has ever happened in the history of Russia or any other state.
From the Western republics and regions in 1941-1942. millions of people were evacuated, of which, for example, 268 thousand people settled in the Perm region; 124,300 people settled in the Penza region, including 54,200 children in the Kazakh SSR - about 1 million people in the Uzbek SSR - more than 1 million people, including about 200 thousands of children to accept and accommodate the huge masses of evacuees was not easy. But the local population, despite their considerable difficulties, showed sincere hospitality and fraternal participation. At the same time, special attention was paid to orphans. Many of them found shelter in orphanages or in families at the place of evacuation. Residents took on the upbringing of one, and sometimes several orphans. So, the Uzbek gardener from the Osh region Imin-zhun Akhmedov adopted 13 children. Shaakhmed Shamakhudov, a blacksmith from Tashkent, and his wife Bakhri adopted, adopted and raised 16 orphans, including Russians, Uzbeks, Chuvashs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Jews, and Gypsies.
Concern for strengthening the active army as one of the manifestations of patriotism gave rise to many mass movements of the peoples of the USSR. Mass became, for example, the creation of the Fund for the Defense of the Motherland. This movement arose in the early days of the war and quickly spread throughout the country, affecting all segments of the population. Sparing nothing for the defense of the Motherland, people of different nationalities handed over cash, valuables, government bonds to a special account of the State Bank of the USSR, and made deductions from wages. Precious metals - platinum, gold, silver - came from the population in large quantities. Collective farmers contributed grain, meat, livestock, butter, milk, eggs, wool, furs, vegetables, and fruits from their personal stocks to the defense fund. Often they donated over-planned crops, the so-called "hectares of defense" with grown crops, to the defense fund.
Significant revenues to the defense fund came from subbotniks and Sundays - voluntary work of workers and employees in their free time from their main work. Huge funds were directed by the population to the construction of tank columns, squadrons of combat aircraft, artillery pieces, armored trains, warships and other formidable military equipment.
Successfully passed the subscription to the state military loans. Receipts to the fund, defense, construction of military equipment, etc. during the war years amounted to more than 118 billion rubles, or a fifth of the total expenditures from the state budget for defense in 1941-1945. Due to voluntary contributions from the population, the construction of 30,522 tanks and self-propelled artillery installations was ensured, the front received 2,565 aircraft, and many other military equipment.
Voluntary assistance to the front united the Soviet Armed Forces and the peoples of the USSR even more and brought the defeat of the fascist aggressor closer. Other types of assistance also played an important role, for example, care for the wounded and war invalids. 5.5 million during 1941-1945 donated blood, so necessary to save the lives of the seriously wounded and reduce the time of their treatment. From all the republics, territories and regions, cities, workers' settlements and villages, gifts came to the front. Especially in large numbers they were sent for the holidays. The parcels contained basic necessities, soap, tobacco, cigarettes, and various foodstuffs. The population sent a lot of warm clothes to the front-line soldiers - short fur coats, padded jackets, sweaters, hats with earflaps, fur mittens, felt boots, etc.
During the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adequately withstood severe tests of viability, of the strength of the bonds that bound its peoples. The regime of Stalin's personal power often gave rise to discontent, excesses in national politics, interethnic conflicts and such methods of correcting one's mistakes as criminal deportations of peoples, including during the Great Patriotic War. Yes, it was. And it caused serious damage not only to the deportees, but to the entire Soviet people. The memory of these crimes of the Stalinist regime still burdens national relations in our country.
All of Europe fought against us
The very first strategic counter-offensive of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War revealed a very unpleasant circumstance for the USSR. Among the captured enemy troops near Moscow there were many military units France, Poland, Holland, Finland, Austria, Norway and other countries. The imprint of almost all major European firms was found on captured military equipment and shells. In general, as one could assume and as they thought in the Soviet Union, that the European proletarians would never go up in arms against the state of workers and peasants, that they would sabotage the production of weapons for Hitler.
But exactly the opposite happened. A very characteristic find was made by our soldiers after the liberation of the Moscow region in the area of the historical Borodino field - next to the French cemetery of 1812, they discovered fresh graves of Napoleon's descendants. The Soviet 32nd Rifle Division of the Red Banner, Colonel V.I. fought here. Polosukhin, whose fighters could not even imagine that they were being opposed "French allies".
A more or less complete picture of this battle was revealed only after the Victory. Chief of Staff of the 4th German Army G. Blumentritt published a memoir in which he wrote:
“The four battalions of French volunteers operating as part of the 4th Army turned out to be less persistent. At Borodin, Field Marshal von Kluge addressed them with a speech, recalling how, during the time of Napoleon, the French and Germans fought here side by side against a common enemy - Russia. The next day, the French boldly went into battle, but, unfortunately, they could not withstand either a powerful enemy attack, or severe frost and a snowstorm. They had never had to endure such trials before. The French legion was defeated, having suffered heavy losses from enemy fire. A few days later he was taken to the rear and sent to the West ... "
Here is an interesting archival document - a list of prisoners of war who surrendered to Soviet troops during the war years. Recall that a prisoner of war is one who fights in uniform with a weapon in his hands.
Hitler takes the parade of the Wehrmacht, 1940 (megabook.ru)
So, Germans – 2 389 560, Hungarians – 513 767, Romanians – 187 370, Austrians – 156 682, Czechs and Slovaks – 69 977, Poles – 60 280, Italians – 48 957, French people – 23 136, Croats – 21 822, Moldovans – 14 129, Jews – 10 173, Dutch – 4 729, Finns – 2 377, Belgians – 2 010, Luxembourgers – 1652, Danes – 457, Spaniards – 452, gypsies – 383, Norse – 101, Swedes – 72.
And these are only those who survived and were captured. In reality, much more Europeans fought against us.
The ancient Roman senator Cato the Elder went down in history by the fact that he always ended any public speech on any topic with the words: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam", which literally means: "Otherwise, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed." (Carthage is a city-state hostile to Rome.) I am not ready to completely become like Senator Cato, but I will use any excuse to mention once again: in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the USSR, with an initial strength 190 million. people, fought not with 80 million of the then Germans. The Soviet Union fought practically with all Europe, the number of which (with the exception of England allied to us and partisan Serbia not surrendering to the Germans) was about 400 million. Human.
During the Great Patriotic War, overcoats in the USSR were put on by 34,476.7 thousand people, i.e. 17,8% population. And Germany mobilized into its armed forces already 21% from the population. It would seem that the Germans in their military efforts strained more than the USSR. But women served in the Red Army in large numbers, both voluntarily and by conscription. There were a lot of purely female units and divisions (anti-aircraft, aviation, etc.). During a period of desperate situation, the State Defense Committee decided (remaining, however, on paper) to create women's rifle formations, in which only heavy artillery loaders would be men.
And among the Germans, even at the moment of their agony, women not only did not serve in the army, but there were very few of them in production. Why is that? Because in the USSR one man accounted for three women, and in Germany - on the contrary? No, that's not the point. In order to fight, you need not only soldiers, but also weapons with food. And for their production, men are also needed, who cannot be replaced by women or teenagers. Therefore, the USSR was forced send women to the front instead of men.
The Germans did not have such a problem: they were provided with weapons and food by all of Europe. The French not only handed over all their tanks to the Germans, but also produced a huge amount of military equipment for them - from cars to optical rangefinders.
Czechs with only one firm "Skoda" produced more weapons than all of pre-war Great Britain, built the entire fleet of German armored personnel carriers, a huge number of tanks, aircraft, small arms, artillery and ammunition.
The Poles built airplanes, Polish Jews explosives, synthetic gasoline and rubber were produced in Auschwitz to kill Soviet citizens; the Swedes mined ore and supplied the Germans with components for military equipment (for example, bearings), the Norwegians supplied the Nazis with seafood, the Danes with oil ... In short, all of Europe tried its best.
And she tried not only on the labor front. Only the elite troops of Nazi Germany - the SS troops - accepted into their ranks 400 thousand. "blonde beasts" from other countries, and in total they joined the Nazi army from all over Europe 1800 thousand. volunteers, forming 59 divisions, 23 brigades and several national regiments and legions.
The most elite of these divisions did not have numbers, but their own names indicating their national origin: Wallonia, Galicia, Bohemia and Moravia, Viking, Denemark, Gembez, Langemark, Nordland ”, “Netherlands”, “Charlemagne”, etc.
Europeans served as volunteers not only in the national, but also in the German divisions. So let's say an elite German division "Greater Germany". It would seem that, if only because of the name, it should have been completed only by the Germans. However, the Frenchman who served in it Guy Sayer recalls that on the eve of the Battle of Kursk in his infantry unit, out of 11 Germans, there were 9, and besides him, the Czech also did not understand German well. And all this in addition to the official allies of Germany, whose armies shoulder to shoulder burned and plundered the Soviet Union - Italians, Romanian, Hungarians, Finns, Croats, Slovaks, besides Bulgarians who at that time burned and plundered partisan Serbia. Even officially neutral Spaniards sent their "Blue Division" near Leningrad!
In order to evaluate by national composition all the European bastards who, in the hope of easy prey, climbed up to us to kill Soviet and Russian people, I will give a table of that part of the foreign volunteers who guessed to surrender to us in time:
Germans – 2 389 560, Hungarians – 513 767, Romanians – 187 370, Austrians – 156 682, Czechs and Slovaks – 69 977, Poles – 60 280, Italians – 48 957, French people – 23 136, Croats – 21 822, Moldovans – 14 129, Jews – 10 173, Dutch – 4 729, Finns – 2 377, Belgians – 2 010, Luxembourgers – 1652, Danes – 457, Spaniards – 452, gypsies – 383, Norse – 101, Swedes – 72.
This table, first published at the end of 1990, should be repeated again and for these reasons. After the accession of “democracy” on the territory of the USSR, the table is continuously “improved” in terms of “enlarging lines”. As a result, in “serious” books by “professional historians” on the topic of war, say, in the statistical collection “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century” or in the reference book “The World of Russian History”, the data in this table are distorted. Some nationalities have disappeared from it.
Jews disappeared first., which, as you can see from the original table, served Hitler as many as the Finns and the Dutch combined. And I, for example, do not see why we should throw out Jewish verses from this Hitler song.
By the way, the Poles today are trying to push the Jews away from the position of “the main sufferers of World War II”, and there are more of them on the lists of prisoners than the Italians who officially and actually fought with us.
Why, and the presented table does not reflect the true quantitative and national composition of the prisoners. First of all, it does not represent our domestic scum at all, who, either due to acquired idiocy, or because of cowardice and cowardice, served the Germans - from Bandera to Vlasov.
By the way, they were punished to insultingly easily. It’s good if a Vlasovite fell into the hands of front-line soldiers as prisoners. Then he most often got what he deserved. But after all, the traitors contrived to surrender to the rear units, dressed in civilian clothes, pretended to be Germans when they surrendered, etc. In this case, the Soviet court literally patted them on the head.
At one time, domestic anti-Sovietists published collections of their memoirs abroad. One of them describes the judicial “sufferings” of a Vlasovite who defended Berlin: he changed clothes ... to the Soviet soldiers who captured him ... introduced himself as a Frenchman and thus got to the military tribunal. And then reading his boasting is insulting: “They gave me five years of distant camps - and that was lucky. In a hurry, they considered it for the worker-peasant petty. Soldiers captured with weapons and officers were sculpted ten. When escorted to the camp, he fled to the West.
Five years for the murder of Soviet people and treason! What kind of punishment is this?! Well, at least 20, so that the spiritual wounds of widows and orphans heal and it would not be so insulting to look at these vile hari ...
For the same reason, they are not listed as prisoners of war. Crimean Tatars who stormed Sevastopol for Manstein, Kalmyks etc.
Not listed Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, who had their national divisions as part of the Nazi troops, but were considered Soviet citizens and, therefore, served their meager terms in the GULAG camps, and not in the GUPVI camps. (GULAG - the main department of the camps - was engaged in keeping criminals, and GUPVI - the main department for prisoners of war and internees - prisoners.) Meanwhile, not all prisoners even got into the GUPVI, since this department counted only those who got into its rear camps from frontline transit points.
Estonian legionnaires of the Wehrmacht fought against the USSR with particular fury (ookaboo.com)
But since 1943, national divisions of Poles, Czechs, and Romanians began to form in the USSR to fight the Germans. And the prisoners of these nationalities were not sent to the GUPVI, but immediately to the recruitment points for such formations - they fought together with the Germans, let them fight against them! By the way, there were 600 thousand. Even de Gaulle was sent to his army 1500 French.
Before the start of the war with the USSR Hitler appealed to the Europeans to crusade against Bolshevism. Here is how they responded to it (data for June - October 1941, which do not take into account the huge military contingents Italy, Hungary, Romania and other allies of Hitler). From Spanish volunteers ( 18000 people) in the Wehrmacht, the 250th Infantry Division was formed. In July, the personnel took the oath to Hitler and departed for the Soviet-German front. During September-October 1941, from French volunteers (approx. 3000 people) the 638th Infantry Regiment was formed. In October, the regiment was sent to Smolensk, and then to Moscow. From Belgians in July 1941, the 373rd Walloon Battalion was formed (approximately 850 people), transferred to the 97th Infantry Division of the 17th Army of the Wehrmacht.
From Croatian Volunteers were formed by the 369th Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht and the Croatian Legion as part of the Italian troops. About 2000 Swedes signed up as a volunteer in Finland. Of these, approximately 850 people participated in the fighting near Hanko, as part of the Swedish volunteer battalion.
By the end of June 1941 294 Norwegians already served in the SS regiment "Nordland". After the start of the war with the USSR in Norway, the volunteer legion "Norway" was created ( 1200 Human). After taking the oath to Hitler, he was sent to Leningrad. By the end of June 1941, the SS division "Viking" had 216 Danes. After the start of the war with the USSR, the Danish "Volunteer Corps" began to form.
Stand apart in aiding fascism are our Polish comrades. Immediately after the end of the German-Polish war, the idea of creating a Polish army fighting on the side of Germany came up with the Polish nationalist Wladislav Gizbert-Studnitsky. He developed a project to build a Polish 12-15 million pro-German state. Gizbert-Studnitsky proposed a plan to send Polish troops to the eastern front. Later the idea of a Polish-German alliance and 35 thousandth Polish army supported by the Sword and Plow organization associated with the Home Army.
In the first months of the war against the USSR, Polish soldiers in the fascist army had the so-called status hi-wi (volunteers). Later, Hitler gave special permission for the Poles to serve in the Wehrmacht. After that, in relation to the Poles, it was categorically forbidden to use the name hi-wi, because the Nazis treated them as full-fledged soldiers. Every Pole aged 16 to 50 could become a volunteer, it was only necessary to pass a preliminary medical examination.
The Poles, along with other European nations, were urged to stand "in defense of Western civilization from Soviet barbarism." Here is a quote from a Nazi leaflet in Polish: “The German armed forces are leading the decisive struggle to defend Europe from Bolshevism. Any honest assistant in this struggle will be welcomed as a comrade-in-arms ... "
The text of the oath of the Polish soldiers read: “I swear before God this sacred oath that in the fight for the future of Europe in the ranks of the German Wehrmacht I will be absolutely obedient to the Supreme Commander Adolf Hitler, and as a brave soldier I am ready at any time to devote my strength to fulfill this oath ... "
It is amazing that even the strictest guardian of the Aryan gene pool Himmler allowed to form units from the Poles SS. The first sign was the Goral Legion of the Waffen-SS. Gorals are an ethnic group within the Polish nation. In 1942, the Nazis convened a Goral Committee in Zakopane. Was appointed "Goralenführer" Vaclav Krzheptovsky.
He and his inner circle made a number of trips to cities and villages, calling them to fight against the worst enemy of civilization - Judeo-Bolshevism. It was decided to create a Goral volunteer legion of the Waffen-SS, adapted for operations in mountainous areas. Krzheptovsky managed to collect 410 highlanders. But after a medical examination in the SS bodies, it remained 300 Human.
Another Polish Legion of the SS was formed in mid-July 1944. It was entered 1500 Polish volunteers. In October, the legion was based in Rzechow, in December near Tomaszow. In January 1945, the legion was divided into two groups (1st Lieutenant Macnik, 2nd Lieutenant Errling) and sent to participate in anti-partisan operations in the Tuchol forests. In February, both groups were destroyed by the Soviet army.
President of the Academy of Military Sciences, General of the Army Mahmut Gareev gave such an assessment of the participation of a number of European countries in the fight against fascism: During the war, all of Europe fought against us. Three hundred and fifty million people, regardless of whether they fought with weapons in their hands, or stood at the machine, producing weapons for the Wehrmacht, did one thing.
During World War II, 20,000 members of the French Resistance died. And 200,000 French fought against us. We also captured 60,000 Poles. 2 million European volunteers fought for Hitler against the USSR.
In this regard, it looks at least strange to invite military personnel from a number of countries NATO take part in the parade on Red Square in honor of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, - says a member of the International Association of Historians of the Second World War, Professor of the Military Humanitarian Academy, Colonel Yuri Rubtsov. - This insults the memory of our defenders of the Fatherland, who died at the hands of numerous "European friends of Hitler".
Helpful Conclusion
During the Second World War against the Soviet Union, which had an initial population of just over 190 million. people fought a European coalition of more than 400 million. people, and when we were not Russians, but Soviet citizens, we defeated this coalition.
All of Europe fought against us a
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A number of studies are devoted to the history of the most distinguished national divisions and brigades (50). Of great scientific and public interest are the memoirs of their veterans (51), which still have not lost their cognitive value, although historians now have wide access to archives.
In addition to national military formations, other reserves needed by the front were being prepared in large numbers. All this together provided the army with an inexhaustible source of replenishment. The power of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War had, among other things, a national basis. The Brotherhood of War; one fighting family, a fraternal fighting union of the peoples of the USSR - historians often used such definitions to characterize interethnic relations in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War (52).
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army became even more multinational. This was required by the nature and conditions of the armed struggle against the enemy. Mobilizations took place in all regions of the USSR, with the exception of the Baltic republics, the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus. According to our observations, soldiers of at least twenty nationalities served in an ordinary rifle division. In such a multinational state as the Soviet Union, it could not be otherwise.
Depending on the scale of combat losses and the number of reinforcements received, the national composition of each military unit invariably changed. Regardless of this, the warriors of Russian nationality, with rare exceptions, constituted their main core, representatives of all other peoples of the USSR fought shoulder to shoulder with them. A.P. Artemiev, who studied this problem, came to the conclusion that the share of soldiers of each nationality corresponded to its share in the total population of the USSR according to the 1939 census (53) republics of the USSR.
The might of the Armed Forces of the USSR largely depended on the solidarity of soldiers of different nationalities. Therefore, the strengthening of friendship and brotherhood of peoples both in the country as a whole and in each labor or military collective as a cell of society separately has become one of the main tasks of the government, the political leadership of the country, the command and political agencies of the army and navy. In the autumn of 1941, a decision was made to create a front-line seal for soldiers
non-Russian nationality - front-line, army and divisional newspapers. They were published practically in all languages of the union and some autonomous republics. By the end of the war, there were 110 (54) of them on the fronts, fleets, military districts and reserve units. Newspapers at that time did a lot to rally the soldiers of different nationalities. According to the calculations of S.I. Semakin, for example, in the newspaper "Pravda" in 1941, 52 materials were published about the military commonwealth and heroism of the peoples of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War, in 1942-97, in 1943 - about 170, in 1944 g.- 1 1 7 (5 5) .
The Commonwealth of the Peoples of the USSR also passed a severe test of strength in the territory occupied by the enemy, where, as is known, partisans and underground fighters operated with the active support of the population. People's avengers, noted in historical works (56), diverted large enemy forces, and in a number of regions, especially in Belarus, controlled a significant part of the territory, creating vast partisan zones and territories. Soviet historians were unanimous in the fact that the nationwide partisan movement was based on the indestructible friendship of the peoples of the USSR. So, in one of the early works on the history of the partisan movement in Belarus, it was said: “Shoulder to shoulder with the partisans - the sons of the Belarusian people, Russians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews, Latvians, Georgians, Kazakhs, Armenians, Uzbeks, Moldavians, Tatars, heroically fought against the fascist invaders in Belarus, Azerbaijanis, as well as representatives of the peoples of Europe - Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, French, Hungarians, Germans, Romanians, etc. At the same time, thousands of Belarusians took an active part in the partisan movement of Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Moldovan and other peoples subjected to fascist occupation (57).
One of the important factors of victory in the Great Patriotic War was the patriotism of the peoples of the USSR, which was most often interpreted as Soviet patriotism. Considering patriotism as one of the factors of victory, Soviet historians, in contrast to their foreign opponents, resolutely defended the thesis of the organic compatibility of patriotism and internationalism in general, and the conditions of the Soviet state in particular.
The heroism of Soviet soldiers of different nationalities in the battles against the Nazi invaders was reflected in a large number of works, which, in our opinion, constitute a whole scientific direction. Over the course of four post-war decades (stack
called "perestroika", on the contrary, the process of deheroization of the struggle of the peoples of the USSR is connected) the theme of the national feat in defending the Fatherland occupied one of the leading places in historical science. Various publishing houses of the country issued a special series of books and brochures dedicated directly to the heroism of Soviet soldiers. These were, for example, in the Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR series "Heroes of the Great Patriotic War", "Contemporary Heroes", "Heroes and Feats", "The Heroic Past of Our Motherland", "Front-line Soldiers Tell" and others; in the publishing house of political literature - "Pages of the history of the Soviet Motherland", "Heroes of the Soviet Motherland", "When they were twenty ..."; publishing house "Soviet Russia" - "Feat"; publishing house of the Central Committee of DOSAAF - "For the honor and glory of the Motherland", "Heroic were"; in the publishing house "Young Guard" - "Your heroes, Komsomol!" "Guards of the Lenin Komsomol", "Honor, Courage, Courage", "Young Heroes". Along with the central, a lot of literature about the exploits of Soviet soldiers, partisans and underground workers was published in republican, regional and regional publishing houses.
Literature about people awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was especially widely published. Among them were the sons and daughters of all the peoples of the USSR, including 8182 Russians, 2072 Ukrainians, 3 1 1 Belarusians, 1 6 1 Tatars, 108 Jews, 96 Kazakhs, 91 Georgians, 90 Armenians, 69 Uzbeks, 61 Mordvins, 44 Chuvashs, 43 Azerbaijanis, 39 Bashkirs , 32 Ossetians, 18 Maris, 18 Turkmens, 15 Lithuanians, 14 Tajiks, 13 Latvians, 12 Kirghiz, 10 Komi, 10 Udmurts, 9 Estonians, 9 Karelians, 8 Kalmyks, 7 Kabardians, 6 Adyghes, 5 Abkhazians, 3 Yakuts and representatives many other nationalities. There are 86 women (58) among the Heroes of the Soviet Union.
The victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved thanks to the mass heroism of the sons and daughters of all the peoples of the USSR. Among those awarded orders and medals as of November 1, 1947, there were soldiers of 193 nationalities (59).
The sons of different peoples of the USSR more than 300 times in the Great Patriotic War repeated the immortal feat of infantrymen A.K. The names of the Russian D.M. Karbyshev and the Tatar Musa Jalil became a symbol of the unbending will of perseverance in the struggle. The banner of Victory over the Reichstag was hoisted by the Russian M.A. Egorov and the Georgian M.V. Kantaria. Regiments and divisions formed in different republics of the USSR were awarded orders over 10,900 times (60).
Hundreds of articles, essays and books have been published about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The appeal to their exploits is a continuation of the centuries-old tradition of Russian historical thought, originating in legends, epics and annals of the peoples of the USSR. One of her notable achievements is the fundamental work in two volumes "Heroes of the Soviet Union", which contains short biographies based on documentary sources.
Almost seven years have passed since then, during which the publication of literature about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War has practically
stopped, began, as noted above, the de-heroization of the nationwide struggle against the Nazi invaders. The exception is the book about the legendary exploits of Soviet soldiers "On the verge of the possible" (62), published at the expense of the transnational company "Hermes-Soyuz" in a relatively small circulation (10 thousand copies ).
Ivan Ivanovich Kozhedub, Air Marshal, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, wrote: “It is fundamentally important to emphasize that the constellation of heroes who committed air and fire ramming was multinational. Belarusians Boris Kovkhan and Nestor Bibin, Jews Lev Radiger fought in the same ranks with the Russians and Ukrainians and Gennady Mikityansky, Georgians Ivan Gabunia and David Jabaridzv, Armenian Mikhail Galustyan, Azerbaijani Vladimir Bagirov, Moldavian Stefan Rimsha, Pole Petr Zhilinsky, Chuvash Nikifor Ignatiev and other representatives of the fraternal family of Soviet peoples. Now everyone wants to remember it. Further, I.I. Kozhedub continued: “It is impermissible to forget that internationalism, which is now being attacked by destructive corrosion, was one of the decisive factors in our Victory. In 1971, when testing new technology, he was the son of a Dagestan (Lak) and a Tatar. When asked whose hero he was, he proudly answered: - I am not a Tatar or Lak hero. I am a Hero of the Soviet Union! (63).
The Great Patriotic War had no equal in the history of mankind in terms of the scale, tension, and fierceness of hostilities. Its inevitable consequence was enormous loss of life, including millions of wounded and sick who needed medical attention. The Soviet state took decisive measures to organize their treatment and prevent epidemics at the front and in the rear. The need for donated blood has increased like never before.
During the war years, the Soviet health authorities and the military medical service of the Red Army formed more than 6 thousand hospitals (64), equipped the necessary number of military hospital trains and river transport for the evacuation of the wounded. Almost half of the hospital beds were deployed by civil health authorities (65), which in the history of wars on a national scale were entrusted with the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers evacuated to the rear of the country.
All the peoples of the USSR came to help the wounded and sick defenders of the Motherland. In the second half of 1941, a mass patriotic movement gained wide scope, thanks to which two funds were created: the fund for the health of the defenders of the Motherland and the fund for helping the wounded and disabled of the war. Even earlier than this, a massive donor movement began to gain strength.
This problem has taken a worthy place in the works of historians of the pre-perestroika period. Such an interesting aspect as the nationwide assistance to the wounded and sick soldiers, the attention of historians
attracted most of the time. It was reflected in publications (66) and Ph.D. dissertations (67) on the history of the CPSU and public organizations, but very few special works are devoted to this topic (68). Nationwide assistance to wounded and sick soldiers has become a traditional subject of many works on the history of the Union and Autonomous Republics, individual regions and territories of the USSR (69).
From the works of Soviet historians, it follows that assistance to the wounded and sick soldiers, disabled people of the war was truly international. This corresponded to the nature of social relations of that time. During the war, 5.5 million inhabitants of the USSR became active donors (70). They were everywhere where there was a need for donor blood, the use of which, along with advanced methods of treatment, material assistance to the wounded, made it possible to save hundreds and hundreds of thousands of soldiers wounded on the battlefield from imminent death, reduce the time of treatment and return them to combat formation or to work. Donors gave 1.7 million liters of blood to wounded soldiers and commanders of the Red Army for transfusion (71).
Hospitals and other medical institutions were deployed in places where they had the main material base, favorable natural and other conditions. For example, in the Astrakhan district (in
at that time - an integral part of the Stalingrad region) 39 hospitals were organized, in Tajikistan - 29, in Georgia - 72 (72). The most suitable buildings for medical purposes were assigned to hospitals. Home front workers handed over the necessary equipment, inventory, furniture, bedding, underwear, gowns, towels, dishes, shoes to military medical institutions free of charge. Collective farmers created a special "Health Fund for Red Army Soldiers". More than 7 million soldiers returned from hospitals to the active army (73).
The worldview of the peoples of the USSR was characterized by, in the words of a famous poet, "the feeling of a united family." During the Great Patriotic War, it manifested itself especially acutely, primarily in relation to those evacuated from the western republics and regions of the country, who already in 1941 numbered 18 million people (74). In the places where the evacuees arrived, they found shelter and warmth. Soviet historians devoted many heart-stirring pages to this problem. They showed that the scale of work on the ground to receive and accommodate evacuees is incomparable to anything that has ever happened in the history of Russia or any other state.
Information of this kind is contained in most works on the history of territories and regions, union and autonomous republics, and regional organizations of the CPSU. Each of them deals with the fate of, as a rule, hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. For example, 268 thousand people (75) were accommodated in the Perm region, 124,300 people were accommodated in the Penza region, including 54,200 children (76), about 1 million people (77) in the Kazakh SSR, and more than 1 million in the Uzbek SSR. people, including 200,000 thousand children (78).
The local population, as historical sources confirm, showed fraternal concern for the fate of the evacuees. At the same time, special attention was paid to orphans. Many of them found shelter in orphanages or in families at the place of evacuation. Inhabitants of the bribery of one, and sometimes several orphans. So, the Uzbek gardener from the Osh region Imin-akhun Akhmedov adopted 13 children. Shaakhmed Shamakhudov, a blacksmith from Tashkent, and his wife Bakhri adopted, adopted and raised 16 orphans, including Russians, Uzbeks, Chuvashs, Tatars, Jews, Gypsies (79).
Patriotism, a sense of high responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, friendship and fraternal unity of the peoples of the USSR were born in the years
The Great Patriotic War mass movements, the purpose of which was to provide all possible assistance to the front. They were attended by people of different ages and social status. They were united by one thing - the desire to help the Red Army defeat the enemy as soon as possible. Mass became, for example, the creation of the Fund for the Defense of the Motherland. This movement arose in the first days of the war and quickly spread throughout the country. People of different nationalities handed over cash, valuables, government bonds to a special account of the State Bank of the USSR, and made deductions from wages. In large quantities, precious metals - platinum, gold, silver - came from the population. Collective farmers contributed grain, meat, livestock, butter, milk, eggs, wool, furs, fruits and vegetables from their personal stocks to the defense fund. Often they donated over-planned crops, the so-called "hectares of defense" with grown crops, to the defense fund.
Significant revenues came from subbotniks and Sundays - voluntary work of workers and employees in their free time from their main work. Huge funds were directed by the population to the construction of tank columns, squadrons of combat aircraft, artillery pieces, armored trains, warships and other formidable military equipment. Successfully passed the subscription to state military loans.
Such folk accomplishments, of course, could not fail to attract the closest attention of historians. They passed as pivotal stories in essays on the history of local organizations of the CPSU, of which about a hundred (80) had been published by the beginning of the 1980s. These topics were covered in more detail in works on the history of individual regions - republics, territories, regions, as well as the corresponding organizations of the CPSU or VLKSM during the war years.
Studies devoted to the community of peoples of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War clearly proved that it was the union of the peoples of the USSR that was one of the most important factors that ensured the victory of the USSR over the fascist aggressor. This conclusion, which seemed very trivial ten years ago, today, in our days, takes on a new meaning. The active participation of all the peoples of the USSR in the struggle against the fascist aggressor, the mass heroism of people of different nationalities, selfless assistance to the front from people who lived thousands of kilometers from the line of fire, confirmed the viability and strength of that unique multinational state that was the USSR.
The Union of the Peoples of the USSR saved the country from Nazi enslavement, dismemberment, and from the physical extermination of millions of people. To the greatest regret, today this truth is proved from the opposite: the collapse, the destruction of the Soviet Union led the peoples of our country to a national tragedy, the scale of which is comparable to a severe military defeat.
The historiography of the combat commonwealth of the peoples of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War quite rightly emphasized the positive role that the commonwealth of the peoples of the USSR played during the Second World War. At the same time, the works under consideration were characterized by a certain "one-dimensionality" due to the fact that the researchers could not go beyond the official concept. Thus, historians were forced to avoid the question of the deportation of entire peoples during the Great Patriotic War; about the reasons for the cooperation of part of the population of some occupied territories (for example, Western Ukraine) with the Nazis; that the combat effectiveness of some national military formations was significantly lower than the combat effectiveness of the rest of the Red Army.
Unfortunately, in recent years, no research has appeared that would reveal the problem we are covering in all its complexity and inconsistency, taking into account the factors that have become known now, and the opportunities that have opened up for work in archives.
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In the history of any nation there are periods of wars and expansions. At the same time, one can single out the most warlike peoples of the world, for whom cruelty and militancy have become an integral part of their culture. Entire generations of warriors grew up, for whom battles became the main meaning of their lives. About the most famous tribes from this list - in this article.
Maori
Maori can be attributed to the most warlike peoples of the world. This is a tribe that lived in New Zealand. Its name in literal translation means "ordinary", but in reality, of course, there is nothing ordinary in them. One of the first Europeans to meet the Maori was Charles Darwin. This happened during his journey on the ship "Beagle". An English scholar emphasized their unprecedented cruelty, which was especially pronounced in relation to the British and white people in general. Maori had to repeatedly fight with them for their territories.
It is believed that the Maori are autochthonous. Their ancestors arrived on the island about two thousand years ago from East Polynesia. Until the British reached New Zealand in the middle of the 19th century, the Maori had no serious rivals at all. Only from time to time there were internecine wars with neighboring tribes.
During these centuries, traditions and customs were formed, which then became characteristic of most Polynesian tribes. They are inherent in the most warlike peoples of the world. So, the heads of the prisoners were cut off, and the bodies were completely eaten. There was a way to take away the strength of the enemy. By the way, the Maori participated in two world wars, unlike the rest of the Australian Aborigines.
Moreover, during the Second World War, their representatives insisted that their own battalion be formed. There is a remarkable fact about the First World War. During one of the battles, they drove the enemy away only by performing their battle dance called haku. This happened during the offensive operation on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The dance was traditionally accompanied by terrible grimaces and warlike cries, which simply discouraged the enemy, giving the Maori a significant advantage. Therefore, it is safe to call the Maori one of the most warlike peoples of the world in history.
Gurkha
Another fighting people, who also sided with Great Britain in many wars, are the Nepalese Gurkhas. They received the definition of one of the most warlike peoples in the world back in the days when their country remained a British colony.
According to the British themselves, who had to fight a lot with the Gurkhas, in battle they were distinguished by unprecedented courage, aggressiveness, physical strength, self-sufficiency, and also the ability to lower the pain threshold. Even the British army had to surrender under the pressure of the Gurkhas, armed with knives alone. As early as 1815, a full-scale campaign was launched to recruit volunteers from among the Gurkhas into the ranks of the British army. Quickly enough, they won the glory of the best soldiers in the world.
Gurkhas participated in the First and Second World Wars, the suppression of the Sikh uprising, the war in Afghanistan, as well as in the conflict between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. And today the Gurkhas remain among the elite fighters of the English army. Moreover, the competition for getting into these elite military units is simply huge: 140 people per place.
Even the British themselves have already admitted that the Gurkhas are better soldiers than they are. Perhaps because they have stronger motivation, but the Nepalese themselves claim that money has absolutely nothing to do with it. Martial art is something they can really be proud of, so they are always happy to demonstrate it and put it into practice.
Dayaks
The list of warlike peoples of the world traditionally includes Dayaks. This is an example of how even a small nation does not want to integrate into the modern world, trying by any means to preserve their traditions, which may be completely far from human values and humanism.
The Dayak tribe has earned a terrible reputation on the island of Kalimantan, where they are considered bounty hunters. The fact is that, according to the customs of this people, only one who brings the head of his enemy to the tribe is considered a man. This situation among the Dayaks persisted until the beginning of the 20th century.
Literally, the name of this people is translated as "pagans". This is an ethnic group that includes the peoples of the island of Kalimantan in Indonesia. Some representatives of the Dayaks still live in hard-to-reach places. For example, you can only get there by boat, most of the achievements of modern civilization are unknown to them. They preserve their ancient culture and traditions.
The Dayaks have many bloodthirsty rituals, which is why they were included in the list of warlike peoples of the world. The custom of hunting for human heads persisted for a long period, until the Englishman Charles Brooks, who came from white rajahs, managed to influence a people who knew no other way to become a man, except to chop off someone's head.
Brooks captured one of the most warlike leaders of the Dayak tribe. Using both a stick and a carrot, he managed to set all the Dayaks on a peaceful path. True, people continued to disappear without a trace after that. It is known that the last wave of massacres swept across the island in the period 1997-1999. Then all the world's news agencies reported on ritual cannibalism in Kalimantan, the games of small children with human heads.
Kalmyks
Kalmyks are considered one of the most warlike. They are descendants of Western Mongols. Their self-name is translated as "breakaway", which hints that the people never converted to Islam. Currently, most Kalmyks live in the territory of the republic of the same name.
Their ancestors, who called themselves Oirats, lived in Djungraiya. They were warlike and freedom-loving nomads, whom even Genghis Khan could not subdue. For this, he even demanded to completely destroy one of the tribes. Over time, the Oirat warriors nevertheless became part of the troops of the famous commander, and many of them intermarried with the Genghisides. So modern Kalmyks have every reason to officially consider themselves descendants of Genghis Khan.
In the 17th century, the Oirats left Dzungaria, made a great transition, reaching the Volga steppes. In 1641, Russia officially recognized the Kalmyk Khanate, after which the Kalmyks began to serve on a permanent basis in the Russian army.
There is even a version that the famous battle cry "hurray" came from the Kalmyk word "uralan", which literally means "forward" in our language. As part of the Russian army, the Kalmyks especially distinguished themselves in the Patriotic War of 1812. Three Kalmyk regiments fought against the French at once, this is about three and a half thousand people. According to the results of only one Battle of Borodino, 260 Kalmyks were awarded the highest orders of Russia.
Kurds
In world history, the Kurds are usually called among the most warlike peoples. Together with the Persians, Arabs and Armenians, they are the most ancient peoples of the Middle East. Initially, they lived in the ethno-geographical region of Kurdistan, which, after the First World War, was divided among themselves by several states at once: Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Today, the Kurds do not have their own legal territory.
According to most researchers, their language belongs to the Iranian group, while there is no unity among the Kurds in terms of religion. Among them are Muslims, Christians and Jews. Largely because of this, it is extremely difficult for the Kurds to agree among themselves.
This feature of this warlike people was noted by Erikson, Doctor of Medical Sciences, in his work on ethnopsychology. He also claimed that the Kurds are merciless towards their enemies and at the same time very unreliable in friendship. In reality, they respect only their elders and themselves. Their morality is at a very low level. At the same time, superstitions are very common, but the religious feeling is extremely poorly developed. War is one of their innate needs, which absorbs all their attention and interests.
Modern history of the Kurds
Note that it is difficult to judge how this thesis is applicable to today's Kurds, since Erickson conducted his research at the beginning of the 20th century. But the fact remains: the Kurds have never lived under a centralized government. As Professor of the Kurdish University in Paris Sadrin Aleksi notes, every Kurd considers himself a king on his own grief, because of this they often quarrel among themselves, conflicts often arise from an absolutely empty place.
Paradoxically, with all this uncompromisingness, the Kurds most of all dream of living in a centralized state. So the so-called Kurdish issue currently remains one of the most acute in the entire Middle East. Unrest regularly arises, during which the Kurds are trying to achieve autonomy by uniting in an independent state. Such attempts have been made since 1925.
The situation became especially aggravated in the mid-1990s. From 1992 to 1996, the Kurds launched a full-scale civil war in northern Iraq, now the unstable situation remains in Iran and Syria, where armed conflicts and clashes occur from time to time. At the moment, there is only one state formation of Kurds with the rights of wide autonomy - this is
Germans
It is widely believed that the Germans are a warlike people. But if you examine the facts, it turns out that this is a delusion. The reputation of Germany was greatly spoiled in the 20th century, when the Germans unleashed two world wars at once. If we take the history of mankind for a longer period, then the situation will be completely opposite.
For example, the Russian historian Pitirim Sorokin conducted an interesting study in 1938. He tried to answer the question which European countries fought more often than others. He took the period from the 12th century to the beginning of the 20th century (1925).
It turned out that in 67% of all wars that took place during this period, Spaniards participated, in 58% - Poles, in 56% - British, in 50% - French, in 46% - Russians, in 44% - Dutch, in 36% - Italians. The Germans in 800 years took part in only 28% of the wars. This is less than any other leading state in Europe. It turns out that Germany is one of the most peaceful countries, which only in the 20th century began to show aggression and militancy.
Irish
It is believed that the Irish are a warlike people. This is a nation that descended from the Celts. Historians claim that the first people appeared on the territory of modern Ireland about nine thousand years ago. Who these first settlers were is unknown, but they left behind several megalithic structures. The Celts settled the island at the beginning of our era.
The famine of 1845-1849 became decisive in the fate of the Irish people. Due to the massive crop failure, about one million Irish people died. At the same time, from the estates that belonged to the British, all this time they continued to export grain, meat and dairy products.
The Irish emigrated en masse to the United States and overseas colonies of Great Britain. From then until the mid-1970s, Ireland's population steadily declined. In addition, the island on which the people lived was divided. Only a part became part of the Republic of Ireland, the other remained in the United Kingdom. For decades, the Irish Catholics have waged resistance against the Protestant colonists, often resorting to terrorist methods, for which the Irish are included in the top warlike nations.
IRA
Since 1916, a paramilitary group called the Irish Republican Army began to operate. Its main goal was the complete liberation of Northern Ireland from British rule.
The history of the IRA began with the Easter Rising in Dublin. From 1919 to 1921, the Irish War of Independence against the British Army continued. Its result was the Anglo-Irish agreement, in which Great Britain recognized the independence of the Republic of Ireland, while retaining Northern Ireland.
After that, the IRA went underground, starting the tactics of terrorist attacks. Movement activists are constantly on buses, near British embassies. In 1984, there was an assassination attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A bomb exploded in a hotel in Brighton where a Conservative conference was being held. 5 people were killed, but Thatcher herself was not injured.
In 1997, the dissolution of the IRA was announced, the order to stop the armed struggle was issued in 2005.
The warlike peoples of the Caucasus are well known in Russia. First of all, we are talking about the Vainakhs. In fact, these are modern Ingush and Chechens, who leave no less bright mark in modern history than their distant ancestors.
The Vainakhs offered heroic resistance to the armies of Genghis Khan and Timur, retreating to the mountains. Then their famous defensive architecture was built. An ideal confirmation of this is the fortresses and watchtowers of the Caucasus.
Now you know which peoples are the most warlike.
