The content of the article

WAR, armed struggle between large groups/communities of people (states, tribes, parties); regulated by laws and customs - a set of principles and norms of international law that establish the obligations of the belligerents (ensuring the protection of the civilian population, regulating the treatment of prisoners of war, prohibiting the use of especially inhuman types of weapons).

Wars in human history.

War is a constant companion of human history. Up to 95% of all societies known to us have resorted to it to resolve external or internal conflicts. According to scientists, over the past fifty-six centuries, there have been approx. 14,500 wars in which more than 3.5 billion people died.

According to an extremely common belief in antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times (J.-J. Rousseau), primitive times were the only peaceful period in history, and primitive man (an uncivilized savage) was a creature devoid of any militancy and aggressiveness. However, the latest archaeological studies of prehistoric sites in Europe, North America and North Africa indicate that armed clashes (obviously between individuals) took place as early as the Neanderthal era. An ethnographic study of modern hunter-gatherer tribes shows that in most cases attacks on neighbors, the forcible seizure of property and women are the harsh reality of their lives (Zulus, Dahomey, North American Indians, Eskimos, tribes of New Guinea).

The first types of weapons (clubs, spears) were used by primitive man as early as 35 thousand BC, but the earliest cases of group combat date back only to 12 thousand BC. - only from now on can we talk about the war.

The birth of war in the primitive era was associated with the appearance of new types of weapons (bow, sling), which for the first time made it possible to fight at a distance; henceforth, the physical strength of the combatants was no longer of exceptional importance, dexterity and skill began to play an important role. The beginnings of a battle technique (coverage from the flank) arose. The war was highly ritualized (numerous taboos and prohibitions), which limited its duration and losses.

An essential factor in the evolution of warfare was the domestication of animals: the use of horses gave nomads an advantage over settled tribes. The need for protection from their sudden raids led to fortifications; the first known fact is the fortress walls of Jericho (c. 8 thousand BC). Gradually, the number of participants in wars increased. However, there is no unanimity among scientists about the size of prehistoric "armies": the numbers vary from a dozen to several hundred warriors.

The emergence of states contributed to the progress of military organization. The growth in the productivity of agricultural production allowed the elite of ancient societies to accumulate in their hands funds that made it possible to increase the size of armies and improve their fighting qualities; much more time was devoted to the training of soldiers; the first professional military formations appeared. If the armies of the Sumerian city-states were small peasant militias, then the later ancient Eastern monarchies (China, Egypt of the New Kingdom) already had relatively large and fairly disciplined military forces.

The main component of the ancient Eastern and ancient army was the infantry: initially operating on the battlefield as a chaotic crowd, it later turned into an extremely organized fighting unit (Macedonian phalanx, Roman legion). In different periods, other “arms of the armed forces” also gained importance, such as, for example, war chariots, which played a significant role in the Assyrian campaigns of conquest. The importance of military fleets also increased, primarily among the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians; The first naval battle known to us took place ca. 1210 BC between the Hittites and the Cypriots. The function of the cavalry was usually reduced to auxiliary or reconnaissance. Progress was also observed in the field of weapons - new materials are used, new types of weapons are invented. Bronze ensured the victories of the Egyptian army of the era of the New Kingdom, and iron contributed to the creation of the first ancient Eastern empire - the New Assyrian state. In addition to the bow, arrows and spears, the sword, ax, dagger, and dart gradually came into use. Siege weapons appeared, the development and use of which reached a peak in the Hellenistic period (catapults, battering rams, siege towers). Wars acquired a significant scope, involving a large number of states in their orbit (the wars of the Diadochi, etc.). The largest armed conflicts of antiquity were the wars of the New Assyrian kingdom (second half of the 8th–7th centuries), the Greco-Persian wars (500–449 BC), the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), the conquests of Alexander the Great (334–323 BC) and the Punic Wars (264–146 BC).

In the Middle Ages, the infantry lost its primacy to the cavalry, which was facilitated by the invention of stirrups (8th century). The heavily armed knight became the central figure on the battlefield. The scale of the war compared with the ancient era was reduced: it turned into an expensive and elite occupation, the prerogative of the ruling class and acquired a professional character (the future knight underwent a long training). Small detachments took part in the battles (from several dozen to several hundred knights with squires); only at the end of the classical Middle Ages (14th-15th centuries), with the emergence of centralized states, did the number of armies increase; the importance of the infantry increased again (it was the archers that ensured the success of the British in the Hundred Years War). Military operations at sea were of a secondary nature. But the role of castles has unusually increased; the siege became the main element of the war. The largest wars of this period were the Reconquista (718–1492), the Crusades, and the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453).

turning point in military history was widespread from the middle of the 15th century. in Europe, gunpowder and firearms (arquebuses, cannons) (); the first case of their use is the battle of Agincourt (1415). From now on, the level of military equipment and, accordingly, the military industry has become the unconditional determinant of the outcome of the war. In the late Middle Ages (16th - first half of the 17th century), the technological advantage of the Europeans allowed them to expand beyond their continent (colonial conquests) and at the same time put an end to the invasions of nomadic tribes from the East. The importance of naval war. Disciplined regular infantry ousted the knightly cavalry (see the role of the Spanish infantry in the wars of the 16th century). The largest armed conflicts of the 16th-17th centuries. were the Italian Wars (1494–1559) and the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648).

In the centuries that followed, the nature of warfare underwent rapid and fundamental changes. Military technology has progressed unusually rapidly (from the 17th century musket to nuclear submarines and supersonic fighters in the early 21st century). New types of weapons (missile systems, etc.) have strengthened the remote nature of the military confrontation. The war became more and more massive: the institution of recruiting and who replaced it in the 19th century. the institution of universal conscription made the armies really nationwide (more than 70 million people participated in the 1st world war, over 110 million in the 2nd), on the other hand, the whole society was already involved in the war (women's and children's labor in military enterprises in the USSR and the USA during the 2nd World War). Human losses reached an unprecedented scale: if in the 17th century. they amounted to 3.3 million, in the 18th century. - 5.4 million, in the 19th - early 20th century. - 5.7 million, then in the 1st World War - more than 9 million, and in the 2nd World War - over 50 million. Wars were accompanied by a grandiose destruction of material wealth and cultural values.

By the end of the 20th century "Asymmetric wars" have become the dominant form of armed conflicts, characterized by a sharp disparity in the capabilities of the belligerents. In the nuclear age, such wars are of great danger, because they encourage weak side violate all established laws of war and resort to different forms deterrence tactics up to large-scale terrorist acts (the tragedy of September 11, 2001 in New York).

A change in the nature of the war and an intense arms race gave rise in the first half of the 20th century. a powerful anti-war trend (J. Jaures, A. Barbusse, M. Gandhi, general disarmament projects in the League of Nations), which especially intensified after the creation of weapons of mass destruction, which called into question the very existence of human civilization. The United Nations began to play a leading role in maintaining peace, proclaiming its task to "save future generations from the scourge of war"; in 1974 the UN General Assembly qualified military aggression as an international crime. Articles on the unconditional renunciation of war (Japan) or on the prohibition of the creation of an army (Costa Rica) were included in the constitutions of some countries.

Constitution Russian Federation does not give any state body the right to declare war; the president has only the right to impose martial law in the event of aggression or the threat of aggression (defensive war).

Types of wars.

The classification of wars is based on a variety of criteria. Based goals, they are divided into predatory (raids of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians on Russia in the 9th - early 13th century), aggressive (wars of Cyrus II 550–529 BC), colonial (French-Chinese war 1883–1885), religious (Huguenot wars in France 1562–1598), dynastic (War of the Spanish Succession 1701–1714), trade (Opium Wars 1840–1842 and 1856–1860), national liberation (Algerian War 1954–1962), patriotic (Patriotic War 1812), revolutionary (wars of France with the European coalition 1792-1795).

By the scope of hostilities and the number of forces and means involved wars are divided into local (waged on a limited territory and by small forces) and large-scale. The former include, for example, wars between ancient Greek city-states; to the second - the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the Napoleonic Wars, etc.

By the nature of the opposing sides distinguish between civil and foreign wars. The former, in turn, are subdivided into apex, waged by factions within the elite (the War of the Scarlet and White Roses 1455–1485) (LANCASTER), and interclass wars of slaves against the ruling class (Spartacus’s war 74–71 BC), peasants (Great peasant war in Germany 1524-1525), townspeople/bourgeoisie (civil war in England 1639-1652), social lower classes in general (civil war in Russia 1918-1922). External wars are subdivided into wars between states (the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th century), between states and tribes (Caesar's Gallic Wars 58–51 BC), between coalitions of states (the Seven Years' War 1756–1763), and between metropolises and colonies. (Indochina War 1945–1954), world wars (1914–1918 and 1939–1945).

In addition, wars are distinguished by ways of doing- offensive and defensive, regular and partisan (guerilla) - and jurisdiction: land, sea, air, coastal, fortress and field, to which arctic, mountain, urban, desert wars, jungle wars are sometimes added.

The principle of classification is taken and moral criterion- just and unjust wars. A "just war" is a war waged to protect order and law and, ultimately, peace. Its prerequisites are that it must have a just cause; it should be begun only when all peaceful means have been exhausted; it should not go beyond the achievement of the main task; the civilian population should not suffer from it. The idea of ​​a "just war", which goes back to the Old Testament, ancient philosophy and St. Augustine, received theoretical formalization in the 12th-13th centuries. in the writings of Gratian, the decretalists, and Thomas Aquinas. In the late Middle Ages, its development was continued by neo-scholastics, M. Luther and G. Grotius. It regained relevance in the 20th century, especially in connection with the emergence of weapons of mass destruction and the problem of "humanitarian military actions" designed to stop genocide in one country or another.

Theories of the origin of wars.

At all times, people have tried to comprehend the phenomenon of war, to reveal its nature, to give it a moral assessment, to develop methods for its most effective use (the theory of military art) and to find ways to limit or even eradicate it. The most controversial was and continues to be the question of the causes of wars: why do they happen if most people do not want them? It gives a variety of answers.

Theological interpretation, which has Old Testament roots, is based on the understanding of war as an arena for the realization of the will of God (gods). Its adherents see war as either a way of establishing the true religion and rewarding the pious (the conquest of the "Promised Land" by the Jews, the victorious campaigns of the Arabs who converted to Islam), or a means of punishing the wicked (the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians, the defeat of the Roman Empire by the barbarians).

Concrete-historical approach, dating back to antiquity (Herodotus), connects the origin of wars solely with their local historical context and excludes the search for any universal causes. At the same time, the role of political leaders and rational decisions taken by them is inevitably accentuated. Often the outbreak of war is perceived as the result of a random combination of circumstances.

Influential positions in the tradition of studying the phenomenon of war are occupied by psychological school. Even in ancient times, the belief (Thucydides) dominated that war is a consequence of bad human nature, an innate tendency to “do” chaos and evil. In our time, this idea was used by Z. Freud when creating the theory of psychoanalysis: he argued that a person could not exist if his inherent need for self-destruction (the death instinct) was not directed to external objects, including other individuals, other ethnic groups and other confessional groups. The followers of Z. Freud (L. L. Bernard) considered the war as a manifestation of mass psychosis, which is the result of the suppression of human instincts by society. A number of modern psychologists (E.F.M. Darben, J. Bowlby) reworked Freud's theory of sublimation in the gender sense: a tendency to aggression and violence is a property of male nature; suppressed in peaceful conditions, it finds the necessary exit to the battlefield. Their hope for the deliverance of mankind from war is associated with the transfer of control levers into the hands of women and with the assertion of feminine values ​​in society. Other psychologists interpret aggressiveness not as an integral feature of the male psyche, but as a result of its violation, citing as an example politicians obsessed with war mania (Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini); they believe that for the onset of an era of universal peace, it is enough effective system civil control, which closes the lunatics access to power.

Special Branch psychological school, founded by K. Lorenz, is based on evolutionary sociology. Its adherents consider war to be an extended form of animal behavior, primarily an expression of male rivalry and their struggle for possession of a certain territory. They emphasize, however, that although war was of natural origin, technological progress has increased its destructive nature and brought it to a level unbelievable for the animal world, when the very existence of humanity as a species is threatened.

Anthropological school(E. Montague and others) resolutely rejects the psychological approach. Social anthropologists prove that the tendency to aggression is not inherited (genetically), but is formed in the process of education, that is, it reflects the cultural experience of a particular social environment, its religious and ideological attitudes. From their point of view, there is no connection between the various historical forms of violence, because each of them was generated by its own specific social context.

Political approach repelled from the formula of the German military theorist K. Clausewitz (1780-1831), who defined war as "the continuation of politics by other means." His numerous adherents, beginning with L. Ranke, deduce the origin of wars from international disputes and the diplomatic game.

An offshoot of the political science school is geopolitical direction, whose representatives see main reason wars in the lack of "living space" (K. Haushofer, J. Kieffer), in the desire of states to expand their borders to natural boundaries (rivers, mountain ranges, etc.).

Ascending to the English economist T. R. Malthus (1766–1834) demographic theory considers war as the result of an imbalance between population and the amount of means of subsistence, and as a functional means of restoring it by destroying demographic surpluses. Neo-Malthusians (W. Vogt and others) believe that war is immanent in human society and is the main engine of social progress.

The most popular in the interpretation of the phenomenon of war remains at present sociological approach. In contrast to the followers of K. Clausewitz, his supporters (E. Ker, H.-U. Wehler, etc.) consider war to be a product of internal social conditions and the social structure of the warring countries. Many sociologists are trying to develop a universal typology of wars, to formalize them taking into account all the factors influencing them (economic, demographic, etc.), to model trouble-free mechanisms for preventing them. The sociostatistical analysis of wars, proposed back in the 1920s, is actively used. L.F. Richardson; at present, numerous predictive models of armed conflicts have been created (P. Breke, participants in the Military Project, Uppsala Research Group).

Popular among specialists in international relations (D. Blaney and others) information theory explains the emergence of wars by a lack of information. According to its adherents, war is the result of a mutual decision - the decision of one side to attack and the decision of the other to resist; the losing side always turns out to be the one that inadequately assesses its capabilities and the capabilities of the other side - otherwise it would either renounce aggression or capitulate in order to avoid unnecessary human and material losses. Therefore, knowledge of the enemy's intentions and his ability to wage war (effective reconnaissance) is of decisive importance.

Cosmopolitan theory connects the origin of the war with the antagonism of national and supranational, universal, interests (N. Angel, S. Strechi, J. Dewey). It is used primarily to explain armed conflicts in the age of globalization.

Supporters economic interpretation consider war as a consequence of the rivalry of states in the sphere of international economic relations, anarchic in nature. The war is started to obtain new markets, cheap labor, sources of raw materials and energy. This position is shared, as a rule, by scientists of the left direction. They argue that the war serves the interests of the propertied strata, and all its hardships fall on the lot of the disadvantaged groups of the population.

Economic interpretation is an element Marxist approach, which interprets any war as a derivative of a class war. From the point of view of Marxism, wars are waged to strengthen the power of the ruling classes and to split the world proletariat through appeal to religious or nationalist ideals. Marxists argue that wars are the inevitable result of the free market and the system of class inequality, and that they will sink into oblivion after the world revolution.

Ivan Krivushin

APPENDIX

MAIN WARS IN HISTORY

28th century BC. - Pharaoh Snefru's campaigns in Nubia, Libya and Sinai

con. 24 - 1st floor. 23rd century BC. - wars of Sargon the Ancient with the states of Sumer

last third of the 23rd century BC. - wars of Naram-Suen with Ebla, Subartu, Elam and Lullubeys

1st floor 22nd century BC. - Gutian conquest of Mesopotamia

2003 BC Elamite invasion of Mesopotamia

con. 19 - beg. 18th century BC. - Campaigns of Shamshi-Adad I in Syria and Mesopotamia

1st floor 18th century BC. - Hammurabi's wars in Mesopotamia

OK. 1742 BC Kassite invasion of Babylonia

OK. 1675 BC - Conquest of Egypt by the Hyksos

OK. 1595 BC Hittite campaign in Babylonia

con. 16 - con. 15th c. BC. - Egyptian-Mitannian wars

early 15 - ser. 14th c. BC. - Hittite-Mitannian wars

ser. 15th c. BC. - Achaean conquest of Crete

ser. 14th c. BC. - the wars of the Kassite Babylon with Arraphu, Elam, Assyria and the Aramaic tribes; Hittite conquest of Asia Minor

1286–1270 BC - Wars of Ramesses II with the Hittites

2nd floor 13th c. BC. - Campaigns of Tukulti-Ninurta I in Babylonia, Syria and Transcaucasia

1240–1230 BC – Trojan War

early 12th c. BC. - Israeli conquest of Palestine

1180s BC. - invasion of the "peoples of the sea" in the Eastern Mediterranean

2nd quarter 12th century BC. - Elamite campaigns in Babylonia

con. 12 - beginning. 11th c. BC. - Campaigns of Tiglath-Pileser I in Syria, Phoenicia and Babylonia

11th c. BC. - Dorian conquest of Greece

883–824 BC - wars of Ashshurnatsirapal II and Shalmaneser III with Babylon, Urartu, the states of Syria and Phoenicia

con. 8 - beginning. 7th c. BC. - invasions of the Cimmerians and Scythians in Asia Minor

743–624 BC - conquest of the Neo-Assyrian kingdom

722–481 BC - Spring and Autumn Wars in China

623–629 BC - Assyro-Babylonian-Medes War

607–574 BC - Campaigns of Nebuchadnezzar II in Syria and Palestine

553–530 BC - conquests of Cyrus II

525 BC - Persian conquest of Egypt

522–520 BC - civil war in Persia

514 BC – Scythian campaign of Darius I

early 6th c. – 265 BC - Roman conquest of Italy

500–449 BC - Greco-Persian wars

480–307 BC - Greco-Carthaginian (Sicilian) wars

475–221 BC - Warring States period in China

460–454 BC Inar's liberation war in Egypt

431–404 BC – Peloponnesian War

395–387 BC – Corinthian War

334–324 BC - conquests of Alexander the Great

323–281 BC - Wars of the Diadochi

274–200 BC - Syro-Egyptian wars

264–146 BC – Punic Wars

215–168 BC - Roman-Macedonian wars

89–63 BC - Mithridatic wars

83–31 BC - civil wars in Rome

74–71 BC - War of slaves led by Spartacus

58–50 BC - Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars

53 BC - 217 AD - Roman-Parthian wars

66–70 - Jewish War

220-265 - War of the Three Kingdoms in China

291-306 - War of the Eight Princes in China

375–571 - Great Migration

533–555 Conquests of Justinian I

502-628 - Iranian-Byzantine wars

633–714 Arab conquests

718-1492 - Reconquista

769–811 - Wars of Charlemagne

1066 - Conquest of England by the Normans

1096–1270 – Crusades

1207–1276 - Mongol conquests

late XIII - ser. 16th century - Ottoman conquests

1337–1453 - Hundred Years' War

1455–1485 - War of the Scarlet and White Roses

1467-1603 - internecine wars in Japan (Sengoku era)

1487–1569 - Russian-Lithuanian wars

1494–1559 - Italian Wars

1496–1809 - Russian-Swedish wars

1519–1553 (1697) - Spanish conquest of Central and South America

1524–1525 - The Great Peasants' War in Germany

1546–1552 - Schmalkaldic Wars

1562–1598 - Wars of Religion in France

1569–1668 - Russian-Polish wars

1618–1648 - Thirty Years' War

1639-1652 - civil war in England (War of the Three Kingdoms)

1655–1721 - Northern Wars

1676–1878 - Russian-Turkish wars

1701–1714 - War of the Spanish Succession

1740–1748 - War of the Austrian Succession

1756–1763 - Seven Years' War

1775–1783 - American Revolutionary War

1792–1799 - French Revolutionary Wars

1799–1815 – Napoleonic Wars

1810-1826 - War of independence of the Spanish colonies in America

1853–1856 – Crimean War

1861–1865 – Civil War in the USA

1866 - Austro-Prussian War

1870–1871 - Franco-Prussian War

1899–1902 - Boer War

1904–1905 - Russo-Japanese War

1912–1913 - Balkan Wars

1914–1918 - 1st World War

1918–1922 – Russian Civil War

1937–1945 - Sino-Japanese War

1936–1939 - Spanish Civil War

1939–1945 - World War II

1945–1949 - Chinese Civil War

1946–1975 – Indochinese wars

1948–1973 - Arab-Israeli wars

1950–1953 - Korean War

1980-1988 - Iran-Iraq war

1990-1991 - 1st Gulf War ("Desert Storm")

1991–2001 – Yugoslav Wars

1978–2002 - Afghan wars

2003 - 2nd Gulf War

Literature:

Fuller J.F.C. The conduct of war, 1789–1961: a study of the impact of the French, industrial, and Russian revolutions on war and its conduct. New York, 1992
Military Encyclopedia: in 8 vols. M., 1994
Asprey R.B. War in the Shadows. The Guerilla in History. New York, 1994
Ropp T. War in the modern world. Baltimore (Md.), 2000
Bradford A.S. With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World. Westport (Conn.), 2001
Nicholson H. Medieval Warfare. New York, 2004
LeBlanc S.A., Register K.E. Constant battles: the myth of the peaceful, noble savage. New York, 2004
Otterbein K.F. how war began. College station (Tex.), 2004

On the work of the Ves Mir publishing house in the context of counteracting the spread of coronavirus and the implementation of the orders of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow.

The biggest war in the history of mankind - Short story World War II

The Second World War was the largest, most destructive and bloodiest war known to history. In terms of its scale, it far surpassed all the wars of the past, including the Hundred Years' War of the XIV-XV centuries, the Thirty Years' War of the XVII century, the Napoleonic Wars of the early XIX century. and even the First World War of 1914-1918. The Second World War lasted six years - from 1939 to 1945. It involved 61 states with a total population of 1 billion 700 million people, including all the great powers: Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Japan . Military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states, on three continents and on all oceans. 110 million people were mobilized in the armies of the warring countries; in addition, tens of millions participated in the resistance movement, in guerrilla warfare, built military fortifications, worked in the military industry. In total, the war drew into its orbit 3/4 of the world's population.

The loss and destruction caused by World War II is unparalleled. They are so large that they cannot even be accurately calculated, but can only be estimated approximately. According to historians, human losses in World War II amounted to at least 50-60 million people. They were at least five times more than the losses in the First World War and more than twice the losses in all the wars of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Material damage turned out to be 12 times more than in the First World War.

In terms of its gigantic scale and influence on subsequent historical development, the Second World War is the largest event in world history.

Like the First World War, the Second World War was fought for the redivision of the world, territorial acquisitions, sources of raw materials and markets, but unlike the First World War, it also had a clearly expressed ideological content. In World War II, the fascist and anti-fascist coalitions opposed each other. The fascist and militaristic states that unleashed the war sought to enslave other countries, establish their own rules there and achieve world domination. The states of the anti-fascist coalition defended their freedom and independence, as well as the freedom of the countries enslaved by the fascists; fought for the preservation of democratic rights and freedoms. The war on their part had an anti-fascist, liberation character.

One of the manifestations of its liberation character was the national liberation and anti-fascist resistance movement that arose in the occupied countries and in the states of the aggressor bloc. The resistance movement is a characteristic feature and feature of the Second World War.

Many thousands of books and articles have been written about World War II, dozens of films have been made in all countries. The literature on the war is truly boundless; no one is able to read it in its entirety, but the flow of publications does not dry out, because the history of the war is still far from being fully studied, and especially because it is closely connected with the most acute problems of our time. This or that interpretation of wartime events often serves as a historical justification and justification for revising borders and creating new states; for a positive or negative assessment of the role of nations, classes, parties, political regimes and statesmen; it offends national interests and national feelings. Along with serious historical research, a huge number of all kinds of unreliable writings, fabrications and falsifications are published. The true history of the war was overgrown with myths and legends, which were often supported by government propaganda, were widely disseminated and acquired a stable character. Until now, little is known in Russia about the actions of the Anglo-American troops in Africa and the Pacific, and in Britain and especially in the USA they have little idea of ​​the gigantic scale of military operations on the Soviet-German front. It is characteristic that the multi-part Soviet-American documentary film about the Great Patriotic War (released in 1978) was given the name "Unknown War" in America, because it is almost unknown to Americans. The same name - "Unknown War" - is also one of the last French works on the history of the Second World War.

As public opinion polls conducted in different countries, including Russia, have shown, generations born in the post-war period sometimes lack the most elementary information about World War II. Often, the respondents do not remember when the war began, why it was fought, who fought with whom. Sometimes they don't even know who Hitler, Roosevelt or Churchill are.

The purpose of this book, intended for the general reader, is to give a general idea of ​​the course and main events of the war. The most controversial issues in the history of the war are discussed in the sections "What are the disputes about?".

Other chapters from this book

• The immediate and most obvious outcome of World War II was gigantic destruction and loss of life. The war devastated entire countries, turned cities and villages into ruins, and led to the death of many millions of people. The largest human losses - 26.6 million people - were...

The largest wars in the history of mankind in terms of the number of deaths.

The earliest war known to have been excavated took place approximately 14,000 years ago.

It is impossible to calculate the exact number of victims, because in addition to the death of soldiers on the battlefield, there is the death of civilians from the effects of weapons of war, as well as the death of civilians from the consequences of hostilities, for example, from hunger, hypothermia, and diseases.

Below is a list of the largest wars by the number of victims.

The reasons for the wars indicated below are very different, but the number of victims exceeds millions.

1. Nigerian Civil War (Biafra War of Independence). The death toll is over 1,000,000.

The main conflict was between the government forces of Nigeria and the separatists of the Republic of Biafra. The self-proclaimed republic was supported by a number of European states, among them, such as France, Portugal, Spain. Nigeria was supported by England and the USSR. The UN did not recognize the self-proclaimed republic. Weapons and finances were sufficient on both sides. The main victims of the war were the civilian population, who died of starvation and various diseases.

2. Imjin war. The death toll is over 1,000,000.

1592 - 1598. Japan made 2 attempts to invade the Korean Peninsula in 1592 and 1597. Both invasions did not lead to the capture of the territory. The first invasion by Japan involved 220,000 soldiers, several hundred combat and transport ships.

The Korean troops were defeated, but at the end of 1592, China transferred part of the army to Korea, but was defeated; in 1593, China transferred another part of the army, which managed to achieve some success. Peace was made. The second invasion in 1597 was not successful for Japan and in 1598 hostilities were stopped.

3. Iran–Iraq War (death toll: 1 million)

1980-1988 years. The longest war in the 20th century. The war began with the invasion of Iraq on September 22, 1980. The war can be called positional - trench warfare, using small arms. Chemical weapons were widely used in the war. The initiative passed from one side to another, so in 1980 the successful offensive of the Iraqi army was stopped, and in 1981 the initiative passed to the side of Iraq. On August 20, 1988, a truce was signed.

4. Korean War (death toll: 1.2 million)

1950-1953 years. War between North and South Korea. The war began with North Korea's invasion of South Korea. Despite the support of North Korea Soviet Union, Stalin opposed the war, because he feared that this conflict could lead to World War 3 and even nuclear war. On July 27, 1953, a ceasefire agreement was signed.

5. Mexican Revolution (death toll between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000)

1910-1917. The revolution fundamentally changed the culture of Mexico and the policies of the government. But at that time the population of Mexico was 15,000,000 people and the losses during the revolution were significant. The prerequisites for the revolution were very different, but as a result of the valuable millions of victims, Mexico strengthened its sovereignty and weakened its dependence on the United States.

6. The conquests of Chuck's army. First half of the 19th century. (death toll 2,000,000 people)

The local ruler Chaka (1787 - 1828) founded the state - KwaZulu. He raised and armed a large army, which conquered disputed territories. The army plundered and ravaged the tribes in the occupied territories. The victims were the local Aboriginal tribes.

7. Goguryeo-Sui wars (death toll 2,000,000)

These wars include a series of wars between the Chinese Sui Empire and the Korean state of Goguryeo. The wars took place on the following dates:

· war of 598

· war of 612

· war of 613

· war of 614

In the end, the Koreans managed to repel the advance of the Chinese troops and win.

The total number of human casualties is much higher because civilian casualties are not taken into account.

8. Wars of religion in France (death toll between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000)

The religious wars in France are also known as the Huguenot wars. Occurred between 1562 and 1598. They arose on religious grounds as a result of a conflict between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). In 1998, the Edict of Nantes was adopted, which legalized freedom of religion. On August 24, 1572, Catholics staged a mass beating of Protestants, first in Paris, and then throughout France. It happened on the eve of the feast of St. Barthomew, this day went down in history as St. Bartholomew's night, on that day more than 30,000 people died in Paris.

9. Second Congo War (2,400,000 to 5,400,000 dead)

The deadliest war in the history of modern Africa, also known as the African World War and Great War Africa. The war lasted from 1998 to 2003, 9 states and more than 20 separate armed groups participated. The main victims of the war are the civilian population, which died due to disease and starvation.

10. Napoleonic Wars (death toll between 3,000,000 and 6,000,000)

The Napoleonic Wars are an armed conflict between France, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, and a number of European states, including Russia. Thanks to Russia, Napoleon's army was defeated. Different sources give different data on the victims, but most scientists believe that the number of victims, including civilians from hunger and epidemics, reaches 5,000,000 people.

11. Thirty Years' War (Death toll between 3,000,000 and 11,500,000)

1618 - 1648. The war began as a conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the crumbling Holy Roman Empire, but a number of other states were gradually drawn into it. The number of victims of the Thirty Years' War, according to most scholars, is 8,000,000 people.

12. Chinese Civil War (death toll 8,000,000)

The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (a political party of the Republic of China) and forces loyal to Communist Party China. The war began in 1927 and essentially ended when the main active fighting ceased in 1950. Although historians give the end date of the war as December 22, 1936, the conflict eventually led to the formation of two de facto states, the Republic of China (now known as Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China on the Chinese mainland. During the war, both sides carried out massive atrocities.

13. Russian Civil War (death toll between 7,000,000 and 12,000,000)

1917 - 1922. The struggle for power of various political directions, armed groups. But basically the two largest and most organized forces fought - the Red Army and the White Army. The civil war in Russia is considered the greatest national catastrophe in Europe, in the entire history of its existence. The main victims of the war are the civilian population.

14. Wars led by Tamerlane (number of victims from 8,000,000 to 20,000,000 people)

In the second half of the 14th century, Tamerlane waged cruel, bloody conquests in Western, South, Central Asia, in southern Russia. Tamerlane became the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world, conquering Egypt, Syria and the Ottoman Empire. Historians believe that 5% of the total population of the Earth died at the hands of his soldiers.

15. Dungan uprising (number of victims from 8,000,000 to 20,400,000 people)

1862 - 1869. The Dungan uprising is a war on ethnic and religious grounds between the Han (a Chinese ethnic group originally from East Asia) and Chinese Muslims. At the head of the rebels against the existing government were the spiritual mentors of Xinjiao, who declared jihad unfaithful.

16. Conquest of North and South America (number of victims from 8,400,000 to 148,000,000 people)

1492 - 1691. During the 200 years of colonization of America, tens of millions of the local population were killed by European colonialists. However, there is no exact number of victims, since there are no initial estimates of the original size of the indigenous population of America. The conquest of America is the largest extermination of the indigenous population by other peoples in history.

17. An Lushan rebellion (number of victims from 13,000,000 to 36,000,000 people)

755 - 763 AD Rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. According to scientists, up to two children of the entire population of China could die during this conflict.

18. World War I (18,000,000 casualties)

1914-1918 years. War between groups of states in Europe and their allies. The war claimed 11,000,000 servicemen who died directly during the fighting. 7,000,000 civilians died during the course of the war.

19. Taiping Rebellion (20,000,000 - 30,000,000 casualties)

1850 - 1864. Revolt of peasants in China. The Taiping Rebellion spread throughout China against the Manchu Qing Dynasty. With the support of England and France, the Qing troops brutally suppressed the rebels.

20. Manchu conquest of China (25,000,000 casualties)

1618 - 1683 years. Qing Dynasty war, to conquer territories of the Ming Dynasty.

As a result of long wars and various battles, the Manchu dynasty managed to conquer almost all the strategic territories of China. The war claimed tens of millions of human lives.

21. Sino-Japanese War (25,000,000 - 30,000,000 casualties)

1937 - 1945. War between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. Separate hostilities began in 1931. The war ended with the defeat of Japan with the help of allied forces, mainly the USSR. The United States launched 2 nuclear strikes on Japan, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. September 9, 1945, the government of the Republic of China accepted the surrender from the commander of Japanese troops in China, General Okamura Yasuji.

22. Wars of the Three Kingdoms (number of victims 36,000,000 - 40,000,000 people)

220-280 AD Not to be confused with war (England, Scotland and Ireland between 1639 and 1651). The war of three states - Wei, Shu and Wu for complete power in China. Each side tried to unite China under its command. The bloodiest period in the history of China, which led to millions of victims.

23. Mongol conquests (number of victims 40,000,000 - 70,000,000 people)

1206 - 1337 raids on the territories of Asia and of Eastern Europe with the formation of the state Golden Horde. The raids were distinguished by their cruelty. The Mongols spread the bubonic plague over vast territories, from which people died, not having immunity to this disease.

24. World War II (number of victims 60,000,000 - 85,000,000 people)

The most brutal war in the history of mankind, when people were destroyed along racial and ethnic lines with the help of technical devices. The extermination of peoples was organized by the rulers of Germany and their allies, led by Hitler. Up to 100,000,000 servicemen fought on the battlefields on both sides. With the decisive role of the USSR, Nazi Germany and her allies were defeated.

AT The history of mankind is occupied by various wars.
They redrawn maps, gave birth to empires, destroyed peoples and nations. The earth remembers wars that lasted more than a century. We recall the most protracted military conflicts in the history of mankind.

1. War without shots (335 years old)

The longest and most curious of the wars is the war between the Netherlands and the Scilly archipelago, which is part of Great Britain.

Due to the lack of a peace treaty, it formally went on for 335 years without firing a shot, which makes it one of the longest and most curious wars in history, and even the war with the least losses.

Peace was officially declared in 1986.

2. Punic War (118 years)

By the middle of the III century BC. the Romans almost completely subjugated Italy, swung at the entire Mediterranean and wanted Sicily first. But the mighty Carthage also claimed this rich island.

Their claims unleashed 3 wars that stretched (intermittently) from 264 to 146. BC. and got the name from the Latin name of the Phoenicians-Carthaginians (puns).

The first (264-241) - 23 years old (began just because of Sicily).
The second (218-201) - 17 years (after the capture of the Spanish city of Sagunta by Hannibal).
The last (149-146) - 3 years.
It was then that the famous phrase "Carthage must be destroyed!" was born. Pure warfare took 43 years. The conflict in total - 118 years.

Results: Besieged Carthage fell. Rome won.

3. Hundred Years War (116 years)

Went in 4 stages. With pauses for truces (the longest - 10 years) and the fight against the plague (1348) from 1337 to 1453.

Opponents: England and France.

Reasons: France wanted to oust England from the southwestern lands of Aquitaine and complete the unification of the country. England - to strengthen influence in the province of Guyenne and return those lost under John the Landless - Normandy, Maine, Anjou. Complication: Flanders - formally was under the auspices of the French crown, in fact it was free, but depended on English wool for cloth making.

Reason: the claims of the English king Edward III from the Plantagenet-Anjou dynasty (maternal grandson of the French king Philip IV the Handsome of the Capetian family) to the Gallic throne. Allies: England - German feudal lords and Flanders. France - Scotland and the Pope. Army: English - mercenary. under the command of the king. The basis is infantry (archers) and knightly units. French - a knightly militia, led by royal vassals.

Turning point: after the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 and the battle for Normandy, the national liberation war of the French people began with the tactics of guerrilla raids.

Results: October 19, 1453 the English army capitulated in Bordeaux. Having lost everything on the continent, except for the port of Calais (it remained English for another 100 years). France switched to a regular army, abandoned knightly cavalry, gave preference to infantry, and the first firearms appeared.

4. Greco-Persian War (50 years)

Altogether, war. Stretched with lulls from 499 to 449. BC. They are divided into two (the first - 492-490, the second - 480-479) or three (the first - 492, the second - 490, the third - 480-479 (449). For the Greek policies-states - the battle for independence. For the Achaeminid Empire - captivating.

Trigger: Ionian rebellion. The battle of the Spartans at Thermopylae is legendary. The battle of Salamis was a turning point. The point was put by "Kalliev Mir".

Results: Persia lost the Aegean Sea, the coasts of the Hellespont and the Bosporus. Recognized the freedom of the cities of Asia Minor. The civilization of the ancient Greeks entered the time of the highest prosperity, laying the culture, which, even after millennia, the world was equal to.

4. Punic war. The battles lasted 43 years. They are divided into three stages of wars between Rome and Carthage. They fought for dominance in the Mediterranean. The Romans won the battle. Basetop.ru

Civil. It proceeded in outbreaks from 1960 to 1996. A provocative decision by US President Eisenhower in 1954 triggered a coup.

Reason: the fight against the "communist infection".

Opponents: Bloc "Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity" and the military junta.

Victims: almost 6 thousand murders were committed annually, only in the 80s - 669 massacres, more than 200 thousand dead (of which 83% were Maya Indians), over 150 thousand went missing. Outcomes: Signing of the "Treaty for a Lasting and Lasting Peace", which protected the rights of 23 groups of Native Americans.

Outcomes: Signing of the "Treaty for a Lasting and Lasting Peace", which protected the rights of 23 groups of Native Americans.

6. War of the Scarlet and White Roses (33 years old)

Opposition of the English nobility - supporters of two tribal branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and York. Stretched from 1455 to 1485.
Prerequisites: "bastard feudalism" - the privilege of the English nobility to pay off military service from the lord, in whose hands large funds were concentrated, with which he paid for the army of mercenaries, which became more powerful than the royal one.

The reason: the defeat of England in the Hundred Years War, the impoverishment of the feudal lords, their rejection of the political course of the wife of the feeble-minded king Henry IV, hatred of her favorites.

Opposition: Duke Richard of York - considered the right to power of the Lancasters illegitimate, became regent under an incapacitated monarch, in 1483 - king, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth.

Results: Violated the balance of political forces in Europe. Led to the collapse of the Plantagenets. She placed the Welsh Tudors on the throne, who ruled England for 117 years. Cost the lives of hundreds of English aristocrats.

7. Thirty Years War (30 years)

The first military conflict of a pan-European scale. Lasted from 1618 to 1648. Opponents: two coalitions. The first is the union of the Holy Roman Empire (in fact, Austrian) with Spain and the Catholic principalities of Germany. The second - the German states, where power was in the hands of Protestant princes. They were supported by the armies of reformist Sweden and Denmark and Catholic France.

Reason: The Catholic League was afraid of the spread of the ideas of the Reformation in Europe, the Protestant Evangelical Union was striving for this.

Trigger: Revolt of Czech Protestants against Austrian domination.

Results: The population of Germany has decreased by a third. The French army lost 80 thousand. Austria and Spain - more than 120. After the Treaty of Münster in 1648, a new independent state, the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Holland), was finally fixed on the map of Europe.

8. Peloponnesian War (age 27)

There are two of them. The first is the Lesser Peloponnesian (460-445 BC). The second (431-404 BC) is the largest in the history of Ancient Hellas after the first Persian invasion of the territory of Balkan Greece. (492-490 BC).

Opponents: Peloponnesian Union led by Sparta and the First Marine (Delosian) under the auspices of Athens.

Reasons: The desire for hegemony in the Greek world of Athens and the rejection of their claims by Sparta and Corypha.

Contradictions: Athens was ruled by an oligarchy. Sparta is a military aristocracy. Ethnically, the Athenians were Ionians, the Spartans were Dorians. In the second, 2 periods are distinguished.

The first is "Arkhidamov's War". The Spartans made land invasions into the territory of Attica. Athenians - sea raids on the coast of the Peloponnese. It ended in the 421st signing of the Peace of Nikiev. After 6 years, it was violated by the Athenian side, which was defeated in the battle of Syracuse. The final phase went down in history under the name Dekeley or Ionian. With the support of Persia, Sparta built a fleet and destroyed the Athenian at Aegospotami.

Results: After the conclusion in April 404 BC. Theramenian world of Athens lost the fleet, tore down the Long Walls, lost all the colonies and joined the Spartan alliance.

9. Great Northern War (age 21)

There was a northern war for 21 years. She was between the northern states and Sweden (1700-1721), the opposition of Peter I to Charles XII. Russia fought mostly on its own.

Reason: Possession of the Baltic lands, control over the Baltic.

Results: With the end of the war in Europe, a new empire arose - the Russian Empire, which has access to the Baltic Sea and has a powerful army and navy. The capital of the empire was St. Petersburg, located at the confluence of the Neva River into the Baltic Sea.

Sweden lost the war.

10 Vietnam War (age 18)

The Second Indochinese War between Vietnam and the United States and one of the most destructive of the second half of the 20th century. Lasted from 1957 to 1975. 3 periods: guerrilla South Vietnamese (1957-1964), from 1965 to 1973 - full-scale US military operations, 1973-1975. - after the withdrawal of American troops from the territories of the Viet Cong. Opponents: South and North Vietnam. On the side of the South - the United States and the military bloc SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). North - China and the USSR.

The reason: when the communists came to power in China, and Ho Chi Minh became the leader of South Vietnam, the White House administration was afraid of the communist "domino effect". After Kennedy's assassination, Congress gave President Lyndon Johnson carte blanche to use military force in the Tonkin Resolution. And already in March 65, two battalions of US Army Navy SEALs left for Vietnam. So the States became part of the Vietnamese Civil War. They applied the “search and destroy” strategy, burned the jungle with napalm - the Vietnamese went underground and responded with a guerrilla war.

Who benefits: American arms corporations. US losses: 58 thousand in combat (64% under the age of 21) and about 150 thousand suicides of American veterans of the explosives.

Vietnamese victims: over 1 million who fought and more than 2 civilians, only in South Vietnam - 83 thousand amputees, 30 thousand blind, 10 thousand deaf, after the operation "Ranch Hand" (chemical destruction of the jungle) - congenital genetic mutations.

Results: The Tribunal of May 10, 1967 qualified the US actions in Vietnam as a crime against humanity (Article 6 of the Nuremberg Statute) and banned the use of CBU-type thermite bombs as weapons of mass destruction.

(C) different places on the internet