World War II

World War II

Following the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in 1939, the Soviets invaded eastern portions of Poland and fought a war with Finland known as the Winter War (1939-40). It was won by the Soviet Union, the aggressor, which gained part of the Karelian Isthmus. Despite Stalin's efforts to stay out of a war against Germany, Germany declared war on the Soviet Union and swept across the border on June 22, 1941. By November the German army had seized Ukraine, begun its siege of Leningrad, and threatened to capture Moscow (now the capital), itself.

However, the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad proved decisive, reversing the course of the entire war. After losing this battle the Germans lacked the strength to sustain their offensive operations against the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union held the initiative for the rest of the war. By the end of 1943, the Red Army had broken through the German siege of Leningrad and recaptured much of Ukraine. By the end of 1944, the front had moved beyond the 1939 Soviet frontiers into Eastern Europe. With a decisive superiority in troops, Soviet forces drove into eastern Germany, capturing Berlin in May 1945. The war with Germany thus ended triumphantly for the Soviet Union.

Although the Soviet Union was victorious in World War II, its economy had been devastated in the struggle and the war resulted in around 27 million Soviet deaths.