USSR

  In July of 1936, The Soviet Union became involved in the Spanish Civil War to support the Spanish Republicans in their fight against fascism, which is the belief that a state is an all powerful nation that should control the world.  By the summer of 1936, the Spanish Nationalist, the supporters of fascism, had taken over most of Western Spain. This led the Soviet Union to leave and drop their support of the Spanish Republicans in 1938.
   
  The joining of Italy, Japan, and Germany in the Rome-Berlin Axis soon led the Soviet Union to another problem. It was the hope of the dictator of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin, that the Western powers of Great Britain and France would join him in fighting Germany in hopes of gaining power. Great Britain and France refused as they feared war and Germany’s power. Stalin was upset by this but would not quite.

  On September 29, 1938 the Munich Conference took place in which Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy met. The Soviet Union was not present. At the conference, Germany gained control of the Sudetenland and promised to stay out of Czechoslovakia. All of the countries except the Soviet Union accepted this agreement in hopes of avoiding war. This agreement did not last long as Adolf Hitler, the German dictator, invaded Czechoslovakia. Hitler also invaded Poland in hopes of gaining land here as well. These invasions upset Great Britain and France and they made a promise to Poland to aid the country. However, this caused a potential problem with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was Poland’s neighbor and a traditional enemy. This was especially a problem because of the fact that Great Britain and France had denied the Soviet Union and Stalin support against Germany in 1936.

 
  Stalin began to believe that the Munich agreement was a way for Great Britain and France to turn Hitler’s attention to the Soviet Union. In response to this thought, Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, decided the best thing to do would be to ask the Soviet Union to join the British and the French in their fight against Germany. Stalin agreed to this under one condition. The Soviet Union had the rights to the land that lied between Finland and Bulgaria. Chamberlain could not agree to this. This disagreement sent Stalin into an uproar. He now believed that Great Britain and France was hoping that the Soviet Union and Germany would destroy one another.
 
  This lack of support form Great Britain and France led Stalin to have a secret talk with Germany. This talk led to the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact on August 23, 1939. They agreed to never attack one another and in case one side would enter into war, the other side was to remain neutral. They also agreed to create secret spheres of influence for Eastern Europe. Germany was to occupy the western part of Poland, while the Soviet Union was to occupy the eastern part as well as Finland, parts of Romania, the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This was a quick way for long-term enemies to gain short-term support.
 

  Britain and France were outraged about this and after Germany finally invaded Poland war was declared. When war was declared the Soviet Union moved to the eastern part of Poland as well as Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia where Soviet military bases were all accepted. Finland did not accept a Soviet military base so the Soviet Union declared war on Finland. Finland was quickly defeated and surrendered. The Soviet Union kept a presence in Finland to assure that Germany could not be attacked easily.

  On June 22, 1941, the Germans turned on the Soviets and attacked. Stalin and the Soviets were taken by surprise and much of the Soviets air forces, tanks, and soldiers were destroyed. Stalin urged the Soviet people to resist this attack in any way possible and issued the scorched-earth policy. This policy ordered the people to destroy everything that could be used by invaders. By November of 1941, Germany controlled over 40% of the Soviet population and controlled several important Soviet cities. The Soviet however refused to surrender and used to natural elements of the Soviet winter and a counter-attack to force the German’s to re-treat.
 
  German did however remain in control of vast areas of the Soviet Union and began to cut food supplies to the 3 million people they had trapped due to the counter-attack of the Soviets. This forced the Soviet Union to put its differences aside with Great Britain and France and work with them to defeat Germany. Stalin again urged Great Britain and France to try and invade Germany and open up lands to Europe. Again Great Britain and France opposed this as Great Britain would suffer as it would affect their lands. However, the three wanted to keep a active role in the war so they made plans to go in to North Africa.
Again the Germans were out to attack the Soviets and forced the Soviets to retreat in July of 1942. In August of 1942 Germany began to attack Soviet cities of importance. On of the main cities of Stalingrad was hit and the Soviets lost a lot of land. This caused mixed emotions in the Soviets and led to one final attack on the Germans. Soviet soldiers circled around the German troops in Stalingrad and cut off the German supply line. The Soviet forces stayed in place through February of 1943 until the German army surrendered due to the loss of troops. This act on the part of the Soviets broke down the German military force in the war because over 100,000 German soldiers were killed and over 80,000 others were captured and robbed of their military equipment.
 
  In May of 1943, the United States President, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Britain’s leader Winston Churchill, and Stalin on behalf of the Soviet Union all met in Iran. The United States and Great Britain decided to invade France to open up a second European front. This pleased Stalin because he had wanted this invasion for along time. He made a promise to then to continue to invade Germany at the same time.

  The Soviet troops began to advance steadily toward Germany and re-cover the Soviet cities that had been lost to Germany. As the Soviets were taking these cities back, many European countries such a Romania, Bulgaria, and the Ukraine surrendered to the Soviet Union and joined them. By October of 1944 the Soviet Union controlled almost all of east-central Europe.
 
  Forces of Soviet and American troops continued to attack Germany and on May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered. May 9 became known as Victory in Europe Day in the Soviet Union.