This is for those who:

SVETLANA MANAKOVA

I recorded this series of talks because I cannot speak about World War II any other way. Not through bronze monuments, but through fear, choice, cruelty, faith, and pain. Because war is not just front lines. It is a person who is scared. And if we don’t understand this now, we will find ourselves in the trenches again.

COURSE PROAGRAMM

INTRODUCTION

Section One: The Soviet Union on the Eve of War

1.1. The Bolshevik Party: Inception, seizure, and retention of power.
1.2. Economy.
1.3. Armed Forces.
1.4. Repressions.
1.5. Culture and Propaganda.

Section Two: The Third Reich on the Eve of War

2.1. National Socialism: Inception and rise to power.
2.2. Economy.
2.3. Armed Forces.
2.4. Repressions.
2.5. Culture and Propaganda.

Section Three: International Relations on the Eve of War

3.1. Crisis of the Versailles system.
3.2. Soviet-German relations.
3.3. Foreign policy of leading powers.

Section Four: The Initial Stage of the War

4.1. The Third Reich enters the war.
4.2. The Soviet Union enters the war.
4.3. The Soviet-Finnish War.
4.4. Invasion of Western European territories.
4.5. The Third Reich's attack on the USSR.
4.6. The United States enters the war.

Section Five: The Ratio of the Opposing Sides

Section Six: Man at War

6.1. Normalization of mass violence in the minds of witnesses and participants.
6.2. Collaborationism.

Section Seven: Results of the War

7.1. Political, economic, and territorial outcomes.
7.2. The Nuremberg Trials and international law regarding prisoners and the conduct of war.
7.3. Creation of pro-Soviet regimes in Europe.

Conclusion

5.1. Characteristics and significance of theaters of operation. The concept of a strategic battle.
5.2. Members of the Hitler and anti-Hitler coalitions.
5.3. Western European and Mediterranean theaters.
5.4. Eastern European theater.
5.5. Pacific theater.
5.6. African theater.