Problems of Interpreting World War II in the Context of Ideological Conflict in Bipolar World: 1955–1991
| 04 February 2025
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Anniversaries
Artsybashev V.A., Moscow, Russian Federation
Problems of Interpreting World War II in the Context of Ideological Conflict in Bipolar World: 1955–1991
Abstract
The article reviews and juxtaposes assessments of causes, course and results of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 in Soviet and foreign historiography. The second half of the 20th century saw a worldwide confrontation of socialist and capitalist states resulting in extreme ideological struggles in all spheres of public life. Military history became one of many arenas of ideological conflict. Thus, in the USSR there was much emphasis on exposure of the so-called bourgeois falsifiers of history. National scientists analysed main concepts of the foreign historiography of World War II and proved them invalid. They linked them to policy and ideology of leading capitalist states and stressed that they were far from purely academic. They were employed by ideologists of anticommunism and revanchism to pursue political aims and to prepare a new wide-scale war against the USSR and its allies. According to Soviet historians the main purpose of these concepts was to belittle the decisive role of the USSR in World War II and to show that its victory over Nazi and militarist block was accidental. They were to form an erroneous public opinion of the Soviet people, to justify the need for strengthening and expansion of NATO, and to promote an idea of redivision of Europe by military action. Juxtaposing Soviet and foreign assessments of causes, course and results of the Great Patriotic War the author demonstrates inadequacy of main foreign concepts based on ideas of anticommunism and revanchism, aiming to justify NATO expansion and belittling the role of the USSR in the victory over Germany.
Keywords
World War II, falsification of military history, USA, USSR, NATO, confrontation of military blocks.
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About the authors
Artsybashev Valeri Aleksandovich, PhD in History, desk head of the Central State Archive of Moscow (TsGA Moskvy), Moscow, Russian Federation, +7-495-671-58-06, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it