It is curious that in this list there are no Slovaks, Croats and Italians, whose states also fought with the USSR, as well as Spaniards. The fact is that the first two nationalities were considered in the USSR as those whose states were occupied by the Nazis. In the USSR, in 1942, a Czechoslovak military unit was formed (first a brigade, at the end of the war - a corps). Croats did not separate from other Yugoslavs. The Italians and the Spaniards, who accepted the citizenship of the USSR, could only be staunch anti-fascists. There were especially many Spaniards in the USSR who emigrated after the defeat of the Republic in the civil war of 1936-1939.
They were called to common grounds; in addition, there was a very strong influx of volunteers among them. During the war, for the same reasons of political unreliability, and also because of the insufficiently high combat effectiveness of the mass of conscripts as a whole, the conscription of representatives of a number of other nationalities was postponed. So, on October 13, 1943, the State Defense Committee (GKO) decided to release from the conscription of youth born in 1926, which began on November 15, 1943, representatives of indigenous nationalities of all the union republics of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, Kazakhstan, as well as all autonomous republics and autonomous regions of the North Caucasus. The next day, the State Defense Committee decided to start their conscription from the next November, 1944, and to the reserve, and not to the active army.
Often these decrees are misinterpreted as a cessation of the conscription of these nationalities in general. However, they clearly state that the postponement of conscription applies only to young people. specified year birth. It did not extend to older ages.
In rather ambiguous conditions, there was a call among the indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and Far East. Until the adoption of the USSR law on universal military duty of September 3, 1939, their representatives were not called up to armed forces. In the autumn of 1939, their first call-up took place. In some sources, one can come across statements that from the first days of the Great Patriotic War, representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North began to be called to the front. This is contradicted by references to the GKO decree, issued in the first weeks after the start of the war, on the exemption of the indigenous peoples of these regions of the RSFSR from conscription. True, there are no exact indications of the date and number of such a decision. Searching for it by name turned up no results. However, not all the titles of the GKO resolutions for 1941 have been published.
The same authors report that in a number of cases, the conscription of the indigenous peoples of the North was approached formally, and there were numerous facts of desertion of conscripts. In addition, reindeer transport battalions were formed in the Nenets National District of the Arkhangelsk Region in January 1942. There are indications of similar formations in other regions of the North. The names of many representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North who fought in the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War and were awarded orders and medals of the USSR are known. Among them are infantrymen, snipers, pilots, etc.
During the Great Patriotic War, sons and daughters of all republics and all peoples of the USSR fought shoulder to shoulder at the front. Every nation in this war had its heroes.
The peoples who had the most heroes
During the Great Patriotic War Heroes Soviet Union 7998 Russians, 2021 Ukrainians, 299 Belarusians became. The next in terms of the number of heroes are Tatars - 161, Jews - 107, Kazakhs - 96, Georgians - 90, Armenians - 89.
Other nations
Uzbeks - 67 heroes, Mordvinians - 63, Chuvashs - 45, Azerbaijanis - 43, Bashkirs - 38, Ossetians - 33 are not far behind the Georgians and Armenians.
9 heroes each came from the German (we are talking, of course, about the Volga Germans) and the Estonian peoples, 8 each from the Karelians, Buryats and Mongols, Kalmyks, Kabardians. Adygs gave the country 6 heroes, Abkhazians - 4, Yakuts - 2, Moldavians - also 2, Tuvans -1. And, finally, representatives of the repressed peoples, such as the Chechens and Crimean Tatars, fought no less bravely than the rest. 5 Chechens and 6 Crimean Tatars were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
About "uncomfortable" nationalities
At the household level, there were practically no ethnic conflicts in the USSR, everyone lived peacefully side by side, and treated each other, if not as brothers, then as good neighbors. However, at the state level there were periods when some peoples were considered "wrong". This is, first of all, repressed peoples, and Jews.
Everyone who is even a little interested in the issue of the Crimean Tatars knows the name of Ametkhan Sultan, the legendary ace pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Feats were also performed by representatives of the Chechen people. As you know, in 1942, the call to the front of the inhabitants of the Chechen-Ingush Republic was stopped, but by the end of the summer of this year, when the Nazis invaded North Caucasus, it was decided to call on the front of volunteers from among the Chechens and Ingush. 18.5 thousand volunteers came to the recruiting stations. They fought to the death on the outskirts of Stalingrad as part of a separate Chechen-Ingush
There is often an opinion about the Jews that the representatives of this ancient people are capable, first of all, of intellectual work and commerce, and the warriors from them are so-so. And that's not true. 107 Jews became during the Great Patriotic Heroes Soviet Union. The merit of the Jews, for example, in the organization partisan movement in Odessa.
From "natural" numbers to percentages
7998 Russians became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war years. At first glance, this number is much more than 6 - that is how many Heroes of the Soviet Union from the Circassians. However, if you look at the percentage of heroes to population, you get a completely different picture. The 1939 census showed that 99,591,520 Russians live in the country. Adyghes - 88115. And it turns out that the percentage of heroes per "capita" among the small Adyghe people is even slightly higher than among the Russians - 0.0068 against 0.0080. The “percentage of heroism” for Ukrainians is 0.0072, for Belarusians - 0.0056, for Uzbeks 0.0013, for Chechens - 0.0012 and so on. It is clear that the number of heroes in itself cannot be considered an exhaustive characteristic of the national spirit, but the ratio of the number of heroes and the total population says something about the people. If you look at these statistics using the example of the peoples of the USSR, it will become clear that during the war years each of our peoples contributed their share to the common victory, and it would be a flagrant injustice to single out someone
This article was published in the scientific local history journal "Pskov" No. 2 for 1995. And over the past 20 years, the problems of devaluing our victory in the Great War have only gotten worse. If, as the author complains in the article, when commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy, they didn’t even consider it necessary to call us there, now,— in 2014— our presence is mockingly marked by a push-through meeting between Putin and Poroshenko. Moreover, it is the German chancellor who defiantly organizes communication with marionic head of Ukraine forlegitimization of the neo-Bandera coup staged by the West.
The article is given with minor abbreviations (reference apparatus).
Preparing for war against the USSR, Hitler and his accomplices viewed their next victim as loose public education, which will soon disintegrate as soon as the Red Army suffers serious defeats. In accordance with these ideas, a plan was developed that provided for the defeat of the Soviet Union in a "fast-moving campaign." These goals were also subordinated to the actions of the Nazis to incite nationalist sentiments that could quarrel the peoples of the USSR and thus cause the collapse of the rear of the Soviet Armed Forces. Concerning the fate of the peoples conquered in the East, the German Eastern Ministry explained: “It is not only about the defeat of the state with its center in Moscow. Achieving this historical goal would never mean complete solution Problems. The point is, most likely, that, having defeated the Russians as a people, to divide them.
The Nazis began the fulfillment of their barbaric plans with the establishment of a cruel occupation regime in the occupied territory of the USSR, "cleansing the living space" for the Germans through the mass destruction of the Soviet population.
The war against the Nazi invaders imposed on the peoples of the USSR turned out to be the hardest and most cruel of all wars in the history of our Motherland. It became a severe test of the viability of the Soviet Union, the Great Patriotic War of the peoples of the USSR for their freedom and independence. It is the Great Patriotic War. We emphasize this assessment of the war especially, since efforts have recently been made in some circles to prove the opposite.
For this purpose, the books of the notorious V. Rezun, a former Soviet spy, a traitor, published under the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov". Although Mr. Rezun did not say anything new on the merits of the issues covered. He only deployed a long-disproved concept, which the German government officially stated in a note to the government of the USSR, and Goebbels - in the obedient mass media.
Some so-called "democratic" publications hastened not only to approve the writings of Mr. Rezun, but also went further in their rejection of the heroic struggle of the peoples of the USSR against the Nazi invaders. Addressing them, the writer V.E. Maksimov, who devoted many years to the fight against totalitarianism, wrote not so long ago: “What bright plans are you building now, when for several years now in your most liberal publications you have been procrastinating a dirty little thought about the benefits for Russia of defeat in the war with Nazi Germany? Moreover, these touching researches, as a rule, are signed by the corresponding authors. To what extent, to what extent do you need to hate the country where you live, and the people inhabiting it, in order to even forget in your pathological malice what fate is in the case Nazi victory would have awaited the half-brothers of the authors of these studies! It is difficult to say what beats in their cobwebbed hearts, except for evil pus, but, without a doubt, not the ashes of Majdanek and Auschwitz.
Such defeatist motives were absolutely alien to journalism and historical research published on the territory former USSR, including in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in pre-perestroika times. The collapse of the communist ideology and ideals caused a social crisis that had a heavy impact on morality and morality, on the perception of the history of the Fatherland. On the pages of newspapers and magazines, as a result, numerous attempts were made to deheroize the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders, and patriotism was spoken of in a derogatory sense. Moreover, those who betrayed him, having gone over to the side of the Nazis, began to be passed off as true heroes of the Fatherland. The history of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people for the freedom and independence of their homeland, for the liberation of the peoples of Europe from German enslavement began to be covered only in those aspects that provided material for exposing what was called totalitarianism and Stalinism.
After the destruction of the USSR, when the states of the so-called Commonwealth of Independent States were literally overwhelmed by interethnic conflicts, armed clashes and even wars, the stories traditional for historians of previous years about fraternal mutual assistance and military commonwealth of the peoples of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany practically disappeared from the works on the Great Patriotic War. invaders.
There is a systematic, as if planned and directed by someone, deletion from historical memory The Soviet Union and its multinational people, who became the main creators of the victory over fascism in the Second World War.
Not so long ago, on June 6, 1994, the allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition celebrated the 50th anniversary of the landing of their troops on the French coast in Normandy. Among those invited to the celebrations were monarchs, heads of state and government: the Queen of Great Britain, the King of Belgium, the President of the United States, the President of Poland ... However, neither President Yeltsin nor any of the Russian officials were among them. Among those invited there were no high-ranking representatives from any CIS state. On the Atlantic coast, the flags of 13 victorious states in World War II solemnly fluttered: the USA, England, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. But there was no place for either the flag of the USSR, or Russia, or Ukraine, or Belarus, or any other CIS state. The victorious troops marched solemnly: Americans, British, French, Canadians, Belgians, Dutch, Greeks, Poles, a battalion from Luxembourg. And - no one from Russia or from other CIS countries. It was as if they were not the ones who bore the brunt of the struggle against a whole bloc of states led by Nazi Germany on their shoulders.
The German fascist bloc was defeated in World War II as a result, as is well known, of the joint efforts of the states of the anti-Hitler coalition. However, the contribution of individual countries to the victory was not the same for various reasons. A particularly significant role in the defeat of fascist Germany and its allies was played by the Soviet Union and its historical successors, which have now become independent states. The outcome of World War II was predetermined on the Soviet-German front of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people. Here the fascist German army suffered more than 73 percent of its total losses. On the Soviet-German front, 74 percent of the artillery pieces and up to 75 percent of the tanks and assault guns that were in service with the German army as a whole were destroyed. Its losses in killed and wounded were six times greater than in the Western European and Mediterranean theaters of operations.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the Soviet Union was another victim of German aggression, it was one of the largest states, whose territory was equal to one sixth of the inhabited land. Its population, according to the latest data, has reached 200.1 million people. It was a unique community of peoples, numbering (according to the 1926 census) more than 190 ethnic units. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics included 16 union and 20 autonomous republics, 9 autonomous regions and 10 national districts - national-state formations designed to ensure the interests of large and small peoples within the framework of a single state.
Each of the republics, although history allotted an extremely limited time for this, in the pre-war years passed the path of accelerated development of industry. Illiteracy was eliminated, personnel were trained to work in the newly created sectors of the economy, science and culture. In comparison with 1913, the gross output of large-scale industry in 1940 increased, for example, in the Uzbek SSR by 7.2 times, in the Turkmen SSR by 11 times, in the Kazakh SSR by 20 times, in the Kirghiz SSR by 153 times, in the Tajik SSR by 153 times. 324 times. The USSR has become one of the largest industrial powers in the world, capable of providing its armed forces with everything necessary in the event of war.
The high level of industrial development achieved in the pre-war period, especially in the Urals, the Volga region, Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan, made it possible in these regions not only to locate and quickly put into operation hundreds of evacuated enterprises, but also to carry out new industrial construction on the scale they are. did not know in the past. The powerful economy, created by the efforts of all the peoples of the Soviet Union, became a solid foundation for victory in the Great Patriotic War, and each union and autonomous republic, each region not occupied by the enemy, became the arsenal of the front. Even in those catastrophic conditions, when a significant part of the productive forces ended up in the territory occupied by the enemy and, consequently, was lost for the country for a considerable time, the industry of the USSR was able to satisfy the basic needs of the front in all types of weapons, military equipment, equipment, and Agriculture- in food.
Thanks to the efforts of the entire multinational Soviet people, their intelligence and tireless work, the USSR won the economic confrontation with Germany in its decisive sphere - production military equipment. Although it was very difficult to achieve this. As you know, on the eve of the war, and during the war years - especially - the USSR produced the main types of industrial products much less than Germany, for example, electricity - 1.8 times, coal - 4.8, steel - 2.6 times. However, in terms of the average annual production of field artillery, the Soviet Union exceeded the average annual production of Germany by more than 2 times, mortars - 5 times, anti-tank guns - 2.6 times. While the Soviet industry in 1942-1944. monthly produced over 2 thousand tanks, the German industry only in May 1944 reached a maximum - 1450 tanks. Starting from 1943, most types of Soviet aircraft surpassed the German ones in terms of their flight performance.
The entire multinational Soviet people rose up to fight against the Nazi invaders, for the freedom and independence of their Fatherland, although the citizens of such a vast state as the USSR did not have, and could not have, an unambiguous attitude towards the system that had established itself in the country, towards what was done during, for example, collectivization and other so-called socialist transformations, especially to violations and direct violation of the rule of law and human rights under the flag of the fight against "enemies of the people". Only a few of the Soviet citizens consciously embarked on the path of cooperation with the Nazis, while the majority of those who found themselves in the camp of the enemy of their Fatherland did this under duress, when cooperation with the enemy became the only way survival. In the occupied territory, the Nazis took decisive measures to activate (and in many cases re-create) the anti-Russian factor. Often they succeeded. This was facilitated by the complexity of the ethnic structure in the USSR, exacerbated by historical vestiges, nationalist prejudices, mistakes and excesses in national politics.
During the Great Patriotic War, the defense of the USSR from the Nazi invaders became the main concern of the multinational Soviet people.
According to A.M. Sinitsin, which, as he claimed, are incomplete, during the war, citizens of the USSR submitted more than 20 million applications to military, party and Soviet organizations and institutions with a request for voluntary enlistment in the army. However, for a number of reasons (age, state of health, work at defense enterprises, etc.), not all requests were granted. The flow of volunteers to the Red Army did not dry up until the end of the war. The multinational composition was its important feature.
The movement of volunteers helped to reveal more fully and more extensively and use the vast military mobilization potential of the Soviet state in the fight against the enemy. At their expense, 78 fighter battalions of Belarus, 657 - Ukraine, over 1000 - Russian Federation, 63 - Moldova, about 40 detachments of the party and Soviet activists of Lithuania, etc. with a total number of more than 328 thousand people, of which more than 250 thousand in 1941 joined the active army. It was formed about 60 divisions of the people's militia, 200 separate regiments, big number separate battalions and companies with a total number of about 2 million fighters. Over 40 divisions of the people's militia (mainly in Moscow and Leningrad) in the summer and autumn of 1941 entered the fight against the enemy as independent formations.
Together with units of the Red Army, the militias participated in the defense of Siauliai, Obialai and other Lithuanian cities. They defended the capital of Latvia, Riga, and many settlements republics. Estonian volunteers bravely fought the enemy. The fighters of the destruction battalions and formations of the people's militia distinguished themselves in the defense of Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, Gomel, Kursk, Tula, and Moscow. Courage making up for the shortcomings of military skill, they showed stamina and courage in battles, which forced the enemy to stop and retreat.
The friendship and brotherhood of the peoples of the USSR withstood the most severe tests that the war with the Nazi invaders brought. It was attended by sons and daughters of all nationalities of our country, who were liable for military service for more than 30 ages of the most active part of the Soviet population. Each part of the Red Army was an example of the military brotherhood of soldiers of different nationalities. Yes, it could not be otherwise in a country where there were no interethnic conflicts. Fighting at the front, the soldiers realized, felt that behind them was the whole vast country, the whole multinational people.
On the battlefields and in labor for the sake of victory, the wonderful qualities inherent in the multinational Soviet people were fully revealed. The first and foremost among them is patriotism, which has become a source of steadfastness, courage and heroism, selfless service to one's Fatherland. For the worldview of the peoples of the USSR during the war years, it was characteristic, in the words of a famous poet, "the feeling of a united family." It manifested itself especially sharply in the days of the retreat of the Red Army and the abandonment of Soviet land to the enemy. The whole country helped the victims of the invaders, gave shelter to the evacuees. The scale of this assistance is incomparable to anything that has ever happened in the history of Russia or any other state.
From the Western republics and regions in 1941-1942. millions of people were evacuated, of which, for example, 268 thousand people settled in the Perm region; 124,300 people settled in the Penza region, including 54,200 children in the Kazakh SSR - about 1 million people in the Uzbek SSR - more than 1 million people, including about 200 thousands of children to accept and accommodate the huge masses of evacuees was not easy. But the local population, despite their considerable difficulties, showed sincere hospitality and fraternal participation. Wherein Special attention given to orphans. Many of them found shelter in orphanages or in families at the place of evacuation. Residents took on the upbringing of one, and sometimes several orphans. So, the Uzbek gardener from the Osh region Imin-zhun Akhmedov adopted 13 children. Shaakhmed Shamakhudov, a blacksmith from Tashkent, and his wife Bakhri adopted, adopted and raised 16 orphans, including Russians, Uzbeks, Chuvashs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Jews, and Gypsies.
Concern for Strengthening active army as one of the manifestations of patriotism gave rise to many mass movements of the peoples of the USSR. Mass became, for example, the creation of the Fund for the Defense of the Motherland. This movement arose in the early days of the war and quickly spread throughout the country, affecting all segments of the population. Sparing nothing for the defense of the Motherland, people of different nationalities handed over cash, valuables, state loan bonds to a special account of the State Bank of the USSR, made deductions from wages. Precious metals - platinum, gold, silver - came from the population in large quantities. Collective farmers contributed grain, meat, livestock, butter, milk, eggs, wool, furs, vegetables, and fruits from their personal stocks to the defense fund. Often they donated over-planned crops, the so-called "hectares of defense" with grown crops, to the defense fund.
Significant revenues to the defense fund came from subbotniks and Sundays - voluntary work of workers and employees in their free time from their main work. Huge funds were directed by the population to the construction of tank columns, squadrons of combat aircraft, artillery pieces, armored trains, warships and other formidable military equipment.
Successfully passed the subscription to the state military loans. Receipts to the fund, defense, construction of military equipment, etc. amounted to more than 118 billion rubles during the war years, or a fifth of the total expenditures from the state budget for defense in 1941-1945. Due to voluntary contributions from the population, the construction of 30,522 tanks and self-propelled artillery installations was ensured, the front received 2,565 aircraft, and many other military equipment.
Voluntary assistance to the front united the Soviet Armed Forces and the peoples of the USSR even more and brought the defeat of the fascist aggressor closer. Other types of assistance also played an important role, for example, caring for the wounded and war invalids. 5.5 million during 1941-1945 donated blood, so necessary to save the lives of the seriously wounded and reduce the time of their treatment. From all the republics, territories and regions, cities, workers' settlements and villages, gifts came to the front. Especially in large numbers they were sent for the holidays. The parcels contained basic necessities, soap, tobacco, cigarettes, and various foodstuffs. The population sent a lot of warm clothes to the front-line soldiers - short fur coats, padded jackets, sweaters, hats with earflaps, fur mittens, felt boots, etc.
During the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adequately withstood the severe tests of vitality, the strength of the bonds that bound its peoples. The regime of Stalin's personal power often gave rise to discontent, excesses in national politics, interethnic conflicts and such methods of correcting one's mistakes as criminal deportations of peoples, including during the Great Patriotic War. Yes, it was. And it caused serious damage not only to the deportees, but to the entire Soviet people. The memory of these crimes of the Stalinist regime still burdens national relations in our country.
In the history of any nation there are periods of wars and expansions. At the same time, one can single out the most warlike peoples of the world, for whom cruelty and militancy have become an integral part of their culture. Entire generations of warriors grew up, for whom battles became the main meaning of their lives. About the most famous tribes from this list - in this article.
Maori
Maori can be attributed to the most warlike peoples of the world. This is a tribe that lived in New Zealand. Its name in literal translation means "ordinary", but in reality there is nothing ordinary about them, of course. One of the first Europeans to meet the Maori was Charles Darwin. This happened during his journey on the ship "Beagle". An English scholar emphasized their unprecedented cruelty, which was especially pronounced in relation to the British and white people in general. Maori had to repeatedly fight with them for their territories.
It is believed that the Maori are autochthonous. Their ancestors arrived on the island about two thousand years ago from East Polynesia. Until the British reached New Zealand in the middle of the 19th century, the Maori had no serious rivals at all. Only from time to time there were internecine wars with neighboring tribes.
During these centuries, traditions and customs were formed, which then became characteristic of most Polynesian tribes. They are inherent in the most warlike peoples of the world. So, the heads of the prisoners were cut off, and the bodies were completely eaten. There was a way to take away the strength of the enemy. By the way, the Maori participated in two world wars, unlike the rest of the Australian Aborigines.
Moreover, during the Second World War, their representatives insisted that their own battalion be formed. There is a remarkable fact about the First World War. During one of the battles, they drove the enemy away only by performing their battle dance called haku. It happened during offensive operation on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The dance was traditionally accompanied by terrible grimaces and warlike cries, which simply discouraged the enemy, giving the Maori a significant advantage. Therefore, it is safe to call the Maori one of the most warlike peoples of the world in history.
Gurkha
Another fighting people, who also sided with Great Britain in many wars, are the Nepalese Gurkhas. They received the definition of one of the most warlike peoples in the world back in the days when their country remained a British colony.
According to the British themselves, who had to fight a lot with the Gurkhas, in battle they were distinguished by unprecedented courage, aggressiveness, physical strength, self-sufficiency, and also the ability to lower the pain threshold. Even the British army had to surrender under the pressure of the Gurkhas, armed with knives alone. As early as 1815, a full-scale campaign was launched to recruit volunteers from among the Gurkhas into the ranks of the British army. Quickly enough, they won the glory of the best soldiers in the world.
Gurkhas participated in the First and Second World Wars, the suppression of the Sikh uprising, the war in Afghanistan, as well as in the conflict between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. And today the Gurkhas remain among the elite fighters of the English army. Moreover, the competition for getting into these elite military units is simply huge: 140 people per place.
Even the British themselves have already admitted that the Gurkhas are better soldiers than they are. Perhaps because they have stronger motivation, but the Nepalese themselves claim that money has absolutely nothing to do with it. Martial art is something they can really be proud of, so they are always happy to demonstrate it and put it into practice.
Dayaks
The list of warlike peoples of the world traditionally includes Dayaks. This is an example of how even a small nation does not want to integrate into modern world, trying by any means to preserve their traditions, which may be completely far from human values and humanism.
The Dayak tribe has earned a terrible reputation on the island of Kalimantan, where they are considered bounty hunters. The fact is that, according to the customs of this people, only one who brings the head of his enemy to the tribe is considered a man. This situation among the Dayaks persisted until the beginning of the 20th century.
Literally, the name of this people is translated as "pagans". This ethnic group, which includes the peoples of the island of Kalimantan in Indonesia. Some representatives of the Dayaks still live in hard-to-reach places. For example, you can only get there by boat, most of the achievements of modern civilization are unknown to them. They preserve their ancient culture and traditions.
The Dayaks have many bloodthirsty rituals, which is why they were included in the list of warlike peoples of the world. The custom of hunting for human heads persisted for a long period, until the Englishman Charles Brooks, who came from white rajahs, managed to influence a people who knew no other way to become a man, except to chop off someone's head.
Brooks captured one of the most warlike leaders of the Dayak tribe. Using both a stick and a carrot, he managed to set all the Dayaks on a peaceful path. True, people continued to disappear without a trace after that. It is known that the last wave of massacres swept across the island in the period 1997-1999. Then all the world's news agencies reported on ritual cannibalism in Kalimantan, the games of small children with human heads.
Kalmyks
Kalmyks are considered one of the most warlike. They are descendants of Western Mongols. Their self-name is translated as "breakaway", which hints that the people never converted to Islam. Currently, most Kalmyks live in the territory of the republic of the same name.
Their ancestors, who called themselves Oirats, lived in Djungraiya. They were warlike and freedom-loving nomads, whom even Genghis Khan could not subdue. For this, he even demanded to completely destroy one of the tribes. Over time, the Oirat warriors nevertheless became part of the troops of the famous commander, and many of them intermarried with the Genghisides. So modern Kalmyks have every reason to officially consider themselves descendants of Genghis Khan.
In the 17th century, the Oirats left Dzungaria, made a great transition, reaching the Volga steppes. In 1641, Russia officially recognized the Kalmyk Khanate, after which the Kalmyks began to serve on a permanent basis in the Russian army.
There is even a version that the famous war cry "hurray" comes from the Kalmyk word "uralan", which literally means "forward" in our language. As part of the Russian army, the Kalmyks especially distinguished themselves in the Patriotic War of 1812. Three Kalmyk regiments fought against the French at once, this is about three and a half thousand people. According to the results of only one Battle of Borodino, 260 Kalmyks were awarded the highest orders of Russia.
Kurds
In world history, the Kurds are usually called among the most warlike peoples. Together with Persians, Arabs and Armenians they are ancient peoples Middle East. Initially, they lived in the ethno-geographic region of Kurdistan, which, after the First World War, was divided among themselves by several states at once: Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Today, the Kurds do not have their own legal territory.
According to most researchers, their language belongs to the Iranian group, while there is no unity among the Kurds in terms of religion. Among them are Muslims, Christians and Jews. Largely because of this, it is extremely difficult for the Kurds to agree among themselves.
This feature of this warlike people was noted by Erikson, Doctor of Medical Sciences, in his work on ethnopsychology. He also claimed that the Kurds are merciless towards their enemies and at the same time very unreliable in friendship. In reality, they respect only their elders and themselves. Their morality is at a very low level. At the same time, superstitions are very common, but the religious feeling is extremely poorly developed. War is one of their innate needs, which absorbs all their attention and interests.
Modern history of the Kurds
Note that it is difficult to judge how this thesis is applicable to today's Kurds, since Erickson conducted his research at the beginning of the 20th century. But the fact remains that the Kurds have never lived under a centralized government. As Sadrin Aleksi, a professor at the Kurdish University in Paris, notes, every Kurd considers himself a king on his own mountain, because of this they often quarrel among themselves, conflicts often arise from an absolutely empty place.
Paradoxically, with all this uncompromisingness, the Kurds most of all dream of living in centralized state. So the so-called Kurdish issue currently remains one of the most acute in the entire Middle East. Unrest regularly arises, during which the Kurds are trying to achieve autonomy by uniting in an independent state. Such attempts have been made since 1925.
The situation became especially aggravated in the mid-1990s. From 1992 to 1996, the Kurds launched a full-scale civil war in northern Iraq, now the unstable situation remains in Iran and Syria, where armed conflicts and clashes occur from time to time. At the moment, there is only one state formation of Kurds with the rights of wide autonomy - this is
Germans
It is widely believed that the Germans are a warlike people. But if you examine the facts, it turns out that this is a delusion. The reputation of Germany was greatly spoiled in the 20th century, when the Germans unleashed two world wars at once. If we take the history of mankind for a longer period, then the situation will be completely opposite.
For example, the Russian historian Pitirim Sorokin conducted an interesting study in 1938. He tried to answer the question which European countries fought more often than others. He took the period from the 12th century to the beginning of the 20th century (1925).
It turned out that in 67% of all wars that took place during this period, the Spaniards participated, in 58% - the Poles, in 56% - the British, in 50% - the French, in 46% - Russians, in 44% - the Dutch, in 36% - Italians. The Germans in 800 years took part in only 28% of the wars. This is less than any other leading state in Europe. It turns out that Germany is one of the most peaceful countries, which only in the 20th century began to show aggression and militancy.
Irish
It is believed that the Irish are a warlike people. This is a nation that descended from the Celts. Historians claim that the first people appeared on the territory of modern Ireland about nine thousand years ago. Who these first settlers were is unknown, but they left behind several megalithic structures. The Celts settled the island at the beginning of our era.
The famine of 1845-1849 became decisive in the fate of the Irish people. Due to the massive crop failure, about one million Irish people died. At the same time, from the estates that belonged to the British, all this time they continued to export grain, meat and dairy products.
The Irish emigrated en masse to the United States and overseas colonies of Great Britain. From then until the mid-1970s, Ireland's population steadily declined. In addition, the island on which the people lived was divided. Only a part became part of the Republic of Ireland, the other remained in the United Kingdom. For decades, the Irish Catholics have waged resistance against the Protestant colonists, often resorting to terrorist methods, for which the Irish are included in the top warlike nations.
IRA
Since 1916, a paramilitary group called the Irish Republican Army began to operate. Her main goal was the complete liberation Northern Ireland from British rule.
The history of the IRA began with the Easter Rising in Dublin. From 1919 to 1921, the Irish War of Independence against the British Army continued. Its result was the Anglo-Irish agreement, in which Great Britain recognized the independence of the Republic of Ireland, while retaining Northern Ireland.
After that, the IRA went underground, starting the tactics of terrorist attacks. Movement activists are constantly on buses, near British embassies. In 1984, there was an assassination attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A bomb went off at a hotel in Brighton where a Conservative conference was being held. 5 people were killed, but Thatcher herself was not injured.
In 1997, the dissolution of the IRA was announced, the order to stop the armed struggle was issued in 2005.
The warlike peoples of the Caucasus are well known in Russia. First of all, we are talking about the Vainakhs. In fact, these are modern Ingush and Chechens, who in modern history leave no less bright trace than their distant ancestors.
The Vainakhs offered heroic resistance to the armies of Genghis Khan and Timur, retreating to the mountains. Then their famous defensive architecture was built. An ideal confirmation of this is the fortresses and watchtowers of the Caucasus.
Now you know which peoples are the most warlike.
Original taken from spetsialny How many nations fought against the USSR on the side of Hitler?
Very often, the Great Patriotic War is called only an episode of the Second World War, while noting that this episode is appropriate to call the Soviet-German war. That is, the war between the Third Reich and the USSR. But who was the Soviet Union really at war with? And was it a one-on-one battle?
When liberals and other entertaining historians start shouting about senseless losses, “filled up with meat” and “drank Bavarian”, they usually like to confirm their theses about the “mediocrity and criminality” of the Soviet leadership and command by comparing the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. Like, the Red Army had more people, and all the time they were smashed, and there were more tanks, and planes and other pieces of iron-machines, and the Germans burned everything. At the same time, without forgetting, however, to tell about one “rifle for three”, “shovel handles” and the rest of the crap from the category of “Solzhenitsyn's fairy tales”.
By June 1941, on the border with the USSR, the Wehrmacht had 127 divisions, two brigades and one regiment in three army groups and the Army of Norway. These troops numbered 2 million 812 thousand people, 37099 guns and mortars, 3865 tanks and assault guns.
Together with Germany, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Italy were preparing to enter the war with the USSR.
Finland - 17.5 divisions with a total number of 340 thousand 600 people, 2047 guns, 86 tanks and 307 aircraft;
Slovakia - 2.5 divisions with a total number of 42 thousand 500 people, 246 guns, 35 tanks and 51 aircraft;
Hungary - 2.5 divisions with a total number of 44 thousand 500 people, 200 guns, 160 tanks and 100 aircraft;
Romania - 17.5 divisions with a total number of 358 thousand 100 people, 3255 guns, 60 tanks and 423 aircraft;
Italy - 3 divisions with a total number of 61 thousand 900 people, 925 guns, 61 tanks and 83 aircraft.
That is, almost a million people in 42.5 divisions, with 7,000 guns, 402 tanks, and almost a thousand aircraft. A simple calculation shows that on the Eastern Front alone, the allies of the Nazi axis, and it would be more correct to call them that, had 166 divisions, numbering 4 million 307 thousand people with 42601 pieces of artillery of various systems, as well as 4171 tanks and assault guns and 4846 aircraft.
So: 2 million 812 thousand only in the Wehrmacht and 4 million 307 thousand in total, taking into account the forces of the allies. One and a half times more. The picture is changing dramatically. Is not it?
Yes, the armed forces of the Soviet Union by the summer of 1941, when the inevitability of war became obvious, were the largest army in the world. There was actually covert mobilization. By the beginning of the war, the Soviet armed forces numbered 5,774,000 soldiers. Specifically, in the ground forces there were 303 divisions, 16 airborne and 3 rifle brigades. The troops had 117,581 artillery systems, 25,784 tanks and 24,488 aircraft.
It seems to be superior? However, all of the above forces of Germany and its allies were deployed in a direct 100 km zone along Soviet borders. While in the western districts, the Red Army had a group of 3 million people, 57 thousand guns and mortars and 14 thousand tanks, of which only 11 thousand were serviceable, as well as about 9 thousand aircraft, of which only 7.5 thousand were serviceable.
Moreover, in the immediate vicinity of the border, the Red Army had no more than 40% of this number in a more or less combat-ready state.
From the above, if you are not tired of the numbers, it clearly follows that the USSR fought not only Germany. Just like in 1812, not only France. That is, there can be no talk of any “filled up with meat”.
And so it went on for almost the entire war, until the second half of 1944, when the allies of the Third Reich fell like a house of cards.
Add here, in addition to the direct allied countries, the foreign parts of the Wehrmacht, the so-called "national SS divisions", a total of 22 volunteer divisions. During the war, 522,000 volunteers from other countries served in them, including 185,000 Volksdeutsche, that is, “foreign Germans”. The total number of foreign volunteers was 57% (!) of the Waffen-SS. Let's list them. If this tires you, then just estimate the number of lines and geography. The whole of Europe is represented, with the exception of the principalities of Luxembourg and Monaco, and that is not a fact.
1. Albania: 21st Mountain Division of the SS "Skanderbeg" (1st Albanian);
2. Belgium: 27th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division "Langemarck" (1st Flemish), 28th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Wallonia" (1st Walloon), Flemish SS Legion;
3. Bulgaria: Bulgarian anti-tank brigade of the SS troops (1st Bulgarian);
4. Great Britain: Arab Legion "Free Arabia", British Volunteer Corps, Indian Volunteer Legion SS "Free India";
5. Hungary: 17th SS Corps, 25th SS Grenadier Division Hunyadi (1st Hungarian), 26th SS Grenadier Division (2nd Hungarian), 33rd SS Cavalry Division (3rd Hungarian );
6. Denmark: 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", 34th Volunteer Grenadier Division "Landstorm Nederland" (2nd Dutch), Free Corps SS "Danmark" (1st Danish), Volunteer Corps SS "Schalburg";
7. Italy: 29th SS Grenadier Division "Italy" (1st Italian);
8. Netherlands: 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland", 23rd SS Volunteer Motorized Division "Nederland" (1st Dutch), 34th Volunteer Grenadier Division "Landstorm Nederland" (2nd Dutch) , Flemish Legion SS;
9. Norway: Norwegian SS Legion, Norwegian SS Ski Jaeger Battalion, Norwegian SS Legion, 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland";
10. Poland: Goral SS Volunteer Legion;
11. Romania: 103rd SS Tank Destroyer Regiment (1st Romanian), Grenadier Regiment of the SS Troops (2nd Romanian);
12. Serbia: Serbian SS Volunteer Corps;
13. Latvia: Latvian Legionnaires, Latvian SS Volunteer Legion, 6th SS Corps, 15th SS Grenadier Division (1st Latvian), 19th SS Grenadier Division (2nd Latvian);
14. Estonia: 20th SS Grenadier Division (1st Estonian);
15. Finland: Finnish SS Volunteers, Finnish SS Volunteer Battalion, 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland";
16. France: French SS Legionnaires, 28th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division "Wallonia" (1st Walloon), 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne" (1st French), Legion "Bezen Perrot" (recruited from the Breton nationalists);
17. Croatia: 9th SS Mountain Corps, 13th SS Mountain Division "Handzhar" (1st Croatian). 23rd SS mountain division "Kama" (2nd Croatian);
18. Czechoslovakia: Goral SS Volunteer Legion
19. Galicia: 14th SS Grenadier Division "Galicia" (1st Ukrainian).
20. Belarus: 1st and 2nd SS Grenadier Divisions, and 10 more formations from a battalion to a squadron and police units
21. Russia: 29th and 30th SS Grenadier Divisions (Russians), Russian Liberation Army (ROA) and 13 more units from corps to brigade and police units. In addition, the Udel-Ural Legion was formed, in which representatives of the peoples living on the territory of Russia fought: Bashkirs, Udmurts, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Mari), as well as the Dagestan Legion.
22. Georgia : Georgian Legion of the Wehrmacht
23-29. middle Asia: Turkestan Legion (Karachays, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kirghiz, Uighurs, Tatars)
30.Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani Legion (14 battalions)
Scandinavian 5th SS Panzer Division "Viking" - the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway;
Balkan 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prince Eugen" - Hungary, Romania, Serbia.
24th mountain rifle (cave) division of the SS "Karstjäger" - Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Galicia, Italy;
36th SS Grenadier Division "Dirlewanger" - recruited from criminals from various European countries.
Mention should also be made of "Hiwi", from the German Hilfswilliger, meaning "willing to help". These are volunteers who entered the service directly in the Wehrmacht. They served in auxiliary units. But this does not mean non-combat. For example, anti-aircraft crews for the Luftwaffe were formed from the Khiva.
The ethnic composition of the prisoners of war, who ended up in our captivity by the end of the war, speaks very eloquently about the very diverse national composition of the troops opposing the Red Army. Simple fact: Danes, Norwegians and even the French are captured on eastern front turned out to be more than participated in the resistance to the Nazis in their homeland.
And we have not even touched on the topic of the economic potential that worked for the German war machine. First of all, these are Czechoslovakia, the pre-war leader in arms production in Europe, and France. And this is artillery, small arms and tanks.
For example, the Czech arms concern Skoda. Every third german tank, which took part in the operation "Barbarossa", was produced in this company. First of all, this is the LT-35, which received the designation Pz.Kpfw in the Wehrmacht. 35(t).
Moreover, after the annexation of Czechoslovakia, German specialists discovered two new experimental LT-38 tanks in the Skoda workshops. After reviewing the drawings, the Germans decided to put the tank into service and began its serial production.
The production of these tanks went on almost until the end of the war, only from the end of 1941 they began to be produced as a base for German self-propelled guns. More than half of the German self-propelled guns had a Czech base.
The French, in turn, provided the Germans with their ship repair facilities. German submarines, the threat to the Atlantic convoys of the Allies, the so-called "Dönitz Wolf Packs", were based and undergoing repairs on the southern coast of France and in Middle-earth near Marseilles. Moreover, ship repair brigades arranged competitions for the one who would repair the boat faster. Doesn't sound like forced labor, does it?
So with whom did the USSR fight in the Great Patriotic War? The answer is this: with military units formed from representatives of at least 32 nationalities and peoples of the world.
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