Victory In World War Research Articles

History as a weapon: narratives and propaganda in the Russo-Ukrainian war

The Russian-Ukrainian war highlights the role of historical memory as a tool for shaping public sentiment and legitimizing political action. This study investigates how historical narratives are used in the information war between Russia and Ukraine, and the means employed to manipulate historical memory. Through content analysis of scientific literature and data synthesis, the research reveals how the Kremlin regime re-appropriates historical concepts, particularly the history of Rus' and the victory in World War II, to promote a distorted historical memory and justify its aggressive policies. The selective presentation of historical facts, coupled with the active dissemination of manipulated information through digital technologies, underscores the destructive potential of historical memory as a weapon in modern hybrid warfare. Special emphasis is placed on the history of Rus, which in modern Russian propaganda is understood in accordance with the old Soviet paradigms. Another important aspect is the mythologised idea of victory in the Second World War. The conclusions indicate that Russian propaganda selectively presents historical facts, focusing on selected events, which contributes to the formation of distorted historical memory.

Preservation of the seed collection during the Great Patriotic War

The article examines the historically significant period of N.I. Vavilov’s activities and his team in conducting 108 expeditions and collecting plant seeds in more than 1000 countries worldwide. By 1940, the collection was the largest in the world. Vavilov’s research aimed to study the genetic potential of seeds, establish centers of origin for wild and cultivated plants, their role in human practical activities, and the formation and replenishment of the collection initiated before the revolution by the founders of applied botany. Additionally, the article analyzes the challenging periods experienced by the collection, such as the formation of Soviet Russia, the Siege of Leningrad, and participation in the restoration of the devastated agriculture after Victory in World War II. Special attention is paid to the involvement of employees of the Federal Research Center “N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources” (VIR) in preserving the collection during the Siege of Leningrad. The practical application of the research results lies in understanding the importance of preserving plant genetic resources for food security and sustainable development of rural regions. The publication emphasizes not only the historical value of the seed collection but also its contemporary significance as an important resource for scientific research and practical use in agriculture. The scientific article also highlights the heroic efforts of VIR employees, who endured the harsh conditions of the Siege of Leningrad but continued to carefully preserve plant seeds, contributing to the survival and revival of agriculture in our homeland. The dedication and professionalism of the employees to the cause are underscored. Thus, the article reveals the historical and practical significance of the VIR seed collection, an important national genetic resource that continues to serve the goals of agricultural science and practice.

A Kingdom of Possibility

A Kingdom of Possibility

Политико-правовые принципы борьбы с фальсификацией истории (на примере битвы за Кавказ)

The article is devoted to countering the falsification of the national history of the state and law, in particular the Great Patriotic War on the example of the battle for the Caucasus. This topic still needs careful study, as new facts about it appear, and modern events are largely due to the events of those years. This makes it possible to reveal the interdependence of the domestic and foreign policy of our country and to debunk fabrications aimed at rehabilitating Nazism and belittling the role of the Soviet Union and its peoples in achieving victory in World War II. The author proposes, using the legal potential of the amendment made to the text of our Constitution - Art. 67.1, in the name of ensuring the protection of historical truth, not to allow the significance of the feat of the people in the defense of the Fatherland to be diminished and in this matter for legal purposes to use the possibilities of sanctions of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to those who deny the facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and spread false information about the Great Patriotic War, its events and its characters.

Memorial Exhibit for Ralph Scott Showcases Ship Plan

Scott, 80, who joined the ECU library faculty in 1971 and was rare books curator in October 2022 at the time of his death, had a love for North Carolina history and ships. Some of Scott’s research culminated in his 2017 book, The Wilmington Shipyard: Welding a Fleet for Victory in World War II. He started the now-completed exhibit, which focuses on 1800s shipbuilder William Webb and the 380-foot vessel Dunderberg, commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1862. After Scott’s death, Barricella, the library’s head of digital collections, emerged as project leader and worked with maritime studies graduate students Katelyn Rollins and Kendra Ellis from the Department of History.

Human Rights, Non-Human Rights, and Multinational Corporation in the Global Age: H Rights Paper 2022 No.3

Abstract In the age of globalization few elements of the legal atmosphere are viewed with such universal public favor as is the guarantee of Human Rights. The advent of such guarantees is almost uniformly viewed as a mark of human progress, as conferring a positive benefit, as providing necessary relief from want or redress for wrongs of oppression. However, there are multiple ways to view the substance and employment of the Human Right as a source of legal remedy and as instrument of legal oversight. In a general way the idea of Human Rights follows on a long history of rights variously conceived, a history that extends back to the medieval or even the ancient period of the Western tradition. But the instrument employed today is, in fact, a modern innovation of very recent origin. In nascent form it first began to emerge in the interwar period within the British system when it was changing from an imperial to a commonwealth structure of legal oversight. Very soon it was also employed as the legal basis for British entry into the European War of 1939 against Germany. It re-emerged on a worldwide scale after the Allied Victory in World War II, especially at the Nuremberg Trials. it then became integral to a post-war program to construct a stable system of world order--as it was enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Examining the historical context in which Human Rights were first conceived helps in understanding their original composition. Viewing them in relation to the multinational corporation makes it possible to understand their global importance in a twenty-first century Rule of Law.

Conceptualizing the Central-Eastern European Memory Wars Through Mechanisms of Reciprocal Incitement

This article provides a framework through which to understand the emergence of the Central-Eastern European memory wars as a reciprocal process of illiberal inter-state signaling. It draws on a discursive and policy analysis of state and state-affiliated actors to capture the chain of mnemonic interactions that has facilitated a self-perpetuating cycle of reciprocal incitement in Central-Eastern Europe. I argue that Russia’s victory cult—the set of Russian discourses, rituals, practices, and policies associated with the mass remembrance of Soviet victory in World War II—emerged and developed not just parallel to but in direct, continual conversation with the mnemonic rhetoric and policies of Central-Eastern European states, with fateful consequences for the civil societies of Russia and its neighbors. I conclude by charting the expansion of the memory wars from Central-Eastern Europe to Western audiences and by outlining the mnemonic and policy implications of this broader conflict.

Женское лицо войны в прозе современных британских писательниц

The contribution of British women to the victory in World War II was great: unmarried women under 30 were mobilized to Women’s Auxiliary Service, to work in industries and in the so-called Land Army. During the Blitz –a period of intense bombing of London and other British cities in 1940–1941–women worked in voluntary teamsclearing rubble, in ambulances and in hospitals. Descriptions of the bombed, burning city are numerous in the books of writers who witnessed the war (G.Greene, E.Bowen, and others). The war changed the everyday life of British women and their social roles drastically. The life of women in the wartime London is described in M. Spark’s novel The Girls of Slender Means(1963), but in subsequent years the topic was not much discussed in literature. The return of British literature to national history took place at the end of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the wartime women’s life and fight is reflected in the following novels by contemporary women writers: S.Waters The Night Watch, K.Atkinson Life after Life, E.Healey Elizabeth is Missing, K.Morton The Secret Keeper, and others. All the novels are based both on wartime documents (witnesses’ diaries and memoirs) and on literary tradition. Each of the writers describes the heroic struggle of women during the Blitz and their everyday life; wartime daily life and its constituents acquire a symbolic, even ideological meaning. The novels analyze similar themes and problems, but the writers use different points of view and narrative techniques. S. Waters uses reverse com-position, her characters are marginal from the point of view of public morals. K.Atkinson’s novel is a com-plex postmodern narration where numerous plotlines are interwoven. E.Healey mostly relies on memory games, while K.Morton uses popular literature techniques. Two categories –memory and history –are em-ployed in all the novels to show and to reconstruct the role of British women in the WWII victory.

The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects by Brandon M. Schechter (review)

Reviewed by: The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects by Brandon M. Schechter Gwendal Piégais (bio) Brandon M. Schechter, The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019). 315 pp., ill. Index. ISBN: 978-1-5017-3979-8. Most historians agree that the Soviet victory in World War II owed much to precise technical and material choices: above all the choice of weapons and devices that would be robust, easily manageable, and replaceable. In the book under review, Brandon M. Schechter goes further. Using ethnographic and anthropological methodology, he aims to analyze the experience of war through objects, from which he reveals the duties and obligations of a soldier toward the state and vice versa, as well as the bonds built between soldiers. By doing so he deepens our knowledge of the mechanism of Soviet victory and the regime's consolidation. In this history, based on a vast array of sources ranging from military orders, manuals, and reports to diaries and oral testimonies, objects are considered as the medium for communicating information concerning a variety of pragmatic and symbolic problems (P. 3). The progression of the chapters [End Page 283] follows the men's metamorphosis into warriors. Thus, the first part of the book starts from the army's most elementary resource, the soldier's body, moves the focus to military uniforms, stripes, and medals, and then to what the soldier eats. In the second part, Schechter addresses two elementary dimensions of the soldier's life: shelters and dwellings at the front, and his weapons. Finally, in the third part, the author draws our attention to the ordinary and extraordinary objects in a soldier's life, from letters to relatives, to booty and trophies taken from enemy territory. From June to December 1941, the Red Army lost more than 3.1 million men (killed, captured, or missing), and 5.6 million men of draft age were left behind enemy lines. In 1943, an infantry regiment had a loss rate of 243 percent (P. 21). Chapter 1 looks at the resources that had to be remobilized to constantly re-create the Red Army: men and material. A group of individuals had to be equipped and transformed into coherent groups of fighters capable of handling weapons – to build what has been called in the U.S. Army a primary group of soldiers. But the Soviet leadership oscillated between distrust and a desire to control the mass of soldiers: even if the commanders tended to prioritize experience and competence over the class origins of men, they were still concerned with the men's geographical origins, especially if they came from the occupied territories where they had relatives (P. 35). The army also continued to assert full ownership of the soldiers' bodies, as clearly expressed in orders 270 (August 16, 1941) and 227 (July 28, 1942) forbidding them to surrender or retreat. After all, commanders retained a great deal of discretionary power in their struggle against desertion, for which they prosecuted 376,000 soldiers (P. 38). The Red Army was in constant tension between the need to maintain a unit's cohesion and the understanding of a soldier as a dispensable resource (P. 42). In chapter 2, Schechter moves on to the aesthetic and symbolic reform in the Red Army that affected the design of banners and uniforms and introduced shoulder straps (pogony) instead of collar tabs. Taking an ethnographic approach, Schechter reads these innovations as a text deserving as much attention as archival documents (P. 50), which communicated a certain identity that the Soviet state attempted to forge. The significance of this wholesale rebranding was underscored by its timing between October 1942 and January 1943, when the Red Army was retreating and suffering terrible casualties. The textile industry was out of stock and it had to allocate additional resources for switching to the production of newly designed uniforms for the entire army. According to Schechter, [End Page 284] in this case, symbolism took precedence over pragmatic concerns (P. 59). For Stalin, pogony symbolized order and discipline and invoked the history...

Totalitarianism and Ukrainian Literature: Traumatic Memory and Revelation of the Past

The article highlights the topic of totalitarianism in Ukrainian literature, in particular, shows the traumatic memory and exposure of the past, which is interpreted differently by writers of different generations. Particular attention is paid to the causes of totalitarianism in Europe after the World War I and its impact on modern post-totalitarian cultures. Such cultures include primarily Ukrainian. Numerous social protests, revolutions, the war in Donbass are not so much the consequences of geopolitical conflicts as permanent attempts to return to the Ukrainian identity, to express national traumas, to identify cultural and human losses, which did not happen immediately after the collapse of the USSR. The problem of totalitarianism is also key in determining the specifics of its modern literary interpretation, because most works of art, which to varying degrees appeal to the reconstruction of the past, for the first time clearly verbalize those relevant topics that are still inconvenient and provoke misunderstandings among Ukrainians themselves.
 Today Ukrainian literature demonstrates a double stance against the totalitarian past. First, we read in it a steady protest against the socialist-realist heritage, embodied in the long search for inherent forms of artistic self-expression; secondly, modern Ukrainian literature resorted to a total revision of the consequences of cultural stagnation provoked by the experience of many years of totalitarian terror.
 The article reveals the connections between this regime and the art of speech, in particular the birth of the pseudo-artistic literary trend of the time - social realism. The author analyzes the peculiarities of the use of literature as a tool of propaganda. In addition, one of the main problems of modern research is the modern ways of artistic rethinking and the process of elaboration of totalitarian experience. In particular, it is about the cultural trauma of oppressed peoples in the Soviet period, which is related to human rights and freedoms, concentration camps, desecration of the myth of victory in World War II, denial of God, etc., which affects the behavior of modern societies and often provokes unpredictable in European politics.

Why America’s Army Can’t Win America’s Wars

Since achieving victory in World War II, the United States military has a less than enviable combat record in irregular warfare. Through a detailed historical analysis, this article provides perspective on where past decisions and doctrines have led to defeat and where they may have succeeded if given more time or executed differently. In doing so, it provides lessons for future Army engagements and argues that until America becomes proficient in irregular warfare, our enemies will continue to fight us at the lower levels of the spectrum of conflict, where they have a good chance of exhausting our will to fight.

Industri Pertahanan Prancis dan Inggris Dalam Penguatan Aliansi Kekuatan Militer pada Perang Dunia I

World War I took place on the European continent between the Allies and the Central powers. In this war, the warring parties did not only rely on the troops quantity, but also their own technology. In addition, both sides had maximally empowered their strategic industries in building military forces for war. The article identifies the factors that supported the victory of France and Britain in World War I, thus encouraging the development of war technology and strategic industry which continues to present day. In that arena, France and Britain had the upper hand in the use of technology and industrial support for war. The theories used for this discussion are Carl von Clausewitz's theory of war, Morgenthau's balance of power theory, Liddell Hart's strategy theory and the theory of revolution in military affairs. The discussion was carried out using qualitative methods with an exploratory and historical approach which ultimately showed that the Allied defense industry had so far gained technological advantage from the influence of the victory in World War I.

Maly Traścianiec in the Context of Current Narratives on the Holocaust in the Republic of Belarus

This article examines the current memorialisation of the Holocaust in Belarus through the example of the Maly Traścianiec camp, established by the Nazi occupation regime just outside Minsk. It traces the changing interpretations of the site’s history, from neglect of its Holocaust dimension to a partial recognition of this in the past few years and the establishment of two significant memorials, opened in Maly Traścianiec (2015) and Blahaŭščyna Forest (2018). Building on previous studies, it asks whether Belarus may finally recognise the transnational nature of the Holocaust and Maly Traścianiec as a key component of the Holocaust in Belarus. Such recognition may eventually change the government’s longstanding focus on victory in World War II as the founding stone of modern Belarus.

Beckett's Molloy, the Promise of Youth, and the Postwar

This paper argues that Samuel Beckett's Molloy charts the historical transition of the postwar moment in generational terms – terms that themselves had real historical significance in the years immediately following the Allied victory in World War II – ultimately, and uncharacteristically, advancing a youthful figure of promise in young Jacques Moran, Jr. Though Beckett is much more commonly read as an allegorist of existential ambivalence – if not despair – I contend that his first postwar novel must properly be understood as staging history in its confused, agonistic, and frustrating family dynamics. Beckett's rendering of authority, history, and hierarchy in terms of perversion, queerness, and sterility ultimately preserves a futurity centred not precisely on the child per se, but on the emergent figure of the adolescent – the teenager, even, I will venture to claim – avant la lettre: Jacques Moran, Jr.

Молодежь Кыргызстана и ее историческая память о Великой Победе

Presented are results of a sociological study (qualitative comparative analysis of in-depth interviews) in the historical memory of Kyrgyzstan young citizens as one of participating states of Eurasian integration, namely, their ideas about World War II and formation of historical memory, as well as understanding and interpretation of integration processes between countries of NIS. For the Soviet Union citizens, the victory in World War II was not just a socio-historical milestone. Social time is a key element in formation of historical memory. It is interesting how the social time of historical events can be interpreted quite subjectively in a given community. Since the Victory was the most important event in the history of the Soviet Union, it can be assumed that historical memory of the war serves as a social link of integration processes. Therefore, the study of descendants historical memory of the victors in the Great Patriotic War becomes an interesting and scientifically urgent task. The specificity of this study was the methodology based on the use of a qualitative comparative analysis of results of in-depth interviews of Kyrgyzstan young citizens. More than 400 persons were interviewed using a non-random sample, and no less than 50 informants from each group, selected by the snowball method. The empirical object of research is the youth of the Kyrgyzstan Republic, belonged to the generation of “millennials” and “postmillennials” (18–38 years old). The historical memory of the Great Victory is largely connected with today’s ideas about the Eurasian integration of the NIS. Although it would seem that the content of the social memory of young people does not have a direct impact on the process of Eurasian integration, but as a potential force, it can spontaneously manifest itself in public life, or under certain conditions and the presence of an organized force, it can be included in the socio-political discourse.

Issues of the international image of Russia in the modern world

The image of the country and its perception in the world is one of the most important directions in the politics of modern states. Modern Russia is a country with a controversial image, and today serious debates are raging around this issue in the scientific community. In this article, we will consider issues related to the perception of the image of Russia in the post-bipolar period. Russia, which has a rich history and geopolitical ambitions, is perceived ambiguously today, for some it is an aggressor country, a patron of undemocratic regimes, and for others it is a state that can challenge the hegemony of the United States. The modern image of the country is based on the basis that the Soviet Union formed. As Joseph Nye once noted, the image was associated with victory in World War II, space exploration, and achievements in sports. Modern attacks on Russia are connected with these issues, an active campaign is being conducted to reassess the results of the Second World War, monuments to Soviet soldiers are being demolished in Eastern Europe, their graves are being desecrated, Russia is being accused of using doping in sports, and the anthem was banned at the Olympic Games. Key words: Russia, Soft power, image, perception, propaganda, Crimea, Putin, regime.

Memory Wars on the Silver Screen: Ukraine and Russia Look Back at the Second World War

In post-communist Russia the state has been supporting the production of historical films reflecting the official politics of memory, in which primacy is given to the victory in World War II. Often filmed in Ukraine, where the national cinema industry was nearly extinct until recently, these films project an imperial stereotype of modern Ukrainian identity as a fake and Ukrainian patriots as traitors. In contrast, the Ukrainian patriotic war narrative has only been reflected in straight-to-DVD films celebrating the nationalist insurgency. This article focuses on three recent films: two Russian films set in Ukraine during the war, which caused protests in Ukraine, and the first full-length Ukrainian war film to receive mass distribution, Mykhailo Illienko’s Firecrosser (2012), interpreted here as an attempt to merge Soviet historical mythology with the Ukrainian one.

ПАМЯТЬ О ВТОРОЙ МИРОВОЙ ВОЙНЕ КАК ФАКТОР СОВРЕМЕННЫХ АМЕРИКАНО-КИТАЙСКИХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ

This article explores how the memory of World War II affects contemporary US-China relations. Despite the fact that both of these coun- tries were in the camp of the victorious powers, actively cooperated in the fight against a common enemy – Japan, and seemed to have retained the warmest memories of their “fighting brotherhood”, the study of their memorial prac- tices leads to much less optimistic conclusions. In the PRC, the memory of the Second World War up to the 1990s was deliberately removed from the socio-political discourse. Then, as part of the transition from the communist to the nationalist ideology, the interest in the events of the war years increased, but they were interpreted in a spirit of victimization, with an emphasis on the sufferings endured by the Chinese people as a result of external aggression. To- day, the memory of World War II is being used in China to underpin an active foreign policy, which is considered to be aimed at preventing the repetition of the terrible tragedies of the past. For Americans, victory in World War II was originally a symbol of the transformation of the United States into a Pacific power, a rationale for regional leadership. Until China claimed the same role, the memory of US-Chinese military cooperation could be used as a diplomatic tool; it was also possible to talk about the “foundation of friendship” on which bilateral relations were based. Today, this technique no longer works, a com - mon victory does not bring the United States and China closer, but drives them apart dragging the countries to the opposite sides of the barricades.

Long echo of the soviet-japanese war 1945

The author writes about the inadmissibility of revising the main results of the Second World War, the consequences of which are really felt in the 21st century. On the role of the USSR in the Victory in World War II. About the factual non-recognition by Japan of the results of World War II. About the reasons for the lack of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan so far. On the existence of territorial contradictions between our states. On linking Japan with the problem of concluding a peace treaty with territorial claims against Russia. On opposing views on the history of the conclusion, observance and annulment of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact of 1941. On attempts to blame the USSR for the ''unlawful'' entry into the war against Japan in 1945. Why is this happening, why Japan never attacked the USSR during the Second World War, what are the results of the war and what are their consequences, this article is devoted to the consideration of these fundamentally important issues.

Seeds of Hatred and Destruction: A Critical Analysis of Adolf Hitler’s Anti-Semitic Worldview

The paper is twofold: to examine Hitler's time spent as a drifter and vagabond artist between 1907 to 1913 and illuminate influences which contributed to Hitler's anti-Semitic worldview; and relate Hitler's hatred and contempt for Jews to his military service and the end of World War I, and demonstrate how his hatred and contempt for Jews and Marxists contributed to the start of his political career. This work will focus on Hitler's time spent in Vienna before the war, fighting in the trenches at the Western Front, recovering from injuries sustained from a mustard attack in a Bavarian hospital, and his reactions to seeing civilians profiting from the War coupled with their lack of continued support towards a German victory in World War I. It will also look at Hitler's military duties working as political spy and barracks informer and his entry in party politics in Germany.