VI. The World Wars and the Interwar Period, 1914–1945 > C. Europe, 1919–1945 > 16. Russia (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) > 1940, July 21
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1940, July 21
 
Incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union after Moscow, with German aid, had secured military bases in those countries (ultimatums of June 15, 16, charging hostile activities), had occupied them militarily, and had arranged for pro-Soviet administrations to request admittance to the Soviet Union.  1
 
1941, April 13
 
THE SOVIET UNION AND JAPAN CONCLUDED A NEUTRALITY PACT.  2
 
June 22
 
GERMAN ARMIES INVADED THE SOVIET UNION WITHOUT WARNING (See 1941, June 22).  3
Some of the most bloody battles occurred in the Soviet Union. Leningrad underwent a two-and-a-half-year siege, virtually cut off from the rest of the country; its population was decreased from 4 million to 2.5 million by starvation, disease, and war. In some areas like the Baltics, Belarus, and Ukraine the Nazi invaders had been greeted as liberators, but their treatment of the inhabitants soon destroyed that support. Throughout the war, however, government control remained effective, and morale did not break on the home front. With the war against the Nazis hailed later as the Great Patriotic War, Soviet victory came at a tremendous price: the estimated loss of population was 20 million, of which 7 million were military fatalities.  4
 
Sept
 
Russian agricultural supplies were seriously reduced by the loss of Ukraine and the North Caucasus region, for these areas had produced half the Soviet wheat and pork output. The grave deficiency was met in part after Sept. 1942 by increasing the shipments of canned meats, butter, fats, oils, dehydrated fruits, and vegetables from the U.S. By July 1943 the Soviet Union had received 15 million tons of foodstuffs under this arrangement.  5
 
 
 
The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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