page_title: History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953) / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Information added by Wikimedia users.Deutsch: Gemeinsame Militärparade der Wehrmacht und der Roten Armee in Brest am Ende des Polenfeldzugs. V.l.n.r: Generalleutnant Mauritz von Wiktorin, General der Panzertruppen Heinz Guderian und Generalmajor Semjon Kriwoschein. English: Common parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest at the end of the Invasion of Poland. At the center Major General Heinz Guderian and Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein. Cropped version of the following image: File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-121-0011A-22, Polen, Siegesparade, Guderian, Kriwoschein.jpg. Polski: Wspólna Defilada Wehrmachtu i Armii Czerwonej Brześć 1939, Heinz Guderian, Semyon Krivoshein Русский: совместный парад вермахта и РККА в Бресте 22 сентября 1939 года. На трибуне - генерал-лейтенант Мориц фон Викторин, генерал танковых войск Гейнц Гудериан и комбриг Семён Моисеевич Кривошеин (слева направо). Українська: Спільний парад Вермахту і Червоної армії у Бресті 22 вересня 1939. На трибуні (зліва направо) - генерал-лейтенант Моріц фон Вікторин, генерал танкових військ Гейнц Гудеріан і комбриг Семен Мойсейович Кривошеїн.
context_page_description: The history of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953 covers the period in Soviet history from the establishment of Stalinism through victory in the Second World War and down to the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. He sought to destroy his enemies while transforming Soviet society with aggressive economic planning, in particular a sweeping collectivization of agriculture and rapid development of heavy industry. Stalin consolidated his power within the party and the state and fostered an extensive cult of personality. Soviet secret-police and the mass-mobilization Communist Party served as Stalin's major tools in molding Soviet society. Stalin's methods in achieving his goals, which included party purges, political repression of the general population, and forced collectivization, led to millions of deaths: in Gulag labor camps and during famine.
  World War II, known as "the Great Patriotic War" by Soviet historians, devastated much of the USSR, with about one out of every three World War II deaths representing a citizen of the Soviet Union. After World War II, the Soviet Union's armies occupied Eastern Europe, where they established or supported Communist puppet governments.
context_section_description: Stalin arranged the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany on August 23, along with the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement to open economic relations. A secret appendix to the pact gave Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia and Finland to the USSR, and Western Poland and Lithuania to Nazi Germany. This reflected the Soviet desire of territorial gains.
  Following the pact with Hitler, Stalin in 1939-40 annexed half of Poland, the three Baltic States, and Northern  Bukovina and Bessarabia in Romania. They no longer were buffers separating the USSR from German areas, argues Louis Fischer. Rather they facilitated Hitler's rapid advance to the gates of Moscow.
  Propaganda was also considered an important foreign relations tool. International exhibitions, the distribution of media such as films, e.g.: Alexander Nevski, as well as inviting prominent foreign individuals to tour the Soviet Union, were used as a method of gaining international influence and encouraging fellow travelers and pacifists to build popular fronts.
caption: Common parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest at the end of the Invasion of Poland. At the center Major General Heinz Guderian and Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein
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