DOI: 10.20535/2307-5244.49.2019.189560
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University
The article deals with the political and military mechanisms of World War II,
the most devastating catastrophe in human history. The events of these tumultuous
years have long become history, but they continue to affect the minds and
feelings of contemporaries. Besides, the proposed topic pertains to the field of
active scientific discourse and remains a problem in current scientific research.
The authors sought to demonstrate the broad geopolitical context of the events
and processes that preceded the war, to analyze their background, secret diplomacy,
and political confrontation of the world’s leading countries. The publication
presents the global and strategic plans of the world’s leading politicians. The
authors attempted to answer the most disturbing questions in the history of the
twentieth century: why did the Versailles-Washington system fail? What implications
for peace and security the various political and diplomatic instruments,
signed between Nazi Germany, the USSR, and the Western countries, had? Why
has the international collective security system failed? Were Stalin and Hitler
convinced allies in the early stages of World War II? The article is the result of
original research and comprehensive content analysis, with references to various
scientific sources and valuable historiographical publications. Based on the
principles of science and historicism, a comparative analysis of significant scientific
publications has been carried out.
Discarding the historiographical stereotypes of the Soviet era, the authors
critically evaluate contemporary interpretations of the war events. The western
historical narratives were considered in this article. The publication attempted
to provide a panoramic view on the very complex and contradictory pages of international
relations of the 1930s, the main actors of which were Germany, Italy,
the USSR, England, and France. An attempt has been made to find alternative
historical events to those that caused an outbreak of World War II.
The authors conclude that there was a real opportunity to preserve peace
and prevent Nazi aggression in the pre-war years. Based on undeniable political
and legal facts, the article presents new perspectives on international events.
An important task of this publication is to remind contemporaries of events that
should not be forgotten in order to make the twenty-first century happier than
the red twentieth century.
Keywords: Second World War, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Munich Agreement,
Versailles-Washington system, League of Nations, Kremlin Dictator, Collective
Security System, International Relations.
