Figure 1.--We don not have details on this photogrph other than it was taken in 1945. It looks like Red Army soldier retuning home at the end of the War. It is not clear if the little boy was his son. Asin the Western Allied countris, the Red Army soldiers returbed home as heros. We wonder if the insignia on his cap is from the Red Air Force. A reader tells he also believes the man is a Red Air Force office, presumably a pilot.

The impact of World War I and World War II were very different. World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history. Some 16 million people were killed. There is no precise account. Many authors have addressed the topic of the impact of World War I on Britain and France. The British lost less than 1 million men, the French more than a million. These casulaties had profound social and political impacts. They left France unable to effectively resist Hitler and nearly had the same impact on Britain. Many in both countries as well as America came to believe that the War a huge mistake launched by war profiteers and no important issues were involved. The Russians lost even more, more than 2 million people, the exact number is not well documented. The losses were a factor in the rise of the Bolshevicks. World War II was even more deadly. Britain might have had the same fate as the French, were it not for the Channel and inspired leadership of Winston Churchill. Thus the question of how the Soviet losses of so many must have had huge impact on the Soviets. And added to that was the enormous number of people that Stalin had killed even before the War. I have never read, however, a detailed assessment of the impact. Many in Russia today hate Stalin, but many including young people revere him as a great leader. Thus any assessment of the impact of these terrible events is not an easy topic. The impact of World War II was very different than World War I. Most people in Allied nations saw it as a vital war with real values at stakes. Industrilists were seen as heroes and not war profiteers. Soviet losses were enormous, perhaps some 25 million people, again not well documented. Thematerial losses were incalcuable, but thanks to the Russian counter-offensive before Moscow (December1941), mostly ocurred outside of the Russian hearland. Stalin was seen as a hero among the Soviet prople even though he oversaw an alliance with Hitler that made the war possible. And the Red Army victory brought enormous prestige to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union has a long sad history of totalitarian oppression, both within and outside its borders. Know wht Hitler and the NAZIs planned, however, the Great Patriotic War is widely seen as the great achievementb of the Soviet Union. The returning soldiers were greeted as heos. It solidified Stalin and the Communist hold on the Soviet UInion. Most Soviets hoped that their huge effort to defeat the NAZIs would mean aelaxation of totalitarian rule. This proved to be a misplaced hope. Only with the death of Stalin did police state rule begin to relax somewhat.

Created: 5:11 AM 3/29/2005
Last updated: 4:28 PM 3/23/2016