70 years ago, on September 2, 1945, the Second World War ended World War. On the battleship Missouri, Japan signed the Act of unconditional surrender" About the most destructive war many books have been written and scientific works. But two questions still cause controversy among historians. This is a question about the real human losses of the countries participating in the war and the question about the real hour of the beginning global catastrophe. Kazakh researcher, associate professor Vladimir Oskolkov offers his vision of the problem.

World War II began in 1931

— If we count according to official data, then total losses V last war amounted to more than 76 million people,” says the scientist. - If you take my point of view - much more. Judge for yourself. In 1931, Japan invades Manchuria and within a few months seizes territory larger than France, seizes it from China, installs a puppet government and creates a base for further expansion in Asia. Now, if effective sanctions had been introduced against Japan then, if classical democracies and everyone who stood for peace had come to the aid of the victim of aggression, international development, in my opinion, it would be different.

It was there, on the rails of Mukden, that the train that led humanity to disaster started moving.

To certain forces in the West, primarily the British, it seemed that they were solving their imperial problems by encouraging all these actions of Japan and pushing it to the North.

And in 1933, Japan invaded other provinces of China. In 1935, aggression expanded, and two years later a large-scale war against China began. However, even in 1937 the British did not believe that Japan was at war. They called it "action". And since this is just an “action”, no Hague Conventions were applied there.

In this “action”, for example, no prisoners were taken Chinese soldiers, they were shot on the spot. It is said that in World War II chemical weapon was not used, but in China the Japanese used it more than 530 times. They also used bacteriological weapons.

The Japanese also conducted “experiments” to reduce the Chinese population in the Canton area.

They brought people to an area of ​​25 by 30 kilometers and left them without food, water or medicine. They were starving to death. It is unknown how many people have gone through this...

Beginning of hostilities in Manchuria, 1931

According to established terminology, World War II began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland. But let's ask ourselves: China was a member anti-Hitler coalition or wasn't it? Was. So when did the war start? According to currently accepted definitions, World War II began after the major political players of the time took part in it. This theory is quite Eurocentric and we, living in Asia, need to overcome it, but this is quite difficult and requires considerable time.

Up to 35 million people died in China! What this country has suffered big losses and the fact that these losses are the earliest and most significant in the time period is an indisputable fact.

But this fact was not recognized (and is still recognized “through gritted teeth”) by Western countries. We must not forget that at that time it was the West that was the “center of the world” and what was happening on the periphery was not very interesting to the “central” countries.

Italian invasion of Abyssinia, 1935

In Abyssinia, approximately a third of the population was destroyed. But there has never been an official census in the country, so there is no accurate data.

Or another question. When did World War II begin for Czechoslovakia? The German attack on Poland in 1939 or the German attack on Czechoslovakia in 1938?

Archives of the war years are not available to us

The outbreak of World War II was not a one-time act. It was a process. Humanity was crawling into this war. They didn’t stop the Japanese in 1931 - new Japanese aggressions followed, followed by Italian aggression in Abyssinia, German and Italian aggression in Spain, the Anschluss of Austria, the division of Czechoslovakia... And many “uncomfortable” questions still arise.

And this explains why key documents from the captured archives captured by the Americans at Hitler's last headquarters in Thuringia are still inaccessible to historians.

What's secret in these archives? No one, not even American historians, is allowed to look there. For example, one cannot find a record of Hess’s conversations with US First Deputy Secretary of State Welles, who, on Roosevelt’s instructions, traveled to Europe in February-March 1940 in the hope of concluding, if not peace, then an armistice between Germany, France and England in order to Western countries, with the blessing of the United States, came out together in defense of Finland against the USSR.

Soviet soldiers stand on the banks of the Songhua River in Harbin. The occupied city was liberated on August 20, 1945

Finally, we must identify the main promoters of war. The British, for example, prevented the consideration of the Chinese request in the League of Nations to condemn Japanese aggression. They removed this issue from the agenda. A Brussels conference of states interested in discussing events in the Far East was convened. The USSR and the USA participated in this conference. The United States took a curious position there: they were not ready to either condemn the aggressor or sympathize with the victim of aggression. American Ambassador recommended resolving the conflict “on the basis political decision" So, if we begin to periodize the war from 1931, then responsibility for humanity’s descent into this catastrophe would fall on those who condoned it or did not interfere.

Why is this important? Here are the statistics. Out of 28 international crises 20th century, where it was not used international diplomacy, 23 ended in wars. And the picture is completely different where the disputing parties sat down at the negotiating table: 68 crises were resolved through diplomacy and only three resulted in wars.

Losses in World War II

Countries of the Anti-Hitler Coalition:

USSR - 27 million people.

France – 600 thousand people

Belgium – 86 thousand people.

Great Britain – 450 thousand people.

Luxembourg – 2 thousand people.

Netherlands – 246 thousand people.

Denmark – 3.2 thousand people.

Poland – 6 million people.

Yugoslavia – 1.7 million people.

Albania – 28 thousand people.

Greece – 300 thousand people.

China – 35 million people.

Indonesia – 4 million people.

India – 1.5 million people.

Indochina (French) – 1 million people.

USA – 418 thousand people.

Burma – 270 thousand people.

Ethiopia – 100 thousand people.

Allies of Nazi Germany:

Germany – 7.3 million people.

Norway – 9.5 thousand people.

Finland – 97 thousand people.

Czechoslovakia – 326 thousand people.

Austria – 400 thousand people.

Italy – 454 thousand people.

Hungary – 580 thousand people.

Romania – 850 thousand people.

Bulgaria – 25 thousand people.

Spain – 4.5 thousand people.

Japan – 2.7 million people.

Neutral countries:

Sweden – 2.2 thousand people.

Ireland – 200 people.

Switzerland – 100 people.

Portugal – less than 100 people.

70 years ago, militaristic Japan and fascist Germany unleashed a brutal aggression that became an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of all mankind.

The flames of war engulfed Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and more than 80 countries and regions; about 2 billion people took part in the war. In the face of the fascist threat, China, the USSR and all peace-loving countries and peoples of the world formed a universal anti-fascist united front, united against a common enemy, fought side by side to save the future and fate of humanity, defending peace and justice.

The first aggressor of World War II was Japan, and China was the very first victim of Japanese aggression. In 1931, Japanese militarism, provoking the “September 18 Incident,” captured Northeast China. The brutal aggression of Japanese militarism aroused the angry and determined resistance of the Chinese people. The "September 18 Incident" was the starting point of the Anti-Japanese War and the prelude to World War II, thus making China the first country to start anti-fascist war. In our country, the fight against fascism lasted the longest a long period. In 1937, Japanese invaders provoked the "7th of July Incident" at the Lugouqiao (Marco Polo) Bridge, launching a full-scale war of aggression against China. The events of July 7 became the beginning of the anti-Japanese war, as well as the prologue of the war in the main theater of military operations in the East.

At the request of the editorial board of the Breath of China magazine, I had the opportunity to write an article dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the War of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders and the World Anti-Fascist War, in order to remember those events together with Russian readers. glory years, when the armies and peoples of China and the USSR fought shoulder to shoulder against Japanese militarism and German fascism, continuing and strengthening the traditional friendship of our peoples, sealed by blood and a common struggle for life.

In the great people's struggle for national salvation The Communist Party of China, defending national interests, advocating unification, general mobilization and relying on the people, created a broad united anti-Japanese national front, playing main role in achieving victory in the anti-Japanese war. All periods of this brutal war- from strategic defense until the balance of forces and strategic counter-offensive - on the front line and behind enemy lines, the Chinese people rallied against the common enemy, selflessly fighting for the Motherland, boldly looking death in the eyes, won great victory. Yang Jingyu, Zuo Quan, Peng Xuefeng, Zhang Zizhong, Dai Anlan and other generals, the "five heroes of Lanyashan Mountains", the "eight warriors" of the combined resistance forces of the Northeast, the "eight hundred heroes of the Kuomintang army" and many other heroes of our country selflessly and fought fearlessly against a strong enemy.

The Anti-Japanese War was called upon to save from the very beginning human civilization, it was waged in the name of protecting world peace. Already at the very beginning of the war, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong, noted that “the great war of resistance against Japan is not only a matter of China, it concerns the East, as well as the whole world.” Today, when we have entered the 21st century and can already retrospectively evaluate the great military upheavals that took place 70 years ago, we realize even more deeply that the Anti-Japanese War was not only a war for the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation, but also an important part of the Second World War. That war was essentially a struggle of humanity for justice, and therefore has a fair character. Throughout the war period, the Chinese people suffered huge losses, sacrificing the lives of 35 million people, the total economic damage amounted to $600 billion. China fettered 94% ground forces, 60% of the Air Force and significant naval forces of the Japanese militarists, strategically interacted and supported fighting allies, helped in carrying out strategic operations in the European and Pacific theaters of war, thereby making a significant contribution to final victory in World War II.

The victory of the Chinese people in the anti-Japanese war is inseparable from the invaluable support of the Soviet army and people. From 1938 to 1940 Soviet Union provided China the greatest help.

In the face of the brutal aggression of Japanese militarism and German fascism, the armies and peoples of China and the USSR, fighting shoulder to shoulder, cemented an unbreakable military friendship with blood and fire. The army and people of China, at the cost of incredible efforts hand and foot, shackled the forces of the Japanese invaders, never allowing Japanese army attack the USSR in the north, thereby disrupting the military-strategic interaction of Germany, Italy and Japan. So, during the battle for Moscow, Battle of Stalingrad and others major battles on Soviet-German front Soviet Supreme Command taking into account the fact that it was relatively calm in the Far East, it could continuously transfer individual units from Far East on western front what created favorable conditions to win battles. At the most critical moment of the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union, many sons and daughters of the Chinese nation without hesitation joined the ranks of the Red Army. At that time, a group of CPC leaders who studied military affairs in the USSR, concerned about the fate of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War, actively offered her help. The eldest son of Mao Zedong and the descendants of other leaders of the CPC and heroes of the revolution, who were studying in the USSR, switched to military service into the Red Army or were involved in the intense work of logistics to provide everything necessary for the front line. In the areas bordering the USSR, fighters and commanders of the training brigade of the joint resistance forces of the North-East were united into the 88th brigade. They continually sent fighters to the Northeast to assist the Soviet Army in gathering intelligence. After the USSR entered the war with Japan, the fighters of this detachment stood on the front line, directed Soviet troops, helped them liberate large centers by playing important role in rapid defeat by the Soviet army Kwantung Army Japan and the liberation of the entire Northeast.

The victory of the Chinese people in the anti-Japanese war is inseparable from the invaluable support of the Soviet army and people. From 1938 to 1940, the Soviet Union provided the greatest amount of assistance to China. During that period, the Soviet Union provided the Chinese side with $450 million in loans. China purchased from the USSR 997 aircraft, 82 tanks, 1000 artillery pieces, more than 5,000 machine guns, more than 1,000 vehicles. 3,665 Soviet military advisers arrived in groups in China to participate in the development of operational plans and training of military personnel. More than 2,000 Soviet volunteer pilots took part in direct participation in battles with Japan in different regions China, causing heavy damage to the Japanese army. Many Soviet pilots died on Chinese soil. In August 1945 Soviet army launched military operations in Northeast China, together with Chinese army and the people accelerated the final defeat of Japanese militarism.

The people of China and the USSR supported each other in the war, fought shoulder to shoulder in the name of protecting peace and progress, defending human dignity and freedom, made a huge contribution to heroic story, the memory of this will not fade for centuries. In May of this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping took part in celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. In a few days, President Vladimir Putin will arrive in China to attend events marking the 70th anniversary of the Chinese people's victory in the Anti-Japanese World War II. Both sides will take part in commemorative events at the United Nations, Shanghai organization cooperation. Carrying out memorial events is intended to remind people around the world of the lessons of the Second World War: it is necessary to steadfastly adhere to correct awareness past, resolutely oppose attempts to embellish fascism and militarism, against any attempts to distort history. This is not only a sign of respect for historical truth, to the memory of the fallen, but also serves to maintain peace, aimed at creating a peaceful and beautiful future.

British scientists talk about how “British scientists” appeared

• Popular Science

Experts from the University of Exeter and the University of Bristol (UK) decided to find out where the “British scientists” come from. Here we're talking about, first of all, not about experts in different fields of science who work in the UK. The reason why many specialists conduct research that does not make much sense, but which can be loudly broadcast, is considered. The results of an investigation into this situation were published by Andrew Higginson and Marcus Munafo in the journal PLoS Biology.

According to the authors of the project, the main reason for what happened is the grant system that operates in the country. It encourages researchers to give their projects big names and report equally big results. Moreover, these results, as a rule, have no value for science at all, or are not very valuable.

The authors of the study say that scientists should approach the study of a variety of processes objectively, trying to strengthen and build on the building scientific knowledge. “However, scientists are people too, and working in organizations where everything is aimed at making money changes the way of thinking and behavior of even honest and conscientious specialists. This process takes place in equally consciously and unconsciously,” say experts.

Since the 80s of the last century, scientists have been trying to add “novelty” to the titles of their works. At the same time, only a small number of publications have important for science. Now more and more scientists are trying to devote attention not to pure science, but to their careers. Many people strive to publish as much as possible more work, which makes them more famous, and traveling around career ladder- more rapid. Young specialists, looking at the principles of work of experienced comrades, adopt their work model. This can be called adaptive behavior - a similar phenomenon is widespread in the world of nature and plays an important role in evolution.

In their work, Higginson and his colleague Marcus Munafo used methods of mathematics and statistics. They decided to find out the success of grant applications and their results in the form of publications in scientific journals. At the very beginning of the study, the authors suggested that scientists who work with grants could use a certain general principle for your projects, allowing you to receive additional funds. It is interesting that many researchers, consciously or not, try to adjust their work methods to the methods of evaluation of the projects under consideration by the foundations that provide grants. In general, this is obvious.

In order to trace the process from writing an application to receiving a grant by the grant eaters, mathematicians studied the operating principles of grant agencies in the UK and Australia. The scientists then used the data to construct computer model, where “scientists” try to get as many grants as possible from the grant commission. As it turned out, the researchers who receive the most money are those who propose small-scale projects with in loud words like “innovative”, “newest”, etc. The problem with such projects in reality is that their results are poorly verified and, for the most part, are completely adjusted to the original objectives. The effectiveness of the work of scientists taking part in such projects is very low. Only 10-40% of the results of such projects can be repeated. Hence, most of money is wasted in vain and does not leave any positive mark on science."

According to scientists from the UK, the situation can be resolved. To do this, it is necessary to reduce the number of supported small projects, directing funds to support large and medium-sized projects. In addition, commissions need to respond not to the sensationalism of the proposed developments, but to the methodology and results of such work.

Average statistical power of publications published in scientific journals from 1960 to 2011

Back in 1963, Jacob Kahn, a psychologist at New York University, discovered that statistically, the result expected by the researcher occurs in only 20% of experiments performed. But in reality, almost all scientists point to positive result their research. In other words, authors simply don't talk about failure, in some cases. Paul Smaldino from the University of California and Richard McElres from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology proved that the authors scientific research still talk about their successes, hiding their defeats.

Smaldino and Richard McElres believe that only a firm decision from the funds and scientific organizations do not provide funds to scientists and laboratories that have previously published unverified results of their research. Such organizations often present their expectations as positive results. True, this is quite difficult to do, since the grant system has existed for a long time, and its principles are ingrained in the minds of scientists.

For this reason more money and faster career advancement is achieved by those specialists who give their works great titles (the notorious “our technique allows us to defeat cancer”) and publish a large number of materials. Those organizations that try to carefully verify their results publish much less frequently and are, so to speak, in the “shadow.”

« British scientists have found "...Who among us has not heard this phrase? It often sounds on the radio, appears in various other publications... For the most part, these messages are Internet memes.

But are British scientists themselves memes? Not at all! Moreover, according to international classification British science was considered the most authoritative, later giving way to (who do you think?), of course, US science.

However, first things first, but first, let’s plunge into the world of amazing scientific research and discoveries of British scientists...

British scientists and reality

What came first, the egg or the chicken?

This shining example one of these studies.

John Brookfield from the University of Nottingham explained that because genetic material does not change during the life of the animal, the first bird, which was a chicken, originally existed as an embryo in an egg.

"First Living being, about which we could say unambiguously that it is a member of a given biological species, this is an egg. The egg came first,” Brookfield believes, explaining that the organism living inside the eggshell has the same DNA as the chicken (chick) it will later turn into.

Brookfield was supported by Professor David Papineau of King's College London: “The first chicken came from an egg. Even though this egg was laid by another species of bird, it is still a chick's egg because it has a chicken inside it."

Did you understand anything? Personally, I broke down already on the second paragraph... For those interested, the details of this discovery are here.

And here's another

Some real achievements British scientists.

British scientists have found that ducks love rain. To discover what everyone knows villager, it took scientists three years and 300 thousand pounds.

Another group of scientists discovered that dogs yawn after their owners. The amazing addiction is driven by the dog's cognitive-behavioral instincts.

The benefit of another study is questionable, during which it was discovered that to perform complex actions cats prefer to use their right front paw, and cats prefer to use their left. However, on average, all cats are ambidextrous, that is, they can use both the right and left front paws equally well.

British scientists have also found that among the ants there are also scammers and corrupt officials. Which, however, is logical, since ants are social insects with tough hierarchical system organization of life.

Another discovery of British scientists looks almost touching: they found that nine out of ten London ladybugs suffer from a fungal venereal disease. However, sexually transmitted diseases in insects are mild.

A person can die of boredom - this is also one of the recent statements of British scientists. By the end of the study, approximately 40% of the subjects who suffered from boredom died.

British scientists from Keele University conducted an experiment proving the fact that swearing and foul language can reduce physical pain. The Telegraph newspaper reported this.

Here!

Be an excellent student- dangerous for mental health. According to British scientists, schoolchildren with only excellent grades are much more likely to suffer from manic-depressive psychosis than students with average academic performance.

Remember the song from the cartoon: " A smile makes a gloomy day brighter"? So...

The experiment revealed that smiling does not make anyone feel better. The strange thing is that the experiments were carried out on laboratory snails and snakes.

Parents scold their children for telling lies, but they themselves tell lies on average 100 times a year, British scientists have calculated. However, there is another study that clearly demonstrates that, on average, modern man tells lies 3.5 times a day.

Where do these studies and discoveries come from, with which British scientists delight us and on the basis of which the very memes mentioned above arose?

Foundation for memes

This is how the well-known resource Lurkmore explains it (the excerpt is given with abbreviations).

The vast majority of articles by “British scientists” come from the statistics department. And there is a deep meaning in this.

The fact is that statistics as a science has one interesting concept that is not typical for other sciences: it doesn’t really care what to study...

From a statistical point of view, the dynamics of cancer mortality is no fundamentally different from such a vital question as what leg people stand on when getting off the bus.

Somewhere in the second or third year, most students at British universities experience this same statistic. Simply because the British education system believes that most students are required to know certain things, no matter what they do.

All logic further actions explained not by the approach of “what to do useful for humanity”, but “what to do with these young people... so that they don’t do anything”...

That is why students are being scammed... into something cheap and harmless. For example, what kind of feet people stand on when getting off the bus - you can simply assign a student to watch people getting off the bus and go drink coffee, without thinking about the consequences.

The output is course work, which satisfies all the criteria of scientific research - except that no one is interested in knowing what foot people stand on when getting off the bus. That's why this work drawn up and sent to some Science Magazine fourth hand - so that students have one more line on their resume.

Of course, no one reads the article - except for journalists, who periodically publish headlines like “British scientists have found that people stand on their right foot when getting off the bus more often than on their left.”

It is on this foundation that memes about British scientists flourish! I will give just a few of them...

British scientists - memes

British scientists have proven their existence.

British scientists were surprised to discover that some of the discoveries made by British scientists were not made by British scientists.

Incredible! British scientists have found that if you turn the Japanese flag upside down, you get the Japanese flag!

Science news: British scientists discovered Moldovan scientists.

British scientists discovered American scientists who were accidentally locked in the toilet.

British scientists have discovered a new parcel from Dutch scientists!

We are looking forward to new discoveries!

On the wave of new discoveries...

British scientists have found that chocolate lifts your mood...
- They probably haven’t tried vodka yet.

British scientists have proven that the Earth is not round, but black and crunches on the teeth.

And British scientists have proven that before Friday the 13th there is always Thursday the 12th.

British scientists have found that small plates prevent overeating. But only the lazy and slow-witted.

Where would the Scots be without their bagpipes?

Birthdays are good for your health. British scientists have proven that those who had more days birth, tended to live longer

Here you could say, well, what’s wrong with this? Same and it's a no brainer. But British scientists responded to this with deeply scientific research...

About hedgehogs...

As it turned out, hedgehogs were mistakenly considered the smartest animals, to whom everything is always clear.

Thanks to British scientists - they enlightened...

But the study of hedgehogs by British scientists did not end there. They managed to discover the secret of hedgehogs' longevity...

British scientists have discovered that laughter prolongs life. And therefore the Internet community asks them to continue to publish more of their discoveries...

British scientists who studied the effect of heroin on the human body are no longer able to independently abandon their research.

British scientists have found that if a statement begins with " British scientists have found ", then 70% of people will believe any nonsense that is written there...

Conclusion

This article is in no way intended to disparage the merits of British scientists. We all know well what a huge and significant contribution they made to science. However, this is a topic for another material.

This is just a reason to smile. Not entirely unfounded, I must admit.

P.S. This article was written using the Gutenberg editor.

Great Britain is home to many of the greatest scientists and inventors of our time. And, as you know, where there are great personalities, there are great ideas. In this article we will talk about ten British inventions that changed the modern world.

10. United States of America
One of the most powerful countries in the world was formed when the British colonies North America declared their independence after lengthy disputes with the United Kingdom. The colonists were British subjects until their victory in 1783, at which point they became independent Americans. Based on this, the US was a British "invention" from the very beginning.

9. Sports
Many modern views sports originate in Britain, because it was here that the rules of many games that we know and love today were invented. The most striking example is, of course, football. Although the British were not the first to come up with the idea of ​​kicking the ball into the goal, however, the standard rules were invented by them.

8. Newton's laws
Everyone probably remembers from school about the existence of Newton’s three laws, but not everyone knows that famous physicist and the mathematician was British. He was also the first person to document the mechanics gravity. Newton is considered one of the most important scientists in human history.

7. The first programmable computer
Back in 1820, the British mathematician and scientist Charles Babbage invented a mechanical computer and then worked on improving it for ten years. Unfortunately, the project had to be abandoned after losing funding due to the British government losing faith in the project. Despite this, the machine, based on Babbage's original drawings, was still built more than 150 years later in 1989.

6. The World Wide Web
Namely, the well-known three letters W, which can be found in front of any Internet address. The World Wide Web, invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, is a system of interconnected hypertext documents accessible via the Internet. The concept was first proposed in 1989. The scientist himself, despite the enormous potential benefits, decided to simply give the project to the world.

5. Television
The first public demonstration of television was given by British inventor John Lowey Baird to members of the Royal Institution on January 26, 1926. And on July 3, 1928, the inventor showed the world the first color television. It was his inventions that laid the foundation for the development of television technology.

4. Steam locomotive
The first steam locomotive was built in 1804 at Pen-y-Darren in South Wales, and it was used to transport goods by the British inventor and mining engineer Richard Trevithick. In one of the first public demonstrations, the locomotive successfully transported an impressive load of 10 tons of iron, 5 carriages and 70 people 9.75 miles in just 4 hours and 5 minutes.

3. Theory of evolution
British naturalist Charles Darwin was the first to propose the theories of evolution and natural selection. For his achievements, Darwin was elected to the council of the British Geological Society, after which the scientist moved to London, where he continued his work.

2. Phone
Alexander Graham Bell, British inventor who created the acoustic telegraph in 1875. He patented the invention in March 1876, having done so before the American inventor Elisha Gray, who accused Bell of stealing his invention. The patent office ultimately ruled in Bell's favor and he was granted a patent for the world's first telephone.

1. English language
He is official language in many countries, and also ranks second in popularity throughout the world. It is the language used at most international events. English is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions British.

Ten British inventions that changed the world updated: July 30, 2017 by: Yulia Emelianenko