German forces complete the encirclement of Leningrad

Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, opening a war of annihilation across Soviet territory. Occupation, mass shootings, starvation, forced labor, and the Holocaust devastated civilians; Soviet...

Vyacheslav Molotov’s broadcast informed Soviet listeners of the invasion and called for resistance. The statement framed the war as defense of the homeland and set out the state’s public response to a...

The emergency committee concentrated wartime authority in a small body led by Stalin. It coordinated military, industrial, and civilian mobilization, placing the Union’s republics and populations...

The two governments agreed not to conclude a separate peace and to cooperate against Germany. The agreement established an alliance of necessity between states whose earlier political relations had...

The decree accused the Volga German population collectively of potential collaboration and ordered removal to eastern regions. It dissolved the Volga German autonomous republic and uprooted families...

German SS and police units and auxiliaries murdered tens of thousands of Jews over two days at Babyn Yar. Further victims included Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and others. Later Soviet memorial...

The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union agreed on a schedule of military and civilian supplies. Lend-Lease aid contributed to Soviet logistics and production, while Soviet labor and...

Soviet forces launched a counteroffensive that pushed German troops away from Moscow. The victory halted Germany’s immediate advance on the capital but came after enormous military and civilian losses...

The treaty formalized Allied military presence and promised respect for Iranian sovereignty. Iran’s territory and transport routes were strategically vital to supplying the Soviet war effort, while...

The Red Army launched an offensive that was encircled and defeated by German forces. The failure cost lives and equipment and left a large area of Ukraine exposed to occupation and further atrocities.