The Red Army launches a counteroffensive outside Moscow

A State Defense Committee decision formalized the evacuation apparatus as German forces advanced. Hundreds of factories and millions of people were moved eastward under extraordinary pressure. This...

A decree collectively accused Soviet Germans of collaboration and ordered their deportation to Siberia and Central Asia. Families were uprooted and subjected to forced settlement and labor; collective...

The siege cut the city’s main land connections and subjected civilians to starvation, bombardment, cold, and disease. Stalin’s wartime leadership did not remove the immense human cost; Leningraders’...

As German forces approached, the State Defense Committee ordered the evacuation of government bodies and diplomatic missions to Kuibyshev. The decision triggered panic and exposed the fragility of the...

Stalin’s order imposed a state of siege from 20 October, restricting movement and authorizing severe penalties as German forces neared the capital. The measure attempted to restore order after panic...

The treaty committed the two states to cooperation against Nazi Germany and to postwar collaboration. It formalized an alliance between political systems with sharply different aims; Stalin sought...

The order forbade unauthorized retreat and created penal units and blocking detachments. It reflected the desperate conditions of the war while subjecting Soviet soldiers to severe coercion...

Soviet forces struck the flanks of German armies around Stalingrad, beginning the encirclement that led to the surrender of the Sixth Army. The battle became a turning point, achieved through the...

The Comintern announced its dissolution during the war, formally recognizing the distinct conditions facing communist parties in different countries. The move also reassured the Allied powers that...

At Prokhorovka, Soviet and German forces fought one of the largest tank engagements of the war. The wider Kursk campaign ended in a strategic Soviet victory, shifting initiative on the Eastern...