English for Historians. The Greatest Historical Milestones = Английский язык для историков. Величайшие исторические события. Учебное пособие

occupation, caring for the families of front-line soldiers, for children left without parents, collecting money and things for the country’s defense fund. Our people were well informed that the front needed huge human and material resources, so each of them strove to work tirelessly, despite any difficulties. The initiatives of workers and engineers were aimed at improving production and technological processes, increasing issue with minimal labor, materials and money. In those difficult years for the country, vacations were canceled, overtime work became compulsory, military discipline was introduced in transport, and the minimum workdays were increased on collective farms.

Construction

Construction is one of the most peaceful branches of the national economy, it is a creative branch. At the beginning of the war, the builders faced the most difficult tasks that had to be solved as soon as possible. They had to disassemble the equipment of enterprises and build new buildings in the east of the country, restore the destroyed ones and build new workshops and factories. To successfully manage with this, it was necessary to find new mobile organizational forms in construction. And such forms were found. On the basis of trusts and other construction organizations, special construction and installation units were formed, which were entrusted with the implementation of urgent tasks for the construction of enterprises and defensive structures, as well as the reconstruction of objects damaged as a result of hostilities. This made it possible to concentrate construction, quickly restore evacuated enterprises, build new ones, and, as the country’s territory was liberated from fascist invaders, restore factories.

In the last days of December 1941, the builders were given the task ofbuildinga largeferrousmetallurgyenterpriseinthe Uralsonthe basis of the equipment of the Elektrostal plant. It was evacuated from the Moscow region and put it into operation no later than March 15, 1942, i. e. built a factory in 75 days. The start-up complex of the plant included 7 main production workshops, 11 auxiliary facilities, railway tracks, a water conduit with two pumping stations and a water consumption, highand low-pressure air pipelines, a steam pipeline

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and other engineering structures and communications. Of course, by the regular standards, it is impossible to solve such a problem in 75 days. But life showed that even in an extremely tight construction schedule, you could find reserves and do things seemed impossible. Many builders worked selflessly, overfulfilling the norms by 2–3 times, whichfinallyensuredthe completionofthe taskontime.Sovietbuilders showed examples of heroic labor not only in the areas of the deep rear, but also in the frontline zone directly. One of such striking examples that went down in the history of construction is the construction of an underwater pipeline 30 km long along the bottom of Lake Ladoga. Through this vital artery fuel was supplied to besieged Leningrad.

Aviation Industry

It is known what role aviation played during the war. By the beginning of the war, our industry was producing more than 50 aircraft a day. In July 1941, 1807aircraftwereproduced,which is about 60 per day. In September 1941, 2329 combat vehicles were made — more than 70 per day. True, later, in connection with the evacuation of factories to thedeeprear,thenumberofaircraft

producedbegantodecline,hence,immediatelyafterthetransferoffactories to new places, the workers and engineers and technicians of the aviation industry were tasked to mount equipment as soon as possible and start producingaircraft.

Demands to increase labor productivity and reduce the labor intensity of production came to the first plan. In May 1942, the teams of two factories — aircraft building and engine building — declare the beginning of the All-Union Socialist Competition for Aviation Industry Workers. Front-line brigades became one of the forms of

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competition. The right to be called a front-line brigade was appointed to the best of the best.

Using the initiative of the aircraft manufacturers, their patriotism, much was done to establish mass production. Electric welding, cold stamping, and new methods of gluing wooden parts are widely used. All this taken together to make it possible, for example, to reduce the labor intensity in the manufacture of attack aircraft by half during the war years, and the time of its production in

the main assembly shop was reduced by five times. More than two times less labor was expended on the manufacture of aircraft designed by Lavochkin and Yakovlev. With the installation of production lines at the factories that produced the TU-2 bomber, the labor intensity of manufacturing this aircraft decreased three times. As a result, by the end of 1943, the production of all types of combat aircraft was increased to 3 thousand per month, and in just 1943, the Air Force received almost 35 thousand aircraft.

Tank Building

It is difficult to overestimate the role of the workers of the Urals in bringing victory over Nazi Germany closer. Only at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, 18,5 thousand tanks of various brands, mainly T-34, 48,5 thousand tank engines, 170 million blanks of mines and shells were manufactured. Thousands of people selflessly worked at the plant, but even among them there were legendary people who were known not only at the plant, but also in the region and the whole country. These include members of the youth brigade of Vasily Gusev, who made gearboxes for rampant combat vehicles — T-34 tanks. Gusev’s brigade repeatedly won the championship in the regional competition of

front-line Komsomol youth brigades, it became the leader of the competition among 9600 youth brigades of the People’s Commissariat of Tank Industry.

Artillery

Examples of highly productive labor were shown by many home front workers. At the factory for the production of artillery pieces, where the chief designer was Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin — Colonel General of the Technical Troops, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor — from the first day of the war, a struggle was conducted for high labor

productivity and an increase in production content. This initiative resulted in an outstanding movement of the 200 — the Stakhanovites of the wartime. The movement of the 200 was valuable, because it increased not only the personal output of the worker, but also the entire plant, and as a result, the production of tools gradually increased. Replacing those who went to the front, the workers of the Voronezh rear worked like a shock. Voronezh industrial enterprises began to quickly reorganize themselves into the production of military products. Since July 1941, the oldest Voronezh plant named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky, repaired six armored trains. More than 200 pensioners returned to the plant to replace the workers who had gone to the front, 500 teenagers and more than 300 women were admitted again, and the plant continued to work at full capacity.

The Comintern Plant became the founder of the production of Katyusha rocket launchers, the Voronezh Aviation Plant mastered and set up serial production and supply of IL-2 aircraft to the air force. At the machine-building plant named after V. I. Lenin’s shops were also converted to produce products for the front. From the fitting sites of

the 1st mechanical workshop to the “Plant named after the Comintern”, an important component of the rocket launchers — “the firing mechanism” — went in a stream. The Electrosignal plant, two days after the plant-wide rally, began the production of military products, organizing a special workshop for this.

Thanks to the heroic labor of the Soviet people, it was possible to sharplyincreasethe productionofequipmentandweapons.The industry of the country, which had become on a military footing, managed to exceed the industry of fascist Germany.

Logistics

The most important task during the war was to provide food, clothing, footwear and other things for workers and engineers. For its solution, a huge role was played by the organization in March 1942, by decision of the State Defense Committee and the Soviet of People’s Commissars of the USSR, of labor supply departments (ORS) at industrial enterprises. With the help of the heads of factories, trade union organizations, the ORS launched a huge amount of work to create and develop branch farms, conduct decentralized acquirement and organize the production of consumer goods from local raw materials. Branch farms, ORS and collectives of factories have done a great job to develop the lands consigned to them. In Eastern Siberia, a part-time farm of one of the factories on 160 hectares of land grew in the taiga due to the uprooting of the forest and the draining of the swamp. Another enterprise in the highlands raised 195 hectares of virgin land. Greenhouses were laid, and soon they began to produce an excellent harvest — about 2000 tons of greens and vegetables. Also, land plots were allocated for individual gardens of workers and employees, and almost half of the employees of aviation industry enterprises in 1943 already used them. By the end of the war, more than 80 % of workers and employees had them. Almost 40 thousand tons of potatoes and vegetables were harvested from these gardens per year. ORS organized workshops for tailoring clothes and shoes. There were workshops which made household items. Only in 1943–1944 they made 796 thousand

aluminum plates, almost 5 million spoons, a lot of beds, iron stoves, glasses, mugs, hundreds of thousands of other things.

One Pump

Whenwespeakaboutthe heroicdeedsofthe peopleduringthe war, we especially need to mention the labor exploits of women. In the first days of the war, getting over enormous difficulties, they replaced their husbands, fathers and brothers at the machine tools, mastered men’s specialties and increased their production indicators every day. They had to do exhausting work during the war years, and their work is inscribed in golden letters in the heroic records of the Great Patriotic War. Next to their mothers, elder brothers and sisters, the youngest citizens of our country worked — pioneers and schoolchildren, they helped the elders. A heavy burden fell on the children’s shoulders of the worries of the labor front. More than 200 thousand schoolchildren took an active part in the tense struggle for bread in the first war year. About a million workdays were worked out by high school students together with their teachers. In those difficult years, collective farms and state farms owed much to young patriots.

contribution and paid a huge price for the victory in the Great Patriotic War. They built objects, were engaged in agriculture, transportation of goods and production of weapons for the front. Difficult living

conditions, exhausting work, hunger, loss of relatives, health, opportunities to study — that was the price of victory.

The motherland highly appreciated the exploits of the home front workers. Immediately after the end of the war, tens of thousands of workersinindustry,agricultureandculturewereawardedcommemorative medals “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945”.

“EVERYTHING FOR THE FRONT! EVERYTHING FOR VICTORY!” — that wartime slogan required huge efforts in work, full dedication from everyone.

II. Give the Russian equivalents to the following words and expressions:

•clothing and footwear

•tanks of various brands

•armored train

•combat aircraft

•ferrous metallurgy

•front-line soldier

•vehicle

•mines and shells

•machine tools

•enormous difficulties

III. Give the English equivalents to the following words and expressions:

•превышать норму

•строительство

•фонд обороны

•прифронтовая зона

•холодная штамповка

•пример

•бронированный

•РСЗО (реактивная система залпового огня)

•сырьевые материалы

•тяжелое бремя

IV. Answer the questions.

1.What is one of the most peaceful branches of the national economy?

2.What were the main regions of evacuation?

3.What were the main tasks of evacuation?

4.Where were Katyusha rocket launchers produced?

5.What were the names of famous Soviet aircraft designers?

6.What was the most famous and successful brand of Soviet

tanks?

7.How was the problem of lack of men in industry solved?

8.What was the most famous motto of the wartime?

V. Fill in the gaps.

1.It was carried out according to a single plan and____________

___ colossal proportions.

2.Construction is one of the most peaceful branches of the national economy, it is _______________ .

3.Of course, ___________________, it is impossible to solve such a problem in 75 days.

4.It is known what role _____________ during the war.

5.Only at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, 18,5 thousand tanks of various brands, _____________ .

6.The Comintern Plant became the ______________________ of Katyusha rocket launchers.

7.The most important task throughout the war was to provide

_____________________________ and other things for workers and engineers.

8.Speaking about the heroic deeds of the people during the war, we especially need to say about the _________________ .

9.The path to victory was hard and difficult, because it came at the cost of ____________________________________.

10.“EVERYTHING FOR _______________! EVERYTHING FOR ______________!”

VI.Writing.Make the written translation of the 4th part of the text (Tank building).

VII. Project activity.

A.Make a presentation about one of the most famous warlords of the Great Patriotic War. Use the Internet.

B.Make and present a clip about the main stages or events of the Great Patriotic War (3–5 min.). Use the Internet.

Part iii. the cold War

text 1. the cold War Between the Ussr and the Usa: reasons for the Beginning and results

I. Read the text.

The Cold War is a global conflict between the USSR and the USA, which affected almost all spheres of the national economy of the two countries, and also influenced the political and economic processes in most countries of the world. It is generally accepted that it arose as a result of the contradictions between two different state systems — socialism and

capitalism. There is another point of view — the so-called “AngloSaxons” could not come to terms with the bipolar system of domination in the world, as a result of which they built (and continue to do so) their policy to suppress competing forces — first the USSR, later — Russia (immediately after the crash of the USSR), and then China.

George Orwell is credited with coining the term “Cold War” in his 1945 article “You and the Atomic War” in the British Tribune.

The Cold War began in 1946, after Winston Churchill’s “Fulton” speech, delivered on March 5, 1946 at Westminster College, which is located in Fulton (Missouri, USA). However, the very speech of the politician was not its cause, it was not even its beginning, because he only designated irreversible geopolitical processes as taking place. The end of the period is usually associated with the crash of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Reasons for the Confrontation

Among the reasons that have become the basis of the conflict, there are several obvious interests, primarily of the United States.

Main causes of the Cold War include the following:

•irresolvable contradiction of different ideologies, two systems and models of society;

•fear of spreading the influence of the USSR on world countries;

•struggle for world resources and existing sales markets;

•reduction of the military and economic power of the opponent;

•irreconcilable opposition of different ideologies.

The Goals of the Parties in the Cold War

Main goals and objectives that the sides of the confrontation tried to achieve are the following:

•consolidation of the spheres of influence taken after the end of the World War II;

•creating unfavorable conditions for the enemy in all spheres of influence;

•the USSR tried to achieve the complete victory of socialism in all countries of the world. The United States wanted to contain socialist principles, having plans for future dominance in the world — “to throw socialism into the dustbin of history”.

The United States and its satellites considered the USSR a huge “evil empire” — another term of the period, which appeared thanks to

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