The Soviet Far East during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
On the basis of a large number of sources, the paper analyses the activities of the enterprises of the military industrial complex, agriculture and the transport system, population growth and composition, the reality of daily life of the Far Eastern society and its readiness to ensure safety of east boundaries of the USSR. It is revealed that the Far Eastern region took part in mobilization processes of transformation of the Soviet society under pressure of the geopolitical situation carrying out defensive (maintenance of combat readiness of the Far Eastern Front, the Pacific Fleet and the Red Banner Amur Military Flotilla), foreign economic and foreign policy (the cooperation of the USSR with the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition) tasks. The development of new types of military products changed the economic relations between the enterprises of different departmental subordination, demanded improvement of work organization, changes in technologies and equipment, expansion of secondary production departments (often at the same locations) with a minimum use of the centralized raw materials supply, materials and semi-finished products with a focus on own opportunities and maximum simplification of product design. The forced involvement of resources from the eastern territories of the country led to their uneven and lop-sided social and economic development that strengthened the differentiation between separate administrative units of the region. The population change, placement and structure of labour and mobilization resources happened in line with political, demographic, social and economic processes of wartime. The priority realization of state interests, the appeal to national and patriotic traditions caused moral and psychological as well as social and economic stability of the Far Eastern society. Strengthening the Far East of the USSR corresponded to fundamental principles of the Soviet military doctrine defining the deployment of military forces during the Great Patriotic War.