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::Evading the fact that there would not have been a Second World War without the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]], it is often claimed that the Great Patriotic War represented a massive sacrifice by the "Motherland" in terms of loss of life. This is not true. In fact, during the five years from 1941 through 1945 -- including the period when the Soviet Union was at war with Germany -- Soviet deaths (including deaths from natural causes) totaled some 8.4 million, or about 1.7 million deaths per year. By comparison, during the ten years from 1931 through 1940, the Soviets suffered some 21.7 million deaths, or about 2.2 million deaths per year. So annual Soviet deaths during World War II were about half a million <I>less</I> than during the preceding decade of peace. Far from costing millions of Soviet deaths, WWII actually <I>saved</I> a net of about 2.5 million Soviet lives over five years, by forcing Stalin to ease up on the [http://www.haciendapub.com/articles/stalin-communists-and-fatal-statistics mass murder] of his own people.<ref>Kazuhiro Kumo, Takako Morinaga, and Yoshisada Shida (2007), "[http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/15722/1/RRC_WP_No2.pdf Long-Term Population Statistics for Russia, 1867-2002]," Table 1, pp. 33-34.</ref>

::Evading the fact that there would not have been a Second World War without the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]], it is often claimed that the Great Patriotic War represented a massive sacrifice by the "Motherland" in terms of loss of life. This is not true. In fact, during the five years from 1941 through 1945 -- including the period when the Soviet Union was at war with Germany -- Soviet deaths (including deaths from natural causes) totaled some 8.4 million, or about 1.7 million deaths per year. By comparison, during the ten years from 1931 through 1940, the Soviets suffered some 21.7 million deaths, or about 2.2 million deaths per year. So annual Soviet deaths during World War II were about half a million <I>less</I> than during the preceding decade of peace. Far from costing millions of Soviet deaths, WWII actually <I>saved</I> a net of about 2.5 million Soviet lives over five years, by forcing Stalin to ease up on the [http://www.haciendapub.com/articles/stalin-communists-and-fatal-statistics mass murder] of his own people.<ref>Kazuhiro Kumo, Takako Morinaga, and Yoshisada Shida (2007), "[http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/15722/1/RRC_WP_No2.pdf Long-Term Population Statistics for Russia, 1867-2002]," Table 1, pp. 33-34.</ref>

::[1] Kazuhiro Kumo, Takako Morinaga, and Yoshisada Shida (2007), "[http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/15722/1/RRC_WP_No2.pdf Long-Term Population Statistics for Russia, 1867-2002]," Table 1, pp. 33-34.

::<references/>

 

 

Note that this information, cited from a 2007 study of Russian mortality statistics, is deleted in favor of nothing, based on a bunch of Web sites of uneven quality and reliability, all parroting vague generalizations, based on nothing other than Stalin's word.[[User:FOIA|FOIA]] 07:22, 19 July 2015 (EDT)

Note that this information, cited from a 2007 study of Russian mortality statistics, is deleted in favor of nothing, based on a bunch of Web sites of uneven quality and reliability, all parroting vague generalizations, based on nothing other than Stalin's word.[[User:FOIA|FOIA]] 07:22, 19 July 2015 (EDT)