title: A Long Second World War (1937–1949)
abstract: The Soviets played a crucial role in World War II. They were directly involved in all but two theaters (Africa and the Pacific), although what happened in these had repercussions on the Soviet war as well. In the third phase of the Soviet war in Europe, the Red Army drove the Germans out of Soviet territory before marching through Eastern Europe all the way to Berlin. The civil wars following liberation of the western borderlands by the Red Army had their roots in the years of German occupation.