GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS IN THE ANTI-SOVIET PLANS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY IN 1939-1942: CAUSES AND FEATURES

	ISSN 2223-165X
	Izvestiya SOIGSI

Home Editorial board Publication ethics Current Information Archive Peer review guidelines Contacts Address: Pr. Mira, 10, Vladikavkaz, 362040, RNO-A, Russia E-mail: soigsi@mail.ru	DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2024.92.53.003 GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS IN THE ANTI-SOVIET PLANS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY IN 1939-1942: CAUSES AND FEATURES Tatarov, Azamat A. Izvestia SOIGSI. 2024. IIS 53 (92). P.66-77. Abstract: Studying the history of military geographical planning of foreign powers on the Russian border territories is a pressing issue in modern research. The article analyzes the influence of the Caucasus’s geography on plans of Great Britain and Germany against the USSR at the beginning of WWII. Conducting the first special study, the author adheres to the principles of historicism and objectivity. The results include four sections. The first section examines the knowledge about natural conditions, communication routes, ethnic and political geography of the Caucasus in the context of German and British policy before WWII. The strategic value of this region encouraged powers to develop knowledge about the geography of the Caucasus in the 19th-20th centuries. Scientific expeditions and experience of military intervention during the Civil War in Russia allowed to accumulate significant data. The second section is devoted to the influence of geographical factor on British operation preparing to destroy the Caucasian oil industry after WWII started. The British air attack plan took into account the distance from Middle East air bases to targets. The third section demonstrates political technologies and involvement of various state structures of Nazi Germany in preparing a military operation to seize the Caucasus adjusted for difficult terrain. In the fourth section, the author lists foreign maps and geographical descriptions of the Caucasus compiled at the beginning of WWII. Detailed and varied materials illustrate the thoroughness of Germany’s military mapping. Less clear is the issue of British maps of the Caucasus in 1939-1942. Keywords: Caucasus, geography, Great Britain, Germany, military maps. Download the full text For citation:: Tatarov, A.A. Geography of the Caucasus in the anti-soviet plans of Great Britain and Germany in 1939-1942: causes and features // Izvestiya SOIGSI. 2024. Iss. 53 (92). Pp.66-77. (in Russian). DOI 10.46698/VNC.2024.92.53.003 + References 1. Babaev, A.-M.B. Kavkaz v zakhvatnicheskikh planakh fashistskoi Germanii [The Caucasus in the Plans of Nazi Germany]. Makhachkala, Dag. kn. izd-vo, 1964. 42 p. 2. Grechko, A.A. Bitva za Kavkaz [Battle for the Caucasus]. Moscow, Voennoe izd-vo, 1967. 424 p. 3. Ibragimbeili, Kh.M. 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