Victory had come at an overwhelming price. The defeat of Nazi Germany cost Russia 26 million lives—nearly one sixth of the country's pre-war population.
[EDIT: Wow this got a lot bigger than I was expecting. I've been blown away by all the insightful and respectful things people have been writing in the comments.
As many of you have pointed out, the overwhelming scale of this tragedy is very difficult to comprehend. To help give some small sense of it, I put together this visualization.
If you have more time, this excellent youtube video by Neil Halloran helps put the human cost of WWII in perspective.]
Gotta wonder - had they been planning actual festivities for when it occurred? Obviously by early 45 it was clear the war in Europe would end sooner or later with a German defeat, but did they figure by the time they got to Berlin "time to start preparing the fireworks" or was it all very spontaneous?
![image showing Moscow celebrates victory over Nazi Germany. May 9th, 1945. [1600x1130]](f103c65f-568b-541e-a087-708bd7b209ac.jpg)
synternia on May 9th, 2017 at 12:14 UTC »
Victory had come at an overwhelming price. The defeat of Nazi Germany cost Russia 26 million lives—nearly one sixth of the country's pre-war population.
[EDIT: Wow this got a lot bigger than I was expecting. I've been blown away by all the insightful and respectful things people have been writing in the comments.
As many of you have pointed out, the overwhelming scale of this tragedy is very difficult to comprehend. To help give some small sense of it, I put together this visualization.
If you have more time, this excellent youtube video by Neil Halloran helps put the human cost of WWII in perspective.]
Boomtown_Rat on May 9th, 2017 at 13:58 UTC »
Gotta wonder - had they been planning actual festivities for when it occurred? Obviously by early 45 it was clear the war in Europe would end sooner or later with a German defeat, but did they figure by the time they got to Berlin "time to start preparing the fireworks" or was it all very spontaneous?
thejew62 on May 9th, 2017 at 14:54 UTC »
It's funny how the city ran out vodka due to celebrating.