Soviet Union in World War II in the context of "Panzer VIII Maus"

The Blockade of Germany (1939–1945), also known as the Economic War, involved operations carried out during World War II by the British Empire and by France in order to restrict the supplies of minerals, fuel, metals, food and textiles needed by Nazi Germany – and later by Fascist Italy – in order to sustain their war efforts. The economic war consisted mainly of a naval blockade, which formed part of the wider Battle of the Atlantic, but also included the bombing of economically important targets and the preclusive buying of war materials from neutral countries in order to prevent their sale to the Axis powers.

• The first period, from the beginning of European hostilities in September 1939 to the end of the "Phoney War", saw both the Allies and the Axis powers intercepting neutral merchant ships to seize deliveries en route to their respective enemies. Naval blockade at this time proved less than effective because the Axis could get crucial materials from the Soviet Union until June 1941, while Berlin used harbours in Spain to import war materials into Germany.
• The second period began after the rapid Axis occupation of the majority of the European landmass (Scandinavia, Benelux, France and the Balkans) in 1940–1941, resulting in Axis control of major centres of industry and agriculture.
• The third period started in December 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service brought the U.S. officially into the European war.
• The final period came after the tide of war finally turned against the Axis after heavy military defeats up to and after D-Day in June 1944, which led to gradual Axis withdrawals from the occupied territories in the face of the overwhelming Allied military offensives.

The Aleutian Islands campaign (Japanese: アリューシャン方面の戦い, romanized: Aryūshan hōmen no tatakai) was a military campaign fought between 3 June 1942 and 15 August 1943 on and around the Aleutian Islands in the American Theater of World War II during the Pacific War. It was the only military campaign of World War II fought on North American soil. At the time of World War II, Alaska was a territory of the United States.

The islands' strategic value was their ability to control Pacific transportation routes. U.S. General Billy Mitchell told the U.S. Congress in 1935, "I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." The Japanese reasoned that their control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible joining of forces by the Americans and the Soviets and future attack on the Japanese mainland via the Kuril Islands. Similarly, the U.S. feared that the islands could be used as bases from which to launch air raids on West Coast cities such as Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, or Los Angeles.

Ivan the Terrible (Russian: Иван Грозный, romanized: Ivan Grozny) is a two-part Soviet historical drama film, produced, written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The film chronicles the reign of 16th-century Russian tsar Ivan IV (Nikolay Cherkasov) and details his formation of the oprichnina and conflict with the boyars, particularly with his aunt (Serafima Birman) and cousin (Pavel Kadochnikov). Lyudmila Tselikovskaya plays Ivan's wife Anastasia, while members of the oprichnina are played by Mikhail Zharov, Amvrosy Buchma, and Mikhail Kuznetsov. The score was composed by Sergei Prokofiev.

Ivan the Terrible was commissioned on behalf of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in January 1941. However, production was delayed by the German invasion and the subsequent Soviet entry into World War II in June. When principal photography eventually commenced in April 1943, the majority of the film was shot in Alma-Ata, while the color scenes were filmed in Moscow. Eisenstein had planned to finish both parts of the film by 1944, but production delays meant only Part I and partial principal photography of Part II was completed by 1944. Part I was released in 1945 and received a Stalin Prize. Part II was completed in 1946, but was banned by Soviet authorities that year and not released until 1958. Eisenstein intended for Ivan the Terrible to be a three-part film, and had begun filming for Part III, but abandoned production of Part III after the ban of Part II. Eisenstein died in 1948, leaving the film incomplete.