ABSTRACT
The magnitude of human losses in the Soviet Union during the Second World War is still disputed among historians. Research based on the methodology of demographic balance indicates total human losses in the USSR during the war of 26.6 million people. The veterans returning from the war were sometimes considered potential neo-Decembrists, suggesting an analogy with the developments in Russia after the War of 1812, in particular the uprising of several regiments in St. Petersburg in December 1825. But war also modifies the bases of cultural life, stimulates a reexamination of conventional assumptions, and forms a moral-psychological foundation for the future. What comes of it all depends on the particular conditions of the postwar years. It must be obvious, however, that the first years after the end of a successful war are not the most favorable time to engage in a struggle with the victorious government.
