Originally Posted by Doppleganger

What problems did Stalin have internally that would keep him busy for decades? If he indeed had these problems, it did not stop him installing puppet Communist regimes in half of Europe after WW2. If it wasn't for Nazi Germany, the whole of Europe would have turned communist in no more than 10 years. Stalin was preparing for a major war of conquest and the Red Army was undergoing a massive reorganization and rearmament when Hitler struck in June 1941.




Morality was not different but what was deemed acceptable in war certainly was. Genghis Khan put millions of innocent people to the sword, including razing entire cities. The figure is as high as 60 million people, which is far more than Hitler ever killed. Yet is Genghis Khan demonized as an inhuman monster?

Hardly.

Yes Genghis Khan was a monster and so was Attila but as the old joke goes, They weren't bigoted, they would kill anybody.

Joseph Stalin set up puppet Goverments in a third of Europe because that idiot Adolph Hitler decided to bang heads with him. He actually started a war with Russia while still fighting England. He also started a war with someone bigger than himself. Not only bigger but with better Armour and an infinate supply of soldiers. By the way, if you are saying Stalin was planing some sort of war of conquest on the rest of Europe----maybe it's time for you to take your medication.

Originally Posted by Papashah41

Joseph Stalin set up puppet Goverments in a third of Europe because that idiot Adolph Hitler decided to bang heads with him. He actually started a war with Russia while still fighting England. He also started a war with someone bigger than himself. Not only bigger but with better Armour and an infinate supply of soldiers. By the way, if you are saying Stalin was planing some sort of war of conquest on the rest of Europe----maybe it's time for you to take your medication.

You still haven't cleared up why you think Stalin had enough problems internally to keep him busy for decades. And why don't you think Stalin wasn't planning a war of conquest. There hasn't been a leader of a large powerful empire yet that didn't desire or plan for conquest - it's human nature. Plus there's more enough evidence to suggest that Stalin was no more content to let Nazi Germany prosper than Hitler was the other way. Finally it's pretty much endemic in Bolshevik doctrine that it requires to be exported to the people, wherever they are and whether they want it or not.

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v19/v19n6p40_Michaels.html

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

You still haven't cleared up why you think Stalin had enough problems internally to keep him busy for decades. And why don't you think Stalin wasn't planning a war of conquest. There hasn't been a leader of a large powerful empire yet that didn't desire or plan for conquest - it's human nature. Plus there's more enough evidence to suggest that Stalin was no more content to let Nazi Germany prosper than Hitler was the other way. Finally it's pretty much endemic in Bolshevik doctrine that it requires to be exported to the people, wherever they are and whether they want it or not.

http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v19/v19n6p40_Michaels.html

Sorry for not using paragraphs. I'm having trouble with my keyboard / and or something else which doesn't allow me to section properly without great difficulty. If I can't fix it I'll buy another keyboard next week and see what happens.



The trouble with Surmise is we may be wrong.

The problem with projecting our personal understanding onto what a historical figure may have done is the amount of uncertainty rife in such excercises. If we look at what the Soviet Union did before the advent of The Russo-German clash, there is evidence of paranoia, but no grand scheme for a war of conquest.

From the outset of the creation of the Soviet State, The Western Nations tried many times unsuccessfully to topple the red government. We should also remember The Finnish War started after the Finns refused to lease the Soviets an area which posed a danger to their security. And yes Doppelganger, that should have been the end of it. Russia should have accepted the Finn's refusal. But Germany and to a lesser extent Italy had everyone concerned for their own safety. After the fall of France, Stalin annexed the three Baltic states. He also took a good chunk of Bessarabia, enraging the Rumanians. Then came the famous two dictator polka which wiped out Poland. By this time Stalin was appeasing Hitler in his own way. Its quite apparent this territory grab didn't help at all when hostilities came to a head on June 22, 1941..

But Stalin had serious problems. The state of the Red Army was dismal. The great purges began in 1936 practically destroyed the officer class. His other great problem was strategic. The U.S.S.R.'s western frontier was huge. It began in the arctic and ended in the Black Sea. When Stalin put a huge amount of equipment and armies into this new territory, anyone with intelligence in the USSR, including Molotov, tried to explain he was making a mistake. But in certain ways Stalin was a lot like Hitler. He thought he knew better.

Before hostilities came to a head, Stalin refused to listen to anyone who warned of a German invasion. Right up until the invasion Russian Goods, especially Oil, metals and lumber were sent to Germany. This just does not seem like the policy of a man who was plotting war. Truthfully the USSR was in no shape to start a war for at least 10-15 years. And there is no proof that would have happened.