Operation Barbarossa

World War II started 70 years ago when Germany launched an attack upon Poland. It was two years later, in 1941, when Operation Barbarossa (Hitler's surprise plan to attack the U.S.S.R.) began. In Russia today, the ensuing war with Germany and its allies is not referred to as World War II. It's known as the Great Patriotic War. To view a fascinating multi-media map and presentation of the Great Patriotic War, click this link.

To view Stalin's speech to his nation at a very pivotal point in the early stages of the war, see the following video.

The immediate cause of the German defeat was the unheard folly of attacking the USSR, while Britain was still undefeated and America was manifestly getting ready to fight.  Mistakes of this magnitude can only be made, or at any rate they are most likely to be made, in countries where public opinion has no power.  So long as the common man can get a hearing, such elementary rules as not fighting all your enemies simultaneously are less likely to be violated.  - excerpt from a book I read

Stalin is a realist; that is, in modern phrase he believes in ‘power politics.’ And yet he lives in a world of make-believe.  One must not think him insincere.    Personally, he is no bluffer.  He leaves the practice of buff to his assistants, to whose words he does not pay very serious attention.  When he comes forth to address the Soviet citizens, he says what he conceives to the truth.  One would search a long while to find deliberate falsehood in his speeches.  There is much which one must disagree, but there is no willful deceit.  He believes the fairy-tale which he tells. - excerpt from a book I read

The Tsars were as absolute but their power not as great.  - on Stalin, from a book I read

And, here's an e-mail from an American contact - a conservative, and bit of a history buff:

His question:

Do the Russians recognize Stalin for the butcher that he was?  He was just as bad, if not worse, than Hitler based on the # of his own people he killed.

My reply:

It creates a dilemma for them.  Yes, there's an outcry against what he did.  However, many recognize him for the country's victory in WWII and industrial advancement.  Overall, the crimes during that time were shocking and no sane person ignores this.  Of course, here's a quote I found:  "Stalin wouldn't have been able to commit all the atrocities he did were it not for the hundreds of thousands of little Stalins running around."  Also, then, as today, our perception of Russia is often very distorted.  We have to filter through our own propaganda, which is sometimes impossible to do.  I do love this topic (anything WWII) and enjoy talking about it more than most things, even religion.  A "friend" from Albany, GA has been living in Moscow the past five years.  And he and I have gotten into debates over Russian history.  He tends to downplay the admiration some Russians still have for the "best" of Stalin.  And, in many instances, he has become an apologist for Russia today.  For example, although he's very conservative politically and socially (in the American sense), he believes strongly in Putin and Russia's stances towards the US.

And way back in 2003, around the time of the US invasion of Iraq, I had been e-mailing a close family member.  Once again Stalin's name was evoked.  Here's part of my e-mail:

When you study the deeds of Stalin, you quickly realize that his ruthlessness was unmatched. (Saddam even studied Stalin's ways)  Apparently, during the Second World War we had "no choice" but to side with Stalin.  Also, Mark, you might find this interesting:  The vast majority of people outside the US, at least the numbers I've talked with, including scores of Americas who have lived overseas, credit the USSR with defeating the Germans.   To be honest, when I lived in Uzbekistan, I got challenged on this quite often because I carried the unquestioned belief that the US saved the world.  Of course, that's not altogether true.  One reason the Soviets took possession of the Eastern block nations and parts of Japan had to do with the upper hand they had on the other allies.  Roosevelt, knowing that the Soviets were on the verge of capturing Berlin, had very little leverage in negotiating with Stalin.  The irony in all this is that Stalin had millions of his own people and others put to death.  In all, more people died at his hands than at Hitler's. 

 

As for our own tactics at the end of World War II, many scholars and historians state that the British/American firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo were unnecessary and inhumane.  Hundreds of thousands of civilians died.  And, contrary to what we've been taught, a lot of the world thinks that those bombings, along with the horrific bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, using the worst kind of WMDs, were primarily done to send a statement to Stalin.  After capturing Berlin, the Soviets were heading towards Japan, and the US was anxious to quickly win the Pacific on its own.  All of this laid the groundwork for the fall of China to the communists, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.