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For me, two excellent discussions have risen out of this thread. The first being "what should Hitler have done with his armies at the outset of Barbarosa?" The Second being "was Stalin planning an offensive against Germany?"

The trouble is that they aren't mutually exclusive for those who believe that Stalin was planning such an attack, those who believe Hitler was convinced that Stalin was going to attack and those who believe both, in that Hitler was correct in foreseeing an imminent Soviet invasion of Europe. Without giving adequate discussion to the plausibility of a perceived or real threat of a Soviet invasion, it is difficult for us to argue the strategic relevance when we are all presenting our views under different assumptions.

agreed Just a Game.
Would be good to seperate out the what was stalin really up to topic.
And perhaps the how good was hitler topic too so that the other forum remained a who was the best general forum

Originally posted by JustAGame:
.....The Second being "was Stalin planning an offensive against Germany?"

JustAGame

My personal opinion is that Stalin was not planning to attack West. I have many reasons for this that mainly boil down to 'the Soviets were not ready enough or strong enough to do so'. Latter he may have moved as the Reich solidified like a sheet of bassalt over western europe and he saw the last chance to attack slipping away.(and this relates to communist doctrine) The previous statements premise being based on my belief that if Hitler had not attacked then the Reich could have staved off Allied threats to the continent and even forced a ceasefire. There are a lot of 'ifs' here but Hitler was quirky and known to change his mind at the last minute, he 'may' not have attacked.
What he did with the armies after he did attack is of less interest to me, unless of course he wins in the east.(though it makes a fun game and a very interesting one)
The rise of a new and aggressive world power (The Reich/Europa) is a fascinating topic.

Nick

PS. Japan also tried to be a world power but when they attacked the US their fate was sealed.

Originally posted by Matthew Buttsworth:
agreed Just a Game.
Would be good to seperate out the what was stalin really up to topic.

Please do. What would be interesting to see is a poll prior to such a discussion and the same poll a couple weeks later to see if anyone is moved by the material presented by those arguing their views. Most of us learn new things here, but do we learn enough to change our views of such a pinnacle issue. For those of us who feel Stalin was preparing for his own offensive, it would be a fundamental change in how we perceive the entirety of the history of WWII. I imagine the same holds true for those presently feel that Stalin couldn't have been preparing for offensive actions.