Stalin, Communism, and World War II
he Chief Culprit: Stalin’s Grand Design to Start World War II, by Viktor Suvorov
The standard, accepted story of World War II, especially for those in the west, goes as follows: Hitler wanted to take over the world; Japan committed an unprovoked and despicable act by bombing the US at Pearl Harbor. The United States, minding its own business until the day that will live in infamy, was forced into war against all efforts of Roosevelt to the contrary. The United States then saved the world from Nazi and Japanese tyranny, and then altruistically aided in the rebuilding efforts of former enemies.
It is a fantasy that lies behind the emotion shed at sporting event during the singing of the national anthem and the flyover of military jets; it undergirds countless July 4, veterans day, and memorial day parades. It was the good war.
Over the years, I have worked to shed myself of this dream. Much of that work is buried in dozens of posts in this blog. One of the more complete, summary examples is here. Most of my effort has been focused on the perspective of the west generally – the culpability of Britain, France, and the United States in the century of war. Of course, there is much culpability to share amongst actors employed by these three states.
There are, of course, other viewpoints. Perhaps the first one I looked into was one from Germany, through a book by Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof, “1939 – The War That Had Many Fathers.” I have written several posts on this topic; for those unfamiliar with this work and interested in the perspective, I offer my introductory post to this work.
So, now on to Suvorov. His perspective is from the view of the Soviets and Stalin. I will likely write several posts on this book and this topic; I will also use details from this book to update my running “Timeline to War.” However, for now, I will offer the summary version of this book (in this summary, I will not go into detail from the book; I will develop this in subsequent posts).
Suvorov suggests that Stalin’s objective was conquest for the sake of expanding communism. In this, Stalin followed a very cohesive strategy; ultimately, he achieved partial success, but not to the extent desired.
Mais
The standard, accepted story of World War II, especially for those in the west, goes as follows: Hitler wanted to take over the world; Japan committed an unprovoked and despicable act by bombing the US at Pearl Harbor. The United States, minding its own business until the day that will live in infamy, was forced into war against all efforts of Roosevelt to the contrary. The United States then saved the world from Nazi and Japanese tyranny, and then altruistically aided in the rebuilding efforts of former enemies.
It is a fantasy that lies behind the emotion shed at sporting event during the singing of the national anthem and the flyover of military jets; it undergirds countless July 4, veterans day, and memorial day parades. It was the good war.
Over the years, I have worked to shed myself of this dream. Much of that work is buried in dozens of posts in this blog. One of the more complete, summary examples is here. Most of my effort has been focused on the perspective of the west generally – the culpability of Britain, France, and the United States in the century of war. Of course, there is much culpability to share amongst actors employed by these three states.
There are, of course, other viewpoints. Perhaps the first one I looked into was one from Germany, through a book by Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof, “1939 – The War That Had Many Fathers.” I have written several posts on this topic; for those unfamiliar with this work and interested in the perspective, I offer my introductory post to this work.
So, now on to Suvorov. His perspective is from the view of the Soviets and Stalin. I will likely write several posts on this book and this topic; I will also use details from this book to update my running “Timeline to War.” However, for now, I will offer the summary version of this book (in this summary, I will not go into detail from the book; I will develop this in subsequent posts).
Suvorov suggests that Stalin’s objective was conquest for the sake of expanding communism. In this, Stalin followed a very cohesive strategy; ultimately, he achieved partial success, but not to the extent desired.
Mais
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