Watching 1938 Alexander Nevsky. There is no way the Soviets were not preparing for war with the Germans.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact convinced Stalin lebensraum was just a meme and Germany was only interested in western Europe, because why would Germany make the same mistake as the last war and fight on 2 fronts? The allies would simply funnel resources to the Soviet Union and Germany would be engulfed.
Being filled with courage to fight the Germans was not organic. They were being coached.
>>18133675It was a bold move putting the Slavic swastikas on the German cardinal's hat, that's all I'm saying.
>>18133660They were in 1938. Stalin wanted to use create a temporary allience with France and Britain against Germany, and use a war against them as an excuse to expand influence over Eastern Europe. But that went nowhere and than Munich happened, and Stalin decided that he would rather work with Hitler. He pretty much got what he wanted from the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and for some time planned on a lasting allience with Germany. But in 1940 Soviet-German relationships deteriorated, and Stalin stopped supplying oil briefly. By that time the Soviets were preparing for a possible war some time in the future, but their readiness was shit in June 1941 and Stalin misjudged what Barbarossa was.
>>18133701>But in 1940 Soviet-German relationships deteriorated, and Stalin stopped supplying oil brieflyBecause he wanted WAR
>>18133714>in 1940 Soviet-German relationships deterioratedIt was a brief spat, I recall reading somewhere the Soviets were still sending Germany oil after Operation Barbarossa had began.Stalin was aware of the possibility of war and the Soviet Union was already highly militarized, suddenly diverting even more resources from development towards the military would slow their progress and probably not even affect the outcome, just result in even more troops and equipment being encircled in the initial phases.
