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If Stalin attack the West, what year and month was optimum?

Discussion in 'Alternate History' started by Hairog, May 1, 2011.

  1. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    I'll take that as an admission that your assumptions are unsuportable. Too bad. I was hoping to learn something.
     
  2. green slime

    green slime Member

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    Its not reasonable. All sides were incredibly tired of war. The costs had been enormous, both in material and men, to defeat fascism, Nazi Germany & Imperial Japan. The Soviet Union too, demobilized and returned people home to devasted, ruined cities; people were still starving, homeless, and jobless. Tanks do not produce food. The Russian army did not loiter around in Potsdamm Square champing at the bit for a decent scrap. The need in Europe, all of Europe, was vast. Rationing of basic foodstuffs continued well past the end of the war.

    All nations were basically at the end of their tether. Millions were displaced. It was a time for mourning losses, consolidating gains, and regaining humanity. Everyone was personally affected, in the combatant countries. Everyone.

    Secondly, it doesn't matter how many A-bombs the USA thinks it has, or needs, or wants. What matters to Stalin is that 1) he has none (until 1949) 2) he doesn't dare believe how few the USA has, nor how difficult it is to produce 3) "The bomber will always get through." was still a truism in the 1940s.

    Stalin is not going to declare a war against an atomic armed USA. He is a ruthless dictator, not a raving lunatic.
     
  3. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    Especially after reading some of the latter posts on the fiction thread this was designed to support it's pretty clearly the whole thing lacks credibilty.
     
  4. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    If Kim Philby was Soviet agent, just curious, how many were in the US department... ;)
     
  5. Hairog

    Hairog Member

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  6. Sloniksp

    Sloniksp Ставка

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    Nuclear weapons guaranteed no attack on the West. I will say, however; had Stalin decided to become more ambitious (due to being bitten by a rabbid dog :D) perhaps the best way to counter the nuclear threat to Russia's major cities was to settle the hundreds of thousands of POWs which the Red Army would have almost certainly had?

    Then again this scenario is a mad mans dream. Europe was done with war (Russia) included. This was a time to grieve and rebuild. The allies were victorious and the Russians knew who their allies were. War was simply a none starter.
     
  7. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Glad that Patton could not decide what to do next...we know how he wanted to go all the way to Kreml and further...
     
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  8. mjölnir

    mjölnir New Member

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    I think the best time for Stalin to strike in the west was May 1, 1937 (instead of having the impressive parade),
    The USSR had by far the largest and best equipped army and good commanders. He had thousands of I-16, the only modern, monoplane fighters with retractable landing gear in service in the world) and SB bombers and tanks, hundreds of TB-3 (the only 4 engine bomber-transports in service), tens of thopusands of cannon, etc,

    First Stalin needed to team up with Chiang and sell him armament to attack Manchuria & Korea simultaneously with the USSR and expel the Japanese from the continent in 1936, splitting Manchuria between the USSR and China. This would secure his flank, provide soy, etc, for the USSR, strengthen Chiang and secure him as an ally and weaken Japan considerably (forcing it to fight the French, Dutch and British to acquire land and resources, thus weakening the west indirectly).

    Instead of instigating the extremely wasteful and harmful purges, Stalin could have invaded Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Iran, Romania, Finland, Norway and Sweden on May 1, 1937 to control most of the grain, oil, iron and copper ore, etc, in Eurasia and gain strategic positions (Soviet planes and ships now control the Baltic and Germany cannot buy iron ore, coper, AAA, ect, from Sweden).

    From this strong position Stalin invades E Prussia on June 20, 1939 and and now with more experienced men & a prestigious army, Stalin proposes to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia the formation of a coalition to invade and share fascist and militant, but weak Italy and Germany before they become stronger. Simultaneously, having invaded Iran, Stalin proposes to Turkey to invade together and share Bulgaria (the USSR attacking from captured Romania), Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt.
     
  9. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    Weren't the Soviets already selling weapons to the Chinese? Indeed I seam to recall they were also supplying pilots and/or trainers at least in limited numbers.
     

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