April 3, 2016

Why we don't know much about Stalin.

"Americans might be less receptive because of our own mythology of the Second World War. Anything that detracts from that simplified portrait is often unwelcome. Tales of Nazi horrors inflate the American experience and place American efforts front and center. Discussion of the central role of the Soviet Union, and its 20 million dead, deflates American experience and pushes American efforts to the margins."

1 comment:

edutcher said...

Many of Russia's casualties were of Stalin's making.

In places like Leningrad, people were allowed to starve on the grounds it meant fewer moths to feed.

On the battlefield, Red Army casualties in most campaigns (battle for Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, Bagration) were 2 to 4 times greater than the Germans' - and the Russians still won.

And there were still about 5 million or so either sent to the gulag or massacred at places like Katyn.

And, in the end, Russia was to the war against Germany what China was to the war against Japan - they held down the bulk of the enemy forces (50% of the Japanese Army was still in China on V-J Day) while we delivered the Sunday punch.