Well, there was also an agreement between the Soviet Union and Imperial Japan not to attack each other, but on August 8, 1945 the Soviet Union violated the Soviet-Japanese non-aggression pact and invaded Japanese Manchuria and Kuril Islands, also threatening a seaborne invasion of the Japanese mainland.
There are in fact VERY reliable reports indicating that the Soviets intended to do to Germany EXACTLY what they did to Japan in August 1945, that is back stab the Germans when they were at their weakest, just as Japan in August 1945 too was at its weakest.
Stalin viewed Hitler as "the icebreaker of the world revolution", meaning in other words Hitler was in Stalin's eyes the the bulldozer that would flatten Europe and trigger a world war in which the Soviet Union would then "liberate" all of the countries occupied by the "Fascists". That is why Stalin actively colluded with Hitler in dividing and occupying Poland (what started the war), and then provided Hitler with almost limitless resources for continuing the war against Britain and France, dragging not only the entire European continent into the war but also the colonies of the far east, Africa, and South America, making the world "ripe for a revolution." As Lenin once put it "The first imperialist war triggered a Communist revolution in Russia, therefore we need a second imperialist war to trigger a worldwide revolution." That was the aim of the Soviet Union since its inception, and that was the goal Stalin wanted to fulfill.
Of course, Stalin did not expect lighting German victory over Britain and France on mainland Europe. But Stalin did hope that Hitler would invade Britain and focus his entire resources on Operation Seal Lion, thus giving him an opportunity to attack from the east and "liberate Europe" from Nazi occupation; the occupation which he himself aided in.
But Hitler realized the plans as the Germans noticed the massive Red Army troop movements and concentration of Tanks, aircraft, infantry, and artillery massed on their Eastern border, a phenomena in history never before witnessed nor since. The Soviet support for the overthrow of the pro-German Yugoslav gov.t and the Red Army's dangerously close invasion & occupation of Bukovina which threatened the Ploesti oilfields in Romania from which Germany derived most of its fuel needs further added to German suspicions of aggressive Soviet intentions. The German's themselves duped Stalin
unintentionally by not preparing their troops with adequate winter equipment like frost resistant lubricants for vehicles, guns, and aircraft, padded clothing, etc... Stalin's spies within Nazi occupied Europe reported to him that no attempts were being made to harvest wool on a large scale therefore no German preparations were underway for an invasion since wool is required for winter clothing for any invader intending on occupying Russia, even though Soviet reconnaissance aircraft began to notice large columns of German troops, tanks, artillery and aircraft on their border; a mirror image of their own deployment of Red Army troops, tanks, aircraft, and artillery. But Stalin refused to believe the reports of German troop concentrations because to him the Germans would be too stupid to invade without the proper equipment for the Russian environment. But he was proven wrong and you know the rest from there.
But what i have explained is a condensed version in which i have left out some of the major details which you can read about here in the following links:
Icebreaker -- Who Started the Second World War? (review)
Historian Details Stalin's Two-Year 'Mobilization' Plan for European Conquest (review)
Suvorov's 'The Last Republic' (Review)
New Evidence on the 1941 'Barbarossa' Attack (Review)
Stalin's War (Review)
Operation Barbarossa and the Russian Historians' Dispute
And here, i
HIGHLY recommend this book to you by a former Soviet KGB officer, he has extensively written on this topic and his research has done a great deal of justice to this historical perspective, i cannot stress it enough.
The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II Reprint, Viktor Suvorov - Amazon.com
Any keen student of WW2 history and military strategy should read this book as it reveals a lot in terms of historical events as well as strategy involved in military thinking from the minds of one of the best strategists in history of modern warfare.
@Psychic @persona_non_grata @Gufi @WAJsal @waz
Well, whatever the source(s) you read this information from the author truly lacked understanding of historical facts and military strategy.
Yes, the decisions made during the course of the war on the Eastern front by the German high command were truly disastrous, which only further adds to my point that the entire invasion was hastily planned as a preemptive strike to stall Soviet threat to Europe. But the bulk of these disastrous decisions were made not by Hitler, but by his Generals. Of course, after the war everyone blamed Hitler, after all it is easy to scapegoat a dead man who can't defend himself and no German general after the war wanted to attract the attention of powerful Jewish organizations looking to drag an old "Nazi" into prison for having any sympathies for Hitler.
Now, to get on point regarding Stalingrad, here is why Stalingrad was a necessary and strategic target.
Look at this map of the Caucasus, Stalingrad sits right on the entrance to the Caucasus. And not only that but it sits right on the river Volga, natures highway. Now why is this important? The Caucasus is where the Soviet war machine derived more than 85% of its fuel from, and the river Volga was used as a form of transporting this fuel. He who controlled Stalingrad controlled the entrance to the Caucasus, and he who controlled Stalingrad also dominated the river Volga.
At the time of the Battle for Stalingrad, the Germans already had around 700,000 troops in the Caucasus, thus capturing Stalingrad was of vital importance as it guarded the flank of this massive army in the Caucasus as well as cut off the main source of fuel supply of the Red Army, thus rendering the Soviets inept in launching large scale counter offensives.
Of course, how the Germans handled the Stalingrad battle is a whole different topic in itself and the blame does not solely rest on Hitler's shoulders. But what im getting at is that Stalingrad was not an unnecessary target. In fact it was of vital importance to the Germans and the Soviets. However the Germans acted too late. Instead of heading straight on for Moscow in 1941 they should have focused on heading for the Caucasus from the onset of Barbarossa. Hitler actually insisted on this plan but his Generals overrided his decisions and headed straight for Moscow instead, which proved to be disastrous because they were never able to capture the city. Even if the Germans did manage to capture Moscow in 1941, the Soviets already had an alternative capital further east and would only have shifted in that direction. However, the oil of the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad's strategic location is not something that can be shifted.
