> It paid 20X or so more in lives than the US or UK to win WWII
The USSR's plan was to invade the whole of Europe anyway (Stalin was preparing for it well before Operation Barbarossa started - you can look it up, they had the largest tank division in the world back in the 30s, well above Germany, and with much more powerful tanks that were obviously not going to be used for peaceful purposes).
So presenting them as "allied forces" has always felt amusing to me. They showed their true colors anyway right after Germany's defeat.
The "Icebreaker" theory has been thoroughly debunked. It has no support among credible historians. And yes, they were building up their military in the 30's. They would have been complete idiots not to.
The USSR's plan was to invade the whole of Europe anyway (Stalin was preparing for it well before Operation Barbarossa started - you can look it up, they had the largest tank division in the world back in the 30s, well above Germany, and with much more powerful tanks that were obviously not going to be used for peaceful purposes).
So presenting them as "allied forces" has always felt amusing to me. They showed their true colors anyway right after Germany's defeat.