Direct link to article... [littlegreenfootballs.com]
There were a lot of things that led up to it, but the proximate cause of WW2 was the invasion and partition of Poland by Hitler's Third Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. While the Soviets (curiously) avoided a lot of the blame for this at the time, they later paid heavily for their deal with the Devil, suffering more losses against the Wehrmacht than everyone else combined when Stalin foolishly refused to recognize Hitler's perfidy.
But Russian history books now claim that Poland was invaded in self-defense. Think about that one; along with Nazi Germany the Soviet Union partitioned Poland in order to prevent a Polish conquest. What an alternate history that would make.
Question for the historians:
Neville Chamberlain always viewed Stalin as the more dangerous enemy; it is why, after all, he was eager to treat with Hitler. So why didn't the USSR join Germany on the list of people he wanted to fight?
