And you are aware that defeating Hitler was a combined effort between Allied forces and the resistance movements of several countries? Or are we doing the Hollywood version of history again?
I was about to claim that Stalin died naturally of a brain haemorrhage, but having read quite a bit recently about his life after the war, I have the feeling that isn't true. Anyway, my point was going to be that Stalin may have had the luxury of continuing on after WW2 and dying a natural (?) death, but describing him as a winner is a bit much. His country was left in tatters from WW2 and continued to remain in tatters.
Had Stalin not died when he did, the Jewish people of Russia would have suffered as Stalin intended to deport them on the very day he died.And arguably had Stalin lived, we'd have seen WW3 develop.
Anyway, my point was going to be that Stalin may have had the luxury of continuing on after WW2 and dying a natural (?) death, but describing him as a winner is a bit much. His country was left in tatters from WW2 and continued to remain in tatters.
Depends on what you define as ''winning'' doesn't it? Did Beria do him in with warfarin? Or did one of the doctors accused in his last few trials decide to get even? No one would know the actual cause.
And no victory has ever been without sacrifice and blood. In a fight, everyone will end up knocked up, lying on the floor, but I would say that on a personal level, Stalin came out much stronger from the war. His cult was never stronger, his entourage never more fearful of him, the people never more adoring, and his control extended over more lands the Romanovs ever annexed.
Well, WWIII speculation has always been one of parlour games for me. I just doubt he would have rushed into yet another war, especially when Mao was beginning to break away.
Depends on what you define as ''winning'' doesn't it?
Precisely.
Stalin came out much stronger from the war
Personally he came out stronger, but his country paid the price and Russia had to make a choice between weapons and food. Stalin chose weapons.
Well, WWIII speculation has always been one of parlour games for me. I just doubt he would have rushed into yet another war, especially when Mao was beginning to break away.
Agreed, but then Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign, or at least the one he was about to embark upon, was about deliberately provoking America. He knew that if he's gone ahead with expelling Jews from Moscow it would lead to something, but that something is what we'll never know. Would we have gone to war again? How far was Stalin willing to go to provoke America? Were the rumours about special barns in Kazakhstan and buses parked in Moscow ready to deport the Jews really rumours?
Did Beria do him in with warfarin? Or did one of the doctors accused in his last few trials decide to get even?
It's more than possible that Beria ordered Stalin to be killed, but then that would open it out to a wider conspiracy. The only point that makes me believe there was a wider conspiracy was the lack of urgency from those informed of the state Stalin was found in and the delay in getting medical attention to him. But then if they wanted him dead and he was dying of natural courses, would they rush to save him?
He knew that if he's gone ahead with expelling Jews from Moscow it would lead to something, but that something is what we'll never know.
Why would his obsession and expulsion of Jews incite America? Stalin was not a biological Jewish hater, the Jews were merely another group of people he mistrusted, the other more significant one towards the end of his life was the Georgians that Beria patronized. Why would it affect America at all? If anything, the USSR's probes into Eastern Europe and the German dispute would be much more relevant and possible causes for WWIII.
The only point that makes me believe there was a wider conspiracy was the lack of urgency from those informed of the state Stalin was found in and the delay in getting medical attention to him.
The guards were too afraid of waking him. I don't think it was a conspiracy, but a human nature error, terror at the great man. Furthermore, Stalin himself decimated his best doctors in the Doctors' Trial, hence the medical attention given to him in the form of five doctors, was to the horror of his entourage, told to be of mediocre quality.
Furthermore, I don't think it was a conspiracy because although his entourage was split, Beria, Malenkov on one side, and Molotov, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, Khruschev on the other, they were all afraid of him in his final years due to his increasing mental disabilities and paranoia. This led to much hesitation on their part, and a will to survive, if he dies, they live. And it so happened that he was dying, but there was no ''active conspiracy''. But right till the end, apart from Beria, they all remained devoted, and according to accounts, their despair was genuine.
Why would his obsession and expulsion of Jews incite America?
I have no idea, it is just what I've read about the man. I'm not well read enough to understand the further implications of what he was doing if I'm honest, but I could speculate that the atrocities witnessed when the Allied forces arrived in Germany might be enough to incite a bit of vigor into the American government's foreign policy at the time.
The guards were too afraid of waking him. I don't think it was a conspiracy, but a human nature error, terror at the great man. Furthermore, Stalin himself decimated his best doctors in the Doctors' Trial, hence the medical attention given to him in the form of five doctors, was to the horror of his entourage, told to be of mediocre quality.
I know the guards feared him, they wouldn't even go to bed or leave their post when they were due to because of the Stalin Stare. But then Stalin's guard were inferior to those under Beria's control weren't they?
Furthermore, I don't think it was a conspiracy because although his entourage was split, Beria, Malenkov on one side, and Molotov, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, Khruschev on the other, they were all afraid of him in his final years due to his increasing mental disabilities and paranoia. This led to much hesitation on their part, and a will to survive, if he dies, they live. And it so happened that he was dying, but there was no ''active conspiracy''. But right till the end, apart from Beria, they all remained devoted, and according to accounts, their despair was genuine.
Fair point, but Beria's 'whip' was the hardest. Maybe they all did stand by and let him die of natural causes, but maybe Beria decided his fate and warned them against crossing the KGB. I certainly wouldn't have argued with the KGB, then or now.
I have no idea, it is just what I've read about the man. I'm not well read enough to understand the further implications of what he was doing if I'm honest, but I could speculate that the atrocities witnessed when the Allied forces arrived in Germany might be enough to incite a bit of vigor into the American government's foreign policy at the time.
I doubt so. The Americans would have been much more concerned over the bigger problems, that is the defeated Axis Powers, and USSR encroachment on previous Axis lands. There was certainly no danger of the Jews being massacred enmasse, a few years before he died, Stalin proposed giving the Jews the Crimea, alternatively, he did set up a small Jewish Republic near the Chinese border which still exists today.
But then Stalin's guard were inferior to those under Beria's control weren't they?
The NKVD were under Beria's control, but ultimately everything went back to Stalin, so I'm not so sure about this.
Fair point, but Beria's 'whip' was the hardest. Maybe they all did stand by and let him die of natural causes, but maybe Beria decided his fate and warned them against crossing the KGB. I certainly wouldn't have argued with the KGB, then or now.
Eh? The NKVD is the KGB... just because it had a name change in the 50s doesn't make it a new or different organisation.
The NKVD were under Beria's control, but ultimately everything went back to Stalin, so I'm not so sure about this.
But if the reports are correct, that Beria ordered the guards not to panic and not to disturb Stalin, why would they listen to Beria if they were directly under Stalin's control? Stalin had a private guard as did Beria. So why would Stalin's guards take orders from Beria or Beria's guards when they could see Stalin was in distress? I say distress, but the reports I read of the incident had Stalin soiling himself and struggling to breath. Yet they waited all day before bringing in a doctor?
I doubt so. The Americans would have been much more concerned over the bigger problems, that is the defeated Axis Powers, and USSR encroachment on previous Axis lands. There was certainly no danger of the Jews being massacred enmasse, a few years before he died, Stalin proposed giving the Jews the Crimea, alternatively, he did set up a small Jewish Republic near the Chinese border which still exists today.
We can speculate, but had Stalin gone through with his plans to deport Jews, we don't really know what the reaction to this would have been?
