Origins of World War II

Did Stalin prepare to strike Germany when the opportunity arrives or Stalin was ready for war? There are many speculations and controversies over Stalin and Hitler aforethought before Hitler’s invasion of Soviet Union. Some scholars claim that Stalin did not expect Hitler to attack first based on historic German-Soviet non-aggression pact signed between the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet diplomat Vyacheslav Molotov on August 23, 1939. David Glantz, the author of the book called “Stumbling Colossus” claims that “Soviet was poorly trained and organized to launch a preemptive attack against the Nazi Germany.” However, Professor Thornton holds a different opinion saying that both Germans and Soviets were waiting on who is going to strike first, and apparently Hitler invaded first, even though Soviets were preparing his offensive actions. A well-known but controversial Soviet writer Viktor Suvorov believes that Stalin’s plan was to use Germany as a proxy against the West in the meantime preparing his army for an offensive war against the Nazi Germany. In his book “The Icebreaker” Suvorov wrote: “In my view, the man who is ready for war is not the one who loudly proclaims himself prepared for it, but the man who wins it— by dividing his enemies and knocking their heads together.”

Did Germans want to invade Britain as well? Professor Thornton believes that there is no way Germans would have invaded Great Britain keeping positions open for Soviets. However, Mitchell G. Bard thinks the opposite: “ wanted to invade  and had the forces to subdue it as he had Germany’s other victims, if he could get his troops across the Channel. Germany had no amphibious landing craft or any of the components the Allies would later use for their own crossing;” nevertheless, Hitler believed Britain could be conquered if the RAF (Royal Air Force) was destroyed, or at least neutralized.”  Operation Sea Lion was a Nazi Germany plan, though never executed, to invade Great Britain during the Second World War. After the RAF’s convincing victory, Hitler ordered Operation Sea Lion be postponed. While many historians believe that the defeat of Germans in this battle stopped them from invading Great Britain, a British novelist takes a different view in his published book called: “ Invasion, 1940: The truth about the Battle of Britain and What Stopped Hitler” saying it was not the Royal Air Force who saved Britain from invasion by defeating the Luftwaffe. The British Writer Derek Robinson “contends that even if the RAF had lost the Battle of Britain, the Germans could never have successfully invaded England”, which would probably not be the case based on Hitler’s intention to “occupy the world”.

Why did Roosevelt turn his attention to Japan? Professor Thornton asserts that Roosevelt did that to prevent Japan from helping Germany or attacking Soviets. The collapse of Soviets will cause a big problem for the US from Professor Thornton perspective. Others believe that Roosevelt wanted to be drawn into the war so bad that after Japan and Germany signed a mutual defense treaty, he realized that the war with Japan meant war with German: “Realizing that Germany wouldn’t allow itself to be provoked into war, FDR turned his attention towards Japan that had a mutual defense treaty with Germany and Italy…” Another argument was introduced in the book “Why the United States Declared War on Germany” by Richard Hill where: “President Roosevelt divulged that the U.S. government “knew” that Germany induced Japan to strike by offering Japan the “spoils” of the entire Pacific” So basically, Roosevelt ostensibly took necessary measures to get ahead of Japan intention to attack the US which is controversial because Japan and Germany have tried to prevent the US from being drawn into the World War III.

Some questions about the origins of the Second World War are still unanswered. Soviet historians try to justify actions of their leaders and Western scholars defend their leaders. The war against fascism evolved into another battle, the longer turf war between communism and capitalism in the form of the Cold War.