To be fair, the soviets didn’t think the Germans were going to deliberately fight a 2 front war as that was not successful in WW1. Second, The Germans HEAVILY relied on the USSR for raw material imports (oil being the most important). Wouldn’t make sense to invade your only trading partner suppling you with vital resources needed to conduct the war. Third, the soviets were very paranoid (rightfully so) of British intelligence meddling in German-Soviet relations in order to get them to fight. It was mainly the British that were warning the Soviets about German build up on the border. The Soviets wanted the Germans and British to fight it out, they did not want to get dragged in the conflict until they were ready (especially since they were in the middle of a massive reorganization of the red army)
4 months ago | 1
Mein Lieber Kamerad
Hey, Guys! On June 14, 1941 – People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. Molotov stated: "Only an idiot could now think about attacking the Soviet Union"
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June 14, 1941 – TASS officially declared rumors about Germany's preparations for war against the USSR a provocation:
"... rumors about the "imminence of war between the USSR and Germany" began to circulate in the English and foreign press in general. According to these rumors: 1) Germany allegedly presented territorial and economic claims to the USSR... 2) the USSR allegedly rejected these claims, in connection with which Germany began to concentrate its troops on the borders of the USSR with the aim of attacking the USSR; 3) The Soviet Union, in turn, allegedly began to intensively prepare for war with Germany and is concentrating troops on the latter's borders...
TASS states that:
1) Germany has not made any claims against the USSR...
2) According to the USSR, Germany is also steadfastly observing the terms of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact...
3) The USSR, as follows from its peace policy, has observed and intends to observe the terms of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, in view of which rumors that the USSR is preparing for war with Germany are false and provocative;
4) The current summer training camps for the Red Army reserves and the upcoming maneuvers have as their goal nothing other than training reserves and testing the work of the railway apparatus, which are carried out, as is known, every year, in view of which it is at the very least absurd to portray these activities of the Red Army as hostile to Germany."
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June 14, 1941 – the German Supreme Command gave the final orders to attack the USSR.
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Asymmetry of political action...
4 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 9