The document discusses the uneasy alliance between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union before World War II, highlighting the Treaty of Non-Aggression signed in 1939. It examines the complex relationship and similar methods of propaganda and brutality between the two leaders, as well as the impact of their actions on the conflict's escalation. The Great Patriotic War, marked by intense battles such as Stalingrad, is presented as the largest single-front conflict in history, with severe conditions endured by soldiers on both sides.

1. STALIN AND HITLER THE
GATHERING STORMS OF
WW2
RUSSIAN HISTORY, CLASS
6, FALL 2010/ SPRING 2011
Russian History – Instructor - Joe Boisvert

2. Uneasy Allies – Soviet Union – US-
England – WW2
Winston Churchill once said
that the only thing worse than
having allies is not having
them. It was an apt description
of the tensions that existed
between Great Britain, the
Soviet Union, and the United
States during World War II.

3. 1939 - 1941.
Hitler and Stalin Had Also Been Reluctant Allies before Invasion

4. Stalin was Stalling for Time
 Joseph Stalin realized that war with Germany was inevitable.
 However, to have any chance of victory he needed time to
build up his armed forces.
 The only way he could obtain time was to do a deal with
Hitler.
 Stalin was convinced that Hitler would not be foolish enough
to fight a war on two fronts.
 If he could persuade Hitler to sign a peace treaty with the
Soviet Union, Germany was likely to invade Western Europe
instead.

5. Officially titled the Treaty of
Non-Aggression between
Germany and the Soviet
Union[ and signed in Moscow
in the late hours of 23 August
1939
It remained in effect until 22
June 1941, when Germany
implemented Operation
Barbarossa, invading the Soviet
Union.

6. Stalin is surprised and acts poorly in the Beginning of the Was
Germany Invades the Soviet Union

7. IN THEIR different ways they were as bad as each
other, the three monsters of 20th-century Europe.
That is an oddly controversial statement. Hitler is
almost universally vilified; Lenin remains entombed
on Red Square as Russia's most distinguished
corpse; and modern Russia is looking more kindly
on Stalin's memory.
Honor for Lenin, Ambivalence
about Stalin, Vilification for Hitler

9. Hitler and Stalin were similar in many way in
their rise to power.
They were gifted in the ability to use propaganda and brainwash
people, which in turn proves that they were both unethical
They desired to make their countries better and stronger by any
means. Including killing large segments of their own people.
Both of these men succeeded in doing all of these things.
Where Stalin and Hitler Similar?

10. Russia
Germany

14. The postwar examination of secret papers from Europe clearly show
that Britain was trying to draw Germany and the Soviet Union into
active hostilities,"
"As early as November 1938, diplomatic missions of a number of
countries reported to their departments that Britain and France
would not prevent Germany's eastward expansion,
Russian Intelligence Service declassifies Munich Papers
September 1938
Later, on November 25, Grippenberg (Finnish Ambassador)
reported his conversation with a British government member who
assured him that Britain and France would not interfere in
Germany's eastward expansion.
"Britain's position is as follows: let's wait until Germany and the
U.S.S.R. get involved in a big conflict," the document reads.

15. June 22, 1941
On a Moscow Street. The
announcement that
Germany Had attacked
Russia
SPEECH ON THE RADIO
THE VICE PRESIDENT OF
THE People's
Commissars of the USSR
and the People's
Commissar for Foreign
Affairs LLC. B.
M. MOLOTOV

17. The 1941–1945 war between Germany and the Soviet Union was the greatest
conflict in history ever fought on a single front.
For almost four years, nine million troops were continually engaged as
Germany and its allies Finland, Romania, Hungary, and Italy battled the Soviet
Union in total war
For the first eighteen months, the Soviet Union fought this war almost entirely on its own.

18. The Eastern Front was the critical theatre of the war against Hitler, and Stalingrad its
decisive battle. Conditions were unspeakable as hundreds of thousands of men fought
yard by yard for possession of the rubble of a city that once housed 850,000 people,
through the winter of 1942-43.
Weapons and vehicle engines froze, food was chronically short and frostbite the
common misery of both sides. Stalin's generals were as merciless towards their own
men as towards the Germans - those who flinched were shot.

19. Involved in it were the Russians and the German soldiers. Below are some
pictures of the men of the Wehrmacht in Russia.