Kitchener
Newly Enlightened
Favorite historic \"what-ifs\"?
Always good fodder for a lazy afternoon. Here's a more obscure (yet monumental) what-if.
In 1941, the Soviet Union had a spy in Tokyo. Some may recall that Russia had been beaten by Japan in a war 36 years before that, and since then, and especially leading up to 1941 when Japan had become far more aggressively imperialistic, the Soviet Union kept many divisions of troops on their east Asian frontier. Their man in Tokyo, Richard Sorge, had warned Stalin of the impending German invasion of the Soviet Union, but Stalin, who'd signed a secret pact with Hitler divying up Poland, refused to believe it. When the Germans DID invade, the Soviet Union was brought to the precipice of oblivion.
In one of history's greatest examples of how a spy can turn the tide of war (and history), Sorge was able to learn that Japan had no designs on the Soviet Union (only on the United States and Britain). This time, Stalin rolled the dice, went against type and made a huge decision. Though not entirely confident in Sorge's assurances the Japanese wouldn't join the Germans and attack eastern Russia, he pulled his divisions from the eastern frontier, and JUST as the German Wehrmacht began to encircle Moscow, 10 fresh Red Army divisions, 1000 tanks, and 1000 aircraft arrived by rail from the far east to check the encirclement, and in a counter-offensive, repel the German army from Moscow.
With history's hindsight, it's clear the German army's swift arrival to the approaches of Moscow had been the high tide of the Third Reich -- they had very nearly defeated the Soviet Union. Instead, four years later, it would be the Red Army that would encircle Berlin, with Hitler, his hand beset with a nervous tremble, swallowing poison in his bunker.
What if Stalin, in his ever-paranoid mode, had chosen, once again, to not believe Sorge? How would the war have gone?
What's one of your favorite "what-ifs"?
Always good fodder for a lazy afternoon. Here's a more obscure (yet monumental) what-if.
In 1941, the Soviet Union had a spy in Tokyo. Some may recall that Russia had been beaten by Japan in a war 36 years before that, and since then, and especially leading up to 1941 when Japan had become far more aggressively imperialistic, the Soviet Union kept many divisions of troops on their east Asian frontier. Their man in Tokyo, Richard Sorge, had warned Stalin of the impending German invasion of the Soviet Union, but Stalin, who'd signed a secret pact with Hitler divying up Poland, refused to believe it. When the Germans DID invade, the Soviet Union was brought to the precipice of oblivion.
In one of history's greatest examples of how a spy can turn the tide of war (and history), Sorge was able to learn that Japan had no designs on the Soviet Union (only on the United States and Britain). This time, Stalin rolled the dice, went against type and made a huge decision. Though not entirely confident in Sorge's assurances the Japanese wouldn't join the Germans and attack eastern Russia, he pulled his divisions from the eastern frontier, and JUST as the German Wehrmacht began to encircle Moscow, 10 fresh Red Army divisions, 1000 tanks, and 1000 aircraft arrived by rail from the far east to check the encirclement, and in a counter-offensive, repel the German army from Moscow.
With history's hindsight, it's clear the German army's swift arrival to the approaches of Moscow had been the high tide of the Third Reich -- they had very nearly defeated the Soviet Union. Instead, four years later, it would be the Red Army that would encircle Berlin, with Hitler, his hand beset with a nervous tremble, swallowing poison in his bunker.
What if Stalin, in his ever-paranoid mode, had chosen, once again, to not believe Sorge? How would the war have gone?
What's one of your favorite "what-ifs"?
