Hitler's most idiotic move

Exactly. They were allies. Hitler wanted Germany to regain former territory that had been ceded to Poland after WWI (Danzig being the main prize), and in the process wipe the Polish nation off the map. Stalin also hated the Poles, and believed that the much hated / persecuted Kulaks (Middle Class peasantry) were in league with the Polish intelligence agencies. Also Stalin had territorial ambitions of absorbing parts of Poland in to the Ukrainian SSR and Belorussian SSR. The rest of the western world looked down upon German and Soviet territorial ambitions, and their totalitarianism and refused to align themselves with the Soviet Union. Stalin wanting to add more territory to the USSR and wanting to get rid of arguably one of his most hated opponents, the Poles, gladly accepted Germany's olive branch to dived and conquer. Both nations were pariahs at this point, so even though ideologically they hated each other, why not join forces to conquer an equal hated nation and reap the benefits?

However, I believe Hitler from the beginning knew that he would stab Stalin in the back. He hated communism. Hell the only reason Nazism came to being was because it was reaction to communism spreading through Germany post-WWI and in response to resentment many felt towards the Versailles Treaty. Over the years Nazism took a vehement anti-Semitic and anti-Bolshevik stance that by 1939 was clearly defined and enacted throughout the Reich. I am sure Stalin knew that his alliance with Hitler was a tree bearing poisonous fruit. However, I think because of his own egotism and because of his lust for territorial expansion, that Stalin threw caution to the wind. Also controversially many Historians have argued that like Hitler, Stalin had plans of attacking his ally and expanding his empire. That would also explain why he was willing to except German alliance overtures and why he was so mystified / unwilling to accept the fact that the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. Placements of Soviet troops also seems to lend itself more towards preparing for offense rather than defense, but could be poor defensive planning. We will never know truly unless some long lost document is found somewhere in the Kremlin.

I think supplying each other with raw materials (and even helping out with military advances, which both nations did) was to show true alliance, but mean while it was a ploy to lull the other totalitarian titan into a false sense of security.

The Soviet Union would have won WWII regardless of lend lease.

It was Soviet manpower that grinded the once unstoppable Blitzkrieg to halt, and then ultimately chased the Wehrmacht from the gates of Moscow all the way to Berlin.

It was Soviet production: which produced tens of thousands of one of the finest tank designs in the world, tens of thousands of fighter, bomber, and ground attack craft that eliminated the Luftwaffe from the skies once and for all.

Trucks and light tanks from lend lease did not save Russia or play a major part in them defeating the Germans.

By the time the Allies finally got around to invading France, the Germans were already defeated, at the Battle of Kursk in 1943, Hitler's last gamble, and chance to regain the initiative on the Eastern Front.

Had there been no Eastern Front (where most of the Wehrmacht were fighting) the Allies would have had zero chance to land in western Europe.

The Germans fighting in North Africa were ignored and denied any supplies or reinforcements and still nearly knocked the Allies out of Africa.


Italy getting its ass kicked in Greece and the coup in Yugoslavia delayed Barbarossa over a month.

Also, Britain is lucky that Goering changed the air mission in the Battle of Britain from targeting factories and airfields to trying to wipe out cities with light and medium bombers.

so let me see if i have this logic right:

0) hitler decides that everyone who speaks german should answer to him alone, and annexes austria
1) britain and france hand hitler czechoslovakia on a silver platter to maintain the peace
2) hitler says "i have no further territorial ambitions in europe" while continuing to build up a massive army
3) enraged by this outbreak of peace, britain allies with poland to antagonize hitler after just appeasing him with czechoslovakia
4) britain and france tell hitler, "if you attack poland, this time it's war...and we mean it."
5) britain and france make no aggressive moves, and do nothing to reinforce poland
6) hitler says, "oh yeah, that no further territorial claims thing? did i actually say that? poland, give us more stuff. and you have three days to do so or it's war"
7) poland says..."uh...no?"
8) hitler says, "we will not tolerate such aggression! we'll kill some of our people, blame it on you, and launch a massive attack at dawn!"
9) britain and france say, "stop that! go home! or we'll be mad!"
10) hitler says, "your mama!"
11) britain and france say, "sigh...there's nothing we can do to help, but this means...war?"
12) hitler says, "seriously? i always got away with this before...."
13) poland says, "thanks for the nice card, but we're destroyed"
14) those warmongers britain and france sit on their hands doing nothing for six months
15) germany whacks france, and the war is on in earnest....

....

997,865) internationalclique determines that ww2 was all britain's doing.

He made numerous blunders. His invasion of Russia started what, 6 weeks late? I wonder what the outcome would've been had he launched the invasion, 6 weeks earlier? Another blunder was England. By many accounts, the RAF was 2 weeks away from being beaten. Then 2 pilots made what I consider one of the costliest blunders in the war when they were taking AA fire and decided to drop their bombs and run, believing they were no where near London, when they were right over it. Churchill used this to his advantage, launching air raids on Berlin and did so until Hitler took the bait. Until then, civilian targets had been off limits but Hitler then changed from RAF airfields to the cities, allowing the RAF to rebuild. What would've happened had the RAF been defeated and Germany had air supremacy over England, would they have sued for peace? If so, imagine how many troops that would've freed up from the Western front to move to the Eastern front! Hitler's fight to the death orders were also absurd!