Why did Stalin help the U.S fight Hitler and the nazis?

Question

I had the idea that they were both allies, but then I found out it was the Soviet troops that advanced on hitler in berlin and helped defeat him

Answer 1

The question covers a misconception, it was Stalin who helped the Allies fight Hitler. The non-aggresion pact signed in 1939 was designed by Hitler to catch the British out, as he was convinced that when he signed the Pact that the British would not force a war with Germany as it left Poland isolated. It also prevented the British signing a treaty with the Soviets, and for Hitler it stopped any possiblity that the Soviets would attack during his invasion of Poland. It was only a tempoary arrangement in Hitler's eyes, and it was one of his tactics to sign non-aggresion pacts (he signed one earlier with Poland protecting their borders for 20 years) and then ignore them. It also brought much needed raw materials for the German economy which was overheating rapidly due to the massive amounts of spending on the miltary. Stalin also thought war was inevitable with Germany, but knew after the purges the Red Army was in no condition to fight Hitler and thought that war would not break out in another 15-20 years. For some reason , he also took Hitler at his word, that he would not attack the Soviets.
On the run up to Hitler invading, British intelligence which had cracked the German codes knew an invasion of the Soviet Union was coming and Churchill constantly warned Stalin that the Germans would invade, but Stalin refused to believe the Germans would invade and break the treaty. On the day of invasion, supplies were still being sent to Germany, and when informed that the Red Army was being attacked gave orders that the Army should not respond too provocativly too German attacks.
After the invasion Britain started started sending supplies to the Germans via the Arctic convoys and shared intelligence with the Soviets. In September 1941 America added the Soviet Union to the Lend-Lease programme. When Germany declared war in December 1941 on the USA this was when the American became fully involved in the European war
It was a bitter divide between Stalin and the Anglo-American Governments that they refused to open up a second front from 1942-1944 and Stalin said that his country was bleeding to death. However, despite the British having already planned a invasion of occupied France before the American entered the war, the amount of men and material in the UK was not near enough to ensure victory, and for two years they stalled Stalin. Churchill was realistic enough to know that as long as the Soviets kept large number of the German Army pinned down then it would make any invasion in the west easier.However, throughout this peroid Roosevelt allowed himself to be charmed by Stalin, and basically ganged up with him against Churchill, who felt Stalin and the Soviets to be a neccesary evil but still evil. At Yalta Churchill fought hard for Eastern Europe (mainly because Poland WAS the reason for Britain declaring war) but was outvoted by both Stalin and Roosevelt.
As a side note regarding Berlin in 1945, the British Army under Montgommery wanted to capture Berlin before the Soviets and they were in a perfect condition to do so in North Germany, however, Eishenhower insisted that Berlin was not important and allowed the Soviets to capture the city first. If the western powers had taken Berlin first it would seem likley that the city would never have been divided up like it was after the war.

Answer 2

Actually one might reverse the question and say since the Soviet Union formed a pact with the Nazis in 1939 to dismember Poland, and much of Europe to start World War II, why did the United States so eagerly give Stalin a blank check and such false favorable propaganda?

In 1939 the Soviet Union and Germany signed a nonagression pact, to conquer and divide the spoils of Europe. But when Hitler illogically turned on the Soviets in 1941 the United States government in power turned a deaf ear to Stalin's recent foreign aggression, and also tried to cover up the fact that within his country his mass slaughters and prison camps almost matched Hitler's.

Roosevelt was naive. Stalin was a kind of brutal, homicidal leopard, who was never going to change his spots. We could have allied with him more realistically. We did not cause in any manner the Soviet-German split. Hitler wrote in "My Struggle" that the Soviets were subhumanes, who should be exterminated. Stalin should have been wary of that fact when making the treaty with Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill tried to warn Stalin of Germany's impending June 1941 invasioin of the Soviets, but was ignored.

The Soviets in fighting in Berlin in 1945 were attacking, as in 1939 on self interest. The Allies, mainly the U.S., should have been more pragmatic, as well.

Answer 3

Of the four major powers who fought the Germans in WW2, the British and French were in at the start but France was defeated in 1940 which only left Britain and its Empire to face the Germans.
Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941 with a lot of success to start with.
Britain formed an alliance with the Soviet Union and sent military supplies on the Arctic convoys.
In December 1941 Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor and the Germans declared war on America two days later in support of their Japanese allies.
The leaders of the three allied powers (Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt) had a meeting at Yalta in 1944 during which they decided how Europe would be divided by the victorious powers when Germany was defeated.
Stalin managed to charm Roosevelt into agreeing to a much larger slice of territory for him than Churchill wanted to give away but Churchill was outvoted.
At the end of the war Stalin controlled Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Roumania and Bulgaria - Austria was divided in four.
Austria was given its independence after a few years but the other countries remained occupied until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Answer 4

The Soviets and the Germans had a non-aggression pact that Hitler violated. At one time the Germans had 32 divisions on the Eastern Front and 7 divisions on the Western Front. Stalin helped Stalin. The partnership was a transitory alliance among the "Allies".

Answer 5

Germany betray the Soviet Union during operation Barbarosa. Stalin had know idea Germany was going to attack since he had a non aggression pact with them. Stalin was also to busy purging his military of undesirables and political rivals.

The Soviet Union was an ally to both Britain and the US, Soviet Union took the brunt force of the German army and this is one of the reasons why the Soviets lost more manpower. Other reasons why they lost a lot of men was do to bad leadership caused by the purges and human wave attacks.

The Soviets eventually were able to overcome Germany's military might. The soviets had the best tank during the war, the T-34. The Germans later made the panther tank to counter it.

The Soviets did receive supplies and equipment from the US

Answer 6

Neutrality Pact. Japan and Russia signed a Neutrality Pact. The Soviets broke the Neutrality Pact on 9 August, 1945. Stalin had given the United States a promise that he would transport Russian military forces (via the Trans-Siberian railway) to the Pacific War to invade Japan, exactly three months after Germany had surrendered. This was a very crucial factor that caused Japan's decision to end WW2.

Answer 7

When Hitler invaded the Soviet Empire's territory the man of steal became Uncle Joe. Stalin was evil and Hitler made him our bedfellow for a season. When the Nazis were defeated the cold war reactivated.

Answer 8

Stalin was really a jerk. He was allied with Hitler until Hitler invaded Russia in the winter. Hitler was forced out and many of his troops faced low moral and died of cold and starvation. The outcome of the war may have been different if Hitler had attacked in the spring or summer, or hadn't attacked russia at all.

Answer 9

Ok...you have this reversed. Stalin didn;t help the US. The US helped Stalin. What I mean by this is,.......the Russians did the vast majority of the work...and the russians suffered the heaviest losses. The German army lost in Russia.

I don't think you understand the era at all from your question...but I'll give you a general guide....

The USSR (russia) and Germany were both looking to expand their empires. Both came to power by attacking the other verbally. Hitler came to power criticizing and scaring people about communism, and Stalin consalidated power by criticizing and scaring people about the fascists. There was no possible way they WEREN'T going to end up at war.

The Soviet Union and Germany entered a temporary pact together where they agreed to divide Poland, and not fight one another. It was a temporary alliance...both parties knew it.

The Soviets weren;t ready for war...they were stuck in Finland.

Hitler wasn;t ready for war with Stalin...he was consalidating his holdings in eastern europe and France.

The Germans consalidated power first...so they then invaded the USSR (breaking the agreement).

The VAST majority of the German losses (9 million losses out of 11 million total) took place fighting the Russians. Almost 2 mllion Germans died fighting in St. Petersbrugh alone.

The whole time that Russia was fighting tank battles against Germany, they begged the US and England to enter the battle. They spent about 2 years fighting Germany more or less alone. The US was still gearing up for war, and England didn't do much more then air raids and fighting in Africa.

By the time D-Day happened, the Soviets were already winning the war against Germany. They were out producing the Germans, and the t-34 tank was by far the best tank used in the war. German industry was taking losses by the British raids, the Yugoslavian Guerilla war was really bogging down German supply lines (the yugoslavian contribution to the war has been down played for decades....they were brave and feroscious fighters). The Germans suffered insane losses each winter.

The US and England were in a race with the Russians to get to Germany. We were afraid they'd conquer all Europe...and we'd end up holding little turf. The USSR was always an ally in the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" mold. We were afraid of them...and we didn't want them marching across Europe.

In other words......you can really view ww2 as a fight between Germany and Russia.....where they both tried to take other territories over......with the US and England's biggest role being to Arm the russians. Our contribution to WW2 is VERY overblown in our history books. It was the Russians who beat the Germans. We helped a little.

Answer 10

Hitler and Stalin did work together in the beginning of the war, but Stalin was really in it only for himself and his country. He quickly betrayed Hitler and switched sides when he did not think the Germans were winning. he only worked with the Allies in an attempt to get more for himself. Stalin also felt betrayed by Hitler because they had a deal that Hitler backed out on, thus Stalin did not feel that he owed any loyalty to the Germans.