Who was the Greatest Leader of WWII?

[parsifal]

Stalin was not a great leader, as such, but i am of the opinion that he was at least better than Hitler. He at least had the good sense not to interfere in operational matters as much as Hitler, and after the absolute act of paranoia he displayed by killing most of his officers, he did settle down enough to allow his army to recover, and produce some of the finest officers of the war,

I also think he was more realistic about the outcome of the postwar makeup of Europe, although to be fair, so was Churchill. The Americans were naive enough to trust Stalin at the end of the war. And didnt realize what his intentions were viz Eastern Europe

[JugBR]

Originally Posted by parsifal

Stalin was not a great leader, as such, but i am of the opinion that he was at least better than Hitler. He at least had the good sense not to interfere in operational matters as much as Hitler, and after the absolute act of paranoia he displayed by killing most of his officers, he did settle down enough to allow his army to recover, and produce some of the finest officers of the war,

I also think he was more realistic about the outcome of the postwar makeup of Europe, although to be fair, so was Churchill. The Americans were naive enough to trust Stalin at the end of the war. And didnt realize what his intentions were viz Eastern Europe

i understand your opinion, but i think "greatest" is not "good", or "more ethic", or even "more human", otherwise, the names of stalin and hitler also couldnt being mentioned in this pool, would be waste of time.

my point is besides all his crimes against ucranians, germans, russians, etc... stalin was the great winner of ww2 and the most powerfull man in the world after the conflict.

you have to remember, stalin sign a treaty with hitler, to share the poland, soviet union also invadede poland in 1939, but only against germany was declared war. why ?

also, hitler betrayed stalin and broke the treaty, starting the barbarossa operation, wich counts at least with 70% of germans army forces. the biggest operation of war. and soviets was the only nation who could expels the germans out their territory, fighting back until berlin.

to end my point is good to remember how was europe before the conflict and the new europe after that.

[Njaco]

Jug makes a good point, one I never thought of . When Russia invaded Poland on 17 Sept 1939, why didn't Britain and France declare war on Stalin?

The US wasn't involved then Jug so when we did enter it was well beyond Barbarossa and Stalin was an "Ally".

[JugBR]

Originally Posted by Njaco

Jug makes a good point, one I never thought of . When Russia invaded Poland on 17 Sept 1939, why didn't Britain and France declare war on Stalin?

The US wasn't involved then Jug so when we did enter it was well beyond Barbarossa and Stalin was an "Ally".

yes, you see, stalin would be another enemy of allies and then he became one of the 3 great leaders and also soviets made a great contribution to defeat of 3 reich, after the war, russia raises their territory and also their influence over europe.

considering the dictatorial conotation of soviet government, stalin became the most powerfull person of post-war.

[parsifal]

An alternative, and perhaps interesting way of looking at this problem is perhaps to work backwards and think about the worst political leaders in WWII.

I am not a great fan of Petain, or Rydz Smigly. Strangely, perhaps, i would not put either Mussolini, or Hitler in the bottom of the list. I dont think much of Goring, and the japanese political assessment prior to PH was also pretty poor as well. I am not all that impressed by Chiang Kai Shek either.

[JugBR]

Originally Posted by parsifal

An alternative, and perhaps interesting way of looking at this problem is perhaps to work backwards and think about the worst political leaders in WWII.

I am not a great fan of Petain, or Rydz Smigly. Strangely, perhaps, i would not put either Mussolini, or Hitler in the bottom of the list. I dont think much of Goring, and the japanese political assessment prior to PH was also pretty poor as well. I am not all that impressed by Chiang Kai Shek either.

the worst political leaders i believe was all those who dont realized the potential threat was germany. theres was a lot oportunities to see that, but they didnt care.

[freebird]

Originally Posted by Njaco

Jug makes a good point, one I never thought of . When Russia invaded Poland on 17 Sept 1939, why didn't Britain and France declare war on Stalin?

The situation in Eastern Europe was rather confused. The eastern half of Poland had originally been Russian or Ukrainian land, given to Poland after WWI, it was this land that was re-taken in 1939. The Western Allies were a little bit uneasy about making a big stink about that, especially since the Nazi were job # 1. Churchill actually was looking for ways to help Finland fight the USSR in 1940, but there was no way to send aid.

Originally Posted by Maestro

Go figure ! I don't get it myself. Why is {Mackenzie-King} even in the list ?

Perhaps because some people don't know what he did during the war, only that he was PM. {National Pride perhaps} His governments position during the war sure didn't help make things easier. A more flexible policy could have helped out with the ANZAC problems in N. Africa, and might have avoided "Dieppe"

[JugBR]

Originally Posted by freebird

The situation in Eastern Europe was rather confused. The eastern half of Poland had originally been Russian or Ukrainian land, given to Poland after WWI, it was this land that was re-taken in 1939. The Western Allies were a little bit uneasy about making a big stink about that, especially since the Nazi were job # 1. Churchill actually was looking for ways to help Finland fight the USSR in 1940, but there was no way to send aid.

i believe fear of soviet red army is the only logic explanation. because soviet union did not invade poland to recoquest lost terrirtories but to expand the soviet union over what they believed was their "influence area".

its hard to say whos made the polish suffer more, the nazis or the soviets. soviets made a lot of executions and deploys polish prisioners to the german side many war crimes against polish civilians and atrocities vas made by red army. britain signed a treaty with poland but she just didnt acomplish the goal of its treaty, even defeat germany in 1940 sould be almost impossible, after dunkirk evacuation.

then, the hope of a german defeat was in the soviet hands and the easter front, the barbarossa operation was the real point where nazis start to fall. tragical isnt ? the guy who was so mean likes your worst enemy now was your only hope...

thats why im very interested by that historical figure, stalin, he was the plage and also the cure of another plage, he was an necessary evil, but if allies didnt invaded normandy that evil could reach the beaches of portugal.

the main figure of ww2.