On 22 Oct 2003 02:44:52 -0700, (Stuart Wilkes)
wrote:

"John Mullen" wrote in message ...

snip

We did not badly to win the air and sea battles with Nazi Germany. Neither
was easy and both had costs attached. Of course we couldn't have won overall
without the support of the USA and the USSR, both of which in their own ways
hedged their bets until the decision to enter the war was forced upon them.

Not by their choice. The Soviets had alliances with Czechoslovakia
and France since 1935, and offered Great Britain and France a full-up
Triple Alliance with all the trimmings on 17 April 1939. Too bad
Chamberlain refused to take it seriously, preferring to pursue
Anglo-German agreement.

The only way that an treaty with the USSR could have been signed is to
accede to Stalin's demand for a free rein in the Baltic, an agreement
not likely to have gone well with any of the Western powers. Stalin
finally got it from Hitler, which is what he was after.



Of the two, that of the USSR was IMO the less honourable.

They had been excluded from the prewar European diplomacy, and their
alliance offers to the Western Allies refused. Once that was clear,
they looked after themselves. Nothing dishonorable about that.

Stuart Wilkes