Yep, that and continuing to provide the Third Reich with the raw materials they needed, even after Germany had long since slowed down their promised shipments of machinery to the USSR to a trickle, was also a catastrophic decision in retrospect. The most convincing thesis on the mater I've read is that Stalin knew that a German invasion was inevitable, but estimated that it would only come in 1944 or 45, and as such was taken by complete surprise in 1941. Things likely would have been far better if the Soviets did strike Germany in 1940, but its worth noting that very few in the USSR felt the Red Army was anywhere near ready to fight for modern warfare at that time.
That's Suvorov's thesis: that Barbarossa worked so well because the Red Army was deployed for offense, not defense. He is reviled as a conspiracy theorist, just in case you don't know.
whole problem with Molotov Ribbentrop is the Soviets did not betray it. should've stabbed hitler in the back the moment he struck the benelux
Yep, that and continuing to provide the Third Reich with the raw materials they needed, even after Germany had long since slowed down their promised shipments of machinery to the USSR to a trickle, was also a catastrophic decision in retrospect. The most convincing thesis on the mater I've read is that Stalin knew that a German invasion was inevitable, but estimated that it would only come in 1944 or 45, and as such was taken by complete surprise in 1941. Things likely would have been far better if the Soviets did strike Germany in 1940, but its worth noting that very few in the USSR felt the Red Army was anywhere near ready to fight for modern warfare at that time.
That's Suvorov's thesis: that Barbarossa worked so well because the Red Army was deployed for offense, not defense. He is reviled as a conspiracy theorist, just in case you don't know.
the conspiracy is that the Soviets were planning an offensive posture when they were not. but things would've gone better if the Soviets had attacked
although 'planning' is a bad word, like obviously they'd drawn up some provisional plans but they were not adopted