#13 Reevaluating World War II: Stalin's War with Prof Sean McMeekin
Manage episode 324563854 series 2803949
Join us for a conversation with Prof Sean McMeekin on his new book Stalin's War: A New History of World War II. This is a very timely discussion in light of the unfolding war in Ukraine.
Some of the points of discussion:
- How is Stalin’s War different from the conventional Hitler-centric account of World War II?
- How is it possible to even write a new history of World War II 77 years after the fact?
- Is the way we teach World War II unbalanced?
- How likely was the Hitler-Stalin pact?
- What are the main differences between fascism and communism?
- How much of a surprise was it when Germany invaded the Soviet Union?
- How much of the Nazi defeat can be attributed to Stalin’s planning?
- What are the gaps in the conventional Hitler-centric account of the lead-up to the outbreak of World War II?
- Are there similarities between the invasion of Poland before World War II and the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine?
- What about Japan’s role in the outbreak of World War II?
- What are the circumstances around “Poland’s betrayal” at Tehran?
- What did Stalin want to get out of World War II?
- Is Stalin a model for Putin?
- Is Putin trying to establish the Soviet Union?
- Why didn’t NATO seize to exist when the Soviet Union collapsed?
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