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The Soviets were allies of the Nazis at the time of the Winter War, and it's been expedient for many to ignore the Nazi Soviet pact since.

ptaipale 8y ago
On social media platforms, pointing out the common Nazi-Soviet victory parade in Brest-Litovsk tends to get a lot of negative attention from Russia-minded activists (one often wonders how many of those accounts are real, but perhaps it is unimportant).
- ptaipale 8y ago
  And the downvotes on this comment work as a proof...
sbmthakur 8y ago
Calling them allies is a bit of an exaggeration. I'm not defending the Soviets, they certainly played their role in Nazi imperialism(supply of raw materials, carving up Poland and so on). But a non-aggression pact doesn't automatically make them allies. Poland had also signed one with the Nazis and they helped themselves to annex a part of Czechoslovakia before the Nazi invasion of Poland. And we know that Poles and Nazis were far from allies.
- varjag 8y ago
  They fought same war on the same side, against same enemy, simultaneously. Ended it with bilateral military parade. Supported each other with training and materiel right until summer 1941. Sounds like allies to me.
  - sbmthakur 8y ago
    > They fought same war on the same side, against same enemy, simultaneously. Are you referring to Poland? Well, Nazi plans to expand into the east were well known. As for the Soviets, a buffer with the Nazis was paramount. Not justifying their actions but looking from their perspective they were able to delay the war by two years. Even if the enemy was same, the objectives were vastly different. However, the enemy wasn't really the same considering Czechoslovakia, which the Soviets wanted to defend. > Ended it with bilateral military parade. Supported each other with training and materiel right until summer 1941. The parade was more or less just a show-off to fool each other. Just like how India-China have military drills(despite having territorial disputes) to soothe each other. Nazi-Soviets did have trade but from Soviets' perspective it was more likely done to avoid war. When you say allies, what comes to my mind is US-UK or US-Israel relationship. Nazi-Soviet relationship was nothing close to that. I would agree with you if it we had been discussing this in 1938-41. But we have the benefit of hindsight.
    - varjag 8y ago
      Look, it was more than drills, they partitioned Eastern Europe and fought a campaign together. They were allies for all purposes unless you are specifically set on nitpicking. That they were enemies afterwards does not negate that. Opportunistic alliance is an alliance none the less.
    - pmoriarty 8y ago
      "Nazi plans to expand into the east were well known. As for the Soviets, a buffer with the Nazis was paramount." If that's the case, why was the Soviet Union so spectacularly unprepared for the German invasion?
    - freshm087 8y ago
      When you say allies, what comes to my mind is US-UK or US-Israel relationship. It's quite a narrow view, I dare to say. There's no need any for any stable special relationship, or even shared objectives to form an alliance. Expecting some sort of positive returns is quite enough. E.g. since Germans attacked USSR the latter became ally of UK, and then US in spite of the fact that Soviet ideology made it a natural enemy to both (and predictably USSR became an enemy once Germany lost). There was an addendum to Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (Secret protocol) which was a plan to divide Eastern Europe between two empires, and it means Soviet-Nazi allyship in 1939 was neither an accident, nor a forced decision. Well, Nazi plans to expand into the east were well known. It's not correct in the context. While wish to expand Reich was certainly known, Hitler didn't publicly advertize any clear plans regarding territories under Soviet rule. And Stalin obviously trusted Hitler because he personally discarded intelligence indicating German war preparations as ridiculous. Soviet press in line with party directives kept neutral, or friendly tone towards Germans till the moment of the invasion.
- greedo 8y ago
  The Soviets also helped retrain the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe in secret camps/bases before Hitler was strong enough to tell the Allies to pound sand when they complained about violating the Versailles Treaty.

ptaipale 8y ago

On social media platforms, pointing out the common Nazi-Soviet victory parade in Brest-Litovsk tends to get a lot of negative attention from Russia-minded activists (one often wonders how many of those accounts are real, but perhaps it is unimportant).

ptaipale 8y ago
And the downvotes on this comment work as a proof...

sbmthakur 8y ago

Calling them allies is a bit of an exaggeration. I'm not defending the Soviets, they certainly played their role in Nazi imperialism(supply of raw materials, carving up Poland and so on). But a non-aggression pact doesn't automatically make them allies. Poland had also signed one with the Nazis and they helped themselves to annex a part of Czechoslovakia before the Nazi invasion of Poland. And we know that Poles and Nazis were far from allies.

varjag 8y ago
They fought same war on the same side, against same enemy, simultaneously. Ended it with bilateral military parade. Supported each other with training and materiel right until summer 1941. Sounds like allies to me.
- sbmthakur 8y ago
  > They fought same war on the same side, against same enemy, simultaneously. Are you referring to Poland? Well, Nazi plans to expand into the east were well known. As for the Soviets, a buffer with the Nazis was paramount. Not justifying their actions but looking from their perspective they were able to delay the war by two years. Even if the enemy was same, the objectives were vastly different. However, the enemy wasn't really the same considering Czechoslovakia, which the Soviets wanted to defend. > Ended it with bilateral military parade. Supported each other with training and materiel right until summer 1941. The parade was more or less just a show-off to fool each other. Just like how India-China have military drills(despite having territorial disputes) to soothe each other. Nazi-Soviets did have trade but from Soviets' perspective it was more likely done to avoid war. When you say allies, what comes to my mind is US-UK or US-Israel relationship. Nazi-Soviet relationship was nothing close to that. I would agree with you if it we had been discussing this in 1938-41. But we have the benefit of hindsight.
  - varjag 8y ago
    Look, it was more than drills, they partitioned Eastern Europe and fought a campaign together. They were allies for all purposes unless you are specifically set on nitpicking. That they were enemies afterwards does not negate that. Opportunistic alliance is an alliance none the less.
  - pmoriarty 8y ago
    "Nazi plans to expand into the east were well known. As for the Soviets, a buffer with the Nazis was paramount." If that's the case, why was the Soviet Union so spectacularly unprepared for the German invasion?
  - freshm087 8y ago
    When you say allies, what comes to my mind is US-UK or US-Israel relationship. It's quite a narrow view, I dare to say. There's no need any for any stable special relationship, or even shared objectives to form an alliance. Expecting some sort of positive returns is quite enough. E.g. since Germans attacked USSR the latter became ally of UK, and then US in spite of the fact that Soviet ideology made it a natural enemy to both (and predictably USSR became an enemy once Germany lost). There was an addendum to Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (Secret protocol) which was a plan to divide Eastern Europe between two empires, and it means Soviet-Nazi allyship in 1939 was neither an accident, nor a forced decision. Well, Nazi plans to expand into the east were well known. It's not correct in the context. While wish to expand Reich was certainly known, Hitler didn't publicly advertize any clear plans regarding territories under Soviet rule. And Stalin obviously trusted Hitler because he personally discarded intelligence indicating German war preparations as ridiculous. Soviet press in line with party directives kept neutral, or friendly tone towards Germans till the moment of the invasion.
greedo 8y ago
The Soviets also helped retrain the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe in secret camps/bases before Hitler was strong enough to tell the Allies to pound sand when they complained about violating the Versailles Treaty.