>an entirely-optional war that likely wouldn't have begun if Germany hadn't decided to start it There is a great deal of consensus among historians that it was

>an entirely-optional war that likely wouldn't have begun if Germany hadn't decided to start it There is a great deal of consensus among historians that it was absolutely inevitable and unpreventable. A reasonable minority even support Suvorov's claims that the USSR was planning to start the conflict and Germany only beat them to it by a couple of weeks.