32. Growth of the Preemptive Strike Myth
The Soviets’ recent farcical experience in fighting Finland had demonstrated to Stalin and the Soviet leadership that the Red Army was poorly led, poorly trained, and poorly equipped. As such, attacking Germany was the last thing on their minds. Indeed, Stalin went out of his way to eagerly – even obsequiously – appease Hitler, to avoid giving him any excuse to attack the USSR. Precisely because he knew his military was in no shape to fight a major war in 1941, let alone invade Germany.
Nonetheless, Viktor Suvorov’s assertion that Stalin was about to invade Germany in 1941 was eagerly embraced by the fringe. Hitler apologists, neo-Nazis, and assorted white supremacists were eager to accept anything that portrayed the Fuhrer as having merely been defending his country against imminent communist aggression. However, there is no historical evidence to support the thesis.
