by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Years ago concerned with Washington’s growing provocation of Russia, I made the remark in a column that Hitler, like Napoleon, destroyed himself by marching off into Russia. I suggested we not repeat the folly. Two readers corrected me. They informed me that Hitler had no choice. Hitler’s decision was not based on hubris or miscalculation. A former Russian KGB official with access to the documents had defected to the West and written a book that proved that Stalin was preparing to invade Germany and overrun all of Europe and that Hitler had no alternative but to strike first, even though Germany was unprepared for such a war, before Stalin completed his preparations.
I was too much under the influence of the WW II narrative to believe them. I didn’t see how Stalin could attack when he had not that long before purged the ranks of the officers of the Red Army. I also believed, as some historians taught, that Hitler was frustrated that the British government would not agree to sign a peace threaty favorable to the British that promised Germany’s military protection of the British Empire.