#13 Reevaluating World War II: Stalin's War with Prof Sean McMeekin

High School History Recap

English - April 04, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 44.4 MB - ★★★★ - 6 ratings
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Previous Episode: #12 Interrogating the MAIN causes of WWI with Michael Neiberg

Next Episode: #14 The Cradock Four with Zikhona Valela

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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