Ask the Professor, June 8, 2017

Andrew Roberts’ 2009 The Storm of War argues that it was only Stalin’s ruthless totalitarian regime that could squeeze the heroic efforts and sacrifices necessary from the Russian people to defeat Nazi Germany. He doesn’t minimizing Western aid, or Stalin’s blunders from the Red Army purge of the late 1930s to ignoring warnings, or the natural advantages of Russia’s terrain and population. But do you agree that the sacrifices demanded by Stalin would not have been accepted in a democracy?