Explanation
The losses of Germany on the eastern front are widely believed to be the most significant factor in defeating Nazi Germany and the USSR won the battle of Berlin, the final battle before the German capitulation. Thus Europe widely believed (for a good reason) that the USSR was the main contributor in defeating Germany. With the cold war the perception of the USSR became a lot worse in western countries like France and with increasing anti-USSR sentiment the view flipped to viewing the USA as the deciding factor. The USSR (and the Russian Federation today, even if its government is very anti USSR) viewed itself as the most important force in defeating Germany, especially because the USSR had the biggest amount of deaths. It is worth noting that the USSR was at least commercially allied with Nazi Germany until June 22, 1941 and there was an agreement between the nations on which parts of Europe each could invade and which where reserved for the other.
In terms of casualties the Russians did the most, no contest.
I mean they undoubtedly died the most, that's not really the same thing though.
Indeed, because that can mean they had bad tactics and gear just as likely
It could potentially mean that, but 80% of Nazi soldiers who died in WW2 died in the Eastern Front, so it doesn't mean that.
No, but it is a measure of sacrifice. The numbers involved are incredible and without comparison to any allied nation.
The amount of German casualties on the eastern front is not coincidentally the highest, so if killing Nazis is your metric the Russians did most of that.
"Kif, show them the medal I won"
I don't think dying a lot necessarily means means doing much, it just means that you are incompetent and have a careless disregard for life.
Here's a copy paste of my answer above to someone with a similar argument for your perusal:
I guess it really depends on what the metric you want to gauge by is, 'contribution' is very vague. Manpower, resources, effect, something else?
It could also be that the survey question was later phrased more as who contributed the most in France during WW2, which would not include the Soviets much at all.
80% german forces got buried on eastern front I get it why you would hate modern russia but that shouldnt diminish sacrifices made by red army in any way, we are forever indebted to them.
It's a pretty wild to say that russians dying more than anyone else is the reason nazis lost the war. You usually don't win wars by dying the most. Almost the exact opposite is the goal.
If you took the trouble of reading through this thread you might have discovered two posts where I add significant detail. I'll copy it here for you to spare you the trouble: