this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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History Memes

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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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union_in_World_War_II

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[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 4 points 13 hours ago

Ive always heard it as Biritsh intelligence, American steel, and Russian blood won the war.

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Even though USSR has some blame for WW2 starting (Molotov-Ribbentrop and its follow-up), I'm sure Germany did the most for it.

[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 0 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

That pact short-circuited the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and is the first thing every WW2 nerd cites in trying to figure out how Hitler could've won the war. It was also a tactic to placate Britain and France that either resulted in, or proved unnecessary by, the Phoney War. Fall Weiss was already finalized to commence before September 1. Molotov-Ribbentrop was done in August.

Taking that pact out of the context in which it was made just seems odd.

Or maybe not because I know the Hearts of Irons games portray it (or did) with an 'unholy alliance' option. The games tend to give Nazi Germany massive penalties for not doing it, so the vidya brained think it is what enabled Germany to invade the USSR and/or start WW2. They're fun games when you know how they play with historical events, and brain breaking if you try to learn history from them.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 1 points 11 hours ago

It was also a tactic to placate Britain and France

"Molotov-Ribbentrop was meant to placate Britain and France"

Fucking what.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago
[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 2 points 19 hours ago

That's what happens when a state collapses, they stop getting as much credit.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Well, USSR wouldn't have survived without US help. USSR contributed the most in terms of territorial gain and manpower spent, but they would not have been able to make it without convoys to Archangelsk and Murmansk. These convoys were packed with materiell, mostly from the US, but a lot from the UK as well. Western tanks were vital in the defense of Moscow.

So, an objective answer to the question can only be provided if "most of what" is specified.

Nuance matters. Surveys like these rarely allow for that.

Yeah, even Soviet leaders, including the legendary Georgy Zhukov, low key admit (I will get to that later) that if it weren't for Lend Lease, USSR may have been defeated especially during the pivotal moments in the first couple of months of the German invasion. The material deliveries from the Allies filled the gap while the Soviet rushed their industries out of the German advances and restructuring the Soviet supply chain. Since you mentioned the Allied tanks, the British tanks made up around 40% of Soviet armoured forces in the Caucasus, since the Soviets couldn't easily deliver their own tanks to the Caucasus after the land route was cut off by the Germans.

After the war, the Soviet leadership aimed to minimise the importance of the Allied material deliveries in order lionise their own effort and exalt the communist system. But unofficially, many Soviet leaders were thankful of Lend Lease in a hush hush and low key manner.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Out of every nation to flip to, why the US?

Their impact was in the Pacific theatre not Europe.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Their impact was in the Pacific theatre not Europe.

?

from the bombing of europe, to overlord - the invasion of europe - this is factually incorrect. the US got into africa later than the UK because, uh, they didn't have colonies lol....

but half of the forces that landed on normandy were US.

the US had a larger footprint, and other allies smaller, in the pacific, but "their impact was in the pacific theater not europe" is incorrect. The US helped bomb germany into rubble, there were impacts in europe lol.

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Overlord was a year after Stalingrad, which is where the war turned on the Eastern Front.

Just look at German losses on each front. Dday put a big nail in the coffin - but the Axis was already bleeding to death then.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago
[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)
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[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 12 points 1 day ago

American movies are more popular in France than Russian

[–] redhorsejacket@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (7 children)

That's a wild take. Quibble over exact war contributions scores all you like, but to say the US didn't have an impact in Europe is blatantly false.

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