re: How big a role did Russia play in WWII?

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Well... if Germany had kept the peace with Russia instead of breaking it then they probably rule Europe today.

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That was never an option. A Nazi Germany could theoretically coexist with a British Empire, but it could not with a Soviet Union. In order for Nazism to work, communism must be destroyed and the Slavs must be enslaved.

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That was never an option. A Nazi Germany could theoretically coexist with a British Empire, but it could not with a Soviet Union. In order for Nazism to work, communism must be destroyed and the Serbs must be enslaved.

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Slavs, not Serbs.

But you're making good points.

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To be fair I find the Russians agreeing to it to be one of the dumbest moves in world history. Did no one advising Stalin read Mein Kampf? Hitler warned the world what he would do if he took power, and lebensraum was one of the key features of Nazism not a bug.

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Stalin had actually made efforts for an alliance with France and Britain before the German-Soviet pact. He pretty much got no where and then he signed with the Germans. He thought that it would buy him time. The pact was signed and the deal was made to divide up Poland. Poland was no friend of the USSR and Hitler had tried to negotiate with the Polish government but had failed. When Britain and France guaranteed the Poles that they would come to their aid, the Poles were emboldened and refused any compromise with Hitler.This actually provided Hitler a "jumping off point" for the invasion of the USSR. Their territory was right next to each other after Poland was divided.

They supplied the warm bodies for a lot of bullets.

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The philosophy was numbers, not quality

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Stalin had a saying,

"quantity, has a quality all its own."

In it's inception up to their necks. Invading and taking territory. In fact they drove some that would have never faced off against the Brits into the NAZI camp. There is an American Ranger hero with a military installation named after him who fought the Russians in the days leading up to WWII when they invaded his Nordic country. Then joined the German SS when his country capitulated to fight the Russians again. When WWII ended he got away and sailed on a cargo ship as a worker and jumped over board in the Mobile bay and swam to shore. He found his way to an America Army post and talked them into taking him on as a private in the infantry. He volunteered for Ranger training and fought in Korea and made rank and was a selected special forces airborne ranger in Vietnam. An Army legend as a matter of fact. He died jumping into a surrounded special forces camp which was a suicide mission and he was the only volunteer. An installation here in the states bears his name.

He fought for his home country against the reds, fought for the SS against the reds then fought the bastards again in Vietnam for his adopted land, America. But yeah Russia was a bad actor in starting up WWII and was allied with Germany for a time when they thought they would get all this territory out of the alliance.

Hitlers biggest blunder was redirecting his northern army south to Stalingrad when they had Moscow in their sights. Had he not done this, the Nazis would have taken Moscow before winter.

The allies were not winning without Russia.
I don’t think that’s debatable.
Also the Jews were not going to be sent to the camps if FDR would have agreed to take them. But he turned down hitler and the same week the horrific final solution was initiated.

Shifty, Here here you are correct on all the US supplied and had to figure out the logistics to get it all there.

We also supplied much of the bullets, MREs, boots etc.

We were hugely responsible for Russia backing up Germany and their operation Barbarosa.

I must admire Russia for the double envelopment maneuver that turned the tide named.....operation Uranus.