Afrikaans
Akan
Albanian
Amharic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bemba
Bengali
Bihari
Bosnian
Breton
Bulgarian
Cambodian
Catalan
Cebuano
Cherokee
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Corsican
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Ewe
Faroese
Filipino
Finnish
French
Frisian
Ga
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Guarani
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Interlingua
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Kinyarwanda
Kirundi
Kongo
Korean
Krio (Sierra Leone)
Kurdish
Kurdish (Soranรฎ)
Kyrgyz
Laothian
Latin
Latvian
Lingala
Lithuanian
Lozi
Luganda
Luo
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mauritian Creole
Moldavian
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Montenegrin
Nepali
Nigerian Pidgin
Northern Sotho
Norwegian
Norwegian (Nynorsk)
Occitan
Oriya
Oromo
Pashto
Polish
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi
Quechua
Romansh
Runyakitara
Russian
Samoan
Scots Gaelic
Serbian
Serbo-Croatian
Sesotho
Setswana
Seychellois Creole
Shona
Sindhi
Sinhalese
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Spanish (Latin American)
Sundanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Tatar
Telugu
Thai
Tigrinya
Tonga
Tshiluba
Tumbuka
Turkish
Turkmen
Twi
Uighur
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Wolof
Xhosa
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu
on July the 6th 1940 in Berlin Adolf
Hitler celebrated his victory in Europe
[Music]
his army chief called him the greatest
warlord in history
from Moscow Hitler's collaborator the
Russian leader Joseph Stalin that sends
his congratulations in London the
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
was isolated in Washington the American
President Franklin Roosevelt stood aloof
in the coming five years everything in
the relationship between these four men
would change in ways that seemed
unimaginable while their nations fought
a war of weapons these four great
warlords of the 20th century fought a
war of the mind at the heart of this
private war was a series of
psychological duels in which they lied
schemed charmed flattered and deceived
to win what was curious was that these
duels took place not between enemies but
between men who at the time were allies
yet their behavior was egotistical
tempestuous monstrous and politically
despite the rosy glow in which summer
seemed today always selfish
the duals of the warlords decided the
strategy for the greatest battles in
history
they were also the epicenter of a
seismic shift in world power from the
age of European empires to the age of
two ideologically opposed superpowers
with devastating consequences for
hundreds of millions of people
[Music]
Obersalzberg in southern Germany one of
the world's loveliest places it was here
in August 1939 that Adolf Hitler was
thinking the unthinkable
Hitler had set his heart on invading
Poland and his generals had told him he
must attack before the autumn rains came
[Music]
but Britain and France had said they
would go to war for Poland one thing
stood in Hitler's way the fear that
Russia would also turn against him and
propel him into a war on two fronts this
was the very thing imprinted in Hitler's
mind as having helped to lose Germany
the first world war 20 years before
there was only one way out a pact with
his greatest ideological enemy Joseph
Stalin Hitler put out feelers to Moscow
though he little realized it he was
instigating a mental duel with Stalin
which over the next two years would
decide the destiny of the Second World
War
[Applause]
Stalin was deeply suspicious of Hitler's
approach he spent hours reading mine
camp written 15 years before underlining
key passages like Hitler's views of the
Bolshevik leaders men such as Stalin
himself never forget that the rulers of
present-day Russia are common
blood-stained criminals that they are
the scum of humanity but Stalin could
see that Hitler was now desperate for a
deal and offering to send his foreign
minister Ribbentrop to Moscow Stalin
decided he would go with Hitler
Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph
Goebbels noted in his diary 22nd of
August 1939 non-aggression pact with
Moscow perfect Ribbentrop in Moscow on
Wednesday that is something we're on top
again now we can sleep more easily
on August the 23rd Ribbentrop landed in
Moscow but Hitler needed one piece of
reassurance
he sent his personal photographer
heinrich hoffmann to film Stalin's
earlobes to see whether they were
ingrown and Jewish or separate and Arian
they were separate Stalin passed
Hitler's test
[Music]
shortly after midnight on August the
24th 1939 the nazi-soviet pact was
signed and with it a secret protocol on
the which Germany and Russia would carve
Poland into two
Hitler phoned Ribbentrop this will hit
like a bombshell
but as gurbles noted it was not strength
but fear of Stalin knifing him in the
back that had forced Hitler into
history's biggest you turn the Fira
believes he's in the position of
scrounging for favors and beggars can't
be choosers in times of famine the devil
feeds on flies
[Music]
in the Kremlin Stalin proposed a toast I
know how much the German nation loves
its Fuhrer I should therefore like to
drink his health
[Music]
but like Hitler Stalin was also acting
from fear that Hitler would attack him
that evening he told his in a circle of
course it's all a game to see who can
fool whom he thinks he's outsmarted me
but actually it's I who's tricked him
[Music]
Stalin had found a bed fellow for who's
cunning he had held a long and sneaking
admiration
[Music]
back in 1934 Stalin had observed Hitler
eliminated rivals within the Nazi Party
in the so-called night of the Long
Knives he remarked did you hear what
happened in Germany some fellow that
Hitler splendid
that's a deed of some skill Hitler had
felt no such mutual admiration in his
early years in power he was set on the
dreams of mine camp an alliance with
Britain Sea Empire while he expanded to
the east and built his German land
empire on the continent only when that
plan had clearly failed did Hitler begin
to see in Stalin someone he might do
business with
Stalin was the first of the two to be a
mass murderer his terrors killed
millions he once compared his victims
with the boy our land owners massacred
by Ivan the Terrible 400 years before
who's going to remember all this
riffraff in 10 or 20 years time no one
who remembers the names now of the
boyars Ivan the Terrible got rid of no
one a week before he invaded Poland
Hitler made an eerily similar remark to
his generals jenga's Khan had millions
of men and women killed by his own will
and with a gay heart history sees him
only as a great state builder and who
after all speaks today of the
annihilation of the emini ins for both
men mass murder was just another weapon
in the ideological struggle the state
where the communist or Nazi was supreme
individuals were its disposable tools
[Music]
they even extended this idea to their
domestic lives
Hitler had secret mistresses most
notably Ava Braun but in public no woman
could come between him and his nation
what of his secretaries recalled that he
emphasized again and again my lover is
Germany
Stalin did marry twice and had children
but the suicide of his second wife Nadia
in 1932 further brutalized him echoing
Hitler he told an associate a true
Bolshevik shouldn't and couldn't have a
family because he should give himself
wholly to the party
Stalin told his son Vasily I'm not
Stalin Stalin his Soviet power now in
August 1939 these two great
ideologically opposed warlords were
inextricably linked eight days after the
signing of the pact Hitler invaded
Poland
Britain declared war Winston Churchill
rejoined the British Cabinet Stalin
publicly supported his Nazi collaborator
he told the world it is not Germany who
has attacked England and France but
England in France who have attacked
Germany
the enslavement of Poland further United
the two extreme proponents of
totalitarian violence SS units killed
60,000 Jews and members of the Polish
ruling class it was Hitler's first
experience of mass murder and profoundly
influenced him it showed him his
followers would actually do
Stalin's secret police the NKVD long
versed in mass killing will carry out
similar massacres in the east of Poland
among their victims were more than
20,000 Polish officers and political
prisoners whose bodies will be
discovered three years later
as their secret police mutilated Poland
the to dictators faced their destinies
hand-in-hand over the next two years
in a mind war unparalleled in world
history they would both become gripped
by a series of delusions that would lead
them into colossal error and the
bloodiest conflict there has ever been
[Music]
Stalin had entered his pact with Hitler
with open eyes he never doubted he was
suffering with the devil but he believed
the pact would give the Soviet Union
both protection and opportunity just a
week after the Nazis invaded Poland he
told his inner circle a war is on
between two groups of capitalist
countries Hitler without understanding
it or desiring it is shaking and
undermining the capitalist system we can
maneuver pit one side against the other
to set them fighting with each other as
fiercely as possible Stalin was also
eyeing up a further desirable outcome
the chance to expand his communist
Empire what would be the harm if as a
result of the rout of Poland we were to
extend the socialist system onto new
territories and populations for Hitler
the pact also opened the door to
conquest he could now turn all his
energy and attention to planning the
invasion of France Joseph Goebbels noted
Hitler's hopes for a long-term
collaboration with Stalin 1st of October
1939 conference with the Fuhrer in
private he is convinced of Russia's
loyalty after all Stalin is set to
pocket a huge profit
[Music]
but Stalin saw no such loyalty and
Hitler Mayon camp was etched in his mind
above all Hitler's youthful ambitions to
conquer Russian territory for the new
German Reich if we speak of territory in
Europe today we can primarily have in
mind only Russia and her vessel barter
States because he calculated that Hitler
might still one day turn on him Stalin
set out to build a line of buffer zones
to protect himself against possible Nazi
attack he forced the Baltic states
Lithuania Estonia and Latvia to accept
Russian Garrison's he told a Latvian
delegation there has been an unexpected
turn but one cannot rely upon it we must
be prepared in time others who were not
prepared paid for it the Germans might
attack
Stalin also tried to bully Finland into
giving him a swathe of territory as a
further buffer the fenders refused
Stalin invaded their country it was a
disaster
within days thousands of frozen Russian
corpses littered the snow finally the
Finns were beaten but not before killing
a hundred and twenty five thousand
Russian soldiers
Stalin sent in his political commissar
to shoot the Soviet commanders but the
real fault was his own his terror had
got rid of the Red Army's best officers
as Goebbels noted the Red Army's
incompetence
offered Hitler yet more comfort 15th of
March 1940 the Russians can never become
dangerous for us if Stalin shoots his
own generals we won't need to do it so
far we've had nothing but advantages
from our alliance with Russia
[Music]
a May the 10th 1940 Hitler with his
Eastern Front secured by Stalin launched
his blitzkrieg to the west
[Music]
the German army sliced through France
Belgium and Holland
the British were driven from the
continent
for Hitler it was a triumph a Stalin a
disaster Nikita Khrushchev later
Russia's Prime Minister recalled
Stalin's reaction to Hitler's lightning
victories I remember being with Stalin
he was extremely nervous he was racing
around cursing like a cab driver he cost
the French because the English how could
they allow Hitler to defeat them to
crush them stalin not only saw the
superiority of the german army he knew
that the germans sensed our weakness
because of the war we had fought with
finland
[Music]
On June the 17th 1940 the French
government sued for peace the
long-lasting a mutually destructive war
of the capitalist and fascist States
which Stalin had so gleefully
anticipated was over in a trice
the next day is Hitler celebrated in
Munich with the Italian dictator
Mussolini Stalin with gritted teeth
sends his congratulations on the beer
Marc's splendid success
[Applause]
for Hitler victory had Lance the boil
Germany's defeat in the First World War
had been avenged now for the first time
in his political life he wanted a rest
from conquest and reversing to his old
instincts peace with Britain
[Music]
the italian Foreign Minister Ken Kelly
Otsuchi Anna was also a Munich an
observed headless state of mind it makes
many reservations on the desirability of
dismantling the British Empire which he
considers even today to be an important
factor in world equilibrium Italy is now
like the gambler abou having made a big
win would like to leave the table
risking nothing more but Stalin feared
that Hitler having won his victory in
the West might immediately be tempted by
his long-held ambition of expanding to
the east
Starlin now embarked on a hugely risky
double strategy going on a tenday land
grab to expand and protect his empire
while also trying not to provoke Hitler
he occupied the Baltic States and
Bessarabia the northern province of
Romania this was allowed under the
nazi-soviet pact but he also decided to
invade another Romanian province
Bukovina it was not assigned to Stalin
under the pact hitlist chief of staff
general Franz Halder noted Hitler's
alarm in his diary 25th of June 1940 the
issue of Bukovina raised by Russia is
new and goes beyond our agreements with
the Russians precisely this moment
Stalin's duel with Hitler took a second
unexpected twist
the Soviet leader received his first
letter from Winston Churchill who'd
become British Prime Minister on the day
Hitler launched his blitzkrieg it was an
appeal to Stalin to beware of Hitler and
come over to Britain signed Stalin did
not reply instead to show Hitler his
loyalty he reported Churchill's approach
to Berlin
Hitler now began to make his own
interpretation of these two pieces of
evidence
Stalin's opacity and Romania and
Churchill's approach
[Music]
before the wall Hitler had described to
his adjutant his secrets of mental
processes bear in mind that my brain
works like a Cajun eating machine each
person who makes the presentation to me
introduces into this calculating
received the small wheel of information
their forms a certain picture or a
number on each wheel I press a button
and there flashes into my mind the sum
of all this information
now the Hitler calculating machine began
to build a conspiracy theory which would
have devastating consequences
[Music]
on July the 6th 1940
the victor in Europe returned to Berlin
to a hero's welcome our wonderful July
Sun shines all over the place an
unimaginable ecstasy fills the city the
crowd roars the station looks like a
great banqueting-hall then the fear
arrives a roar of joy fills the station
on this day Hitler's army chief General
Keitel called him the greatest warlord
in history
but amid his triumph Hitler was
increasingly tormented by one overriding
thought as far as he was concerned he
had won the war so why did the British
not recognize that fact and make peace
with him he began to convince himself
that there must be some external factor
that Britain and Churchill were relying
on
a week after the day of glory in Berlin
general hauzer recorded a momentous
developments in Hitler's reasoning 13th
of July 1940 the Fuhrer is greatly
puzzled by Britain's persistent and
willingness to make peace he sees the
answer in Britain's hope in Russia
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
on July the 19th 1940 in a speech to the
rice day Hitler made his final plea for
peace to Britain Churchill and the
British were not interested later that
day a further wheel of information from
the United States entered Hitler's mind
[Music]
franklin roosevelt's was nominated by
the democrat party to run for president
for the third time
[Applause]
his acceptance speech contained an
attack on Nazi aggression
[Applause]
Hitler was now seeing spectres across
the globe 22nd of July in 1940 Firoz
view reasons for continuation of war by
Britain one it hopes for a change in
America - it puts hope in Russia Stalin
is flirting with Britain to keep her in
the war and tie us down
Hitler retreated to the mountains of
Obersalzberg the delusion was building
[Music]
here the summer before he'd been
dreaming up his pact with Stalin now he
suspected him
[Music]
at the end of July he announced to his
generals the results of weeks of
agonized reflection 31st of July in 1940
11:30 dark wolf
Fuhrer concludes Russia is the factor on
which Britain is relying the most
something must have happened in London
the British were completely down now
they have perked up again with Russia
smashed Britain's last hope would be
shattered the sooner Russia has crushed
the better if we were to start in May
1941 we would have five months to finish
the job it was as yet only an idea but
two enormous delusions the first that he
had already won the war and the second
that some secret deal was brewing
between Britain and Russia were leading
Hitler down the road to catastrophe
[Music]
for Hitler the invasion of Russia was
still only a contingency plan should all
other means of forcing the British to
make peace fail the autumn of 1940 now
brought four long months of frustration
the RAF defeated the Luftwaffe in the
Battle of Britain plans for a
cross-channel invasion were quietly show
yet despite these setbacks Hitler hidden
himself that he'd done enough 15 -
fucked Ober 1940 Fuhrer on military
situation war is one
rest is mere question of time
but Hitler could still not force the
British to come to terms
and he had become split minded about
Russia moving troops nearer her borders
but also wanting Stalin to join him in
the fight against Britain
[Music]
Hitler's adjutants magic Gerhart Engel
noted in his diary fourth of November
1944 visibly depressed he conveys the
impression that at the moment he does
not know how things should proceed
then came the defining moment
[Music]
on November the 12th 1940 the Russian
Foreign Minister biatches left Molotov
arrived in Berlin at Hitler's invitation
Molotov was given the full Nazi fanfare
but the conversations that followed were
tense
Hitler's purpose in summoning Molotov
was to offer Russia a share in the
spoils of victory if it helped him
finish off the British he told him
England's final capitulation is just a
matter of time
fragments of its empire will be left all
over the world it's time to think about
division of this property without a
master after our victory but Stalin
wasn't interested in joining Hitler's
war or speculative carve ups of the
British Empire his instructions to
Molotov were to find out what Hitler's
troops were up to in Finland and Romania
places right on his doorstep
Molotov put the questions bluntly Hitler
gave vague reassurances despite the
superficial courtesies Molotov scold
arrogance and is needling on the
question of territory in Eastern Europe
infuriated Hitler and it reinvigorated
him
15th of November 1940 the talks had
shown where the Russian plans were
heading Molotov had let the cat out of
the bag
Hoover was really relieved it would not
even remain a marriage of convenience
when Molotov reported back to Moscow on
the talks in Berlin Stalin realized that
Hitler was turning against him in early
December he told his generals we know
that Hitler is intoxicated by his
victories and believes that the Red Army
will need at least four years to prepare
for war obviously four years would be
more than enough for us but we must be
ready much earlier we will try to delay
the war for another two years
but Hitler was moving at a pace Stalin
could not imagine on December the 18th
1940 he issued war directed number 23
the German via mock must be prepared
before the ending of the war against
England to crush Soviet Russia in a
rapid campaign
the invasion date was set for May 1941
but behind the order lay uncertainty
18th of December 1940 unconvinced that
the Fuhrer himself does not know how it
would turn out he is very concerned at
the lack of clarity as regards the
strength of the Russians hopes for an
English surrender does not think America
will enter the wall
[Music]
Hitler had finally made the momentous
decision a war on two fronts the very
thing he'd sought to avoid when he first
made his pact with Stalin but he deluded
himself the one front Britain was
already one it simply required a
knockout blow against Russia for the
British to understand their defeat
[Music]
Hitler's line of reasoning never began
to occur to Stalin
he believed that Hitler either had to
beat Churchill or make a deal with him
before he could think of turning against
Russia in early 1941 he told Politburo
members we must cherish no illusions
fascist Germany is clearly preparing for
an attack on the Soviet Union
why does Hitler want to make an
agreement with England because he wants
to avoid war on two fronts Stalin was
trusting Hitler to act rationally and to
fight Britain and Russia at the same
time was clearly irrational but Stalin
failed to realize that despite their
similarities there was one profound
difference between him and Hitler which
made his perfect logic irrelevant he
himself was a methodical calculating
hardworking man a master of detail
personally signing death lists at one
extreme and at the other keeping the
tiniest details of gold production in
his notebook Hitler by contrast was at
heart an idle dreamer
he once described why he loved the
mountains of Obersalzberg when I go to
Oh besides back I'm not drawn there
merely by the beauty of the landscape I
feel myself far from petty things my
imagination is stimulated when I study a
problem elsewhere I see it less clearly
I'm submerged by the details by light at
the Berghof I often remain for hours
with my eyes open
contemplating from my bed mountains lit
up by the moon it's at such moments that
brightness enters my mind
[Music]
for Hitler the big idea was never to be
disrupted by small facts and having made
up his mind to attack Russia for
tactical reasons the original and
biggest idea of all was reasserting
itself the ideological struggle against
Jews and Bolsheviks throughout 1940
Hitler had hardly mentioned the Jews but
on January the 30th 1941 in his
traditional speech marking the
anniversary of the Nazis rise to power
he repeated a chilling threat he'd first
made before war broke out
as a series of conferences with his
generals in the spring of 1941 Hitler
made his aims brutally clear 3rd of
March 1941 the forthcoming campaign will
lead to a showdown between two different
ideologies the Jewish Bolshevik
intelligentsia must be eliminated 30th
of March we must forget the concept of
comradeship between soldiers this is a
war of extermination while Hitler
planned his annihilation
Stalin still believed he had at least a
year to prepare on April the 13th 1941
he moved to protect his back signing a
pact with Hitler's ally Japan Stalin was
thrilled with his coup and got happily
tipsy with the Japanese foreign minister
Matsuoka but he was still following his
double strategy
as he said goodbye to Matsuoka the
German military attache in Moscow was
present
Stalin told him we must remain friends
and you must now do everything to that
end we will stay friends with you
whatever happens
but Stalin knew such long-term
friendship was a fantasy soon after he
told graduates of Moscow's military
academy there will be war and the enemy
will be Germany but that war would not
happen yet up until this point
Stalin's reasoning was irreproachable
he'd foreseen the eventual conflict with
Germany and was steadily preparing for
it
[Music]
but a bizarre twist would now propel him
into his own huge delusion in April 1941
Stalin received his second letter from
Winston Churchill like the first it
would have an electrifying effect on his
duel with Hitler
Churchill told him the British had
received intelligence reports of German
troop movements which could only be
preparations for a Nazi attack on Russia
Stalin was instantly suspicious not of
Hitler but of Churchill he told his army
chiefs Britain is threatening us with
the Germans and threatening the Germans
with the Soviet Union they're playing us
off against each other then on May the
10th 1941 in one of the Wars strangest
moments Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess took
off from Germany and a Messerschmitt
fighter flew across the North Sea and
parachuted to the ground in Scotland at
that time
Stalin's assistant presence of his key
meetings was your ichigaya who noted
down and later typed up everything
stalin said from gdf secret unpublished
record it is possible to piece together
how Churchill's message and Hess's
flight began to lead Stalin towards a
conspiracy theory which would have
immensely destructive consequences for
his country
three days after has landed Jedi are
accorded the interpretation Stalin gave
of these two events
on the one hand churchill sends us a
personal message in which he warns us
about hitler's aggressive intentions and
on the other hand the british meet hess
who is undoubtedly hitler's confidant
what is the conclusion then apparently
when churchill sent us his personal
warning he believed that we would
activate our military machine then
hitler would have a direct and fair
reason to launch a preventive crusade
against the soviet union in Stalin's
eyes
Churchill's warning was deliberately
designed to provoke a war between
Germany and Russia and Churchill was
meeting Hess to tell Germany it should
strike first
as he brooded on this idea
Stalin concluded that Churchill was not
the only provocateur On June the 5th he
told his military chiefs England France
and America see in Germany the only hope
to get rid of Bolshevism and therefore
helped the Nazis in all possible ways in
their crusade to the east
[Music]
this deduction that the democratic
nations of your of an America were
ganging up on him became a blinding
article of faith throughout May and June
intelligence reports gave warning after
warning of imminent German attack Stalin
dismissed every one of them as part of
the great conspiracy to provoke him On
June the 12th he told his generals I am
certain that Hitler will not risk
creating a second front by attacking the
Soviet Union Hitler is not such an idiot
millions of German troops gathered
within striking distance of Russia's
borders Operation Barbarossa as it was
now called was scheduled for ten days
time June the 22nd the duel between
Hitler and Stalin was reaching its end
as Operation Barbarossa drew near Hitler
convinced himself he was fulfilling his
destiny
On June the 16th 1941 with six days to
go
he told girls that which we have spent
our lives fighting
we will now annihilate with a right or
wrong we must win and when we have one
who will ask about the method
that day a Soviet spy in the Luftwaffe
sent yet another warning of imminent
German attack Stalin retorted tell the
source in the staff of the German air
force to his mother on June the 18th
Stalin's two top generals Zhukov and
Timoshenko pleaded with him for a full
alert Stalin reminded them that Hitler
could not attack without first doing a
deal with Britain you have to realize
that Germany will never fight Russia on
their own you must understand this on
June 20th two days to go Hitler chose
his fanfare for victory a passage from
Liszt symphonic poem they prelude
[Music]
though Stalin still refused to see it
coming
it was now apparent to his closest
associates that the Nazis were on their
way on June the 21st one of them Georgi
Dimitrov was in Moscow rumors of an
impending attack are multiplying on all
sides have to be on guard called Molotov
this morning Molotov says the situation
is unclear there is a major game
underway
[Music]
On June the 22nd the same day Napoleon
at once invaded Russia Hitler followed
in his footsteps
[Music]
at 3:30 a.m. the attack begins that
greatest deployment in world history the
Fuhrer is as if released from a bad
dream
the nearer we get to the decisive moment
all his tiredness seems to disappear and
given a deep insight into his thoughts
we have no option but to attack this
cancerous abscess must be cauterized
Stalin will fall at 7:00 a.m. I was
urgently summoned to the Kremlin Germany
has attacked the USSR the war has begun
Stalin to me they attacked us without
declaring any grievances without
demanding any negotiations they attacked
us viciously like gangsters Stalin's
great conspiracy theory that the
democracies were plotting to provoke him
was shattered his miss reading of Hitler
the man he'd viewed as a rational
strategist was total Hitler had
completed an extraordinary mental
journey a year before he had seen the
invasion as a tactic to make Britain
crumble
now the ideology with which he had set
out 20 years before had once again taken
pride of place he wrote to his Italian
ally Benito Mussolini let me say one
more thing duty since I struggled
through to this decision I again feel
spiritually free the partnership with
the Soviet Union was often very irksome
to me for in some way or other it seemed
to me to be a break with my whole origin
my concepts and my former obligations I
am happy now to be relieved of these
mental agony 'he's
[Music]
while Operation Barbarossa cleansed
Hitler it only shocked and depress
Stalin his fury was directed equal it
Hitler and that his own generals whose
positioning of their forces insisted
upon by Stalin himself had allowed the
Germans to smash through Russian
defenses this is a monstrous crime those
responsible must lose their heads NKVD
units were sent to the front to arrest
the guilty man the commander general
Pavlov was shot five days later
Stalin remarked Lenin founded our state
and we've stood up the Red Army taken by
surprise because Stalin had refused to
allow it to prepare was in headlong
retreat two weeks after the invasion
general holder noted in his diary 3rd of
July 1941 it is probably no
overstatement to say that the Russian
campaign has been won in the space of
two weeks
militarily Barbarossa turned the war on
its head and his experience with Hitler
also had a vital psychological effect on
Stalin he later remarked when you're
trying to make a decision never put
yourself into the mind of the other
person because if you do you can make a
terrible mistake
Stalin had lost the mine game Hitler had
outwitted him but Hitler would be the
eventual loser his decision to attack
Russia signed the death warrants of his
own dreams of empire and of European
imperialism in general
[Music]
and it would create an unlikely
coalition of three ideologically opposed
warlords to fight him but the
relationship between the two great
Democrats in that coalition began with
another mental duel which ran in
parallel with the duel of the dictators
it too was riddled with mutual
suspicions false promises and evasion it
too would shape the destiny of the world
you
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.