I’ve read that Beevor states something to the effect that “there was a deeply ingrained cowardice to Stalin’s bullying.” And that he briefly wished to sue for peace and offer deep concessions surpassing anything offered to the Germans in 1917, but was only talked out of it by Molotov (I think). This as the Wehrmacht swarmed into massive battles of encirclement of his western armies…
Anyone have any more on this?
if even Stalin was ready to negoratins with GErmans- this is still good question - Were ready they?
I´ve heard that Stalin thought an ultimatum would come from Hitler in the summer of 1941, and that he was ready to go quite far, to give Hitler what he wanted. This could supposedly include newly acquired terriritory in the west. (I do not remember where I read this).
If that was so, he´d probably also be willing to offer a lot for peace a couple of weeks into the war, when it certainly didn´t look good.
if even Stalin was ready to negoratins with GErmans- this is still good question - Were ready they?
The Germans thought they could take what they wanted and dictate a peace (or perhaps more in step with nazi-SS ideology: just hold on to what they needed against the expected weak and unorganised eastern “slavlands”) when they got it, so I don´t think they´d be interested in much less than capitulation.
Stalin supposedly “disappeared” for 2 or 3 weeks after the attack (to his Datja or something, in a state of disabling despair), yet there should be meeting protocols showing that he was in Kreml some of this time.
Maybe someone here knows what he did in this period, whether he really was incapable of decision making for some weeks. I mean, if the German attack was so hard on him, on a personal level, he´d probably be thinking a lot about non-military ways to stop the German advance?