[paganel]

The poor Soviets, how they were "forced" to sign the damn pact with the Nazis, a pact that saw them get a huge chunk of Poland not long after that and some other part of Romania (my country) in June 1940. If these are the pacts that they were "forced" to sign I'm really wondering what were those pacts in which they had the strong hand.

Also, for those HN-ers who want to really get a good, more truthful look at the causes behind WW2 I heartily recommend Ernst Nolte's "European Civil War". From the wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Nolte):

> Nolte contends that the great decisive event of the 20th century was the Russian Revolution of 1917, which plunged all of Europe into a long-simmering civil war that lasted until 1945. To Nolte, fascism, communism's twin, arose as a desperate response by the threatened middle classes of Europe to what Nolte has often called the “Bolshevik peril”.

[dang]

You obviously know a lot about history and your HN comments are usually fine, but there's a pattern where, when commenting on historical tragedies, you have become sarcastic and provocative. Could you please not do that on HN anymore? This is an international community striving for a civility that is constantly fragile. If you flame-throw straight into explosive material (which I'm sad to say you've done more than once), you do damage.

We always tell people that HN threads should be like good conversation, but there's one way in which that isn't true. When we're sitting around talking about intense stuff with friends or compatriots, there's a latitude for intense expression that we don't have here. That's because in a large internet community like HN, the bonds between members are much weaker, and there are many tribes and competing loyalties among us. Talking about, for example, how the British never really suffered, is the kind of thing that can stir up conflict all over again (albeit, fortunately, in a trivial teapot). In such a place, we all need to bring our diplomatic skills. I'm sure you can use those and still share your historical insights.

[paganel]

Sorry if I offended anyone, I'll just try to not enter into the comment area of any history-related posts from now on.

[tps5]

You're entitled to your opinion, but posting that thesis and saying it's "more truthful" is tremendously silly.

You should be able to understand that it's a hypothesis you find convincing without evangelizing it as "truthful."

[AnimalMuppet]

More: You should recognize that it's a hypothesis that many (most?) historians do not find convincing. (Which does not mean that CriticalSection's hypothesis is any more convincing; they both sound like revisionist history to me, just written by apologists for different monsters.)

[mmustapic]

The poor European middle class, they were threatened and desperate so they spawned fascism.