[jernfrost]

USSR crushed Nazi Germany, but that does not make it a force for good. In fact one of the most annoying things about WWII is dividing the world into good guys and bad guys. Some were worse than others, but I don't think e.g. the US was all that nice either given all the civilian suffering they brought on both Germany and Japan through fierce bombing.

One evil does not cancel out another. Of course it was still preferable that the US won, and there is no denying that they made a very important contribution to end WWII. But there is no need for hero worship. Just because the Allies fought an opponent that was worse, does not absolve them from criticism for their behavior.

I think there is a lot of post rationalization about the attrocities commited by the Allies. If one admitted that a lot of the killing of civilians was unessesary and barbaric, then the story would not be such a nice good guys vs bad guys story.

[mercurial]

This is a problem with studying wars in general: many people need a good-vs-evil narrative, when it's more shades of grey.