Challenge: Soviet Union beats Germany in 2 years

Conditions:
1. Unconditional Surrender. No surviving Nazi Government.
2. Soviet Union must be Communist(hence the title.)

That's it. I don't think it can be done without ASBs, but lets see if the forum can prove me wrong.
 
The Germans find themselves drawn into a serious commitment in the Middle East and the Balkans by virtue of the Yugoslav Coup never happening, with the result that instead of a two-week victory Operation Marita turns into a protracted slugfest that produces an expensive German victory past the point of campaigning season in Russia, thus delaying Barbarossa into 1942 whereupon the Wehrmacht gets bitch-slapped and the Red Army, its tactical-strategic and doctrinal positions greatly improved proceeds to bitch-slap Germany across the Balkans into Berlin.
 
Well, obviously no purges, Finland is crushed, etc etc.

This is definitely a stretch, but what if:
1) British and French intervention allows Republican spain to win the civil war in 1937 or the civil war is averted, leading to a democratic Spain siding with the allies
2) France listens to De Gaulle and focuses more on a mobile army and equips infantry with anti-tank weapons, somewhat countering Blitzkrieg
3) Combined French-Spanish-English troops hold off German advance long enough for Russia to swoop in from behind and completely destroy Germany.

Obviously ASB, but that's the only thing I can think of.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Army Group Center is crushed by the Soviet counter offensive in the winter of 1941/42, as very nearly happened IOTL.
 
Well, have the SU attack Germany during the Battle of France (preferably before Dunkirk) should do the trick.

Of course getting Stalin to be the aggressor is the tricky part...
 
1938: No purges of the best Red Army commanders.
1939: Stalin decides that a self-serving agreement with Germany will be to his advantage; R-M pact goes forward.
1940; Red Army imposes a communist government on Finland. With her north Flank secure, Stalin's spies see that the Germans are massing for an attack on Western Europe. In May 1940, they begin their offensive. Within two weeks, the Soviets opportunistically attack Germany.
1942: Germany defeated. With France reluctantly staying in the fight in the West and the Red Army steamrolling the weaker forces aligned against them, Germany is split into occupation zones.
1943-5: The Soviet Union's sphere of influence now includes Finland, Hungary, Romania, Poland and former Prussia, as well as "Slovakia" in their control. Tensions with the west are rising, with the Soviets planning a similar grab of Japanese territories in the Far East.
 
Even something as simple as Stalin taking the war-warnings from his intelligence services seriously could have improved the USSR's performance immensely and led them to winning in early-44. More fundamental changes (like lesser or no officer purges) would compound that, bringing the date of victory further forward.
 
Damn, Stalin was one of the biggest morons with military and intelligence. Sounds like with Trotsky, considering his military experience, that Nazi Germany wouldn't have been as trigger happy.
 
Damn, Stalin was one of the biggest morons with military and intelligence. Sounds like with Trotsky, considering his military experience, that Nazi Germany wouldn't have been as trigger happy.

Whilst he had better military experience, that doesn't mean he wouldn't build up his own cult of personality and launch his own purges. Maybe, just maybe, he might purge the army even further because he believes in his own genius. Also the USSR would probably be less industrialised under his rule, making a war effort tougher.
 
Damn, Stalin was one of the biggest morons with military and intelligence. Sounds like with Trotsky, considering his military experience, that Nazi Germany wouldn't have been as trigger happy.

He built a modern Soviet military, slaughtered the officer corps he created, then his surviving officers conquered half of Europe......I'm just saying.
 
True, but judging by the responses I'm getting... yeah he was pretty stupid at times.

Not really. He made the natural assumption that Hitler wouldn't fight the Soviet Union until he had finished with Great Britain or at least weakened it further. And, by all rights, that was an entirely reasonable and entirely logical conclusion on Stalin's part...

The problem came about when Stalin started clinging onto that conclusion even in the face of more and more evidence too the contrary. The fact that those same services had initially indicated the start date of Barbarossa as May 15th and didn't find-out about the delay to June 22nd until after the 15th had passed probably didn't help either...

Ironically, had the Germans indeed been ready on May 15th, they would have actually had a rougher time at it. A number of Soviet officers in the Western Military Districts disobeyed Stalin in the face of the intelligence reports and ordered war alerts and partial mobilizations for May 15th. When the date passed without incident, alot of those officers proceeded too decided that Stalin was probably right about these 'new' reports from the same sources. Hence, the only man to repeat that action when June 22nd approached was the commander of the Kiev Military District, which is most of the reason that the German Army Group South had a hard going for July and August compared too Army Group's Center and North...
 
1938: No purges of the best Red Army commanders.
1939: Stalin decides that a self-serving agreement with Germany will be to his advantage; R-M pact goes forward.
1940; Red Army imposes a communist government on Finland. With her north Flank secure, Stalin's spies see that the Germans are massing for an attack on Western Europe. In May 1940, they begin their offensive. Within two weeks, the Soviets opportunistically attack Germany.
1942: Germany defeated. With France reluctantly staying in the fight in the West and the Red Army steamrolling the weaker forces aligned against them, Germany is split into occupation zones.
1943-5: The Soviet Union's sphere of influence now includes Finland, Hungary, Romania, Poland and former Prussia, as well as "Slovakia" in their control. Tensions with the west are rising, with the Soviets planning a similar grab of Japanese territories in the Far East.

Knocking out the unpopular, and perceived-as-a-threat Japanese is going to help the Soviet Union's relations with the West. That is contingent upon them acting conservatively in regards to former Japanese possessions of course.
 
Could it be as simple as having Stalin die (surely there must be something that nearly killed him I mean he had a lot of enemies) before Barbarossa or even the outbreak of the war? And having another Soviet leader who actually listens to his advisers and who doesn't wipe out his officers corps stepping into the breach? Who would be Stalin's most likely successor?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Well, have the SU attack Germany during the Battle of France (preferably before Dunkirk) should do the trick.

I don't think Syracuse University has the strength to mount an attack on Nazi Germany. They are just a university, after all.

Now, if the USSR were to attack...
 
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