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On this board, we've often talked out the possibility of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union making a separate peace with one another. One suggestion I have seen is Hitler deciding he can't win in Russia after Stalingrad or Kursk. This to me is essentially ASB, given Hitler's personality. The war against Russia was the raison d'etre of Hitler's entire program and I don't think he would give it up under any circumstances. Stalin, on the other hand, was a pragmatist who might have been willing to accept a peace offer from Hitler if he thought it was to his advantage. This might be purely academic, since it takes two to make a peace unless one or the other is totally defeated.

As a different take on the idea, could Stalin have simply decided it would be to his advantage to just remain on the defensive against Hitler, perhaps after a few offensive movements to secure a better line, and let the Germans and the Western Allies bleed each other white for a few years, then sweep in with the Red Army and take whatever he wanted? It's not like he cared about the suffering of the people under German occupation. He didn't trust the British and Americans and, if he felt his position to be secure after Stalingrad/Kursk, might he simply left them in the lurch?
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