Stalin never trusted the west and the west was foolish to trust Stalin.
Following the German Victory at Kursk, Stalin opened up negotiations. Stalin demanded a return to the pre-invasion boundary, whereas the Germans wanted a border on the Dnieper.
Ultimately, a compromise was struck:
The two sides also agreed to population and prisoner exchanges. Serbs, Poles, Jews, Roma, and Belarussians were to be sent to the USSR. Volga Germans to Fatherland. The Germans wanted to send the Ukrainians, but Stalin didn't want them, seeing them as traitors to the Motherland.
Stalin proceeded to conquer and annex Finland, conquer and make a puppet of Turkey, create a satellite state in North Iran, carve off Xinjiang into a Soviet Satellite, and lay the groundwork for Mao's takeover of China north of the Yangtze.
What if the Soviets and Germans hadn't cut a deal? Might the Allies, as a united front, have managed to defeat the Germans rather than get OTL's Stalemate?
Following the German Victory at Kursk, Stalin opened up negotiations. Stalin demanded a return to the pre-invasion boundary, whereas the Germans wanted a border on the Dnieper.
Ultimately, a compromise was struck:
- The border in Belarus was placed as it had been at the Peace of Riga
- The Ukraine was divided along the Dnieper.
- The Soviets would recognize the German occupation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia but the Soviets were annex Estonia east of the Narva, Petseri, and Abrene.
- The Soviets would get a free hand against Finland and the Germans would have their Norwegian puppets recognize Svalbard as Soviet.
The two sides also agreed to population and prisoner exchanges. Serbs, Poles, Jews, Roma, and Belarussians were to be sent to the USSR. Volga Germans to Fatherland. The Germans wanted to send the Ukrainians, but Stalin didn't want them, seeing them as traitors to the Motherland.
Stalin proceeded to conquer and annex Finland, conquer and make a puppet of Turkey, create a satellite state in North Iran, carve off Xinjiang into a Soviet Satellite, and lay the groundwork for Mao's takeover of China north of the Yangtze.
What if the Soviets and Germans hadn't cut a deal? Might the Allies, as a united front, have managed to defeat the Germans rather than get OTL's Stalemate?