Weird title right, considering they lost. I haven't seen this yet, nor could I find this in a search. But under what reasonable conditions could Russia have been more successful in their initial defense against Germany, leading to a timeline where the Soviets ended the war against Germany with a drive on Paris sometime in early 1944? Leading ultimately to a Cold War where all but Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal are behind the Iron Curtain. Or perhaps an East and West divided France and an East and West Paris following an early Normandy Invasion just to prevent the Soviets from taking all of France.
Is this possible? Would the Allies have made a separate peace with Hitler so as to prevent a totally Red Europe? If so would Stalin have driven the Allies into the sea? Or is 1944 too early for the Russians to make it to Paris entirely?
Would it have been possible for Russia to win even earlier, say mid 1943? What would that have done to the situation in North Africa with thousands of stranded Germans and Italians surrounded by the Americans and British.