It seems to me that a common thread in AH is that if Hitler hadn't have struck Stalin first or if Hitler didn't exist at all, the USSR would have been the nation to invade everyone. I've found this in various AH, whether it be in Red Alert or in Redbeard's recent (yet excellent) TL of how Scandinavia allies itself with Britain. What I want to discuss is how true this actually is. Was Stalin really as much of an elephant in Europe's backyard as he is made out to be? If OTL WWII hadn't have come to pass, would we really have seen a Soviet invasion of Europe in the 1940s or 1950s?