tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25740524.post1611180465803191010..comments2024-03-11T13:16:19.098-04:00Comments on Ad Orientem: For Lovers of HistoryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25740524.post-77982375879449473852013-07-28T19:45:05.135-04:002013-07-28T19:45:05.135-04:00I think Stalin as a war leader has been badly unde...I think Stalin as a war leader has been badly underrated by Western historians. This again seems likely to be a byproduct of the Cold War. He was a very shrewd man who combined a tenacity with utter ruthlessness that was essential to the USSR winning the war.<br /><br />Stalin and Hitler are inevitably compared. But aside from the fact that they were both totalitarian dictators and mass murderers there is little resemblance. Hitler was probably unbalanced on a certain level and was almost certainly barking mad by the end of the war. But Stalin was the ultimate realist. He may have been wrong from time to time, but there was not a delusional bone in his body. Stalin was simply a sociopath. He was devoid of anything most people would call a conscience. Which when combined with his shrewd (and sometimes slightly paranoid) nature made him an extremely competent wartime leaders, as well as one of the greatest mass murderers in history.<br /><br />A brilliantly competent dictator - wartime leader and utterly evil; Stalin gets my vote as the most fascinating leader of the Second World War. John (Ad Orientem)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14329907942477160166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25740524.post-61404325539267528792013-07-28T16:30:47.382-04:002013-07-28T16:30:47.382-04:00I cannot more highly recommend this reassessment o...I cannot more highly recommend this reassessment of Stalin as military leader: http://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Wars-From-World-1939-1953/dp/0300136226 Ochlophobist https://www.blogger.com/profile/13751003558600087713noreply@blogger.com