Without the Soviets in the war, the Germans could have manned the West Wall with 100 divisions. How do you think he Normandy invasion would have played out under those circumstances. We paid the price of victory in Europe with treasure and machines. The Soviets paid the price in blood.
Don’t know this for a fact, but supposedly 9 out of 10 German soldiers were killed by Soviet soldiers.
I seriously doubt the 90% losses in the USSR for a few reasons: The figure given for staffing difference was one soldier in the west for every four in Russia, the war in Russia started later than other theaters (France, North Africa, Balkans), and a year before Normandy the Germans were responsible for defending Italy itself (and did so until the end of the war). Also, plenty of Ukrainians joined the war against Stalin, so those “Soviet” losses shouldn’t be tallied in the same manner.
The Soviets paid the price in blood fighting a former ally they helped arm, and who cooperated with them in the division of Eastern Europe early in the war (invading Poland and the Baltic states from the east). There was nothing praiseworthy in them having to defend themselves against a monster they helped create; before hostilities they helped the Germans develop weapons and train pilots to evade the eyes of Versailles Treaty inspectors (that is why some of their plane designs were similar).
Germany was a continental powerhouse with no global war capabilities; regardless of the eastern Front, they had no way of defeating the Allies. Britain had an empire to bring to bear against them, and they couldn’t harm US interests in any meaningful way.
The Russians paid the price in blood. Of the 42 million or more deaths from WWII, Russians absorbed the lion’s share as cannon fodder. Every German soldier at the time feared being sent to the Russian front, of course. But they were fighting a war on how many fronts? The whole world? Stupid Nazis.