Stalin knew the Western allies were weak when they did nothing to stop communism in Spain in 1936, and they let Germany re-arm (with Soviet help) throughout the late 30s. In 1939 they divided Poland between them (though for some reason the western allies didn’t declare war on the USSR - only Germany); they also stood by while Stalin invaded the Baltic states and part of Finland.
While Americans have proud moments in our history, the years leading up to WWII are not among them.
“Stalin knew the Western allies were weak when they did nothing to stop communism in Spain in 1936, and they let Germany re-arm (with Soviet help) throughout the late 30s.”
Stalin knew the “Western allies were weak,” because they actually were economically weak and correspondingly weak in morale and political will due to the aftermath of the First World War. Stalin’s Soviet Union and Germany were also weak, but their authoritarian governments were able to dictate, override, and inspire revenge against the war weariness of the populace. Stalin and the Soviet Union were also in the position of being able to expropriate the financial resources necessary to industrialize and mobilize a new military force by starving and exterminating the Soviet populace possessing those resources. Germany remained militarily weak until 1938 and the beginning of the Second World War. Germany was able to build its military forces only by using its authoritarian government to put Germany’s economy deeply in a debt which was destined to bankrupt Germany by around 1944, if Germany’s conquests failed to produce enough loot from the conquered territories to keep the Germany economy going.
“In 1939 they divided Poland between them (though for some reason the western allies didn’t declare war on the USSR - only Germany); they also stood by while Stalin invaded the Baltic states and part of Finland.”
Britain and France had previously contemplated Poland and Czechoslovakia could support each other while France and Britain conducted their campaigns against Germany along Germany’s Western front. Germany and France lost that support for Poland when they acquiesced to the surrender of Czechoslovakia to Germany. This left Poland isolated and beyond the reach of any French and British expeditionary forces of any substantial strengths. Their only ability to influence NAZI Germany was by the deterrent capability on Germany’s western front. This deterrence later proved to be fatally inadequate.
Britain did attempt to find ways in which to oppose the Soviet invasion of Finland, but the Scandinavian neutralities limiting access to Finland and Britain’s own precarious circumstances made such efforts not feasible.
“While Americans have proud moments in our history, the years leading up to WWII are not among them.”
In some respects, yes, but in most other respects the United States simply did not have enough military forces and economic power to serve as a deterrent or as an effective military force.
A Greek friend once asked why the United States did not come and help to defend Greece against the German invasion of Greece. When I pointed out that the U.S. Army at that time was much smaller than Greece’s own army, he was astonished and refused to believe it until I showed him the actual numbers.
The United States Government was in bad financial condition due to the British and other European allies failure to repay their war debts to the United States and the economic failures which followed those loan defaults. The United States was able to better recover from the World War Two debts only because the destruction of the European, Japanese, and Chinese industries and economies left the United States without effective economic competitors for a few decades and the restructuring of the world’s economic systems to end the currency blocs encouraged free trade.