“I’m not an expert in history, even though I love it. But I never “got” WHY Roosevelt would have given away Eastern Europe to Stalin.”
One reason is that the war in the Pacific was still raging and we wanted the USSR to join us in the fight. No one knew ahead of time that the atomic bombs would end the war, and if invasion was required to conquer the Home Islands it was going to be a long and brutal fight with a huge casualty count.
Another reason is that we would have had a very difficult time preventing a Soviet takeover of eastern Europe. We weren’t at war with the USSR but opposing them on eastern Europe might have resulted in one, and if you want to see how that would have turned out just look at the supply lines for the opposing sides. War is often determined by logistics.
“but Patton knew what the commies were up to and wanted to push them back.”
It’s a pity so few WWII vets are still with us. My father is one and he served under Patton when Patton commanded 7th Army. Those soldiers were very tired of war when Germany surrendered. They had been fighting in Europe for years at that point and they were all expecting to get shipped to the Pacific. Picking a fight with Soviet Russia at that point would have been crazy. It only looks good on paper to people living many years later.
I had not thought of the wanting the Soviets in the Pacific, if need be.
But, WOULD they have helped us? I don't know what kind of aid they provided when the war was going on.
So after V-E, were the Soviets "war weary" too?
I trust Stalin less than zero, and my guess is that the would have done nothing.
The problem I have is the total capitulation to the Soviets.
Roosevelt and Churchill could have said no to Soviet expansion of the Iron Curtain at Yalta.
I'll grant the sickness of FDR. The man was on his deathbed at the time.
Wish he'd included Truman. Why didn't he?
He HAD to know he wasn't long for this world.
Why not pass the knowledge to your successor?
Hell, FDR kept the A-bomb a "secret" from his own veep.
Again, why?
But the fact was that the Soviets were just as tired of fighting and Soviet brass had given orders to let the Americans through Berlin if they wanted to. The Americans never tried and the rest is history.