On June 22, 1941, just less than two years after signing the Nazi-Soviet Agreements, Adolf Hitler's German army invaded the Soviet Union. The attack hardly came as a surprise to Josef Stalin; in fact, history has long held that Stalin spent the two intervening years building up his defenses against a Nazi attack. With the gradual declassifying of former Soviet documents, though, historians are learning more and more about Stalin's grand plan during the years 1939-1941. Longtime Soviet expert Albert L. Weeks has studied the newly-released information and come to a different conclusion about the Soviet Union's pre-war buildup—it was not precaution against German invasion at all. In fact, Weeks argues, the evidence now suggests Soviet mobilization was aimed at an eventual invasion of Nazi Germany. The Soviets were quietly biding their time between 1939 and 1941, allowing the capitalist powers to destroy one another, all the while preparing for their own Westward march. Stalin, Weeks shows, wasn't waiting for a Nazi attack—Hitler simply beat him to the punch.

"Stalin's Other War is an excellent study that thoroughly covers the subject matter under discussion, and Weeks provides an exceptionally good overview of the current state of the debate among Russian scholars who are making use of the new evidence that is progressively becoming available as the Soviet archives are opened to scholarly scrutiny. The book includes an excellent discussion of the issue of the supposed 'defensist' orientation of Soviet policy. Stalin's Other War presents substantial evidence that Soviet warplanning reflected its expansionist orientation. Provides an excellent update on the current status of a very contentious and important historical debate. Weeks does an excellent job of describing Soviet diplomatic and military strategy and supports his core arguments with solid evidence. Stalin's Other War is a sound contribution to the scholarly literature on the Soviet Union and a useful addition to the debate on the pre-Barbarossa relationship between two predatory empires." - Comparative Strategy

"Since the demise of the Soviet Union, new documents have surfaced which show, according to Albert Weeks in Stalin's Other War, one of our leading Sovietologists, that, on the contrary, Stalin had developed an offensive-war strategy against both Nazi Germany and the Western democracies as well. Mr. Weeks has produced a volume of history which is bound to stir controversy. Mr. Weeks's analysis of Soviet archives is a piece of scholarly revisionism of major significance." - The Washington Times

"Recommended." - CHOICE