Assured victory

the long version

"Stalin correctly foresaw that the Soviet Union needed to be seen as the 'victim of aggression' by German invaders in order to win valuable Western aid and consolidate on East-West war-fighting alliance. His insight and subsequent maneuvering led to one of Stalin's great achievements -- orchestrating the critical Soviet victory in the east ... This book provides an overdue critical investigation of how the Soviet leader's domestic and foreign policies actually helped produce this victory, and above all, how Stalin's timely support of a wartime alliance with the Western capitalist democracies assured the defeat of the Axis powers in 1945"--Jacket.