10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About World War 2

The United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), or the Soviet Union for short, had a considerably higher impact on the war's outcome than commonly thought. This goes against the commonly held notion that the American and British forces were solely responsible for turning the tide against the Axis powers and that the Soviet army was ineffective during the war.

This could not be further from the truth as the Soviets did a significant amount of heavy lifting on the Eastern front despite its earlier role in its invasion of Poland and its signing of a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939. However, Germany's quest for global domination and its subsequent invasion of the nation in June 1941 forced the Soviets to join the Allies.

This decision saw the Nazi forces incur significant losses due to extensive Soviet campaigns in the East (especially on the aforementioned Eastern Front) such as the Battle of Stalingrad and the Kursk tank battle. However, the Soviet influence came at a great price as its nation endured the highest death toll in the war (25 million lives lost) and significant destruction to its property.