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the Soviet Union in isolation. Vet she grew stronger;then entered more closely into multiple relations; thenrose to rank among the great powers, but still so sharplydividing opinion in every country that neither she northey could count upon the net-work of treaties andcombinations woven round the world.When the Nazi revolution had conquered Germanyand forged the Axis, three powers were arrayed againstfour; but the four were not united. The Soviet Unionremained so suspect that she was not certain whethershe might not in effect be left to the Axis wolves. Sheparleyed with the wolves. The war cloud burst. Polandwas struck down. Norway was conquered. The LowCountries were overrun. France was overwhelmed.Britain fought on, alone, in desperate but unfalteringdefiance. Greece fell. The Balkans were lost. Then,massing in the east, the Red Army, many millions strongand mightily equipped but uncertain yet in quality, drewHitler to nemesis.For the second time within a generation Russia andBritain are together plunged in death - grapple withGermany. On the greatest of all the battle fronts,from the Arctic to the Euxine, the destiny of ourtime hung in the balance. But at the darkest hour,when Moscow might have fallen, the Red Army didnot doubt that they were the heirs both to the futureand of the past, the past of the Russian people. "Theland of our forefathers has swallowed not a few hordesof invaders striving to conquer it. In the west, empiresrose up and perished. The great were debased. Therich were made poor. Our native land grew andstrengthened and nothing can shake it. Our land willswallow the German hordes. Thus it was. Thus it willbe" (Alexis Tolstoy, November 1941).443