Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
The Red Army had that capability. Indeed, they already occupied all of Eastern Europe up to and including the Eastern parts of Germany.
As western militaries demobilized, there was really nothing stopping the big red machine from continuing the westward March.
The modern Russian army is nothing but a paper tiger compared to the Red Army of the 40s and 50s.
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One thing the Red Army had going for it back then was that the idea of communism was still popular among many people in Eastern Europe. It hadn't yet failed or become the failed corrupt faux-communism that it naturally evolved into by the 1980s. Every country in Eastern Europe, and even some in Western Europe and Asia had Soviet parties with varying amounts of power. This meant that there was little resistance at first, with the exception of Hungary which was always a thorn in the side for the Red Army during occupation. The Russians did an amazing job exporting Soviet ideology. Putin sells Russia's current ideology to a degree with some takers like Orban, Le Pen, and Trump, but nothing compared to what the Soviets were able to pull off.
Most countries in Eastern Europe also felt betrayed by the West at the end of WW2 and lost the will to resist the Soviets or cooperate with the West.