If Stalin didn’t stop at Berlin America would have eaten shit for like a year until they built more nukes which they had a monopoly on at the time.
They would have used them.
I don’t see a path to victory there unless it’s acceptable to be losing like two entire cities a year (I honestly have no idea how many nukes could be built a year at that time, I say two because that’s how many were built for Japan) to a nuclear and bloodthirsty empire in its prime.
I know it’s a meme. But I see it said enough I wanted to hear what people actually thought on the matter memes aside.
Edit: lots of good takes and I’ve learned some stuff, thanks for all the responses.
That’s an interesting take, I’m going to look into American opinions on how they felt about the USSR immediately at war end and before the propaganda refocus.
How would that have worked though (regarding Germany)? Like, if Americans are occupying a part of Germany how do you actually take it without being the one who declares war (via words or actions)?
They would have had to actually take the rest of Germany before the US got there. No way the US is giving up their conquered territory. But if I remember my WW2 history right they had a head start. They actually STOPPED at Berlin and let the western allies take everything west of there. That keeps combat losses lower, because the Germans were surrendering to the allies immediately but would not have done so for the Soviets. But if they had pushed on they could have possibly taken at least as much of Germany as they could get their hands on before running into their western "allies". Still, the US might have gone bananas over that, so I'm not saying this is something they would have for sure gotten away with and considering the risks they made a pretty sensible decision. But I think that is pretty much the limit of where they could have gone before the nuclear destruction of Europe is a foregone conclusion.
I see what you mean now, that must have been a very difficult decision to be in the room for.
Do we spend the lives of our comrades to liberate greater areas of Germany? Surely it would rankle a bit practical concerns aside.
I think it was a pretty easy decision. After taking Berlin, when the US, as your biggest ally, pre cold war, tells you that they will deal with the western part of Germany and you can just sit back and enjoy having won the biggest war in human history... You kind of have to. Stalin needed public support too, and pushing west would have spent very many lives for what - at the time - seemed like no reason.
A US military response to the Soviet Union taking all of Germany might have been risky for the US, but a Soviet push to take all of Germany when they didn't have to would have been risky for the Soviet Union. When the option "the war is over and we won" is on the table after what Germany did so the Soviets, you take it.
Very thought out way of putting it.
Who would say no to ending the worst period in living memory?