This work draws on both German archives and the recently opened Central Party Archive in Moscow to provide insight into Stalin's strategy and tactics and Hitler's real agenda in German-Soviet relations. It demonstrates that Hitler's gradual normalization of relations with Stalin was part of a plan to use Russian supplies for the German invasion of Poland. It also addresses the question of whether the Soviet Union was planning a preemptive attack on Germany in 1941, arguing that Stalin could never have countenanced such an attack.