Shaun-- the key difference I come back to is that Stalin knew how to hide his iron fist inside a velvet glove. He did such things as restore rank to the military, open churches, etc while at the same time continuing to murder any who stood in his way (real or imagined) whereas Hitler who a plain unbending, uncompromising murderer.
DJ

Granted, DJ. Good point. However, from a purely historical standpoint I think Stalin wins by a couple million dead, at least. Stalin had no choice but to restore rank to the military because he had just about every officer killed in his purges. Had Stalin not purged his officer corp, the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa probably would have been quite different.

Thanks for the discussion, this is really fun.

Shaun.