Was the USSR ready for war?

Yes

1. In the 1930s, there were plenty of trained officers to replace those who were purged.

2. The Russian economy was geared up for war. The second Five Year Plan led to a trebling in armament production.

3. The Russian army had undertaken a number of reforms after the Finnish War: introducing harsher discipline, Zhukov was made Chief of Staff.

No

1. In 1937, Stalin purged his army which severely weakened Russia’s armed forces.
All admirals, eight generals and all but one commander of the air force were purged.

2. Severe weaknesses of the Red Army were exposed in the “Winter War” with Finland in 1939, where 126,000 soldiers died in four months. Their failure in the Winter War convinced Hitler that the USSR would crumble if attacked.

3. Stalin put too much faith in the 1939 Nazi Soviet Pact and believed Hitler would not be foolish enough to undertake a war on two fronts.
He received 80 warnings that Germany would invade, but ignored all of them.When a German soldier warned that Germany would attack the next day, Stalin ordered him to be shot.