Just Got Hearts of Iron

[Exonerate]

I tend to play it risky when I do the USSR.
[snip]

The rest of the game is in your lap.

That's basically what happened, except I went for an early siezure of Persia and didn't butter Japan up enough. The Fascists went after France in April '41, and the game was basically a foregone conclusion by September '41 (I had taken Germany proper and all Euro Axis minors, all that remained was to roll up Austria and Northern France, then smash Italy).

I actually spent more time beating Japan into submission than I did taking down Europe, and that whole campaign was really set before I even started (they were at war with Commonwealth, France, USA, USSR, and had no allies ). My campaign had some moments that would have made excellent History Channel fodder:
1) The decisive moves in both the German and Japanese campaigns were made by the same three marshals--Tukhachevsky, Konev, and Rokossovski
2) To counteract the Japanese siezure of the middle of the Trans-siberian railroad, I sent six T-34/85 divisions under Malinovsky on a six-month oddyssey; they marched from Moskva to Irkutsk, opposition evaporating in their path
3) The seven divisions under Vassilevsky held out in Vladivostok against twenty Manchurian and Japanese divisions and a dozen aircraft groups for almost a year before they were relieved. For most of the siege, they were totally surrounded and attacked from several sides. I think my superior infantry inflicted about 5-1 casualties

Research pays off. When I was playing the US, 4 of my artillery infantry divisions could fight and win against 16 enemy ones. Having a good general also helps.