Did Hitler really think he could occupy the whole of the Soviet Union?

Question

If he wanted to get England to surrender he should have sent more forces to Africa and then push on to India through the middle east instead of invading a sleeping dog.

Answer 1

Well, depends what you mean by "occupy" now doesn't it.

His plan was to counquer much of European Russia and push the slavic untermenschen east of the urals to provide for the lebensraum for the German Volk. Deprived of Moscow, Leningrad, and the Ukrainian breadbasket, the rest of the Soviet Union would not be in any position to resist and probably decend into anarchy. Might Germany actually post troops in say Vladivostok or Khazakstan? Maybe, I'm not too sure Hitler really thought that one through. He was more concerned with the "living room" in Eastern Europe. It would really depend on the state of the world after he defeated the Soviet Union. If his primary enemy left standing was Japan, then maybe he would have pushed his borders as far east as possible. Otherwise, he might have just let the parts of the country he didn't want devolve into anarchy.

As for England, well, you have to remember that in 1940 when he started planning the whole thing, Germany had gone from Military Triumph to Military Triumph and was master of Europe with only tiny little England left fighting. Like most people who have a taste of glory and power he let it go to his head and thought there was nobody who could stand up to him. Plus he had a slightly nasty habit of killing people who disagreed with him, or even whose existance disagreed with him. He bit off more than he could chew, particularly when he declared war on the US in the wake of Pearl Harbor. Nobody was really in a position to tell him he was an idiot (even more so than telling Paris Hilton she can't sing or act or Shaq that he might have been a good basketball player, but he can't act or sing).

Answer 2

After the successful negotiation of the Russo-German Pact, this gave Germany proxy to go about its war in Western Europe. This lulled Stalin into a false sense of security. In fact, During 1940, Germany had military advisors in the Soviet Union looking over their defenses. What they reported back is that the Soviet forces were in such a disarray, that an invasion would be possible.
Hitler, in his mind, thought of a complete German occupied Europe and Asia. His General Staff on the other hand, had the idea of shooting straight to Moscow, capture th capital, oust Stalin, and end it quickly.
A few reasons this failed were:
1) Upon the push to Moscow, Hitler ordered his forces South to Kiev instead of capturing the capital quickly.
2) Although the peasant population welcomed the German invaders as liberators, this attitude quickly turned as Germans felt the "slavic" people as racially inferior and were just as brutal on them as Stalin was.
3) German logistics was not prepared for a drawn out spearhead. ie: fuel, food, ammo, supplies.
4) Brutal Russain Winter
5) The lack of intel showing the new Soviet T-34 tank that out gunned the German armor.
6) Zhukov ( defender of Moscow ) was able to call up Siberian Reserves because intel showed the Japanese were preoccupied with "other plans" ( Pearl Harbor )

Answer 3

He could have successfully invaded England if he had continued to bomb military targets such as airfields but since Hermann Goering gave the order to bomb civilian targets instead the RAF was able to defend England and Operation Sea Lion was at first delayed and then completely put aside. As far as Russia is concerned if he had allowed his generals to push on to Moscow instead of wasting valuable resources in the siege of Leningrad he could have conquered the Soviets quite handily. The Third Reich was crippled during the entire reign of the Nazis by gross mistakes in tactics and execution because Hitler would not let his generals-many of the finest in the world-do their jobs to the best of their abilities. He had to constantly impede their efficiency and hamper their best efforts because he thought he knew better how to run a military campaign.

Answer 4

Yes, he believed that the Slavic people were inferior to the Aryans and had no chance to defeat "the Master Race." I don't believe it was his intention to occupy the whole of the Soviet Union, though, he only wanted part of it.

Hitler couldn't understand why the British would not agree to a peace with him, as they were also a "good Aryan people." He believed that they should view the Communists as the true enemy and was very puzzled by Churchill's and Roosevelt's position towards him.

Hitler also was uninterested in Africa. It was not in his master plan, for him it was only a "propaganda war" whose outcome was unimportant. It was in Fascist Italy's area of operation and Hitler was annoyed by every unit had to sacrifice from the Russian Front to support the Italian effort there.

Hitler was not a man to bothered with the truth or facts. He believed what he believed and anyone who disagreed with him had reason to fear for their life.

Answer 5

Hitler thought he could kick in the door and the whole rotten structure would come tumbling down. The German 6th army marched into Stalingrad in bright shiny boots and left defeated in tattered clothes. The Russians Red Army traded space for time during the winters of 41 and 42.....

Answer 6

Hitler going into the Soviet Union was a major miscalculation on his part.

Answer 7

Without a doubt, he thought he could. It goes back before Hitler even - though Hitler was the only one to try to put it into practice.
It's the concept of 'Lebensraum' - or living space.

Answer 8

His biggest mistake was invading Russia, if not for that he could have taken over all Europe and Asia, except the ones he was allied with.

Answer 9

You are assuming that the same person that used Jewish skin for lampshades would actually do some thing intelligent? Besides I'm not certain anyone with his ambitions would ever be able to seem them to finality.

Answer 10

I think it's so ironic that Hitler loved the blonde and blue eyed people yet his hair is like... what? JET BLACK? god!

I think he had a crush on a Hayden Christensen look-alike.