Why is Operation Barbarossa so crucial to Hitler's plan?

Question

Any information on this operation is most appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Operation Barbarossa was a big mistake though he had always eyed Russian lands for "lebensraum" - living space for the German people.

By invading Russia, he opened a second front (against Bismarck's dictum) which resulted in Germany being sandwiched between Britain to the west & Russia to the east, streching his resources & manpower beyong breaking point.

Anyway, the invasion of Russia started on June 22 with the attacking forces being split ito Army Groups North(commanded by Leeb), Centre(commanded by Bock) & South (commanded by Rundstedt)

The northern group was tasked with capturing Leningrad (St Petersburg) which it failed to do so. The centre group was to take Moscow whilst the southern group was to head south & ultimately capture the oilfields in the Caucasus mountains.

Answer 2

When Hitler invaded Russia he had two basic ideas. Firstly he thought that the war in the West was largely over- France had been subdued and the UK was isolated and could be starved out of the war. Secondly though ever since Mein Kampf Hitler had agonised about the economic future of Germany- what he feared was that Russia soon would dominate the continent of Europe thanks to its population. He also beleived that Slavs, ie the population of Russia were naturally inferior to Germans and that Germans needed an expanding space to live in. Consequently the invasion of Russia was designed to stop the Communists passing the Nazis economically and also to provide Germany with the slaves and landspace it needed to fulfill Hitler's ambitions.

The economics was obviously nonsense as was as other posters have noted the invasion- its a oft repeated fact by historians that to succeed the Germans had to kill eight Russians for every one German that died- consider those odds for a moment and realsie that they actually did that for the first months of the war but in the end at Stalingrad especially the German army was bled to death because the Russians could just take more casualties. Having said that it was a disaster for the Russians too, because of the natural inferiority beleif I cited above, the Germans didn't implement the Geneva conventions with regard to captured Russians and killed them in horrible ways furthermore they enslaved local populations. The Russians when they won came back and did the same to the Germans, its estimated that in the invasion of Berlin over a million women were raped by red Army soldiers but when you realise waht they had been through you can understand how those soldiers reacted.

All in all the war was a disaster for all sides and Eastern Europe in large part has never really recovered. Especially as the other thing that HItler did in the territories he conquered was the holocaust- but I think that's a topic for anotehr answer.

http://gracchii.blogspot.com

Answer 3

Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Hitler beleived that Germans needed living space, which was to come from the Soviet Union. It also gave the germans access to oil, more food (from Ukraine) and mineral resources in greater ammounts.

Answer 4

<>Hitler expected a quick takeover of Eastern Russia, and the capitulation of the dangerous Russians, with that attack. It's failure opened up the war-long Eastern Front that eventually helped spell the Third Reich's downfall.

Answer 5

It was his biggest mistake and his other one the invasion of Poland.

Answer 6

Hitler is DEAD.