Causes Of Operation Barbarossa

From the very beginning of Adolf Hitler’s career, he had two goals. His primary goal was the forcible acquisition of living space, also known as Lebensraum, for the German people. Secondly, he plotted the extermination of the Jews. In 1935, Adolf Hitler openly violated the Treaty of Versailles by rapidly rebuilding the German Army. Other countries began to get nervous at the exponentially increasing German Army. Hitler assured fellow diplomats that the rapid growth was strictly a defensive measure. He claimed Germany had every right to build its forces to be on a level playing field with surrounding

Hitler was not to hold back. He wanted to eliminate the gap between Germany and Russia. With the annihilation of Poland the German and Russian borders met. Hitler killed two birds with one stone with this action. He destroyed another slavic nation and brought Russia's and Germany's borders together. Hitler could easily attack Russia now without having to move through Poland.

A third promise of Hitlers was that he would provide more living space. Hitler believed that Germany required more living space, or "Lebensraum", in order to survive. Instead of adding colonies to make Germany bigger, Hitler wanted to enlarge Germany within Europe. Hitler stated that the Soviet Union was run by the Jews, thus Germany had a right to take Russian land. With more living space, it was believed that this would make Germany stronger: stronger military, and built high hopes that Germany would become economically self-sufficient with the newfound wealth of food and raw material sources.

<br>The plan to capture the Soviet Union, operation Barbarossa, was initially very successful. The German attack, comprising 134 divisions or just over 3 million soldiers, took the Russians by surprise and they quickly advanced towards Moscow. But the rough country and appalling roads were taking its toll, and the German advance started to slow. Hitler himself took control of the campaign. Hitler was a very determined man. He was very determined to avenge the loss and humiliation of world war

“While the German army had success the first day, it was Hitler’s desire to occupy the entire city that cost him the battle” (Background). Despite being in a favorable position early on, Hitler decide to continue to push on and quickly take over the city of Stalingrad. Logically, Hitler would have been content with the position he had, and held it for some time. Despite throwing large amounts of men into the fighting the Germans only made small amounts of progress, losing absurd amounts of men and supplies to take over a single building. Once Hitler had started this push, however, he could not pull out of it. It would be a defeat in his eyes, and avoiding defeat was more important to him than the lives of his men. “Fresh divisions were thrown in and were soon ground to pieces in the inferno (a fiery hell). To Hitler [Stalingrad’s] capture was now a question of personal prestige” (Document 1). After a certain point, a victory under his name became won important to Hitler than the territory won in the battle. Especially due to the city's importance to Stalin himself, it was more of a personal battle for Hitler than a battle between nations. The Battle of Stalingrad became a test of Hitler’s prestige and what he was willing to do to protect it. The answer to that question would turn out to be too much, as the Soviets would be on the front foot for the

Hitler from the start of his chancellorship, on the 31st of January 1933, knew that if he wanted to make Germany strong again he would have to be prepared to go to war. In 1933 he began the secret equipment of the German army, so he came public with this plan in 1935. Also the economic distress in Weimar Germany and by having their ‘brown shirts’, the Nazis became a governmental force. On January 30 1933, Hitler was placed in a position take power when he was appointed Reich president by President Paul von Hindenburg. Although Britain and France were aware of Hitler’s plans, they were probably more concerned about the rise of socialism and believed that a stronger Germany might help to prevent the spread the socialism to the western side. In this paragraph I have explained how evil Hitler was involved in causing World War 2, the plans he had and the fear of socialism was going to be stop by a strong Germany.

D-Day was the Allied invasion of German occupied France that was a major factor in the German defect. D-Day was the largest invasion fleet ever and the campaign created a second front which made the Germans split their resources between the west and east front. The Allies and Germanys suffered around 425,000 casualties during D-day. Operation Barbarossa was the German invasion of the Soviet Union which started on 22th of June 1941. The initial invasion took the Soviet leaders by surprise. The invasion had stalled because of the Russian winter which caused the German tanks and other vehicles to get bogged. Germany had invasion had failed to end the USSR and they were pushed back which helped create a two front war. The Germanys suffered 775,000 deaths and the Soviet Union suffered more than 800,000 deaths in

Lebensraum- A German word meaning "living space", it was considered a basic principle of Nazi foreign policy. Hitler and the Nazi's believed that it was necessary to conquer a vast territory for the national existence and economic

This investigation will explore the question: Was Hitler’s greatest reason for starting World War II to create a Master Race or to regain Germany’s lost territory? From years 1889 to 1945 will be the focus of this investigation, to allow for an analysis of Hitler’s greatest reason to start World War I.

While Hitler wasn 't interested in conquering the mighty USSR from the start, he did for see an eventual war with her for her abundant resources16. Thus, the clash that the two countries had in 1941 was long coming, but not a surprise.

This pact prevented Hitler, “From seeking the goal of German foreign policy in the one and only place possible: space in the east.” Gaining Lebensraum for Germany’s surplus population was one motive for Hitler’s attack into the Soviet Union in 1941, but there were also other reasons behind the attack.

From the time of ‘Mein Kampf’ Hitler had outwardly expressed his desire to move toward Russia in his quest for ‘Lebensraum,’ however in 1939, it was beneficial for him

In Mein Kamph Hitler offered some insight into his thinking on exercise of power and in particular the important role of propaganda, his contempt of parliamentary democracy and the Weimar Republic. Hitler also wrote of the need for a national revival and the quest for living space. Hitler linked his hatred of communism with his hatred of Jews. In Hitler’s mind Russia was the centre

Another failing tactic of Hitler’s was to focus on the Soviet Union instead of focusing on other countries. Hitler focused on eliminating the Soviet Union after Germany eliminated France. When Germany defeated France, Hitler made the mistake of not paying close attention to the United States. According to David Kaiser, an American historian, “The Second World War confirmed the lesson of the first: that no European power had the economic resources to compete with the economic might of the United States, furnished most of the supplies for the Allied war effort against Germany and simultaneously defeated Japan as well” (389). Hitler failed to realize that the United States had a greater advantage than France or the Soviet Union to defeat Germany. The United States was a simply rich country in military supplies, like tanks and airplanes that were used to put an end on Hitler’s army.

Causes and Consequences of Operation Barbarossa On June 22nd 1941, German forces crossed the Russian frontier and began to fight their way into Soviet territory. Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's codename for the attack on Russia, had begun. In this essay I am going to describe the causes, events and consequences of Operation Barbarossa. What happened when the 'unbeatable' Hitler and Germany met the sheer determination and patriotism of Stalin and the USSR?