Causes and Consequences of Operation Barbarossa Essay

was a slap in the face. Hitler soon became bitter over the treaty and over the loss of German The

The Battle of Stalingrad marked the end of Germany’s advances into Eastern Europe and Russia. After Germany's failure to take Stalingrad, their Eastern front army was practically destroyed and they were forced to flee outside of the Soviet Union. This became a turning point for World War Two as it put the Russians on the offensive. Consequently, this directly aided in the destruction and conquering of Germany by the Allied Forces throughout 1944 and 1945. Germany was, essentially, surrounded with the Americans and British in the West, and the Russians in the East.

The book is broken into five sections. The first section tells the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. This was the German codename for the invasion Russia. Although the Germans managed to capture vast amounts of territory, the Soviet military was able to halt the German advance. To regain the momentum, Hitler decides to proceed with the capture of Stalingrad. In addition to gaining access to the fuel in the Caucasus Mountains from the capture of the city, Hitler would destroy the city that bears the name of Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin.

<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

Almost everyone knows what a monster Adolf Hitler was, but most people do not know that one of the great ally leader of World War II, Joseph Stalin, had committed even greater atrocities than Hitler. Joseph Stalin was a ruthless and yet diligent dictator of the Soviet Union, whose rise to power influenced a multitude of major events in his country’s history. Due to Stalin’s impactful reign, he made the Soviet Union become a global superpower, underwent difficult hardships such as the Great Famine in the Soviet Union, and after his death, caused the Soviet Union to go through a process known as de-Stalinization.

In 1939 the world plunged into a state of depression and war, each country turning on one another. Diplomatic factors, Hitler's thirst for power, and the political and financial stand point are arrows that point directly to a future of destruction and war, all with the failure of appeasement. Collective security worked as a buffer between conflicts, and was the best response toward aggression. The weakening League of Nations failed to keep collective security intact from any wars. Hitler's leadership threatened the peace in Europe which caused Germany to stir up war around the world. The economic and political stand points were in danger and on the verge of collapsing.

World War II was fought between two main opposing forces, the Allies and the Axis forces. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan being the most dominant. On the other hand, some of the countries in the Allied powers were Great Britain, the United States, France, Australia, New Zealand, India, the Soviet Union, Canada, and Greece.

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.

The invasion of the Soviet Union can be seen as one of Hitler’s greatest blunders. In 1941 Hitler and Stalin were in a non-aggression pact. Hitler decided to waive that pact and invade the Soviet Union in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s decision to invade the Soviet Union was a great risk and ultimately led to the 3rd Reich’s downfall. The Soviet Union was a country full of vast resources and a higher population than Germany. There seems to be so many risks involved with attacking the Soviet Union. So why was the Soviet Union attacked by Germany in 1941?

By successfully defending the city of Stalingrad the Soviet Union were able to deny Hitler his

The signing of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was extremely significant in regards to the outbreak of war in Europe. Both Germany and Russia possessed considerable motives for signing the pact.

When evaluating the causes behind the atrocities experienced during World War II, many reasons for these events can be found in the conditions occurring beforehand. Beyond this, many of these causes can be applicable contributions to each World War. In terms of cause, World War II can be considered an inevitable continuation of the first World War. It erupted due to Hitler’s extreme desire for expansion and hostile foreign policy, war was immediately declared upon German militarization of Poland. However, the expectation for global warfare had been longstanding before Mussolini and Hitler came to power or Japan’s assault upon China. Whereas the tensions leading to World War I came about due to a rise in nationalism in response to

For the Third Reich, the invasion of the Soviet Union represented a battle to the death of two incompatible ideological systems, German Nazism and “Jewish Bolshevism.” “The Jews were portrayed as an integral part of the Soviet dragon to be slain,” suggests Mayer. Jürgen Förster also acknowledges “the special character of the [German] war with the Soviet Union.” Jews lied at the heart of the Soviet state and bolshevik philosophy which threatened the very survival of Germany. For them, it was a “ferocious struggle for Sein oder Nichtsein (life or death)[.]” This was why Mayer refers to Operation Barbarossa as a “crusade” against “Judeobolshevism.” Hitler was concerned of Stalin’s ‘Jewish-Bolshevik intelligentsia’” and their eradication would precipitate the internal collapse of the USSR. “The troops have to realize that this struggle is being waged by once race against another,” declared Hitler. The role Nazis believed Jews played in bolshevism made them a readily available scapegoat. They lashed out against those they believed fighting for German

The German’s defeat at the battle of Stalingrad was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime. Hitler’s control over his army and his army’s confidence in him was extremely weakened. All over Germany morale had sunk. During this time, Hitler made many false promises to the people of Germany. One being that they would never be driven out of Stalingrad. After their complete and utter annihilation at Stalingrad, the German public’s opinion of Hitler definitely took a turn for the worse. Hitler lost face both his military supporters and his political