The Failure Of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa

The Germans had invaded the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941, this invasion was codenamed, Operation Barbarossa. Operation Barbarossa was the largest military attack launched during World War Two, and had created dreadful circumstances for the Russian people. The military operation had involved the use of more than 3 million Axis troops and 3,500 of their tanks. Operation Barbarossa was launched under Hitler’s belief that the German people needed lebensraum(living space) in the East, they would acquire this land at the expense of the Russian people. Hitler had begun planning for the attack in the previous year; he had tremendous confidence in the success of his attacks because of his victory over the allies in France, and the reports of the Soviet forces being weak. He had three objectives for Operation Barbarossa: to acquire control over the Baltic states and Leningrad in the North, Moscow in the centre, and Ukraine and southern Russia in the South. The Soviet Union was completely unprepared for the attacks in June. Stalin refused to believe the evidence

The defeat of the Germans by the Soviet forces was a major turning point in World War Two. Launching Operation Barbarossa is believed to be Hitler’s biggest mistake, since it placed Germany in a position where they would have to fight a two front war. Hitler had invested tremendous amounts of energy into a battle that could not be fought. He had failed to account for the conditions of the Russian winter that his troops would have to fight in, and the difficulties this would place for his operation. Hitler had many successes in acquiring land prior to this military operation against the Soviets, and upon losing this battle it resulted in a downward spiral of losses for the Germans. It was this military failure of Hitler that paved the pathway for the allied success in World War