Why Hitler invaded the Soviet Union

In the summer of 1941 Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his invasion of the Soviet Union. Often described as an epic strategic blunder, the invasion was supposed to reach Moscow in weeks. Instead, four years later, Soviet troops would take Berlin and destroy Nazi Germany.

But was the move really a mistake? In this video we’ll examine why, in the mind of Hitler at least, Germany had to invade the USSR. And how Hitler’s genocidal enterprise in the east might have claimed the lives of many millions more.

*NOTES*
The graph at 3:23 should read 'United Kingdom' rather than 'British Empire'.
The map at 10:04 should include Norway as occupied.

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#war #history #ww2

[snapdragon]

The losses that the Soviet Union suffered during the Winter War with Finland also probably played a part to convince Hitler that he could defeat the USSR.

[andrewsoboeiro]

Anand Toprani documents how Germany faced a severe oil deficit from June 1940 onward— one they consistently failed to plug despite concerted efforts to conquer, import, & synthesize new oil supplies. Invading the oil-rich Soviet Caucasus region was a last-ditch effort to solve a fuel crisis that was rapidly dooming the German military.

[markfryer]

The thing that I find strange is that both Napoleon and Hitler launched their respective invasions within days of each other and they both reached Moscow within days of each other. Separated by a Century of change and they both end up taking the same amount of time to get to Moscow and both fail in their ambitious plans!
Mark from Melbourne Australia

[cliffordcasnermillar]

I’m willing to bet the bulk of this content came from the book “The Wages of Destruction” by Adam Tooze, about the German economy in WWII. I read it about 2 years ago & I’d absolutely recommend it.

[saltydog]

I am surprised oil was barely mentioned and the reason for the 3rd Reich's invasion of the USSR was put down to being mainly about food.

[victorkrawchuk]

Hitler's biggest mistake with Barbarossa might have been his inability to recruit Japan into his strategy against the USSR. Had Japan decided to join Germany in opening a 2nd front in the Eastern USSR, rather than turning its attention to the US in the Pacific in an attempt to secure Dutch East Indies oil, Stalin wouldn't have been able to draw significant forces from Siberia and use them in the 1941 Winter Counteroffensive.

[Random_user-sznk]

Its funny, I never really thought of the similarities between America's idea of manifest destiny and Germany's concept of Lebensraum until now.

[Winward]

Outstanding video!! I’ve been studying WWII for years, so much of this information was already familiar, and yet the presentation alone really helped me make key connections between facts that I hadn’t noticed before. In particular, the comparison between “lebensraum” and 1800s (& early 1900s) American “Manifest Destiny” made German motivations come into perspective in a whole new way. Thank you for the fantastic content IWM!!

[bradyelich]

During the war, Britain's farmers were told to double production twice or risk losing their farms. 10, 000 farmers were replaced, and one was killed in a shootout. Ruth Goodman has a series called Wartime Farm.

[TestTest]

I just wanted to make two observations.

First, Stalin was also rapidly preparing for war, and Soviet Union was getting stronger by the day. If Hitler didn't strike first, then very likely Germany would have been attacked by the Soviet Union, maybe not in 1941 by definitely before 1950. The decision to strike early was made because in 1941 Germany still had the advantage.

Second, bad treatment of Eastern European people by Germany was a major mistake dictated by Nazi ideology. Probably THE mistake that cost them the war. A lot of people (Poland, Baltics, Ukraine, Caucasus) HATED Stalin & Russia. Given arms and some autonomy, they could have easily joined the fight against Russia with a lot of motivation and vigour, and turned the tide of war in Germany's favour. Instead these countries and their people were subject to holocaust and war crimes and did not contribute much to German war effort.

[jonathangasana]

One of the most consequential decisions in human history.

[MikeSmith-huhv]

I read a book on Barbarossa many years ago annd remember two things One is that Hitler originally planned on invading in the middle of May and had to delay it due to some problems in the Balkans Also, if he decided not to go to Leningrad and instead concentrated his forces elsewhere such as Moscow and the Caucasus region he might have defeated the Soviets in just a few months

[davidasher]

He was right about one thing, it had to be done in 41 or it wasn't going to get done at all

[dandyjesus]

Hitler was high on war. Once he had started it and the first victories bolstered his resolve he couldn't stop the hounds of war he unleashed. It's the conqueror's curse.

[greenling.]

Whats worth mentioning:
The agriultural productivity of Germany was not good (this is mentioned in the video) and the Nazi's legistlation in the late 30s (Hereditary Farm Law) made the situation worse.

Agricultural self-sufficiency was Hitler's primary concern when he mentioned "Lebensraum" (living space) in "Mein Kampf". He had no own economic theory when he wrote that book and NAZI party had to make one up in late 20s/ eraly 30s when they realized that they wouldn't have chances to be elected without one, but the core ideology was about space for German farmers.

This was fuelled by Hitler's (all Germans') experiences in WW1 when massive foot shortages were a dire problem and played a role in losing the war.

Apart from that, economocally Hitler and Nazis were never ideologists in terms of economy and Hitler hat little understanding nor patience for such things either - unlike socialism and communism where economy and society are the dominant aspects.

[m.streicher]

Imagine being a happy little puppy, completely oblivious to the fact that you'll be immortalized on film as hitlers puppy

[Poliss]

Every comments section on an IWM video shows me how little many posters know about history. They're living in a fantasy world.

[oldestgamer]

I read somewhere that Stalin was sniffing around Romania for it's oil fields that Germany possessed at the time, the loss of those oil fields would have been catastrophic for Germany and was the most easterly area Germany tried to save until the very end.

[whereswilliam]

So what were the soviets planning? What a terrible video. Germany had to invade or all of Europe would be lost

[Rick-fj]

More than a few of Hitler's generals wanted an orderly withdrawal in November 1941 back to Kiev, Kharkov and Minsk to sit out the winter and build up the supply lines but he would have none of it. Actually, Hitler and Stalin were both bumbling amateurs causing disaster for their troops although Stalin finally realized that he should delegate power to his generals such as Zhukov.