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Lecture 35

I

n early 1941, Germany was at the height of its power and self-assurance.

Its armies and blitzkrieg tactics had proved invincible. Its soldiers were

highly trained, experienced, and battle-tested. The German army was at a

peak size of 3.5 million men with 3,300 tanks. At the same time, the Russian

army was the largest in the world and had as many modern tanks and aircraft

as the rest of the world’s armies combined. But its men were demoralized,

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paranoid purges in the 1930s. Thus, although the Russian army was massive,

it had low morale and no leadership. It was at this moment that Hitler would

stab his former allies in the back and invade Russia.

Invasion of Russia

x Considering the potential strength of Russia and the size of its

army, it seems foolish that Hitler would elect to take on such an

enemy and to provoke a war on two fronts, one of the classic errors

of strategy. Why, then, did he choose to invade Russia? There are

several likely explanations.

o From Hitler’s perspective, by early 1941, it was reasonable

to assume that the war in the West was more or less over.

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seem inclined to do so. The only enemy left was Britain, and

although the British were safe on their island thanks to their

navy, their army posed no threat. The German army was at a

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this edge.

o Further, the racist ideology of Hitler and the Nazis led them to

believe that the Russians would be easy prey. In Nazi ideology,

the Russians were categorized as Slavs, a lesser race of human

beings. Hitler assumed that the Russian armies would crumble

before his legions of Aryan supermen.