Question

does anyone know why hitler went into russia even though he had a treaty with them? this has always made me wonder.

Answer 1

I have wondered this also. I've always just believed that it was a power thing. Like him saying "look at me I'm so mighty powerful that I'm going to come in a break our treaty and you can't do anything"... At least thats what I've always thought

Answer 2

same thing but i think he was on a type of drug and it made him go crazy with the whole power thing and then what messed him up also was forgetting how cold it was and all that

Answer 3

Hitler's treaty with the Soviets was just as confusing to everyone else. Ideologically, both the Nazis and the Soviets were opposed to each other. However, Hitler's treaty with them was also a tool of convenience allowing him to concentrate on crushing Europe before moving on to the Soviets. He didn't want to face a two-front war and having the treaty was one reason to prevent such a thing from occurring before he was ready. So they split Poland up between them and Hitler went on to steamroll Western Europe.

Several things had also happened to convince him that taking on the Soviets next was possible: about four years earlier in 1937, Stalin had purged thousands of 'disloyal' officers from the military. That also led to Soviet losses against Finland during an attempted invasion in 1939-1940. Finland's much smaller forces had managed to bloody the Soviet military machine while Hitler ran wild over Poland and the rest of Europe.

The Soviets had huge numbers but the lack of a strong officer corp wrecked their ability to effectively deal with the Finns. Seeing how weak the Soviet military appeared to be at the outset from these examples as he planned his invasion, Hitler uttered the words "We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down," After their victories over Poland, success in the Balkans Campaign (which led to the conquest of Greece and Crete), the Low Countries, and France, it seemed to everyone that Germany was invincible by the time Operation Barbarossa began in 1941. Hitler was the master of Europe by that point.

The Nazis also saw the Soviet Union as valuable living space - that it would be colonized and farmed with the Slavic inhabitants used as slave labor. To them, they were less than human which only served to feed their leader's heads with the idea that they would be dealing with an inferior enemy. With their victories in Europe, Hitler expected the war in Russia to be just as quick and in the beginning, things would seem to prove him right.

Answer 4

Quite simple really; Hitler couldn't finish off Britain, he had been defeated. Even with that, Hitler always had his eyes on Russia, and attacking later would have been devestating. Russia was re-equipping its military, and would have been ready for 1942 which would have caused major problems for Germany. Operation Barbarossa was set for May 1941, the Russians wouldn't have been ready, and completely surprised. They thought how you are now ('They wouldn't attack Russia until finishing with Britain'). The Germans saw this as a perfect oppurtunity, and they were right to do it then. Russia had 4.7 million troops in June 1941, and only 25% were on the frontline with serious delays getting the rest to the front because of poor road and railway.

It was a very smart time to do it, and if they had attacked in May 1941 I dare say they would have won, avoiding the Russian winter.

Answer 5

page and kung your answers were both impressive and descriptive if i could give metals to both i could thanks for the answer and reply