Essay Sample on Operation Barbarossa and its Outcome on Nazi Germany

Published: 2023-08-21
Essay Sample on Operation Barbarossa and its Outcome on Nazi Germany
Type of paper:  Essay
Categories:  World War 2 Hitler Concentration camps Essays by pagecount
Pages: 7
Wordcount: 1836 words
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Operation Barbarossa, initially recognized as Operation Fritz during the Second World War, represents the German invasion of the Soviet Union staged in 1941. Notably, the German soldiers' inability to conquer the Soviet Union in the battle marked a crucial turning point during the war. Although Hitler had made congratulations on himself concerning the German-Soviet non-aggression treaty of 1929, anti-Bolshevism movements remained the most significant and recognized conviction as the second world war enter its second year. Moreover, following the Russian conquer of Bessarabia, the Baltic state, and northern Bukovina in late 1940, which subjected the Soviet troops in the vicinity of the Roman oil fields which was the primary source of the dependent to the Germans, Adolf Hitler's ever-existing interest in overpowering the soviet was amplified. Hitler became increasingly suspicious of the plans and intentions of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, and that he was impatient and needed an imminent subjugation of Western Europe. Therefore, the paper aims to explore Operation Barbarossa and its consequences on Nazi Germany.

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Background of Operation Barbarossa

Hitler and his army had initially organized the Invasion of the USSR, which was to take place in May 1941. However, circumstances including the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece in April the same year led to the Soviet invasion's postponement to a later date, specifically June. Notably, the swiftness of Adolf Hitler owing to his victories in Balkan enabled him to have an updated and revised plan on invading the USSR. The primary objective of the Barbarossa operation was to capture the fields belonging to the Soviet Union. The occupation of the land would serve as a basis for boosting agricultural production supported by the remaining enslaved people remaining in the greater German. Moreover, the Nazi's quest to dismiss the existence of the Jews staying within the Soviet Union land was also a motive behind the invasion.

In the long run, the objective was to end Jewish dominance across Europe, which was the final strategy of achieving the objective. Besides, the Nazi's quest to make a supply of oil fields across the region surrounded by the Caucasus mountain was also an objective that accelerated the attack and invasion. The move was to help enhance the Nazi army machine as Hitler continued with his progression toward his objective of developing a Third Reich. The military wanted nothing less than to achieve victory over the red army. The Nazis staged a strong army with organized machines, which could enable them to achieve victory within the first four months of the battle. Therefore, many historians have equated the operation to the desire of war objectives through the examination of Barbarossa's operation. The war that was majorly focused on eliminating the red army and crashing the Jews turned out to be more prolonged than expected. The Nazi army ran short of the workforce to overcome the red army hence leading to severe consequences on the Nazi Germans.

Staging of war against the Soviet Union was initially recognized and given the code Operation Fritz, however, as the operation commenced, Adolf Hitler renamed the quest by replacing Fritz by Barbarossa, following the Holy Roman emperor named Frederick Barbarossa who reigned between 1152 -1190 and created a remarkable German dominance across Europe.

Initial Offensive

In 1941, the Germans launched their offensive consisting of three army troops under the same commander, including the invasion of France in early 1940. One of the army groups to the north under the leadership of General Wilhelm Von Leeb stage the attack from the eastern side of Prussia through the Baltic states and towards Leningrad, the present St, Petersburg. Subsequently, the southern army under the leadership of General Gerd Von Rundstedt advanced and staged the attack to the southern side of Poland through Ukraine and lastly at the center of the northern territory, was under the leadership of General Fedor which thrashed the attack towards northeastern side of Moscow and Smolensk. Notably, the invasion staged along the 1,800 mile, which is approximately 2900 km from came as a surprise to the Soviet groups and leadership and subsequently caught the red army off guard unprepared and partly demobilized territory.

Notably, the Soviet troops were clumsy, forcing them to fritter their human resources away on the French's piecemeal quest. The Soviet army fought with determination and stubbornness, which the French had not exemplified. Moreover, the Soviet resistance imposed a significant breakthrough, constantly blocking the road pathways along with the German tide that has been swept across them. The Germans started being restrained by the scorched eth policy approach employed by the Soviet army. The Soviet army resorted to burning the crops, demolishing the bridges, and burning factories in preparation to face the Germans in an advanced battle. Moreover, the Soviet army also demolished and evacuated most of the Germans' stock, especially on the rails and cars, thus denying the Germans in using railway transportation since the railroad track staged by the Soviets had a different gauge from that of the Germans.

In September 1939, the Germans attacked Poland to extend their empire and sphere of influence across Europe. Moreover, the inversion formed the turning point of the second world war across Europe, a quest in which many countries wished to have avoided. Moreover, the aftermath of the war remained fresh in the mind of European countries. France has approximately 1.5 million casualties during the great battle. Germany was blamed for the war. After the war, such nations, including the United States and France, forced the Germans to commit to the signing of the Versailles agreement, which mandated the Germans to accept full blame and thus the responsibility of triggering the war. Moreover, the Germans were forced to pay for the damages caused to the repatriated allied forces.

Moreover, a restriction was placed on the German military, including having only up to 100,000 militaries forcing the Germans to give into its initial impartial colonies. Hitler and other German politicians perceived the treaty as unfair on, and the need for action was on course. Therefore, Hitler was forced to theorize that it is only through staging a war that the Germans would be on par with other countries. German wanted to revamp from its economic losses brought about by the war. The notions of Hitler came at the right time when he ascended to power in 1933, where he began to challenge the restriction clauses imposed on the Versailles treaty. The treaty's restrictions included the incorporation of conscription and increasing the number in the army and subsequently building the German air force in 1935. In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered the German military to conquer the Rhineland, a territory under restriction by the Versailles Agreement. Subsequently, such countries, including Britain and France, responded in support of the Germans by consenting to the fact that the Versailles treaty was indeed unjust to the Germans.

Through the extent of Barbarossa's operation and its significance to the Nazi success in the territory, the most obvious question that one would ask is why the Nazi Germans would choose to allocate significant proportions of their manpower and resources directed toward eliminating the Jews. Moreover, concerns included why racial objectives of the Nazi was so important to the Nazi war machines. Therefore, Hitler organized two-pronged battles in the Soviet Union, a battle that was fought against innocent civilians and the red army. Among the German division were the military groups responsible for the deaths of the Jews and the civilians called the Einsatzgruppen. The contents of the Nazi policy on the Eastern Front of 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, led to the radicalization of genocide and warfare, which had never been witnessed in history. Moreover, the Nazis and their responsibility in the exploitation of territories and decision processes in conducting the genocide greatly impacted the mass genocide on Poland and the Soviet Union.

The 1941 Operation Barbarossa ought to be considered the turning point of the second world war. During the same year, the muchly perceived as European war stretched to the global context and affected major countries across the globe. The German staggered total war against the Soviet Union, a war of two fronts with the first being fought in opposition to the armies over territorial advantages. The second front involved the Soviets, the Roman people, and the Jewish. The Russian war commanded a large part of the territory and one of the main subjects attributed to Nazi death camps, including the death of Chelmno Krakowski, which resulted from the use of gas in conducting mass murder.

Nazi ideology mandated that the battle against the Soviet and the Jews be considered as a combined conflict. When the majority mentions of speaks of the Holocaust, death is the first picture that comes into the limelight. The deaths had widely been witnessed in Poland and many victims who passed via the Jewish ghettos. Nonetheless, many often forget that the Soviet Jewry was the first group of Jews to battle out with the Nazis in the initial campaign. The Soviet Union Holocaust had a linkage between Operation Barbarossa and the Jewish within the union and republics, including Ukraine, Belorussia, and countries bordering the Baltic state.

Nazi Ideology: The Pursuit of War Aims in the Soviet Union, 1941

From September 1939 to September 2, 1945, the globe was consumed by bloodshed arising from the war. The second world war included combat in entire Europe, North Africa, and Asia traversing through the Pacific Islands and Australia at large. Notably, following the aftermath of the memorable war, which lasted for about three years, the German leaders stood on their grounds that the country would not engage in the war on the two fronts. During the German's efforts to penetrate the British and France trenches located on the western fronts while battling the Russian towards the Eastern Front. However, by 1941, the National socialist German Party, majorly comprising of union workers, had already vowed to stage an attack and has committed significant resources in attacking the Soviet Union without relenting and finishing the ongoing war against Great Britain.

Notably, for the Nazi's to achieve their quest on the world they desire, Russia needed to be invaded and conquered, its citizens taken to support slavery and its land fields used to boost agricultural production to support the needs of the German military army and entire emperor. Adolf Hitler foresaw the quest against as a primary objective, which was in coincidence with the elimination of the Jews population. Therefore, Operation Barbarossa was Hitler’s first initiative in achieving his goals towards the Union. However, instead of being patient for the completion and strategizing of the operation, Hitler opted otherwise by initiating a two prolonged engagement. The consequences of the engagement resulted in a war against the red army and the civilians living in the Union with Nazi Ideology. The Nazi's suffered more deaths as a result of the war. Considering the ineffective planning of Operation Barbarossa, the Germans could not be able to dedicate adequate resources in pursuit of their racial discrimination aim.

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