Was Hitler's decision to attack the Soviet Union his greatest military Essay

Was Hitler's decision to attack the Soviet Union his greatest military failure - Essay Example Thus Operation Barbarossa would be the catalyst that resulted in the collapse of the Third Reich.6 Based on these assessments it is therefore argued that Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union was its greatest military failure. This paper intends to illustrate this hypothesis by first evaluating Hitler’s foreign policy and secondly Operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s foreign policy will be evaluated first as a means of tying it to the strategies, planning and execution of Operation Barbarossa. Thirdly, this paper will conduct an analysis of Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union with the objective of determining how Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union ties in with his strategies toward the Allied powers during the Second World War. The third part of this paper will analyse what aspects of Operation Barbarossa contributed to its greatest failure. ... Even so, Weinberg informs that Hitler: Had a clearly formulated set of ideas on major issues of foreign policy, and these ideas were intimately interwoven with his concepts of domestic affairs.8 These clear ideas were founded on the doctrine of race and were predicated on the concept that man’s history is more specifically understood by reference to race. More specifically, man’s history is tied to the â€Å"racial components of different societies†.9 Prior to taking office, Hitler’s doctrine of race underpinnings and its characterization of his foreign policies were obvious in his speeches and writings. For Hitler, Germany had not lost the First World War. Instead, Germany had been backstabbed by Jews those who supported Jews. Jews and their supporters not only had tremendous influence in Germany but also garnered strength from foreign powers whose victory during the First World War had facilitated the backstabbing.10 It therefore followed that any effect ive foreign policy was required to facilitate domestic reconfiguration. To this end, according to Weinberg, â€Å"a nationally conscious group must assume power† and must â€Å"ruthlessly displace whatever steps toward democratic government† that had already occurred in Germany and â€Å"rearm to provide the tools of an aggressive foreign policy†.11 What this meant for Hitler was the formulation of a policy that would require a direct confrontation with France, Germany’s perpetual enemy. This policy might also require a coalition with Italy who equally objected to France acquiring European hegemony. Other strategies included annexing Austria and other yet to be identified territories under a â€Å"Greater Germany†.12 The