Why Was the Soviet Union Attacked by Germany in 1941?

The invasion of the Soviet Union can be seen as one of Hitler’s greatest blunders. In 1941 Hitler and Stalin were in a non-aggression pact. Hitler decided to waive that pact and invade the Soviet Union in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s decision to invade the Soviet Union was a great risk and ultimately led to the 3rd Reich’s downfall. The Soviet Union was a country full of vast resources and a much higher population than Germany. There seems to be so many risks involved with attacking the Soviet Union. So why was the Soviet Union attacked by Germany in 1941?

Hitler wanted his country’s population to grow. The German land mass was small and if Hitler wanted a growth in population he would need more land. Hitler was quoted saying, “The growth in population could only be compensated by growth-expansion of the Lebensraum.” One reason why Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 was for what Hitler called Lebensraum. Lebensraum means living space. Hitler needed new soil for the surplus German population. Hitler knew that most of the world had already been carved up by colonial powers, so he looked east for new land. Hitler said, “If we speak of soil in Europe today, we can primarily have in mind only Russia and her vassal border states.” Hitler believed Russia as the only country large enough to meet “Germany’s territorial requirements for living space.” Hitler saw how vast the Soviet Union territory was and he wanted the German people to have the rich lands that it possessed for the surplus German population. If Hitler succeeded in taking the lands east of Germany, he would have enough room for Germany’s surplus population. The Soviet Union had many acres of unsettled land. The Soviet Union stretched all the way from Eu...

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Stahel’s book contributed more to my understanding of the Soviet experiment. Stahel went into great detail about the ideological aspect of the war. Many people know that the Soviet’s and Nazi’s had differing ideologies, but they do not know the reason behind it. It seems that Stahel’s main point in his writing is to show the difference between the ideologies. The

The Soviet Tragedy did not have a great deal of detail over Operation Barbarossa and the reasons behind the attack. Malia did write that the Soviet Union was rich in resources and about the ideological nature of the Nazi party. Malia also wrote that Hitler’s ideological nature was one of the greatest errors in his failure for his quest of a Nazi Europe. If Hitler were to use the people from the areas that he had won in the summer months of 1941, he could have had a better chance of winning.