Why Operation Barbarossa Was Doomed to Fail

Get Nebula with 50% off annual subscription with my link: https://go.nebula.tv/realtimehistory Watch History's Most Daring Raids on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/realtimehistory/his... When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa, observers expected a quick German victory - and so did Adolf Hitler and the Wehrmacht leadership. But many of the assumptions of the German plan would turn out to be flawed. » SUPPORT US   / realtimehistory   https://nebula.tv/realtimehistory » THANK YOU TO OUR CO-PRODUCERS Mike Gloudemans, George Durrett, Luis Gonzalez, Mike Cumings, Jr., Charles Shananaquet II, Joel Sanchez, shane cawthon, Andrew Thomas Mooney, Chris Rohde, Bruce D, Jim Frame, Glenn Sugden, Lisa Anderson, George Haramundanis, G S, Kempf Mario, jhgBo8jigr hzufjkl, Gayle Elizabeth, Glenn G Webb, Stephen D Nugent PsyD, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Simen Røste, Amy Williams, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, Josh Bruder, Konstantin Bredyuk, Richard L Benkin, Matt, Rob Carle, Murray Godfrey, Jan, Gage Manthey, Theodore Patrick Shannon, Bruce G. Hearns, Stephanie Schindhelm, Paul Wilcox, Brad Durbin, Fogeltje, » SOURCES Boog, Horst, et al. Germany and the Second World War. Vol. 4, The Attack on the Soviet Union. Edited by Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt. Translated by Dean S. McMurry, Ewald Osers, and Louise Willmot. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Clark, Alan. Barbarossa. The Russian German Conflict. Quill, 1985. Stahel, David. Operation Barbarossa and Germany’s Defeat in the East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Shepherd, Ben. “Political Thinking and Strategic Planning for Hitler’s Lebensraum in the East.” In Stahel, David, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Nazi-Soviet War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2026: 27-44. Harrisville, David and Jeff Rutherford. “The Ostheer: Leadership, Command, Motivation, and Experience.” In Stahel, David, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Nazi-Soviet War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2026: 67-89. Киличенков, А. А. Краткий курс Великой Отечественной войны. Москва: Яуза, 2008. Lentz, Thierry. 1941-1812. “Les protagonistes de l’opération Barbarossa et le souvenir de la campagne de Russie.” In 1812, la campagne de Russie, eds. Thierry Lentz and Marie-Pierre Rey: 319-332. Overy, Richard. Russlands Krieg. Glantz, David and Jonathan House. When Titans Clashed. How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Kansas UP, 2015. Moorhouse, Roger. The Devil’s Alliance. Hargreaves, Richard. Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June-July 1941. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2025. Ueberschär, Gerd. “Die Entwicklung der deutsch-sowjetischen Beziehungen von 1939 bis 1941 und Hitlers Entschluss zum Überfall auf die UdSSR.” In Ueberschär, Gerd and Lev Bezymenskij (eds), Der deutsche Angriff auf die Sowjetunion 1941. Die Kontroverse um die Präventivkriegsthese. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt, 2011 (1998): 3-20. Ueberschär, Gerd. “Die militärische Planung für den Angriff auf die Sowjetunion.” In Ueberschär, Gerd and Lev Bezymenskij (eds), Der deutsche Angriff auf die Sowjetunion 1941. Die Kontroverse um die Präventivkriegsthese. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt, 2011 (1998): 21-38. »CREDITS Presented by: Jesse Alexander Written by: Jesse Alexander Director: Toni Steller Editing: Philipp Appelt Motion Design: Philipp Appelt Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com Research by: Jesse Alexander, Sofia Shirogorova Fact checking: Florian Wittig Executive Producer: Florian Wittig Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster Contains licensed material by getty images, picture alliance, and Reuters Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3 Music Library: Epidemic Sound All photos and film in our documentaries are authentic historical footage. We do not use generative AI to create new assets. However, we may use AI tools to upscale or clean up certain assets without distorting or compromising the original image. All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2026