Why Hitler invaded the Soviet Union

Sign up to World of Warships with our link for a free starter pack worth €25: https://wo.ws/3YW2PoX In the summer of 1941 Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his invasion of the Soviet Union. Often described as an epic strategic blunder, the invasion was supposed to reach Moscow in weeks. Instead, four years later, Soviet troops would take Berlin and destroy Nazi Germany. But was the move really a mistake? In this video we’ll examine why, in the mind of Hitler at least, Germany had to invade the USSR. And how Hitler’s genocidal enterprise in the east might have claimed the lives of many millions more. *NOTES* The graph at 3:23 should read 'United Kingdom' rather than 'British Empire'. The map at 10:04 should include Norway as occupied. Find out more about the Operation Barbarossa: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-operation-barbarossa Why Operation Barbarossa Failed: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/operation-barbarossa-and-germanys-failure-in-the-soviet-union Explore and licence the film clips used in this video from IWM Film: https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/collections/4209 Follow IWM on social media: https://twitter.com/I_W_M https://www.instagram.com/imperialwarmuseums https://www.facebook.com/iwm.london Attributions: Herbert Backe / Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J02034 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en