In the words of his old rival Stalin, Hitler was not a politician at all, but a gambler. But even gamblers know the importance of military and national power in war, especially in a world war. After a period of development, by September 1939, the German army had already broken through the 100,000-strong limit of the Treaty of Versailles and became one of the largest and most powerful armies in the world. At that time, the United States was only 7th in the world, and even inferior to Poland in some aspects.
But then again, while World War II was inevitable, it would have been impossible to expend millions of elites in the Soviet Union. At least Germany did not need to hastily attack the Soviet Union in June 1941, thus laying the hidden danger of being caught in a two-front operation.
After the Polish Campaign, the Germans achieved a series of huge military victories, not only taking less than 40 days to capture France, one of the two European hegemons, but also to the death of another hegemon, Britain. What were the two great powers of the United States and the Soviet Union doing at this time? The capitalists of the former were also secretly dealing with the Nazis in order to get a piece of the war; the latter were de facto allies of the Nazis, and even dreamed of dividing the world with Germany.
In December 1940, when Hitler felt that the timing of the invasion of the Soviet Union was right, when the General Staff drew up an offensive plan, he specifically asked the Germans to "quickly take the Soviet Union". At this time, the political gambler was still relatively rational, and one of the main purposes of the German attack on the Soviet Union was for the oil fields. The German High Command believed that the Soviet Union had a strong industrial base, of which 3/4 was concentrated west of the Ural Mountains. If these areas could be taken, the Soviet industrial system would collapse and would no longer be able to sustain the war.
As we all know, before the harsh winter of 1941, the German army achieved unexpected success in the Soviet Union. And this success also left an impression: Germany at that time, both military and national, completely crushed the Soviet Union. This thrill of victory also inspired the German generals, who had previously opposed the invasion of the Soviet Union, and were now full of confidence in capturing the Soviet Union.
As a result, there was a disagreement among the German top brass: Hitler wanted his troops to attack Stalingrad and the Caucasus in two ways, while the generals wanted to concentrate their forces on Moscow. Hitler's intentions were clear, for oil and industrial raw materials. At this time, Stalin still had illusions about the armistice and had repeatedly tried to reach an agreement with Hitler. The author believes that Hitler may have been motivated by this consideration: first capture the oil fields and then fight while watching, and if the form is not good, it will be collected when it is good. After all, as a gambler, you know the importance of the chips in your hand; and once you attack Moscow directly, it is equivalent to breaking this possibility directly.
Therefore, some people say that Germany failed to be blindly commanded by Hitler's soldiers in two ways, and some people say that Germany failed and the generals' brains were hot, both of which are not complete, but they have some truth.
In addition, an important reason why Germany could not defeat the Soviet Union was precisely the point we mentioned earlier, but which was misunderstood by most people - Germany's temporary military superiority was indeed overwhelming, but in the face of the Soviet Union, Germany was not a top power.
What is a "big country", the author believes that according to the comprehensive national strength as a criterion is the most objective. At the end of 1940, against the backdrop of the great success of Soviet industrialization, the annual production of Soviet tanks reached 2,000 and 5,000 aircraft. The Soviet army was equipped with 22,800 tanks and 14,000 aircraft. Even though the Soviet industrial system suffered a major blow in 1942, the Soviets were still replenished with at least 1,200 new tanks and 1,800 aircraft each year. In contrast, after the occupation of France, Germany's national strength reached its peak and still could not be compared with the Soviet Union at this time.
War is not only a money-burning game, but also a drain on the population. During the war, Stalin invented a system known as the "invisible division," in which an officer from a division above the battalion level had two aide-de-camps. As soon as a new division is needed, one of the two aide-de-camps is transferred, and only new recruits need to be recruited to quickly form an integrated division. How effective is this system? At the beginning of the war, the elite Soviet army lost millions of troops, and the Soviet army defended Moscow with only 1.25 million people. However, in a short period of time, the Soviet army was able to quickly re-expand to 400 full divisions, and the number was close to 10 million. This is why many German officers lamented that the Soviet army was "fighting more and more" in the later stages of the war.
Having said that, as I mentioned earlier, it was possible for Germany to avoid a two-front war in World War II, but a major war between the Soviet Union and Germany was as inevitable as World War II. Although the Barbarossa plan was full of ideals, the "Great Thunderstorm" plan of the Soviet Invasion of Germany was also on the arrow. The Soviets even planned to invade Germany 10 days early (June 12, 1941), only to give up because they were not ready.
In other words, whether the Soviet Union is ready to take the initiative to fight Germany, or whether Germany is taking advantage of the Fact that the Soviet Union is not ready to jump into this pit, the result is a very troublesome thing for Germany, which is hostile to the world. So there is no need to lament Germany's defeat, for in the end everything we argue confirms the cliché that unjust wars are doomed to failure.