Hitler's invasion of Russia failed for the same reasons Napoleon's invasion of Russia failed. Stiff resistance, the harsh Russian winter and incredibly long supply lines!

"Winter saved the Russians and the island saved the British" - Napoleon "I couldn't have said it better." - Hitler

I've been to Russia twice. The first time, it was winter, and the guy driving me from the airport into the city pointed at a Leroy Merlin and said: the Germans got up to about this point during the war. No matter how much we learn about these things, being there and seeing how close that was from Moscow proper, it's amazing and terrifying at the same time

The autumn seemed to have killed Barbarossa more than the winter. While the winter was extremely harsh on both sides, the autumn muddy terrain made a blitzkrieg campaign near impossible and gave the Soviets much more time to organise a defence

Hitler: *Fails to invade Russia* Napoleon: “First time?”

Know your own capabilities , and never underestimate your enemy .

When the war was over, there were towns in Russia where there were no men living there except those who were too old or too young to be drafted.

Great channel! Thanks for this fascinating and educational video. I'd heard the winter aspect of Operation Barbarossa before, but this video breaks down all the important factors before and during. Especially the toughness and numerousness of the Soviets joining the fight, the opportunity to move eastern, seasoned troops west to defend Moscow, and the (crazier) thing I'd never learned - the relocation of that much war production away from the German front. The scale and speed of that effort is mind-boggling.

"They had us in the first half not gonna lie" Stalin Yalta Conference

Fascinating bit of history: When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Germany also declared war against the US, even though their treaty with Japan only required joining in if any of the treaty parties were attacked. When Germany attacked Russia, Japan didn't join in, which let Stalin mobilize troops from the east against the German armies.

I'm glad that this video didn't just say winter is the sole/primary reason why the Germans failed to capture Moscow, as is popularly believed by the Western public and amateur historians. There's no denying that the coming of winter had a big impact, but way too many people ignore the tenacity of the Soviets and their rapid reorganization after the early disasters of Barbarossa. The biggest factor in Barbarossa's ultimate failure was the redeployment of the Siberian divisions and the impressive transfer of industry to the Urals. A lot of people also don't know that the Germans actually outnumbered the Soviets on the front up until the end of the operation. By the time of the battle for Stalingrad, the USSR had built a well-supplied and competent fighting force, contrary to how Hollywood portrays the situation in movies like "Enemy at the Gates"; and by the time of Operation Bagration, the Red Army was a large and formidable force, arguably the best in the world. The Manchurian Offensive in 1945 was one of the most impressive operations in history and showed just how far the Red Army had come in only 4 years. I know the USSR became the primary enemy of the West almost immediately after WW2 ended, but it's a damn shame that so many in the West are so dismissive and ignorant when it comes to the Eastern Front. The Soviet people paid a huge price to defeat the evils of fascism and they were fighting for humanity as a whole, ideological differences shouldn't prevent us from acknowledging that. The Allies put aside their differences and worked together to defeat one of history's greatest evils and I think that's a beautiful thing.

The better moustache won.

Moving factories to east , organized by Lavrentiy Beria, was one of the decisive factors and often it is underestimated or even ignored.

I don't think that the capture of Moscow would win the war.

The Germans were honestly just incredibly lucky. Operation Barbarossa wasn't some mythical battle plan, it was pretty straight forward and had about 3 main objectives. The Germans just managed to catch the Soviets with their pants completely down and off, hence they destroyed 3 armies, and the Soviets managed to raise 3 more.

I studied military history both as a student at the Naval War College and as a professor. The Germans in World War II were in a sense the victims of their own early success. They audaciously remilitarized the Ruhr and recaptured the Rheinland, as the French did nothing. Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia and again the west did nothing. In Poland, although Germany saw initial success through its blitzkrieg tactics, they were nearly forced into a war of attrition, which would have brought the French and British into play, were it not for the sudden intervention of the Soviet Union from the east, sealing the Poles' fate, freeing up German divisions to make their way west, and forcing the putative French invasion of Germany (yes, it was a real thing, look it up) to retreat across the border. They took Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands without much difficulty. The Belgians offered decent resistance and then quit, leaving the entire British Army exposed to an annihilation they barely escaped at Dunkirk. France folded, in spite of French numerical and materiel superiority. Vast encircling movements and quick tank and armored infantry engagements, backed up by the powerful Luftwaffe, aided in the defeat of the French. What were considered "easy" victories blinded the Germans to their structural weaknesses. Inexplicably, Germany failed to switch to a total war national economic strategy. Factories and businesses continued to produce vast amounts of consumer goods, and in spite of the increasingly desperate military situation, there was little supply interruption or serious rationing in Germany until at least 1944. Germany was well aware of the lack of senior officer experience in the Red Army due to Stalin's purges. Germany was well aware of the Soviets' increased military production from 1939 to 1941, and indeed had diplomats acting as spies, warning senior German high command of their increasing levels of industrial military production and military mobilization. German high command felt they couldn't wait until the Red Army leadership was able to consolidate itself and tens of thousands of new Yak-3 fighters and T-34 tanks, as well as over a hundred new army divisions could be formed. 1941 was probably the optimal time for an attack on the Soviets. Operations in Greece and Yugoslavia delayed the German attack for at least six weeks, which probably bought enough time for the Red Army to delay the Germans from taking Moscow in November or December of 1941. I'm not absolutely sure taking Moscow would have ended the war with the Soviets right away, though, since Stalin had wisely concentrated enough political, military, and industrial resources to the east and beyond the Urals to ensure the medium term viability of the Soviet state in spite of a potential loss of Moscow and the Ukraine. It is more likely that Stalin would have agreed to a truce or peace agreement with Germany had Moscow fallen. Turkey could have then been recruited as a German ally, as in World War I, allowing an invasion of the Middle East and Persia, which could have allowed German and Japanese forces to potentially link up in India. From a geopolitical standpoint, a German-Japanese common front, encompassing the whole Indian Ocean basin except for Australia, would have been an immense psychological shift. China was historically allied with Germany. General Chaing's Chinese Army got their army helmets, uniforms, and rifles from Germany, and might have been tempted to ally with the Germans as well in return for territorial concessions from Germany's ally Japan. Germany/Japan/China/Italy/Turkey might have been an Axis that, along with a truce with Russia, could have taken on the American/Anglo alliance at par. Germany clearly thought they could destroy Russia as they had Poland and France, and their arrogance was their undoing.

I had the privilege to hear a Soviet solider who fought in Barbarossa speak about 20 years ago. One of the more striking anecdotes that always struck with me was at one point supplies were so stretched hot vodka was being handed out to keep soldiers warm.

The Blitzkrieg in France was no more then 60 km wide. In Russia the front was 3000km. The ideea of getting to Vladivostok via Blitzkrieg was total fantasy…

Another fun fact: Before the revolution Tsar Nicholas made it so the width of the railway track were different then all of the rest of the world in order to make it more difficult for the invaders to use them, fast forward multiple decades, A big portion of German supply that was transported via Railways was slowed down by the difference in the railway system

Warms my heart seeing Nazis freezing in the Soviet winter

So many reasons, but I would focus on logistics. During planning for the invasion, the General Staff went logistics people. They said roughly that at about 500 miles into the Soviet Union they feared they could not supply ammo, food, weapons, etc. because of factors like railroad incompatibilities among other things. Halder never told Hitler about these huge problems they would face. And sure enough, the predictions of the logistics planners were extremely accurate.

Hitlers biggest failure was his underestimation of how the Soviets could CONTINUOUSLY put Men in the Field. One German General noted "We destroy one of their Divisions and they replace it WITH TWO MORE!" The Soviets could also manufacture all the equipment they needed and in Great Numbers!! He should have remembered the adage "The INVADER never fights as hard as the INVADED!"!

Life lesson：Never invade Russia

Awesome uploads as ever!!!!

This is a great video. So many explanations of the USSR front oversimplify the issue as 'Hiter's ego got in the way and he wanted to take a swipe at Stalingrad' whereas the reality was far more complicated. This does a great job of explaining that moving the factories out to the Urals and bringing the Soviet forces from the Eastern front actually allowed Stalin to counterattack in Dec 1941 in front of Moscow. And that in 1942, the idea of capturing the oil fields down south made a lot of sense as this was already becoming a war of attrition and materiel. Historically, Russia has lost battles but the country is too vast to ever lose a war, or be subjugated (except by other Russians!!). It was crazy to ever think that Russia could be beaten in a war of annihilation short of WMDs which didn't exist then - but then the failed painter was a certified loon.

There are probably many reasons why Barbarossa failed: 1. A severe shortage of oil. 2. Over-extended supply lines. Distances in the USSR are huge compare with the war in the West. 3. Delays in interrupting the momentum of the attack. Delays give the defender a chance to build formidable defences. 4. Selection of too many objectives. There is no concentration of effort. 5. Hitler allowed, or was deceived by his generals, that he had to win a tactical war like in France. The vast distances in the USSR and millions of men the USSR could field indicated that this was to be an attritional or strategic war. The winner would be the side who had control over resources. 6. Germany had no plans for long distance bombers which could bomb the factories relocated to the Urals. Stalin was therefore able to manufacture war materials unhindered by the Nazis. Production of T-34s and Soviet warplanes went into overdrive. 7. Panzer tracks were narrow compared to Soviet T34 tracks, and so these floundered in the mud. 8. Hitler made the huge mistake of waging a war on 2 major fronts. This was to put massive and unbearable pressure on Germany. The Soviet Union was too big a beast to tame, even though Hitler needed her oil and food resources badly. In summary, I hope this helps.

As much as I've learned about WWII and the Eastern Front in particular, sometimes in watching these documentaries it is striking just how much suffering went on...from the civilians, the Russian army, and the common German soldier...over the delusions of one lunatic that wanted to rule the world.

Q: Why did Hitler failed after invading Russia A: Cause he invaded Russia

I think the most important factor to lose the war against Russia was the underestimation of the Germans regarding the dimensions of Russia - as land, as production facilities, as human resources, as intelligence.

The main failure came from the underestimation of the soviet reserves, the existence of the T-34 and the resilience of the soviet army in general.

One of main reasons are: USSR was a large country. Stalin made a smart decision of taking powerful factories from Ural mountains to deeper parts of Soviet Russia. This allowed the USSR to produce massive numbers of weaponry, equipment and ammo safely. Second reason is that USSR was times larger than Nazi Germany. And more population comes with larger country. USSR rebuilt the Red Army by sending millions of soldiers without job from deep parts of Soviet Union. This gave massive manpower advantage over Hitler. Third reason is weather. Wehrmacht wasn’t ready for winters. Hitler planed Blitzkrieg strategy (attacking the capital in less than 3 weeks) so he wanted to defeat Red Army in 3 weeks, while the winter didn’t come yet. And those rebuilding of Red Army which enlarged the manpower from 2 million to 5 million soldiers. Fourth reason is the Stalingrad battle. Red Army used another smart strategy by letting Wehrmacht enter the Stalingrad which was about 50 kms away from Stalingrad centre. Then Soviets decided to close the entire Stalingrad city to crush Wehrmacht unit inside.

As the 9th May - our most important celebration in Russia arises (Victory Day) - let's pay respects to all the heroes that sacrificed their lives in such unhumane conditions. Not only Russians, but Ukranians, Belarussians, Kazakhs and other ethnicities that were in USSR and take part in this horrific wars. In recent years there are great efforts to undermine their value by stating that they won "only because of cold winter", "butcher tactics by Soviet leadership", etc. But either way even if it's true it still won't be possible without their unmatched bravery especially considering how more brutal German forces were both with military forces and civilians on the Eastern front in comparison to the Western front. It breaks my heart that we are fighting with our once brother nation and I hope violence will stop. F* the war and hope peace will restore. Just like our grandfathers who were WWII veterans wished - after all each of their first toasts were - "to peaceful skies above our heads"❤

My belief is that they absolutely underestimated the size of the job. My dad was a staff sergeant in Patton's 3rd Army 4th Armored Division. From Le Harve France to bastogne seems like a terrible distance. But actually it was not. He reminded me that the United States has four time zones. Russia has somewhere around 16. The Germans never thought of that.

Interesting fact : The battle of Moscow is the only WW2 battle where Germans had number superiority (soldiers, tanks and so on) and still lost the battle.

Awesome stuff! Great content

“Nations that went down fighting rose again, but those who surrendered tamely were finished.” ― Winston Churchill

On paper it looked like the Russians were easy pickings. First, Stalin had recently done a purge on his generals leaving an army with weak leaders. Second, the Russians had performed badly against Finland. Third, just twenty years prior the people revolted against the monarchy because of how ineptly they handled the war and it was believed they would revolt again if Russia was given a thorough whacking again. And fourth, the German army felt they were invincible.. they'd conquered Poland, beaten France, forced the British to swim back to Britain, and then proceeded to steamroll over Yugoslavia and Greece.

My dad remembered this quotation from Joseph Stalin, "Quantity has a quality all its own." No matter how many soldiers and tanks the Germans took out, there was always another wave of soldiers and tanks coming at them! And of course, the Germans running low on oil was a huge factor, plus dealing with long supply lines, the brutal winters and Soviet mud, and the Soviets were tenacious fighters!

What I realized is that, the Soviet counter-offensive officially started in early December 1941 with their own massive troops from Siberia and the Far East... These troops were stationed to defend USSR against the Imperial Japan but a Soviet spy named Richard Sorge informed that Japan will not invade USSR... Also, it was during this time that Imperial Japan plan a large-scale invasion of South East Asian countries & Australia

0:51 Hitler’s first defeat on land was in Narvik, Norway in april 1940, not in the USSR?

Part of the reason for the failure of Barbarossa was the delay in launching the operation. By going into Yugoslavia this delayed the operation by 5 weeks, which might have allowed the operation to be completed before the Russian Rasputitsa came in. Second: The the German Army was hoping for a Blitzkrieg campaign similar to that which happened in France in 1940. The operation was expected to be a brief affair, hence the Wehrmacht was not equipped to fight in, or prepared for a Russian winter. They had to light fires under tanks to thaw out the fuel and soldiers did not have adequate winter clothing or training for that environment. Third, the German Army was mostly a horse drawn army and not as highly mechanised as one has been led to believe. Hence, the further forward the Germans advanced into Russian territory the more their lines of resupply became overextended and thus were unable to adequately resupply their forces on the front. For the Russians retreating from the German advance it had the opposite effect of allowing them to fall back onto their means of supply. Also, German soldiers tended to become depressed travelling through the endless Russian Steppe with no coastline or definable end to the operation in sight. Fourth, Had the Germans quelled their ideas of racial superiority and entered Russia as liberators they may have found many allies amongst the Russian people who were not too enamoured with Stalin and the terror he had rained down on his own people prior to Barbarossa. Due to the German barbarity to the civil population it meant that as the Germans advanced they created significant enemies behind them who formed bands of as partisans, which tied down significant portions of the Wehrmacht.

My great uncles fought for Germany in Russia and one of them froze to death in Russia. They didn't want to fight but where forced to join the army by the nazis. Thanks for this video, it helps me understand what happened then.

1610: Sigismund III - I will conquer Russia - Poland is partitioned 1812: Napoleon - I will conquer Russia - France Empire is divided 1941: Hitler - I will conquer Russia - Germany is divided 2022: Biden - I will conquer Russia - ...

Winter is an understatement. Temps were as cold as 30 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit.

Logistics, underestimation of the russians, long distances, overestimation of their arm forces, fall/winter weather

Good quality video. Subscribed. I don’t normally like videos, but I will add a like to this one.

That surprise attack by winter... gets us every year!

Awesome video; it confirms something I've hypothetized for a long time; Germany and Italy were allies working together, even with all Italy's flaws; on the other hand, Japan was more of something with synchronised interests, but truly Germany and Japan didn't work together

The sheer geographical size of the Soviet Union was perhaps the most important factor in staving off defeat by the Nazis. If the Soviet Union had been the size of, say, France, things might have ended very differently.

My Grandmother born 1890 said: " The Führer, he knows the map of entire Russia?" Obviously he didnt.

Hitler is heavily overestimated through History. He was not genius like Napoleon. Hitler was far too aggressive and too naïve when it came to War. He was too narcissistic to retreat his forces when needed. After easily capturing France he was foolish enough to think USSR would be just as easy, even when history itself told about Russia's insane persistence.

There more I study WW2 more I think that it was IMPOSSIBLE Nazi Germany to win. 1. The Soviets knew that it was a war of extermination. They would have fought to the last man. I don't think that the capture of Moscow would change the outcome of the war. The Soviets would retreat to East and continuing fighting. There are videos of Stalin's daughter talking about plans of moving the Soviet capital to the East. The Bolshoi Theater was already wired with explosives. If the Soviets lost Moscow they would have burned the city (just like the Russians did in 1812). The only thing that the Soviets would have saved from Moscow was Lenin's corpse. 2. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union because he could not end the war with Great Britain. Nazi Germany did not had the naval resources to invade the island and conquer London (the only way to achieve victory against Great Britain). And the stalemate was prejudicial to Nazi Germany and not to the Great Britain, because the latter had several colonies with material resources. 3. I believe that even the US had not entered in WW2 the Soviets would be able to achieve victory against Nazi Germany. Even without lend and lease. Allied shipments to the Soviet Union[50] Year Amount (tons) % 1941 360,778 2.1 1942 2,453,097 14 1943 4,794,545 27.4 1944 6,217,622 35.5 1945 3,673,819 21 Total 17,499,861 100 The amount was only significant in 1943 and 1944 when the war was ALREADY lost for Nazi Germany. The Soviet were able to repel the Blitzkried against Moscow in 1941 by themselves. The Nazi's Germany army was defeated in the Eastern Front not in the Western Front. Axis causalities in the Western Front: 263,000-655,000 Axis causalities in the Eastern Front: 8.7-10 million

Another logistics issue was the Germans were using mass amounts of synthetic fuel, which froze at a lower temp than regular oil based fuel, so they simply couldn't move at times.

Operation Barbarossa was not invasion of Russia but invasion of Soviet Union. It is a huge difference.

Being 20 miles close to Moscaw doesn’t mean so close to win the war. Ask Napoleon! )) btw Moscaw might turn to be a 6 times worse than Stalingrad for germans.

Excellent- watched a lot of docs on Barbarossa never really had it encapsulated so well 👍

This channel is the best history channel I’ve seen so far gives clear details on what happened in under 10 minutes

Always wondered what might have happened had after the Germans had crossed the Dnipro if they had massively fortified a defence line there and then pulled back to it once completed. How long could they have held with their best forces intact behind? Probably not forever, especially after Pearl Harbour, but maybe long enough to sue for peace

One factor I always thought of was similar to the Schlieffen Plan of the first war. They had their strategy and it went so well at first that they decided to deviate from it. That mucked things up to the point that their original strategy was no longer attainable. It was working well at the start that they should have followed through and then figured out what else they might do.

My father was in Barbarossa….said the winter weather and lack of winter clothing was the problem, plus supply lines too long and thin…

As good a brief summary of Bararossa as I've ever seen. Kudos.

Thx for your videos

The lack of oil had a huge impact on the effectiveness of the german troops. Defenetly one of the biggest causes for the failure. If the germans were looking south to the cacasus before to Moscow, mayble it could have succeded. Furthermore, if the Japanese were not attacked perl harbour and focused on east russia, mayble these two facist countries could take russia.

I Hank’s for creating content like this! We need more history channels on KZfaq.

Long supply lines and logistics problems. If a military is going to have a giant front and a ever expensive offensive. The supplies to wage war must keep up. If not, your offensive will fail.

Field Marshal Montgomery said there are two key rules to follow in warfare. 1. Never invade Russia. 2. Never invade China. I think Montgomery was thinking about land mass and resources both human and material.

I look at these videos... and sometimes wonder to myself... How proud would one of these soldiers be to see themselves, or one of their brothers, push back the enemy in this footage. This history is just mind blowing to me man

I don't know if Barbarossa really came that close to success. Sure, they could have taken Moscow if things unfolded a bit differently, but that alone would not have necessarily led to victory. Napoleon took Moscow and the Russians kept fighting, and eventually won. Given Hitler's war objectives, which involved the complete destruction of the Russian nation and the murder/expulsion of the entire population, the Russians were going to continue to fight to the end, because it was over their very existence. In that sort of war, the larger and more populous nation will most likely win in the end.

Winter isnt the the reason why they failed...winter was the same for both sides.

If Hitler hadn't tried this, we would have lost the war.

Barbarossa failed for the same reason Napoleon failed, Russia is too F’ing big to conquer. Thus endth the lesson

There wasn't a alternative plan other than blitzkrieg. If you don't achieve victory against your opponent quickly your lost. There wasn't a plan B

It was impossible to launch Barbarossa until June due to the late thaw.

Never understood why people consider Hitler’s journey into Russia a failure. It is quite literally the largest military invasion in history, far larger than D-day. The invasion was a success consecutively, only delayed by winters. It wasn’t till the war in the West raged on that Hitler’s war in the East stalled out. Germany had massive shortages and eventually lack of supplies forced a retreat. To date, there has never been a greater successful campaign lead against the Russians. That reason alone makes Hitler successful. If this were a javelin throwing competition, Hitler would hold the record for farthest thrown javelin. How does that make him a loser when others have thrown javelins shorter distances?

"It was in front of Moscow, in December 1941, that the tide turned, because it was there that the Blitzkrieg failed and that Nazi Germany was consequently forced to fight, without sufficient resources, the kind of long, drawn-out war that Hitler and his generals knew they could not possibly win."

Why is every video on barbarosa posed as a german failure and never as a Soviet triumph? It almost seems as a lament that Germany did not win.

Pretty much the lesson of WWII is that there's a limit to how much you can bully the people around you until they give you what you deserve.

Hitler just didn't realize that the cost of a soviet human life wasn't even zero, it was negative. They lost about 25-27 mil people in this war. How many did France lose?

Such a clear, in depth explanation. Thank you!

Martin van Creveld in his book over logistics in warfare tells it very simply. The Germans needed a 100 trains with supplies per week in their surge to Moskow. They only got 10.

Actually pre-barbarossa Stalin, was being fed information on German positions and strengths by one of the famous Cambridge ring of 5 spies, a Scotsman whose name escapes me. His information led to the pre artillery strike the day before Barbarossa commenced. His info also led to airfield strikes which accounted for the loss of 500 German assorted planes on the days running up to the Barbarossa launch. Other factors such as the delay to start it Stalin great factory move and the endless Russian horizon all led to the German defeat. The American lend lease policy also played a major part. Great subject we could go on

Today is June 22nd 2022, the day of Operation barbarossa starting exactly 81 years ago today

Lack of oil and breakdown of logists/resupply from weather

The Arctic convoys, carrying just enough supplies and weapons to keep the Soviets in the fight, had a huge impact on the war in Russia.

I would add that Hitlers leadership was a crucial factor. He was a corporal trying to be a field marshal, and many of the military decisions he made were disastrous. Stalin let his generals run the war, Hitler sacked his on a regular basis. Germany also underestimated soviet war production. The Soviet ability to produce tanks, artillery, planes etc was enormous and unmatched. The section in this video about Russian soldiers not having rifles and uniforms etc and relying on British supplies is completely and utterly wrong.

Imagine what would have happened if the Nazis invaded Russia when It wasn’t winter

Germany was at a tremendous disadvantage that is rarely given a thought or mention: the size of its population. The population of the Axis powers totalled just under 300 million, while Allies had over 900 million. Germany itself had just 80 million while the USSR alone comprised about 170 million. Blitzkrieg was solely responsible for the early successes of the Nazis. A war of attrition could not possibly turn out in their favor. The fact the bastards dragged the thing out long enough to implement the Final Solution sickens me to no end.

The reasons for German failure in USSR are many and complex. Leaving all those aside and looking at the core reason, it was German lack of oil to prosecute such a vast enterprise. They had enough oil to start a war but not to finish it. The German Army took a decision to de-motorize it's divisions and use horses because it simply could not fuel them. Germany could have fielded more men, tanks and artillery, but it had no oil to supply them.

Rip those soldiers who gave there best to save Soviet Union

The Soviets didn’t “learn” that the Japanese would not attack them. They signed an agreement with Japan which was now busy with the Americans in the Pacific thanks to Roosevelt successfully goading the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor. The Soviets adhered to their side of the agreement so faithfully that they imprisoned American pilots that made emergency landings in the USSR after bombing missions against Japan. For their part, the Japanese let US Lend-Lease shipments bound for the USSR cross the North Pacific unmolested knowing it was war materiel that would not be used against them.

One point not mentioned. I believe that the need to rescue Mussolini's campaign in Greece and ultimately Crete delayed the start of Barbarossa by some six weeks. Six weeks more of spring/summer weather might well have made a difference.

More plz

"The greatest blunder is getting in a land war in asia" + the allies donating arms = the inevitable

Not enough fuel, not enough men and the devastating famous Russian general named Winter. The objective alone was what doomed the plan. Impossible to have conquered so much territory, especially given 1940's-era Russia's terrible roads, narrow rail gauges and brutal climate. Had the final objective been the Dnieper however rather than east of Moscow on the Volga the map of the world even today would look very different.

Soviets produced on the first 12 months of the war 20000 tanks. The entire German army on the Eastern front had only 2000 tanks. How could they possibly win?

I think these "if only" scenarios are a post war concoction by Halder, Manteuffel and Manstein. As far as I can make out, the Germans simply couldn't do the job with the logistics, especially transport, available to them

There's one more thing to be mentioned: Operation Barbarossa was delayed due to Yugoslavia backing out of the neutrality pact it had with Hitler. It was delayed by a month (i think) because of the invasion of Yugoslavia. The Germans had 10% of Stalingrad left to be taken and the Soviets are completely cut of from the oil fields. That one month delay made a difference once the winter kicked in....

The art of stretching out an answer to a question to nearly 10 minutes impress me. Q: Why Hitler Fail A: Logistics There you have it.

The main reason for the defeat of Germany in the war with the USSR is that Germany attacked a country that already in 1941 could produce tanks, aircrafts, cannones and a lot more by the tens of thousands. The Red Army had tens of thousands of tanks and aircrafts already in 1941, and although almost all of them were lost in one way or another by the end of 1941, the factor of their presence by June 22, 1941 was one of the reasons why the Wehrmacht was stuck near Leningrad, Smolensk and Kiev until the end of summer, and the Plan Barborossa proved unworkable.

Hitler's key requirement was oil. To get it he had to strike quickly through Ukraine towards the oilfields in/around Georgia. He knew that but the generals felt they knew better, and attacked Leningrad and Moscow as well. Germany's army was very dependent upon horses, unlike the US and Britain. Hundreds of thousands of them, because Germany did not have the oil to run a fully mechanized army. The US did, so D-Day had trucks and tanks but no horses. In fact, through the war, the US produced about 75% of the world's petroleum.