Operation Barbarossa: 5 Myths About Hitler’s Invasion of the Soviet Union

World History: True Stories of the 20th Century · May 17, 2026 · 14m

Operation Barbarossa was Nazi Germany’s massive invasion of the Soviet Union, later surrounded by myths about Stalin, the Russian winter, and the Eastern Front. Operation Barbarossa, launched on 22 June 1941, remains one of the largest and most decisive military campaigns of the Second World War. Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was driven by ideological goals—destroying communism and acquiring “Lebensraum,” or living space for the German people. Despite early German successes and catastrophic Soviet losses, the campaign quickly evolved into a prolonged and brutal conflict that…