Why Did Hitler Invade Russia

Many historians say that Hitler invaded Soviet Russia because he wanted to avoid a two front war, and they didn’t feel confident that he could win. What also prompted him to invade was he had promised the German people that he would get their land back that was taken. Hitler wanted to create one country that had all the German people living under one government and practicing a central religion. I think another reason for invasion was he didn’t want to split his army, and decided to send them up to Russia because he didn’t think the Russians would be prepared. They weren’t very well industrialized and they weren't expecting an invasion. There can be many reasons why Hitler decided to invade Russia, but the main three are; He wanted a way to get to Britain that was easier than the English Canal, he wanted to get land back that had been
taken from Germany thanks to the Treaty of Versailles, and he wanted to take over Europe and have one country with all Germans. Hitler's wanted to take over Britain, but couldn’t get his tanks across the English Canal.
And since he couldn’t get his tanks across, he couldn’t use the method of blitzkrieg (aka lightning warfare). On June 22nd 1941, Soviet Russia had been caught unprepared due to the negligence of Josef Stalin, who had ignored a lot of intelligence reports warning that a Nazi invasion was prominent. In mid-July, many thought that the only thing that was left for Russia was to give up, but the Russians kept fighting. Despite the great loss of men and equipment, the Russians started fanatical resistances, which were unlike anything the Germans had had to deal with in previously in the war. The German and Hitler had majorly underestimated the total fighting strength of the Red Army. Instead of 200 troops, the Russians could field 400 troops when fully mobilized. (This meant there were three million additional Russians available to fight.) Later in the war, Hitler thought the only thing left to do was to take Moscow. But in the end that ended in the bloody defeat of the Germans, and Russia was still standing, having not been taken over by
Hitler. Another reason for Hitler's urge to take over Russia started with the Treaty of Versailles. From the Germans and Hitler's point of view the treaty was too harsh and placed too much blame on Germany. Many Germans thought the ‘four’ created the treaty as revenge and to weaken the german army. The Treaty of Versailles focused on five major points; the army and Germany as a whole needed to be weakened, Germany needed to be brought down in size, they were not allowed to place any troops or barricades on the east bank of the Rhine. These rules made Germany feel weak and vulnerable to their surrounding countries. Finally, Hitler wanted to unify all the German people together in one big German Country. He wanted to bring all the land that had been taken from Germany and divided up all back together. So the people that were living in those areas could be together. They could all live in a country that spoke german, practiced the religion, ate the same foods, had the same culture, etc. So while he was taking over Europe he was also taking back the stolen land and more land that he thought Germany deserved. In conclusion, As early as 18 December 1940, Hitler issued Directive No.21, which decreed that German forces must be prepared to subject the Soviet Union to a crushing defeat. Hitler believed that German forces could use Blitzkrieg tactics with the same level of success, as they had against Poland, France and the low countries.
The invasion of the Soviet Union was delayed whilst, in April 1941, the German army invaded Yugoslavia and Greece in order to secure Germany’s southern flank. Finally, on 22 June 1941 the Germans broke their agreement and invaded the Soviet Union in ‘Operation Barbarossa’.