HSTR 115 Lecture 9: Operation Barbarossa
1 Feb 2017
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Primary: not get into a war with germany. Assumption that war was going to be long. Stalin worried of fall of france and pinning of britain. Stalin seemed to trust hitler; soviet government wanted to make sure that germany didn"t invade ussr, bending over back-shipping major natural resources not caring about payment. Stalin"s spy network- best intellectual network, 1930"s enough people who believed in communism that would relay messages back to moscow: americans warned ussr about germany, britain waned ussr about germany. Stalin droops out of governing a bit- falls on molotov to tell public that they are at war: 3 july 1941 stalin makes first radio speech. Soviet"s loosing major numbers at beginning: blitzkrieg is very effective against soviet troops- stalin rejected retreat. Largest invasion force in history- stalin was ignoring the warning signs from other countries. Before barbarossa, european impression of ussr was low- communist, famine, purges.
