"Was Hitler's Invasion of Russia a Mistake..." Topic

Hitler's dream – and therefore the aim of Nazism, was the dream of a racially pure master race lording it over a slave empire – built in ‘the east' ie everything east of Germany to the Urals. With this aim in mind, asking if the invasion of Russia was a mistake is a false premise. It was the point of the war and of Nazism. You may as well ask was Nazism a mistake? Well yes, we can all agree it was. But for Hitler – I think he probably thought not.
You could ask, was it a mistake to launch the invasion in 41? Would a later (or earlier) invasion have had more chance of success? This would make sense as a question. There were a few important factors that weigh on that decision.
Was the German army and economy going to get stronger with a delay?
Was the Soviet Army and economy going to get stronger – especially relative to Germanys.
What was the US going to do? Tooze argues I feel quite convincingly in Wages of Destruction that Hitler was well aware of US economic potential and it was a factor that played a role in his decision making – especially after the US started to kick its war industries into gear in 1940.
I think it is fairly safe to assert that Hitler saw himself as a divine instrument to lead the German people to their righteous destiny. And well, he wasn't getting any younger. He had to complete his mission before he went to the grave……
Although having said all that, timing probably doesn't matter. Germany just did not of the economic or military power to deliver on Hitler's aims. The only way the Germans could have defeated the Soviet Union would have been to arrive as liberators, for both the Russian people and national minorities in the Soviet Union. This is however something that the Nazis could not do. The people that they would of had to befriend and support they literally saw as ‘sub human' – not fully human. The Nazis were not able to pose as the friends of people they saw like this, even for tactical gain. Hitler probably did hope that by hitting the Soviet Union hard enough it would cause the Communist system to implode and the country to fracture – the whole ‘kick in the door and the house will fall' line. If you look at the choice the Russians were given however this was probably not going to happen. They could either support their government (with all the oppression that the Stalinist system represented) or to become slaves, along with their children and descendents in perpetuity. By slaves, this does not mean a euphemism of ‘servants of the party do as you are told by Stalin or else'. It means 'you and your children will be treated as cattle, your humanity denied and life robbed of any scrap of dignity whatsoever, if we let you live at all'. Not a great choice perhaps, but an easy one.
The Nazi's started the war because of what they were. They also lost the war for the same reason.

Hitler and the SS treatment of the Ukranians was one huge mistake. Had he worked with them instead of treating them like a captured prize one wonders how many (more) Ukranians would have fought for the 3rd Reich.

I also believe that the large pockets of resistance during the early going of Barbarossa (meaning Fall of 1941) caused a division of interest. They had to deal with the pockets but it drew away a lot of much needed armored emphasis from the main fronts.

Just another of the many mistakes made by the Nazis …