"Barbaross option." Why Hitler decided to attack the USSR

On December 18, 1940, Adolf Hitler signed the Directive of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht ( OKV ) No. 21 “Barbarossus Option”, which became the main leading document in preparing a war against the Soviet Union. Like almost all other key decisions of the Fuhrer, it was subsequently criticized by the German generals from the perspective of "we warned." And, I must say that they really warned.

“To the question of how to get out of the situation if a decisive victory over England is not achieved ... there may be one answer - strengthening friendship with Russia. A meeting with Stalin is desirable, ”read a document signed on July 30, 1940 by the commander -in -chief of Germany Ground Forces General Brauhich and the head of the General Staff Galder. “Under this condition, we will be able to inflict a decisive blow to the British at the Mediterranean Theater, cut them off from Asia ... With the help of Russia, strengthen their possessions captured by us in Western and Northern Europe.”

The fleet commander Admiral Reder held on a similar point of view: “In no case should we violate the pact concluded with Russia, since he will save us from the war on two fronts.” Raeder, the jamming of focusing on England, reminded the Fuhrer that he himself had previously “constantly emphasized that he would not repeat the mistakes of the 1914 government”, which took both to fight in the west and in the east.

It is not surprising that after the war the German military in all the frets of Kosteri “constrained by the continental thinking” of Hitler, who, instead of the implementation of their brilliant plans, rushed into a suicidal campaign on the USSR. However, upon closer examination, it turns out that this Führer’s thinking was precisely soared over the continents, but the generals did not reach his planning horizon.

The problem of "American Khazaria"

Hitler's logic will not be clear without taking into account the place that was occupied in his picture of the US world. We are used to perceiving America as a “natural” world hegemon, so it is difficult for us to imagine the panic of a man who observed its sudden elevation, as they say, online. For the first quarter of the twentieth century - during the life of one generation! -The United States has carried out a jerk similar to the rapid growth of Europe in the XVII-XVIII centuries, when it suddenly turned from a bear angle on the outskirts of the oycumena, which subjugated the whole world, including China, which was considered for many centuries, which was considered the power of No. 1 of earthly civilization.

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