The British, after declaring war on Germany on the 1st September 1939 did little to assist Poland who surrendered three weeks later. This helped to convince Hitler he was immune to international reaction...

-Soviet invasion -whoever wins will win war -invasion of Russia and destruction of Communism was Hitler’s #1 priority -an obsession that cost Hitler and Germany the war -Hitler would encircle the enemy in a series of rapid ‘blitzkrieg’ movements -this tactic worked to some extent -Hitler’s overconfidence proved to be Germany’s undoing -no winter clothing was issued (confident war would be over before winter) -Russians ‘scorched the earth’ as they fell back -Germans had no food or shelter from the terrible ‘General Winter’ – Russia’s constant ally -Hitler divided his roughly 3 million men into 3 army groups -Army group north was to head to Leningrad (centre of Russia’s armaments industry) -Army Group Centre was to capture the Ukrainian wheat fields and then the oil of the Caucasus -22 June 1941, 3 million men+3500 tanks+5000 aircraft moved into Russian-occupied Poland...

Stalingrad was an important target as it was Russia’s centre of communications in the south as well as being a centre for manufacturing. In early September 1942, the German Army advanced to the city...

While Germans generals wanted to make Moscow the primary target so that a final battle could take place to crush the red Army, Hitler believed that seizing territory was more important...