Western Civilization II / Unit 17 WC2 1607 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Barbarossa, June 22, 1941: Stalin's Blindness and the Soviet Colossus
Captions available
The idea
With Britain unbeaten, Hitler turned east, expecting Slavic collapse in ten weeks. Stalin dismissed every warning. Over three million troops crossed on the twenty-second of June. The Soviet air force was destroyed, hundreds of thousands captured, commanders lost to the purges; locals welcomed the Germans.
In practice
A sixth of the earth's land, the anchor says.
Where people slip
The purges' toll is the anchor's stress.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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