More ideological and fanatical, many believed that Hitler had created a fantasy world of his own and lived not too close to reality. This is probably the reason why he underestimated the zeal of the Russians, the Americans and the British, and lost many battles during the WW2. The failed Operation Barossa that was initiated in 1941 ultimately became the cause of heavy loss of manpower to the German army, and its final defeat. For more on the top 10 reasons why Hitler lost World War II, read below.
Hitler as we all know lived in his fantasy world more than he did in reality, and this was the reason why he believed that determination of his soldiers would be honored in the battlefield, without giving much heed to the reality. His soldiers were only commanded to move forward, but never retreat. When he denied Frederich Paulus the permission to retreat, it resulted in the total loss of the of 6th Panzer Army.
Hitler could have won the war against Soviet Union if he would have acknowledged the right technology. But, he gave up many of the most useful innovations of that time including the cancellation of the first ever assault rifle, which was perfect for the Russian vast lands. Also, Me-262 fighter jets, the first jet powered aircraft was discarded by him. Since the early deigns of the fighter jet were that of an interceptor, and Hitler never wanted interceptors the project was smacked out.
During 1941, Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor marking America’s entry in the World War II. As a promise to Japan, Hitler also announced war on America, but just the way it underestimated the British and also the Russians, it thought that reeling under the loss of war, America was incapable of defeating Germany. And what happened ahead proved him wrong.
By the time Hitler sensed the total failure of Operation Barossa, he had inculcated a lack of trust for all his generals and their abilities. Hitler lost as his mistrust grew so grave that instead of devising new strategies to gain back the defeat, he appointed himself as the Commander-in-Chief of the army. He thought he could undo their failures and plan better. Advice from the many wise Generals of Germany could have saved the German army.
Although Generals are meant to be listened to and taken advice from, but Hitler wouldn’t listen to them. Initially he did show trust in them and won many battles, strategized by them. For example, Field Marshall Rundstedt had strategized the entire battle against France, which they eventually won. But, later on he wouldn’t listen to them seriously.
The Germans and Hitler had underestimated the Russian Winters. The army was ill equipped for the winter. There was sharp scarcity of winter clothes, food and medical care. Of course maximum causalities were attributed to the war of Stalingrad, but other than that many had given in to the harsh weather conditions. By the end, the army had lost most of its young soldiers to the grip of the prolonged winter.
One of the bloodiest wars ever fought in the history of warfare, the Battle of Stalingrad became the main decider of Germany’s position in World War II. Hitler lost the war as the heavy loss of manpower, standing somewhere around two million, was something from which Germany wasn’t able to fully recover and awaited further defeat. In fact, before the war of Stalingrad, Hitler’s army was supposed to conquer the Caucasus oil fields, which would have given them substantial power, but they decided to invade the nearby Stalingrad, thus inviting defeat.
Forming allies on the basis of ideology instead of shared common interests also lead to the major defeat of Germany. Whereas it should have allied with Japan for the ease of attack on Soviet Union, it allied with Italy, Hungary and Rumania, countries that were called the less powerful Axis; their motive was to conquer greater territory in the wake of war.
Although Hitler was well aware about the harsh winter of Russia, its alliance with Italy had delayed its invasion of the Soviet Union by almost six weeks. Italy’s failed invasions to North Africa, Yugoslavia, and Greece demanded the intervention of Germany, and so Operation Barossa was delayed. By the times the Germans were on the verge of invading Russia, the autumn rains had already set in.
The primary target of Hitler had always been Russia, but in the middle of this it gave Britain undue importance and fought the battle of England, only to bring it to its knees and to make it accept the supremacy of Germany. But, instead what happened was that Germany lost that battle, and at the same time had also invaded into Russia. Hitler lost as he decided to deal with Britain later, which was a mistake.