World War IIs Eastern Front is widely regarded as the largest military confrontation in

history, claiming the lives of over 30 million people.1 Hitlers conflict with Stalin was not only
extremely bloody and brutal, but it was the most decisive of all the struggles instigated by the
Nazis. This part of the war not only involved the Soviets in a large scale conflict, but the Eastern
Front divided National Socialist Party forces, weakening Nazi power as a whole and ultimately
leading to Allied victory.2 At first a war over threats to territory and resources, the conflicts
developed into a war of ideologies.3 The massive amounts of resources, both human and
physical, along with the chain of events leading to Germanys downfall mark this theatre of
World War II to be its most significant.
Initially, Stalin and Hitler were on amicable terms--the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact assured
that there would be no aggression between the two powers, therefore enabling Hitler to assure
the German people that the war would not go on on two fronts simultaneously.4 However, both
European powers had slightly different plans than what they presented. The Soviets sought an
international spread of Communism, while Germany viewed Soviet Russia as prime territory for
lebensraum and as a political expression of Jewish ideals--therefore, the manifestation of these
ideologies clashed along Germanys eastern border, as each sought their own territorial
expansion.5 Hitlers plan for expansion, and really the war itself, began with his invasion of
1 Alan Taylor, "World War II: The Eastern Front," The Atlantic, September 18, 2011,
http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/09/world-war-ii-the-eastern-front/100150/.

2 William J. Duiker, Contemporary World History (Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010), 128.
3 Gayle Olson-Raymer, Dr., "World War II - The Eastern Front," Humboldt State Department of History, accessed
November 2, 2015, http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/WWII_EasternFront.html.

4 Ibid.
5 "The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front," United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, August 18, 2015,
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005507.

Poland, supported by a diminished risk of conflict with the Soviets.6 The German-Soviet Pact
also included a section on the partition of Eastern European states that lay between the two larger
powers--once Hitler invaded western Poland, Stalin moved in on the east. The USSRs invasion
and annexation of Finland, the Baltic states, and parts of Romania brought Russian borders
increasingly closer to German borders.7 Once the Nazis had defeated the French, they secured
eastern European ties by including Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia in the Axis alliance.8 Hitler
feared for his oil supply, as it was threatened by Soviet presence in the Baltic area; additionally,
the USSRs plans for Finland and Sweden conflicted with Nazi plans for that same area.9 These
two influences, combined with a clash of ideologies, led Germany to declare war on Soviet
Russia with Operation Barbarossa, signed into action on December 18th, 1940.10
The German offensive began with 3 divisions or areas of attack-- there was a northern
offensive, a southern offensive, and a central offensive.11 After months of ignoring Western
warnings of a German attack, Stalin and his Soviet army were completely surprised by the Nazi
troops on their western front--this allowed Hitlers forces to move quickly and effectively into
Russian territory, occupying a land mass twice the size of Germany by July of 1941.12 Nazi
troops began the Siege of Leningrad in September, a German offensive lasting 900 days and

6 Ibid.
7 Olson-Raymer.
8 The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front.
9 Olson-Raymer.
10 The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front.
11 Olson-Raymer.
12 Ibid.

costing around a million civilian lives, only ending once the Germans were defeated in 1944.13
The German military pushed on toward Moscow during the end of 1941, first reaching the gates
of Leningrad and then the outskirts of Moscow. As the Germans advanced further and further
into Russian territory, supply lines became overextended and Hitlers troops became increasingly
aware of a risk of winter war.14 One the Nazis reached Moscow, they began a final attack on the
city in an attempt to end the war with USSR as its victor.15 However, an early snow coincided
with the first week of the Nazi effort against Moscow, and the Russians defeated the Germans
early on the next year, 1942.16 Hitlers failed attempt to seize Moscow was followed by a new
battle plan, known as Operation Blue. Nazi efforts at this point were focused on a central goal-Hitler thought that if he could cut off Soviet oil supply, take down the oil industry, and then
occupy the source of oil, not only would the Soviet army eventually fail, but he would then be in
control of vast natural resources. 17 As the Germans pushed southeast towards the oil and the city
of Stalingrad, Nazi power reached its furthest extent of European domination.18The battle for the
city of Stalingrad resulted in the deaths of over 2 million soldiers total, and proved to be a
psychological turning point for the Soviet army.19 After the victory at Stalingrad, the eastern front
was dominated by Soviet offensives, continuing until the USSR, after combining forces with the

13 Ibid.
14 The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front.
15 Ibid.
16 Olson-Raymer.
17 Ibid.
18 The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front.
19 Ibid.

United States, reached Berlin in April of 1945. In early May, Germany surrendered to the Allies,
marking the end of World War II.
The Eastern Front of WWII has been characterized and made relevant in many ways, but it is
certain that the war would not have taken the same course of events without all that occurred in
this theater of the war. Germanys losses on the Eastern Front cant be ignored-- 80% of military
losses were caused by this conflict, and around 10.77% of the nations total population
perished.20 Besides being the bloodiest collection of battles in history, the Eastern Front was
where Hitler truly achieved his genocidal goals; many concentration camps lay to the east of
Germany, and Soviet prisoners of war were treated extremely poorly, with despicable conditions
being preferable to the mass executions, actions that decimated Soviet populations.21 After the
war, Stalin demanded a buffer between Russia and Germany, which included the formerly Baltic
states, Poland, and part of Germany.22 The Eastern Front was extremely crucial in leading to an
Allied victory, as the division of German forces made them weaker both in the west and the east,
allowing both the Soviets and American/British forces to fight back efficiently and successfully.
Without World War II being a war on two fronts, and without the success of the Soviets that led
to the defense of the East and its resources, the extent of Hitlers power and the course of WWII
would have been massively different.

20 Olson-Raymer.
21Taylor.
22 Olson-Raymer.