In December 1940 he launched Operation Barbarossa – an attack on the USSR. He planned to use the same Blitzkrieg tactics that worked successfully in Poland and France. Germany did not actually invade until summer 1941 and by November1941 German troops were advancing on Moscow and Leningrad; Hitler split the forces advancing on the USSR into divisions - some would take strategically important cities, some would take economically important oil fields like the Caucus oilfields on the USSR/Georgian/Azerbaijan border. However, the Germans encountered stern resistance at Stalingrad and were eventually beaten. A factor for this loss was the extremely harsh winter conditions – Hitler had miscalculated how long the war would take place for and the Germans were simply not equipped for it – they were carrying summer gear. Stalingrad lay at the end of a very long supply line; While Germany was able to reach the city, it wasn't able to funnel enough troops or supplies to the city to flush it of Soviets. Instead, the Soviets were able to gather enough troops to counterattack and cut off & surround the 300,000 Germans in the city. A miscalculation On Hitler’s part was his obsession with the city – his Generals wanted to retreat once they realised the strength of the Soviets, but Hitler refused to give the order. With the Wehrmacht lacking the manpower to send help to launch a counter-attack, and the failure of the Luftwaffe to supply the trapped Germans, it was only a matter of time before they were defeated. The surrender of General Von Paulus and some 600 000 German soldiers was the beginning of the end for the Russian campaign and only a small proportion of the German army was able to retreat to mainland Europe. Ultimately, Hitler had miscalculated the severity & difficulty of attacking the USSR grossly. He had also left himself open to attack by the British on the western front because he had underestimated and failed to neutralise them. He needed either the UK or the USSR as an ally so he had enough strength and room to manoeuvre to attack the other, but he miscalculated the severity of having both nations opposed to him and this laid the foundations for defeat.
Also, Germany and its ally Italy launched offensives in North Africa and the Balkans which proved to be a miscalculation because it stretched out the German armed forces massively and Hitler was not able to concentrate them in one area. Perhaps if he had concentrated his forces in one area, like the USSR, the offensive may have proved to be more fruitful. Hitler had literally bitten off more than he could chew and his situation was not helped when the US entered the war and began bombing German cities (Hamburg fire storm) and industrial areas, which the Americans did by way of bases in the UK. Had Hitler not miscalculated the strength of the British aerial force in 1940 and was able to invade the UK, the US would have not been able to do this and Germany’s munitions factories would have survived, helping the war effort and boosting the economy. However, Germany was already in serious debt after being the catalyst for the First World War 25 years previously (reparation payments) and it experienced hyper-inflation issues in the Weimar years. Germany was also short of labour (young men conscripted and sent off to fight) and the gaps had to be filled with forced and female labour. Hitler miscalculated the easiness of the war (i.e. length) and perhaps if he had been more conservative and more wary of the economy Germany wouldn’t have faced the shortage problems it did. On the other hand he did try to address this issue by going for the rich and abundant natural resources the USSR had (coalfields, gas, metals) but he miscalculated his campaign and failed to acquire them.
Another miscalculation on Hitler’s part was declaring war on the USA. The US was an economic powerhouse, and compared economically with indebted Germany it was far superior. The US was able to to use this economic might to support its allies – it sent 13,000 tanks and 15,000 aircraft to the USSR. You could argue that had Germany invaded the UK, the US may have settled and stood by because Germany would then be extremely powerful economically and politically. Germany could have possibly encouraged this by asking its ally Japan to make peace with the US. However, just like the North African deployments, Hitler bit off more than he could chew and declared war on the US, which hastened the turning point in the war because the US was able to supply the USSR with military gear, which hastened the fight back of the Red Army and their eventual march on Berlin. Furthermore to the North African deployments, Germany’s allies were weak. Italy under Mussolini was a bit of millstone around Germany’s neck and Germany was actually drawn in Africa because of a treaty with Italy. Had Germany been more conservative with its troops instead of deploying them to help its allies, again it could have concentrated them on Stalingrad and changed the outcome of the battle. However, with all this in mind, Germany did come extremely close to initially capturing Stalingrad and defeating the British in Africa (Egypt) in the early 40’s. You could argue that they were unable to follow through and do so because of Hitler’s miscalculation of tactics.
In conclusion, while the allies where strong physically (i.e. the RAF) and economically (The US), and posed a major threat to Germany’s imperial expansion ambitions , the main reason for Germany’s World War Two defeat was Hitler’s many tactical miscalculations. By 1942 it seemed Germany was on the brink of totally dominating Europe and being a severe threat to Britain and the USSR. However, over the course over the next few years, the tides turned due to poor tactical decisions by Hitler. His decision to assist Italy in their campaign to conquer the North African State Libya diluted the concentration of German troops elsewhere and caused logistical problems, mostly the number of troops able to attack Stalingrad. Also, his failure to neutralise Britain before attacking the USSR caused him to have to fight battles on both the western and eastern fronts, which stretched the capacity of his armies and cost him economically. While he did try to capture USSR owned natural resources to help fund the war his USSR invasion tactics caused him to fail. Finally, his decision to declare war on the US was a major mistake as they were far superior economically and as a ally with Britain they were not a state you wanted to mess with. Hitler’s main miscalculation was deciding to launch operation Barbarossa before conquering the UK, and this decision eventually caused Germany to lose the second world war.
