To what extent did Operation Barbarossa fail due to overconfidence?

Due to the cold weather conditions, Germany’s attacks were delayed and the tactical plans were hindered The German invasion had not been planned as the blitzkrieg tactic began to fail. Although at first Germany was able to take over some parts of Russia, the use of the ‘Scorched earth’ military tactic by Russia limited the number of resources available to the parts of the German army who succeeded in invading. This tactic caused supplies to be cut off from German army divisions, and stopped them from being able to hold their positions. The blitzkrieg tactic also left many parts of the army with no means of communication or supplies due to advancing too fast without support, and this led to the failure of the invasion. Intelligence plans on Russia were also inaccurate, such as roads which had been marked out on maps were in reality only roads that were not complete.  Also, Hitler did not have plans on where to go after breaking Russia’s Stalin Line, the largest defence in Russia.

Although Germany underestimated the strength of the Russian army and was unequipped, the most important reason for the failure of Operation Barbarossa was over confidence. Hitler expected the German Army to be able to defeat Russia in a short battle and this is linked to the German Army being unprepared for the cold weather in Russia, as well as the failure to plan in case of intelligence not being accurate, and generals not listening to advice from the people in charge of supplies. Germany expected to be able to defeat Russia in roughly 4 months, and therefore did not prepare for a long term war, and did not have the resources to be able to sustain a long term invasion. Due to Germany’s overconfidence, they expected Russia to give in but in reality under the command of Stalin Russia was willing to use all means of defending the country against Germany, and did not surrender.

The most important reason why Germany’s operation Barbarossa failed was due to the overconfidence of Germany. Germany believed that the invasion could be easily done in 4 months, before the winter weather started but in reality it took much longer, and Germany lacked the resources and preparation for a long term attack on Russia. The fact that Germany had not planned their attack strategy well also contributed to the failure of Operation Barbarossa, as well as the failure of the blitzkrieg tactic.