Why did Hitler order the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941?

Hitler had stated in his book 'Mein Kampf' that he very much-disliked communism, he thought of the Russian people as inferior, this however would be one of the contributing reasons for the downfall of Germany, Hitler would underestimate the Russian people thinking they were inferior.

He also stated that he would give the German people 'Lebensraum' (living space) and that living space would be in the east, this almost definitely meant Russia.

By June 1941 the German army had defeated an occupied France and pushed the British army back to it's homeland, the German army's morale was brilliant, they saw the German army as almost invincible. Also, the army was well equipped, with good quality equipment that was not available to other armies, such as their 88mm anti-tank and anti-aircraft gun. They had superior training and leadership and a very powerful and efficient air force.

Russia holds terrible weather conditions; in the summer temperatures are uncomfortably high, through autumn the temperatures begin to decrease, and rains and snow begins to fall. When winter hits the land is frozen solid to the extremely low temperatures, in the spring the ice thaws into marsh, through which it is near impossible to manoeuvre an army and tanks.

The weather conditions were the main factor that determined the date for the German invasion of Russia, however unfortunately for Germany; there was a five-week delay on their attack on Russia. Italy had not contributed a major input to World War Two, or so they thought, so they decided to try and gain more territory for themselves by launching an invasion of Greece. The Italian army was larger and had better equipment than the Greek army; the Italian Generals underestimated the Greek's determination and fighting skill. Greek and British armies in Greece beat the Italian forces severely; this showed the Italian army up to be an embarrassment. The Germans were forced to send their army south to help the Italians defeat the Greek, Yugoslavian and British forces. These five weeks were vital, Hitler would have wanted to launch the German invasion of Russia sooner than he was allowed so that his army had more time to defeat the Russians in the better conditions.