The Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa: How Hitler Took His Worst Decisions

This episode analyses Hitler’s decisions during the Battle of Britain, which lead to the first major defeat of Nazi Germany, and Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1940, when virtually the entire British Army was trapped in Dunkirk and England was in his reach, Hitler decided to halt the advance. This delay enabled England to repatriate its soldiers and was a mistake that Hitler would pay a high price for during the Allied landings. He then started the Battle of Britain, strengthening Churchill’s position and setting the entire British Empire against the Reich. When Germany was an estimated weeks away from winning this battle, Hitler again ordered another disastrous tactic switch. Instead of continuing to focus the bombing on military targets and UK infrastructure, he made London and other large cities the primary targets. This provided an unexpected respite to the British war industry, enabling them to quickly produce weapons, ammunition and aircraft at high speeds. In June