This analysis is designed to deal with four aspects of a broad topic: the general aims of Hitler which required a war with Russia for their implementation; his policy toward that country during the years 1933–39; the circumstances under which Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union and the factors which led to his adhering to that decision; and finally the attack itself and its failure on the field of battle as that relates to earlier German policy choices.

In Vienna, in pre- and postwar Munich, during World War I, and in jail after the failed coup attempt of November 1923 Hitler developed ideas of which only those dealing with foreign relations will be touched on. Convinced that Germany needed more space to feed its population, he rejected a return to the frontiers of 1914 as a sound goal for his movement. He was certain that it would take at least one war and perhaps several to secure the return of the lost territories; in Hitler's eyes that was not worthwhile – if you were going to fight, then you should fight for territorial aims that were worthy of the sacrifices that would be required, and that meant huge stretches of land. The 1914 borders had been inadequate for the old Germany, so the new Germany should formulate its territorial ambitions without reference to them. A notorious American robber was once asked why he robbed banks. His response was, because that's where the money is. Similarly, Hitler argued on the basis of the most obvious geographic considerations that Germany should seize land in Eastern Europe because that's where the land is.