Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's invasion of Russia in June 1941, aimed at the annihilation of Soviet communism, Judaism, and the subsequent creation of living space (Lebensraum) for the German Aryan race. However, the Operation led to the destruction of the Third Reich and had disastrous consequences for Germany, as millions of men were killed, injured, or lost on the battlefields. It was a colossal mistake—perhaps greater than any other at this level in Western Europe—that cost Hitler the Second World War. Drawing on previously unknown archival material, including recently untranslated Russian sources, Jonathan Dimbleby places Operation Barbarossa in its true historical dimensions. From the origins of the events in the ashes of World War I to their impact on post-war Europe, Dimbleby covers the military, political, and diplomatic history from all sides, composing a comprehensive and vivid picture of a monumental operation whose full scale and footprint remain unexplored. At the heart of this captivating narrative are the vivid descriptions of the leaders who made critical decisions, the men and women who fought on the front lines, the soldiers who committed heinous crimes on an unimaginable scale, and the victims of the Holocaust. Hitler's fatal gamble had the most terrifying consequences. AUTHORITATIVE YET DEEPLY HUMAN, THIS HISTORICAL BOOK IS A LANDMARK IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BOTH WORLD WAR II AND THE 20TH CENTURY.