Historical Investigation: IB History

To what extent did the Soviet failure in the Winter War lead to Hitler's implementation of Operation Barbarossa?

Xavier D James May 13, 2011 Table of Contents: 1.Plan of the Investigation ................................................... Page 1 2.Summary of Evidence...Page 1-4 3.Evaluation of Sources...Page 4-5 4.AnalysisPage 5-7 5.Conclusion ....................................................................... Page 7 6.Bibliography .................................................................... Page 7-8 7.MolotovRibbentrop Pact Map...Page 9

Total Word Count: 1500-2000

Sumner Senior High School Sumner, WA

To what extent did the Soviet failure in the Winter War lead to Hitler's implementation of Operation Barbarossa?

Section A: Plan of the investigation. 186 words The purpose of this investigation is to research and find out if Operation Barbarossa was the result of the Soviet Unions failure in the Winter War and to what extent this is true. To do this researching the aftermath effect of the Winter War on the Soviet Union, such as causalities and debt they have acquired fighting will be essential. Also, researching the Germans point of view on the Winter War, and Germanys plans for the Soviet Union before the Winter War started. As well as, investigating the position and preparation of German troops and equipment that were sent or posted near The Soviet Union during, before and after the Winter War. To help me with the investigation will be two books, one written just about Operation Barbarossa called Codeword BARBAROSSA written by Barton Whaley and another purely about the Winter War called White Death: The Soviet Unions Winter War on Finland written by Robert Edwards. What will not researched is the causes for the Winter War or the Winter War itself just the Aftermath. Also, I will not be looking into Operation Barbarossa itself, just the causes of it.

Section B: Summary of Evidence. 585 words The MolotovRibbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany that not only encompassed peace between the two nations and economic pacts but the GermanSoviet Commercial Agreement and secret protocols that

divided Europe between the two nations to be conquered in the near future. 1 Part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was an economic agreement that started in 1939 and was revised a year later. This became known as the GermanSoviet Commercial Agreement. 2 The economic pact between the Soviet Union and Germany stated 180 million Reichsmarks of raw material will be given to Germany in exchange for 120 million Reichsmarks of German industrial goods. 3 The revised pact in 1940 between the Soviet Union and Germany was much like the first pact, however, the trade agreement went up to 650 million Reichmarks worth of raw materials would be sent to Germany in exchange for 650 million Reichmarks of German manufactured goods. 4 The German-Soviet Commercial Agreement was suspended shortly due to the Soviet Union's need to direct all there resources to the Winter War. 5 The suspension of the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement heavily strained the Germans resources. 6 During 1940, Germany had a raw material crisis due to lack of resources. 7 Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Bessarabia and part of Poland were to be conquered by the Soviet Union. 8 Lithuania, Vilnius and part of Poland were to be annexed by Germany. 9 In 1939 the Soviet Union and Germany worked together to invade Poland and split the country according to the MolotovRibbentrop

1 George Malcher, Blank Pages: Soviet genocide against the Polish people. (Surrey: Pyrford Press, 1993), 7. 2 Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945. 1 3 Bernd Wegner, From Peace to War: Germany, Soviet The Soviet Union, and the World. (New York: Berghahn Books,
1997), 19391941 4 Edward Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany. (Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group), 127. 5 Tobias Philbin III, The Lure of Neptune: GermanSoviet Naval Collaboration and Ambitions. (South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1994), 140 6 Ibid, 140 7 Edward Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany. (Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group), 127. 8 The Misconception of the Twentieth Century. MolotovRibbentrop Pact map. http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2006/03/the_misconcepti.html. 9 Ibid

Pact. 10 Potential territory disputes over Balkans arose between the Soviet and Germany in 1940.11 The invasion of Finland which started the Winter War was not communicated to the Germans beforehand. 12 The Soviet Union was invited to be a part of the Tripartite Pact after Germany joined. 13 Negations were broke off for the Tripartite Pact after the Soviet Union demanded more land for the MolotovRibbentrop Pact. 14 The Soviet Union signed a neutrality pact with Japan to try to improve the relations with Germany. 15 Despite the Soviet Unions attempt to gain favor of Germany again with the Neutrality pact with Japan, Hitler continued to plan the invasion of The Soviet Union. 16 In 1925, one of Hitler's books, Mein Kampf was published; it discussed Hitler's plans to take over The Soviet Union and use it as "living space," for the German people to live and have more access to raw materials. 17 Germany's industry and man-power reserves for Operation Barbarossa were short during the initial start of the war due to recent battles in Europe. 18 Hitler planned to use the Soviet Union people as slaves when the Soviet Union is conquered. 19 Germany's economy was highly lacking it oil due to lack of oil fields. 20 During World War II, The Soviet Union had the largest oil fields in

10 Aleksandr M. Nekrich, Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations. (Columbia: Columbia University
Press, 1997), 130. 11 Edward Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany. (Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group), 127. 12 Raymond Cartier, Hitler et ses Gnreaux, (Paris: 1962), 233

13 Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 468 14 Ibid, 468 15 Ibid, 468 16 Edward Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany. (Connecticut: Greenwood
Publishing Group, 1999), 127. 17 Joseph Bendersky, A History of Nazi Germany. (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), 177

18 Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. (New York: Vintage Books, 1993), 769. 19 Joseph Bendersky, A History of Nazi Germany. (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), 177 20 Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 334.

the world located in Baku. 21 Albert Speed, German Minister for Armaments and War Production stated "The need for oil certainly was a prime motive," to invade The Soviet Union. 22 Allies would be further isolated if The Soviet Union was taken over, especially the United Kingdom. 23 After the Peace of Moscow, Germany quickly made alliances with Finland to reclaim land the Soviet Union took. 24 126,875 The Soviet Union soldiers were reported dead or missing during the Winter War. 25 25,904 Finnish soldiers were reported dead or missing during the Winter War. 26 188,671 The Soviet Union soldiers were wounded during the Winter War. 27 43,557 Finnish soldiers were wounded during the Winter War.
28

Toward the end of February 1941, less than 700,000 German troops were stationed on

the Romanian- Soviet border. 29

Section C: Evaluation of Sources. 289 words The first source I will be using is a book called, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany written by William Shirer, it was published on December 1, 1991 by Ballantine Books in New York. William Shirer was an American

21 Azerbaijan: A Century of Hope. (BBC The Soviet Unionn, 2005) accessed May 1, 2011. 22 Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 334. 23 Ibid, 334. 24 Robert Edwards, White Death: The Soviet Unions Winter War on Finland. (Phoenix: New Ed Edition, 2007), 277279.

25 Grigoriy Krivosheyev, Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century 1st Edition. (London: Greenhill Books, 1997), 77-78. 26 Pekka Kurenmaa, Sodan tappiot. (Sodan: New Sodan vision, 2005), 1152. 27 Grigoriy Krivosheyev, Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century 1st Edition. (London: Greenhill Books, 1997), 77-78. 28 Riitta Lentil, Talvisodan uhrit. (Sodan: New Sodan vision, 1999), 821. 29 Willam Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1990), 668-669

journalist in Germany and France during World War II, he reported on many things during World War II such as the signing of the German armistice with France. The purpose of this book was to inform readers of the full history of Nazi Germany, primarily, it was written for an American audience. This source is valuable to my research because it will discuss Germanys military action during the Winter War and make connections of the Winter War leading up to Operation Barbarossa. Limitations to this source are William Shirers lack of firsthand experience in The Soviet Union like he had with the rest of Europe. A second source I will be using is another book called Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives by Alan Bullock; it was published on November 2, 1993 by Vintage Books in New York. Alan Bullock is a British Historian whose primary focus was World War II and Hitler; he is very knowledgeable in this area especially since he used to work for the British Broadcast Company during World War II. The purpose of this book is to inform readers of the biography of Hitler and Stalin and the effects they had on the world. This source is valuable to my research because Bullock is a very knowledgeable historian who has some firsthand experience with World War II because of his career with the British Broadcast Corporation. Limitations to the source are the lack of information about the Winter War.

Section D: Analysis of Evidence 500 words Even though the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was a mutual agreement between The Soviet Union and Germany, it created a false sense of peace between the two countries. The German-Soviet Commercial agreement, the most important part of the Molotov-

Ribbentrop pact allowed Germany to overcome its shortcomings in resources and materials by providing the Soviet Unions with their advanced technology and vice versa. This caused a German over reliance on The Soviet Union, which was fun up until the Winter War when The Soviet Union was unable to provide raw resources for Germany anymore. A few months after the Winter War started; Germanys over reliance on The Soviet Union severely hurt them and caused a huge raw material shortage. The Soviet Unions breaking the German-Soviet commercial agreement created mistrust toward the Soviet Unions reliability and was a large step toward Operation Barbarossa because the Germans wanted the Soviet Unions resources without problem. The second part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact were secret protocols that planned The Soviet Union as well as, Germanys domination of Europe, forcing the two countries to work together in order for the plans to be successful. Finland was one of the countries to be taken over by the Soviet Unions and that was agreed upon by the Germans. The problem was that The Soviet Union didnt tell the Germans what was going on when they invaded. This created more German mistrust toward The Soviet Union. After these events unfolded The Soviet Unions relationship with Germany was severely strained, and despite an attempt to rekindle favor with the Germans the Soviet Union joined negations with the Tripartite Pact when Germany joined. This ended up hurting relations more due to the fact that the Soviet Union got greedy and demanded more land for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which broke off negations. The Soviet Union then went to sign a neutrality pact with Japan to improve relations; however, this did not help at all. The Winter War was not the sole reason the Germans invaded The Soviet Union; evidence of Germanys want to invade The Soviet Union can be traced back to 1925 with

Hitlers book Mein Kampf. He wanted to use the Soviet Union people as slaves and The Soviet Union as living space for the German people to live and gather resources. These gains for taking over The Soviet Union would help the Germans greatly due to the lack of resources and man power. The largest resource The Soviet Union has is oil, which Germany desperately needed if they were to continue war on Europe. Tactically, Germany conquering The Soviet Union would help isolate England from the rest of Europe. The aftermath of the Winter War had great losses for the Soviet Union more than five times the amount of soldiers Finland loss, Russia lost. This embarrassing defeat demonstrated the Soviet Unions lack of military strength and Germany felt they could conquer Russia with ease after this. With haste, Germany prepared to attack Russia just one year after the Winter War ended.

Section E: Conclusion. 150 words The aftermath of the Winter War was the primary cause of Operation Barbarossa for the Winter War sparked many problems between the Soviet Union and the Germans.

Section F: Bibliography Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. (New York: Vintage Books, 1993) Aleksandr M. Nekrich, Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations. (Columbia: Columbia University Press, 1997) Bernd Wegner, From Peace to War: Germany, Soviet The Soviet Union, and the World. (New York: Berghahn Books, 1997) Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991)

Edward Ericson, Feeding the German Eagle: Soviet Economic Aid to Nazi Germany. (Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group) Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006) George Malcher, Blank Pages: Soviet genocide against the Polish people. (Surrey: Pyrford Press, 1993) Grigoriy Krivosheyev, Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century 1st Edition. (London: Greenhill Books, 1997) Joseph Bendersky, A History of Nazi Germany. (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000) Pekka Kurenmaa, Sodan tappiot. (Sodan: New Sodan vision, 2005) Raymond Cartier, Hitler et ses Gnreaux, (Paris: 1962) Riitta Lentil, Talvisodan uhrit. (Sodan: New Sodan vision, 1999) Robert Edwards, White Death: The Soviet Unions Winter War on Finland. (Phoenix: New Edition, 2007) Tobias Philbin III, The Lure of Neptune: GermanSoviet Naval Collaboration and Ambitions. (South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1994) Willam Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1990) Azerbaijan: A Century of Hope. (BBC Russia, 2005) accessed May 1, 2011. Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945. MolotovRibbentrop Pact map. The Misconception of the Twentieth Century (EconLog, 2006) accessed May 1, 2011.