The Final Salvo

Germany’s fatal error was a misunderstanding of the strength of the Soviet state, as well as the increasing quality of Soviet military equipment.  The assumptions that underlay the German war, and the arguments that justified it to the German public, made it nearly impossible to adopt the only strategy that might have had a chance of working. Knocking the USSR out of the war in the same way that they had knocked France out of the war was almost impossible given geographic reality.  Yet, by the end of 1941 Germany faced an unbeatable Allied coalition that swiftly undercut its ability to wage total war in the East. 

Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005.  He received his BS from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2004.  Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), the Battleship Book (Wildside, 2016), and Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology (University of Chicago, 2020). He has contributed extensively to a number of journals and magazines, including the National Interest, the Diplomat: APAC, World Politics Review, and the American Prospect.  Dr. Farley is also a founder and senior editor of Lawyers, Guns and Money.

This article is being republished due to reader interest.

Image: Reuters