Moscow 1941: Hitler's Nemesis with Jonathan Dimbleby
Warfare
History Hit
4.5 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2022
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
While the Allies reeled from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and Hitler's declaration of war on the United States, a ferocious battle was also raging across the icy steppes of Russia in early December 1941. Hitler had launched his invasion of the Soviet Union in June of that year - Operation Barbarossa - the largest and deadliest in modern history. The German army was no match for the sheer number of soldiers sent by Stalin or the brutal conditions of a Russian winter. By the time Hitler's army reached the gates of Moscow on the 2nd of December, millions from both sides had died.
In June 2021, Dan was joined by historian and veteran broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby to discuss the beginning of Operation Barbarossa and the German offensive. Jonathan joins Dan once more to look at Stalin's response, what was going on in the city during the Battle of Moscow and why the Soviets ultimately succeeded in defeating the Germans.
This episode was first broadcast on Dan Snow's History Hit, 9th December 2021.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When Hitler launched his invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941, little did he know that it would become the largest and |
| 0:15.8 | deadliest battle in modern history. It turns out the German army was no match for the |
| 0:20.9 | sheer numbers of soldiers sent by Stalin or the brutal conditions of a Russian |
| 0:26.6 | winter. By the time Hitler's army had reached the gates of Moscow on the 2nd of December, |
| 0:32.4 | millions from both sides had died. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm your host James Rogers. This is the Warfare Podcast, and to find out more about this important |
| 0:41.4 | period of history, I've dug deep into the history hit archive |
| 0:45.1 | to pull out an episode between Dan and the veteran broadcaster, author and historian Jonathan |
| 0:51.5 | Dimbleby. Together they discuss Stalin's response, |
| 0:54.8 | what was going on in the city during the Battle of Moscow and why the Soviets |
| 0:59.4 | ultimately succeeded in defeating the Germans. |
| 1:03.0 | First of all, let's have a quick recap. |
| 1:08.0 | We got Jonathan Dimbleby. |
| 1:10.0 | We're very lucky. He's just written a big history of Barbarossa. |
| 1:12.0 | He talked to me on June the 22nd about Hitler's reasons for attempting to invent the Soviet Union. |
| 1:17.0 | Why he thought he might win and why he did it then. |
| 1:20.0 | I think he indicated preparations in the summer of 1940 that Barbaraosa was on the agenda, the invasion of Soviet Union was on the agenda. |
| 1:30.5 | If you go back to Mein Kampf, the demand for Leibundraum, which of course was there strongly |
| 1:39.2 | in the German psyche in any case after they had had limbs severed as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. |
| 1:45.6 | When I say limbs I mean the borders and the resentment and the feeling of humiliation that he |
| 1:52.4 | fueled by demanding space to the east, along with regarding the Bolsheviks, the Bolshevik Jewish conspiracy as the principal enemy. |
| 2:04.8 | So I do think that that was his intention |
... |
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