Napoleon started his invasion of Russia in June as well. The historical lesson was there for Hitler. PAT, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.
I bet he does a fist pump each time a bomb goes off in Israel.
Hitler knew the history of Napolean in Russia and accordingly planned his invasion for an earlier kickoff but got bogged down trying to bail out his hopeles Italian ally. He probably convinced himself that with a mechanized army the results would be different.
Exactly. Operation Barbarossa kicked off almost 6 weeks late because Hitler refused to start the invasion while the British were mucking around in Greece. He wanted to remove that "thorn in his side" before going ahead with Barbarossa. Guderian and OKH told him not to worry about it.
The invasion still could have met its time-table, but halfway to Moscow, Army Group center was diverted south to the Ukrain. By the time Army Group Center was back on track and moving on Moscow, it was too late to take Moscow before winter set in.
Commenting on Hitler's interference with the plans for the invasion of Russia, Heinz Guderian said, "I could never have believed that a really brilliant military position could be so screwed up in two months."
In retrospect, perhaps the most important allied effort early in the war was the attempt to help Greece against the Nazi invasion. In purely military terms on the ground, it was a failure. But it delayed Operation Barbarossa for a critical period and may have been the action that won the war. A successful operation Barbarossa may well have knocked Russia out of the war as it was intended to do. At the very least, it would have extended the war for several more years.