# Canonical recap data for Operation Barbarossa (1941)
# Source: https://recap.at/1941/operation-barbarossa
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: operation-barbarossa
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1941/operation-barbarossa"
title: Operation Barbarossa
subtitle: Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union launched history's largest military operation and fundamentally shifted WWII's trajectory toward Allied victory.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1941-06-22
endDate: 1941-12-05
datePrecision: day
year: 1941
decade: 1940
country:
name: Soviet Union
slug: soviet-union
summaryShort: "Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a 2,900-kilometer (1,800 mi) front, with the main goal of capturing territory "
summaryLong: Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a 2,900-kilometer (1,800 mi) front, with the main goal of capturing territory up to a line between Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, known as the A–A line. The attack became the largest and costliest military offensive in human history, with around 10 million combatants taking part in the opening phase and over 8 million casualties by the end of the operation on 5 December 1941. It marked a major escalation of World War II, opened the Eastern Front—the largest and deadliest land war in history—and brought the Soviet Union into the Allied powers.
lede: On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched its largest military invasion ever—3.8 million troops pouring across a 1,800-mile front into the Soviet Union. Adolf Hitler's goal was to seize Soviet territory and resources, destroy communism, and create living space for Germans. The invasion would become the deadliest military campaign in history, killing millions of soldiers and civilians over four brutal years.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Invasion1941.jpg/1280px-Invasion1941.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Unknown US Army Cartographer · via Wikipedia
importance: 92
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa"
  title: Operation Barbarossa
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- war
metaDescription: "Hitler's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union: 3.8 million troops, 1,800 miles of front, and the war's costliest campaign."
wikidataQid: Q83055
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- war
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260610063432/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-10
  label: Operation Barbarossa
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa"
