Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 was the largest and most costly military operation in history. Unprecedented in the scale of the destruction that it wrought and the deep historical scars that it left behind, its aim was nothing less than 'a war of extermination' to annihilate Soviet communism, liquidate the Jews and createlebensraumfor the so-called German master race. In reality, the outcome of this bitter struggle was quite as momentous as the struggle, which had preceded it. By 1945, a huge swathe of Europe between Berlin and Moscow had been reduced to a devastated wasteland in which whole societies had been erased from the face of the earth. Over 26 million Soviets and between four and five million Germans lay dead. The victory of the Red Army transformed the Soviet Union into one of the world's two superpowers. It also saw the complete destruction of Hitler's megalomaniac vision of world domination. This class will explore both the military campaign from 1941-45, the initiation of the Final Solution, and the politics and diplomacy behind the lines as we chart these momentous four years and the tragic human suffering they witnessed. Learn through online lectures, class discussion and other primary sources.