Operation Barbarossa (German: "Unternehmen Barbarossa") was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, starting Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. 

The operation stemmed from Nazi Germany's ideological aims to conquer the western Soviet Union so that it could be repopulated by Germans, to use Slavs as a slave-labour force for the Axis war-effort, and to seize the oil reserves of the Caucasus and the agricultural resources of Soviet territories. 

In the two years leading up to the invasion, Germany and the Soviet Union signed political and economic pacts for strategic purposes. Nevertheless, the German High Command began planning an invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1940 (under the codename Operation Otto), which Adolf Hitler authorized on 18 December 1940. Over the course of the operation, about four million Axis personnel, the largest invasion force in the history of warfare, invaded the western Soviet Union along a front. In addition to troops, the Wehrmacht employed some 600,000 motor vehicles, and between 600,000 and 700,000 horses for non-combat operations. The offensive marked an escalation of the war, both geographically and in the formation of the Allied coalition. 

Operationally, German forces achieved major victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union, mainly in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and inflicted, as well as sustained, heavy casualties. Despite these Axis successes, the German offensive stalled in the Battle of Moscow and subsequently the Soviet winter counteroffensive pushed German troops back. The Red Army absorbed the Wehrmacht's strongest blows and forced the unprepared Germans into a war of attrition. The Wehrmacht would never again mount a simultaneous offensive along the entire strategic Soviet–Axis front. The failure of the operation drove Hitler to demand further operations of increasingly limited scope inside the Soviet Union, such as Case Blue in 1942 and Operation Citadel in 1943 — all of which eventually failed. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What is the article discussing?
2. What is the subject of the article?
3. What operation does the article talk about?
Q2:
1. When did Operation Barbarossa begin?
2. When was Operation Barbarossa set into motion?
3. In what year was Operation Barbarossa started?
Q3:
1. What is one country that signed a pact in 1939?
2. Who signed a pact with the Soviet Union in 1939?
3. What country made a pact with the Soviets in 1939?
Q4:
1. What is one country that signed a pact in 1939 with Germany?
2. Who signed a pact with the Germans in 1939?
3. What country made a pact with Germany in 1939?
Q5:
1. Did the Germans or the Soviets break their pact?
2. Was the pact broken by Germany or the Soviet Union?
3. Which country was the one to break the political pact - Germany or the Soviet Union?
Q6:
1. 
2. 
3. 
Q7:
1. Which German organization plotted against the soviets?
2. What organization in Germany planned an invasion of the Soviet Union?
3. What part of the German forces planned the invasion of the Soviet Union?
Q8:
1. What was the plan of the German High Command?
2. What did the German High Command plan on doing?
3. What was the German High Command going to do?
Q9:
1. What was the name of the German High Command's operation?
2. What did the German High Command call their operation?
3. What was the name of the German operation to invade the Soviet Union?
Q10:
1. Did Hitler support Operation Otto or not?
2. Was Hitler pro or against Operation Otto?
3. Did Operation Otto have Hitler's blessing or not?
Q11:
1. When did Hitler authorize operation Barbarossa?
2. When did Operation Barbarossa get the go ahead from Hitler?
3. When did Hitler permit Operation Barbarossa to be carried out?
