Hitler had always admired the British Empire and still believed that he could bring it to the peace table. He dreamed of conquering Europe while the British Empire controlled the rest of the world. With isolationist America unwilling to enter the war. Hitler suspected that Britain was fighting on because she looked to the Soviet Union for eventual support. So, the German leader calculated that if he could crush Josef Stalin’s regime, Britain would sue for peace, while providing Germany with needed living space. On December 18, 1940, Directive No. 21 was issued, authorizing Operation Barbarossa. This, he said, would be the blitzkrieg to end all blitzkriegs. With Russian bolshevism struck down, he promised that a “Thousand-Year Reich” was assured.
