Germany’s decision to invade the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, was the most pivotal moment of World War II. The launch of Operation Barbarossa did not arise from a singular cause but was instead the product of a confluence of strategic, ideological, military, and economic factors. While much has been written about Hitler’s ideological imperative to destroy Bolshevism and secure Lebensraum, one of the less emphasized but equally crucial motivations was Germany’s dire need for oil—a resource that was essential for sustaining the Wehrmacht’s war machine.

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Few historical counterfactuals are as sobering as the prospect of a full-scale U.S. invasion of the Japanese home islands in 1945. By the summer of that year, Japan’s strategic position was untenable. The Imperial Navy had been shattered, American bombers roamed its skies with impunity, and a naval blockade was strangling its economy. Yet, the war’s inevitable outcome should not be mistaken for an inevitable collapse. Had the Allies executed Operation Downfall—the two-stage invasion of Kyushu and Honshu—the result would have been a bloodbath unprecedented even by the standards of the Pacific War.

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