Stalingrad was vital to securing the oil in Baku

Oil which the German military desperately needed

You take Moscow and then besiege the rest of the towns while you worry about the rest of Europe. To kill the snake you cut off the head. The Russian government wasn't strong enough to stay together after losing their capital.

Could have had Moscow then waltz right in for the oil.

If you're a soldier and your capital is taken...you're no longer a soldier. you're like a resistance fighter.

Ala the French resistance fighters

That's video game logic

No it's really not

It really is

Where do you think video games got it from?

A need for simplified, clear rules?

Okay.........and?

History

Bingo

That's what happens. You get rid of the centralized leadership and then it's just a clean up job.

The Eastern Front was an intensely patriotic struggle, very few if even a single Russian soldier would say "oh, well they got Moscow. I cant fight anymore"

Because without central authority there's no coordination, there's no logistics, there's no anything. It's just now various local factions all with their own shit going on

You know not every General and Party member was in Moscow, right? And the ones who were could always use their legs and leave

Patriotism is fungible. They can be patriotic af, but they still have families.

They can change their patriotism to their local town

That's correct but has nothing to do with the reality of the clash of nations that was WW2

Okay so Stalin gets taken out or he's forced to flee

Now who's in chage?

charge*

Probably Shukov

Zhukov*

The answer is whoever says they're in charge. And if multiple people say it....guess what. You're gonna split like an axe to wood

Zhukov can be in charge until another general says "I'd do a much better job, and my men are all loyal to me...not Zhukov. I'm now in charge of Eastern Russia."

Or whoever Kalinin appoints

And just like that he's in charge

Look up the Romance of the Three Kingdoms period in China to see what happens when a centralized leader gets taken out. Chaos ensues, and multiple local factions rise up and try to fill the power vacuum. Same thing is happening right now in Iraq and Afganistand and Syria since ISIS is taken out

I am well aware of the Three Kingdoms period. The difference is China wasnt subject to invasion by an overwhelming force

Again.....Hitler was on Meth. Literally meth. The idea that he was acting logically is magical wishful thinking

There was no such thing as China during the Three Kindgoms

It was just kingdoms within China

Which, if you look at the accession of Alfred the Great in Wessex, people have a fairly strong recognition that even with individual ambitions for internal struggles in the face of foreign aggression they must act as one

Precisely, there was no "Other" to unify them

Which makes it even more ridiculous honestly. The whole idea of attacking the Soviets was dumb in the first place. Not only was it dumb, but then HOw he attacked was dumb, the locations he attacked were dumb, his retreat strategy was dumb AF

The meth accusation is immaterial to the concepts we're discussing

Like, it was blunder after blunder after blunder....and people actually LIKE this guy

Please shoot me if I ever follow some loser like that. Oof. What a mess that would be.