hitler knew that he could not fight russia in the begining of the war. germany was a small war torn country with little resourcess compared to russia. both of them were dictators in their own right, antisemetic, controled through intimidation and minipulation and they had similar ideologies. however, soon after hitler got more powerful he followed his plan and sent a surprise strike to catch his enemy of gaurd. stalin did have spys everwhere but it was the russian winter that caused the natzis to loose