The Red Army was on its heels when Hitler broke through the eastern front, the possibility of shattering the morale and will to resist of the Russians was ever present if they captured Moscow during 1941. The Russians were the first to stop the wehrmacht on the land, this undoubtedly gave them some confidence. The Soviets were notorious for their recklessness and heroism which could only be described as shear stupidity in some cases. The did poses an invincible aura up until the later stages of operation Barbarossa. The initial advances made by the blitzkrieg was blistering and shocked the world again at the Germans audacity to wage war, although it was only a matter of time before anti-blitzkrieg strategies was placed into effect.

Hitler should have given priority to Moscow then one of the other major cities not try and take all three at once, that was a overconfident decision on his part. The Wehrmacht was pushed to hard and this was undoubtedly the last blunder Nazis could suffer before they themselves were thrown back and irreparable damage was enacted on the german armed forces for the remainder of the war. It was the make or break for Germany if they destroyed Russia they would have continental Europe for themselves and Britain would be far from any assistance but as we know germans failed to kill the Russian bear quickly and paid heavily for their inaccurate assessment of Soviet forces and capabilities.