The best known example of a Vernichtungskrieg is the Eastern Front of World War II, which began on June 22, 1941, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The Free University of Berlin historian Ernst Nolte called this the "most egregious Versklavungs- und Vernichtungskrieg [war of enslavement and annihilation] known to modern history" and distinguished it from a "normal war", such as the Nazi regime conducted against France.Ernst Nolte: Der Faschismus in seiner Epoche. Action francaise – Italienischer Faschismus – Nationalsozialismus. Taschenbuchausgabe, Piper, München 1984, S. 451.
