United We Conquer From September 1939 to the summer of 1942, the Axis powers were winning the war. Then the Allies had key victories in the Pacific and in Europe. The tide had turned. In June 1942, the Allies won the important battle of Midway Island in the Pacific. The Allies forced Japan to retreat and go on the offensive.
The modern world is still living with the consequences of World War II, the most powerful conflict in history. In the bloodshed, seventeen million military personnel died in the war. Moreover, civilian deaths in the Soviet Union and China alone totaled 30 million. Like any other major historical event, World War II has been reenacted in Hollywood movies. Likewise, like any historical movie, Pearl Harbor has generated debate about its historical accuracies or rather its historical inaccuracies.
The battle involved German, American, Canadian and British forces. The Battle of Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the USA and Allied troops in the World War II. It was an unexpected attack by Nazi troops against the Allies (Cole, 1965). 2. Review of the setting a. Strategic/Operational Overview Hitler prepared three attacks on the Allied forces, and the first attack formed the so-called “bulge” in the Allied forces front line. The Allies were surprised by the Nazi attack.
The Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War Two in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. The battle took place between August 1942 and February 1943. It was the largest battle on the Eastern front and is among one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare. The heavy losses inflicted on the German Army making the Battle of Stalingrad a turning point in the war. Three reasons that led up to this turning point was the failure of Operation Barbarossa, the first major victory of World War Two for the Russians, and how weak the German Army had become.
The success of Hitler and the Axis powers during the first two years of the war, 1939-1941, was impaired due to poor, irrational planning, postponements, overconfidence, and the growing forces of the Allied powers, as exemplified in the Battle of Britain, the Invasion of the Soviet Union, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the spring of 1940, Hitler swept through the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium and was then able to successfully invade France with his blitzkrieg war tactics and ability to split up the French and British armies. By swiftly moving south and west, the Germans were able to trap the British army at Dunkirk, then entering and invading France in June of 1940. The British now stood alone and awaited the attack of Germany. Though the odds and numbers were against the British, it was the unorganized planning and overconfidence that led to the British army to ultimately win the battle against Germany.
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most crucial and gruesome battles fought in Europe during World War Two. There were numerous reasons that Hitler saw fit for invading Stalingrad on September 1st, 1942 including his obsession for conquering the city named after his biggest rival, Josef Stalin. As the battle waged on both sides suffered immense casualties as they tried to gain a strangle hold on the important industrial city of Stalingrad. After 199 days of fighting, the Battle of Stalingrad concluded, beginning what many historians view as the turning point in Hitler’s European conquest as the Germans began their retreat from Russia. By 1942, Hitler had assumed control of the German Army (an army that no longer had the strength and resources seen in Operation Barbarossa) and he listened to his generals much less than he had in previous years.
On the 22nd June 1941 ordered the start of Operation Barbarossa, An operation that around 3.9 million German troops would be committed and was arguably the beginning of the end of the Third Reich’s worldwide conquest. With hindsight it is easy to suggest that Russia would have always proven a target too overwhelming to tackle considering the constraints of the German military, Economy and more importantly logistical supply line. There are debatable points then as to why Hitler decided to invade such a difficult target, whether it was an act of opportunism or whether the ideological urge and hatred ran so deep he was forced invade at any opening. Both realisations as to why have points supporting it and the probably answer was most likely a mix of both. The question as to when Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union comes under similar causes.
This would be his military successes. Between the years 1939 and 1941, Hitler enjoyed many battle victories. From his invasion of Poland in 1939, to the occupation of France in 1940 they were all looked upon as major successes for Hitler. He must have felt unstoppable, but he should of known with infinite successes come enormous failures. He was also successful in brainwashing the German children by rewriting German textbooks.
And most importantly, the economy of the Soviet Union was in ruins after the U.S.S.R had chose to spend massive amounts of money on wars and the arms race. The world saw many of the U.S.S.R's failures in Afghanistan and took immediate advantage of it. Although there could be many reasons behind the U.S.S.R invading Afghanistan, it was officially to support the government of Afghanistan against the Islamic Mujahideen Resistance. The Mujahideen were being supported by the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and the Pakistan government and obviously the U.S.S.R would be conflicted. When the war started off, U.S.S.R didn't expect it to be a decade-long war.
This was a major victory for the Soviet Union and marked the end of the German advances. It was one of history’s bloodiest battles. 850,000 Germans were killed, wounded and captured and 750,000 on the Soviet Union side. The capture of Stalingrad was important to Hitler for two primary reasons. Firstly, it was a major industrial city on the Volga River.