This Blitzkrieg caught Stalin by surprise because he was still recovering from the purges that had wiped out a great amount of his top officers. This unfortunate happening for Stalin was an advantage for Hitler. He and his army managed to wipe out two and a half million Russians. Even though the Germans had the advantage the Russians weren’t going to give up without a fight. They also had an advantage because Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet pact with Stalin which took Stalin by surprise.
Furthermore, for many centuries, European nations had been building empires, slowly extending their economic and political control over various peoples of the world and practicing imperialism. Colonies supplied the European imperial powers with raw materials and provided markets for manufactured goods. As Germany industrialized, it competed with France and Britain in the contest for colonies. In continuation, because each nation wanted stronger armed forces than those of any potential enemy, the imperial powers followed a policy of militarism—the development of armed forces and their use as a tool of diplomacy. Empires were expensive to build and to defend, and the growth of nationalism and imperialism led to increased military spending.
In August 1940 Winston Churchill made his speech about ‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few’. This describes effectively the importance of the RAF on winning the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain was a huge triumph for the RAF and Britain over Hitler as it was the first time he had ever been beaten. It proved to the other countries that were under attack by Hitler, or had been taken over by, that Germany could be defeated. In the act of Britain standing up to Germany with it not mattering if we were outnumbered and not fully prepared, showed them that if you stand up to Germany and dig deep and not give you will come through against his vast army.
Haig only intention was to breakthrough to get the German trenches and defeat the army once and for all. The battle took more than 1,000,000 lives and as it was the bloodiest battle throughout the history, it is said that more than 20,000 soldiers died in the first hour and more than 60,000 casualties on the first day. The soldiers that took part in this insidious war were as young as 14 and had no training and they did not know that they’ll die so young. The Somme ended in bloodshed and the human cost was very high, 420,000 British soldiers and 200,000 French soldiers had died for their country, almost as many as the Germans added together. This insidious war The Somme was the most tragic moment for Britain and British history.
The Great War (1914 to 1918) and the Second World War (1939 to 1945) were two war that happened within a small gap of time. Different events, centered firstly inside Europe, created war at a global scale. It is without denying that a lot of what happened during the first World War led to a more massive and destructive second World War. World War I and World War II can be compared and contrasted in both their military strategy, but also in their fundamental values. First of all the first World War happened mainly in Europe while the Second World War was fought at a global scale but they both started by a threat to the balance of power and started within Europe showing the importance that took World War II.
Germany also lost all overseas colonies, and their boundaries within Europe were reduced, losing in total 13.5% of their territory, which included losing 7 million people to neighbouring countries. This left Germany humiliated, having been allowed no say in the matter, and not even being invited to the peace treaty conference at which the clauses were discussed. This humiliation angered Hitler, and he vowed to make Germany strong once more as it had been before the First World War. This was a long-term cause of Hitler becoming chancellor, as it is what first motivated Hitler to become a leader and change the way in which Germany was left
All these tensions in Europe between very powerful nations led up to WW1. Even though the Build up of alliances and arms was a tremendous factor in the start of ww1 creating a state of total war. The most important underlying cause of WW1 was imperialism. The Triple Entente had the largest amount of colonies, which meant more military support and a larger budget to spend on their military forces
Overall, Source W challenges source V, as it indicates that Germany’s aggressive actions since the turn of the century resulted in war. Source X implies how it is a matter of great controversy however leads more towards the fact that Germany had always wanted colonial expansion. Although it could be argued otherwise, it is evident that outbreak of war in Europe was due to an aggressive foreign policy which had been waged c.1900. Source V states that Germany, ‘felt encircled not only by the triple entente but also by the forces of change’. Although it is true that Germany was surrounded by an alliance system, indeed an extensive alliance system did surround Germany, whether they posed a threat or not is questionable.
In addition, the war caused severe damage to economy since their were less men to work for in the fields and more Raw material was needed for the War. Great War is said to be the worst war for the soldiers because although their were more fatalities in World War two but the conditions that the soldiers had to face in Great War were beyond belief. Since great weapons like the machine gun and the long range cannonballs were invented, the casualties were tremendous in numbers in both Africa and Ottoman empire. Also, trench warfare was really used and due to the horrific conditions the
The offensive, which had lasted for just over a month, had resulted in the death of an estimated 45,000 communist forces, evidently making the offensive a ‘military defeat’ for the north. However, the offensive was a multi-purposed plan, and where it failed to break the stalemate, it succeeded in exposing the ‘credibility gap’ between what the American public was told of the war and the reality of the conflict. Such impacts lead to the emergence of negotiations and significant changes in the military and political leadership of the US, impacting on the outcome of the war and ultimately marking the offensive as a major turning point of the second indochinese war.excellent The impact of the Tet Offensive put the North in a position of power over the US, which was key to the peace negotiations that would begin held in Paris in 1968. Progress was slow, as contradictions emerged between the demands made by each side. American negotiators demanded that the North respect the demilitarised zone and curb their attacks on the South.