Hitler’s invasion of Russia
Over the course of history, two major invasions of Russia have taken place and resulted in failure. Those two invasions ended in the failure of the invading parties. The first invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte will be mentioned briefly to provide additional information on Russian resources. The Second invasion which took place during World War II is the invasion pushed by Adolf Hitler. His invasion is a prime example of how Russia’s geography, lack of proper preparation, and underestimating the enemy, caused victory for Russia. In 1941 from June to December, Adolf Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Russian forces (Weinberg 264). This attack was known as code name Barbarossa and lasted from June 1941 to February 1943.
The attack, Barbarossa, initially gave the German forces the upper hand for the warmer, dryer, spring months of the attack. According to A World at Arms, by
One of the greatest battles that took place was in the winter of 1942-1943 and is known as the battle of Stalingrad. This battle was not only fought for the city of Stalingrad but also for the oil fields in the Caucasus, the oil fields were the main goal of the General, Paulus, as ordered by Hitler (Trueman paragraph 2). There were a few speculations as to why Hitler ordered the taking of Stalingrad and one of the speculations was that Hitler simply hated Stalin that much and wanted the city to fall, the other more logical speculation was that due to its location and the advance of the German troops they thought it smart to capture the city instead of leaving it open behind them as they advanced (Trueman paragraph 1). Their other reason for capturing Stalingrad was for its industrial and communication resources, it was the communication and manufacturing hub of the South. (Trueman paragraph
Adolf Hitler, born in 1889, is an Austrian born man who is known for his instigation and participation in the Nazi Political movement, or genocide, known as the Holocaust. Throughout his later life, Hitler spent the majority of his time organizing discriminatory laws that prevented Jewish citizens’ basic rights and ultimately their demise. However, before he advanced such laws and politics, he served as the Head of State, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, until he became the Fuhrer of Germany’s Third Reich which began in 1933 and ended in 1945 (Jewish Virtual Library). His actions were fueled by an unrelenting and strict hate for the Jewish community, better known as anti-Semitism, much like the vast majority of Eastern countries. Both
Hitler’s conduction of the Battle of Stalingrad was his biggest mistake. The decisions that Hitler made during the Battle of Stalingrad influenced the outcome of following battles and World War 2. Adolf Hitler kept sending men into the front line even though generals advised him to withdraw the troops and surrender. According to William L. Shirer, “When General Zeitzler got up enough nerve to suggest to the Fuehrer that the Sixth Army should be withdrawn from Stalingrad, Hitler flew into a fury. ‘Where the German soldier sets foot, there he remains!’"(The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Document 1) Hitler aspires to take over the world so a loss could make his leadership appear to be weak and expose flaws to the rest of the world creating a downward spiral of his reputation, of being
By breaking the non-aggression agreement reached between Germany and Russia, this contributed to the defeat of Hitler’s forces. Harsh weather conditions left vehicles battered and stuck in mud, leaving the Germans to rely on rations of food and little to no ammunition as there was no way for them to resupply. The failure of a German take-over can be seen through a combination of these issues and problems faced by the Germans. Near the end of the battle, the fighting Soviet forces had saved Moscow and the Red Army would now embark on an offensive of their own. Hence, Moscow was significant in contributing to the retreat of the German forces.
The battle of Stalingrad has often been referred to as the turning point of World War II. Stalingrad, now called Volgograd is located on the river Volga in the southern part of western Russia. It was of extreme importance because it was the last stronghold protecting the vast oil fields that lay beyond it to the east. Hitler believed his Operation Barbarossa would be an easy victory, claiming that troops would be home for Christmas. There was much symbolism in Hitler’s decision to attack Stalingrad and that was due to that it was named after the Russian leader Stalin and would cause a great loss of morale in the Russian army if the German army could capture it. The German 6th Army ran into incredibly fierce resistance on the part of the Russians. As the battle waged on for nearly 3 months the daily bloodbaths of the street battles began to take their toll on both sides. Russia’s use of snipers began to cost the Germans more and more lives everyday. Most famous of...
This operation started on June 22, 1941. By the time December of 1941 came around, Germany 's troops had reached the gates of Moscow. Germany believed they were going to be successful, so they were pretty confident. For a short time in the spring of 1942, the Germans regained the military scheme, and by June, the Germans were making their way toward the city of Stalingrad.
The battle of Stalingrad is argued to be one of the most significant strategizing battle for the Germans. If Germany had won Stalingrad there would have been no fight left for the Russians to have. Instead, Germany made a hasty decision to attack in order to prevent Russia from coming up with a strategy which put Germany at a disadvantage. By the end of Stalingrad the Russians had managed to push back the Germans and put them on the defensive. If Russia had lost in their battle against Nazi Germany the United States and Great Britain would have faced a much harsher fight against Nazi Germany. Some would even argue that it would have been next to impossible for America to win against Nazi
The Soviet Union’s massive success in this battle marked the war turning in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was fought from July 1942 to February 1943. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched a carefully planned counteroffensive led by General Georgy Zhukov. By the time of the counteroffensive, the Germans were outnumbered 1,011,000 to 1,103,000.
But in 1812, the seemingly invincible Napoleon made the fateful decision to invade Russia. He advanced deep into that vast country, eventually reaching Moscow in September. He found Moscow had been burned by the Russians and could not support the hungry French Army over the long winter. Thus Napoleon was forced to begin a long retreat, and saw his army decimated to a mere 20,000 men by the severe Russian winter and chaos in the ranks.
One last mistake that most people could call Napoleon’s greatest, would be his invasion of Russia. When Czar Alexander I stopped complying with Napoleon’s demands with the Continental System, putting heavy taxes on French luxury products, and refusing to let Napoleon marry a sister of his, Napoleon thought that it was time to put Russia back in his place. With this idea in place, Napoleon gathered a huge amount of troops from all around Europe, which first entered Russia on June 24, 1812. A quote from Sutherland states that “It was the most diverse European army since the Crusades”. History experts expect that at least 450,000 Grand Armée soldiers and maybe even 650,000 ended up crossing the Niemen River to fight the Russians on the other side (approx. 200,000).
After a two year stalemate, both the Russians and Germans awaited major confrontations that would define the momentum for either side. Up until this point in the war, although the Germans had captured many European countries and were victoriously advancing with their keen tactics, such as the blitzkrieg and their cogent weapons, battles on the Eastern front seemed impossible to win. Upon a dismal loss at the Battle of Stalingrad earlier in 1943, German morale was greatly lowered and the German forces finally apprehended the strength of the Russian troops. The momentum would finally be settled with the decisive battle near the town of Kursk, a town on the Moscow-Rostov railway, in Southern Russia. The goal of the Battle of Kursk was to regain German morale and to pinch off a large salient in the Eastern front, which would make Russians much more vulnerable to German attack. Being such an important battle to the overall success of the Germans, they formulated several unique plans; however, due to the lack of good judgement, these plans were doomed from the very start.
... the regime began to make concrete plans to overthrow it. Stalingrad was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
World War II was seen around the globe as a war to end all wars. Combat like this had never been experienced before and it was the largest scale battle in recent history. The death tolls for all sides skyrocketed to heights that had never been reached in any battle ever before. There was one man at the center of it all, one man who came to personify the root of living, breathing evil. That man was Adolf Hitler and to the rest of the world, he was a superhuman military machine who had no other goal but to achieve world domination through destruction. But the roots of the Battle of Stalingrad all began in 1941 when Hitler launched operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s powerful army marched across the east, seemingly unstoppable to any force. Stalin’s Red Army was caught completely off guard and their lines were completely broken apart. A majority of the country’s air force was destroyed when airfields were raided and many of the planes never even got the chance to leave the ground. Hitler’s army finally came to Leningrad where the city was besieged. The city held for 900 days and never gave way to the relentless Germans. At the cost of 1.5 million civilians and soldiers, the Red Army stopped Hitler from advancing further and postponed his plan to sweep over the south. Another cause for the retreat of Hitler was the brutal Russian winter, which Hitler and his army were completely unprepared for and the icy cold deaths would continue to haunt the Germans.
The United States has been involved in many wars since its inception. WWII in particular had a significant impact on the world and the United States. Through the years 1939 to 1945 the majority of the world suffered many tragedies and hardships. In total, 50 million people died including women, children, civilians, and innocent bystanders. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, was responsible for a significant amount of these deaths. Hitler, aligned with Japan, wanted to seize all of Europe and Japan wanted to conquer Asia. A major cause of WWII was that Germany strongly disapproved of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany especially didn’t like that they had to accept all the blame for WWI, paying $ 6,600 million for the damage they caused in WWI, and they were only allowed to have a small army and six naval ships, no tanks, no air force and no submarines were allowed. Also, the Rhineland area was to be de-militarized and taken out of Germany’s possession. All of these conditions were written in the Treaty of Versailles. During the war the world formed two sides, the Allies and the Axis Powers. The Allies included Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, known as “the Big 3”. The Axis Powers included Germany, Italy, and Japan. At the end of the war the Allies were triumphant and the world gained its peace.
The Effects of Stalin on Russia Much like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin was one of the most ruthless and despised people in the recorded history of the world. Stalin, though, found it fit to abuse his people in any way he saw fit. This man started what history now calls "The Great Purge. " Through the late 1920's when the rest of the world was living it up as the roaring 20's came to an end, Joseph Stalin was setting the stage for gaining absolute power by employing secret police repression against opposing political and social elements within his own Communist Party and throughout society.
His Grand Armee had never lost a battle, and Napoleon was sitting pretty as Emperor of all he could see—even Prussia, Austria and Russia were cowed. Then this brilliant military genius decided to invade Russia and force Tsar Alexander to a ruinous treaty. Napoleon set off in June, 1812, taking his army of 450,000 to 600,000 men—only half of them French—across the Neman River into Russia. The Russians, under General Kutuzov, could only field 200,000 soldiers. The Russia general knew he’d lose a pitched battle, so instead he strategically retreated.