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Turning Points & Reasons
for Allied Victory in World
War II
Adapted from a History Lecture by Ken Webb
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The issue of hindsight in history…
Advantages:• We know the result• Perspective• Can see the long-term effects of events• Research• Lack of emotional involvement (hopefully)
Danger:• Nothing in history is inevitable, even if hindsight suggests it is!
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An outline…Turning Points:
• Identifying a turning point
• Suggestions– Battle of Britain (Aug – Sept 1940)– Survival of Moscow (Dec 1941)– El-Alamein (October 1942)– Kursk (July 1943)
Reasons for Allied Victory:
• Economies, organisation & mobilisation
• Victory at sea
• Air supremacy
• Moral high ground
• Leadership
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Identifying a turning point…
• An ‘unhistorical’ notion?
• Too simplistic
• History is complex
• The danger of ‘what if’ history
• List of turning points is (almost) endless
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The Battle of Britain: Aug – Sept 1940
• What, when, where?
• Outcomes
• Reasons for outcomes– RAF skill, courage– Churchill & British determination– radar– where battle was fought– German errors
• Beware the myths!– the ‘few’
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Significance of the outcome of
the Battle of Britain (1)• End of Operation Sealion
– the debate: was it realistic?
• Britain’s survival– Churchill’s survival– galvanised opposition
• British morale
• International impact– the USA & Roosevelt
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Significance of the outcome of
the Battle of Britain (2)• Richard Overy’s argument
– revisionist, but…– a calamity avoided
• Strategic significance– two-front war– ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’– promoting resistance– D Day & after
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The Survival of Moscow: Dec 1941
• Operation Barbarossa
• Success of blitzkrieg– staggering Soviet losses– ‘unstoppable’ Wehrmacht
• August: Kiev & the Ukraine– impressive victory, but…
• Dec: Moscow, so close, but…– climate– logistics & communication– Stalin & Soviet morale– Zhukov’s tactics– effect on German morale
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Significance of theSurvival of Moscow (1)• Russell Stolfi’s argument:
– Hitler so close in 1941– Britain no real threat– result: German control of Europe
• Rodric Braithwaite’s argument:– chaos of Moscow– impact of Moscow’s fall/survival
• Significance of Moscow:– communications hub– industrial centre– issue of morale– military & political collapse
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Significance of theSurvival of Moscow (2)
• Moscow’s survival meant the Soviet Union’s survival
– economically, politically & psychologically
• Strategic significance– meaningful two-front war– economics an issue– the USA
• Why not Stalingrad?– symptom not cause of Nazi failure
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The Battle of El-Alamein: Oct 1942
• October 1942:– British 8th Army, led by Montgomery– Deutsche Afrika Korps, led by Rommel (on leave)
• The battle:– artillery bombardment– overwhelming Allied superiority in tanks– infantry assault– ‘WWI battle fought with modern weapons’
• Lasted 12 days– ended with heavy Axis losses & DAK in full flight
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Significance of the outcome of
the Battle of El-Alamein (1)• End of the Axis presence in
North Africa:– Nov ’42: Allied landings in Vichy N. Africa– Apr ’43: Tunisia falls– 250 000 Axis POWs
• Strategic importance:– Suez Canal is safe– oilfields of the Middle East safe– threatens Italy, Balkans
• Morale booster
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• Historians’ differences:– John Bierman/Colin Smith call it
a major ‘turning point’– Russian historians claim it was small compared to the E. Front
• Churchill’s view:– ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ – ‘Before Alamein, we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat.’
Significance of the outcome of
the Battle of El-Alamein (1)
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The Battle of Kursk: July 1943
•Operation Citadel– Hitler’s view of Kursk– Stalin’s view of Kursk
• The battle:– greatest tank battle in history– Hitler ‘tantalisingly close’?– had to partially disengage to reinforce Sicily
• By Nov ‘43…– Germans had lost Kharkov, Smolensk, Kiev, etc
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Significance of the outcome of
the Battle of Kursk (1)• Paul Carrell’s argument:
– in ’43, Nazi victory still a possibility– victory by the Germans would allow them to regain the strategic initiative
• General view of Kursk:– decisive defeat for Germany– strategic initiative passed to Red Army– inexorable process of weakening of the Wehrmacht
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Significance of the outcome of
the Battle of Kursk (2)• Richard Overy’s argument:
– impact of German losses– balance of armoured vehicles now completely in favour of the Red Army– initiative passed to Red Army
• Teheran Conference in Nov ‘43:– dominated by the ‘Big Three’– discussed setting up post-war Europe– gave Stalin leverage
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Axis defeat: isn’t it obvious?
Axis defeat has an air of inevitability
about it
Allies had:more men,
more weapons, more everything
Superior Allied
economic strength
Germany had ‘bitten off more
than it could chew’
Axis Defeat
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Reasons for Allied Victory
ReasonsFor
AlliedVictory
USA’s‘economicmiracle’ Soviet Union’s
superhumanefforts
Situationinside
Nazi Germany
Allied controlof theseas
Alliedleadership
Alliedair
supremacy
Allied victoryin the
‘war of morale’
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Situation inside Nazi Germany
• Germany in 1939 was geared for a short war
• Success of blitzkrieg led to complacency
• Internal structure & rivalries
• Role of ideology
• Belated move to ‘total war’ in 1943
• Chaos, confusion, rivalry & duplication
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USA’s ‘economic miracle’
• Roosevelt’s persuasion & preparation
• American ‘know how’
• Mass mobilisation
• Patriotic profit
• Relatively untouched by war
• Some amazing production stats
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Soviet Union’s superhuman efforts
• Fight for survival
• Single-mindedness of the Soviet state & people
• Economic relocation
• Rationalisation
• Soviet morale
• Some amazing production stats
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Allied air supremacy• Effects of air supremacy
– closed the ‘Atlantic Gap’– destruction of enemy ground forces & supplies– freedom of movement for own assets– reduction of enemy morale & industry
•Relationship & differences between tactical & strategic bombing
• Allied innovation in strategic bombing
• Significance of strategic bombing
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Allied control of the seas
• Britain almost brought to her knees by U-boat menace in WW1
• Churchill extremely worried by U-boat threat
• Kriegsmarine neglected by Hitler
• Allied control of shipping lanes crucial to supply Britain & build up troops to liberate Europe
• Air power crucial to closing the ‘Atlantic Gap’
• Achieved by mid-1943 in Atlantic & Mediterranean
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Allied victory in the ‘war of morale’
• The ‘side of right’/moral ‘high ground’
• ‘Big Three’ presented a united front to the Axis
• The Resistance in Occupied Europe
• Nazi rule by fear/terror
• Domestic propaganda
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Allied leadership• Hitler’s lack of perspective & decision-making
• Nazi system of government
• The ‘Big Three’
• (Western) Allied leaders were politically answerable to their countrymen
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Reasons for Allied Victory
ReasonsFor
AlliedVictory
USA’s‘economicmiracle’ Soviet Union’s
superhumanefforts
Situationinside
Nazi Germany
Allied controlof theseas
Alliedleadership
Alliedair
supremacy
Allied victoryin the
‘war of morale’