Why Germany Lost the World War Two Essay Example for Free

Why Germany Lost the World War Two Essay After WW I Germany had many economic and political problems that allowed Adolph Hitler to become ruler of Germany. After Hitler appointed himself chancellor he started rebuilding the German military. After years of no international response to breaking the Treaty of Versailles Germany attacked Poland. From 1939 to 1941 Germany had won many victories; however 1941 was a turning point in the war. By the end of 1941 Germany would continuously lose land to the allies with the exception of the Battle of the Bulge. The main reasons for Germanys defeat were that they were fighting the war in too many fronts, poor leadership and the invasion of Russia. Firstly, Germany is surrounded by nations capable of fighting Germany. Always has been that way. Oppositions were clever enough to realize Germany was strong enough to fight one mighty opponent, but might be in deep trouble if they had to fight two or more at the same time. Hitler realized that too. But he didnt have a choice. He tried to get what he wanted little by little. Until the Allies realized there was no end to it. Hitler then grabbed Poland in a deal with the USSR: they split the country. That gave him time to fight only in the west. This worked but didn’t include the conquest of Britain. Conquering England would be nice, but not vital. The USSR was seen highly dangerous at that time as well. So Hitler decided to strike first before Stalin did it and that made it a multiple front war. At first the Germans seemed to be winning, but fighting on three fronts (defense in the west, some forces in Africa and the major offensive against the USSR) was too much. The western front was an air war with Brittan. The eastern front was with the Soviet Union. A southern front could also be included in Italy and Africa. Germany had a war on multiple fronts just like in WW I. If Germany had invaded Brittan or never started a war with the Soviet Union there would have been only a single front to fight at one time. Therefore, Germany fighting on multiple fronts was definitely one of the reasons to why Germany was defeated in the World War2. Also if Italy was a stronger ally they could have stopped the allied invasion in the south. Having multiple fronts is not the only reason Germany lost the war, leadership also played a major role. Secondly, Adolf Hitler was not a very strong military commander. Hitler possessed many powerful leadership skills that won victories for Germany, but he often blundered into making military mistakes. Also, it must always be remembered that he was personally responsible for the death of tens of millions of people. It is difficult to call someone a great leader who causes such devastation among the nations of the world. His need to have personal operation of the German military crippled its effectiveness. Hitler was a superb politician however his military tactics and inability to listen to his generals caused many major battles to be lost. When invading France Hitler should have stopped the British Expeditionary Force from evacuating at Dunkirk. Hitler should have captured the BEF and continued his blitzkrieg right into Britain. Another tactical error was attacking Stalingrad not Moscow. He also wasted a large amount of resources on making the ME-262 a light bomber while it was already proven to the best fighter, even against other jet propelled planes. Adolf Hitler also wasted an immense amount of resources. As a result, Hitler’s poor military leadership certainly impacted their success in the Wold War 2. Thirdly, In 1942 Hitler made the vital mistake of spreading his forces out in Russia rather than concentrating them in a smaller area and because of this Germany failed to overwhelm and seize Stalingrad, this was to be the Start of Hitlers and Germanys downfall. This caused an extreme rise in Russian morale and from suddenly the war had reached a turning point and it looked like the Powerful Germans were nearing their defeat. After this particular mistake there was a sequence of events out of Hitlers control hammering the final nail into Germanys coffin. The Japanese sent a group of planes from the air force to bomb a small port in America named Pearl Harbour. This fired the Americans up so much so that they joined the war to defeat Hitler. Deciding to attack Russia was a bad idea, as well as declaring war on the US. Both of these countries could substantially out produce Germany. Although Germany took the initiative both times, they may have had little choice. The United States would have entered the war one way or another due to the fact that Britain was their closest ally, and they could not sit and watch them be destroyed by Germany. Russia was planning on entering the war a few months after Germany attacked her anyway. [This view that the Soviet Union was preparing a pre-emptive strike against Germany is not widely accepted]. Hence even thought Germany was a powerful country over all, there were many things to work on which brought this country down. Germany lost the war because of many reasons but the main three would be fighting the war in too many fronts, poor leadership and the invasion of Russia.