Why was the Axis Defeated in the WWII and Why did it Take so Long - Essay Example

WHY THE AXIS WAS DEFEATED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR College: WHY THE AXIS WAS DEFEATED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR The SecondWorld War was a long confrontation between the three states, Germany, Italy and Japan, that constituted the Axis power, and the Allied enemies who were opposed to the aggression of the Axis. The Axis was established in the mid 1930 by Germany, Italy, and Japan following an agreement that they reached to expand their territories. In the agreement, they settled on working together to pursue their expansionism strategies and to offer one another military support. On the other hand, the Allied forces comprised of the United States, China, France, Soviet Union, and Britain who were directly opposed to the Axis expansionism strategy. The defeat of the Axis by Allied forces is an issue that has garnered a lot of attention from different scholars who point out to the possible reasons for such as outcome. Evidently, the Axis was defeated due to their weak cooperation and under-estimation of the Allied forces. However, it is apparent that the defeat did not come easily as the war spanned a long period of time. The long period that the Allied took to defeat the Axis can be attributed to the apt preparation of the Axis and the weaknesses of the Allied forces during this war. The defeat of the Axis is a reality that came as a surprise for many countries that expected Germany to fight well due to their adequate preparation and strong army at the beginning of war. The main Agenda of the Axis power was to expand their boundaries and acquire new territories. They target the large part of Europe, France, Greece, and North Africa. In 1939, Germany came as strong leader in this war as they easily invaded France and was getting on well with their expansionism.1 However, there is evidence that the Axis made grievous mistakes that led to their defeat at the end of this war. The high level of aggression led to bling attacks that turned out sour for this army. The mistakes of tri-state Axis started with the attack of Italy in Greece. After Germany had captured France, Italy’s leader Mussolini felt that it was an appropriate time to prove their military strength by capturing Greece. In regard to Hitler, Mussolini stated that “He will find out in the newspapers that I have occupied Greece.”2 In 1940, Italy attacked Greece with the aim of occupying it within the same year. The 1940 Italy attack in Greece did not succeed as planned as Greece retaliated in a defensive attack. The Greece Army launched a severe attack that forced 530 thousand Italian troops back and embarrassed Mussolini’s efforts. However, as a cooperation procedure, the German engaged their troops to support Italy in conquering Greece. While the Axis completely overpowered Greece in 1941, this war led to the weakening of the Germany troops and led to the alteration of the German’s time table. Consequently, their attack in Russia was delayed by more than five weeks, which was costly to the Germans. The delay pushed the war with Russia to the harsh winter period, which was one of the factors that led to the defeat of Germany by the Allied forces. Hitler blamed their involvement in the war in Greece to their defeat and failure to occupy the North African countries.3 Therefore, the aggression of individual countries was costly for the Axis and led to their defeat in various expansion missions during the Second World War. The Axis attack in Russia has become an important focus for the reason behind the defeat by the Allied power. In 1941, Germany engaged Russia in one of largest confrontation that comprised of 3 million Axis soldiers armed with close to 4 thousand tanks and 7 000 artillery guns and 1830 planes.4 Clearly, the Germans were likely to defeat Russia due to their strong army. In less than two weeks, the German had successfully capture more than 0.3 million Russians and there was green light to the success of the attack. However, poor planning resulted to a quick turnaround to the events of this war. When Hitler paused to divert forces from Army Group Centre to the South towards Kiev, he delayed this mission that was close accomplishment. They ignored that the winter was close and that the German troops were not strong enough to win the war during such a season. Consequently, Russians had enough time to prepare for a counter attack and had the advantage of fighting in this weather condition5. While it remains a contentious issue, it is indisputable the delay and harsh weather conditions culminated to the defeat of the German troops and the eventual retreat. Under-estimation of the Axis Powers was a major reason for their failure in various missions. The Axis attack in Soviet Union was one of the confrontations that exposed the ignorance of the Axis and the ill outcomes of their poor planning. During the planning stage, the German forces ignored a possible resistance by the Soviet Union and undermined their power on the grounds that this was a country that already suffered internal weaknesses. From the words of Goebbels, the Soviet Union was a corrupt entity that would easily collapse under an attack by Germans “like a pack of cards.” In comparison, the Germany troops were smarter and well-armed than the Soviet Union troops and hence the Axis was sure to win in this war. However, the Soviet strong resistance came as a surprise for the German troops who felt that there was no value in a strong coordination while fighting such a weak nation. While the first six months of the war seemed good for the Axis troops, the reformation of the Soviet Union came as a surprise. The Soviet Union reorganized its troops, acquired strong communication equipment, and redesigned their air attack armies. This reformation led to the eventual defeat of the Axis power, an outcome that the Germans had not expected. Therefore, the Axis was defeated as a consequence of overconfidence in preparation for war. Next, the failure of the Axis power was inherent from their ignorance of the US potential for war. In the events of the Second World War, the US was seen as a country that had invested more in peace rather than war. Evidently, they had poor military capabilities despite their strong economic power. While the US had participated as an allied country to support countries such as Soviet Union and Britain with communication equipment, food and other war artilleries, they did not directly engage in war.6 However, he US declared war against Japan when they attacked the Pearl Harbor with an intention to occupy it. In the fear of falling out, Hitler committed a fatal mistake and declared war against the US. They felt that failing to support Japan would expose the Axis alliance to disagreements.7 Therefore, there declared war against the US as part of the commitment to support Japan. The German felt that they were much stronger than the US who had made less investment in weapons. The Germans felt that it would be easy to win the war against the US, irrespective of how contentious it would be. From a close perspective, this was a strategic error that was costly to the Axis allies. The Germans felt that they would defeat the Americans and hence amass the support of Japan in consequent wars. However, the Germans failed to understand that the US economic strength was not to be taken for granted at a moment of war. In response, the US quickly restructured its military power by acquiring more air power and tankers and weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, within a short period, the US emerged a military super-power who would take Germany down in a flash of a second. Germany was nothing compared to the US airpower. In consequent war, the US easily defeated Germany and the alliance with Japan that Hitler had anticipated was nothing to become. The Germans suffered a great deal and the Axis power was slowly weakening in consequent confrontations. As they struggled to produce more tankers, their production units were overpowered and they had to give up. Their failure to garner support from countries Spain and Turkey who were willing members of the Axis rendered their powers weak8. Besides, they undermined the Sea power and majored on land attacks, which became a point of weakness after the US joined in the war.9 Therefore, the Axis failure to understand the potential of the US and the power they possessed was a major weakness in their expansionism plan. However, while it is acceptable that the Allied power were more vigilant and more dedicated to shunning the Axis, it is clear that they took too long to overcome the Axis alliance. As noted, the Allied forces failed to act promptly, which gave the Germans the opportunity to pursue their goals. One of the reasons why the Allies of the Second World War failed to stop the war within the first few years is due to their delayed response to the attacks. For instance, when the Germans attacked Poland, Britain and France declared war against Germany but did not launch a counter-offensive attack. This delay gave the German adequate time to prepare for an attack in France. Therefore, France was easily defeated in the war by the Axis forces10. If France had launched an attack as soon as Germany invaded Poland, there were little chances that they would have prepared for consequent attacks. Therefore, the failure of the Allies to control the Axis alliance aggression at the initial stages was costly and led to the prolonged war. Secondly, the defeat of the Axis took much more time due to the overconfidence of the Western countries. While the western countries had enough intelligence to expect war from the Axis alliance, they undermined that countries such as Japan would launch an attack on the western countries. Prior to the war, the western countries dismissed Japan as country that had a pathetic military power and a weak imitation of the American military forces. They felt that Japan would be easily defeated if they happened to attack the Allied countries. However, this notion was stereotypical and was proved so after Japan successfully conquered various countries in the first six months of the war11. They ignored the need for prompt preparation that would have helped to stop Japanese invasion and to overcome their determined troops. If the Allied forces had adequately responded to the looming intelligence about attack by the Axis powers, it would have been easier to contain the war as soon as it started. However, undermining the Axis forces was consequential as Italy, Germany and Japan easily defeated countries that had made little preparation. In conclusion, the defeat of the Axis Alliance was inherent of the failure of Italy, Japan, and German to plan war and their over-ambitious strategies. The go-alone strategies resulted to weak army formations that were easy to resist. Poor time planning resulted in strong resistance as the armies launched attacks during vulnerable times. Besides, undermining the target countries resulted to poor military co-ordination, which gave countries such as Greece and Russia an advantage in resisting the Axis forces. However, while the Allied forces showed significant coordination, they delayed in responding to the enemies and hence were unable to control the Axis during the initial stages. While they had enough intelligence to expect an attack, they failed to shun the aggressive Axis force and hence confronted when they least expected. Undermining countries such as Japan was a weak strategy to control countries that were determined to expand their boundaries and who were quickly acquiring military strength. Therefore, failure of the Allied forces to react promptly and to prepare underpins the reason why it took so long to defeat the Axis alliance. Bibliography Dower, John W. Embracing defeat: Japan in the wake of World War II. WW Norton & Company, 2000. Keegan, John. The Second World War. Random House, 2011. Miller, David. Fighting Men of World War II: Uniforms, Equipment and Weapons. New York: Chartwell Books, 2011. OBrien, Phillips Payson. How the War Was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Overy, Richard. Why the Allies Won. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995. aJapaJJapanthJaJa Read More