The Fall of Europe Summer 1940 - Research Paper Example

Student’s name Professor’s name Class name 14 March 2013 The Fall of Europe Summer 1940 After World War I, most countries in the world were faced with challenges politically, socially and economically. Countries like Germany Austria and Germany had to give up land and armaments to the winners for peace to prevail. In addition, loser countries were in debt, and when the Great Depression hit USA, it spread to Europe. People could not manage to save, as inflation was high. However, this did not stop Germany from reaching its ambition. In the 1930’s Germany, Japan and Italy formed a group known as the Axis (“Causes of World War II” par.4). These countries were led by dictators and wanted revenge. Among the three, Germany was ready to take revenge on those countries that defeated her during the First World War. (“Causes of World War II” par.5). Therefore, it had to modernize and strengthen its army at all costs. When Hitler came to power and took control of Germany, wanted to get rid of weaker people whom he identified as Jews and communists. In addition, he declared that, Germany was the only true race and had the right to rule the whole world. Therefore, Hitler declared war in Europe that marked the beginning of Europe's collapse. By 1940, Europe was considered a fallen continent especially when France conceded defeat by Germany. However, Britain managed to save Europe from the threats of Germany to gain superiority over all nations when Britain won the Battle of Britain This battle was triggered by Hitler when he planned to invade Britain after Churchill refused to sign a peace agreement that would put Germany over them. In addition, Hitler had to find the most appropriate way of defeating the British Navy. Therefore, he plotted an attack using flight fighters in order to attain easy landing. However, Winston Churchill (Former Prime minister of Britain) was aware of the attack and prepared his people for this attack. In the end, Britain won the battle. However, before all this Hitler had managed, to invade France, an idea that gave Germany the opportunity to attack Britain Battle of France By 10 May 1940, Hitler announced that it would invade France and conquer its cities (Guderian para.1). The battle of France marked the Fall of Europe as Germany had conquered many nations and increased its Military forces. Hitler was determined to overpower France as it was occupied by many Jews and communists whom Hitler referred to as weak people. By 1940, France was occupied by many immigrants who had fled Hitler’s threats. This made the population of France vast and beneficial for Hitler’s mission. Considering the fact that France was a large country, Germany had to strategize the most appropriate way of invading France. When German declared war on France and other Low Countries, French and Britain decided to send troops to the Franco-Belgian border in order to seize the invasion. However, Hitler had a different strategy, as he was aware that the French would expect his attack via Belgium. Germany decided to invade France via Ardennes Forest found in the southeastern part Belgium. They also attacked France through northern Luxembourg a situation that weakened the defense of France. German invasion of France via Ardennes Forest and northern Luxembourg As stated earlier, Germans were strategic in their invasion. They sent a few troops towards Franco-Belgium border where the French expected the attack to start from. This was a diversion plan intended to trap the French troops in the north, while another German troop invaded France via Ardennes Forest However, Hitler’s idea was to surround France and surprise them thoroughly. Therefore, invading France via Ardennes Forest and northern Luxembourg was the best option for Germany. They sent the best military towards Ardennes who managed to overpower the defense implemented by the French military. In addition, Germany made sure that they took control over the airplane fights. German bombers were directed to hit a number of air bases in France. They also bomb airbases in Netherland and Belgium to make sure that they destroyed the allies fighting planes and weaken their air force defense. There were well-trained paratroopers who were dropped along fortified areas especially along the front. This took French soldiers by surprise, and they were overpowered by the German military. When Germany managed to overpower the air force, communication became a problem for the French troops. Therefore, the ground battle was easier for Germans as they attacked via two places. When the French soldiers discovered that the South was overwhelmed, it was already too late for the French soldiers. They had to retreat and concede defeat. When the British Expeditionary Force discovered that the German Army had concerned the Frenchmen, they had no option but to evacuate from France via Dunkirk. They had been pushed to the coast while they were trying to fight some German troops. The evacuation of Dunkirk perpetuated the total defeat of the French, as the British forces were their only hope. However, the British troop could not overpower the German troops due to their organized team with equipped recourses. Battle and Evacuation of Dunkirk When the war was still on the, the German, forces attacked France moving in a northwest direction. Under this circumstance, the British troops with other French and Belgian forces were trapped around Calais. In order to survive and avoid being destroyed, the troops had to draw an escape plan. This is what led to Operation Dynamo, a code name given to the evacuation plan via Dunkirk (“Dunkirk: What Actually Happened?” par. 7). Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay opted to call for any ship that was willing to help in the evacuation process. The first trial managed to evacuate approximately 8000 forces as the German firing was intense. Therefore, the troops had to lay low and avoid being ambushed by the German forces. Another attempt managed to evacuate 16000 troops (“Dunkirk: What Actually Happened?” par. 10). The Germans discovered the evacuation and bombed the allies with the help of German air forces. However, this did not kill the spirit of evacuation. More forces were evacuated using smaller vessels at night. By the end of the evacuation, 366,162 men had been saved of which 53,000 forces were French (Chen par. 7). This evacuation plan used around 700 different vessels. The operation saw Royal Air Force lose 177 aircrafts while the navy lost 10 warships. After this miraculous escape, the escape did not stop. The determined French forces whom and other allied personnel trapped in the French Battle escaped via the Mediterranean towards England. A movement arranged by General Charles of France triggered Hitler into invading Britain and later leading to the battle of Britain. When the French could not handle the Germans any more, they surrendered. Hitler managed to persuade the France to sign an agreement that initiated the formation of a government that was in favor of his policies. In the end, Germany won the battle and Hitler promised attack Britain and become a super hero. The battle of Britain When looking back through the world war two, an incident triggered the battle of Britain. The battle occurred when Germany was eager to take control over air. Hitler was determined to show his superiority by defeating Britain (“1940: Luftwaffe launches battle of Britain” par. 1). However, Churchill was not ready to let that happen. Before the battle, it was is evident that, Hitler had done his best to attack one of its enemies, France and pulled her down. Hitler had to strategize the best way of conquering Britain, as its intended movements, were already mastered by Britain. Through statistical survey, Hitler thought that attacking Britain via air was the best alternative to meet their goals. However, He did not consider that Britain had few well-trained air fighters than Germany’s large and poorly trained professionals. In addition, the German air fighter plane like Messcherschmitt fighters and Junkers dive-bombers could not be serviced properly due to insufficient time and professionals to handle the planes(“1940: Luftwaffe launches battle of Britain” par. 3). When Churchill discovered the weaker point of Hitler, he managed to destroy several of his planes so that he cannot take control of the air. This was the best shot Churchill took in defending the Britain from malicious Germans. In the end, Hitler could not handle the situation and opted to retreat. Relationship between the fall of Europe and world war two It can be determined that world war two was triggered by Hitler’s urge to conquer all European nations. The ideology can be expressed through the fighting that occurred between the Axis and the allies powers (“Causes of World War II” par.4). Initially when Germans defeated the French, and finally the French people decided to retreat, the Germans joined hands with countries like Japan and Italy who were fighting alongside Germany. On the other hand, France opted to help Britain to overthrow Hitler, due to their overwhelming victory Britain held upon French. Formation of the Allies and Axis powers perpetuated World War II, which saw the Axis powers defeated completely. In the end, Germany was disarmed to avoid another situation as created by Hitler. Conclusion The fall of Europe was chronological in the aspect that it was led by one action to another. Among the events that took place, it can be concluded that Hitler triggered World War II due to his malicious acts of wanting to dictate the whole of Europe. However, Hitler’s dream did not live to be achieved as he was defeated by the British who had already mastered his strategy. The whole ideology of the concept of the fall of Europe indicates that power can only be achieved by those who are sincere and strategic in what they do. It is also vital to understand that having a small team of organized people can achieve higher set goals that a large group of disorganized. Therefore, if Hitler had not under estimated the power of the Royal Air Force and invested more in training his soldiers, then he would have succeeded in ruling the whole of Europe. Works Cited 1940: Luftwaffe launches battle of Britain n.d. Web 14 March 2013. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/10/newsid_3516000/3516193.stm Causes of World War II n.d. Web. 14 March. 2013. Chen, C. P. (n.d.). Invasion of france and the low countries 10 may 1940 - 22 jun 1940. Web. 14 March. 2013 Dunkirk: What actually happened? n.d. Web 14 March 2013. Guderian, Heinz n.d. “If the tanks succeed, then victory follows”. Web. 14 March. 2013 Read More