Reason for Axis Defeat in Second World War - Essay Example

Reason for Axis Defeat in Second World War: Student Name: Name of institution: Lecture; Date: Introduction The Second World War is arguably one of the world’s most bloody conflicts. Fought on almost every continent in the world, the war led to over 60 million deaths. The Axis made up of Italy, Germany and Japan had gained early victories against the Allies and looked set to win the war. However, the Axis alliance had many weaknesses that were exploited by the Allies to defeat them in the Second World War. This essay explores some of the major reasons why the Axis lost the Second World War. It also discusses why the Second World War lasted for so long. Main Reasons of the Axis defeat Weakness of some allies of in the Axis was one of the major reasons for the Axis defeat. Italy was one of the weakest allies in the axis and Germany had to bail out Italy numerous times. Italy was unable to carry out successful campaigns in Greece and Crete in 1940-41 and needed Germany to bail them out (Keegan, 2011). Italy failure in Greece further stretched the Germany army to this theatre of operation. Italy also failed to push out British of North Africa meaning that the Germans had to come to their aid thus stretching their troops further. Eventually, Italy was overrun by the Allies. If Germany did not have to bail out Italy their troops wouldn’t have been so stretched. Germany had to delay the invasion of USSR to help out Italy in Greece. This meant the German invasion of Russia happened in the harsh Russian winter (Keegan, 2011). Germany troops were unable to win Russia as their advance in the Russian winter was difficult. Italy’s campaigns in North Africa, Crete and Greece were a drain of Germany resources and it meant that Germany troops had to cover vast territories. Japanese aggression and attack of the USA was also another major reason for the failure of the Axis. The USA had remained neutral until Japan attacked Pearl harbour drawing the US into the conflict (Weinberg, 1995). Japan had previously invaded the Manchuria region of China and ambitiously hoped to conquer territory controlled by the Netherlands and Britain. Japan hoped to occupy territories that would offer her resources to expand as an economic power. Japan attack on Pearl Harbour in 1943 led to the declaration of war by the United States. The US tilted the balance to the Allies but the axis continued to underestimate the power of the US. Hitler continued to dismiss them as a bunch of gypsies and Negroes. The US wouldn’t have been involved in the war had Japan not attacked Pearl harbour (Adams, 1994). The United States involvement proved decisive as it eventually led to the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Germany also hastily declared war on the United States after the Japanese attack in Pearl Harbour. The US had only declared war on Japan and American involvement in the Western front was not guaranteed. The anti-interventionist movement continued to call for the US not to be involved in the European conflict. However, Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941 meaning the US had to abandon its non-interventionist stance in the Western front (Weinberg, 1995). Germany had delayed in declaring war on the United States despite pressure from their Japanese ally to do so. However, Hitler felt that the United States would eventually join the war on the Allied side. Hitler also thought that Japan would give the US a hard time or eventually defeat them in the war. Instead, the US involvement in the war against Germany tilted the balance of power to the Allies who were becoming exhausted by the war at the time. Germany’s failure to correctly predict where the allies would land on D-day was also a contributing factor to their defeat in the Second World War (Keegan, 2011). If Germany had known that the Allies would land on Calais they would have been able to hold out longer. However, the Germany troops were stretched too far to adequately hold the Allied landing on D-Day. Germany underestimation of Russian military might was also one of the leading causes of the Axis defeat. Germany wanted to occupy the vast Russian territory and remove undesirable elements from the land. Hitler thought that Russia was a weak enemy and he ignored warnings from his military intelligence that invading Russia would not be easy. Hitler overconfidence came from the recent success in the invasion of Poland and France, and the fact that Russia had recently lost embarrassingly in the war with Finland. When Hitler decided to invade Russia he thought it would be an easy win but that was one of his most grievous mistakes. On the morning of June 22, 1941 Germany launched its Russia campaign known as operation Barbosa. The Russian front extended over 1,600 km meaning that the Germany army was further stretched (Overy, 1995). Over three million Axis soldiers were involved in the fighting regarded as the largest human confrontation in history. German initial attack was successful as over 300,000 Russian troops had been captured in the space of two weeks. However, German made two fatal mistakes (Adams, 1994). First, Hitler diverted troops to the South towards Kiev. Secondly, he went to bail out Italy in Greece. This resulted in the push for Moscow being delayed until the onset of winter. Germany troops had to contend with one of the harshest Russian winters. In contrast, the Russians had been prepared for winter and took food, water and clothes or burnt them in a scorched earth technique that was a major blow to the advancing German army (Keegan, 2011). Germany was also at a disadvantage as the Russian has a vast population which allowed them to replace soldiers they had lost in the war. Germany never recovered from the setback in winter and the Russian troops eventually pushed them back and pursued them back to Berlin. The Axis was also unable to keep up with the Allied war technology. Although Nazi Germany created many wonder weapons none of the technology was decisive. In contrast, the Allies focused their resources on the Manhattan Project using over $2billion to develop the atomic bombs. Germany on the other hand underestimated nuclear science dismissing it as “jewish science” (Weinberg, 1995). Hitler continued to manufacturer hundreds of wonder weapons like the V1 and V2 rockets but did not come up with a decisive weapon like the Atomic Bomb. One of Hitler biggest mistakes was the insistence on building large tanks. Germany had been concerned that the Russian had big tanks that were almost impossible to destroy. However, Germany’s responses were huge tanks that moved too slowly to be effective on the battle field (Adams, 1994). Unfortunately, Hitler’s insistence that bigger tanks be built overstretched the German tank building industry and drained the industry of materials needed to produce tanks. Hitler provided only basic support for the Germany navy and the navy did not have the capacity to fights a global war. According to Overy (1995), Hitler focused on equipping the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe at the expense of the Kriegsmarine. Hitler only supported the use of U-boats which had a devastating effect on the Allies despite being limited in number. Nazi Admiral Karl Doenitz pointed out that Germany would have been at a better position to defeat the allies had it focused on establishing superiority at sea. Germany’s weakness at sea meant they could not successfully invade Britain. It also denied then the logistical advantage that the Allies had as a result of their superiority at sea. Instead, the allies were able to use the superiority at sea to apply tactics such as blockades. Adams (1994) argues a better equipped German navy would have resulted in greater success for Germany in the Second World War. Some argue that Germany could have successfully blockaded the Isle of Britain and forced Britain to submission if it had a strong navy. German repression of people in occupied territories was one of the major causes of the axis defeat. Initially, the people of the Eastern front felt that the Germans would liberate them from Soviet oppression. Stalin had treated the people of modern day Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic nation with an unusual cruelty. At one time, over 12 million Ukrainian peasants were deliberately starved (Keegan, 2011). However, German invasion only introduced a new form of oppression into the region. Nazi Germans were racist and held the belief they were superior to other races. The Slavic people were treated as subhuman and the Nazi planned to uproot them from the lands and inhabit it with pioneer Germans. Nazi Germany created concentration camps meant to eliminate unwanted races including Slavs, Jews and Gypsies. By the end of the war the Nazis had murdered over 9.3 million people in the western front and 5.3 million of those lost their lives in the Holocaust (Keegan, 2011). This repression created a very hostile environment for occupying German troops who had to constantly deal with rebellious partisans. The Axis was also unable to get Turkey and Spain to join the conflict on their side. Although Spain was a member of the Axis it refused any active engagement in the war. Fascist dictator Francisco France worried about another war after the Spanish Civil War had just come to an end (Overy, 1995). He was also worried that the US would cut its oil imports if Spain entered the war on the side of the Axis. Hitler tried desperately to get Franco to commit, however, Franco asked for large quantities of fuel, grains, aircrafts and military vehicles to enter the war. Hitler could not meet Franco’s demand and thus a valuable ally never participated in the Axis effort. On the other hand, Turkey was afraid of being involved in a conflict with the powerful Soviet Union. Turkey failed to follow the example of Bulgaria in joining the Axis in 1941 and instead signed a non-aggression pact against German (Keegan, 2011). In 1944, Turkey joined the allies and declared war on Germany. Hitler felt that Turkey’s support would have been crucial in tilting the balance of power to the Axis favour. Why was the Second World War so long? One of the major reasons why the World war lasted so long was the patriotic loyalty of the Axis troops. Germans believed that their nation was superior to other European and global nations. Hitler’s ambition to capture most of the world’s territory represented the feeling of the German nation who supported his war effort (Erickson, 1999). Hitler had promised the Germans that they would occupy the conquered lands and only Germans would inhabit them. German soldiers fought heroically in an effort to achieve this vision of a world dominated by Germans in all spheres of life. Hitler had been able to inspire a feeling of fanatic loyalty among his troops who felt they were serving the interest of the nation by occupying foreign lands (Erickson, 1999). This patriotism means the Germany army fought heroically and sometimes defeated superior enemies even when they were outnumbered. Japanese heroism and bravery in the Second World War was also another reason why the war lasted so long. The Allies had underestimated the fighting strength of the Japanese troops after their setbacks in China (Dower, 2012). However, Japanese bravery enabled their troops to successfully conquer Singapore and Hong Kong. Japanese soldiers were so brave that they choose to commit suicide or die fighting instead of being captured. Many Japanese civilians threw themselves off the cliff as American forces advanced on Saipan (Dower, 2012). The English Channel acted as one of the biggest challenges for the allied victory in the Second World War. While in 1941, the few miles of the English Channel had saved Britain from German Invasion, it was the Allies who needed to close over in 1944 (Erickson, 1999). The Allies had to contend with German forces who had fortified all the ports on the French side. The operation to land troops on the French side took years to plan as it was impossible to take the German fortresses either by sea or air (Erickson, 1999). The channel barrier and German fortification on the French side meant the allies could not defeat Germany and retake the conquered lands as easily as it would have been had France and England been one continuous land mass. Conclusion Many reasons contributed to the Axis loss to the allies in the Second World War. Italy’s weakness and the constant need to be bailed out by Germany meant German troops were stretched out and could not focus on invading Russia. Secondly, Germany had failed to plan properly for the Russian invasion and had not taken into consideration how difficult it would be to take Moscow in the harsh Russian Winter. The axis also provoked the United States into joining the war; Japan attacked pearl harbour and German subsequently declared war on the United States. Once the United States joined the war, the Allies became mightier and the tide of war started to turn against the Axis. Allied war technology was also more advanced and Germany failed to build a decisive weapon to win the war. The Axis also failed to appreciate the significant advantage they would have by gaining sea superior over the Allies. Germans also treated the people of occupied lands cruelly leading to many uprisings against German occupation. However, German and Japanese nationalism saw the war last longer as the two forces fought bravely to preserve national pride. The English channels also presented a huge challenge to the successful invasion of Western Europe by Allied Troops. Works Cited Adams, Michael CC. The best war ever: America and World War II. JHU Press, 1994. Dower, John. War Without Mercy: Pacific War. Pantheon, 2012. Erickson, John. The Road to Berlin. Yale University Press, 1999. Keegan, John. The second world war. Random House, 2011. O’Brien, 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. Weinberg, Gerhard L. A world at arms: a global history of World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Read More