North Africa Campaign - Assignment Example

North Africa Campaign Introduction Historically, 1942 was during the World War II era. On the material day, 8 November 1942, gave birth to the Operation Torch in North America. During this time, more than 400,000 soldiers took over Algeria and Morocco under the strong command of general Dwight D. Eishhower. This kind of battle was famously known as The North Africa Campaign. It was a kind of battle fought in both the Egyptian and Libyan deserts by Italy, France, United States and Germany among others. The battle was in three categories namely the Operation Torch, Tunisian Campaign and the Western Desert Campaign (Howe George, 1957). The Allies were the first immigrants from the United States to settle in North Africa. The Axis was a combination of forces, which were against the allies for instance Italy and Germany. Operation Torch It began as early as July 1942 when the Allies agreed on a proposal that it was very illogical for small-scale operations to take over the Northern France region. However, in the agreement, it was clear that landings must secure Vichy territories in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to enable them spread their influence over the Western Desert. In this sense, the Mediterranean would be free to all Allies to ship goods through Cape of Good Hope. On November 8, 1942, the Allies, due to fear made a quick attempt to take over Tunisia. They were certain the Axis would be rivals if they heard of the Torch landings. Tunisia Campaign The Operation Torch landing and the frequent battles, which were against the Vichy forces made it easy for the Allies to get hold of the Axis forces and forcing them to surrender. This kind of battle happened in Tunisia the same period when North African Campaign took place. it was a battle dominated by the German and Italian forces which made use of weapons like the German Tiger which was among the 501 heavy tanks to be used in this battles. However, its success drew most of the support from the Allies who had a large soldier force and advanced weaponry. Western Desert Campaign Alternatively, it referred to as the Desert war. It was the first campaign to occur and thus gave birth to the North Africa Campaign. This campaign drew its strength from the massive supply of both weaponry, soldiers and food. The Allies used this as a chance to capture the Axis thus making the Germans desperate. For instance, Erwin Rommel, a German commander had a rough time since all the fuel and other support links were disconnected. By the beginning of 1942, the U.S. Air Force Army had began building bombers and fighters just to support the campaign which it later referred to as the Egypt-Libya Campaign. The invasion of Egypt by the Italian forces marked the first offensive campaign with war beginning in Libya against the Commonwealth forces who had other stations in Egypt. Just as the Italian forced backed off, the British forces attacked back, which led to a huge loss on the Italians. With Germany acting as the Italian’s partner, it provided military support. However, in the process of providing support, Germany became the dominant Axis partner. With this, they were able to push the Allies further into Egypt. However, the Allies managed to retaliate during the El Alamein battle thus driving the Axis out of Libya thus ending this campaign. The principles of the antagonists composition was very strictly followed by the participants in the battle field. They launched a campaign principle called the TORCH which was a strategy to form a direct attack against the European Axis early in the war, they also formed a strategy of objectives to gain French controlled Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Although the choice to use the Torch method had been on wide spread since the Allies could not put up a direct war against the European Axis early in the attack,the specific and attractive objectives to gain French-controlled Morocco,Algeria and Tunisia as a place for inviting the French empire into the war. These are the principles that guided the states in the war to attack their enemies during the war.The Germans and their Italian counterparts used the principle of forward movement to facilitate their attacking tactics during the battle. Also the principle of using a large army was adopted to increase the strength in the war. Field Marshall Rommel, the German leader, used threats to scare away her enemies like Egypt and the near East as well as to French North Africa. This used to give the armies time to train efficiently for the battle. This made their German soldiers to be very effective with skills to attack their enemies. Technology The army used sophisticated weapons that were made of high technology that made the work to be easy and efficient.The use of submarine and aircrafts to launch an attack to their enemies who had less developed weapons.German being an example of a highly technological weaponed country used this advantage to conquer most of the states during the North Africa Campaign. The Axis and the Allies both had a reliable provisions of fuels and tools ranging from guns ,tanks,food and uniforms.This enabled the Germany and its members to successfully overcome their enemies in the battlefield. Causes This war was contributed by many factors arising from various environmental fields. The major cause was the Treaty of Versailles which in its policies,it it frustrated Germany. Hitler realized how his country had been subjected to certain policies that made it appear very inferior. He therefore tried to ignore the Treaty just to prove the strength of the Germans. Germany then reoccupied Rhineland under the leadership of Hiltler, they attacked with its soldiers to conquer Rhineland. Mussolini and Hitler made an alliance to conquer the weaker territories and hence they defiled the Treaty. Hence the Vesailles Treaty is the main cause of the second world war due to undermining of Germany and Italy. Also the failure of the appeasement policy in Europe contributed to this war. This policy was after making the nations in first world war to enter into a reconciliation process. This could not work as Germany was not ready for any negotiations since the treaty had really undermined them. They therefore according to them , they were justified to revenge. Simply this speared the start of the second world war. Collapse of the League of Nations that had been formed after the first war also led to the war. The members of this organizations were unable to settle the disputes among the member states including France and Germany. League of Nations was not able to convince all the countries to join the union. This led to the start of the second world war. Lessons Military department highly contributed to the war of North Africa Campaign as they were the ones who fought and were on the frontline in the battlefield. The military were able to learn the new tactics of fighting during the war and the use of machinery. The hard training of the military had improved the country’s defense system from the experience gathered from the North Africa Campaign. The countries were able to identify the importance of having a strong army in a country therefore they were able to form a strong military foundation. This was one of the major lessons learnt by countries during and after the North Africa Campaign. Conclusion The North Africa Campaign war was one of the largest battlefields experienced in the world due to its effect caused. It consisted of many factors including the causes, coarse and impacts to the outside world. Hence the war opened a civilized world of military and leadership system. Work cited Green B.E (1917-1945). Understanding Change; An Intellectual and practical Study of Military. New York: Oxford University Press. Howe George F. (1957). United States Army in World War II Mediterranean Theater of Operations; Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West. Washington D.C. :Department of the Army. Morehead, Alan. (1967). The March to Tunis, New York: Pearson. Strawson, John. (1969). The Battle for North Africa. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More