Second World War: Axis Defeat - Essay Example

SECOND WORLD WAR AXIS DEFEAT Due Second World War Axis Defeat Introduction The hostile nations that participated in the Second World War formed partnerships to fight as alliances, including Allies and the Axis. The key partners that fought as the Axis alliance were Japan, Italy, and Germany. The three nations considered Germany has a dominant force in the large continental Europe. Italy dominated the Mediterranean Sea while Japan ruled over the Pacific and East Asia. The Axis alliance did not develop organizations to harmonize the military or foreign policy as in the case of the Allies. Instead, the Axis partners targeted two major issues.1 Firstly, they focused on expanding territorial domination and establishment of kingdoms based on military overthrow of the international order established after the First World War. The second initiative that the Axis partners wanted to achieve was to neutralize or destroy Soviet Communism.2 For instance, on 1 November 1936, Italy and Germany reflected on their common goal, which aimed at destabilizing the order, which was already established in Europe. During this time, they formed the Rome-Berlin Axis, which served as an indicator of friendship between the two countries. After a month, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany entered into an agreement titled Anti-Comintern Pact. This agreement was directed towards destabilizing the Soviet Union. On 6 November 1937, Italy joined efforts with the Anti-Comintern Pact to strengthen the initiatives of these countries further. Italy and Germany formed the Pact of Steel on 22 May 1939. This agreement led to the formalization of the Axis alliance, including various military provisions followed by these countries. On 27 September 1940, Japan, Italy, and Germany entered into the Tripartite Pact agreement, which led to the formation of the Axis alliance. These Axis powers contribute to various catastrophic errors as the Second World War was going on.3 These issues made the war to take longer than anticipated, based on the coordinated strategies these countries had implemented. This paper discusses the reasons why the Axis was defeated during the Second World War, considering the powers that the countries involved possessed in their respective regions territories. Discussion Various events led to the defeat of the Axis alliance and delays during World War 2. The invasion of Greece by Italy is one of the key contributing factors towards the defeat of the Axis alliance. Under the leadership of Mussolini, Italy decided to invade Greece without Germany’s knowledge. The country embarked on this initiative since Germany, which was a trusted supporter and colleague managed to conquer France during the summertime of 1940. Mussolini got desperate to participate in the action to reveal to Hitler and countries around the world that Italy was a major power. Mussolini wanted Hitler, who was always ahead of him, to find out that he had conquered Greece. After the commencement of the campaign on 28 October 1940, things failed to go on as planned when the Greeks embarked on immediate counterattack measures. They forced more than 530,000 troops from Italy back home. The consequent counterattack that Italy embarked on in March 1941 also failed, indicating that the country lacked sufficient battlefield tactics.4 After the Italian ally Mussolini, embarrassed Hitler, Germany came to help the country in its endeavours. This resulted to the entire defeat of Greece on 23 March 1941. Germany committed a significant number of troops to the Greece attack, although it did not have sufficient capacity. As a result, Germany lacked enough troops to attack Russia, which was its key target. The country was forced to delay the initiative by around 5 weeks, a period that could have prevented Wehrmacht from fighting during winter in Russia. Thus, based on the delayed attack to Russia, Germany was defeated, forcing the country to blame Mussolini for the defeat.5 After introducing the initiative referred to as Operation Barbarossa, Fuhrer took the role of overcoming Russia. The destiny of Germany was to claim Russian territories while eliminating undesirable traits, including Jews and Slavs. Convinced that it would be an easy task, Hitler ignored warnings issued by the military intelligence regarding Russia’s troop strength. Nonetheless, after evaluating the successes it realized in winning France and Poland, as well as Finland’s defeat in Russia, Hitler embarked on a move to attack the country. On 22 June 1941, the largest military skirmish in the history of human beings was witnessed. This is because it created a troop line that extended from north to south for 1,600 kilometres. This operation comprised of more than 3 million Axis troops. The invasion started well when about 300,000 Russians were captured. However, Hitler made a miscalculation when he diverted his troops to Kiev from Army Group Center. This created delays as it halted Moscow attack while inexperienced German soldiers were forced to fight in the worst winter that Russia ever witnessed. Germany did not recover, forcing troops to retreat from Russia.6 The attack on Pearl Harbour by Japan influenced the defeat of the Axis alliance. By the end of 1941, Imperial Japan had occupied an unsustainable position. The hyper-expansion strategies and firm approaches to South East Asia and South Pacific exposed Japan to economic agreements and military conflicts, particularly those resulting from Britain, United States, and the Netherlands. The U.S. had stopped exporting oil to the country earlier in 1941. Furthermore, the U.S. was offering China military assistance. During this time, Japan was supposed to either abandon its territories or seek new source raw material from South Asia countries occupied by the European. Nonetheless, regardless of the prevailing challenges, Japan decided to move on with its initiatives. Here, projections indicated that if the U.S. would take part in the war, it would ultimately reform and defeat Japan. The leaders Japan’s military stipulated that the acquisition of the Southern Resource Area was vital in allowing the country to acquire oil and rubber, which it needed desperately. Thus, to keep of Americans from its initiatives, Japan planned to invade the Pearl Harbour.7 The aim of the operation was to terminate vital units of the American fleet to buy Japan more time in electing its Southern Operation. Japan hoped this move would affect the operations of the U.S. significantly. Unfortunately, although the infamous attack carried out by Japan on 7 December 1941 allowed the country to witness partial success, U.S. airplane carriers were exercising at sea. They were therefore not affected by the attack. After six months, the U.S. carriers attacked Japanese fleet, indicating that America was at war. Japan was incapable of handling the attack, as it could not cope with U.S. technology and production rates. Hence, the two atomic bombs that the U.S. dropped in Japan in 1945 halted its war operations considerably.8 When Japan attacked the U.S. at the Pearl Harbour, America declared war to the country. America did not have interests in engaging war with Germany. This is because the U.S. kept supplying Britain with the supplies it needed most, indicating that the war on European soil with U.S. troops was unlikely to take place. However, on 11 December 1941, Hitler wanted war with U.S., three days after the incidence that took place at the Pearl Harbour. Nonetheless, the Tripartite Pact did not authorize such an undertaking. It stipulated that Japan should seek help in the event of an attack, as it was a member of the Tripartite Pact. However, the Foreign Minister of Germany halted the efforts while the Japanese Ambassador required Germany to proclaim war with the U.S. on 8 December 1941. Believing that the merging of Japan and Germany would help win the way, the following events led to U.S. becoming a superpower based on the allied support it attained.9 During the Second World War, Germany was popular for producing various forms of magnificent weapons, except the atomic bomb, which mattered a lot at the time. Although Britain, Canada, and the United States lay considerable emphasis on the Manhattan Project, which involved about $ 2 billion (equal to 26 billion today), Germany neglected the initiative. Hitler was more obsessed with wonder weapons, meaning that the nuclear project in Germany was poorly reinforced. The Nazis did not appreciate the advanced specifics associated with theoretical physics, as they affiliated it with “Jewish science.” During the same time, Hitler had a fixation towards wonder weapons, including the V1 and V2 rockets, massive tanks, and jet aircraft.10 A time came when Hitler advocated for the development of tremendously large tanks. This initiative created the significant strain on the tank manufacturing industry, which was already overstretched. It also drained the resources needed to manufacturer operational tanks. He got the idea from KV, JS1, and JS2 tanks from Russia, which were impossible to terminate. The problem that Hitler encountered is that Russian tanks were operational and relatively fast in the battleground. When Germany introduced the Mause model, it was useless as it was made of steel. It travelled at a speed of 3 kilometres per hour, and lacked optimal protection from small arms. This way, Germany started weakening with regard to weapon ownership, leaving it exposed to enemies.11 Germany did not consider warships as effective in battle and ended up scorning them. The navy from Germany also did not receive significant respect from Hitler. During the war, Hitler offered support to use of wolf-pack strategies and U-boats. However, since he was fixated with land combats, he failed to understand the need for instituting sea superiority. This shortcoming was one of the major reasons that led Germany to lose the war. When setting battleships’ budget, Hitler was concerned that they would be destroyed and declared useless. Thus, irrespective of the power that German forces had in land battles, they lacked sea power to prevent the attack by Britain. When preparing for the war, Germany failed to consider the British fleet as a major threat. Thus, Allied power from the sea played a key role in salvaging the situation, indicating World War II was governed by logistics. This raises the question what influence the success of German troop would have had on Allied fleets if the Navy were accorded sufficient sea power needed to participate in the war.12 Repressing occupied territories by Germany led to further weakening of German power. While the Red Army and Wehrmacht were fighting along Eastern Fort, which is a region that comprises of present-day Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Baltic states, a large number of individuals witnessing the war viewed Germany as a prospective liberator. During Stalin’s era, life was repressive, murderous, and heavy-handed. For instance, in the early 1930s, Stalin starved more than 12 million peasants from Ukraine. As such, Stalin was considered as one of the key contributors to the major atrocities in the history of the country. Nonetheless, when Germans entered the region and advocated for deliverance, they generally substituted one oppressive administration with another without eradicating the hardships that the population was going through.13 Furthermore, the racism and ideology practiced by Nazis outplayed common sense and realism. They considered the Slavic individuals as sub-humans and declined to cooperate with them. Additionally, as in the case with the Jews, the Germans chased them from their lands while substituting them with German founders. As the war was ending, Germans had slaughtered approximately 9.3 million individuals from Eastern Europe. Hence, the strict treatments accorded to the individuals in the occupied regions led to the establishment of a super-aggressive background. This was particularly in the areas where Wehrmacht bases undertook their initiatives. The partisan initiatives affected the performance of the German army negatively, as portrayed by the ruthlessness of the Nazi retaliations.14 Spain and Turkey also had a notable influence towards the defeat of the Axis. When the Second World War was going on, Spain served as an Axis member. However, the country did not let any of its soldiers contribute to the initiative. Under the leadership of Francisco Franco, a fascist authoritarian, Spain refused to enter the battlefield steadfastly. The country had fears that participating in the battle would cut its U.S. oil imports. It also feared because the memory of the Spanish Civil War was still alive among the residents of the country. When Hitler persuaded Franco to take part in the war, he in return requested huge quantities of fuel, military aircraft, grains, armed vehicles, and other forms of armaments. This request infuriated Hitler to an extent that he threatened to occupy the Spanish region, although the agreement failed. In the case of Turkey, it considered itself neutral before the war started. As the war progressed, Turkey indicated it had conflicts with the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, after Bulgaria, Turkey’s neighbour became a member of the Axis Alliance in June 1941, Turkey agreed to a non-hostility deal with Germany. This was the state of affairs until 1944 when Turkey went into war with Axis members. This was a blown chance for Germany, further weakening the country’s military power.15 Conclusion The Axis alliance was a strong force that dominated the large continental Europe, Mediterranean Sea, and Pacific as well as East Asia. The key players in the alliance comprised of Germany, Italy, and Japan. These countries were strong in terms of military power, making them strong when confronting bigger economies. Nonetheless, the Axis alliance did not develop organizations to harmonize military or foreign policy as in the case of the Allies. They lay emphasis on expanding territorial domination, establishing of kingdoms to overthrow international order, and to neutralize or destroy Soviet Communism. Thus, the Axis alliance was defeated for lack of coordination and harmonization, although their troop and economic power made the war to take long before coming to a stop. Bibliography Gemma Birnbaum and Laura Sparaco. "Allies and Axis: Who’s Who in WWII?" The National WWII Museum. Last modified December 14, 2011. http://www.nww2m.com/2011/12/allies-and-axis-whos-who-in-wwii/. Duiker, William and Jackson Spielvogel. World History. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008. Global Security. "World War II." Global Security. Last modified May7, 2015, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/world_war_2.htm. 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. George Patton. "Italian Campaign." A&E Television Networks. Last modified May 29, 2015. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/italian-campaign. Roberts, Priscilla. Voices of World War II: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life. London: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Stoler, Mark. Allies in War: Britain and America Against the Axis Powers, 1940-1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2007. USHistory. "North African Campaign." United States History. Last modified May 29, 2015. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1727.html>. USHMM. "Axis Alliance in World War II." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Last modified May 29, 2015. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005177. Read More