The Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939 shocked the world, but no one knew what Hitler really desired from the Soviets until he commenced Operation Barbarossa in June, 1941. The War in the East began with much confusion on the Soviet side, but in the end, they prevailed and the Germans were unable to achieve Lebensraum. Upon examination, the different levels of planning and strategies employed by both leaders guaranteed a Soviet victory, as Hitler overestimated his own forces, while Stalin focused on effective methods. The downfall of the Nazis in the War in the East can be attributed to their poor planning and underestimations of the Soviets. The sheer difference in manpower alone was staggering; while the Nazis mobilized around 18 million soldiers …show more content…
It was common knowledge that the Soviet Union was behind the other powers in terms of industrialization, and to prepare for a war that was inevitable, Stalin attempted to solve this by implementing a war economy as early as 1931, which meant that the Soviets were fully prepared for World War II when it began. Once the Nazis invaded, however, they were taken completely by surprise, and this led to Stalin utilizing different strategies with his own citizens. After a patriotic message from foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov , Stalin himself gave a few speeches that resonated with the people, by calling them to work together to defend against the Fascists as “brothers and sisters”. After the first few months of constant defeat, however, Stalin decided to take more desperate measures with Orders 227 and 270. Order 270 from August, 1941 stated that any Red Army soldiers who surrendered to the Nazis would be severely punished. Soldiers were to fight to their deaths, and anything they did otherwise was unacceptable. Stalin even proved to be a man of his word as he disowned his own son for being a prisoner of war. Order 227 of July, 1942 eliminated the option of retreating in battle, as it only encouraged their enemies to push further into Soviet territory . These decisions were extremely controversial, but no one can argue their
If two men were to be tagged with having the most impact, good or bad, on twentieth century Europe the names Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler would ring loud and clear.
“While the German army had success the first day, it was Hitler’s desire to occupy the entire city that cost him the battle” (Background). Despite being in a favorable position early on, Hitler decide to continue to push on and quickly take over the city of Stalingrad. Logically, Hitler would have been content with the position he had, and held it for some time. Despite throwing large amounts of men into the fighting the Germans only made small amounts of progress, losing absurd amounts of men and supplies to take over a single building. Once Hitler had started this push, however, he could not pull out of it. It would be a defeat in his eyes, and avoiding defeat was more important to him than the lives of his men. “Fresh divisions were thrown in and were soon ground to pieces in the inferno (a fiery hell). To Hitler [Stalingrad’s] capture was now a question of personal prestige” (Document 1). After a certain point, a victory under his name became won important to Hitler than the territory won in the battle. Especially due to the city's importance to Stalin himself, it was more of a personal battle for Hitler than a battle between nations. The Battle of Stalingrad became a test of Hitler’s prestige and what he was willing to do to protect it. The answer to that question would turn out to be too much, as the Soviets would be on the front foot for the
Whereas Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler are different as Joseph Stalin was the Communist leader of the Soviet Union, while Adolf Hitler was the Nazi leader of Germany; they both were more concerned with consolidating and expanding their own power, rather than pleasing the people.
for is a difference in this two regimes . A pure race and Arians were
Stalin and Hitler emerged at the time when political and economic instability had crippled the USSR and Germany. They began making improvements which encouraged their people to believe that prosperous times await them. This notion would unfortunately turn out as an illusion. Both figures would eventually rule by decree. Despite treading on different paths of dictatorship, both figures still find some commonalities.
During the 1930s and 1940s there were two leaders, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, that had to have different belief systems. These two leaders grew up being taught dissimilar things; also their religious beliefs were nonidentical from one another. As Stalin and Hitler grew to be leaders, they both had different ideas to make their countries better. To do this each leader had disparate political ideologies, to treat their citizens differently, and to set goals for their own leadership, or for themselves to reach. Within their government each leader had made their impact on the world’s society.
In the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, the power of Hitler 's influence would make itself especially apparent. The role of the USSR in its defense of Stalingrad cannot be understated, but Soviet defeat would have been likely had Hitler not demanded that
Dictatorship throughout the ages has mainly led to oppression and conflict between people and government. Some of the notoriously bad dictators took office around the 1920’s and 1930’s. There were three main dictators in that time period and they all ran different countries in very different ways. Josef Stalin was known as the dictator of the Soviet Union, he was all about communism and did not care if there was opposition to his ideas. On the other hand, Benito Mussolini was in charge of Italy and all about fascism. Possibly the worst known dictator of all times was Hitler, in charge of, Germany, he was all about Nazism. Each had a different outlook on ruling, but they all did things similarly to lead to nations hatred against them. Basically, their ultimate goal was to do what was best for their countries, however, there want for power tended to get in the way. They all wanted to accomplish many things, they used many different ideas and ways to run their nations. They were all blamed for their nations demise in one way or another. This essay will discuss the similarities and differences between Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini.
By successfully defending the city of Stalingrad the Soviet Union were able to deny Hitler his
Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are 2 notoriously known people in world history. Both Stalin and Hitler are known for the great number of deaths they have caused. Although both men have totally different reasons on why they killed so many people their ways of leadership are somewhat alike.
Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union are two controversial regimes. Hitler and Stalin were both Dictators of the countries they ruled. When Hitler and Stalin are compared, we can clearly see that each one of them were cold blooded killers. They are both responsible for an absurd amount of innocent deaths. Hitler is believed to be responsible for killing at least six million Jewish people during the Holocaust; Stalin is responsible for the killings of millions of people (many of them Jews).
It was nearly unimaginable to the world when Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered his German forces to the Soviet Union on February 2, 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad, a major Second World War battle began with the German’s offensive on July 17, 1942 and ended with the German surrender on February 2, 1943. It was on August 5, 1942 that Adolf Hitler ordered an attack on the city of Stalingrad. This battle went down as one of the bloodiest battles in history, taking large tolls on both sides and most importantly marking the turning point for Hitler in the Second World War. The “master race” had taken its first major blow, proving to the world that they were not invincible. And in fact, Germany would not rise again after this truly
Causes and Consequences of Operation Barbarossa On June 22nd 1941, German forces crossed the Russian frontier and began to fight their way into Soviet territory. Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's codename for the attack on Russia, had begun. In this essay I am going to describe the causes, events and consequences of Operation Barbarossa. What happened when the 'unbeatable' Hitler and Germany met the sheer determination and patriotism of Stalin and the USSR?
This essay will compare the three leaders who are famous for their dictatorship and totalitarianism during the 30's decade-Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin. Totalitarianism is when a government gains absolute and total control over the country, including the freedom of thought and will as well as the citizen?s lifestyle, no other political parties are allowed and has the concept where the country is most important. The difference and similarity between their ideology, usage of propaganda & censorship and the method of improving the economy would be stated and explained through examples. Basically, their ultimate aim was the same, they all tried to make their country better. However, there was their own ambition wanting for
<br>The plan to capture the Soviet Union, operation Barbarossa, was initially very successful. The German attack, comprising 134 divisions or just over 3 million soldiers, took the Russians by surprise and they quickly advanced towards Moscow. But the rough country and appalling roads were taking its toll, and the German advance started to slow. Hitler himself took control of the campaign. Hitler was a very determined man. He was very determined to avenge the loss and humiliation of world war