The Battle Of Stalingrad : Was It A Significant Defeat?

It was the first major German loss during World War Two (it significantly decreased their front line power and determination): Prior to Stalingrad the German’s had been on an immense roll since the beginning of the war, and their defeat proved to the Allies that Germany wasn’t invincible. After Stalingrad, there was not any significant German victory in the war. Hitler commented: “the God of war has gone over to the other side”(1943).

The Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 was one of the major turning points in World War Two. It was a major turning point for a number of reasons, the first being that Germany lost considerable amounts of manpower and equipment in this battle; losses from which they never recovered. In addition, the Battle of Stalingrad had a sizeable effect on the German’s and the Allies moral that ultimately led to Nazi Germany’s downfall. Moreover, the Battle of Stalingrad stopped the German advance into Russia, denying them access to the Caucasus oil wells, exacerbating Germany’s fuel crisis and crippling the German army. Finally, the Battle

<br>As the war progressed, Hitler became more risky in his decision making, and made the crucial error of invading Russia in June 1941. This opened Germany up to communist attack by breaking the Soviet-German non-agression pact of August 1939, and also a two front war, and Hitler was forced to divert forces to Russia, which could have been spent on defeating Britain. Hitler's aim of invading Russia had been postponed due to the distractions in both North Africa, and also south eastern Europe. Hitler felt an urgency to begin the move to the east, even though the British remained undefeated in the west. The invasion of Russia was the largest military campaign of the war.

“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

Stalingrad - Site of critical World War II Soviet victory that reversed Germany's advance to the East. In late 1942, Russian forces surrounded the Germans, and on Feb. 2, 1943, the German Sixth Army surrendered. First major defeat for the Germans in World War II.

Captain Dennis W. Dingle’s dissertation, presented before the faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1977, concerns the significance of the Soviet Union’s decisive victory at Stalingrad and its impact on the outcome of the Second World War. While much of this information is irrelevant for the purpose of answering the thesis question I have proposed, it does contain indispensable statistics showcasing the economic and military might of the two most pertinent combatant nations in the Second World War in the timeframe of December of 1941 and July of 1943.

The Battle of Stalingrad is considered the turning point of the Second World War as the German forces failed to overcome the defense of the Russian army leading to their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Russians. It is commonly believed that this loss was due to Hitler’s lack of trust in his own generals and his selfish desire to conquer an essentially useless piece of land. American writer Edwin Palmer Hoyt believes that if Hitler had granted his generals more flexibility, then Von Paulus could have saved some of his divisions from complete annihilation. Another perspective of the outcome is that it stemmed from Stalin’s decision to allow for how own generals and commanders to take control over the battle while he put his focus on other things which would lead to the Soviet domination over the German army in a seemingly hopeless situation.

The battle of Stalingrad was a very intense battle for the Russians as the Germans closed in on them with support from the sixth panzer division and bombings from the Luftwaffe. This battle lasted from April to February, and was mostly house to house fighting. The Germans managed to push the defending Russians back to the Volga River. The Russians were desperate, so they formed the idea of “Project Uranus”. This was a plan to surround the Germans on two sides with the Mongolians and the Romanians. Finally, in February, the attacking German forces were repelled and Stalingrad was held. If the Germans had taken Stalingrad, they could attack the Russians on two

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

When the Soviets saw them coming, Joseph Stalin ordered his army to save the city of Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad began on July 17, 1942, this battle was not only fought between armies but between people in streets fighting hand to hand. In September of 1942, General Friedrich Paulus of Germany advanced on the city of Stalingrad. He was ordered to take over Stalingrad by Hitler. Stalingrad was a very important city for the Soviet Union as it was their center on communication and manufacturing in the south.

The battle of Stalingrad raged from August 1942 until the German surrender on 2 February 1943. Significantly, it was the first catastrophic defeat to befall the Wermacht Army who not only lost the battle but were severely humiliated. Indeed, the German Army never fully recovered from this blow to its morale. Upwards of 270,000 troops were killed and 91,000 prisoners were taken by the Red Army; included in this latter number were 23 German Generals. Conversely, morale in the Red Army soared as a consequence of Stalingrad giving the Russians increased strength and confidence. This battle represented a turning point in the Second World War.

The German army lead the offensive into Stalingrad using the German 6th Army and their elite 4th Panzer tank Army. The Luftwaffe, the German

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

On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler gave the green light for Operation Barbarossa to be commenced against USSR in order to gradually diminish the power of the Allied forces in WWII. However, Hitler’s carefully thought out plan slowly began falling apart due to his own recklessness of fully understanding the conditions. For instance, after initially gaining a significant advantage on USSR, Hitler decides to postpone the operation while underestimating the ability of Russia to gather troops for the war, thus allowing Stalin’s men the opportunity to capitalise on his mistakes and reduce the significant advantage he had gained. Hitler also miscalculated the severity of the Russian winter which proved to be crucial to Stalin’s victory because Hitler’s

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?