RE: WWII
April 27, 2011 at 4:44 pm
(This post was last modified: April 27, 2011 at 4:46 pm by reverendjeremiah.)
Okay, as far as Germany, I have many opinions on why they lost:
#1 - The German people suffered many extreme changes in government before the war. They went from a strange Imperial monarchy/democracy to one of subjugation to the victors of WWI to that of extreme fascism/corporate dictatorship. All in one generation. This is stressful upon the German people in and of itself.
#2 - The German workers supported Hitler to go into power under a socialist state. As soon as Hitler gained power he dumped any idea of socialism, dropped wages, banned labor unions, banned any form of free gathering of the people into groups. When this happened many of the people had no choice but to get involved into the war effort. So Hitler really forced his people into war, instead of leading them out of their depression.
#3 - The Nazi party was seperate at first when elected, but then quickly dissolved anything resembling a democracy of the people, and took over command of the armed forces. They wiped out the socialist branch of their party in the "night of the long knives". This surely caused distrust among the millitary and Nazi members themselves. This constant fear of other members, in my opinion, caused a loss in faith and faigned nationalism in many except the most highest members of the Nazi party. I bet even they were fearful of being murdered or executed on a whim, and were therefore more willing to say a comforting lie as opposed to a factual yet disturbing truth.
#4 - The Nazi party was in control of the millitary, but not part of the millitary at the same time. This caused massive disruption of the millitary chain of command as Nazi party members could easily step in and disrupt the chain of command with dictatorship like results. I feel this was the biggest mistake was the Nazi party itself, as its beaurocracy was chaotic, prone to rash and immediate decisions by its members. Standing orders could be changed on a whim, and strategic decisions from the regular officers in the millitary would sometimes be ignored and changed under the whim of one Nazi party member.
#5 - Hitler went too far too fast. If Hitler had of taken his time between his conquest of Europe and his attempted conquest of Russia, he would have had longer sustaining power. He got involved in a land war in Asia/Russia and it cost him time, energy, and many lives. His quick step into Russia more than likely was the main key to the Nazi demise.
#6 - The Nazi party utilized right wing extremist social views. If the Nazi party would have instead integrated ALL of the German citizens instead of demonizing the minority, he would have had a much more powerful fighting force. I hate to say this, and I dispise it, but he had other options in fron of him other than mass murder of the jews and other German citizens. He had their spirits broken in the ghettos, so why didnt he give them an option to either work in the war factories or fight in the trenches? His mass murder of the minorities was a big mistake. Russia took their own citizens, gave them guns and told them to run into battle and warned them if they retreated that they would be gunned down. This worked for Russia (as much as I dispise it) and it more than likely would have bolstered Hitlers army.
#7 - Hitler did a shit job protecting his oil fields/fuel dumps. As soon as the allies were in a position to bomb Hitler's fuel dumps, the war for Germany went exponentially bad for Hitler in a very short amount of time. Oil reserves are a key factor in a fighting force. A minor loss in oil reserves causes major problems of mobilization and advancement.
#8 - Hitler should have put more resources into his submarines than his surface ships. If Hitler had kept the market cornered in top of the line technology for submarines he would have done much better on sea. This includes his enigma devices. Many of his problems on sea stemmed from constant naval forces from America. America had a LONG trip to travel from America to Europe. He should have took this into consideration and focused on invention and upgrade for his submarines and less on going toe to toe with American battle ships that he knew full well were the top of the line at the time.
That is my opinion.
#1 - The German people suffered many extreme changes in government before the war. They went from a strange Imperial monarchy/democracy to one of subjugation to the victors of WWI to that of extreme fascism/corporate dictatorship. All in one generation. This is stressful upon the German people in and of itself.
#2 - The German workers supported Hitler to go into power under a socialist state. As soon as Hitler gained power he dumped any idea of socialism, dropped wages, banned labor unions, banned any form of free gathering of the people into groups. When this happened many of the people had no choice but to get involved into the war effort. So Hitler really forced his people into war, instead of leading them out of their depression.
#3 - The Nazi party was seperate at first when elected, but then quickly dissolved anything resembling a democracy of the people, and took over command of the armed forces. They wiped out the socialist branch of their party in the "night of the long knives". This surely caused distrust among the millitary and Nazi members themselves. This constant fear of other members, in my opinion, caused a loss in faith and faigned nationalism in many except the most highest members of the Nazi party. I bet even they were fearful of being murdered or executed on a whim, and were therefore more willing to say a comforting lie as opposed to a factual yet disturbing truth.
#4 - The Nazi party was in control of the millitary, but not part of the millitary at the same time. This caused massive disruption of the millitary chain of command as Nazi party members could easily step in and disrupt the chain of command with dictatorship like results. I feel this was the biggest mistake was the Nazi party itself, as its beaurocracy was chaotic, prone to rash and immediate decisions by its members. Standing orders could be changed on a whim, and strategic decisions from the regular officers in the millitary would sometimes be ignored and changed under the whim of one Nazi party member.
#5 - Hitler went too far too fast. If Hitler had of taken his time between his conquest of Europe and his attempted conquest of Russia, he would have had longer sustaining power. He got involved in a land war in Asia/Russia and it cost him time, energy, and many lives. His quick step into Russia more than likely was the main key to the Nazi demise.
#6 - The Nazi party utilized right wing extremist social views. If the Nazi party would have instead integrated ALL of the German citizens instead of demonizing the minority, he would have had a much more powerful fighting force. I hate to say this, and I dispise it, but he had other options in fron of him other than mass murder of the jews and other German citizens. He had their spirits broken in the ghettos, so why didnt he give them an option to either work in the war factories or fight in the trenches? His mass murder of the minorities was a big mistake. Russia took their own citizens, gave them guns and told them to run into battle and warned them if they retreated that they would be gunned down. This worked for Russia (as much as I dispise it) and it more than likely would have bolstered Hitlers army.
#7 - Hitler did a shit job protecting his oil fields/fuel dumps. As soon as the allies were in a position to bomb Hitler's fuel dumps, the war for Germany went exponentially bad for Hitler in a very short amount of time. Oil reserves are a key factor in a fighting force. A minor loss in oil reserves causes major problems of mobilization and advancement.
#8 - Hitler should have put more resources into his submarines than his surface ships. If Hitler had kept the market cornered in top of the line technology for submarines he would have done much better on sea. This includes his enigma devices. Many of his problems on sea stemmed from constant naval forces from America. America had a LONG trip to travel from America to Europe. He should have took this into consideration and focused on invention and upgrade for his submarines and less on going toe to toe with American battle ships that he knew full well were the top of the line at the time.
That is my opinion.
