Transcript HI136 The History of Germany

HI136 The History of Germany
Lecture 13
The Nazi War of Annihilation
Discussion Questions
• Were the crimes committed under the
National Socialist regime unique in
modern history?
• What is the Holocaust?
• What lessons, if any, can be learned
from the Holocaust?
The Polish Campaign, 1-28 Sept. 1939
Source: R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich
Blitzkrieg
Campaigns in western Europe and the Mediterranean,
April 1940-April 1941
Source: The Encyclopaedia of the German Army in the 20th
Century
The Battle of Britain
• Air superiority
necessary if Germany
to mount an invasion of
the British Isles.
• Reasons for failure to
do so:
Paul Nash, Battle of Britain (1941)
– German aircraft had
limited range and were
designed to support land
forces
– Superior British fighter
planes
– Greater British fighter
production
– Radar
– Change of tactics
Europe,
Dec 1941
Operation Barbarossa
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•
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Largest land invasion ever seen
Three Army Groups made up of
German, Italian, Hungarian and
Romanian troops
Objective was to capture key
strategic areas: oil fields of the
Caucuses (South).
– Baltic coast and Leningrad (North)
– Ukraine & Moscow (Centre)
– oil fields of the Caucuses (South).
•
•
• Intended to be a repeat of
Blitzkrieg in the West
Armies covered vast distances but
didn’t achieve their objectives
Flaws:
– Operation started too late
– Deep penetration into Russia left
supply lines exposed
Source: R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the
Third Reich (1996)
Map of Concentration Camps and Death Camps
WWII
Offensives
The Home Front
• Continued provision of leisure & entertainment
• “A reluctance to ask the public to bear sacrifices” (Craig), initially
led to limited state interference in the economy & a failure of
mobilize the full resources of the state
• Women not brought into the war effort on ideological grounds
• Surveillance of the population – the security forces on the lookout for signs of defeatism
• Intensification of propaganda & cult of the Führer
• Exploitation of occupied territories and forced labour
The War Economy
•
•
•
•
Albert Speer (1905-1981),
Minister of Armaments, 1942-45
•
The Nazis less successful of
mobilizing their economy than
the Allies.
Corruption,
inefficiency
and
disorder marred their efforts.
April 1942: Central Planning
Board set up – attempts to
rationalise the economy & make
better use of resources &
manpower.
Within 6 months production had
increased by 59%
But too little too late – ideological
concerns still led to wasting
resources and manpower.
Source: R. Overy, Russia’s War (1997)
Source: R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich
The ‘New Order’ in Europe
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•
Poster inviting Dutchmen to join the SS
Germany exploited occupied
territories, expropriating assets,
raw materials, art treasure, etc.
Foreign workers used to solve
the labour shortage – 7 million
foreign workers in Germany,
and a further 7 million in the
occupied territories by 1944.
Ambitious plans to colonize the
east – ghettoization &
‘liquidation’ of Jews, Slavs etc.
to make way for colonists.
‘The Turning of the Tide’,
1942-43
• 7 Dec. 1941: Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl
Harbour.
• 11 Dec. 1941: Hitler declared war on the USA, globalizing the
conflict.
• 5 Sept. 1942: German forces reached the Russian city of
Stalingrad.
• 23 Oct. – 5 Nov. 1942: Battle of El Alamein – the British 8th Army
defeated the Germans in North Africa and pushed them into
retreat.
• 8 Nov. 1942: Anglo-American forces invaded Morocco &
Algeria, cutting off the German retreat and trapping them in
Tunisia.
• July-August 1943: The British & Americans invade Sicily.
• Sept. 1943: Anglo-American forces move onto the Italian
peninsula. Germany occupies Italy.
Stalingrad: A 900-day Siege
• Confrontation between the two
dictators over the ‘City of
Stalin’ – neither would give in.
• Russian
counter-attack
in
November 1942 encircled the
German 6th Army.
• The Germans lost 750,000
men (killed or missing) and
91,000 were captured.
• A turning point in the war –
after Stalingrad the Germans
did nothing but retreat on the
eastern front.
Russian soldiers wave the ‘Hammer & Sickle’ flag from the roof of the Reichstag building, Berlin, May 1945
Reasons for Defeat
• The role of Hitler
• Fighting on multiple fronts
• The failure to fully mobilize the population and the
economy
• Flexibility
• Morale
• Key texts:
– Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War (2008)
– Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (2006)