World War II Flashcards
1
Q
how did this war differ
A
- ideological
- hitler wanted the domination of the germanic race
- had to target the East to achieve this
- third reich was a state made for war
2
Q
russo-german war
A
- the most important
- hitler required fall of soviets
- The assumption that the fall of Russia would weaken other opponents e.g. Britain
- no turning point in war - German military momentum was halted and then lost in three great battles: Moscow 1941–2, Stalingrad 1942–3 and Kursk 1943.
3
Q
German army strengths
A
- had 100 infantry divisions
- firepower of infantry exceeded Britain and France
- had 6 armoured divisions
- ## use of organisation + divisions helped to punch holes in enemy line and isolate them in to segments
4
Q
German army weaknesses
A
- German military prowess and increasingly scarce assets were committed to operational tasks that could not yield strategic benefits proportionate to their costs of attainment.
- soldiers were handicapped severely by their politicians’ inability to assemble politically an array of allies that looked like a potentially winning team
- absence of debate between civilian leaders and the military
- the deeper you went in to Russia the bigger the battlefield - the more resources exhausted
- the holocaust tied up many resources
5
Q
how this war was similar
A
- despite mechanisation there was still an emphasis on jointly applied and combined arms
6
Q
holocaust
A
- didn’t play a strategic part
- was fuelled by hitlers anti-semitism + nationalism
