Example research essay topic: France And England Soviet Union - 1,739 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

History In order for us to understand why most of European countries did not put up almost any resistance, while being occupied by Germany during World War Two, we will first need to look at geopolitical situation in Europe, at the time. In years 1930 - 1940 Communism was at its strongest, while striving for no less than taking over the whole world. Up until collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, its emblem used to be hammer and sickle over the globe. Today it became customary to accuse Hitler of dreaming about globe domination, yet he never openly suggested that he wanted to conquer the world, while Stalin did so numerous times.

In fact, in 1920 Red Army tried to occupy Poland, as the first step on the way of liberating Europe from capitalism. Yet, this attempt has failed miserably; this is why Stalin decided to wait until the economy of Soviet Union was fully militarized, in order to insure military success of the next attempt to bring happiness to European workers. At the same time, Hitler simply wanted to return back German historical territories that were being separated from Germany by the treaty of Versailles, while strengthening Germany, because he knew that it was only the matter of time before new Communist onslaught would begin. Therefore, many Europeans thought of Nazi Germany as their natural protector against the threat of Communism, because the governments of their own countries were being corrupted by Communist infiltrators.

Let us analyze Hitler conquests more closely. In 1938 Hitler seized Austria. But it did not come as the result of conquest, on his part. During the national referendum, 95 % of Austrians voted in favor of uniting with Germany. This is quite understandable Austrians speak German and have always considered themselves as belonging to German culture. These two countries had different history, but the mentality of Austrians and Germans have always been the same, even though that Austrians are predominantly Catholics.

Let us not forget that Nazi Germany was the first country in history that managed to fully liquidate unemployment. The living standards in Germany before the outbreak of WWII were considerably higher then in any other European country, including England. This is despite the fact that before 1933, the inflation rate in Germany was skyrocketing, with majority of workers being unemployment. This is why most Austrians supported unification with the Third Reich. Czechoslovakia has always been an artificial state. It only took one year for this country to break apart, after collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, without being invaded by any foreign power.

In 1938 Hitler was concerned about the fate of 6 million Germans, who lived predominantly in Bohemia. This part of Czechoslovakia used to be a German principality, back in the history. He decided to take advantage of international situation at the time, to claim Bohemia. France and England allowed him to do this, by betraying their ally. Still, the reason why there was no armed resistance, during the occupation of Czechoslovakia, is because Czechs and Slovaks did not see the reason why they had to fight, in the first place. They grew tired of their corrupt politicians and simply wanted some strong leader to bring order.

Czechs and Germans had much in common. Their history was being closely interrelated. Two countries were also tightly linked economically. In fact, the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia remained the most loyal occupied territory, throughout the war, even though that it was predominantly populated by people of Slavic descent. The situation with Poland was different. Hitler wanted to return Danzig back to Germany and to eliminate Polish corridor.

In return, he offered Poland German territories in Eastern Prussia. However, Polacks categorically refused to even consider the negotiations, while being given false guarantees of their security by France and England. By September 1939, Polish army was being considered as one of the strongest in the whole Europe. The reason why Hitler was able to capture this country within a few weeks, is because Poland did not receive the promised military assistance from its allies and because Wermacht used a new strategy of blitzkrieg, when German tank divisions would simply over pass the Polish strongholds and cut their supply lines. Also, Soviet Union attacked Poland in the rear, which enabled it to simply divide Poland with Germany. Despite the courage of Polish soldiers, they simply did not have a chance of wining war on two fronts.

In 1940 Hitler turned to France. He did it because he was already in war with this country since 1939. There was a large contingent of British army in France at the time and he simply needed to eliminate the continental threat to Germany from the West. French army relied on Maginot line for effective defense, because French generals were not able to recognize the fact that, after WWI, the concept of warfare changed its very essence. Just as with the case of Poland, Hitlers tanks over passed French line of defense and began to roll straight to Paris. French society was being demoralized by its own government, which used to promote pacifism, prior to outbreak of WWII.

Majority of French soldiers were more concerned about their survival then about beating off the aggression. There were reports of whole French divisions surrendering, after the first shots were being fired. Therefore, we can say that it were both demoralization of French society and the effectiveness of German army that allowed Hitler to accomplish a quick military victory over France. Belgium did not put up much of a resistance either for exactly the same reason. Belgian king escaped the country, even before the end of hostilities. In Denmark, there was no even a symbolic resistance.

A few regiments of German paratroopers were being dropped on Copenhagen and they ended the war within an hour. In fact, Danish officials thought that German paratroopers on the streets of Copenhagen were the part of movie production. German army did not indulge in atrocities against civilians in occupied countries, except for Poland. Therefore, stories of courageous French, Danish or Belgian resistance movement, during the WWII, are nothing but a part of myth. In France, for example, the resistance movement largely consisted of French prostitutes demanding German soldiers to pay more for their services.

At the time when Japan attacked China, it was not part of Axis, which was only formed in 1940. Japan lacked natural resources; this was the main reason for the attack. Also, since the beginning of 20 th century, Japan observed China being mercilessly exploited by England and U. S. , without any kind of discontent, on the part of Chinese people. Therefore, Japanese government decided to get its own share of pie. However, it would be wrong to suggest that Japanese army was able to defeat China with ease.

In fact, it never happened. The military objectives of Japanese government in China had never been reached. Now we come to the question why Germany was unable to defeat Britain. The answer is very obvious 30 miles wide British channel.

British Navy enjoyed an unsurpassed naval supremacy, therefore, Hitler could not even dream of transporting his invasion troops to Britain by sea. This could only be done by the mean of massive drop of paratroopers. However, in order to accomplish this, Hitler needed to gain aerial supremacy for his Luftwaffe. This is why the decision was being made to begin a bombing campaign against Britain. British fighter planes needed to be deprived of their runways, so that they would not be able to intercept German transport planes with invasion troops. The famous Battle for Britain has begun.

Nevertheless, this task proved to be a little too much for the German air force. Without establishing Luftwaffes superiority in the air, Hitler could not embark on invasion of Britain. It is very doubtful that Hitler would invade Britain even if German bombing campaign proved to be successful. The more and more information now becomes available, which proves the fact that Stalin was waiting for Hitler to start the invasion of England, so that he could stab him in the back with his hordes, concentrated in immediate proximity to German border.

By 1941 Stalin had active army of 5 million and 6 million of reservists, which were being secretly transported towards the Western border. Soviet Union had 26. 800 tanks against 3000 of German tanks, which were obsolete by Soviet standards. Hitler was able to realize that Stalin was getting ready for the attack on Germany; this is why he had to postpone his invasion of Britain and to strike Soviet Union, as preemptive measure. Let us not forget that German economy was being fully militarized only in 1943, while producing weapons became the priority in Britains economy since 1938. In fact, Hitler even reduced his army in size, after the end of French campaign, because he expected British politicians to get back to their senses. However, Churchill had chosen in favor of escalating the war, even though that Hitler tried many times to initiate peace talks.

This was because Roosevelt assured him of American assistance. When Britain ran out of money to pay for the delivery of military supplies from America, Roosevelt introduced the system of land-lease, when weapons were being given to Britain for free. By doing this, America had basically entered the war against Germany, without declaring it officially. American naval vessels were escorting convoys across the Atlantic, with orders to sink German submarines upon a sight. This was happening, while Roosevelt kept declaring that America wants nothing except peace.

This is why Britain was able to prevail in the end, although it is doubtful of whether loosing its colonial empire can be considered by Britain as part of overwhelming victory over Germany. German attacks against Britain have never been intense. There were only a few thousands in casualties, as the result of German bombing raids on Britain, while the bombing of Dresden alone, by British and American bombers in 1945, killed 300. 000 civilians, who were incinerated alive. The famous saying states history is written by victors.

This is especially the case with the history of WWII. More and more people begin to realize that this war could have been avoided, if it was not up to politicians ambitions and greed. This should serve as a lesson to us all. Bibliography: World War Two. 2006.

Wikipedia. 21 Mar. 2007. web

Research essay sample on France And England Soviet Union