As Britain was the last big power still opposing Hitler in Europe he was very keen to invade it before putting his focus on Russia (formerly the U.S.S.R.). To achieve Hitler’s invasion of Britain, the Germans had to eliminate the threat of the British Air Force in order for the invasion boats to cross the channel without harm from the…
There were many controversial topics throughout the world during the 20th century such as WWI, WWII, the Civil Rights movement, women’s rights, and the Vietnam War. Although this was a difficult time for most people (especially since the stock market crashed in 1929) there were a few influential people (Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks) that stood out from the rest in leading the fight for equality. What sparked the uproar in the east that eventually lead to the beginning of “The Great War”? On June 28th, 1914 a Serbian nationalist assassinated the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, while he was visiting Sarajevo a city in the Bosnia-Herzegovina province.…
At dawn, on August 19th, 1942, nearly 250 Allied vessels, containing just over 6000 mostly Canadian troops sat in the English Channel. Their goal? Capture Dieppe, a small German occupied resort town in France, hold it for twelve hours and back down with German prisoners and information about their defenses. Little did they know that within twelve hours, over 3600 of them would be killed, captured as prisoners of war, or wounded. That tragic day was one of the Allies’ worst losses in World War II, but many lessons were learned that day that would eventually lead the Allies to victory on the beaches of Normandy in 1945.…
World War II sent humanity into another global and political struggle, resulting in the largest war death toll in history. 1941 saw the constant rise of the supremacy of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi troops in both Europe and North Africa. Prior to the Siege of Tobruk, Germany had “began its own offensive into Cyrenaica,” and “attacked Greece and Yugoslavia, seizing them by the end of the month,” (Battistelli P.P. 2012). “Rommel’s troops were poised to capture all of Libya and press on to Egypt,” (Murray J.J. 2011) yet the collective Allied resistance, consisting mostly of Australian troops, was successful in the defence of the strategical port of Tobruk. The Siege of Tobruk displayed both the overconfidence of German troops and character of Australia’s ANZAC qualities, which combined with the strategical importance of the Libyan town of…
The success that followed this mission put the allied countries in an advantage to the Germans, literally resulted in fighting fire with…
On May 10th 1940, German forces attacked the Low Countries. Lord Gort made the decision to evacuate on May 25, 1940, and the last troops departed France on June 4. Despite their best efforts, the BEF, Belgian, and French forces were unable to stop the German advance. 6 days later, German forces reached the coast, they started cutting off the BEF as well as a large number of Allied troops. The evacuation was to be carried out by a fleet of destroyers and merchant ships.…
In 1939, many people were faced with conflict due to a second World War. Nazis captured Jews, Americans rounded up Japanese, many people responded to this sudden conflict in a negative way, but some responded in a positive way. Having a positive attitude is the best response to conflict, especially in the time of war. A couple of books represent how two people named Anne Frank and Winston Churchill respond to conflict when it comes their way. One of these is Anne Frank:…
In the “Long Night of the Little Boats” humans’ values, both on the part of the little boat rescuers and the soldiers, played a part in the outcome of Dunkirk. However the British common citizens came together to help the British defeat Germany. The British soldiers were trapped in Dunkirk, France and were almost defeated by the Germany soldiers. In Paragraph 1, it said “There were fishing boats, shrimp catchers, and ancient car Ferrier helped the British army.…
For five years the battles raged throughout Europe between the Allies and the Axis. June 6th, 1944 marked D-day, the most pivotal point of World War II. This battle took place in Normandy, France between the Allied and Axis forces. Allied forces consisted of Belgium, British Empire (Australia,…
The invasion of Northern Europe and the conquest of Germany by allied forces was the most pivotal role in the downfall of Germany and the ending of World War II. Hitler had created an unknown amount of concentration camps in total, and the liberation of those camps truly showed that the war had been a victory for the allies. Invasion of Europe During World…
On May 29th, 1940 the germans attacked the french through a weak point in their blockade in the northern forest. They sprinted through streets killing french soldiers until the French retreat closer and closer to the north beach of Dunkirk. The French escaped to quickly they left almost all of their supplies behind…
With nowhere to hide, they were left defenceless as the German planes were shooting from above. By May 26, 1940 the Germans had forced French, British and Belgian troops to the port of Dunkirk, isolating them on the beaches. Initially it was estimated that just 45,000 men could be evacuated in 48 hours. Instead the operation was to become the biggest evacuation in military history. Christopher Nolan expresses this throughout the film by portraying thousands of soldiers in multiple lines, acknowledging that Winston Churchill wanted 30,000 men back home and Ramsay wanted to give him 45,000 and with the use of German propaganda posters with arrows pointing to Dunkirk and the surrounding regions with the text ‘We surround you.’…
With advanced weaponry and new tactics, this war tested the newly developed war tactics, new weaponry, and advanced machinery. Germany’s national interest was to develop an advanced army that rivaled Great Britain, this would prove to be one of the reasons of the outbreak of a large scale war. The newly unified Germany by Otto von Bismarck meant that they did not have the benefits that the other European powers had, the lack of colonies throughout Europe meant that they would be economically inferior to other countries. Germany’s economic inferiority rallied for the support of using their superior military to show their strength to other European nations. Nationalism became the leading force in the certification of the German identity, and the newly created German superpower wanted to look for “their place in the sun”.…
In early June of 1940, France was on the verge of capitulation. After a series of failed maneuvers, British forces were forced to evacuate at Dunkirk; mainland Europe was being dominated by the armies of Nazi Germany. On June 18, as morale was sinking, newly incumbent British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill stood before the House of Commons to deliver what is now one of the most recognizable pieces of oratory of the Twentieth Century. In his “Finest Hour” speech, Churchill addressed the recent military blunders, and sought to assure Britons that the British Empire would fight with an untiringly, just as they had done a generation ago. The speech was also broadcasted on BBC Radio that evening to reach a greater audience.…
The Battle of Britain was a turning point in the war. The Luftwaffe’s inability to hold control of England skies was its first major defeat. Another battle that the Axis could not win was the Invasion of Normandy. One of the primary reasons why the Allies were successful during the Invasion of Normandy was because of deception. Deception to mislead the Germans as to the time, and place of the invasion.…