APUSH WWII RESEARCH PAPER Kiamber C. McCrorey April 8th, 2013 AP U.S.

History

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14. Discuss Blitzkrieg and the importance of this tactic during World War Two. World War Two was one of the most devastating wars ever fought. It reshaped initially Europe but also the world as a whole. During this time Germany completely changed the way people viewed how war was fought. They started and perfected a new military tactic that would greatly advance their effort to control Europe. They introduced the world to Blitzkrieg or lightening war. This tactic was heavily practiced, developed, and successful in every battle at the start of the world war. One of its greatest significances is its complete change of warfare not simply as a war tactic but a necessity, to annihilate an enemy. Germanys main goal in this war was to avoid long war. They began the war and ravaged most of Europe with their new blitzkrieg tactic. The offensive weapons such as tanks, artillery, and planes were essential to pull this off. These weapons would need to be concentrated along a narrow front. Along this front German force would force the enemys defense to break. This break allowed tank divisions to infiltrate and spread out and cause massive damage behind enemy lines. Ill-prepared for this type of attack the enemys defense would be shocked, confused, and disorganized. As they scrambled to collect themselves they met another wave of attack. The German air power hammered the defense, preventing the enemy from resupplying or redeploying by sending in reinforcements to seal front line breaches. Consequently, this allowed Germany to surround the enemy and force their surrender. The German army used this one tactic over and over all across Europe. They thought that by isolating an enemy they contained the conflict and avoid an extensive, strained, multi-front war of depreciation and did not strain the civilian population or the economy by avoiding the establishment of a war economy. Its first try was successful in Poland in 1939. It also succeeded in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France in 1940, and Yugoslavia, and Greece in 1941. Blitzkrieg

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ultimately seemed to work in Soviet Union in 1941. With the first offense Germany succeeded in forcing Soviet troops back to the gates of Moscow with profound losses. On their second offense in 1942 after Hitler declared war with the U.S. its added military and economic power allowed the Soviets to trap and completely destroy the German army in Stalingrad. Most of Europe was still devastated by the trench warfare of the first world war. Their mindsets were stuck in that deadlock and thought to challenge or to rush a trench was suicide. They were totally and completely unprepared for what the Germans had in store. It was the first nation to go against the grain and experiment with breaking the deadlock with panzers or a mechanized attack force. This was the first time the coordination of air and ground forces was used to conduct war. These tactics were ahead of modern thinking, giving them the advantage they needed to move quickly and efficiently and the ability to be in several places at once. The Germans prepared for this war in advance. They initiated the use of widespread radios for mechanized forces. This allowed communication between commanders on the ground and commanders in the sky who had clear views of the battlefield and faster relation of information and reaction time. Much of the process depended on the panzer forces. Supplied by railroads, their swift proficiency allowed them to cover distances fast and move together without refueling and mechanical break downs hindering them. But this was not the only facet to German war thinking. This Blitzkrieg strategy was ultimately a result of the Germans fear of a two front war. They needed to win in the West in order to fight on the Eastern Front against the Russians. They did not want to merely win because although an army may be defeated if enough soldiers survive or escape then that army can be rebuilt. They were striving for the annihilation of their enemy through encirclement because it was the only way to get a decisive victory. These things were initially the ideas of Field Marshal Count Alfred von Schlieffen. He understood that war was

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simply an instrument of politics and primarily aimed to neutralize a two front war through quick defeat. His ideas lead German military thinking but policy became a restriction of strategy because military leaders could not offer flexibility to political leaders if they went to war and to them any sort of exhaustion was not an option. In the end, Blitzkrieg was Germanys attempt to politically, economically, and militarily strengthen their status in the world. One by one they overwhelmed their enemies in a sequence of individual consecutive campaigns that did not last long. Also, as an aspect of the strategy, whenever possible, they gained new territory by use of political means. The weak points they found in European collective security were exploited and through political and economic devices new territories were won without gunfire. They were used in support of the next operation and added to strengthen the economic war machine. By advancing certain cultural and traditional patterns of war such as their physical position the Germans changed modern thinking in regards to communications, wars, and technology.

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Works Cited BBC News. BBC. 04 Apr. 2013 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/blitzkrieg_01.shtml>. "Holocaust History." Blitzkrieg (Lightning War). 04 Apr. 2013 <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005437>. "Military History Online - The True Strategy of Blitzkrieg." Military History Online - The True Strategy of Blitzkrieg. 04 Apr. 2013 <http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/strategyofblitzkrieg.aspx>. "World War 2: The German Blitzkrieg." HubPages. 04 Apr. 2013 <http://jasonoleinik.hubpages.com/hub/World-War-2-The-German-Blitzkrieg>. "World War II Europe: Blitzkrieg." About.com Military History. 06 Apr. 2013 <http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/wwiiblitz.htm>.