Explain the importance of the battle of Britain as a turning point of the second world war
History Coursework, Q3
"Explain the importance of the battle of Britain as a turning point of the second world war"
In this essay I will point out the 'key turning points' of the second world war and come to a decision about which is the most important. I will also look at how important the Battle of Britain was for the United Kingdom, which at that point was the only opposing force on the Western Front, and I will compare it to the other turning points of the war. In my opinion, I think that the Battle of Stalingrad was the most important turning point of World War Two and I will explain my reasons for this throughout my essay
Firstly, the Battle of Britain, This battle was the first part of Hitler's planned invasion of Britain, he had hoped for his Luftwaffe to defeat our RAF pilots with ease, because he had the advantage of having more experienced pilots and more planes. Despite this however he lacked good tactics and the RAF had a major advantage, Radar, which allowed them to get their fighters off the ground before the Luftwaffe could pin us down with their Dive-bombers, which was one of their key tactics and strengths. After a long series of daily attacks, Hitler soon realised that he was fighting a losing battle. The reason the Battle of Britain was a key turning point in World War Two is that it forced the Nazis to stop their invasion of Britain and switch their attacks from Military (RAF and Merchant Navy) targets to attacking Civilian targets in Cities, (London mainly), this was called, the Blitz. Though the Battle of Britain did stop one of Hitler's plans, however it did not stop his attacks, which would have made the Battle of Britain a vital turning point, the Battle of Britain only switched a major offence into a secondary offensive, by that I mean that it stopped Hitler from spending most of his resources and troops on Britain, and it made him focus more on his Army Group North which was attacking the USSR. Overall I think that the Battle of Britain held more of a 'symbolic' victory rather than acting as a military turning point, because the battle showed Hitler that we would fight on, "We would fight on the beaches, we would fight on the landing grounds, we would fight in the fields and in the streets, we would fight in the hills; we would never surrender" and we never did! It also boosted the morale and courage of our RAF and it made us feel invincible because we - the British - had halted the titan that was Hitler in front of the whole world, so for that, I have to give kudos to the Battle of Britain as a remarkable and probably the most symbolic victory of the War. This is despite the fact that even if we had lost the Battle of Britain I believe that our navy could have defeated the German armada.
After the Battle of Britain was the Blitz, the Blitz was the bombing of lots of cities and towns in England, generally on the southern part by London. The idea was that the Luftwaffe would bomb civilians and public places [at night] to cause widespread havoc among Britain's people, Hitler had hoped that the deaths of thousands would submit Britain into surrender, however it did not. Although it killed approximately 51,500 by the end of the war, Britain held strong and [just like the North Vietnam Army in the Vietnam War] it gave us morale boast which sent ...
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After the Battle of Britain was the Blitz, the Blitz was the bombing of lots of cities and towns in England, generally on the southern part by London. The idea was that the Luftwaffe would bomb civilians and public places [at night] to cause widespread havoc among Britain's people, Hitler had hoped that the deaths of thousands would submit Britain into surrender, however it did not. Although it killed approximately 51,500 by the end of the war, Britain held strong and [just like the North Vietnam Army in the Vietnam War] it gave us morale boast which sent us into a frenzy of industrial production. After researching the Blitz, I have come to the conclusion that it is not a key turning point, it didn't change the war enough to be a turning point on its own, it only awoke and irritated the sleeping giant which is Britain. The Battle of Britain overcomes the Blitz as a turning point, meaning that the Battle of Britain is still the most important point we've discussed
Another important turning point was Operation Dynamo also known as the Dunkirk evacuation, on 26th May 1940 the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk started and it lasted until the 4th June. During the operation the British Merchant Navy- crewed mainly by amateur sailors - evacuated over 330,000 British troops and 10,000 French troops from the Dunkirk pocket, This amazing feat was accomplished due to Hitler's Generals halting their ground troops and only allowing the Luftwaffe to advance, This allowed us the time to save about 340,000 men, but unfortunately we weren't able to save the other 300,000 and a lot of heavy equipment and had to abandon them. The reason this is a key turning point is because the Germans managed to force us (British) off of main land Europe and forced us into a defensive state. However, it isn't as important as most other key points, it didn't force us to surrender and it didn't turn the tide of the war, and it didn't stop us fighting, so in my opinion the evacuation of Dunkirk wasn't as important a turning point as the Battle of Britain.
The fall of France, this is a important turning point in World War Two because it was the fall of the last free nation on mainland Europe to the Nazis, which left only the United Kingdom as the last of the European Allies still fighting in the War, The fall of France meant that Britain was left alone to hold off the German war machine, because at that time the Americans hadn't joined in the War. The fall of France also meant that Germany was able to make their famous pincer movement around Britain, using Norway to base fighter planes and surround the east coast and France to block The Channel and West coast, This meant that Merchant ships were prone to attacks by the Luftwaffe and as the Germans settled into France, they started to dock U-boats and big destroyers on the West coast of France, this meant that the Nazi naval fleet could advance further into the Atlantic and sink Merchant ships before they could even get close to the protection of the RAF. However, the fall of France came quite swiftly to the Germans and the French didn't put up much of a fight due to the fact that their best troops had been sent north and quickly encircled.
In this way the fall of France was more important than the Battle of Britain because it left Britain on a lone crusade against the German war machine, however some minor advantages of the Fall of France was that on 18th June Charles De Gaulle (The leader of Free France) summoned France's colonies to join in the war effort and started to organise the French Resistance which proved vital in Anglo-French operations.
Operation Overlord, Commonly known as D-Day, was the invasion of Europe by Allied troops on the Normandy beaches in 1944. The operation was planned to shock German forces on the beaches with a mixture of land, sea and air attacks on Normandy. As well as this, the Allies sent false messages that the Germans received which diverted some of their forces, notably a bulk of the Waffen SS, to a fake landing site. Operation Overlord was a massive turning point in World War Two, it was the first real attack that was organised by the two main Western Allies (England and America), it applied a lot of pressure on Hitler in a short time which Stalingrad didn't do ( Stalingrad applied pressure more gradual), operation Overlord is obviously the most important turning point of the War on the Western Front, because it was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime, from now on the Allies pushed forward and only rarely took a step back. The Battle of Britain was not as important as Operation Overlord as a turning point because the Battle of Britain didn't turn the tides of war, whereas D-day started the beginning of the end to Nazi Europe. Although Overlord is clearly the most important turning point on the Western Front the debate is whether it was the most important turning point throughout the war.
One event that is a sure candidate for the most important turning point in World War Two is the Battle of Stalingrad. This was because it was the first time Hitler had been stopped in his tracks. The Battle of Stalingrad had repelled Hitler's advance into Russia and had made him commission a full stage retreat out of city. From that point on, Hitler was running further and further back into his conquered territory, which the Russians later liberated from Nazi control and on the way liberating the worst of the concentration camps.
The Battle of Stalingrad was supposed to take the industrial city which was vital for Russian economy and transport - it was a vital route between the Caspian Sea and Northern Russia. If Germany had won at Stalingrad they would have captured control of the oil reserves in Northern Russia and the captured left flank of the USSR. In turn this would have given them the first part of a possible pincer movement around the capital, Moscow. Hitler also wanted the city for his own personal gain, because it was named after his rival, Joseph Stalin, this would have made Hitler feel very proud and he would have used that as a morale booster to his troops in Russia. However, Stalin also felt this same pride in victory, which encouraged his resolve. Stalin ordered every able person, men and women, to grab a rifle and fight in the battle; also Stalin had experience at the battle grounds from the Russian Civil War, which enabled him to know how to fight in the particular area. So in conclusion, the defeat of Stalingrad would have lost us the War because it would have stopped Stalin and then Hitler would have been able to use Russia's resources to defeat his remaining rivals.
In conclusion the battle of Stalingrad brought about a greater amount of changes and had a larger impact on the war than any other turning point I have mentioned; therefore it would seem that it was the most important turning point of the war. Certainly, in comparison to the battle of Britain its impact is more for gloating and its military impact is unsurpassed. As a symbolic victory however, the Battle of Britain eclipses most other events in World War Two. The courage of Britain and the strength and determination of the British people encouraged people across Europe and the Atlantic to continue to fight and as a result persuaded the Americans to join in more actively. It acted as a light to all those fighting Germany that the Nazis could be repelled and it was the first time that people actually realised that the German war machine could be defeated. In this way it could be argued that the most important military turning point of the Second World War was the German defeat at Stalingrad, however the most important turning point for morale and the people fighting in Western Europe was that one small country that stood alone against the juggernaut that was Nazi Germany and beat them back at the Battle of Britain
Lewis Burroughs
1 Newman
History Coursework
