Hitler’s need for revenge due to the injustice he felt by the signing of the armistace and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles are long term causes because they led to the Battle o Stalingrad but took place along time before the event.
Next I will examine the short term causes of the Battle of Stalingrad. Firstly, Hitler wanted Lebensraum in the East for the German people. He felt that he could do this by regaining the land lost in Russia. Russia was not only the perfect place for this to be found, but Hitler believed that some of it was rightfully his because of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Not only had Russia got a vast amount of land, but it also had many natural resources, such as grain and oil which Hitler would love to get his hands on. Hitler also desperately needed the oil of the Caucasus region to aid the German war effort once World War Two began. This shows Hitler’s aims to expand Germany into Russia and this therefore led to Germany becoming involved in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Another major factor in Germany’s involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad was Hitler’s hatred of communism. Hitler was a facist, he believed, in having one leader with ‘all power’. He saw the equal ways of communism as a threat and he felt he needed to destroy this threat as soon as possible. Russia, under Stalin, was one of the biggest communist countries in the world. Also, the Russians were Slavs, Hitler had believed the Slavs to be inferior. He intended to use the Slavs as Slave labour for the ayran race. Hence Hitler’s actions, aims and racist views, and his hatred of communism were short term causes of the Battle of Stalingrad because they happened shortly before the event.
I will now examine the immediate causes of the Battle of Stalingrad. During the year of 1939, Hitler saw the Soviet Army in Poland and Finland. The German Army was convinced it could beat the Soviets, who had been weakened by the purges of the 1930’s. Also, despite winning the Battle of Britain, it was obvious that Britain were in no position to threaten Germany. This lead to Hitler planning Operation Barbarossa: The attack on Russia. Hitler and his generals had worked out a detailed military plan for the defeat of Russia. This was to be based on a three-pronged attack. There was to be one German Army in the north, which was to push towards Leningrad. A second Army would be in the centre and would push towards Moscow. The third Army was to be situated in the south, and it’s job would be to advance into the rich wheat-lands of the Ukraine. Hitler was extremely confident that Russia would crumble like Poland and France had in previous campaigns. The forces were assembled in huge secrecy, and when the invasion was launched on June 22nd 1941, the Russians were taken completely by surprise. The early part of Operation Barbarossa went well for the Germans. The Luftwaffe took control of the sky because the Russian Air Force had been destroyed on the ground in the early hours of the attack. Under the air cover, Hitler’s expectations were proved right and the German Army was soon proceeding at the rate of 30 kilometres a day into Russia.
However, after the early triumphs, the Germans advance began to slow down. The Russians had regrouped from their surprise and they fiercely resisted the Germans on every front. The German onslaught was then halted altogether as the hard Russian winter kicked in. The German troops, of whom were still in summer uniforms, suffered badly from the cold.
Other difficulties occurred as well; transport could hardly move due to the standard of the Russian roads, and food and supplies became difficult to get hold of. The Luftwaffe had been grounded by the weather and the engine oil froze in the tanks that were carrying the troops. These factors made it practically impossible to advance. However whilst the Germans were struggling, the familiar conditions of the Russian winter helped Russia launch a counter-attack. The German were stopped 40 kilometres from Moscow and were forced onto the defensive. Even though large areas of Russia were under German control, Hitler had not succeeded in his Blitzkrieg (lightning) victory.
The fighting started again in the spring of 1942, when Russia made a series of counter-offensives in an attempt to recapture the land that had been lost. This failed and it resulted with many losses and by the summer, the Germans were in a position to go on the offensive themselves. Hitler decided to focus on the oil wells in the Caucasus Mountains of Southern Russia. The important centres of Rostov and Mayhop were overun and huge areas of southern Russia passed under German control. In the northern sector on the front round Stalingrad, things did not go Hitler’s way. The Russians put up a stiff resistance and soon, the control of Stalingrad became the key to the whole campaign, with both sides prepared to go all out for the win. Hitler wanted to dent Russian morale by capturing the city that had same name as their leader. Stalin recognised this and decided to increase Russian resistance.
The Russians fought the Battle very cleverly. Whilst the terrible street fighting was going on and was drawing more and more German troops into the city, the Russians began to form a new Army group to attack the German flanks and rear. The new force was ready by November and the counter-attack was then launched. It once again coincided with the ferocious Russian winter which once again aided the Russian cause.
Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to supply food and supplies to German troops who were trapped inside the Russian ring, however this was proved to be impossible. The only way for the Germans to get out was to get out of Stalingrad and fight there way out of the Russian trap by moving towards the west. However, Hitler decided against this and decided to stay put.
With suicidal bravery, the German troops obliged, however they couldn’t hope to succeed. The troops were short of food and supplies, crippled by diseases and frostbite and they eventually were forced to give in. the Army was captured. The Stalingrad campaign had cost Hitler twenty-two divisions and the German Army never completely recovered from the defeat.
These are all immediate causes as they happened at the time of the event. It soon became clear that whomever won the Battle would probably go on to win the war. The weather was a major cause for Germany becoming involved in the Battle because without it, Germany there would not have been such a Battle because Germany would have beaten Russia with ease.
In conclusion I believe that Germany’s involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad came down to three different types of causes, immediate, long term and short term. The major causes for the Battle of Stalingrad were The Great War, Hitler’s aims and actions, his views on race and the resistance of Russia. Hitler’s hatred of communism was a major factor in Germany’s involvement in the Battle of Stalingrad. Hitler believed it his destiny to destroy communism, and he would start with destroying the biggest communist threat, which was Russia. Hitler’s need for Lebensraum was also a major reason for the Battle of Stalingrad because he felt that he needed more livings space for his master race, and this would have to be aquired from the east. Russia had a large amount of land, and it also had many natural resources ,for example the oil from the Causaucas region, which would help Hitler greatly in his war effort and would also make Hitler and Germany a lot of money. The Russian weather was also a big reason in Germany’s involvement because without it, the Germans would have beaten Russia easily. Overall, the Battle of Stalingrad was down to a chain of events that started, many years before the event, and not due to one specific event.
Rory Barham
Miss Baker
