The role of the Soviet Union in defeating Germany was greater than that of the Western Allies

I may have failed to prove to Con that 80% of the German soldiers were killed in the east, but Con has failed to prove otherwise. Historians are not really sure exactly how many German soldiers died in the east. Estimates range from 2.8 million to over 4 million. However, like I stated earlier, Operation Barbarossa consisted of 3.5 million German soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Romanian, Hungarian, Finnish, and Italian soldiers. That puts the number of German soldiers who were about to invade Russia at around 4 million. At the same time, there were approximately half a million German and Italian soldiers in Africa. Like you stated earlier, Germany did move some of its men to other fronts as the war progressed, but the vast majority of the Germans stayed on the eastern front and fought the Soviets until the end of the war. I put up a source in the previous round that shows how many Germans died on each front. http://en.wikipedia.org... If you take a look at the second table in this source then you will see that on the eastern front over a million German soldiers died while in Africa and Italy, only some 50,000 Germans died. In addition to this, the table shows all of the German soldiers that were wounded on all fronts of the war. In order to see how many German soldiers died fighting the Soviets then you will simply need to take a look at the eastern front, the Balkan front, and the Finnish/Scandinavian front. The table does not include the number of Romanian, Italian, Hungarian, Finnish, and other axis allies who fought alongside Germany. In addition to my source, I compared some of the battles fought by the west and by the Soviets. The Second Battle of El Alamein is considered to be one of the most important battles of WWII. In this battle the axis suffered 30,542 casualties.[1] At the Battle of the Bulge, Germany suffered approximately 80,000 casualties. [2] At Stalingrad, the Germany suffered a staggering 850,000 casualties. [3] At Kursk, the Germans suffered 250,000-300,000 casualties. [4] The Battles of El Alamein and the Bulge were the two most importance battles fought by the western powers which is why I compared them. Stalingrad and Kursk were the two most important battles fought by the Soviets which is why I compared them. So far I have tried to prove that the Soviets did in fact kill 80% of the German forces. I may have failed in proving that the Soviets did defeat 80% of the German forces, however I proved that the Soviets defeated way more axis soldiers than the western powers did. I would also like to point out that it was the Soviets who captured Berlin which was the reason Germany lost. Con also tried to prove that lend-lease supplies saved the Soviet Union from defeat. Perhaps the Soviets would have lost had they not had those extra supplies. However I believe that the Soviet military contribution overshadows the supplies it received from Britain and France. Western allied supplied made up 15-25% of total Soviet production. [5] In addition to this, the only reason the Soviets needed the supplies was because of Stalin's stupidity. Stalin's stupidity was the reason that the Soviets lost most of their tanks and planes in the opening months of the war. Although Con does do a good job explaining how lend-lease supplies helped the Soviets, he fails to prove that those supplies saved the Soviets. It is very likely that without those extra supplies the Soviets would still have won, it just would have taken much longer. I would also argue that the west depended on the Soviets more than the Soviets depended on the Western Allies. The vast majority of the German tanks and soldiers were defeated in the east. Had Hitler not attacked the USSR and finished off Britain instead then there would have been no Western Allies. I would agree that both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union played major roles in defeating the axis powers, however the main overall reason Germany lost was because of Hitler's incorrect decisions. Anyway, I think I have said enough on this topic. I will now conclude: Con's main arguments throughout this debate were that the Soviets helped Germany establish itself and that the Soviets were very dependent on allied supplies. My main arguments were that the Soviets destroyed the vast majority of the German army along with most of the Finnish, Romania, and Hungarian, divisions. I also argued that the most important battles of WWII (Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, and Berlin) were all fought by the Soviets. Any one of these battles destroyed for more German divisions than the Western Allies destroyed in a single battle. I proved that from June 1941 until the end of the war in Europe, Hitler sent most of his army to fight against the Soviets. I proved that con's first main argument about the Soviets entering the war late was completely invalid because the Soviets made the mistake of trusting Hitler, the same mistake made by Britain and France. In addition to this, I explained that the USA, one of the most important allied countries, entered the war 6 months after the Soviets did. I also explained how Britain and France allowed Germany to rebuild its military and annex Austria and Czechoslovakia. The role of the western powers in allowing Germany to rebuild was just as great, if not greater than that of the USSR. Pro's first main argument is completely invalid. Con's second argument about the lend-lease supplies being important to the Soviets was very strong, however I proved that the Soviet military contribution overshadowed the supplies it received from the allies. Lend-lease supplies HELPED the Soviet Union WIN the war. While the Soviets were did most of the fighting, Britain and the US fought on the sidelines until 11 months before the end of the war when the outcome was already decided. The Western Allies helped the Soviets win the war. The outcome of the war was decided in the east, not in Africa or Italy where minor battles were fought. It was the Battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, Operation Bagration, and the battle of Berlin that decided the outcome of the war. The USSR won the war in Europe, the Western Allies simply helped. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://books.google.com...