Most Important Battle in History

Battle: The Battle of Stalingrad I. A History "The Battle of Stalingrad was a major and decisive battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943 and was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties. It is among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two million. The heavy losses inflicted on the German army made it a significant turning point in the whole war. After the Battle of Stalingrad, German forces never recovered their earlier strength, and attained no further strategic victories in the East. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad commenced in late summer 1942, and was supported by intensive Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The German offensive eventually became mired in building-to-building fighting; and despite controlling nearly all of the city at times, the Wehrmacht was unable to dislodge the last Soviet defenders clinging tenaciously to the west bank of the Volga River. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weak Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the 6th Army's flanks. After heavy fighting, the weakly held Axis flanks collapsed and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded inside Stalingrad. As the Russian winter set in, the 6th Army weakened rapidly from cold, starvation and ongoing Soviet attacks. Command ambiguity coupled with Adolf Hitler's resolute belief in their will to fight further exacerbated the German predicament. Eventually, the failure of outside German forces to break the encirclement, coupled with the failure of resupplying by air, led to the final collapse. By the beginning of February 1943, Axis resistance in Stalingrad had ceased and the remaining elements of the 6th Army had either surrendered or been destroyed. "[1]II. ImportanceII. i It Collasped the Eastern Front for the Germans "The Battle of Stalingrad is considered by many historians to have been the turning point in World War Two in Europe. The battle at Stalingrad bled the German army dry in Russia and after this defeat, the Germany Army was in full retreat. "[2]"When most people think of the turning point of World War II, they think of D-Day. In all truth, it was Stalingrad. "[3]Stalingrad annihilated the German's Eastern Front force, forcing them to strip vital units from their defences in France and Italy. This later allowed for the other Allies to storm and make a beachhead on Normandy and Sicily, and were able to capitalize on their advances by going into the heart of Germany. Stalingrad made WWII winnable for the Allies. II. ii. It Ended WWII I will now show two graphs regarding to two situations. The first map shows what would have happened if the Germans had won Stalingrad. They would have been able to reinforce the attacking forces at Leningrad and Moscow and capture the oil rich fields of the Caucasuses. The troops afterwards would go to the coastal defences, and the invasions of Normandy and Sicily would never have been possible. Germany could have even attacked Great Britian itself. : [4+My Own Paint Work]This second graph is what actually happened. Germany had to strip the coastal defences to stop the Russian advance, allowing Normandy and Sicily to be stormed, thus created a three-pronged or pancer attack on Germany, thus defeating Germany and ending the war: [4+My Own Paint Work] III. Aftermath . http://books.google.com...*Germany would win World War II*Hundreds of millions of more people would be dead*Judaism would be an underground religion*Germany would take over the world*Nazism would reign*We would all speak German, be singing praises to Hitler and the would be current leader, and have blonde hair and blue eyes Stalingrad was the most important battle because it had drastic consequences forever after. Freedom reigns and people have the right to live because the Soviets won Stalingrad. Without that, we would all be under tyranny. Sources:[1]: . http://en.wikipedia.org...[2]: . http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...[3]: . http://historyrat.wordpress.com...[4]: . http://www.admwebstudios.co.uk... . http://books.google.com...