Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point of World War II because of two reasons.  First, after the battle, the balance of power shifted in favor of the Allies. Second, it changed the relationship between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill and altered their strategy going forward.

The Battle of Stalingrad lasted from July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943.  It was a important Soviet victory as they defended the city and drove back the Germans.  The Nazis had invaded the Soviet Union with their operation code-named Operation Barbarossa on June 22nd of 1941. Hitler sent 3 million soldiers and 3 thousand tanks on a massive attack.  Using blitzkrieg with Panzer tanks and his very strong army, Hitler was able to keep advancing deep into Soviet Union territory.  His motivation for attacking was both strategic and ideological.  Hitler wanted to quickly conquer the Soviet Union so that he could focus on Britain and America much like he did with France.  Nazi ideology that Soviets were racially inferior was also a motivation.  There was a big Jewish population in the Soviet Union that was sent to concentration camps, but Hitler also killed 3.3 million Soviet Prisoners of War with starvation and execution.  However after wet weather that made the ground muddy so that tanks could not travel through, his advance was slowed down.  This set the stage for the Battle of Stalingrad.

Stalingrad, now Volgograd, is a city in the South of Russia, slightly East of Moscow.  The Germans wanted to take this city because it was an important industrial center for the Soviets.  If they could capture this city which lies on the Volga river it would have been instrumental in helping them launch further attacks into the heart of Russia.  Germans first launched an aerial attack where they decimated the city with intense bombing. Next General Paulus marched in but the Soviets held firm.  They tried to advance and breach the defenses but although they did make it to the center they could not defeat the Soviets.  The fighting can be characterized as "bitter urban street fighting" because all the civilians helped make barricades and they hid behind the rubble of the city.  Fought to a standstill and badly supplied the Germans were growing weak but Hitler would not let them quit.  Finally, on February 2nd of 1943, the Russians counter-attacked by surrounding the Germans on all sides of the city and swarmed them until Paulus retreated his 91,000 men.  The Russians had won and they than proceeded to push back the Germans gains.

The effects of the Battle of Stalingrad were that 2 million soldiers died.  Additionally it was a turning point because the Soviets won and drove back the Germans.  This signaled that the Allies now had the upper hand in the war when it previously looked like the Axis powers were going to win.  This was because Hitlers plan was to quickly defeat the Soviet Union so they could not bother him anymore. Since he failed it meant that he would now have to fight a two front war.  This was impossible to win because the Germans had inferior manpower and industrial capacity.

The other turning point of the war was the effect on Stalin and Churchill and Roosevelt's relationship.  Prior to this victory, Stalin had been demanding a Second front to help distract the Germans and spare his army which was suffering heavy losses.  He did not want help in the Soviet Union because he did not want the American troops to bring their capitalistic ideology.  However, Churchill did not think that Britain was ready so he did not invade France but instead tried to appease Stalin with campaigns in the Mediterranean but Stalin was not amused.  After the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalin had more power and Churchill and Roosevelt were scared.  They did not want Stalin to win the war without their help because than he would have more power in deciding the peacetime treaty and division of Europe.  Stalin knew that the more territory he conquered the farther he could expand socialism, and he kept advancing into Europe.  This led Britain and America to realize that they needed to quickly attack to say that they won the war so they could keep Europe capitalist.  This caused them to launch the D-Day invasion.