It can be argued that this key decision early in the war by Adolf Hitler made the defeat of Germany inevitable

Question

It can be argued that this key decision early in the war by Adolf Hitler made the defeat of Germany inevitable by.....

a. abandoning the Battle of Britain.

b. Dividing France into a zone of German occupation and a French national puppet government at Vichy.

c. Immediately declaring war on the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

d. Snubbing British proposals for an armistice in 1941.

e. Invading Scandinavia

Answer 1

b)
when hitler divided his forces going into france he made his defeat inevitable because his plan relied on his forces surging through france and taking them all in one blitz
the name of the plan was blitzcreig-lightning war
when they failed to take france at once they were forced to defend a horrible position
they were in the french cities with no supply lines with local cab drivers picking up reinforcements and supplies for the french

Answer 2

I'd go with a.
A lot more things could have altered events,blitzkrieg was largely a doctrine of manouver,smash and grab,the two most famous examples of this that i can think of are when Hitler was at the gates of moscow but he decided to drive south and try and secure the oil fields in the caucasis,the other was when he lauched barbarossa and abandoned the campaign against england.

Hitler was working against the clock,he could invade england and afford the soviet union time to arm itself or he could make a grab for russia now and deal with england later.

While englands contribution to the defeat of germany may not have been great the important thing from the ally perspective is that if england lost then germany would have won.

This might still have paid off for hitler if it wasnt for mussolinis foray into the balkins,Hitler had to bail him out and as a consequence barbarossa was delayed for 6 weeks.

What this meant was that the german army approached moscow 6 weeks later than it otherwise would have.
If you consider the only thing to save moscow in 1941 was the mud and then the snow how much difference did those 6 weeks make.

Sorry if things got a bit long winded but i reckon that was the biggest thing.2 fronts was never sustainable.

Answer 3

None of the above decisions made the defeat of Germany.

The defeat of Germany was caused by the German invasion of the Soviet Union (more than one-half of the whole German forces were fighting against the Russians alone). When the Russians defeated the Germans in the Eastern Front, the Germans knew that they will eventually lose the war in the whole of Europe. The U.S. is never a big factor in the German defeat. The U.S. had only a nominal strength of forces in Europe, as the larger part of the U.S. forces are in the Pacific, fighting against the Japanese.

In short, had the Germans decided not to invade the Soviet Union, the whole strength of the German forces will face only the combined Anglo-American forces. The Germans would have won that one easily.

Answer 4

Abandoning the Battle of Britain.
Hitler wanted another Paris were he could just march in without any opposition. So he allowed the Luftwaffe to commence the Battle of Britain, which was completely aerial battle and created a name for the RAF by humiliatingly repulsing the German Luftwaffe.
Only if Hitler sent forces and invaded Britain at it's most vulnerable point, weapons, ammunition, and equipment was abandoned during the evacuation of Dunkirk. So basically, Hitler would have only fought against men with pitch forks (literally, there was a front set up by local Englishmen along the southern coast line that only had pitchforks and such that vowed to attack the German anyway they could if they invaded). He would have easily taken England. Leaving only Russia and the U.S. to worry about, putting both in a horrible position with Germany researching the V2 and all sorts of secret weapons (maybe even the atomic bomb by German if it had not been in a troubling situation at 1944).

Answer 5

What is the question? Or is it multiple choice?

As for d, there was no British Proposal for an Armistice in 1941, so that is a bogus one.

What actually made German defeat inevitable was the invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa).

Answer 6

You forgot to add the Germans' failure to destroy the British Army when they had it pinned at Dunkirk. If they had done that, the Battle of Britain would have been a formality since they wouldn't have had the military manpower to resist an invasion. I have no doubt they would have resisted to the bitter end, but it would have been in vain, I think.
Of the choices given, I have to choose C. Losing Britain would have been catastrophic, but the U.S. could still have carried on the fight. I think bringing the U.S. into the war before taking down the Brits was Hitler's fatal mistake.

Answer 7

f) Attacking the Soviet Union before defeating Great Britain.
If they Nazis had done this they would rule the world today. Even though the United States took Iceland we could never have invaded Europe from there. And without the Western Allies tying up resources in Africa and western Europe, the German armies would have beaten the Soviets.

Answer 8

probably A really but I like C. :)

edit:
I agree with Eh. Because regardless of whatever else he did, managing to take Britian would leave Europe nearly flankless. The US and coalition forces would've never had a chance to set up shop there and organize for the invasion.
There would be no Operation Overlord and forces could be concentrated to one target area at a time like Pac-Man.
Hence, it would change just about everything.

Answer 9

C.

Hitler had Britain contained, and He could have continued to hold the soviets.

However once the industrial might of the US came in to play the ending was a foregone conclusion, Germany could not compete with the mass production levels of the US

Answer 10

Survey Says!! C!