What was the tipping point for Nazi defeat in WW2?

Question

What was the critical failure of the Nazi strategy in WW2? At what point was the war lost? Deciding to split the fronts by attacking the Soviets? Failing to secure the Mediterranean? Failing to subdue Britain? What's your opinion?

too many great answers to pick just one -- i will forfeit the points for choosing a best answer and let you, the voters, decide. thanks for the answers, i learned a lot

Answer 1

The two biggest tipping points were attacking the Soviets, and declaring war on the United States immediately after Pearl Harbor. If they had not done either of those, Nazi Germany would still control most of Europe. The US would probably have let them know (through diplomatic channels) that we would not tolerate an invasion of Britain, and would have entered the war to stop it, so I don't think England would have been conquered. But they'd sure as hell still have France, the Benelux countries, and most of Scandinavia.

Answer 2

The point when the war was for sure lost is when the soviets stopped the Nazis at Stalingrad because the German tactic to dived and conquer back fired and resulted in a large soviet offensive which when helped the Allies defeat Germany.


and by the way the Nazis were taken out before the USA use the atomic bomb on Japan

Answer 3

The war was up for grabs in the Fall of 1942, after the winter on the banks of the Volga, the end result was no longer in doubt...

Stalingrad was only significant if the Germans lost, which they did. The Soviets destroyed the 6th Army, which, in turn, forced the other half of Army Group South (engaged in capturing the Caucasus and Baku oil fields) to withdraw to the north-west to regroup and form a new defensinve line. The failure to capture the oil fields cut off the Axis powers from any hope of finding a large enough fuel source to continue an effective war, essentially sealing their fate with that of the 6th Army.

If the Soviets lost, the war was not lost as they had plenty of room to retreat further into the hinterland. Their resources in manpower, tanks, war factories, etc., meant they would've enventually won the war by sheer weight of numbers.

From that point onward the Germans lost the strategic offensive. The outcome of the war was still up for grabs after the defeat at the gates of Moscow, but after Stalingrad, it was all but over. The localized battles at Kursk, D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge were fought when the outcome was no longer in doubt. The loss of the Sixth Army, men and material, was something the Wehrmact never recovered from.

In scope, the Battle of the Bulge did not compare to Stalingrad, not in the number of deaths (38,000 to 1.8 million) or significance. Prior to Stalingrad, the outcome of the war was still in doubt. Prior to the Bulge, there was no question as to the outcome, all it did was waste Germany's last reserves that could've been used to stem the Red Army tide in the east; instead it accelerated their end.

Answer 4

The tipping point of WWII was Hitlers Refusel to support Rommel in North Africa. Had he completely supported the North African Campain, the Nazi's would have won the war.

The Med is the key to Europe. The allies knew this. The Romans, knew this, the Greeks knew this. Hitler did not.

1. Rommel wanted to attack Russia through the soft underbelly of Russia, through the Middle East.

2. Oil rich, with the populations support, the middle east would have become the vital resourse juction for the Axis. Arab Men could have been recuited to help fight the Jewish Russia, Colonial British Impertialists and help implement the final solution.

3.Land routes to Russia would be cut off. Russia would recieve sporatic supplies from America, instead of a steady stream of trucks and matirels through the middle east.

4. The capture of the suez would have severly hampened the British Ability to have free reign on the seas as well as allowed the german navies to build up all over the southern hemishere. Japan conquers southeast Asia.

5. This would have allow the Italians, Spanish and Autrians/Hungry/Romania to stay in the fight. thus giving Hitler the allies needed to hold the vast empire.

6. The Cyprus operation could have been adequetly supported.

7. Gibralter could have been siezed.

8. Africa soon would be controlled by Nazi gremany and the supplies and men would never stop.

9. With such resourses Japan would have been more inclined to declared war on Russia then America.

10. this all would have happened before Pearl Harbor before America was at war..

11. This senario of a middle east victory would have allow the Axis to supply their allies with all the war supplies they needed.

Truth is American and British Resolve were unflapable, we had the greatest leaders in history. It might have taken Twenty years but eventually we would have beaten Germany, Japan and Italy, but they were very close to having it all.

Answer 5

Operation Barbarossa; the invasion of Russia; they were ill-prepared to face the gritty Soviet winter and lost thousands of soldiers in that operations, specially in Kursk and Stalingrad; afterwards, the Russians went on the advanced and did not stop until they reached Berlin and burned it to the ground.

Another great blunder for the Germans was Operation Overlord (D-Day); they ignored the obvious assault on Normandy and focused on the short route into Calais, which was a ruse designed by the Allied Forces to steer the Germans away from Normandy, where the real landings were made.

Answer 6

The critical failure occurred when Germany violated the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact they had signed with the Soviet Union. The pact involved the Soviet Union supplying Germany with raw materials and that Germany would divide Eastern Europe with the Soviet Union. This pact practically guaranteed Germany could conquer all of Western Europe without having to fight a battle on two fronts. Unfortunately for Germany, Hitler wanted Western Russia and reneged on the pact.

http://www.lituanus.org/1989/89_1_03.htm

The only reason the US joined the war was to limit Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe since it was obvious, at the time the US joined the war, that Germany was going to lose the battle on their Eastern front.

Answer 7

There was no single point that was the tipping point, the war was lost from the onset. Germany never took Britain. Ignoring that the Germans never completely killed the resistance in France.

It might have taken a lot longer for Germany to lose world war II if they had not split their fronts or if they had launched a land invasion of england, but the failure of the Germans in WWII was that they started WWII.

Answer 8

I would have to say the turning point of the WWII was when Germany attacked Russia. By creating two fronts, the German's spread themselves too thin and simply lacked the resources to secure the Mediterranean and consequently made it impossible for them to subdue Britain.

Answer 9

Definitely the invasion of the USSR. Russia historically is a tough nut to crack and the Nazis did not have the resources to manage a two-front war. Their soldiers were utterly unprepared for the harsh winters and Germany did not have anywhere near the manpower the Soviets did.

Answer 10

Operation Barbarossa. When the Germans invaded Russia. From that moment the war was over. It opened 2 fronts which the Germans couldn't handle. If it wasn't for that they could have concentrated on 1 front and probably won the war.