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How Important Were Alliances In The Second World War
GCSE and A level History - were alliances the crucial factor in victory and defeat in WW2?
Date : 11/01/2016
How important were alliances in the Second World WarChronologyWhen Germany invades Poland at
the beginning of September 1939 Britain and France declare war on Germany.
Germany conquers Poland in a month. A period of stalemate known as the ‘Phoney
War’ follows.In the spring of 1940 Germany
pounces. In quick succession she conquers Denmark and Norway before attacking
in the West. The British army is evacuated at Dunkirk in May and Italy joins
the war on Germany’s side. France signs an armistice with Germany in June.
Britain is now alone.In June 1941 Hitler launces an
attack on the USSR (Russia) Britain will now fight alongside Russia until 1945.In December 1941 Japan attacks
the American fleet at Pearl Harbour. Hitler in support of his alliances with Japan
declares war on the USA. The USA will now fight with Britain and the USSR.In September 1943 Italy
surrenders to the Allies, within a fortnight she has declared war on Germany
but the nation is divided as well as fought over as Italians fight on both sides
and neither.1944 sees the Allied invasion of
France in June (D-Day) and the collapse of the eastern front where the Germans
are in full retreat.1945 sees the invasion of Germany
from both east and west, the defeat and surrender of Germany by the beginning of May.Stalin had promised to launch an
attack on Japan within three months of the defeat of German. This he does and
with the American use of the atomic bomb japan surrenders.Assessment - so how important were alliances? Well fairly
vital actually, the best that Britain could do in 1940 and until June 1941 was
survive alone, Hitler’s invasion of Russia in June 1941 brought much needed
relief from the bombing of Britain. Britain promised all possible aid to the
USSR and supplied her via the artic convoys to Northern Russia and through the
Middle East. The comparison here to WW1 is a strong one as initially the
Russian were thrown back to the gates of Moscow and the edge of defeat by the
German armies. The entry of the USA is crucial, Germany must lose faced with
the economic might of the USA, USSR and Britain combined. Hitler’s decision to
declare war on the USA after Pearl Harbour was a very poor one. President
Roosevelt was already giving all help to Britain short of war but he would have
faced opposition from within U.S. political circles had he declared war
himself. In effect Hitler gets him out of a difficult situation. The wartime
alliance was a changing one, Churchill and Stalin were political opposites and
while they respected each other there was no love lost between them. Initially
the close relationship is that between Roosevelt and Churchill but as the war
progresses Britain sees its role diminish and a closer relationship establish
itself between Roosevelt and Stalin. The un ion of the three powers is not a
natural one, the Americans favoured
self-determination and looked poorly on Britain’s dominance of its empire and
imperial past, Stalin sees Churchill as representative of the evils of
capitalism and all the Russian communists hate, equally the USA is capitalism
personified. For all three this has the aspect of a marriage of convenience,
‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ holds true here. The wartime alliance
survived the war itself but not by much and Stalin particularly is looking to
the post-war balance of power particularly by late 1944 to ensure that as much
of eastern Europe as possible remains under Soviet control either directly or
indirectly. Roosevelt and the Americans want democracy and free and fair
elections following the end of the war. Roosevelt’ s death and Churchill’s
defeat in the British general election of 1945 put two new players in against
Stalin in President Truman and Attlie. So who were the real winners? – The USA
is the undoubted new superpower, the USSR though weakened by war has gained,
Britain is bankrupted and forced to retreat from empire.
This resource was uploaded by: Paul
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