what factors influenced the course of world war ii on the eastern front?

by Charity Eichmann 5 min read

The Eastern Front resulted in staggering losses and disregard for human life almost entirely as a consequence of the ideological premise for the war. To hardline Nazis in Berlin, the war against the Soviet Union was one of a struggle of Fascism against Communism, and the Aryan race against the " inferior " Slavic race.

Full Answer

How did the Eastern Front start WW2?

Aug 15, 2007 · Updated on May 29, 2019. Opening an eastern front in Europe by invading the Soviet Union in June 1941, Hitler expanded World War II and started a battle that would consume massive amounts of German manpower and resources. After achieving stunning success in the early months of the campaign, the attack stalled and the Soviets began to slowly push the …

How did the Eastern Front differ from the Western Front?

Jul 25, 2018 · Great Britain and France tried to negotiate an end to German expansion, but the Soviet Union on Germany’s eastern front signed a non-aggression treaty with Hitler that opened the door to Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. France and England came to the aid of the Poles and declared war on Germany.

How did the United States’ motivations for entering WW2 impact their actions?

How did the German invasion of the Soviet Union affect WW2?

How did the Eastern Front start ww2?

The war was fought between Nazi Germany, its allies and Finland, against the Soviet Union and its allies. The conflict began on 22 June 1941 with the Operation Barbarossa offensive, when Axis forces crossed the borders described in the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact, thereby invading the Soviet Union.

What caused the Eastern front?

With the German declaration of war against Russia on August 1, 1914, all hope had been lost of the conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary remaining a localized affair. Armies were already mobilizing along what would become the Eastern Front.

What were some factors that led to the start of World War II?

The major causes of World War II were numerous. They include the impact of the Treaty of Versailles following WWI, the worldwide economic depression, failure of appeasement, the rise of militarism in Germany and Japan, and the failure of the League of Nations.

What started the Eastern Front ww1?

The causes of the Great War have generally been defined in diplomatic terms, but certain deep-seated issues in Austria-Hungary undoubtedly contributed to the beginnings of the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian situation in the Balkans pre-1914 is a primary factor in its involvement in the war.

What was it like fighting on the Eastern Front?

The fighting on the Eastern Front was terrible and incessant, brutal beyond belief. Both sides fought with demonic fury—the Germans to crush the hated Slavs, and the Soviets to defend the sacred soil of Mother Russia. Atrocities including beheadings and mass rapes occurred daily.

How did the war on the Eastern front different from the war on the Western Front?

A major difference between the Eastern and Western Fronts was their size. The larger Eastern Front meant that the war there was more fluid, and fighting was characterized by mobility and offensives. The smaller Western Front saw much less movement, and fighting was characterized by defensive trench warfare.Dec 13, 2021

What two factors led to the beginning of World war 2 in Europe?

5 Major Causes of World War Two in EuropeThe Treaty of Versailles and the German desire for revenge. ... Economic downturns. ... Nazi ideology and Lebensraum. ... The rise of extremism and the forging of alliances. ... The failure of appeasement.

What event led the US to enter World war 2?

the Japanese bombing of Pearl HarborOn December 7, 1941, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan. Three days later, after Germany and Italy declared war on it, the United States became fully engaged in the Second World War.

How did WWI cause World war 2?

World War II: World War I did not directly cause World War II. However, WW1 created several consequences which led to a second World War: New states in Eastern Europe who were weak and ripe for the taking by Hitler. A devastated Germany and France appeased Hitler to prevent another war.Apr 10, 2017

What is one reason that shows how war on the Western Front and Eastern Front were the same?

How was it the same? The Western Front was a more mobile war with more substantial land gains. The Eastern Front was trench warfare over small land. Why did the Schlieffen Plan ultimately collapse?Dec 31, 2021

Where was the Eastern Front WWI?

Eastern EuropeCentral EuropeEastern Front/Locations

Who won the Eastern Front ww1?

More important, the audacious and unexpected German triumphs countered the Habsburg collapse in the south and stabilized the Eastern Front for the Central Powers. The Russians were prepared to make one last, grand attempt to win the war in 1914.Oct 8, 2014

What were the major battles of the war?

How was victory achieved on each front? 1 Nagasaki, Japan, After the Atomic Bomb, 1945 (Image) 2 General Leslie Groves' Statement to the Officers about the Atomic Bomb, 1945 (Document) 3 German Instrument of Surrender, May 7, 1945 (Document) 4 Petition from Leo Szilard and Other Scientists to President Harry S. Truman, July 17, 1945 (Document) 5 Letter from Dr. Luis Alvarez to his Son about the Atomic Bomb, August 6, 1945 (Document) 6 "Atomic Bomb Opens New Era in Scientific History" Newspaper Article, August 7, 1945 (Document) 7 Japanese Instrument of Surrender, September 2, 1945 (Document) 8 Letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to William D. Pawley, April 9, 1955 (Document) 9 Interview of Navy Petty Officer Augustus Prince, October 20, 2004 (Video) 10 Interview with Robert Holmberg, Who Worked on the Manhattan Project, September 22, 2005 (Video)

Who was the leader of the Soviet Union at the Moscow Conference?

Averell Harriman to represent the United States at a conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin. The Moscow Conference sought a common understanding of Soviet and Anglo-American ...

What did President Roosevelt want?

President Roosevelt wanted to come to the aid of our British allies, but public sentiment was not yet ready to send American soldiers to fight in another European war. Meanwhile, Germany and Italy became partners with Japan that had designs on domination of Eastern Asia.

How many pages are there in the OWI?

The U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) published this 12-page pamphlet after the U.S. had entered World War II. The sketch shown above is of "The Unconquered People," and describes the European resistance to Adolph Hitler and Germany on the part of people in the occupied...

When did the Battle of Midway take place?

The image shows a Japanese carrier circling to avoid a U.S. attack during the Battle of Midway between June 4-7, 1942. This battle took place six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Midway began with a Japanese attack and ended with a decisive U.S. Naval victory.

Who drafted the Atlantic Charter?

Atlantic Charter, August 14, 1941. This declaration is the Atlantic Charter, which was a pivotal policy statement issued during World War II by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The leaders of the United Kingdom and the United States drafted the work and all the Allies...

What is the role of the Red Cross in the Pella Chronicle?

The role of the Red Cross is highlighted in the image and shows the increasing destruction occurring in Europe.

What was the Eastern Front known for?

The Eastern Front is best known for the multi-year Siege of Leningrad and the bloody Battle of Stalingrad, but it was also the site of the largest armored confrontation of all time. During July 1943’s Battle of Kursk, some 6,000 tanks, 2 million men and 5,000 aircraft clashed in one of the most strategically important engagements of World War II.

How long did it take Germany to defeat the Soviet Union?

Operation Barbarossa was intended to deal a total defeat to the Soviets in only three to six months, but in the early days of the invasion, many thought the fall might come even sooner.

What was the order of Stalin?

After seeing millions of Soviet troops captured in the early days of the German blitzkrieg, Joseph Stalin issued August 1941’s “Order No. 270,” which proclaimed that any troops who surrendered or allowed themselves to be captured were traitors in the eyes of the law and would be executed if they ever returned to the Soviet Union. The dictator later upped the ante with July 1942’s famous “Order No. 227,” better known as the “Not One Step Backward!” rule, which decreed that cowards were to be “liquidated on the spot.” Under this order, any troops who retreated were to be shelled or gunned down by so-called “blocking detachments”—special units who were positioned behind their own lines and charged with shooting any soldier who tried to flee. Stalin’s draconian orders were designed to increase the Red Army’s fighting spirit, but they weren’t empty threats. According to some estimates, Soviet barrier troops may have killed as many as 150,000 of their own men over the course of the war, including some 15,000 during the Battle of Stalingrad.

What was the biggest surprise attack in Soviet history?

Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union was the largest surprise attack in military history, but according to most sources, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise at all. While the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had signed a famous non-aggression pact in August 1939, many anticipated that Adolf Hitler had designs on attacking the Soviets—whom he viewed as an inferior race—as soon as the time was right. Nevertheless, Stalin appeared blind to the Nazi leader’s true intentions. In the months before the German advance, he brushed off dozens of reports from Soviet spies warning that an invasion was imminent. He also accepted Hitler’s cover story that the sudden presence of German troops on the Soviet border was merely a move to keep them out of range of British bomb strikes, and even ordered his troops to not fire on German spy planes despite numerous “accidental” invasions of Soviet airspace. Stalin’s puzzling trust in the Third Reich was finally dashed on June 22, 1941, when the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union with more than three million men.

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Overview

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans) from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It was known as the Great Patriotic Warin the Soviet Union and some of its successor states, w…

Background

Germany and the Soviet Union remained unsatisfied with the outcome of World War I (1914–1918). Soviet Russia had lost substantial territory in Eastern Europe as a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918), where the Bolsheviks in Petrograd conceded to German demands and ceded control of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, and other areas, to the Central Powers. Subsequently, when Germany in its turn surrendered to the Allies(November 1918) and these territ…

Ideologies

Adolf Hitler had argued in his autobiography Mein Kampf (1925) for the necessity of Lebensraum ("living space"): acquiring new territory for Germans in Eastern Europe, in particular Russia. He envisaged settling Germans there, as according to Nazi ideology the Germanic people constituted the "master race", while exterminating or deporting most of the existing inhabitants to Siberiaand usin…

Forces

The war was fought between Nazi Germany, its allies and Finland, against the Soviet Union and its allies. The conflict began on 22 June 1941 with the Operation Barbarossa offensive, when Axis forces crossed the borders described in the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact, thereby invading the Soviet Union. The war ended on 9 May 1945, when Germany's armed forces surrendered unc…

Conduct of operations

While German historians do not apply any specific periodisation to the conduct of operations on the Eastern Front, all Soviet and Russian historians divide the war against Germany and its allies into three periods, which are further subdivided into eight major campaigns of the Theatre of war:
• First period (Russian: Первый период Великой Отечественной войны) (22 …

Results

The Eastern Front was the largest and bloodiest theatre of World War II. It is generally accepted as being the deadliest conflict in human history, with over 30 million killed as a result. The German armed forcessuffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front. It involved more land combat than all other World War II theatres combined. The distinctly brutal nature of warfare on the Easter…

Leadership

The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were both ideologically driven states (by Soviet communism and by Nazism respectively), in which the foremost political leaders had near-absolute power. The character of the war was thus determined by the political leaders and their ideology to a much greater extent than in any other theatre of World War II.

Repression and genocide in occupied territories

The enormous territorial gains of 1941 presented Germany with vast areas to pacify and administer. For the majority of people of the Soviet Union, the Nazi invasion was viewed as a brutal act of unprovoked aggression. While it is important to note that not all parts of Soviet society viewed the German advance in this way, the majority of the Soviet population viewed German forces as occ…