Who really saved the world from Hitler?

[omega255]

although my knowledge of WW2 is limited, i know these events happened:
1. Germany took over a load of countries and France surrundered almost immediately
2. They tried to take over Britain but, being the stubborn b*st*rds we are, they couldn't
3. Hitler for some reason tried to take control of Russia, and failed miserably
4. Britain and America launched an attack through France into Germany, ie D-Day
I've often heard Americans say (to the Brits) "we saved your ass in WW2" and i don't believe that.
to me, it was Russia that saved the day as they beat down the nazis on the eastern front, allowing D-day to be a success
discuss

[Ibataké]

I thought the Russians where earlier in Germany. Yes.. But France was Germany's greatest defencive wall so they both did!

[II Xion II]

The Soviets. (not Russia, it was the U.S.S.R. with Stalin)

We know for certain the French did nothing.

The rest of Europe just as easily fell.

Only Britain really put up a fight and they would have been unable to fend off the Nazi menace much longer.

The United States was more concerned with the Japanese as well and never really engaged Hitler, nor did Hitler really engage the United States.

The Soviet Union was teamed up with Germany for a little while, but Hitler got greedy and launched an invasion of the USSR. Bad mistake!!! Operation Barbarossa, as it was called, failed miserably. The Soviets were MUCH more adaptable, resilient, and ferocious than the Germans ever anticipated. In addition, the infamous Russian winter slowed all progress on the part of the German army. It was Hitler's largest military defeat of the war (other than his actual defeat) and proved a turning point for the Allies, as now the Soviets, the U.S., Britain, and everyone else was turning against Hitler. It marked the beginning and the end of Hitler's war on the Eastern Front.

See Wikipedia's article on Operation Barbarossa. It was more than likely the single largest reason for Germany's defeat in WWII.

[leprousharry]

So, we could resume that Hitler was responsible of his own fall, isn't it?

[Rhea]

Yeah don't forget the scorched earth policy that they applyed. However, that being said no one country saved the world from Hitler. It was a number of events that led to Germany's eventual defeat. Including, the massive losses they incurred when attempting to invade the USSR. The influence of both the British and American armies. However, the Red Army were the forerunners.

[II Xion II]

So, we could resume that Hitler was responsible of his own fall, isn't it?

Yes, yes we could.

Yeah don't forget the scorched earth policy that they applyed. However, that being said no one country saved the world from Hitler. It was a number of events that led to Germany's eventual defeat. Including, the massive losses they incurred when attempting to invade the USSR. The influence of both the British and American armies. However, the Red Army were the forerunners.

But, the country most responsible was likely the USSR. Even though they did not attack Hitler first, his attack attack on their country significantly weakened his army and destroyed his war on the Eastern Front which meant fighting a war in the West and the East. The Russians were also the first to discover his suicide.

[Guy]

Hard to say. There's no point in denying that USSR played a big role in Germany's defeat, but that was because of Hitler's own stupidity. He chose to invade USSR, which turned out to be a big failure like Xion explained.

However, if America did not intervene, can Europe still save itself? I cannot say for certain. USSR beat Hitler because Hitler invaded their soil, and in addition, the winter screwed the Nazis up. It might be a different story if USSR tried to invade Germany without America's help. France couldn't help, and Britain could do very little.

All in all, it was Hitler's own mistake that screwed up his plans, so I guess it really is his own fault.

[Muja]

Maybe USSR was going to betray Hitler? We all know that not everything is told to the public. However, I could say Hitler made a mistake by saying only Germany is worth ruling the world (Correct me if I’m wrong please). As for America, why did they interfere with Europe? There should be a reason behind it because they were more concerned with Japan.
Hitler did make mistakes but I wouldn’t say it was completely his mistake at losing the war.

[Rorschach]

Umm the U.S. was Allies with Great Britain and the Soviet Unioon, Germany Declared war on the U.S., and the U.S. had Defeat Germany first policy.

I don't understand these arguments... all of the Allies played a key role in defeating Hitler. Hitler Made two mistakes in '41 invading the Soviet Union and Declaring war on the U.S.

[Alerane]

Specifically, USA did not join the war until it was 3/4 fought, so I can't see how they saved it, the Allies all together maybe.

And I think the world was saved from Hitler for a simple mistake he made: Attacking the USSR when they were allied together. Then because of that they had to split their battlefront just like in WW1

[leprousharry]

It's just speculation, but I suspect the USA of being opportunist in this fight. Seeing that URSS was about to defeat the Germans, they wanted their part of the cake, so they joined.

By the way, Hitler planed to let Japan rule Asia.

[Rorschach]

U.S. being opportunistic? how? The U.S. was allies with Great Britain and the Soviet Union, Plus Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. after the U.S. Declared war on Japan.
Without a second front, The Soviets couldn't sustain their war with Germany, just as the U.S., British wouldn't be able to without the Eastern front (also don't forget about the Strategic bombing the U.S. and Great Britain did to Germany)
(It's pointless to say who had a bigger role in defeating Germany, all contributed to the demise of Hitler)

The United States was more concerned with the Japanese as well and never really engaged Hitler, nor did Hitler really engage the United States.

while japan did indeed bring the U.S. into the war, the U.S. had a Europe first policy
Europe first

Specifically, USA did not join the war until it was 3/4 fought, so I can't see how they saved it, the Allies all together maybe.

the war wasn't even half over when the U.S. entered

[Alerane]

^Semp, U.S. refused to join for the first few years of the war, if anything they helped in a new number of solders because there were less and less joining in Britian, Canada, and France because of the brutality and length of it so far

U.S.A. Didn't choose to join until it was their problem, when there was Pearl Harbour bombing. Don't get me wrong, they were an extreme boost to the war effort, just not there for the majority of the fights or the only ones to thank

[M-50]

Yes, yes we could.
Actually no that is untrue. Hitler was not totally responsible for his fall. Mabye about 50% of the blame lies with him.
1: The japs attack on Pearl Harbour brought the Americans into the war and this started by helping win back France and the start of Hitler's fall.
2: The USSR having successfully prevented Hitler from conquering all of France, started attacking Hitler from two fronts and employed the horn tactic.
3: Hitler did not send all of his men that he could have out to the frontline but instead started retreating where reinforcements could have won the battles.
4: His troops left behind all the weapons and ammunition they did not or could not carry instead of destroying it, so that the allies gained them instead.
5: Hitler was now facing impending invasion from two fronts, the western allies from the western, southern and northern fronts; France, Spain Italy, and the USSR from the east and south, Poland, Italy.

[dragoneyes001]

Hitler himself was his own worst enemy.

it was his mistakes that made the Germans lose the war:

when he decided to attack the USSR he ignored his generals advice on the timing of the attack which led to his defeat in that campaign.

in Africa he lost because he crippled his army by removing Rommel as the leader.

with England he made the mistake of letting Goering convince him to use air power only leading to the battle of Britain which allowed England to stay in the war.

then there was the fight between him and his Generals which pretty much sealed the fate of the war.

another big mistake was his not using the newest advances in weapons till it was too late like the jet engine and rockets had he allowed greater funding and pushed for the production of these when they were first available the allies would have been overwhelmed easily.

there are other reasons as well but the ones i've listed are pretty much the causes of the German loss.

by the time D-day happened the Germans were already losing the war.
the Soviets had already started to advance towards Europe.
the Americans had most of Italy.
Africa was already falling to British and allied troops.
south America was also collapsing.
D-Day was not the pivot point of the war it was to destroy a hard point in the axis. its purpose was by far more a political move than a strategic one.

[Ganks]

Hitler would have more than likely defeated the USSR were it not for his own mistake of focusing his attack on Stalingrad simply because it had Stalin's name on it. It was really a blunder of magnificent proportions to focus resources on capturing such an irrelevant city. After all there is reason that as the war progressed Ally nations decided not to make assassination attempts against someone who was a doing more harm than good to his own country. No one did more to defeat Hitler than Hitler did.

[M-50]

Actually he did not focus on attacking Stalingrad first. He actually sent the Fourth Panzer Army from Army Group B, who were travelling to Stalingrad; to Kleist's First Panzer Army to get to Caucasus towards the oil fields. A fortnight later, Hitler sent the Fourth Panzer racing back to Stalingrad but by which time the Russians had had enough time to get their armies back there to mount a defense. Also by removing the Fourth Panzer, Kleist's First Panzer suffered a defeat trying to take the Grozony oil fields. As a result, Hitler lost not only the oil fields which he needed so desperetely at the time but the chance to take Stalingrad easily.

[Lex]

My opinion is that everyone involved helped a bit but America only got involved after Pearl Harbour and then they made the Nukes but then again I haven't studied WW2 since I was in like...Grade 9 I think...some time ago.

[M-50]

Yeah America only joined after Pearl Harbour. Funny thing is, Hitler used Jew (ironic right) and other scientists to create a nuclear bomb when he started to realise that to end the war swiftly was to destroy a major part of his enemies land in one hit. Then when some scientists, Albert Einstein for e.g., realised what the bomb was for they fled to America and other allied nations. Then the Americans got them to give them the specs for the bomb and they built it instead.
Hitler would have built the bomb before the Americans if he had not suffered setbacks.