The Allied victory in World War 2 was due to several key factors working together. The Allies gained control of the air and sea, allowing them to bomb German cities and industries while transporting troops and supplies. On the Eastern Front, the Soviets were able to mobilize their vast resources and grind down German forces. The entry of the U.S. into the war provided enormous human, economic, and military resources that exceeded Germany's capacity. Internally, the Nazi regime suffered from a lack of centralized control and efficiency that hampered its war effort.

1. Why the Allies won World War II

2. An overview Generally speaking there is no ONE element that determined the victory, in the broadest sense the factors could include: Economics Logistics of controlling an empire Superior leadership and cooperation Effective allies Military failures The impact of strategic resources Air war – Bombing of Germany This presentation aims to give you some direction when structuring an argument for this type of question. Be aware there is no single ‘right’ answer

3. Allied victory was due to the allied control of the air Allied control of the air and the overwhelming superiority of allied air power made it impossible for Germany to achieve its long-term military objectives and did much to weaken the German economy. The Luftwaffe’s failure in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz meant: postponing indefinitely any invasion of Britain solidifying British morale harming its economy in any way. Compiled with massive German material losses. Allied bombing had a major impact on Germany’s ability to sustain a war: Factories were dispersed across the country or forced underground reducing overall production. Germany’s railway network was greatly disrupted. Chemical and oil production were badly affected which made munitions production much more problematic. German cities were pulverisedwhich created a host of humanitarian and social problems.

4. Allied victory was due to the allied control of the air The ability of the allies to escort long-range bombers with fighters later in the war was to have a major effect on the war. Early bombing raids over Germany were dangerous because the long distance planes lacked fighter protection. This meant that when they flew over Germany they were vulnerable to attack. Bomber losses were very high early in the war. By late 1943, a system had been perfected to enable fighters to fly distances as great as the bombers. This forced the Germans to dived many of its fighters to the home front to deal with the allied bomber! fighter threat. This weakened German tactical aerial strength on the Eastern Front and in Normandy. As fighters had to be moved from the front, this gave a vast aerial superiority to the Soviet forces in the east and later allied forces in Normandy. Germany was forced to put much more effort into producing anti-aircraft guns. They took up 33% of artillery production by 1944. An army does not win great campaigns with anti-aircraft guns. The Successes of the Allies on D-Day and later in the Battle of the Bulge owed much to superiority in air power

5. The Allied Victory was due to the fact that the Allies had gained control of the sea Both Roosevelt and Churchill were extremely worried about the dominance of Axis forces in the Atlantic. Both had commented that the war would be won or lost at sea. Allied losses at sea reached catastrophic levels in the first three years of the war. In 1940, 1000 allied ships were sunk by German submarines; that was a quarter of Britain’s merchant marine. Between January and April 1941, two million tons of shipping was sunk. In 1942, 1662 allied ships were sunk (in both the European and Pacific theatres of war). By early 1943, Britain had two months oil supplies left. Failure to gain control of the sea would be disastrous for the allied war effort. Britain could be starved out as it relied on imported food. Its links to the empire and Middle East oil would be cut. It would be impossible to import badly needed munitions and war equipment from North America. Post 1941 this would also include soldiers Necessity had inspired allied technological innovation by the end of 1943 to wrest control of the Atlantic from German submarine packs. The development of long-range aerial surveillance, improved convoy systems and the development of sonar and centimetric radar all helped to turn the tide. It was allied control of the sea that made possible the massive American contribution to the defeat of Germany.

6. The War was lost on the Eastern Front Hitler’s failure to defeat the Soviet Union dragged the German army into a long drawn-out war of attrition on the Eastern Front which it was destined to lose the longer the conflict went on. In 1941, the Germans were tantalisingly close to defeating the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa achieved enormous success at the beginning. The Soviet Union lost hundreds of thousands of men killed or captured as the Wehrmacht took city after city. The Luftwaffe had decimated the Soviet air force during the first few days of the operation. By the autumn of 1941, western Russia was in German hands, Leningrad under siege, Kiev taken and Moscow about to be attacked.

7. The War was lost on the Eastern Front However, Moscow survived in December 1941 for a variety of factors. General Zhukov military skills. The transfer of 750 000 Siberian forces westwards. Errors on the German side in timing and supplies, the Russian scorched earth policy, inadequate and inappropriate German equipment. The winter. Russia’s survival in 1941 meant it had a chance to mobilise its enormous economic and human resources. Industries were moved east beyond the Urals to escape German bombing. They soon achieved unbelievable feats of production, eg 108 000 aircraft and 95 000 tanks were produced during the war. Soviet wartime production was noted for its simplicity and rationalisation. There was a surge of patriotic and religious fervour amongst the Russian people which spurred them on to superhuman efforts. The Soviet Union was a centralised police state which made the rapid mobilisation of the nation easy to achieve. As a result of these factors, the Soviet Union was able to gradually grind down the German forces even though the human and economic costs were enormous. Stalingrad marked a turning point on the Eastern Front. Kursk saw the initiative slip away from the Wehrmacht. From 1944 onwards, the giant Russian sledgehammer was able to push the Germans back towards their own land. As Churchill said, it was the Russians who ‘tore the guts out of the German army’.

8. Allied Victory was a result of the intervention of the United States The United States was the deciding factor. Even before its entry, it had done much to sustain the British war effort. The sheer magnitude of US human, economic and military resources was too much for the Germans to counter. Their business acumen brought wartime production levels to a height the Germans could only dream of. Even before December 1941, the Americans were assisting Britain, even if they forced Britain to pay a high price. Churchill had managed to do deals with Roosevelt on gaining extra destroyers. The US and Britain established a moral high ground in the conflict with the signing of the Atlantic Charter. The Lend-Lease system did much to assist Britain and the Soviet Union. US military power was a key factor in grinding Germany down. Much of the bombing of Germany was carried out by the American air force. The US navy was crucial in getting supplies across the Atlantic. From 1944, the main military engagements in Western Europe were dominated by the American army led by American generals. The allied supreme commander, Eisenhower, was American. The American economy could not be matched in its efficiency and its ability to produce. In four years, the Americans produced 8800 naval vessels and 87 000 landing craft. In 1944, the Ford plant at Willow Bend south of Detroit was producing a bomber aircraft every 63 minutes. Productivity in shipbuilding increased by 25% a year during the war. In a long, drawn-out war, Germany could simply not survive against such economic and military power.

10. Failure to defeat Britain

11. Failure to defeat Russia

13. Failure to immediately go to total war

14. As the regime radicalised and spiraled out of control, the obsession with racial issues diverted resources and manpower from the main job of fighting the war.