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Unlock This CourseBy the end of 1944 Germany was trapped between two huge enemy forces. Hitler had always feared a war on two fronts. Now he had one, and Germany was running out of soldiers, fuel and tanks.
In the summer of 1944 the Soviet Red Army destroyed a whole German army group and pushed into Poland. On 12 January 1945 it attacked again. In about three weeks it advanced nearly 500 km to the River Oder, only about 70 km from Berlin. Millions of German civilians fled west in the winter cold to escape it.
British, American and Canadian troops landed in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944, freed Paris in August and reached Germany's border by the autumn. In March 1945 American troops captured a bridge over the River Rhine at Remagen. In April more than 300,000 German soldiers surrendered in the Ruhr, Germany's main industrial area.
Hitler made things worse. In December 1944 he threw his last reserves of tanks and fuel into a surprise attack in the west, through the Ardennes forest in Belgium. By late January 1945 it had failed, and those tanks were missing when the Red Army attacked in the east. By now Allied bombing had also destroyed most of Germany's fuel production and wrecked its railways. On 25 April 1945 American and Soviet soldiers met at Torgau on the River Elbe. Germany was cut in two.
Key terms:
On 16 April 1945 the Red Army began its attack on Berlin with about 2.5 million soldiers, led by Marshals Zhukov and Konev. By 25 April the city was surrounded.
Berlin was defended by the remains of army and SS units, the old men of the Volkssturm and boys from the Hitler Youth, some only 12 years old. They fought street by street against tanks and heavy guns. Civilians hid in cellars without water, gas or electricity. On 30 April Soviet soldiers fought their way into the Reichstag building. On 2 May the German commander in Berlin, General Weidling, surrendered the city. About 80,000 Soviet soldiers had died in the battle, along with tens of thousands of German soldiers and civilians.
Hitler had moved into the FĂĽhrerbunker in January 1945. He was now a sick man, cut off from the real world, giving orders to armies that hardly existed any more.
Goebbels and his wife killed themselves on 1 May, the day after Hitler died. That evening German radio announced that Hitler had died fighting at his post. It was one last piece of propaganda.
Dönitz set up a government at Flensburg, near the Danish border. He tried to surrender only in the west, so that German soldiers and civilians could escape from the Red Army. The Allies refused. Since the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, Britain and the USA had demanded unconditional surrender. Remember the 'stab in the back' myth after 1918: this time the Allies wanted every German to see that the army had been completely beaten.
The 'thousand year' Third Reich had lasted just 12 years. Germany was in ruins and the Allied armies now ran the country.
Do not write that the war in Europe ended when Hitler died. Germany fought on for another week under Dönitz. Do not say Hitler was killed or captured by the Soviets: he killed himself. And do not give one cause for Germany's defeat. The Red Army, the invasion from the west, bombing and Hitler's own decisions all worked together.
(c) 'The main reason for the defeat of Germany in 1945 was the advance of the Soviet Red Army.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own.
I agree to a large extent. The Red Army did the most to destroy Germany's power to fight, but it did not win the war alone.
The Red Army was the biggest single reason for defeat. In the summer of 1944 it destroyed a whole German army group, and in January 1945 it advanced nearly 500 km to the River Oder, about 70 km from Berlin. In April about 2.5 million Soviet soldiers attacked Berlin itself. By 25 April the city was surrounded, and on 2 May it surrendered. This mattered most because it took the capital and ended Nazi leadership. Hitler shot himself on 30 April when Soviet troops were a few hundred metres from his bunker, and Germany surrendered within eight days.
Allied bombing was also important. By early 1945 it had destroyed most of Germany's fuel production and wrecked its railways, so tanks and aircraft could not move. Bombing also left about 7.5 million Germans homeless, for example after the Hamburg firestorm of July 1943. However, bombing did not cause a revolt, and weapons production kept rising until the summer of 1944. Bombing weakened Germany but could not capture territory, so it was less important than the Red Army.
A third reason was the invasion from the west, made worse by Hitler's own decisions. After D-Day in June 1944 Germany had to fight on two fronts. Hitler then wasted his last reserves of tanks and fuel on the Ardennes attack in December 1944, which left the east weaker when the Red Army struck in January. In March 1945 the western Allies crossed the Rhine, and in April more than 300,000 German soldiers surrendered in the Ruhr.
Overall, the best test is which factor did most to destroy the German army and remove the Nazi government. On that test the Red Army was the main reason, because it beat the largest German forces and captured Berlin. However, it advanced so quickly in 1945 partly because bombing had cut off German fuel and because the western invasion and the Ardennes gamble had used up Germany's last reserves. The Red Army was the main reason, but it was decisive only in combination with the others.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers three aspects, including one that is not in the bullets, argues both for and against the statement, and reaches a judgement using a stated test.
An answer that uses only the two bullets cannot reach the top level. Here, add a third reason of your own, such as the invasion from the west or Hitler's decisions, and finish by saying which reason mattered most and why, measured against a clear test.