The German General Erwin Rommel

Hans Mommsen’s book, From Weimar to Auschwitz, presented an interesting look at Hitler within the Nazi Party. The overriding themes in the chapter “Hitler’s Position in the Nazi System” were the stubbornness and charisma of Hitler and the chaos within the Nazi Party. The weak leadership of Hitler along with the inability to concentrate power to one position helped lead the Third Reich to be a very frenzied and unorganized government.

In the year of 1792, a twelve year old boy named Carl von Clausewitz enlisted in the Prussian army for war, and soon after appearing in such battles as Jena-Auerstädt and Waterloo, became dedicated in conflict and its reasons for their results most of his life. By being alive at the same time as Napoleon's rise and fall, Carl von Clausewitz was able to document and relate how war was fought, won, and lost. It's important to comprehend that in his writings, he is relaying why it is pertinent to think about how war is fought, not how to win a war. Clausewitz' theories described in “On War,” are not only effective in wars fought in today's time and past, but will remain current in future endeavors, due to its generic layout of

MP1 One of the Carl Von Clausewitz’s central issues that describes war’s dynamic is the concept of “culminating point of victory.” Clausewitz advocated the idea that an offensive should be focused on the defender’s collapse, otherwise there is a “culminating point”, a momentum where the attacker loses his advantage for strategic victory. As he mentioned, “every attack which does not lead to peace must necessarily end up as a defense.” Military history has been enriched by battles of commanders with an overestimating self-confidence and high spirit who failed to identify this momentum. As a result, they lost the tactical advantage and they were defeated. Classical example in the World War II

General George S. Patton is one of America’s greatest generals and was known for his brutal honesty. One of his most famous quotes were “I don’t have to tell you who won the war. You know the artillery did.” General Patton regularly held the artillery in high admiration throughout World War II. The actions on the battlefield that led to rise of the artillery began much earlier in history. One battle had greatly contributed to the development of artillery tactics and equipment during these times. This created the foundation for modern artillery howitzers and tactics. The United States of America, and the entire world, owes much of their artillery prowess to the decisive tactics used in The Fall of Constantinople, where the cannon showed itself the most effective piece on the battlefield.

Josef Dietrich’s leadership of the Sixth Panzer Army at the Battle of the Bulge revealed the characteristics of an unreliable General.

     Erwin Rommel Jr. was born on November 15, 1891 in Swabian. His father Erwin Rommel Sr., was a schoolmaster in Heidenheim in Wurttemberg , and Rommel's mother was Helene von Luz was a daughter of the local Regierungs-President.

From a fiercely brave General, who strictly enforces customs, bravery, formalities, and success; to a General with a lighthearted-mood, down to earth attitude, a steadfast courage, and a integrity and decency to lead the nations of the world into battle; while both these legendary Generals fought on the same side, both General S. Patton and General D. Eisenhower were distinctly different Generals. This paper seeks to outline the differences and similarities between the two Generals by taking a close look at their lives, and the impacts they had on WWII.

Genocide was not new in WWII, nor was it an isolated incident, but the ease with which the Nazi’s were able to significantly reduce the Jewish population was only the beginning of a new era in warfare. Personal responsibility would take a back seat to nationality, patriotism, and advancing technology.

Fearing the continued expansion of the USSR, the US and UK determined after the war that it would be in their best interest to rebuild the West German military to act as a bulwark against the spread of communism. However, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer believed that this reconstruction of the armed forces would not be possible without the rehabilitation of the Wehrmacht in the foreign and domestic public’s minds. The US agreed, and Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower stated publicly that “I have come to know that there was a real difference between the German soldier and Hitler and his criminal group... For my part, I do not believe that the German soldier as such has lost his honor”. It is within this intention of reconciliation between the Allies and West Germany that the modern mythos surrounding Rommel takes

It was nearly unimaginable to the world when Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered his German forces to the Soviet Union on February 2, 1943. The Battle of Stalingrad, a major Second World War battle began with the German’s offensive on July 17, 1942 and ended with the German surrender on February 2, 1943. It was on August 5, 1942 that Adolf Hitler ordered an attack on the city of Stalingrad. This battle went down as one of the bloodiest battles in history, taking large tolls on both sides and most importantly marking the turning point for Hitler in the Second World War. The “master race” had taken its first major blow, proving to the world that they were not invincible. And in fact, Germany would not rise again after this truly

Germany was not able to claim victory during World War II due to poor military guidance. Hitler’s military tactics led

Despite great efforts, Hitler seemed to be an unbeatable force. This was the mindset which much of Europe unfortunately succumbed to during WW2. Churchill’s speech “So Few” was made to address this very mind set and dash its validity, but not before addressing the sound reasoning behind it. Churchill is able to use logic to explain the issue of Hitler’s army to his people, for one must first know his enemy before he is able to defeat him. He is then able to articulate the strategy by which they shall overcome the enemy. While presenting the

After serving on the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment from 1914 to 1918 during the First World War, Hitler gained experience on the battlefield and was later awarded the Iron Cross First Class. Almost 20 years later, German citizens remember Hitler as a Frontkämpfer, a front fighter, and celebrate his courageousness by following in his footsteps of being “the first soldier of the Reich” (Keegan 236). Years after the conclusion of the Second World War however, German citizens found out that Hitler was not a front fighter, but was a humble

The First World War witnessed an appalling number of casualties. Due partly to this fact, some historians, developed the perception that commanders on both sides dependence on only one disastrous approach to breaking the stalemate. These historians attributed the loss of life to the reliance on soldiers charging across no-man’s land only to be mowed down by enemy machineguns. The accuracy of this, however, is fallacious since a variety of tactics existed on both sides. The main reason for battlefield success and eventual victory came from the transformation of battlefield tactics; nevertheless, moral played a major role by greatly affecting the development of new tactics and the final outcome of the war.

When Hitler and the Nazi party offered him a seat in politics, he declined and asked to command a tank division. He saw tanks as the next major player on the modern battlefield. Famous for leading from the frontline, Rommel could not accept running battles from a staff room, miles away. On the12 of February 1940, Rommel received his first field command over the 7th Panzer Division. While in command of the 7th, Rommel participated in the invasion of Poland, Belgium and France. The campaigns in Europe helped Rommel develop his employment of blitzkrieg tactics using combined arms. Although