Hitler Essay
Hitler was a villain who was in command of a dark nation during World War II. His reign could not last forever and he was eventually defeated by the Allies because of his mistakes that escalated his destruction. The battle of Dunkirk was a tragedy in the eyes of Germany. Declaring war on the United States of America was a tremendous mistake. Losing the battle at Stalingrad would increase the rate of defeat. Hitler lost World War II, not because of one mistake but instead because of a culmination of many mistakes. The first of many mistakes that Hitler made was that he allowed the Allied troops to escape from Dunkirk. Historian Michael Coffey writes, “The British could have been pinned and forced to surrender there in Dunkirk had not the Germans hesitated.”[1] The British army was surrounded by the German army in the French coastal town of Dunkirk.[2] Hitler did not want to use his tanks because he thought they might get stuck in the muddy lowlands.[3] He should have used his infantry and tanks to defeat the Allies while they were trapped. The British army divisions were evacuated by the British navy and civilian ships.[4] Air Minister Herman Göring convinced Hitler to allow him to use the Luftwaffe, or German air force, to stop the Allies from escaping.[5] The British managed to save more than 337,000 soldiers from Dunkirk.[6] Those troops returned on June 6, 1944 for the invasion of Normandy, D-Day.[7] D-Day was the beginning of Hitler’s defeat, as the war would continue for only eleven more months.[8] Thus, Dunkirk was one of the many reasons why Hitler lost World War II. The declaration of war on the powerful nation of the United States of America proved to be an absolute mistake. “His biggest tactical blunder, without a doubt, was engaging the one enemy he had been determined not to arouse: the United States.”[9] The United States appeared to be a great ally for the British, Russians and Canadians because of America’s work force and the