To what extent did the war aims of the allies contribute to success in WW2?

There is no doubt that the war aims of the allies did contribute to overall victory in ww2. This
is clear from the way in which the allies worked, planned and organised after 1942. The
Grand Alliance was formed out of the partnership of Great Britain, Russia and the USA from
the end of 1941. These nations collectively worked together to achieve the goal of defeating
Germany first. The extent to which they won the war solely on this basis however can be
challenged. As Richard Overy suggests Nothing in the war was inevitable and the Axis
Powers in 1941 came startlingly close to success. Overy also goes on to argue that by
1943 the allies had no clear sense that victory was in sight. He points out that Germany
made many strategic and political errors also cost her the war. Thus the success of allied war
aims combined with German failures in strategy contributed to allied victory.
In the early part of the war allied strategy was disastrous. Britain and France hoped that a
blockade of Germany similar to that of WW1 would result in Hitler being overthrown, this did
not materialise. Germany was in a position of superiority by the time the USA joined the war.
Hitlers use of Blitzkrieg allowed him to deliver a series of rapid victories over Poland and
France in 1939 and 1940. By 1941 the Axis were in control of mainland Europe. In this
instance then allied strategy was purely defensive and cannot in anyway be described as
successful.
British strategy after the fall of France was again largely defensive in nature from mid-1940
through to 1941. Britain fought off an attempted invasion by winning the Battle of Britain.
This effectively destroyed all hopes that Hitler had of a quick and easy victory over Britain.
British strategy was now aimed at bringing the USA into the war on the allied side. Although
this did not occur until Dec 1941, the USA did sign the lend lease agreement guaranteeing
Britain and later Russia an endless supply of equipment of every kind. As Churchill stated
the USA became the arsenal of democracy. So British strategy was successful at this stage
in preventing an invasion and equipping herself via American supplies. Lend Lease also
provided the Soviet Union the almost half of its military resources during the war this
included 400,000 military vehicles and 14 million pairs of boots. Even Stalin stated that
without Lend Lease we would not have been able to cope. So it can be argued that British
strategy in this instance was successful.
Hitler made what would be regarded as his major strategic mistake in June 1941. He invaded
Russia to achieve Lebensraum. In pursuing this he forced the German army into a two front
conflict.
He also declared war on the USA in Dec of the same year. Both decisions were
crucial in deciding the outcome of the war. The vast economic resources of Britain, Russia
and the USA proved decisive in the defeat of Germany. They would eventually out produce
the axis 3-1 in the air, 6-1 in tank production and 54 - 1 in ships. Britain became the base for
US troops and the US Air Force. The D-Day landings and the bombing of Germany came from
Britain. Bombing alone diverted of German war resources into the air defence. Germany
also committed around 20% of her troops to safeguard its western flank from an attack. In
this instance it was Germanys strategic error by declaring war on both Russia and the USA
without defeating Britain that was the cause of her own demise.
When Germany declared war on the USA in December of 1941 the allies quickly formed the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. This was to prove crucial as the war progressed, as it allowed for highly
efficient planning and decision making between the US and British forces. It meant that
Operations were planned effectively and the armies were used combined to fight battles
together under the command of one allied leader, as happened during the Bombing of
Germany, the use of enigma, the Torch landings and the D-Day landings. Perhaps more
importantly the Allies agreed on a Germany first policy. All agreed that this was crucial as if
either Britain or Russia fell it would have been catastrophic for either side. There was no
such effective planning on the Axis side, the Japanese for example did not engage in
hostilities with the USSR, this allowed the Soviets to move all of their forces to the west

during the Battle for Moscow. Likewise Italy invaded Greece without consulting Germany
forcing the Germans to come to their aid and delaying the attack on Russia.
There was a realisation that that an invasion of Europe could not take place until such a time
as resources and men were in place. This did not occur until 1944. In the interim Britain and
the USA opened up a new front via the strategic and carpet bombing of Germany. Germany
was forced to divert most of its fighter force to the defence of Germany. This was crucial as
it pulled fighter aircraft away from the eastern front. Hastings also suggests that almost a
quarter of German war production went into the air-war, in order to deal with the bombing
raids. Although production continued to climb, it reached a ceiling that could never reach
that of the allies. By 1944 the bombing raids displaced 8 million workers, forced another 2
million workers into Anti-Aircraft production and killed nearly 300,000 German civilians. By
1944 also the attack on oil and transport hubs crippled the German army, this was evident at
the Battle of the bulge when the 1 st Panzer division had to abandon tanks due to a lack of
fuel. It was Germanys last attempt at an offensive in the west.
The allies also agreed on a Southern strategy to destroy the Germans in Africa before
crossing the Mediterranean into Italy and Greece. Thus hitting as Churchill put, it the soft
underbelly of Europe. This was a strategy designed to undermine the axis powers by
knocking Italy out of the war. The Torch landings began in 1942 and by 1943 the Axis armies
had been wiped out in Africa, this was a result of a coordination of allied forces who worked
together in the field and in the strategic planning phases. This strategy was crucial as it
prevented the Axis from taking the Middle Eastern oil fields. The invasion of Italy also
coincided with the Battle of Kursk which forced him to call of his attack.
Another example of the strategic success of the allies occurred at the Tehran Conference.
The US and British committed to launching Operation Overlord also known as D-Day, to be
executed by June of 1944. The Soviets, who had long been pushing the Allies to open a
second front, agreed to launch another major offensive on the Eastern Front that would
divert German troops away from the Allied campaign in northern France. Operation
Bagration was thus undertaken which devastated the Armies in the Eastern Front forcing it
into full scale retreat. The allies also agreed that there would be an unconditional surrender
of Germany, Soviet forces would be allowed to enter Berlin and the allies would divide and
occupy Germany.
Yet as Overy argues German defeat was not inevitable and they did in fact come very close
to success. Axis troops killed or captured nearly 5 million Soviet soldiers in less than 6
months. Two thirds of Soviet industrial capacity fell to the Germans and her air force and
tank force was all but obliterated.
Ribbentrop concluded in a memo to the allies in
Nuremburg that it was a war they should have won. It is in Russia that Hitler made her
greatest strategic errors. Firstly, underestimating the vastness of the USSR and the endless
supplies of men. Secondly invading in June 1941 rather than May and then diverting Hitler
diverted his forces from the attack on Moscow to capture Kiev. Both instances led to the
failure to reach Moscow before winter. Paul Johnson says the failure of Operation Typhoon
was the exact point in time when the outcome of the war for Germany was lost. Other
Historians argue that Germany still had the upper hand at the beginning of 1942, but thirdly
and probably most importantly, Hitler made two other errors that would end in catastrophe
for the Germans. He declared war on the USA in Dec and then after his failure to take
Moscow he diverted his attention to Stalingrad, which could have easily been cut off rather
than captured. Stalingrad, like Moscow is often regarded as the turning point of the war, as it
cost the Germans a whole Army Group and 6 months worth of equipment. As Churchill
stated it tore the guts out of the German Army. The Initiative now lay with the Russians on
the Eastern Front.
Initially welcomed as liberators by the population of many Soviet states, the Slavic people
quickly realised the racial prejudice of the Nazi invaders. They fought a partisan campaign
against the Germans because of the ill treatment that they received at the hands of the SS.

Hitlers racial hatred cost the Germans the support that they would otherwise have received
by the local population of the Soviets. Stalin was the lesser of two evils.
Allied strategy at the start of the war was a failure as it was purely defensive. Germanys
Blitzkrieg was evidently superior and allowed them to defeat the allies on the continent.
Likewise Blitzkrieg almost succeeded in defeating Russia. Overy suggests Stalin was open to
negotiating a settlement with the Germans by November 1941. Yet Hitlers misjudgement
that the Red Army was a primitive force, incapable of prolonged resistance and could no
longer fight was his greatest error. Thus from the moment the USA and Russia entered the
war cooperation and strategic planning was always evident. The allies did not always agree
on the methods of how to defeat the Germany, but they did agree on a Germany first
strategy. Overy argues the key ingredient to victory was air power by wiping out Germanys
fighter aircraft, her own ground forces were in turn left open to attack by Soviet and then
allied airpower. In the end allied strategy did win the war from 1942 onwards, but this was
on the back of Hitlers Hubris and miscalculations.