Technology was a major leading factor in the way WW11 panned out. Jet planes, guns, tanks, submarines, radar, enigma, u boats.. This is only the beginning of the advancements that formed the affairs which occurred over the violent years of 1939 through until 1945. Although all of these advancements were tactical, there was one that changed the course of the war, and introduced a whole new playing field in battle that was incomparable to other advancements; Nuclear Weapons. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, the Americans took action. This brought together a group of scientists who created three nuclear bombs at the so called Manhattan project. These three bombs were called Trinity, LIttle boy and fat Man. In 1946, U.S president Harry Truman decided to launch two of these atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where tons of men died instantly, and the radiation from the bomb killed several more instantly. After this incident, Japan surrendered and brought WW11 to an end. Hence, the dropping of the nuclear bombs changed the course of world history as was the only time in history that a nuclear bomb was launched. This advancement in technology didn't only end WW11 but changed the course of world affairs to a certain extent.
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It consisted of the largest assault to take place at the time The most prominent turning point for the Allies in World War II in my opinion was D-Day during Operation Overlord. It consisted of the largest assault to take place at the time and the Allies had opened a second front against the Germans in France. This historical day in 1944 consisted of many deaths on the beaches of Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword and Gold. The amphibious landing of Allied troops on the coast of France and the airborne troops played a large part in this battle. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people serving in military units. Rommel believed that whoever won the beaches that day would win the war. Hence, without this allied attack the war could've gone on for much longer. This victory gave the allies a huge boost they needed as they were losing many men and supplies at a rapid rate. In essence, it was a major turning point as it was the start of an allied campaign in Western Europe. This event sent the world on a path to end WW11 as well as Hitler's reign against terror in Europe.
After the period of the phoney war, The Germans invaded Dunkirk with their new blitzkrieg warfare. This is where 300,000 british soldiers were found trapped. The only way of escaping they had was cobbling together an armada of over 700 merchant marine boats, fishing boats, and pleasure boats to transport the army across to Great Britain. Hence, in a period of 8 days, this evacuation saved the lives of 338,226 soldiers. This was considered a small victory for the allies. However, while England was rejoicing, Churchill declare that "wars are not won on evacuations". Moreover, the underlying message in Churchills quote is that even though they did come out with plenty of survivors, it was almost as if
they won from lacking the courage. Churchill portrayed the evacuation as being cowardly of what the consequences that were in store for them may be. The opposite of evacuation is to push through and to burn our bridges behind us. Winston Churchill wanted to conquer by moving forward. Saving private Ryan was a realistic, action packed film based during the time period of WWII and specifically D-Day . The Allied invasion to liberate Europe is the backdrop to the main plot of film. The plot evolved around Tom Hanks’ character Captain Miller and his small unit of men as they are sent to rescue Private Ryan played by Matt Damon. Ryan was the last of four brothers left alive, the others all killed in action. Captain Miller's mission was to find Private Ryan and return him home safely to his mother. Although the story of Captain Miller’s rescue mission is fictional, the story of the Ryan brothers and the military policy that leads to Private Ryan being brought home are based on incredible, and tragic, true stories. This was a captivating movie which provided us with the images to relate the horrific scenes of WWII to our course material. I think that Steven Spielberg did an amazing job in re creating the gritty details of the war scenes and a great plot. All in all, this film gave me insight to the course material and provided me with a good introduction to this unit.
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