How D-Day is a Turning Point
D-Day was a turning point in one sense that opening up a second front sped up the end of the war.
The tide shifted at Stalingrad in late 1942 and early 1943, and the defeat of the last major German offensive at Kursk in July of 1943. By D-Day, almost a year later, Germany's defeat was inevitable.
Those two battles point out a critical fact we often forget in the West: the Eastern front was about nine times as large. D-Day had 156,000 Allied soldiers facing 10,000 Germans. D-Day also liberated France and Western Europe. D-Day also stopped communism from spreading into Europe, which would have resulted in a much different world today. Had the Americans not invaded the western front, the Soviets had the possibility to take Europe away from the Germans and turn it into a lot of communist puppet governments, which they later did to eastern Europe. The Battle of Normandy and D-Day prevented the Soviets from doing this to Western Europe as well. Also, D-Day provided Europe and the US with new military tactics. It changed the world on how they planned for battle and the tactics that they used. The Americans were the first ones to invade the beaches of France using a tactic that confused the Germans. They tricked them into thinking that they would land at a different location, and when they did arrive at Normandy, the USA dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines. This changed how the world used military tactics. D-Day was one of the most important battles and turning points of all time. It took away the possibility for a communist Europe, it created new military tactics, and it sped up the end of the war that would bring America to rise as a world power and create the world as we know it.
The tide shifted at Stalingrad in late 1942 and early 1943, and the defeat of the last major German offensive at Kursk in July of 1943. By D-Day, almost a year later, Germany's defeat was inevitable.
Those two battles point out a critical fact we often forget in the West: the Eastern front was about nine times as large. D-Day had 156,000 Allied soldiers facing 10,000 Germans. D-Day also liberated France and Western Europe. D-Day also stopped communism from spreading into Europe, which would have resulted in a much different world today. Had the Americans not invaded the western front, the Soviets had the possibility to take Europe away from the Germans and turn it into a lot of communist puppet governments, which they later did to eastern Europe. The Battle of Normandy and D-Day prevented the Soviets from doing this to Western Europe as well. Also, D-Day provided Europe and the US with new military tactics. It changed the world on how they planned for battle and the tactics that they used. The Americans were the first ones to invade the beaches of France using a tactic that confused the Germans. They tricked them into thinking that they would land at a different location, and when they did arrive at Normandy, the USA dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines. This changed how the world used military tactics. D-Day was one of the most important battles and turning points of all time. It took away the possibility for a communist Europe, it created new military tactics, and it sped up the end of the war that would bring America to rise as a world power and create the world as we know it.