Critical Issue Paper Three Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical Issue Paper Three - Essay Example Thus, Marshall's stance is on the brink of exaggeration or at the least overreaction. We may forgive him, considering that the victory may have pushed him to go overboard with excessive elation. But the truth of the matter is, the victory was far from being impossible. The basis for this contention is, first, Germany was practically smashed to smithereens as a result of World War I, which ended in 1919. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 militarily, politically, and economically emasculated Germany, which was forced to limit its armed forces to a measly 100,000 troops with conscription absolutely prohibited1. Moreover, German naval forces were virtually crippled by a provision limiting it to a mere possession of 6 battleships, 6 cruisers, 12 torpedo boats and 12 destroyers plus a provision strictly banning the importation, exportation and manufacture of weapons and poison gas as well as the prohibition of submarines, military aircrafts, artillery and tanks. Thus, the Treaty of Versailles rendered Germany a political lameduck worthy of international pity. To add injury to all those insults, Germany was stripped of its territorial possessions notably West Prussia, Danzig, eastern Upper Silesia, Alsace-Lorraine, and Northern Schleswig2. In 1939, one year before the outbreak of World War II, Germany had barely revived itself from the catastrophic devastation. In 1939, the naval force of Germany was inconsequentially insignificant with a mere 8 cruisers, 18 submarines and 3 pocket battleships3. However, in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler started to rearm Germany and conscripted Germans to the Nazi Wehrmacht. But still in 1939, the Allied forces were in the upper hand. The body count of those who participated in World War II in behalf of the Allied forces was overwhelming as the Allies were able to conscript not only British, French, Russians, Americans (6 million) and Poles but also Canadians (1.1 million), Mexicans, British Indians, Australians, New Zealanders, Nepalese, Greeks etc.4. The Allied manpower alone, gave them the edge. The AXIS manpower, on the other hand, was limited to the Germans, Italians and the Japanese as the conquered countries such as France, Poland, the Scandinavian and Balkan countries never willfully contributed manpower to the AXIS cause but instead fought against them via the underground resistance movements. 3 To say that the Allies were fighting an almost indefensible war is a ludicrous statement because although oftentimes they were caught with their backs on the wall yet the Allies had definite advantages. Prior to the war, Britain was one of the most prosperous nations in the world with