Micah Wampler

Mr. Tresnak

5th Hour U.S. History

May 25, 2022

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg; you may know that Germany is known for using it in WWII, or that it is

a fast style of war. So I am going to tell you the things you may not know about it, like

who started it, tactics of it and the successes and failures of it. Blitzkrieg played a big

part in WWII and that's how they were for the most part successful.

Blitzkrieg played a big part because of its success in WWII. It was successful in

many ways but it also failed in ways too, like when Germany tried to use it against the

soviet union they got stopped and got forced to a defensive war.(“Blitzkrieg”)However

the successes overrule the failures. One success is that the strategy of the targeted

deployment of the dive bombers Junkers Ju 87.(“14 Blitzkrieg”).Spectacular success

was also achieved during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and large numbers of

Soviet troops were captured.(“The German”)

Now that you have heard about Germany's success with blitzkrieg, let’s see

where it originated from. The concept of blitzkrieg was actually formed by prussian

military tactics of the early 19th centurywar.(“Blitzkrieg”), but Blitzkrieg is most

commonly associated with Nazi Germany during World War II even though numerous

combatants used its techniques in that war.(“Blitzkrieg”)The Blitzkrieg was a strategy

that Hitler used in World War II to attack his opponents as quickly as lightning and
conquer their countries. Because this strategy was incredibly successful, he was able to

bring large parts of Europe under his control.(“14 Blitzkrieg'')

Blitzkrieg in action, and the tactics are what made blitzkrieg work well so here's

some. The German Blitzkrieg in World War II began on September 1, 1939 with the

unexpected invasion of Poland, which ended on September 27 with the capitulation of

the Polish capital Warsaw.(”14 Blitzkrieg”) Germany successfully used Blitzkrieg

against: Poland, in September 1939, Denmark April 1940, Norway April 1940, Belgium

May 1940, The Netherlands May 1940, Luxembourg May 1940, France May 1940,

Yugoslavia April 1941, Greece April 1941.(“United States”) Blitzkrieg tactics were used

in the successful German invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1940,

which saw audacious applications of air power and airborne infantry to overcome fixed

fortifications that were believed by the defenders to be impregnable.(“Blitzkrieg”)

As you now know; Blitzkrieg played a big role in Germany's battle success in

WWII. From being formed by the Prussian military to Germany using it in WWII, and the

many uses of the strategy of blitzkrieg; the part it played was huge. Although it still

needed more work, Germany still had some success.