Omar Bartov and Hitler's Army
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- Category: History: European
- Date Submitted: 12/01/2013 05:44 PM
- Pages: 6
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Omar Bartov’s Hitler’s Army, fundamentally challenged traditional interpretations of the nature of the German Wehrmacht (regular army) and its campaign on the eastern front. Choose one of these traditional interpretations below and explain how Bartov challenges the interpretation and the evidence he uses against it.
The German Wehrmacht fighting on the eastern front was a non-ideological fighting force waging war against a traditional great power rival in the Soviet Union.
Omar Bartov’s book, Hitler’s Army is a direct challenge to the traditional interpretations regarding the German Wehrmacht (regular army) by combining ideological pursuits with traditional military aims. Using letters, diaries, and official documents, Bartov has presented a radically different alternative view of the Nazi ambitions in the eastern front conflict. Bartov claims that it was much more than a traditional sort of conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union, believing instead a mesh of Nazi ideology AND a traditional conflict versus a traditional enemy conjoined to backbone the German drive into the east.
In June of 1941 Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and began their assault on the Soviet Union. Named after the legendary German King, Frederick I or Barbarossa, the invasion violated the 1939 Non-aggression pact pledged by the USSR and Germany and changed the course of the war. The Wehrmacht began its assault on the Soviet Union with about 3000 men, 2500 tanks and 4000 aircraft forces. Bolstered by confidences inspired by earlier victories in both Poland and the West, it was generally assumed that the USSR would fall in a matter of weeks.
For decades after the fall of Nazi Germany, historians have pondered all aspects of the regime. Traditionally, it was accepted that the goals of the eastern war aligned with those of the western front. Bartov argues that in regards to the invasion of the east, ideology played more a role than previously assumed.
The...
The German Wehrmacht fighting on the eastern front was a non-ideological fighting force waging war against a traditional great power rival in the Soviet Union.
Omar Bartov’s book, Hitler’s Army is a direct challenge to the traditional interpretations regarding the German Wehrmacht (regular army) by combining ideological pursuits with traditional military aims. Using letters, diaries, and official documents, Bartov has presented a radically different alternative view of the Nazi ambitions in the eastern front conflict. Bartov claims that it was much more than a traditional sort of conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union, believing instead a mesh of Nazi ideology AND a traditional conflict versus a traditional enemy conjoined to backbone the German drive into the east.
In June of 1941 Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and began their assault on the Soviet Union. Named after the legendary German King, Frederick I or Barbarossa, the invasion violated the 1939 Non-aggression pact pledged by the USSR and Germany and changed the course of the war. The Wehrmacht began its assault on the Soviet Union with about 3000 men, 2500 tanks and 4000 aircraft forces. Bolstered by confidences inspired by earlier victories in both Poland and the West, it was generally assumed that the USSR would fall in a matter of weeks.
For decades after the fall of Nazi Germany, historians have pondered all aspects of the regime. Traditionally, it was accepted that the goals of the eastern war aligned with those of the western front. Bartov argues that in regards to the invasion of the east, ideology played more a role than previously assumed.
The...