WALT: Impact of Total War

1. WALT: Impact of Total War War has just broken out in the UK. We are ill prepared. Create a ‘Plan’, how do you deal with the following? • Legislation – How can you get around parliamentary democracy? • Armed Forces – We have a small standing army! • Workers – We have a diverse economy! • Women – Many do not work, they’re mothers. • Youth – How do you protect the children, someone think of the children. • Resources – We have a diverse economy! • Major Towns and Cities – We know the enemies tactics, everything is a target. • Morale – We know the enemies tactics. There will be thousands of deaths how do we deal with morale?

2. WALT: Impact of Total War on Nazi Germany. Wilfs: D – Describe the impact of war on the lives of Germans. B – Explain the significance of the Total War speech. A – Evaluate support of the Nazi party in the latter stages of war.

3. Blitzkrieg Tell me what the difference is between Blitzkrieg and Total War.

4. War “Total war is the demand of the hour. We must put an end to the bourgeois attitude that we have also seen in this war: Wash my back, but don’t get me wet!” What does Goebbels mean by this? (1943)

5. Task - Create a Morale Graph • At first the war went well for the Nazis with the rapid defeat of Poland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium 1939-40 and morale at home is high • British bombing of German cities started in Summer 1940 (something the Nazis said couldn’t happen), morale worsens • June 1941 – Hitler’s decision to invade USSR and fight a war on 2 fronts • War against Russia initially goes well – public euphoria. Victory within sight • Winter 1941/2 tide turns against Germans – Red Army pushed Germans back – rising casualties, severe strain on supply routes and munitions – morale declines • December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour brings USA into war – more bad news for Germany • 1943 Defeat at Stalingrad – whole German 6th army surrounded and forced to surrender largely because Hitler refused to allow them to retreat – population at home starts to turn against the ‘Hitler Myth’ • Feb 1943 – Gobbel’s ‘Total war’ speech talks of real and imminent danger to Germany and for renewed effort by everyone – slight upturn in morale • 1943-45 continued military setbacks, sustained allied bombing – depressed morale and increased opposition but mainly quiet resigned acceptance of fate.

6. Question • Question – How can we measure morale? How was morale measured in Nazi Germany and by whom?

7. Top Trumps. • Download the PPT and the Top Trumps Framework. One of you reads and feeds the information to the SB. SWAP after you complete each part. • Early War - Morale, Rationing, Workers, Women, Youth. • Later War - Workers, Women, Youth, Mas bombing, • Resistance; Communist, Church, Youth, White Rose, Military Plots.

8. Question – Talking Chips. • Was ‘Total War’ a necessity after the failure of Stalingrad? • Did the Nazi’s retain the loyalty of the German people between 1939 and 1945?

9. Did the Nazi’s retain the loyalty of the German people between 1939 and 1945? • • public morale was always a concern to the Nazi regime and elaborate attempts were made to canvass public opinion. The Security Service (SD) of the SS sent agents all over Germany to listen as objectively as possible to what ordinary Germans were saying about the war – what they heard was universally critical. Support had become more passive than active • • Fischer believes that the disastrous defeat at Stalingrad was the defining moment for most Germans that the war was lost – hence mobilization from 1943 onwards would be difficult. The regime was concerned about reaction to the brutal nature of war in the east • • there were Social Democrats, religious opponents, conservatives, Communists and some military leaders who had always resisted Hitler’s tyranny and would make matters more difficult • • between 1943 and 1945 defeat became inevitable and the population had no illusions. A summary of popular opinion in March 1945 reported that nobody believed anymore that Germany could win, all faith was lost in the leadership and party and propaganda could no longer mask what had happened • • despite a massive network of police surveillance, there were many Germans who voiced dissent, some openly, some in a more muted fashion. Peukert has shown that there was a mood which ran counter to the officially sponsored picture of ‘delirious Germans rallying round the Führer’ • • by 1944 there were 20 concentration camps and 165 labor camps in Germany. It would be difficult to explain why over one million Germans were in camps if support was so forthcoming.

10. Plenary • Promenade – Did the Nazi’s retain the loyalty of the Germans. • HW – Answer the Q.