Question
Investigate multiple sources about the different war fighting strategies used during World War I
and World War II. Locate credible and reliable sources. You will use those sources to reason
effectively about different perspectives regarding these strategies while using your War Fighting
Strategies worksheet. Record your answers below.
List of primary or secondary sources:
and World War II. Locate credible and reliable sources. You will use those sources to reason
effectively about different perspectives regarding these strategies while using your War Fighting
Strategies worksheet. Record your answers below.
List of primary or secondary sources:
Answers
Answered by
GPT-4o mini
To investigate the different war-fighting strategies used during World War I and World War II, we can identify several credible and reliable sources, including primary and secondary materials. Below is a list of source types along with specific examples:
### List of Primary Sources
1. **Official Military Reports and Documents**:
- *The Official History of the Great War* by various authors (for WWI)
- *The Pentagon Papers* (concerning strategy in Vietnam, reflecting broader military strategy training and thought)
2. **Personal Diaries and Letters**:
- *The Memoirs of Field Marshal William Slim* (on the Asian theater of WWII)
- *Letters from the Front* by soldiers during both wars.
3. **Government Publications**:
- *The U.S. Army's Center of Military History publications* pertaining to both wars.
4. **Photographic and Film Archives**:
- Archive footage from the National Archives (UK or USA) capturing various military operations.
### List of Secondary Sources
1. **Books**:
- *The First World War* by John Keegan (overview of WWI strategies)
- *A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II* by Gerald E. Steinberg (comprehensive survey of WWII strategies)
2. **Scholarly Articles**:
- "Trench Warfare: Analysis of a Modern Military Strategy" (found in military history journals).
- "The Blitzkrieg Concept: Tactical Evolution in WWII" (available through JSTOR).
3. **Documentaries and Analysis**:
- *The World Wars* (History Channel documentary series).
- *World War II in Color* (which provides an analysis of strategies with visual context).
4. **Online Databases**:
- **The National Archives** (UK or USA) for digital collections related to both wars.
- **CIA's FOIA Electronic Reading Room**, which may contain declassified documents regarding military strategies.
### Reasoning about Different Perspectives
Using these sources, consider the following perspectives regarding WWI and WWII war-fighting strategies:
1. **World War I Strategies**:
- **Trench Warfare**: This dominated much of WWI, leading to a stalemate. Sources like John Keegan's book discuss how this strategy resulted in massive casualties without significant territorial gains.
- **Innovation and Technological Warfare**: Introduction of tanks, chemical weapons, and aircraft. The evolution from traditional infantry formations to mechanized warfare marked a crucial development.
2. **World War II Strategies**:
- **Blitzkrieg Tactics**: Rapid movement and coordinated attacks using combined arms (tanks, air force, infantry) led by German forces. Sources like Gerald Steinberg provide examples of how these strategies were successful in the early years of WWII.
- **Allied Strategies (D-Day and Island Hopping)**: The Allied forces utilized different tactics like amphibious assaults (D-Day) and the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific, marked by sources such as the documentary "The World Wars."
3. **Comparative Strategies**:
- Analyze how strategies adapted from the lessons of WWI were implemented in WWII. For instance, the use of tanks was developed further after the stagnant trench warfare of WWI increasingly influenced strategic thinking.
### Conclusion
Collecting and analyzing these sources will enable a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of military strategies between World War I and World War II, highlighting both continuity and change in tactics and technologies.
### List of Primary Sources
1. **Official Military Reports and Documents**:
- *The Official History of the Great War* by various authors (for WWI)
- *The Pentagon Papers* (concerning strategy in Vietnam, reflecting broader military strategy training and thought)
2. **Personal Diaries and Letters**:
- *The Memoirs of Field Marshal William Slim* (on the Asian theater of WWII)
- *Letters from the Front* by soldiers during both wars.
3. **Government Publications**:
- *The U.S. Army's Center of Military History publications* pertaining to both wars.
4. **Photographic and Film Archives**:
- Archive footage from the National Archives (UK or USA) capturing various military operations.
### List of Secondary Sources
1. **Books**:
- *The First World War* by John Keegan (overview of WWI strategies)
- *A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II* by Gerald E. Steinberg (comprehensive survey of WWII strategies)
2. **Scholarly Articles**:
- "Trench Warfare: Analysis of a Modern Military Strategy" (found in military history journals).
- "The Blitzkrieg Concept: Tactical Evolution in WWII" (available through JSTOR).
3. **Documentaries and Analysis**:
- *The World Wars* (History Channel documentary series).
- *World War II in Color* (which provides an analysis of strategies with visual context).
4. **Online Databases**:
- **The National Archives** (UK or USA) for digital collections related to both wars.
- **CIA's FOIA Electronic Reading Room**, which may contain declassified documents regarding military strategies.
### Reasoning about Different Perspectives
Using these sources, consider the following perspectives regarding WWI and WWII war-fighting strategies:
1. **World War I Strategies**:
- **Trench Warfare**: This dominated much of WWI, leading to a stalemate. Sources like John Keegan's book discuss how this strategy resulted in massive casualties without significant territorial gains.
- **Innovation and Technological Warfare**: Introduction of tanks, chemical weapons, and aircraft. The evolution from traditional infantry formations to mechanized warfare marked a crucial development.
2. **World War II Strategies**:
- **Blitzkrieg Tactics**: Rapid movement and coordinated attacks using combined arms (tanks, air force, infantry) led by German forces. Sources like Gerald Steinberg provide examples of how these strategies were successful in the early years of WWII.
- **Allied Strategies (D-Day and Island Hopping)**: The Allied forces utilized different tactics like amphibious assaults (D-Day) and the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific, marked by sources such as the documentary "The World Wars."
3. **Comparative Strategies**:
- Analyze how strategies adapted from the lessons of WWI were implemented in WWII. For instance, the use of tanks was developed further after the stagnant trench warfare of WWI increasingly influenced strategic thinking.
### Conclusion
Collecting and analyzing these sources will enable a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of military strategies between World War I and World War II, highlighting both continuity and change in tactics and technologies.