How much different would life be today if Nazi Germany would have one the Second World War? Victory was anything but out of reach for the Germans at the time The Battle of Stalingrad took place. It is possible had the Germans defeated Russia, Europe would today be flying a Nazi flag. The entire world may be a different place, a place perhaps with an entire population of white skinned, blue eyed, and blonde haired Nazis. The Battle of Stalingrad was arguably the decisive battle in the German-Soviet conflict. Moreover, if the Germans would have taken the Soviet Union, all Nazi-opposing nations, such as the United Kingdom or United States, could have easily been crushed. It is hard to think such changes could have come from one battle, and even harder to think about how close the Germans were to victory. .
The Battle of Stalingrad took place from August of 1942 to February of 1943. This was arguably the decisive battle of the European Theater of World War II because it ended the German offensive as well as destroyed much of the German forces. Though the early stages of World War II focused on Western Europe, Hitler had diverted his attention to Russia by 1941. At first Nazi Germany focused on Leningrad and Moscow. This attack failed and so by the summer of 1942, Hitler wanted to invade southern Russia. Against the advice of his generals, Hitler attacked Stalingrad. The German forces took much of the city. German armies surrounded the city and so the Russians were trapped and would remain so for several months. When reinforcements arrived for the Soviets they surrounded the Germans and forced them to surrender. The battle of Stalingrad not only destroyed much of the German army, but also ended their offensive in Russia, ultimately resulting in Germany's defeat in the Second World War. There were numerous decisions the Nazis, Hitler inparticular, could have made differently that would have changed the outcome of this battle, and thus changed the outcome of the war.
