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Author(s) -
Martijn Lak
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor geschiedenis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 6
eISSN - 2352-1163
pISSN - 0040-7518
DOI - 10.5117/tvgesch2014.3.lak
Subject(s) - front (military) , historiography , nazism , nazi germany , ancient history , world war ii , history , soviet union , meaning (existential) , cold war , political science , economic history , law , geography , politics , philosophy , epistemology , meteorology
Seventy years ago, on 6 June 1944, the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. For long, especially during the Cold War, Western historians saw this as the decisive turning point of the Second World War. However, more recent historiography suggests that the fundamental battles were fought between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, on the Eastern Front. It was here that the majority of the Wehrmacht fought, where it suffered most of its casualties, and where it became clear at an early stage that the Third Reich could not win. This article discusses recent publications on the war in Europe and the Eastern Front in particular while at the same time addressing the question why, compared with the fighting in Western Europe, the war between Germany and the USSR was so ruthless and barbaric, a total war or Vernichtungskrieg in the literal meaning of the word.