How Did Hitler Use Military Weapons

Section 1: Identification and evaluations of Sources: The conflict of World War Two has long been discussed in context of counter factualist arguments in order to better understand the fateful decisions made in the most pivotal points throughout humanity’s greatest conflict. The rapid development of behemoth programs under the “Wunderwaffe” (miracle weapons) programs initiated by the Nazis under Hitler are often written off as near non-consequential to the Axis war effort by historians (Giffard). However, the extent at which Hitler’s “wonder weapons” impacted the war remains a topic of both great counter factualist and historical significance. Thus, the question; “What was the Impact of Hitler’s decision to prioritize superweapons on the outcome

Through an origin of being a book published in 2010 by a well-established and respected group of historians and publisher, the origin has value in being from many points of view and being a compilation of historiography and analyses of primary and secondary sources. However, the origin is limited by its nature of being an American authored book. Thus, the analyses of nations outside of the western powers (Nazi Germany) and their respective strategic effectiveness do not represent the opinions and findings of people from the German cultural perspective which may view and interpret history through inherently different cultural lenses. The purpose of the book is to display both positives and negatives to military approaches taken by all major powers during world war two. Through this the purpose is valuable as its goal is to focus on effectiveness scaled by economic, and battlefield gains. However, the purpose is limited as it only lightly addresses counter factualist arguments of other potential strategies major powers had available. The content of the book provides in depth detail on numerous factors of military effectiveness. Through this the content has value in providing a broad narrative to the Nazi super weapon

Dornberger’s The German V-2 (1952), provides context for the “wunderwaffe” with specificity on the V-weapons program within the grand scheme of Hitler’s war plans. The journal’s writer, a former German scientist within the V-weapons program, details the start of Germany’s superweapons and their place within Hitler’s evolving war plans. Through the origin of the source as a primary source, historians gain first hand accounts of Hitler’s directives as well as the directives of those in the Peenemünde Army Research Center. This origin provides value in its ability to provide information gathered during the development of superweapon technology. However, its origin also limits its information of superweapons in relation to Hitler’s war plans as it is from the point of view of a scientist rather than those using the weapons such as Nazi generals. The purpose of the journal is to explain the developmental aspect of the German efforts towards “Miracle Weapons.” Through this purpose, value can be shown through detailed accounts of the scientific and political development behind the V-1 and V-2. Despite this value in the purpose, it is limited by the a primarily scientific based purpose that does not explain developments within context of strategy of Germany in the second world war. The content of the journal provides many first-hand accounts, dates, specific details of program progress and implementation, as well as successes and failures of the program.