What Are The Most Important Events Of The 20th Century

The 20th century was filled with many major world changing events, one of the biggest being World War II. Most of these events were bloody battles that consumed a vast amount of resources and human life which in turn called for military strategy reform, resource consumption adjustment, and a new respect for human life. A few of these major events were battles mainly fought between Russia and Germany, these battles include: The Battle of Moscow, The Battle of Stalingrad, and The Battle of Berlin. All of which claimed a horrifying number of human lives and resources. These events changed the world in a few different ways regarding certain aspects of military strategy as well as limiting the power of a of two superpowers at the time. Thus altering the future in ways that are still apparent today.

Operation Barbarossa began on June 22, 1941 and was the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Loss after loss they had inflicted almost 4 million casualties on the huge, but disorganized Soviet armies. By early October Hitler marched his troops deep into Soviet territory and was near 200 miles outside of Moscow (Peck 2). During Operation Barbarossa 28 Russian divisions were put out of action in just three weeks and more than 70 divisions lost 50% or more of their men and equipment. Hitler’s Blitzkrieg or “lightning war” had devastated the Red Army. Hitler’s belief that the Red Army would crumble was seemingly true. However, the Germans had also suffered in their attacks on Russia. One month into Barbarossa, the Germans had lost over 100,000 men, 50% of their tanks and over 1,200 planes (Truman 1). Now came time for Operation Typhoon, the offensive to capture the Soviet capital. (Peck