History Short: Do Wars Really Have Turning Points?

A Brief History

On February 2, 1943, the last of the German army at Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviet Red Army, often called “the turning point” of World War II in Europe. Germany never recovered offensive momentum after the defeat at Stalingrad, having lost about a million men killed, as many as 5,600 combat aircraft, over 4,300 tanks, and over 15,000 artillery pieces.

Digging Deeper

The Germans were forced to redeploy men and equipment from other theaters to shore up their Eastern Front, affecting the course of all future battles in Europe.

The Pacific Theater was an entirely different theater, and the battle referred to as the “turning point” in the Pacific was the Battle of Midway, when the US Navy sank four of Japan’s aircraft carriers against the loss of only one US carrier, greatly altering the balance of power in the Pacific. Midway put Japan on a permanent defensive and gave the US the offensive impetus needed to win the war against Japan.

Many battles in history marked a change in the situation enough to be referred to as the “turning point” in the respective wars, and some of those include the 490 BC Battle of Marathon during the Greco-Persian Wars, the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution in 1777, the battles of Antietam in 1862 and Gettysburg in 1863 during the American Civil War that lasted from 1861 to 1865, and the 1968 Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, a political and strategic loss for the United States and South Vietnam that led to eventual victory for the North.

Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What battles would you consider “turning points?”

If you liked this article and would like to receive notifications of new articles, please feel welcome to follow History and Headlines on Facebook and X!

Your readership is much appreciated!