Soviets Would Have Won Wwii Without The U.s

To a great extent, historians correctly argue that the Soviets won World War II and that they would have defeated the Nazi’s without the entry of the United States into the war. However, to a small degree, the entry of the United States allowed the Soviets to succeed due to the necessary military division of the Nazi’s that was needed to fight a war on two fronts. 

            First off, in order to prove that the Soviets could have won the war without the entry of the United States, it must first be shown that the Soviets did in fact win the war. The Soviets did win the Second World War because on April 30th, 1945, it was them who captured Berlin (Brinkley 743).  The capture of Berlin shows Soviet victory because it was the capital of Germany and thus the key to winning the war. More importantly, Hitler killed himself on that same day, which allowed Germany to surrender seven days later (Davis 309). Winning a war involves more than winning a battle, and thus this final victory cannot alone prove that the Soviets won the war. It is therefore important to mention that the Soviets did the majority of the fighting in WWII. Even after the entry of the United States in 1941, there was no confrontation between the Allies and the Axis until 1943 in Europe except for that between the Soviets and Germany (Brinkley 741). Great Britain and the U.S. were fighting a war in Northern Africa which was basically useless in the overall picture of defeating Germany itself. Where the British had eventual American aid on the African front and later the western front, the Soviets fought singlehandedly against the Nazis on the eastern front. On top of that, the turning point in the war, the Battle of Stalingrad, was a Soviet victory. Not only was this battle the Nazis’ first defeat, but it stopped them from expanding further into the Soviet Union and marked the beginning of Germany’s “long retreat from the eastern front” (302). The Germans had put a great deal of resources into that one battle and losing it therefore becomes a very important moment in the war. Historian Bonfante argues that “by measure of manpower, duration, territorial reach and casualties, [the Eastern Front] was as much as four times the scale of the conflict on the Western Front” (Bonfante).  Therefore, since the Soviets were the ones who first defeated the Nazis in a major battle and were the ones who eventually took over Germany’s capital, along with the fact that they did the majority of the fighting, it can be viewed that the Soviets were the ones who won the war.