Examine the contribution of economic and strategic factors to the Allied victory in 1945.

The question requires that candidates consider the interrelationship between economic and strategic factors and the Allies’ victory in Europe. Factors such as Hitler’s poor leadership could be discussed but the bulk of the response must be on the issue raised in the question. Economic factors may include the extent to which combatants had the resources to fight a long war. The Allies had the industrial resources and manpower of the US, the British Empire and the Soviet Union; Germany relied on gaining new resources by conquest and the hope that it would be a short-lived war. Other factors may include the mobilization of the Allied Home Fronts, or the strategic decision to concentrate on the Battle of the Atlantic and naval and airpower. Other strategies that were significant include the Soviet “scorched earth” strategy and the opening of the second front (D-Day). It would be legitimate to discuss the strategic mistakes of the Axis powers, such as overstretching their resources in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Candidates may argue that economic factors were, in the long run, more important than strategies.

The question required candidates to consider the interrelationship between economic and strategic factors and the Allies’ victory in Europe. Some impressive breadth of knowledge and arguments were displayed by some candidates. However, some other candidates had limited depth in their knowledge and tended to generalize.