On the 22nd of June 1941 Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa; an offence led by The Axis that forced its way into USSR soil. What had become a major power within Europe had taken aggressive military action towards one of the biggest existing nations of the time – one that was considered extremely backwards socio-economically. On the 23rd of August 1942 the USSR launched a major counterattack against the Nazi-German forces trapping them within the city of Stalingrad and thus initiating the controversial battle of Stalingrad. This action, Operation Uranus – approved by Stalin, would mark the retreat from the Nazi invasion of Europe that would not end until Berlins fall on May 1945. Thus this battle catalysed the conclusion to one of the most horrifying wars of our time.

Few events have been up for as much analysis of historical importance as this military action. This due to how it had the ability to cause such an immense war loss and the eventual retreat of Nazi-Germany - particularly after Nazi-Germany´s consecutive military triumphs since the dawn of World War Two. Few, including …show more content…
The reason for this discussion is due to the event bearing great importance within shaping our past as well as current world – it is essential to study its significance as to understand how it has shaped the present. The battle of Stalingrad becomes a basis for today´s political tensions, as it partly shaped the political climate in which the Cold War rooted itself. The eventual prevalence of the USSR army into Germany can conclude to be a part of what separated the world into two camps. One needs to analyse and understand the past in order to see the order of which consecutive events can shape the present and perhaps even predict the future. To learn from the past is to know the