German Blitzkrieg

We read about Sighet and Auschwitz in Eli Wiesel's Night, both areas far from traditional German lands, hundreds of miles away with totally different peoples and cultures. How then, did one nation overcome so many so quickly, in a few short years between 1939 and 1941, when the extent of their European control was reached? The whole answer is far too long for one to do justice in a blog post, comprising of a plethora of factors. To put it simply, Europe was not prepared for the German "Blitzkrieg", or lightening war, that consumed most of continental Europe and subdued France, Poland, the Slavic countries, and most of Central and Eastern Europe. The Great Depression did not just take its toll on Germany; many of the major European powers, such as Britain and France, were recovering and had a war-weary populace and leaders who lacked the authority to ready their countries. New weapons and tactics had evolved since World War I, yet Britain and France, Germany's two main adversaries, had failed to implement them. The main difference was the use of tanks, or "Panzers" in German, to encircle and destroy much larger opposing forces with pincer movements and air support so rapidly that the opponent would be unable to react in time. The plan worked flawless in the beginning, allowing Hitler to control most of Europe's population, including Jews. Without Blitzkrieg tactics Hitler would have never been able to control the amount of Jews he did and the Holocaust would not have had such a wide effect. Luckily he did not reach Israel!