Battle of the Bulge
THE BATTLE
The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16,1944 and ended on January 16,1945. It took place in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg and ended in "the heart of the U.S.". The Americans had around 75,000 casualties and the Germans had around 80-l00,000 casualties.
NATIONS AND GENERALS IN THE BATTLE
In this battle of Germany against the Allies (U.S., Britain, France and Russia), Dwight D. Eisenhower was the general for the United States. Dwight was born in Texas and later was stationed in Texas as a second lieutenant. On D-Day he was the supreme commander of the troops invading France. He was also the 34th president of the U.S. (1953-1961).
WHY NATIONS GOT INVOLVED
The battle started because Hitler thought that the alliances between the Allied nations was weak and he felt that he could make a major attack and break up the alliance completely. Hitler tried to do this by trying to mess up the Allie's communication with each other (taking away transportation systems etc.). His goal was to make a truce with western Allies so that he could focus on the other Allies (eastern front) and to stop advancement of Soviet armies.
OUTCOME OF THE BATTLE AND ITS IMPACT
The battle ended up being an Allied victory against Germany. The Germans lost 80-l00,000 soldiers and about 600 tanks. If the Germans would have won this battle, the whole war would have changed. Hitler put almost all of what he had left for war (supply and soldiers) into this battle and because they lost the battle, they couldn't go much further. Because the Allies won, it changed the outcome of the whole war.
Sources:
1- http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=WHIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=lees33148&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CCX3447000170
2- http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_the_bulge.htm
3- http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/defeat/battle-bulge.htm