World War Two The Eastern Front Part 2

Part 1 / Part 3 / WW2 / Origins of WW2 Barbarossa: The German Invasion of the USSR On the western front Hitler found himself at war with Britain. This wasn’t what he wanted: Hitler’s targets were Eastern Europe, to crush the communism state and give his German Empire lebensraum, not Britain, with whom he had hoped to negotiate a peace. But the Battle of Britain had failed, invasion looked impractical, and Britain was staying belligerent. Hitler had been planning a turn to the east even as he was planning the invasion of France which he hoped would allow full focus on the USSR, and spring 1941 became the focus. However, even at this late stage Hitler was delaying as he was completely confused by Britain, but it became apparent to the Nazi regime that Russia was interested in territorial expansion too, and wanted not just Finland, but Romanian territory (threatening the Romanian oil the Third Reich needed), and Britain was unable to re-open the western front any time soon. The stars seemed to have aligned for Hitler to stage a quick war in the east, bel ieving that the USSR was a rotten door that would collapse when kicked, and he could seize the vast resources and move the focus back to Britain without facing two fronts.br/>On December 5th 1940 an order went out: the USSR was to be attacked in May 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. The plan was for a three pronged invasion, taking Leningrad in the north, Moscow in the centre and Kiev in the South, with the Russian armies that stood in the way quickly surrounded and forced into a surrender, and the goal was to seize everything between Berlin and a line from the Volga to Archangel. There were objections from some commanders, but German success in France had convinced many that the Blitzkrieg was unstoppable, and optimistic planners believed this could be achieved against a poor Russian army in three months. Much like Napoleon two centuries before, the German army made no preparations for having to fight in the winter. Furthermore the German economy and resources were not solely dedicat ed to the war and to the crushing of the Soviets, as many troops had to be held back to hold other areas.To many in Germany, the Soviet army was in a bad state. Hitler had little useful intelligence on the Soviets, but he knew Stalin had purged the officer core, that the army had been embarrassed by Finland, and thought many of their tanks were out of date. He also had an estimate of the size of the Russian army, but this was hopelessly wrong. What he ignored was the massive resources of the full Soviet state, which Stalin would be able to mobilise. Equally, Stalin was ignoring every and all intelligence reports telling him that the Germans were coming, or at least misinterpreting dozens and dozens of hints. In fact Stalin seems to have been so surprised and oblivious to the attack that German commanders speaking after the war accused him of allowing it to draw the Germans in and break them inside Russia. The German Conquest of Eastern Europe There was a delay in launching Barbarossa from May to June 22nd which is often blamed on having to aid Mussolini, but the wet spring necessitated it. Nevertheless, despite the build-up of millions of men and their equipment, when the three Army Groups surged over the border they had the benefit of surprise. For the first few weeks the Germans poured forward, covering four hundred miles, and the Soviet armies were cut to shreds and forced to surrender en masse. Stalin himself was deeply shocked and suffered a mental crisis (or performed a piece of daring cunning, we don’t know), although he was able to resume control in early July and began the process of mobilising the Soviet Union to fight back. But Germany kept coming, and soon the western portion of the Red Army was soundly beaten: three million captured or killed, 15,000 tanks neutralised, and the Soviet commanders at the front panicking and failing. It looked liked the Soviet Union was collapsing as planned. The Soviets m assacred prisoners as they retreated rather than have the Germans ‘rescue’ them, while special squads dismantled and moved over a thousand factories eastwards to resume arms production.br/>With Army Group Centre having the most success and nearing Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, Hitler made a decision that has been labelled fatal: he reassigned Centre’s resources to aid the other Groups, particularly South which had been slower. Hitler wanted to gain the maximum territory and resources, and this meant crushing Moscow and possibly accepting surrender when holding key regions. It also meant securing flanks, allowing foot soldiers to catch up, supplies to be bought up, and conquests consolidated. But this all needed time. Hitler may also have been worried about Napoleon’s single minded pursuit of Moscow.The pause was fiercely objected to by Centre’s commanders, who wanted to keep their drive going, but their tanks were wearing out and the paus e allowed infantry to arrive and begin to consolidate. The diversion allowed the encirclement of Kiev, and the capture of a vast number of Soviets. Nevertheless, the need to re-allocate reveals that the plan was not going smoothly, despite the successes. The Germans had several million men, but these could not deal with millions of prisoners, hold hundreds of square kilometres of territory and form a fighting force, while German resources could not maintain the tanks needed. In the North, at Leningrad, the Germans besieged a city of half a million troops and two and a half million civilians, but decided to let them starve to death rather than fight through the city. In addition, two million Soviet soldiers who had been rounded up and put in camps died, while special Nazi units were following the main army to execute a list of perceived enemies, both political and racial. The police and army joined in.By September many in the German army realised they were engaged in a war that may w ell have been beyond their resources, and they’d had little time to put roots down in the conquered lands before moving back. Hitler ordered Moscow taken in October in operation Typhoon, but something crucial had happened in Russia. Soviet intelligence had been able to brief Stalin that Japan, who was threatening the eastern half of the empire, had no plans to join Hitler in carving up the Soviet empire, and was focused on the US. And while Hitler had destroyed the western Soviet Army, now eastern forces were transferred freely to aid the west, and Moscow was stiffened. As the weather turned against the Germans – from rain to frost to snow - the Soviet defences hardened with new troops and commanders – such as Zhukov – who could do the job. Hitler’s forces still got to twenty miles from Moscow and many Russian’s fled (Stalin stayed put in a decision which galvanised defenders), but Germany’s planning caught up with them, and their lac k of winter equipment, including no antifreeze for the tanks or gloves for the soldiers, crippled them and the offensive was not just stopped by the Soviets, but pushed back.Hitler called a winter halt only on December 8th, when his troops had been stopped. Hitler and his senior commanders now argued, with the latter wanting to make strategic withdrawals to create a more defensible front, and the former banning any retreat. There were mass sackings, and with the cream of the German military command ejected Hitler appointed a man with far less ability to lead: himself. Barbarossa had made major gains and taken a vast area, but it had failed to defeat the Soviet Union, or even come close to the demands of its own plan. Moscow has been called the turning point of the war, and certainly some high ranking Nazis knew they had already lost because they could not fight the war of attrition the Eastern Front had become. Part 3.

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Competitive Analysis of Starbucks Free Essays

When would a firm choose to operate on a transnational basis? Under what circumstances would a firm use a localization strategy? When would an international strategy be employed? Support your answers with examples. Firms look to operate on a transnational basis primarily to penetrate into foreign markets and expand their business. After tasting success at home, several firms make investments to expand globally in order to attain market share and boost revenues. We will write a custom essay sample on Competitive Analysis of Starbucks or any similar topic only for you Order Now Transnational companies have coordinating and operation-controlling power in multiple countries, even if they do not own them. General Motors, Ford, and Wal-Mart are amongst the world’s largest transnational companies. Japan, North America, and Western Europe account for about three quarters of the world’s transnational companies. When operations go international, localization strategy takes center-stage for firms. Firms use a localization strategy when they counter differences in management styles and cultural practices. Localization strategy is used by firms to adapt and cater to the choices and expectations of foreign customers and quickly occupy new markets. McDonald for instance, which operates in 119 countries, is a good example of a company that maintains its global brand identity successfully by using a localization strategy to adapt to the tastes and temperaments of diverse cultures across the globe. In short, localization strategy helps a firm deliver a unique customer experience that exceeds geographical boundaries. An international strategy is employed by a firm to create value through core competency transfer to a foreign market in which native competitors are not equipped with those competencies. Typically, a firm comes up with an innovative product and introduces it into the foreign market. As the demand for the product increases, the firm begins to export the product. As foreign competitors start production, the firm starts production abroad. The firm then standardizes production and relocates it to countries with low cost production opportunities. Xerox and Proctor and Gamble are examples of companies that followed this model and implemented an international strategy. References: http://www. slideshare. net/clemaitre/tn-cs http://www. ibscdc. org/Case%20Studies/Abstracts/Strategy/Corporate%20Strategy/COS0043. htm http://classes. bus. oregonstate. edu/ba447/Gonzalez%20(Winter%2008)/BA%20447%20-%20day%201. ppt How do the 4 Ps of marketing differ in a global business environment? Give examples from your own organization or one you are familiar with. The 4 Ps of marketing, namely: product, price, placement, and promotion vary widely in a global business environment as firms attempt to get their marketing mix just right so that they sell the right products, at the right prices and places, using promotion methods that are most suitable. A global company like Coca-Cola for instance essentially creates a single product and tweaks it differently for different markets. The sugar and corn syrup formulas of Coca-Cola are packaged using the contour bottle design with the dynamic ribbon in different shapes and forms. Coca-Cola bottles in some countries come in standard beverage-bottle sizes of those countries, with wording in native language as well. The price of a Coca-Cola varies from market to market due to production costs, ingredient costs, delivery costs, expected profit margins, competition, and so on. Coca-Cola’s product placement varies from country to country based on how the company wants to offer competition in the targeted market. Vending machines are not common in all countries and in US for instance, Coca-Cola is sold by the pallet through warehouse stores; however, in countries like India, such an option does not apply. Coca-Cola has moved away from the idea of sending the same message across globally in the wake of its global promotion strategy failure. Coca-Cola uses customized promotional strategies and regional themes instead of universal ones in order to counter varied language and cultural barriers of the global market. References: http://www. thetimes100. co. uk/downloads/theory/marketing_mix_(price,_place,_promotion,_product). pdf http://www. stamfordonline. com. my/courses/dba/dba206/DBA%20206%20Week%2010%20 How to cite Competitive Analysis of Starbucks, Essay examples

Role Of Women In Things Fall Apart English Literature Essay free essay sample

In stating an African narrative, it is impossible to make so without adverting the adult females who take portion in many of the activities in a society. This is why different narratives bring out adult females and their functions in the society although the narratives may non be speaking about a adult female as the chief character. Thingss fall apart is no different in conveying out the function of the adult females in a traditional African scene. Womans play polar functions in Educational, Religious and Social attention in the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. In Things autumn apart, adult females are featured as the chief kids s pedagogues. They do these by stating them narratives, learning them the moralss of socialising with other people and good behaviour particularly to the miss kid, aˆÂ ¦children Saturday around their female parent s cookery fire stating storiesaˆÂ ¦ , ( Achebe 25 ) . The kids are taught good values and ethical motives by their parents and in this instance, their female parents, who promote them to develop societal values and good interaction accomplishments. The adult female was regarded as an inferior object in the society but this did non turn her down from executing her social functions particularly that of being the pedagogue of the kids. The upbringing of a kid is what determines what the kid will be in the hereafter. In the Ibo community, the raising of a kid was entirely the function of the adult female who was supposed to do certain that the kid was good familiar with the imposts and regulations of the society. The cognition of the social norms was all of importance to the female parent as she needed to educate the kids about them. This was to avoid state of affairss where the kid would be in problem for disgracing the extremely regarded goddesses or leaders of the community which would be a shame to the household particularly the male parent who would set the incrimination on the female parent and perchance crush her. Therefore, in a society which is dominated by work forces, the adult female had to be really careful about the repute the adult male would hold in the society if certain unfortunate things happened may be from the behaviour of the kids or herself which is the ground why female parent instruction to the kids was of import. The adult female s repute depended on that of the adult male which was of import for the adult female to protect. The adult females were besides involved in spiritual affairs and this can be presented in assorted ways. The adult females belonged to the faith of Ibo. They on a regular basis played the portion of the priestess. In the early yearss, a adult female by the name of Chika is seen as a priestess. She is the former priestess of the prophet during Unoka s clip. This adult female was really powerful and respected by the people ( Achebe 17 ) . Thus she portrays the function of adult females in spiritual affairs. Presently, Chielo is the priestess who is besides the hill s and caves prophet, She was the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the caves, ( Achebe 35 ) . In other words, adult females are seen taking a great portion in faith in the community, for case, as priestesses. The adult female is seen to hold a batch of spiritual power. This is apparent when Chielo, a spiritual adult female, orders and threatens Okonkwo to give up himself and his girl to Agbala who wished to see her. After she warns him, Okonkwo gives in to the thought. Womans in this instance are seen as powerful religious leaders who can warn and order their followings in order to make the right thing that is expected of them by the faith and in this instance in the society of Ibo. Ani was the goddess of the Earth. She was responsible for doing certain that the society observed the right behavior and ethical motives. Ani worked closely with the dead kin members who had their organic structures committed to the Earth ( Achebe 36 ) . The community besides believed that they had to honour the Earth goddess for approvals in order to hold their yam harvests grow. This was done by the members of the kin who had to purely detect the peace hebdomad before the crops ( Achebe 30 ) . The adult female is seen to hold such great religious power, award and regard which are good to the society and which must be respected in order for something good to go on like plenty crops. The kin members are greatly worried about holding such small crops when the peace of the Earth goddess, Ani, is broken by Okonkwo when he battered his married woman. Wife banging was non allowed on the peace hebdomad ( Achebe 30 ) . The adult females were besides involved in work outing jobs of a societal nature. The female parent acts as the comfort non merely to kids but besides to other work forces who have jobs. The work force consisted of a batch of adult females. They performed many strenuous undertakings that were merely separated for them and that work forces could non execute. Painting of Egwugwu s house was done by adult females ( 84 ) .They were besides supposed to entertain the kids at all times and do them turn in an artistic mode ( EmenyoI?nu and Uko 178 ) . The adult female is seen as a powerful object that is able to promote people when experiencing low and demotivated. When the work forces face some societal jobs like disregard, the adult female acts to promote them. Therefore, it is said that the female parent is a superior being who does non abandon her kids in all state of affairss in life, for case Okonkwo who is rejected after killing the boy of Ezeudu. It is believed that a male kid is his male parent s merely when life seems to be fluxing good but when in problem, it his female parent s. This is better depicted by the uncle of Okonkwo who so persuades him to travel back to his female parent as she will accept him at all state of affairss. Despite all this the female parent does non judge or know apart them. The adult female is considered to be the forgiving and understanding being who can neer reject or look down upon anyone and who will supply aid whenever she can. This is a really of import function. There are two matrimonies that are talked about that the author uses them to demo the significance of holding a adult female in the Igbo society. They are the shapers of a place, the prospecting female parents, and people who help work forces in certain undertakings. In any man-woman relationship, kids are the most of import and valuable gifts that they can be given which is non different in this community where the adult female is considered as an of import portion of the household bearing procedure ( EmenyoI?nu and Uko 176 ) . Although in an indirect mode, the importance of a adult female and in this instance, the first married woman in the Ibo society is portrayed in a jubilation held at the Obi of Nwakibie whereby the other married womans are non allowed to imbibe vino before her reaching ( Achebe 22 ) . The first married woman is therefore shown particular regard and acknowledgment in the Ibo community. The name Agbala in the Ibo community means a adult female or a rubric less adult male. In his early childhood, Okonkwo felt disrespected when called the name Agbala as the equals were badgering him and more so his male parent who was seen as a doormat. This truly tormented him and made him go obsessed with consideration of societal position above everything else. Okonkwo struggled so much neer to be associated with anything weak as anything weak was likened to a adult female and frailty versa. Nwoye who is the boy of Okonkwo from his first married woman is besides insulted by being viewed as woman-like merely because Okonkwo is reminded of his male parent when he sees him. In this context we see the adult female being looked down upon by the whole Ibo community as a weak being. The work forces who are non brave and violent are besides seen to be every bit weak as adult females intending that the society s perceptual experience of adult females is that of a individual who is non stron g and is weak ( Whittaker and Msiska 64 ) . The adult female is by and large looked down upon. We see Okonkwo being punished for interrupting the peace of the Earth goddess but non for buttering his married woman. To them married woman pantry is non a offense as harmonizing to the society, the adult female is merely at that place to give birth, to execute house jobs and cook for the hubby and besides to be beaten. This is merely how barbarous the adult male is ( Whittaker and Msiska 65 ) . The narrative was written in the times when the merely of import being in the society was seen as the adult male and non the adult female. The kids who turned out to be scandalous to the society were all demeaned and likened to a adult female. To add to this, the adult female would be blamed for hapless upbringing of the kids as that was entirely considered as her function ( Okpewho 34 ) . The narrative nevertheless shows some regard for few female figures that seem to be really important to the society, for case, the adult females religious leaders. The regard shown to them is non because they are adult females but because the society demands that they be respected for their of import functions in godly intercession. The adult females besides show strong leading, power and art in their work ( Okoye 45 ) . Although the adult female is non the chief character in this narrative, it is clear that she plays a large function and can non be ignored when speaking about the narrative. The functions discussed above show clearly that the adult female plays a polar function in Educational, Religious and Social issues.