Date: 5/31/2022
Question: In what ways did revenge figure into the strategies of the countries fighting in World War II?
In World War II revenge was a key factor in the strategies of the countries involved. The devastating bombings of WW2 were heavily influenced by revenge. For example, if Germany bombed one of Great Britain’s cities, then Great Britain would go bomb one of Germany’s cities just because one of their cities got bombed. When the Allies bombed and destroyed the German city of Dresden, they did it out of revenge. Basically, all the major countries in WW2 bombed for this purpose.
The Reprisal Shootings
The German reprisal shootings were another atrocity motivated by revenge. When the Germans occupied another country, they would often be ambushed by local “rebels” and some of their soldiers would be killed. When this happened, they would then go round up 40 random innocent civilians per German solider killed and just line them up and shoot them. These were the German reprisal shootings.
The Soviets also did shootings of their own. After a county was beaten the Soviets would then round up and kill locals. This was just because they resisted Soviet takeover. The people they killed were beaten and weren’t fighting back. These shootings were motivated by revenge.
Revenge in the French “Purification”
Another thing that was motivated by revenge was the French “Purification”. There were many aspects to this program but there is one part in particular that I want to mention. French officials would go out and find woman who were involved with Germans. Then they would shave their heads, paint a swastika on their forehead, and parade them around the streets to humiliate them. There was no advantage in harming these poor women. Revenge plays a key role in WW2 and it is often times overlooked.
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