Why The Battle For Khalkin Gol Was The Most Important Battle For World War Two
Submitted by: TigerEye
Before Hitler invaded Poland, before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, there was an important war taking place in Asia. Russia and Japan were having a territorial dispute. Read on to find out why this was more than likely the most important event of World War Two.
Russia and Japan were having a spat long before World War Two about a disputed part of Manchuria. In 1939, this came to a head when Russian slaves mistakenly entered into the disputed section of land. These were Mongol slaves and they encountered a strong reaction from the Japanese as the Japanese pushed them back. This led to an escalation of a bigger magnitude. The Russian/Mongols pushed back against the Japanese and things started to get even worse.
On May 22 of 1939, both the Russians and the Japanese had been sending large amounts of troops to the disputed region and a small company of Japanese recon ( reconnaissance ) soldiers were trapped and killed by the Russians. This led to an escalation of war and more troops. It is estimated that the Russian/Mongol army was numbered at about sixty thousand. The Japanese side had seventy five thousand men. All means of war were put to use. Aircraft, large artillery, and tanks were used in this war.
The war for Khalkin Gol was on and it lasted well into the Summer of 1939. Two times the Japanese tried to launch an effective battle against the Russians and failed. The Russian Commander was named Georgy Zhukov. This would be the same Commander that would later repulse the Germans. Commander Zhukov circled the Japanese in this particular war at Khalkin Gol and got the advantage. After the Japanese were surrounded or beaten they refused to surrender. This led to their annhiliation soon thereafter. The Russians finished them off with their tanks, artillery and aircraft. The battle of Khalkin Gol was finished on August 31st. The next day the Germans were beginning World War Two against Poland.
If you stop to consider the events that led to the Japanese expansion southward instead of northward you can see that this battle for this plot of land in Manchuria was decisive. It is more than likely that the Japanese would have continued their expansion northward if the Russians had not defeated them. Instead they tried to take the Philippines and then to bomb Pearl Harbor.
This brought the United States into World War Two and began what has since been mostly a continuous cycle of war for that country. What would have happened if the Japanese had decided to fight the Russians and not the Americans ? The course of history would have been very different. The United States would not have had to fight the war in the Pacific. The United States had a policy of non-intervention prior to the World Wars. They have certainly changed and have been on the offensive ever since. But the Americans are not the only focus here. The Russians would have had to fight both the Germans and the Japanese on opposite sides of their very large country. This would mean that Germany could have been victorious over the Russians later on. With the expansion of Germany into Europe and into Russian territory, the battle of Khalkin Gol can be seen as pivotal to the outcome of World War Two. What do you think would have happened if the Japanese had had victory at Khalkin Gol ? It is very possible that Adolph Hitler would have won World War Two. Now you know the importance of the battle of Khalkin Gol.
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