“When World War II started on September 1, 1939, the German army contained 3.74 million soldiers and 103 divisions.”

—  John Mearsheimer , book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics

Source: The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001), Chapter 8, Balancing versus Buck-Passing, p. 307

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When World War II started on September 1, 1939, the German army contained 3.74 million soldiers and 103 divisions." by John Mearsheimer?
John Mearsheimer photo
John Mearsheimer 32
American political scientist 1947

Related quotes

“It seemed to me singularly ill-contrived for the British government to be going to war with Hitler when Hitler might have been about to attack the Russians, and even more ill-contrived that, when Hitler did attack the Russians, he had already defeated the French army. What I'm saying is that the war shouldn't have been started in September 1939…from the point of view of Britain, the war was really not a good thing and I would regard it as, in effect, a defeat.”

Maurice Cowling (1926–2005) historian

Interviewed in Naim Attallah, Singular Encounters (Quartet Books, 1990), p. 144.

Marshall McLuhan photo

“World War I a railway war of centralization and encirclement. World War II a radio war of decentralization concluded by the Bomb. World War III a TV guerrilla war with no divisions between civil and military fronts.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Source: 1970s, Take Today : The Executive as Dropout (1972), p. 152

Vladimir Putin photo

“Sadly, it reminds me of World War II, when German fascist forces surrounded our cities, like Leningrad, and shelled population centres and their residents.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

On the Ukrainian army's siege of pro-Russian rebel strongholds in Donetsk and Luhansk, 29 August 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-lashes-out-at-ukraine-over-failure-of-talks-1409312151, The Wall Street Journal
On Ukraine

Ali Meshkini photo

“Following World War II, the Jews… The Zionists tried to present themselves as oppressed, and to have opportunities in the world. They invented a false claim. They said that Hitler, the Germans, and the Austrians burned six million Jews in crematoria - six million Jews. They tried very hard to convince the world that this issue, this lie, was true, and they succeeded.”

Ali Meshkini (1922–2007) Iranian ayatollah

Ayatollah Meshkini in Friday Sermon at Qom: The Holocaust Is a Lie https://www.kintera.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=3297183 December 2005.
2005

Pietro Badoglio photo

“When Mussolini decided on war he did not take my advice or that of any other Army chief. In August 1939 the Duce had not been so sure about the invincibility of the Germans, and he told us that he had sought to persuade Hitler not to act.”

Pietro Badoglio (1871–1956) Italian general during both World Wars and a Prime Minister of Italy

Quoted in "Twenty Angels Over Rome: The Story of Fascist Italy's Fall" - Page 70 - by Richard McMillan - 1945

Wilhelm II, German Emperor photo

“The soldier and the army, not Parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded the German Empire together. I put my trust in the army.”

Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) German Emperor and King of Prussia

Speech (18 April 1891), quoted in Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 158
1890s

Adolf Hitler photo

“Soldiers of the Reich! This day, you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome. More than anything else, your victory will show the whole world that resistance to the power of the German Army is hopeless.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

In a message to German soldiers at the start of the Battle of Kursk, 5 July 1943, as quoted in Kursk by Rupert Matthews
1940s

Erwin Rommel photo

“The German soldier has astonished the world; the Italian Bersagliere has astonished the German soldier.”

Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German field marshal of World War II

On the plaque dedicated to the Bersaglieri http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TargaRommel.jpg that fought at Mersa Matruh and Alamein.

John Mearsheimer photo

“The German air offensives against British cities in World Wars I and II not only failed to coerce the United Kingdom to surrender, but Germany also lost both wars.”

John Mearsheimer book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics

Source: The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001), Chapter 4, The Primacy of Land Power, p. 99

Adolf Galland photo

“The colossus of World War II seemed to be like a pyramid turned upside down, and for the moment the whole burden of the war rested on the few hundred German fighter pilots on the Channel coast.”

Adolf Galland (1912–1996) German World War II general and fighter pilot

Quoted in "The First and the Last," 1954.
The First and the Last (1954)

Related topics