Most impressive military achievement in the 20th Century?

[perseus]

Whilst the Finnish victory in the 'Winter War' of 1940 was very impressive

I wasn't aware Finland did win. Neither side did, but as a whole, the peace terms were harsh for Finland. The USSR received the city of Vyborg, in addition to their prewar demands.

stop Russian (Soviet) domination of the European theatre

Actually it nearly defeated the USSR indirectly, since it must have given Hitler the confidence to launch Barbarossa. Unless you believe he would have done this anyway.

I'd say the Iraqi insurgents are doing a pretty bang-up job of expelling their occupiers.

I doubt if we would be very popular for saying this, but yes I expect this is a real David and Goliath struggle, and it seems increasingly probable that the former will eventually win, or that a complete political breakdown will result, if it hasn't done so already.

It seems that a Democratic state with a free media cannot afford to have too many body bags returning or bad publicity from collateral damage, this severely handicaps them. The Insurgents have no such limitations, and many are willing to literally commit suicide to further their cause.

 

[Doppleganger]

I wasn't aware Finland did win. Neither side did, but as a whole, the peace terms were harsh for Finland. The USSR received the city of Vyborg, in addition to their prewar demands.

They had to concede some territory but for all extents and purposes the Finnish won as the USSR did not swallow up their country into their empire.

Actually it nearly defeated the USSR indirectly, since it must have given Hitler the confidence to launch Barbarossa. Unless you believe he would have done this anyway.

IMO the outcome of the Winter War made very little difference to Hitler's plans for the USSR. Hitler was committed to move east no matter what. After June 1940 it was the only practical direction for him to move in. What it probably did though was strengthen Hitler's conviction that a quick, lightning war against Russia would prevail. It was only in 1942 that Hitler developed any grudging respect for the 'Bolsheviks'.

 

[Icarus]

The finnish in the Winter War, of course. Their small armed forces stopped almost the whole Red Army. Great. :biggun:

 

[Wheezcellbert]

I'd have to say the Yom Kippur war. Israel was attacked on all sides by decent military forces. Was outnumbered and outgunned in almost all aspects and they still managed to pull out a win. Of course the war may have been different if a Syrian tank commander would have moved his troops across a key bridge that was undefended. Luckily for Israel the commander thought it was heavily fortified and halted his armored units. If anyone can remember the name of the bridge or the Syrian command I would love to know.

 

[Damien435]

Pretty much any of the Israeli victories will do, they were surrounded and out numbered every single time yet they always came away victorious.

 

[Grimmy]

Well, there was that time that I single handedly stopped an enemy force from seizing my great city by holding the far bridgehead while my fellow countrymen dismantled the bridge behind me. And after slaughtering many of the invader enemy I managed to swim back to my comrades... but that was another life and not 20th century, so... If I cant pick from a number of WW2 Pacific island battles, I'll pick the Israelis.

 

[Easy-8]

IMO the outcome of the Winter War made very little difference to Hitler's plans for the USSR. Hitler was committed to move east no matter what. After June 1940 it was the only practical direction for him to move in. What it probably did though was strengthen Hitler's conviction that a quick, lightning war against Russia would prevail. It was only in 1942 that Hitler developed any grudging respect for the 'Bolsheviks'.

Indeed. Hitler believed slavic people's to be subhuman and these racist thoughts did not begin or end at the winter war. It was written long before WWII was even a dream in Mein Kempf.

 

[Norwegian Viking]

The allied victory in World War 2 for me.

 

[Cdt Matteo]

The Canadian Princess Patricia's Light Infantry Regiment in Korea.
Kapyong, Korea: 10 Men, some mortars, some Artillery help and OMFG luck/Divine internvention held off 3000 Chinese soldiers for 3 days while the UN forces withdrew to make a new defensive line. 4 Soldiers were killed in that squad.

 

[The Other Guy]

I'm going to go with... the finnish stand against the Soviets.

 

[Supostat]

Finnish stand against the Soviets. They did not won the war, but kept their independence, what was more important than lost territories.

 

[FULLMETALJACKET]

allied victory

 

[AikiRooster]

This was a tough one, lots of good choices but I feel the WWII victory was the biggest and most world changing. What the A-stans did to the Russians was also a biggy.

 

[A Can of Man]

I think a USA and USSR vs Germany and Japan was pretty darn lopsided. It's hardly the GREATEST achievement. Maybe the achievement with the most lasting consequences and possibly the one that affected the course of history the most but I think anyone would have put their money on the USA and the USSR taking that one.

 

[Bacara]

I think a USA and USSR vs Germany and Japan was pretty darn lopsided. It's hardly the GREATEST achievement. Maybe the achievement with the most lasting consequences and possibly the one that affected the course of history the most but I think anyone would have put their money on the USA and the USSR taking that one.

the russian beating the germans at Stalingrad and Kursk were great achievments, and the russian soliders of the 62nd army were probaly the bravest soliders of all time, also the german 6th army too.

 

[A Can of Man]

You'll find many cases of valor across many wars.
But you may be right about the Russians. If I was given a magazine clip and told to go rush the Germans... that would have sucked ass.
But World War II in terms of the allies was more of an industrial achievement.

 

[Easy-8]

If I could redue my vote from well over a year ago I would vote for the success the axis powers had in the early days of WWII.

 

[Papashah41]

As much as I see the use of Nuclear Energy as repugnant, The most impressive military achievement of the 20th century was the conceptualizing, building and using the Atomic bomb to save American lives and end the war with Japan. Perhaps the question should have been, What was the most horrible and impressive achievement of the 20th century?

 

[Papashah41]

The Canadian Princess Patricia's Light Infantry Regiment in Korea.
Kapyong, Korea: 10 Men, some mortars, some Artillery help and OMFG luck/Divine internvention held off 3000 Chinese soldiers for 3 days while the UN forces withdrew to make a new defensive line. 4 Soldiers were killed in that squad.

That was an amazing example of courage and duty in the face of overwhelming forces. Now, I may be wrong but I think the Canadians had more than ten men.

 

[LeEnfield]

I think one of the great victories was th British and Commonwealth Forces defeat of the Italians in North Africa. A force of 30.000 British and Commonwealth forces defeated an army of over 300.000 Italians