Greatest invasion in history: 10 points for best reasonable answer?

Question

During discussion of President Eisenhower for 9/26/2008 debate moderated by Jim Lehrer (PBS), candidate John McCain overviewed the historical tidbit of "writing two letters" - - did he overstate the place in WORLD HISTORY of the June 6, 1944 D-Day ? ? ? - - here's a Fact Check entry (Wash. Post) :
John McCain kicked the evening off with a wild exaggeration by describing the allied invasion of Normandy as "the greatest invasion" in history. Such historical comparisons are always dangerous. In scale, the D-Day landings were far exceeded by Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union, in June 1941, and the Soviet invasion of Germany at the end of World War II.
A total of 326,000 allied troops took part in the initial D-day Landings in June 1944. By comparison, Hitler's sent an army of 4.5 million men into the Soviet Union in June 1941 along a 1,800 mile front."

Answer 1

the Mongol invasion of China ? ? ?

Answer 2

Eddie you've forgotten about the Antonine invasion of Scotland. There's just nothing there worth conquering, and you're far from the only people the Romans didn't want to tangle with.



I'd agree that there are a lot of invasions that surpass the Normandy landings in scale, but as has been pointed out the logistics of an amphibious assault are much more difficult to pull off than a land battle. Perhaps the greatest invasion of all time, though we only have mythical accounts of it, was the Mycenaean attack on Troy. Almost every adult male was part of it.

Answer 3

It depends on your point of view. When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union he did so with more men but logistically it was less difficult in the sense that retreat was an option. With the Normandy invasion there were fewer men in the invasion force but retreat wasn't an option, the men had the Germans in front of them and the English Channel behind them. Perhaps another reason to think Operation Overlord was a greater invasion than Operation Barbarossa is that the Normandy invasion was successful.

Answer 4

D-Day



IT WAS THE GREATEST INVASION of all time. Early on the morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy and launched a massive assault on Nazi-occupied France. In sixteen harrowing hours, these heroic men succeeded in breaching the Third Reich's seemingly impregnable defenses, leading the way to the liberation of Europe.

As the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day approaches, those who took part in that epic invasion are rapidly dwindling in number. Now their gripping eyewitness accounts — many previously unpublished — are woven into an authoritative new look at that unforgettable “longest day" by distinguished military historian Dan van der Vat. D-DAY: The Greatest Invasion — A People's History captures and preserves for a new generation all the human drama and heroism that marked June 6, 1944. Richly illustrated with hundreds of historical photographs — many from private photo albums — as well as with personal artifacts, dramatic paintings by the many war artists on the scene and modern color photographs, this is the definitive history of one of the most important dates of the twentieth century.



You are right about the Russian invasion of Germany.

Recently I downloaded a book World War I & II (With Illustration) and it also justifies your point.

I will leave the link for you to the book.There are all the pictures and about 600 pages of very systematic and interesting writing.

Answer 5

What about the European hordes that descended upon North America beginning in the 1600s and continued through the 20th Century. A trickle became a flood and by 1950 well over 100 Million had completely raped a Continent, destroying the Native Civilizations, destroying natural resources such as the buffalo, harming the environment wrenching gold & other precious minerals from the ground along with coal & petroleum.

Along the way the very nature of war fare changed from crude clumsy blunderbusses & swords to rifles and revolvers and pistols. The lessons garnered from more than two centuries of warfare against the native population led to the tactics used during the 1870's and 1880's to final drive the Natives off of what little remained of their land. Oddly enough weapons & tactics honed in a conflict of white versus white partially over the issue of 'blacks' became the key to ultimate victory over the natives.



Peace/////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\

PS What was Comical was that McCain suggested that if he was to 'screw up' he would own up to it and resign. HA!.... McCain is never wrong, in his opinion, any mistakes made are due to the fact that he is 'a Maverick.'

Answer 6

Oddly enough Normandy was not even the greatest seaborne invasion of the war. That goes to the landings in Sicily...

Answer 7

That is a real tough one

by no means is war right but some invasions have to happen

id most likely say that the invasion on d-day on omaha beach

yes it is very sad that all those trooop lost there lives

but they died knowing they had stopped Hitler from causing anymore trouble to the world so i think that was the greatest invasion in my opinion

Answer 8

I would definitely say when Hannibal reached Italy. Sure, it was a long process that didn't have great results (in the very end), but his tactics have influenced men from Napoleon to current army generals. Plus, taking elephants and men from completely different nations across the Alps just to get there definitely gets bonus points from me.

Answer 9

"As the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day approaches, those who took part in that epic invasion are rapidly dwindling in number"



Mary P, I hate to tell you this but the 60th anniversary of the invasion was 4 years ago. Was that just a copy and paste from an old website?

Answer 10

He must have meant "greatest amphibious invasion of modern times." I don't think there's any doubt the Normandy invasion still holds that title, but if I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

Answer 11

6. A 8. B

Answer 12

Ha - don't forget the European invasion of the "New World" in the 1500's-1700's - wow now that was an invasion.

Answer 13

The Romans tried to invade Scotland from the south and we sent them packing, its the only country that they could not invade, hence Hadrian's wall .



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_during_the_Roman_Empire

Answer 14

The greatest invasion in history occurred after an extra-marital affair. My husband had left me and a boyfriend came over. He passed on his infestation of crabs and I spent the next 6 months using RID every week to get rid of the THEM & HIM. During the treatment phase I entered a contest the company had sponsored and won a two year supply of RID-X.

lol

Answer 15

Right up there with Alexander and Persia.

Answer 16

I also want to ask the same question