Comparing and Contrasting Rommel and Patton essays

Comparing and Contrasting Rommel and Patton essays Many heroes rose to the top during the era of World War II, two such heroes waged an epic battle both directly and indirectly against each other during this time frame. These two soldiers were considered by many to be the best of the best for each side of the struggle; one the son of an ordinary Protestant man with no military history, the other the next in the line of a lineage of great war heroes. Though they came from different backgrounds, nationalities, families, and schooling, George S. Patton Jr. and Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel Jr. are in many ways both different and yet at the same time alike. The following pages will examine the life, views, and military history of German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel and Four-star general George S. Patton Jr. First, the pre-war lives and background of these two men will be dissected. Next, the World War I contributions and exploits of Rommel and Patton will be compared and contrasted. Finally, evidence will be given as to why the names of these two men will forever go down in the military history books for their contributions during the trying times of World War II. Born on November 15th, 1891, in the town of Heidenheim, Germany, Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel Jr. was born into a family of five children whose military history was a barren river bed. Rommels father was a Protestant school teacher, as was his father; his mother was the daughter of a high ranking senior government official. In fact a young Erwin had aspirations of attending to study engineering so he could one day design and create new innovations to help bring Germany into a new age. Little did he know he would one day be one of the key creators of the storied Nazi military machine of the Third Reich. But Erwin Sr. was insistent that his son attend cadet school to prepare for service in the German Army; so in 1920 Rommel put his dreams of becoming an engineer on hold and enlisted in the army, much to the satisfaction of h...