Historical caesuras are usually only clearly recognizable as such in retrospect.

Well-meaning historians also admit this, while less well-meaning historians like to reproach contemporaries of the caesuras mentioned that they too should have noticed what was now so clear.

Peter Storm

Editor in politics, responsible for "political books".

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The Battle of Stalingrad, which ended 80 years ago with the surrender of the remnants of the German 6th Army, is a notable exception to this rule.

Many of those who witnessed the drama between November 1942 and February 1943 had the very definite impression that something decisive for the war was happening here.

This event marked the first military defeat of the Wehrmacht in World War II, which no amount of clever propaganda could explain away.

The annihilation of an entire army was a symbol that heralded the coming disaster for the Germans, but significantly boosted confidence on the Allied side.