R.ARTICLE 0.1 — Well before Blitzkrieg, a form of battle the Germans implemented throughout WWII in which they would penetrate enemy forces in the blink of an eye and beat them into submission, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went back and forth with Hitler regarding various peace treaties. He was not the only one. It was only after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland where the British (and arguably France), lead by Chamberlain, put their foot down and cut off all ties with Hitler. However, Chamberlain made way for one of the best, bravest and most cunning leaders of modern time, Winston Churchill.
When Churchill came into office, he came with an extreme hatred of Hitler and Nazi Germany. This was regardless of their military success. Right after Blitzkrieg in which Hitler's forces took over Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France and, thus took control of mainland Europe (expect Russia at the time), Churchill and the British showed little to no fear regarding an impending threat on their way of life.
The will to fight raged on despite a forced capitulation of Paris. The British and Churchill and were not finished; they were not finished by a long shot. Churchill knowing how blood thirsty Hitler was continued to speak out against him. With an ego growing on what some described as "infallible," this seemingly was infuriating the Nazi leader. Churchill leveraged this ego and paved the way for Hitler to make a huge mistake.
During the Battle of Britain, Herman Goring and the Luftwaffe were almost nearing victory via bombing the R.A.F.'s airfields and factories. However, Hitler underestimated the loyalty of the British people to Churchill and their ability to withstand hardship. Right before annihilation of the British Royal Air Force, not knowing how close he was, Hitler turned his bombing focus towards the major British cities.
Hitler thought that these attempted submission bombings would create a revolt by the British people, thus creating political unrest in the country and allowing him to march in. Hitler made the move that Churchill, the Royal Air Force and, unknowing at that time, the British people wanted him to. He let his ego trip him up. He gravely underestimated the loyalty of the British people to Churchill and their ability to withstand hardship.
Besides Stalingrad and some other military blunders, this was a big one. The British people, almost nightly, would go down into bomb shelters, basements and anywhere else that proved to be a safe haven from the Luftwaffe. Then, every morning, the citizens would go back to work, clean up the broken glass and help each other through the hard times.
While bombing the English cities commenced instead of the airfields and factories associated with the Royal Air Force, Hitler gave the British a chance to restore and grow their once nearly depleted air force. Led by recent college graduates who were young and full of fight, the R.A.F.'s planes which were more advanced than the German's, the British began decimating Goring's Luftwaffe.
The German planes began to fall out of the sky at such a rapid rate, that Hitler pulled the entire operation to save his air force and pointed them towards Russia. Hitler felt that Churchill and the British, despite his defiance, would fall if Stalin did.
This was not entirely true, as soon after this point, the British were successfully holding off Rommel, the famous German "Desert Fox" who was given this name after sweeping success during his help of the Italian military forces in Africa. This was where Churchill and the British stood up again to Hitler and, once more, can out successful.
Knowing that Egypt's territory was crucial, the British began scrapping it out against Rommel and began to be enough of a pain that Rommel requested additional resources from Berlin. Hitler denied him. After this, Rommel would lose the territory to the British. Rommel never forgave Hitler for this loss. Towards, the end of the war, Rommel was openly involved with an anti-Hitler organization. In the mid 1940s, he was not the only German General to openly oppose the tyrant.
During the movement of the Luftwaffe to begin an attack on Russia (which Hitler would eventually lose at Stalingrad), the real bulls-eye came when the British began bombing German cities. This was not supposed to happen. According to Hitler, they German cities were militarily infallible. It was at this point when the German population, many of whom were still shell shocked by WWI, began to question Hitler. Churchill and the British peoples' perseverance paid off.
From the aforementioned battles and actions, the real business take-away we can learn from Churchill and the British Army / R.A.F. is that standing up to your competitors in both business and in life is a must. Giants can fall. In business, if you can open your competition up to making mistakes, you can leverage blunders in order to make your move.
A perfect example would be when Apple trounced Microsoft upon the software giant seemingly getting complacent in its place in the technology sector. Regardless of the situation, if you can look any of your competitor's in the eye and not back down, only positive things can come of it. After all, this man and the British people did save the world doing so.