Poll: American?s disillusion with WW2

[Belgian_Waffles]

Being American, I do believe we were make it or break it for the war but every country on the allied side was essential to our victory.
Without the Russians Or British there would have been a large chance that the Germans would have come out victorious.

Of course, I do believe without us the Japanese would have spread out farther than they did.

 

[manaman]

the thing about ww2 i dont get is that the US only declared war on germany and japan in 1941 after they were actually attacked. ww2 started in 1939, did the americans help at all before 1941 or were they just twiddling their thumbs while britain and the rest of the world fought each other?

The population was not interested in a war in Europe at the time. It should hardly be surprising since questions about the war in the Pacific have been ignored, and brushed off with statements like "it was happening halfway across the world..." "...why would we care."

Skullkid came off a little heavy handed, but the US supplied the allied forces to a great degree, so much so that a sizable chunk of the resources they used where supplied by the US. Once attacked the population of the US was convinced to send troops rather then just supplies.

This aid and it's contribution to the war effort is largely ignored in these (there have been a ton of them in the past) US bashing threads. I am not sure if the OP intended this to be a US biased bash fest or not, but that is inevitably how these turn out.

 

[Danny Ocean]

What! The french surrended within two weeks of being invaded.

Not all of them. Ever heard of the 'Free French'? Charles DeGaulle?

 

[SyphonX]

It was neither the Yanks Brits or Canadians, it was the Russians that were the key to Allied victory in WW2.

The Russians had somewhere around 10.1 million military deaths as a result of their unrelenting defense on the eastern front. The Reich had only around 5 million deaths total.

If it wasn't for Russia's huge sacrifice, which caused the Germans to divert too much resources/attention to the eastern front, then the war's outcome could have easily changed. Europe would look much different today. The Germans would have lost, still, but Europe would have been much more devastated.

So I try to keep from rolling my eyes completely out of my sockets whenever a Brit or American claims their country was the defining factor in WW2.

 

[Cryo84R]

Funny how no one mentions the larger Pacific theater, where the US took on the Japanese Empire almost alone.
You thought Normandy what huge? Check out Okinawa.

 

[Mcface]

Now it?s a common fact that the American army came to aid the allied forces engaged across Europe.
However Americans believed this meant they single handily turned the tide of the war and ?won it?.

How much do you think Americans are bias about their engagement in World War 2?

Personally being English I feel their involvement was instrumental in ending the war a lot quicker but I think the true praise belongs to British and Canadians, but more so the French, those who faught the war from the bloody begining to the bloody end. Their country is a living memento to the fallen, all over and I mean all over France you can find graveyards and a memorials to all the men whom fought and died in that horrendous war.

I appologise for posting within the incorrect threat catagorey

Where did you pull that out of your ass?


and the FRENCH? REALLY? They were defeated in a week, and then surrendered. Some even joined the Nazis in Africa. Sure, the resistance played a small part.. but no nearly on the scale as the Americans.

And the Americans had pretty much the same number of dead as the English did. And we were in the war a lot less time, what does that say?



edit: also have to remember most of the west was still under German control until D-DAY.
edit 2: England was just holding on, hell the Germans were bombing London. There was a dramatic shift in west when America joined up weather you guys want to admit it or not. The Allies pushed from france all the way to Berlin, but not until the Americans joined the effort. And you seem to forget we were also the main fighting force in Italy and the Pacific, as well as having a number of troops to reinforce the Brits in Africa.

 

[FallenTraveler]

I give credit to america for one thing mainly, at least in association with WW2, we helped so that the rest of Europe would take less of a loss... we didn't walk in and pwn everyone, but you have to give us credit for something... y'know, and if we hadn't gotten into the war japan would've annihilated everyone after Germany wore down Europe...

PS we arent that great, observe in the first sentence how america is lower cased, that's because google chrome knows we're self absorbed too :/

 

[Merkavar]

the thing about ww2 i dont get is that the US only declared war on germany and japan in 1941 after they were actually attacked. ww2 started in 1939, did the americans help at all before 1941 or were they just twiddling their thumbs while britain and the rest of the world fought each other?

The population was not interested in a war in Europe at the time. It should hardly be surprising since questions about the war in the Pacific have been ignored, and brushed off with statements like "it was happening halfway across the world..." "...why would we care."

i dont get that. so the US population were like oh look the brits are at war oh well lets not worry about that cause there all the way over there. nothing to do with us. oh and japan is invading countries. no biggy there all the way on the other side. no where near us. doesnt matter allies of the us are being attacked its got nothing to do with us so lets ignore it till it goes away.

 

[Mcface]

I think the true praise lies with the Soviets....you don't have to like the leadership, but they are perhaps the only reason the war fought by the Western Allies could be won.

EDIT: They also suffered the greatest casualties by a long way. To my mind, they've earned the credit.

Not really; the only reason they Soviets got involved was because Hitler was arrogant to enough to believe he could take them on when he broke the pact he and Stalin made not to attack each other.

OT: There is not real issue of who did what with WW2; everyone contributed in some way or another, and that is what makes it such an emotional subject; it was the world rising up to reject the Nazi ideals, not a simple case of oil money.

Hitlers attack on Russia was a preemptive strike. Russia was invading and putting troops dangerously close to the German border, and was making demands to allow Soviet troops to pass through some neutral countries.

 

[LetalisK]

I don't think either America, Britain, France, or the Soviets were the major parties responsible for Allied victory in WW2. I think that credit is due to Hitler.

 

[Mcface]

the thing about ww2 i dont get is that the US only declared war on germany and japan in 1941 after they were actually attacked. ww2 started in 1939, did the americans help at all before 1941 or were they just twiddling their thumbs while britain and the rest of the world fought each other?

The population was not interested in a war in Europe at the time. It should hardly be surprising since questions about the war in the Pacific have been ignored, and brushed off with statements like "it was happening halfway across the world..." "...why would we care."

i dont get that. so the US population were like oh look the brits are at war oh well lets not worry about that cause there all the way over there. nothing to do with us. oh and japan is invading countries. no biggy there all the way on the other side. no where near us. doesnt matter allies of the us are being attacked its got nothing to do with us so lets ignore it till it goes away.

It wasn't really Americas place before we were attacked. We had been in WW1, and it was a very unpopular war, overwhelming majority of Americans wanted to stay out of European affairs. And remember this is before the US and the UK were good allies, the US had decent relations with most of Europe at the time.

Now a days of course America would be over there in a heart beat if something happened to England, but it was different back then.

 

[DannibalG36]

Now it?s a common fact that the American army came to aid the allied forces engaged across Europe.
However Americans believed this meant they single handily turned the tide of the war and ?won it?.

How much do you think Americans are bias about their engagement in World War 2?

Personally being English I feel their involvement was instrumental in ending the war a lot quicker but I think the true praise belongs to British and Canadians, but more so the French, those who faught the war from the bloody begining to the bloody end. Their country is a living memento to the fallen, all over and I mean all over France you can find graveyards and a memorials to all the men whom fought and died in that horrendous war.

I appologise for posting within the incorrect threat catagorey

Ermmm... If it hadn't been for US shipments of matériel to Britain, our English allies would have been hard-pressed indeed to hold up to Hitler's armies. And the French military was just pathetic when faced with the Blitzkrieg - they lasted TWO FLIPPING WEEKS. Britain was just holding on in Europe before Hitler (in a moment of extraordinary stupidity) declared war on the US. The Yanks subsequently swept across Western Europe all the way to Berlin (with the British tagging along, occasionally blowing up random tanks and deploying Canadians, Aussies, and other colonial lads whenever they needed a tea break).

To be fair, the Russians played the greatest part in the downfall of the Third Reich, as they managed to absorb a majority of Nazi troops and drove them back into Germany without mercy, losing more soldiers than any other nation involved in the war in the process.

 

[Christemo]

What! The french surrended within two weeks of being invaded.

they still fought guerilla warfare all throughout the war, they only signed the papers because otherwise Germany had to raze France.

 

[Christemo]

Now it?s a common fact that the American army came to aid the allied forces engaged across Europe.
However Americans believed this meant they single handily turned the tide of the war and ?won it?.

How much do you think Americans are bias about their engagement in World War 2?

Personally being English I feel their involvement was instrumental in ending the war a lot quicker but I think the true praise belongs to British and Canadians, but more so the French, those who faught the war from the bloody begining to the bloody end. Their country is a living memento to the fallen, all over and I mean all over France you can find graveyards and a memorials to all the men whom fought and died in that horrendous war.

I appologise for posting within the incorrect threat catagorey

Ermmm... If it hadn't been for US shipments of matériel to Britain, our English allies would have been hard-pressed indeed to hold up to Hitler's armies. And the French military was just pathetic when faced with the Blitzkrieg - they lasted TWO FLIPPING WEEKS. Britain was just holding on in Europe before Hitler (in a moment of extraordinary stupidity) declared war on the US. The Yanks subsequently swept across Western Europe all the way to Berlin (with the British tagging along, occasionally blowing up random tanks and deploying Canadians, Aussies, and other colonial lads whenever they needed a tea break).

To be fair, the Russians played the greatest part in the downfall of the Third Reich, as they managed to absorb a majority of Nazi troops and drove them back into Germany without mercy, losing more soldiers than any other nation involved in the war in the process.

i would have to agree, but france played a big part because they were fighting guerilla warfare on the Germans inside France. but true, The Soviet Union easily played the biggest part. they didnt need help from anyone, and still managed to beat back Germany at its full strength.

 

[Crystalite]

Naaa you guys would have still won ww2 without us. i don't think you would have liked the conditions tho. Two scenarios:

One, Hitler still alive and still a decent sized germany looking to recover, you tell me the future of that.

Two, Russia taking over much more of europe... I think the outcome of this one would be even more interesting.

Ok, this is kind of amusing...
You do know that the soviets invaded Berlin first, yes?
You do know that america did not militarily stop Russia, as it did not fight them?
Also, about Germany recovering:
Uhm, how do you think it looks like here right now? I think we recovered quite well, thank you ;-)

Every (well every sane) German knows what debt of gratitude we owe all the allied forces and even the soviets, their leader nonwithstanding.
However, the conceptions about that war, what really happened and how our country is like today are really strange sometimes, especially when coming from the USA, no offence.

 

[Nomanslander]

LoL

I love it when you guys bicker amongst yourself over America's position in the world, past, present, and future.

Just remember. With everything said and done, we're still the ones that carry the biggest stick.









It's just too bad we're no longer good at doing anything else.

XP

 

[Woodsey]

You seem to have a lot of illusions yourself of Britains importance in the war. The true praise belongs to the russians who killed over 70% of german forces, and where the ones to invade Berlin.

I wouldn't exactly give them praise for it, considering it was only after Hitler tried to invade Russia, and this is Stalin we're talking about - a man whose body count surpasses Hitler's.

I said the russians, not Stalin. And what nations other than France and Britain joined the allies before the germans declaired war on them?

In this case, the Russians are Stalin.

"Other Allies included Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippine Commonwealth, Poland, the Union of South Africa, and Yugoslavia."

Anyway, I'm sure there are some on there who weren't under threat of being invaded by Germany (and we declared war on Germany, they just decided to invade everyone).

 

[Ithera]

Sure, the Americans rode in and saved the day. A pity though that they needed the Japanese to finally convince them.

 

[OrdinaryGuy]

IMO the war wasn't won by anyone. It was lost by Hitler. He overextended himself on multiple fronts. Although he was confident that the western coast was impenetrable (which it almost was).

When it comes to the fighting, it's true that Europe suffered heavily throughout the whole war but it's wrong to underestimate the US's involvement. Not only did the US funnel supplies to Britain throughout most of the war, the US also fought Japan in the pacific nearly single-handedly. And they were essential to breaking through Hitler's defenses in Belgium and France.

As a general rule, most Americans are too patriotic when it comes to wars.