• masquenox@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      When the USA joined the war it was already clear the axis had lost.

      While I agree that that it was the Soviet and Chinese people that absorbed the greatest part of the Axis’ powers warmaking ability (which western historians are apt to ignore), it’s not true that the Axis had already lost the war by 1941. It’s accurate to say that the US joined the war at a moment when the Axis forces had hopelessly overstretched themselves.

      • zephyreks [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        By the winter of 1941, Barbarossa had failed. By the time the Western Front was opened in 1944, Army Group South had collapsed, Army Group North was failing, and Army Group Center was in the process of being encircled. Germany had lost, it was just a question of when. In the meantime, the entire North African campaign cost the Germans less resources than the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive.

        Friendly reminder that prior to Pearl Harbour, the US was sponsoring Japan’s war crimes in China. The US made up the bulk of Japan’s iron, copper, oil, steel, and wheat supply… Essentials for industrializing and waging war. Even with this massive economic power backing them, Japan had been fought to a standstill by 1940. By 1944, the Nationalists were more concerned with containing the Communists than they were with containing the Japanese.

        In the case of both Germany and Japan, powerhouses at the peak of their power were ground down to a stalemate against a rapidly industrializing nation.

    • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      Typical oversimplified tripe. Soviet bodies played a huge role, but US and British mechanized force projection, naval power and industrial capacity were at least as important.

      It’s also just bullshit that the Axis had already lost. That’s the worst kind of historical revisionism. It might be obvious to us looking back, but it wasn’t even remotely obvious to anyone alive then.

    • cooljacob204@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Lol no it wasn’t clear. And you’re forgetting about the entire Pacific.

      Russians trying to rewrite history, forgetting who supplied half their army while also joining a war against their enemy on another front (at great cost to western lives), overall saving lives as the Germans had to divert resources and ending the war in Europe sooner.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Neither of you are wrong, but Americans should understand that the USSR suffered over twenty million deaths vs ~117,000 Americans on the Western Front. They had their own western cities & infrastructure invaded/destroyed. The undertaking & sacrifices are hard to compare.

        Russians trying to rewrite history

        Okay my bad: you actually are wrong.

        • cooljacob204@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          It’s been a very common thing recently with Russian to claim the West basically did nothing in WW2.

          They are quite literally rewriting history in their classrooms.

          Now I won’t deny they took the brunt of the force and paid an absolutely huge price in lives.

          But op is trying to use WW2 as a way to say the US is bad. That we did nothing and only joined when it was basically over. It’s a super common Russian nationalist talking point right now.

          • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Common perception in France right after WW2 was that the Soviets made the single largest contribution against the Germans out of any country. That perspective has been progressively rewritten.

            • cooljacob204@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              And I’m not trying to argue that they didn’t. I do believe Russia paid the biggest price and contributed the most. Especially in regard to the lives given to defeat the Axis. And I don’t really want to down play that.

              But op is using WW2 to attack the US which is dumb. They also paid a large price in the war on both fronts, contributed a ton to allies through lend lease / material goods and were on the correct side of history in this instance.

              Not to mention post WW2 was the one time we got nation building done correctly.

              • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Why did Roosevelt wait so long until launching a Western Front? By the time the US had troops in mainland Europe, the Soviets were tearing the Germans apart and outmaneuvering them on the battlefield.

                The US’ contributions to the Japanese war machine prior to Pearl Harbour are a big factor when evaluating American influence on WW2. American resources single-handedly sustained the Japanese invasion of China.

      • masquenox@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Russians trying to rewrite history,

        TIL… western historians deliberately glorifying the US and Britain’s role in WW2 = “Russians trying to rewrite history.”

        • cooljacob204@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          That has nothing to do with the post I replied to and I even agree with western historians / hollywood greatly downplaying the eastern front.

      • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Operation Barbarossa had stalled by the time the US entered the war. German logistics were overextended, they were out of oil, and they were against a larger, rapidly industrializing power defending their homeland.

        By the time D-Day rolled around, Army Group North and Army Group South were taking loss after loss and the USSR had reclaimed a significant chunk of the land lost during Barbarossa. The Germans were in collapse. Roosevelt had promised a second front in 1942 but couldn’t deliver until 1944 (when it was clear that the Soviets had a clear shot at Berlin and had the momentum to keep going).

        The Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive put Army Group Center in an increasingly precarious position even as Russia continually gained ground in Byelorussia.

        • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          It’s been argued that Churchill & Roosevelt wanted Germany and the USSR to grind each other down, saving the them the trouble, because, being capitalists, they had no love for the Soviet State.

          • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            It’s telling that the Allies only opened the Western Front after the Soviets had thoroughly defeated the Germans multiple times and were at a real risk of reaching Berlin and then sweeping past it.

        • masquenox@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          The Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive put Army Group Center in an increasingly precarious position even as Russia continually gained ground in Byelorussia.

          And don’t forget that during this time the ubermensch were also losing control over the Balkans…