Don't forget, the WW2 unity in America was in part an accident: leftists were on board because Germany had attacked the Soviet Union. They might have been subversive had Stalin and Hitler remained allies.
Don't forget, the WW2 unity in America was in part an accident: leftists were on board because Germany had attacked the Soviet Union. They might have been subversive had Stalin and Hitler remained allies.
The US wouldn't have gotten involved at all if the Japanese had not attacked Pearl Harbor; and we wouldn't have gone after Germany if Hitler had declared war on the US after the attack. It's still one of Hitler's more puzzling decisions - he had to have known that the US would finally climb out of its isolationist stance and get cracking.
Roosevelt was figuring out how to get America in the war. Hitler made it easy on Roosevelt. Hitler made many blunders but that was probably the most stupid.
Yep. Some also think that the British provoked an anti-German coup in Yugoslavia to force the Germans to invade and so delay the USSR invasion by 6 weeks
They were moles in the UK, as I am sure you know, but if they had anything to do with that Yugoslavia policy they did it without the blessings of Moscow; remember, Stalin refused to believe Richard Sorge or any other intelligence source who reported the invasion was imminent.
He should not have attacked Russia, period. Or if he was going to, wait until the UK is conquered and subjugated. He was a fool of fools to try to do both at once.
That's the interesting thing. The Russians, historically, aren't good at offensive campaigns. However, they are hell on defense. Combine motivated Russian boys with the winter, it is a nut tough to crack.
Hitler need the oil only available to him from the Soviet Union due to the British naval blockade. Secondarily, he needed the wheat from the Ukraine also due to the blockade. Otherwise, Germany would be slowly ground down.
Once the R.A.F. saved Britain and the British navy, Hitler really had no reasonable choice except to attack the Soviet Union..
I used to teach history. I gave the three keys to allied victory as the R.A.F., the U.S. Navy, and Detroit.
Hitler hated the communists too much to not want to attack them. And there was the racist in Hitler. He considered the Russians sub-human. Russia and the Ukraine offered Germany fields of wheat and living space.
Not true. You forgot about the USS Reuben James, which was sunk by a German U-Boat on October 31, 1941. We were already in an undeclared naval war and after that incident most Americans thought more was coming -all the WW2 vets I knew said so. Hitler just sped up the inevitable.
Mmm. But there were still isolationists, hoping against hope that we would not send troops. Just limited U.S. aid to the Allies short of actual intervention in the war. And then came Pearl Harbor.
Lukacs is usually right. Roosevelt would have figured out a way to get us in against Germany, which he wisely realized was a much greater foe than Japan.
It was pretty much inevitable that the US and Japan would go to war: the US positions in the Philippines were right in the way of Japanese expansion. And Japan's alliance with Germany obligated the Germans ti declare war on us when war with Japan came.
Don't forget, the WW2 unity in America was in part an accident: leftists were on board because Germany had attacked the Soviet Union. They might have been subversive had Stalin and Hitler remained allies.
The US wouldn't have gotten involved at all if the Japanese had not attacked Pearl Harbor; and we wouldn't have gone after Germany if Hitler had declared war on the US after the attack. It's still one of Hitler's more puzzling decisions - he had to have known that the US would finally climb out of its isolationist stance and get cracking.
Roosevelt was figuring out how to get America in the war. Hitler made it easy on Roosevelt. Hitler made many blunders but that was probably the most stupid.
And he should have waited until spring to attack Russia.
Bailing out el Duce in Greece got in the way of Hitler's plans. Hitler made mistake after mistake after 1940 fortunately.
Yep. Some also think that the British provoked an anti-German coup in Yugoslavia to force the Germans to invade and so delay the USSR invasion by 6 weeks
Where were Guy Burgess and Kim Philby at the time?
They were moles in the UK, as I am sure you know, but if they had anything to do with that Yugoslavia policy they did it without the blessings of Moscow; remember, Stalin refused to believe Richard Sorge or any other intelligence source who reported the invasion was imminent.
He should not have attacked Russia, period. Or if he was going to, wait until the UK is conquered and subjugated. He was a fool of fools to try to do both at once.
I absolutely agree. There's really only been one successful invasion of Russia, and that was from the East, the Mongols.
That's the interesting thing. The Russians, historically, aren't good at offensive campaigns. However, they are hell on defense. Combine motivated Russian boys with the winter, it is a nut tough to crack.
Hitler need the oil only available to him from the Soviet Union due to the British naval blockade. Secondarily, he needed the wheat from the Ukraine also due to the blockade. Otherwise, Germany would be slowly ground down.
Once the R.A.F. saved Britain and the British navy, Hitler really had no reasonable choice except to attack the Soviet Union..
I used to teach history. I gave the three keys to allied victory as the R.A.F., the U.S. Navy, and Detroit.
The USSR and Germany were allies, at least in the business of Poland. No reason Germany could no have obtained oil and wheat by plain old trade.
Not likely. Hitler did not consider Stalin a reliable and trusted trade partner. Stalin could turn off the hose anytime he wanted.
Interestingly, Soviet trains reportedly rolled across the border with raw materials until the hour the invasion started.
Hitler hated the communists too much to not want to attack them. And there was the racist in Hitler. He considered the Russians sub-human. Russia and the Ukraine offered Germany fields of wheat and living space.
What Hitler considered turned out not to be wise. That's the point. He effed up.
He came damned close to winning.
But he did not win. If he had been smart and not tried to fight a two-front war (could have waited for one or the other), he might have indeed won.
Not true. You forgot about the USS Reuben James, which was sunk by a German U-Boat on October 31, 1941. We were already in an undeclared naval war and after that incident most Americans thought more was coming -all the WW2 vets I knew said so. Hitler just sped up the inevitable.
Mmm. But there were still isolationists, hoping against hope that we would not send troops. Just limited U.S. aid to the Allies short of actual intervention in the war. And then came Pearl Harbor.
John Lukacs says he had no choice. Hitler, I mean.
Lukacs is usually right. Roosevelt would have figured out a way to get us in against Germany, which he wisely realized was a much greater foe than Japan.
It was pretty much inevitable that the US and Japan would go to war: the US positions in the Philippines were right in the way of Japanese expansion. And Japan's alliance with Germany obligated the Germans ti declare war on us when war with Japan came.
Hitler believed in his own ideology. The US was an inferior "mongrel' nation which could never defeat an Aryan reich.
Yep. When ideology takes the place of tactics, tactics will always win. (Unless the ideology becomes mass suicide, as in Masada.)
And before the Germans invasion , they were!