Trump, Bannon and the Coming Crisis

[Eric the Green]

(02-11-2017, 04:55 PM)Mikebert Wrote:

(02-11-2017, 04:13 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: World War II was a much larger war for the USA than any of the others, and truly existential. If the USA had lost that war, it would have eventually been conquered by the Axis.

No.  The US was stronger than Germany.  Also Germany was losing by the time the US entered the war.

The war turned shortly after the USA entered, but not before. The momentum shifted at Midway (June 1942), Al Alemain (Oct 1942) and Stalingrad (winter 1942-43). Even then, victory was a long way away. The USA lost many more soldiers in WWII than in any other war except the Civil War. Far more than Vietnam or WWI or Korea.

Quote:  Britain was a lot more powerful then than now.  She was well on her way to retaking North Africa for the Allies when the US joined the war effort. By invading the USSR Germany was (now) engaged in a vast country with more manpower.  Stalin's industrialization policy in the 1930's had yielded results.  Stalingrad (Aug 1942 to Feb 1943 ) is considered by some as a turning point in the war in Europe and that was achieved before the US had accomplished anything on the continent.

But it had joined the war, and started fighting on key fronts.

Quote:Had the US remained neutral, Hitler would still have been defeated, it would have taken longer, but he would still lose. The forces arrayed against him were too great and he was no Napoleon.

That can't be proven. The Axis was on its way to victory in 1942. It was an existential threat, since a defeat was possible, even if less-likely than a victory; and the results of defeat would have been the end of civilization. It had to be fought relentlessly until total victory, because otherwise the Axis would have revived and continued to be a threat to us and all humanity.

The Depression and New Deal turned out to be only temporary turning points, since we are now back where we were in the 1920s. The Depression and World War Two were one event, since the one created the conditions for the other.