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And hundreds if not thousands of Germany women and girls paid the price.
exactly Nobody wants to talk about it, sure some even think they deserved it.
I cringe when people say "we should thank so and so for certain war" well, history should never be forgotten, but there is absolutely nothing to be thankful when it comes to war. It is pure hell and there is no winning party.
exactly Nobody wants to talk about it, sure some even think they deserved it.
I cringe when people say "we should thank so and so for certain war" well, history should never be forgotten, but there is absolutely nothing to be thankful when it comes to war. It is pure hell and there is no winning party.
Hitler meant to leave only Aryans - whatever that means - in Europe, & eventually in the World.
Imperial Japan meant to do the same in Asia for Japanese & possibly in the World.
Stalin meant to leave only politically reliable minions & cowed populations in Russia, Eastern Europe & likely the World.
UK & France & the other colonial powers meant to restore some fantasy of a pre-WWI World, when they were presumably @ their peak.
Nazi Germany had to be defeated, & Imperial Japan had to be defeated. Stalin bequeathed organized institutional suffering to the USSR, which eventually expired of its squandering of human potential in endless political squabbling & monstrous paranoia - & the cumulative damage of population & material losses from WWII. The only reason to prefer the USSR over Hitler was that Stalin was careful not to commit the Soviets to unwinnable direct wars. This gave the West time to recover from WWII & simply outperform the Communist systems economically & politically. A long haul, to be sure, but better than blowing up the World.
The former colonial powers have presumably learned to live without illusions of grandeur. In any event, they are alive & with us to this day - for which they may or may not be duly grateful. The gratitude of (former) kings & queens is notoriously unreliable, & of only small moment to a republic.
Certainly the West is better for having repudiated Hitter & the Nazis, & for having outperformed the USSR. A direct war against the USSR - NATO v. Warsaw Pact - would have been dangerous for Europe & possibly the Northern Hemisphere. It's not clear how badly we might have damaged the World - & better that it remain a theoretical concern.
Hitler meant to leave only Aryans - whatever that means - in Europe, & eventually in the World.
Imperial Japan meant to do the same in Asia for Japanese & possibly in the World.
Stalin meant to leave only politically reliable minions & cowed populations in Russia, Eastern Europe & likely the World.
UK & France & the other colonial powers meant to restore some fantasy of a pre-WWI World, when they were presumably @ their peak.
Nazi Germany had to be defeated, & Imperial Japan had to be defeated. Stalin bequeathed organized institutional suffering to the USSR, which eventually expired of its squandering of human potential in endless political squabbling & monstrous paranoia - & the cumulative damage of population & material losses from WWII. The only reason to prefer the USSR over Hitler was that Stalin was careful not to commit the Soviets to unwinnable direct wars. This gave the West time to recover from WWII & simply outperform the Communist systems economically & politically. A long haul, to be sure, but better than blowing up the World.
The former colonial powers have presumably learned to live without illusions of grandeur. In any event, they are alive & with us to this day - for which they may or may not be duly grateful. The gratitude of (former) kings & queens is notoriously unreliable, & of only small moment to a republic.
Certainly the West is better for having repudiated Hitter & the Nazis, & for having outperformed the USSR. A direct war against the USSR - NATO v. Warsaw Pact - would have been dangerous for Europe & possibly the Northern Hemisphere. It's not clear how badly we might have damaged the World - & better that it remain a theoretical concern.
Agreed and HOW! My grandfathers told me lots of WW 2 stories even tho I was born much later.
My grandpa told me a lot of stories about ww2 as well. The difference between us is that my family was viewed as enemy alien. My papa was a painter, a well known one, a business man, a successful one. He had no opinion of the nazi because he knew nothing about it.
I have a relative who was the result of war crime. Her mom was raped by liberating soldier. Yeah, somehow, I don't think her mama deserved that. Growing up as a half breed in a country after war, imagine that.
Bottom line, history is just that, history. How? well, I learned at an early age that being part German/Japanese, I was just like everybody else. That is how I deal with others. People don't care about my heritage, but I do because heritage matters. It matters more when it is time to put you in internment camp. Then, one drop rule will determine your faith.
But if we talk about war crime, well, Germany and Japan were not the only two countries that committed horrible war crimes. Many Germans and Japanese lost their lives during war as well. They certainly didn't deserve it. I have tremendous respect towards Russian soldiers, I have competed with Russian athletes when I was in college. But are they God that saved the world? well, not to me.
To me, we are all result of random sexual act between a male and a female, I don't believe some people in certain region deserve to be bombed and killed simply because they ended up with crazy leaders.
Last edited by lilyflower3191981; 05-12-2016 at 10:17 AM..
I think the issue is the fairy tale that Americans single-handedly were responsible for the defeat of Nazi Germany. It's so disrespectful to the millions of people from other countries who died fighting: World War II death toll of all nations
I don't believe they ever claimed they won the war single handed, but their involvement shortened the war by several years or more.
I think the issue is the fairy tale that Americans single-handedly were responsible for the defeat of Nazi Germany. It's so disrespectful to the millions of people from other countries who died fighting: World War II death toll of all nations
I guess the 1,076,245 casualties (U.S.) was disrespectful also.
Which is irrelevant, as Germany had already established itself as the aggressor by annexing Austria and invading Czechoslovakia at that point.
The Soviets did not "bring in the allied forces." The UK and France declared war on Germany in 1939 because they were allied with Poland. Germany did not invade the Soviet Union for another 2 years.
And there were not "half a million US lives" lost in the European theater, there were about 200,000. Compared to the Soviets who lost about 20 million.
Originally Posted by cdnirene I think the issue is the fairy tale that Americans single-handedly were responsible for the defeat of Nazi Germany. It's so disrespectful to the millions of people from other countries who died fighting: World War II death toll of all nations
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostrider275452
I guess the 1,076,245 casualties (U.S.) was disrespectful also.
That 1,076,245 number for US casualties is interesting. Where does it come from? cdnirene supplied a table of estimated deaths, military & civilian, in WWII. The US estimate - military deaths only - is 400,000. Who are the other 676,245? What are casualties - what's being counted there?
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