Why Was the U.S. In WWII? (economy, depression, troops)

[TKramar]

So, how do you think they could have delivered it? Their navy and air force were both in shambles.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by TKramar

So, how do you think they could have delivered it? Their navy and air force were both in shambles.

The Imperial Navy, yeah, it was on the bottom of the Pacific becoming artificial reefs but the Air Force was largely intact and several thousand planes had been stockpiled for one last Kamikaze attack against the US Fleet and the beach heads.

The whole aim of the Allies for the end of the War in the European and Pacific Theaters was "Unconditional Surrender". That was a result of the widespread, and probably correct, belief that the way WW I had ended, with a ceasefire based on Wilson's Fourteen Points and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles which ignored those Points, had led directly to the political/psychological conditions which allowed Hitler to gain power. Blaming the German condition in 1930 on the "betrayal" of Germany at the Armistice and later.
The Japanese were loathe to accept an unconditional surrender due the their concern for the position of the Emperor. A wake up call was necessary and it was delevered.
As a note, the B-29 and atomic bombs were developed originally for use in Europe, not the Pacific.

[TKramar]

Their planes would have never reached California, or the West Coast of America.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by TKramar

So, how do you think they could have delivered it? Their navy and air force were both in shambles.

If we are invading they don't need to deliver it. They can plant it in the ground and detonate it like a nuclear IED

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by TKramar

Their planes would have never reached California, or the West Coast of America.

Didn't matter, the goal was to crush the martial spirit of the Japanese and only a total demonstration of overwhelming force would have done it. Remember how the war started, with a surprise attack during treaty negotiations.

As a point of interest, I, and many posters here, would not be posting had an invasion of Japan been implemented-our fathers or grandfathers would have died on the beaches of Honshu. My father was on a train to California to embark to Hawaii for training when the bombs were dropped. He had returned from Europe in early July.

[TKramar]

I generally ignore those who don't even have the capability of harming me.

I still have to point out that an invasion was not necessary--even if that was what had been planned.

[TKramar]

Originally Posted by Boompa

If we are invading they don't need to deliver it. They can plant it in the ground and detonate it like a nuclear IED

That's a good reason not to invade then, isn't it? There was not a need to do so. They were already defeated--invasion and occupation was unnecessary.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by TKramar

I generally ignore those who don't even have the capability of harming me.

I still have to point out that an invasion was not necessary--even if that was what had been planned.

That's ok in your personal life but not so wise when fighting, and winning, a war.

And you're correct, an invasion wasn't necessary after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[TKramar]

Nor before. What happens on a micro scale is comparable to what happens on a macro scale.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by TKramar

That's a good reason not to invade then, isn't it? There was not a need to do so. They were already defeated--invasion and occupation was unnecessary.

No you live in a dream world, The Russians were coming, they wanted warm water ports in the Pacific. If we did n't invade they would
In a matter of weeks they occupied all of northern China and turned all of the Japanese weapons ove to Mao Tse Tungs Communists