ForumsWEPR[Necro] World War 2

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thewilddingo
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thewilddingo
49 posts
Nomad

The U.S.A has the most power in the world and is considered the superpower....but why ?

The only major thing that we did was bomb Japan

Webombed them

germany gave up because they were afraid right?? how come they couldn't just bomb us to continue the war??the germans had so much power....why did they basically put it to waste???

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Estel
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Estel
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Peasant

Well Germany basically gave up because we were on their shores and closing in. Germany was strong, but the US and allies had the tactics.

I'd say that the US did many major things other than the bombing. Ultimately winning the battle in Germany thus freeing all of those in concentration camps seems pretty major to me.

Don't get me wrong, Germany had power, but the Allied forces had more. Germany would have been stupid to bomb us. They were already in a tight situation, so the bombs had to be used on our soldiers on the fighting grounds. And I'm pretty sure Germany didn't have the knowledge of how to make and release a nuclear bomb.

Parsat
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Parsat
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Blacksmith

No. There are a number of factors why Germany failed to win despite their early victories. (not in order of importance, except for the first)

1. Hitler. In more ways than one, we can actually thank our lucky stars that Hitler was quite inept as a military leader. Had he not risen to power, it can't be doubted that the current German atmosphere would have produced one as cruel as Hitler, only smarter. Hitler's talent was in his oration. If you understand German, or even just watch his gestures as he makes a speech, you will see the true pathos, the true passion that allowed him to stir up the German people. He was the final say in military affairs, often ignoring the advice of his military advisers (particularly in the last years of the war, with his disastrous "no retreat at all costs" approach). He diverted way too many resources sustaining the Holocaust, draining what could have gone into his army. He had a very bad temper, often throwing tantrums, and generally mistrusting everyone. Hitler was in fact a rather poor leader. Some point to the economic prosperity he ushered in. That was because he was gearing up the German war effort.
2. Failure to squash Russia quickly. You see, Mussolini had decided that he was tired of being under Hitler and decided to capture Greece and North Africa by himself. That didn't go so well, and Hitler was forced to delay his planned invasion of Russia. This delay was enough for the winter to come, halting the war machine at Stalingrad.
3. The coming of America in the European war effort bolstered Allied morale and brought in more troops.
4. The loss of air and sea domination as the war went on. After the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe entered a steady decline in the quality of its pilots and its planes, as well as fuel shortage. The Kriegsmarine (the navy) saw much of its surface fleet (warships) scrapped in favor of U-boats after a botched attempt to attack an Allied convoy, the Battle of the Barents Sea. The coming of the Americans replaced British U-boat losses, and the Allies eventually caught on to the U-boat tactics, effectively ending its threat.
5. Encirclement. Germany encountered the same situation that it had confronted 25 years before: two fronts. This time, however, Russia was a much more formidable force, and they had not reckoned for the Atlantic Wall to be penetrated. After the failure of their counterattack in the Ardennes (the Battle of the Bulge), the Germans were subjected to an age-old, tried-and-true military tactic: encirclement.
6. Resistance work, to some extent. Although in the big picture, the numerous Resistances in France, Norway, and the Netherlands did not greatly affect the course of the war, they did throw enough sand in the German war machine's gears (both figuratively and literally) to give a slight edge over the Germans. They also did invaluable spy work as well as rescuing commandos.

I prob

Parsat
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Parsat
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Blacksmith

And I'm pretty sure Germany didn't have the knowledge of how to make and release a nuclear bomb.


The Germans did have a nuclear bomb project, started after the discovery of nuclear fission. It was marred by internal opposition to government control and theoretical physicists, as well as the draft, which created a "missing generation" of physicists.

For a while, though, the Allies had feared that the Germans might developed a nuke until they caught on to the real state of things. The German nuclear project isn't mentioned very often because little came out of it; probably the best known thing about it in the popular eye is the Norwegian Heavy Water Sabotage, in which a group of British-Norwegian commandoes managed to knock out a heavy water plant with the help of the Norwegian resistance and Allied bombing runs.
Parsat
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Parsat
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JesusPriest:

First of all, Hitler committed suicide with a Walther PPK, not the rather clumsy Luger.

Hitler was an AMAZING military leader. VERY few leaders could accomplish what he did under the conditions the Germans had. In the long, famous winter, almost any leader would fail several times more than him. He knew what he was doing. His problem was that he was insane.

He stumbled into the same trap that Napoleon did 100 years before him, only he came out of it a lot worse because he did not know how to retreat. As a military leader, he NEVER retreated, and that is one of the biggest tactical blunders you can make. He refused to reinforce troops during and after the winter, and when he did they were of inexperienced, half-trained troops. The credit would go to his troops for fighting so bravely and holding on as they did, not Hitler.

It would be very difficult to squash Soviet Russia, seeing as they can send out as many of they're people into the war as they want, and it is a MASSIVE country. They could send so many soldiers that the Germans would run out of ammo before they could possibly kill them all.

As I said, had not Germany been delayed by Mussolini, his blitzkrieg probably would have shattered through to Moscow and Stalingrad, because the Russians were TOTALLY unprepared for the assault. Their soldiers were barely trained, their penchant for linear attacks cut off their supply lines and got them massive casualties, their weapons were often obsolete, their officers were inexperienced, and their tanks and aircraft had been destroyed in the initial assault. It was the winter that gave the Russians time to regroup and use their skills in braving the cold. The arrival of the Americans removed the German advantage as well, because they were unprepared for a long war, having been used to quick blitzkriegs.
Parsat
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Parsat
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Blacksmith

He knew how to keep the fighters going, even though they wanted nothing more than to leave. He had some very good ideas on how to keep them alive in the cold when they were so low on supplys. He was doing a better job than anyone else could.

If you have seen the German movie Stalingrad, you would know that the German soldiers were there only because they would be shot if they deserted/retreated, and they would be shot if they stayed. They fought bravely for their own survival, as did the French before them. Moreover, Hitler did not have any advice on how to stave off the cold, other than the winter clothes he sent, most of which never came. There is a certain point where propaganda is uneffective at all levels, and this was one of those where even Hitler's skill at manipulation could not surpass.
thelistman
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thelistman
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germany gave up because they were afraid right?? how come they couldn't just bomb us to continue the war??the germans had so much power....why did they basically put it to waste???

Germany surrendered because the Soviet Union devastated them. The Soviets occupied Berlin. The war was over. The Germans had nothing else to give.

I have read many books on the subject. I don't remember the exact numbers but the Soviets were producing over 400 airplanes a day, while the Germans were losing 200 a day without the capacity to build anymore. The superior air power (and manpower) ended the Germans.

Also, the Americans had little to do with Germany losing. They simply sped up the victory. The Soviet Union was the reason why Germany lost. The Soviets lost over 27 million people to win that war, while the US lost about 150,000 in Europe.

Zootsuit_riot
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Zootsuit_riot
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The Soviets lost over 27 million people to win that war, while the US lost about 150,000 in Europe.


That's only 180 times more...No biggie guys, right?

Gotta hand it to the Japanese though; they had a great strategy from the start when it came to America.

"Okay, so, we're going to destroy a couple ships, and then...then we'll win."

I know that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was an attempt to destroy several fuel lines and many huge aircraft carriers, but still...The ships they were targeting left days before the actual attack.

Hitler was pretty brilliant about the whole "Involving the U.S.A." thing too. FDR didn't have the support in Congress to declare war on Japan, and the day after the Pearl Harbor bombings, Hitler declares war on the United States. So, good move Adolf.

I can't remember at what point the "Lend & Lease Act" was put into place, but it was one of the best political moves since the Emancipation Proclamation. The United States was able to lend weapons to the Allied Forces, but still supplied them to the Axis on a far smaller scale so it wouldn't look like we were ultimately taking sides.
Sucal
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Sucal
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Soviets will not have won with out the US cus if the US did not got into the war most of Germany armys will have been on the Russia front. plus with out the US comeing from the other side of the Germany and from below it from itly Germany will have give up Berlin and move to itly or japan. if we have lost all are aircraft carriers we will have lost the navel war agnanst japan. US were make makeing more aircraft thin the soviets were. here a link the Production in WW2 [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II]

thelistman
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thelistman
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@Sucal

The Soviet Union was well on its way to victory. It was just a matter of time. The US simply sped up the process of victory.

fergman
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fergman
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Germany mainly lost becuase one of the weapon ships heading towards the US was stopped, also, turning against the USSR while fighting the US was really doing them in. The Italians surrendering did not help them either. When Hitler died, it was pretty much over for the Nazis, as the non-Hitler supporting Germans helped to usher in a new Germany.

In the Pacific, if it were not for Pearl Harbor, the US would probably delayed going to war agianst the Axis even longer, perhaps altogether. Pearl Harbor would have been more devastating if the Japs knew how badly it hurt us. If there were things like CNN and other practically immidiete news back then, the Japanese would probably have invaded shortly after. However, since that is not the case, the Japanese made no advances after the attack, and the US regrouped to attack Europe and the Japanese controlled Pacific islands.

The Japanese had a big disadvantage because China and the commonwealth(Australia) were already against the Japs. When the US joined, the Japs had a war on 3 fronts, yet held strong. General Yamamoto was key in the Japanese military, and when his plane crashed, the Japanese suffered a major blow, causing most hope to be lost. Amidst planning for an invasion of the Japanese mainland, the US had finished an atomic bomb, and warned the Japanese to surrendor. When they refused, they were nuked, massive amounts of innocents killed. When again they refused to surrendor, and were nuked, they finnally gave up, thus ending the war.

Fyrefox
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Fyrefox
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As far as I know Hitler didn't die. He commited suicide when he heard of Ally troops being near. The Nukes on Hiroshima and Najasaki dealt a heavy blow to the Japs mainly because of the many killed, but I believe it was a smart move by the US despite the many innocents killed. In doing so, the US probably saved thousands of soliders lives. The German Army would have probably beat the US one on one, but because of the United States many allies the German just crumbled.

Zootsuit_riot
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Zootsuit_riot
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Nomad

As far as I know Hitler didn't die. He commited suicide


And suicide usually leads to death, no?
Fyrefox
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Fyrefox
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Blacksmith

Yes, but he made it seem like he was killed. Yeah either way though. Also two great battles were many soldiers lost their lives. D-Day, and Operation Market Garden.

thelistman
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thelistman
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Shepherd

That's right, There was no doubt that the Soviet Union was going to defeat the Germans and capture Berlin, but before the invasion of Berlin, there was a race between The Soviet Union and The USA to capture Berlin, but the Soviets prevailed and The Soviet Union got the honor of capturing the capital of Germany.

Not really. The US and UK agreed to let the Soviets capture Berlin. I wrote my senior thesis on the US planning for Germany after WWII, and it was QUITE eveident that the Western powers were going to let the Soviets capture Berlin.

Read "Foreign Relations of the United States" (FRUS). Find the volumes of 1941-1945. The US government releases all their documents on foreign relations after about 20 years, and puts them in several books for every year. Look for topics on Germany after WWII. You will find documents on how the US and UK didn't even bother to try and capture Berlin. They gave it to the Soviets. The US only invaded Europe to gain influence and stop Communist presence.

d_dude
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d_dude
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WARNING WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ MAY SURPRISE YOU...

nobody if Hitler killed himself it for a squad of russian soldiers was accused of beating him to death ( ya they're not supposed to do that right away) no one will ever know what happened

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