Subject:
|
Re: Cheap American shot (Was: NEW Mindstorms set shown (with picture!))
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.off-topic.debate
|
Date:
|
Wed, 2 Feb 2000 23:32:57 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
457 times
|
| |
|
|
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Jonathan Little writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Mark Geddes writes:
> > "we saved your butts"
> >
> > That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and I would bet most of • the
> > Americans who fought in WWII would agree. To say "We fought & died along side
> > of you, in the fight for freedom" is more accurate. We're not talking about a
> > football game.
> >
> > If you studied the history books you'd have realized that the war was won by • a
> > global effort, not a knight in shining armour.
>
>
> >
> > It seems to me there was a huge Canadian contribution & an insignificant US
> > contribution up until 1941. The war was almost played out without any US
> > involvement. Remember Canada, Australia, Southern Africa and many other areas
> > were great staging grounds for the Allies to rebuild. While the US may be
> > powerful, the rest of the world are hardly pushovers.
> >
> > To say "you helped our butts" would be more accurate ;-)
>
> To say that the United States saved anybody's butt in WWII is ridiculous. I
> am American and have a tremendous amount of pride for the role that the US
> played in WWII but I wouldn't begin to think that the US saved anyone's
> butt. I personally feel that the US involvement in the war served as a
> turning point. It helped change the tide and give the allied forces a fresh
> group of soldiers willing to fight. You can't look at the details of that
> war and belittle the importance of any country. No country was more
> important than another. They all fought for the good of freedom. Granted, I
> don't think the war would have been won by the allied forces, had the US not
> joined in towards the end.
The war began in 1939. The U.S. joined at the end of 1941 (not exactly by
choice, admittedly). The war continued on into 1945, so I have to disagree
that the U.S. joined in towards the end. It's possible that Russia and England
could have held out and possibly turned things around as long as we gave them
material support, but I suspect it would be more along the lines of avoiding
total defeat rather than gaining total victory. The China-Japan conflict is
another to speculate on. Could the U.S. have defeated Japan in a one-on-one
conflict? I believe so, but it sure would have been a lot harder.
I think your comments are more accurate when discussing WWI, where the U.S.
entered late, and it was more a matter of fresh troops giving the allies an
edge more than us saving anyone's rear ends.
However, since we were all in it together, I think we saved each others' butts.
It was an allied victory, so I agree with your main point.
On a similar note, I don't feel that the US
> would've done a heck of a lot of good had France and Britain not been
> involved from the beginning. Nobody can downplay any countries' part in that
> war.
Idunno. France did about as badly as possible. Had they strongly supported
the Poles, things might have turned out considerably different. But yes, their
blood ran just as red.
Sitting here talking about how wonderful one country or another is
> because of something that happened almost 60 years ago is as bad as saying
> that Germany is evil because of the maniac that was in power at the same time.
> I don't mean to sound like some 60's hippie here, but when are people
> going to stop concerning themselves with such ridiculous stereotypes about
> other countries and the people that inhabit them?
>
> -Jonathan
Agreed, but I'll note that a lot of Americans died in abysmally stupid european
wars. From the standpoint that we got dragged kicking and screaming into their
mess, I can certainly understand a viewpoint that we saved their butts. Once
we were in it, though, everyone contributed as best they could.
Bruce
|
|
Message is in Reply To:
12 Messages in This Thread:
 
  
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
