D-Day Anniversary

There's no doubt that Stalin wanted the D-Day invasion to help take the pressure off the Red Army, and to an extent I am speculating - but I tend to think that given the sheer resources of the USSR, and the capacity for war production - all away off in the east out of range of German bombers, once the Soviet war machine was up and running it was probably unstoppable.

I do think though that one of Roosevelt's major goals was that the post war world would not be dominated by communism.

 

Or to put it another way, once Europe had bombed itself to smithereens, the World could be dominated by America.

(Bearing in mind it was actually America that set the unsettled tone for Europe in the WW1 settlement).

Divide and conquer as you could say.

 

Divide and conquer....

Some people do that by infiltrating something beautiful and spreading their poison, too
(unfortuneately, I have seen this one too many times)

 

That's alright honey bunch we marry now and the divisions are only a matter of theory for the falsehead to review.:sunny:

 

but TRUTH can not be divided or conquered.....although, some may be lulled into thinking it so

 

You could view it that way, but myself I have a different take on it.
It seems that had the USA not entered WW I, the Germans would probably have won in 1918.
As it was, Germany's surrender was on the basis of Woodrow Wilson's 14 point plan, which was torpedoed by the British and French at Versailles. Both nations seem to have been determined to get their pound of flesh, and insisted on the extreme conditions imposed on the Germans.

In my view Britain was the culprit in WW I. Britain's declaration of war on Germany was one of the biggest mistakes of the 20th c. Had we not gone in, it might all have been over in a matter of a few months, something like a re-run of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, less than half a century earlier.
As it was it led Britain to squander the not inconsiderable wealth of empire, not to speak of the human cost. The death knell for British world dominance. We were replaced by the USA.

In WW II, I think Roosevelt would have liked to have come in earlier, but there was no way he could sell the idea to the American people until Pearl Harbour - after which Hitler relieved him of the responsibility by declaring war on America.
However, it seems highly probable that the Japs were provoked into their attack, and that the standard version of mainstream history is not actually that accurate.
It's certainly fair to say that FDR had an eye on America's emerging global hegemony.
I think it's also worth mentioning that FDR had too much trust in Stalin and what he would do after the defeat of Germany.

 

I think the mantras like "weapons of mass destruction" and "they hate our freedom" illustrate that perfectly.

Using missiles and jets to kill hundreds of thousands of Arab men, women and kids are as spreading poison as you can get.

 

Don't worry....I am all too aware of the insidiousness....

 

I'm struggling with this one ... really I am.

The US, Britain and the Netherlands imposed an oil embargo on Japan because Japan invaded China; and they always made it clear that the embargo would be lifted once Japan withdrew its forces from China.

I don't quite see how you figure the US and Great Britain conspired to force Japan into the war.

Japan chose to invade China ... the US and Britain didn't conspire to force them into doing so.

Japan chose to stay there after the US, Britain and the Netherlands imposed an oil embargo ... but there was no conspiracy to force them to stay in China. Quite the opposite, actually. There was open co-operation with a plan (the opposite of conspiracy) to persuade Japan to leave China alone (the opposite of forcing them into staying).

Japan had EVERY alternative to responding as they did. All they needed to do, if they wanted oil supplies restored, was withdraw their hostile forces from China.

Nobody FORCED them into a rampant war of expansion in the Pacific rim. Nobody FORCED them into attacking Korea ... China ... French indo-China ... the United States ... the Phillippines ... the Dutch East Indies ... Burma ... Malaysia ... Australia (they bombed Darwin) ... New Guinea ... the Solomon Islands ... and a number of other Pacific outposts too numerous to mention, but obviously including Guam. They did all of that of their own free will, because they were so dead set on imperial expansion that even when denied oil they would not withdraw from China.

This was, of course, a very different Japan from the Japan of today. And the United States, Great Britain and Netherlands we are talking about are very different from the United States, Great Britain and Netherlands of today. I do not seek to suggest any value-judgements applicable to the modern world. But I do think it's pushing the boundaries of historical accuracy just a wee bit to say that the United States and Great Britain conspired to give Japan no alternative but to act as it did.

 

We had treaty obligations to Belgium, Billy.

Once the Germans set foot in Belgium, we had no choice but to come to their aid ... unless you are advocating a Britain that repudiates treaty obligations whenever it finds them inconvenient.

I don't think I'd like to live in such a Britain ... would you??

 

Speaking of FDR he hopped up on cocaine before he addressed the nation and declared war against Japan and her axis partners Germany & Italy

Hotwater