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Is WW2 generally perceived in america as having caused many deaths among american military aged males? I'm sure we can point to D-day and other punctual events

by zdkl 6y ago

Is WW2 generally perceived in america as having caused many deaths among american military aged males? I'm sure we can point to D-day and other punctual events as being outstandingly bloody but does this extend to the whole conflict? I'd be particularily interested in comparing the above ratio for Vietnam, or to German or Russian (combat & non-) WW2 deaths.

KMag 6y ago
Having grown up in the US in the 1980s and 1990s, the American Revolution and WWII both loom large in the mythology of American exceptionalism, so I think the sacrifices of the soldiers weigh psychologically disproportionately. I think most college-educated Americans are aware that the Soviets lost nearly endless waves of soldiers against the Nazis. I also think most Americans are largely indifferent to the numbers of German rank-and-file soldiers killed, as if sympathy for the enemy dead would somehow diminish admiration for the heroes who defeated the Nazis. On a side note, I have a Scottish friend who still swears up and down that Americans weren't involved in D-Day. I tried pointing him at Wikipedia entries for Utah and Omaha beaches, but I get the impression he believes it's just American propaganda that the US had much involvement in WWII before the Nazis were on the retreat.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > I also think most Americans are largely indifferent to the numbers of German rank-and-file soldiers killed No, we were gleeful at killing the enemy, whether German or Japanese. They declared war on us, disrupted our lives, and planned to kill us. Their lack of 4-engine bombers is the only reason New York wasn't bombed. Regarding US involvement, we financed and armed both Britain and Russia, as well as China. And occupied all of the Axis countries. Your Scottish friend is just participating in modern European historical revisionism due to current political correctness and collective shame, exhibited by allowing the self-loathing migrant invasion.

by zdkl 6y ago

KMag 6y ago

Having grown up in the US in the 1980s and 1990s, the American Revolution and WWII both loom large in the mythology of American exceptionalism, so I think the sacrifices of the soldiers weigh psychologically disproportionately. I think most college-educated Americans are aware that the Soviets lost nearly endless waves of soldiers against the Nazis. I also think most Americans are largely indifferent to the numbers of German rank-and-file soldiers killed, as if sympathy for the enemy dead would somehow diminish admiration for the heroes who defeated the Nazis. On a side note, I have a Scottish friend who still swears up and down that Americans weren't involved in D-Day. I tried pointing him at Wikipedia entries for Utah and Omaha beaches, but I get the impression he believes it's just American propaganda that the US had much involvement in WWII before the Nazis were on the retreat.

redis_mlc 6y ago
> I also think most Americans are largely indifferent to the numbers of German rank-and-file soldiers killed No, we were gleeful at killing the enemy, whether German or Japanese. They declared war on us, disrupted our lives, and planned to kill us. Their lack of 4-engine bombers is the only reason New York wasn't bombed. Regarding US involvement, we financed and armed both Britain and Russia, as well as China. And occupied all of the Axis countries. Your Scottish friend is just participating in modern European historical revisionism due to current political correctness and collective shame, exhibited by allowing the self-loathing migrant invasion.