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Nobody said anything about WWI, not a fan of Wilson, not going to defend him nor any of his choices, and while I’m not FDR’s biggest fan either, there were majo

by SllX 6y ago

Nobody said anything about WWI, not a fan of Wilson, not going to defend him nor any of his choices, and while I’m not FDR’s biggest fan either, there were major differences: 1. Our territory was actually attacked. All the other noise around what FDR did or didn’t want to do goes out the window; we were attacked by an equal or near equal contemporary power. 2. Up until Midway, it was a more or less even fight with the Japanese. Had we lost Midway, there’s a decent chance the Pacific war could have gone very differently. 3. Our technical superiority over our adversaries was not as obvious before the war as it is in hindsight looking back at the War. There probably wasn’t a scenario in which the Japanese, let alone the Germans landed on American beaches, but part of that was that we fought back. We didn’t take Pearl Harbor on the chin and just lie down and let the Japanese have the run of the Pacific. Everything after that is a big what if. What if Germany won the Battle of Britain and consolidated control over Europe with virtually no opposition on the Western Front? I’m not going to waste my time or yours entertaining that question. If we faced an existential threat after the Revolutionary War or 1812, WWII was that threat.

MeinBlutIstBlau 6y ago
Well firstly, we were attacked by the Japanese, not the Germans. And believe it or not, the predominant german population in the US at the time did not like war with Germany. Go figure. In regards to the Pacific, the Japenese navy couldn't even hold a candle to the US. Even after Pearl Harbor it basically equalized it. What was discovered though throughout the Pacific campaign was that air superiority defined who'd win. The Japanese instructed kamikazes as opposed to saving the aircraft. Since it's a lot harder to rebuild a new aircraft and ship it out than it is to just put a fresh out of flight school kid in a plane, they basically crippled themselves with a semi accurate human guided missile with a minor payload. Not to mention the Japanese still had a smaller navy. The US had a lot of WWI era ships, but they were still perfectly viable. The Japanese had no chance from the beginning. Thats specifically WHY they attacked Pearl Harbor. They anticipated US involvement so to try and get ahead of the game, they waited until they knew many of the US naval ships were in Pearl Harbor to attack. While it certainly dampened our navy, it didn't stop industry building one up, and definitely did not even compete against US at the time. In terms of chess, the Japanese basically took a rook or a bishop with a pawn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_history_of_World_War_II#Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_history_of_World_War_II#... The Battle of Britain though was far more of an important battle. The British and whomever the Air Marshall was at the time got absurdly lucky they discovered radar. That coupled with the Air Marshalls strategy alone was a testament to his intelligence of the battle he was facing. He knew it was one of attrition so he let the Germans waste time trying to draw out his fighters. Radar helped them determine when the real invasion was coming so they could go balls out to defend it. Had Britain been taken over, I'd be willing to bet the US would only have faced the Japanese. Germany would've likely be able to successfully push through the eastern front with more resources as well.

by SllX 6y ago

MeinBlutIstBlau 6y ago

Well firstly, we were attacked by the Japanese, not the Germans. And believe it or not, the predominant german population in the US at the time did not like war with Germany. Go figure. In regards to the Pacific, the Japenese navy couldn't even hold a candle to the US. Even after Pearl Harbor it basically equalized it. What was discovered though throughout the Pacific campaign was that air superiority defined who'd win. The Japanese instructed kamikazes as opposed to saving the aircraft. Since it's a lot harder to rebuild a new aircraft and ship it out than it is to just put a fresh out of flight school kid in a plane, they basically crippled themselves with a semi accurate human guided missile with a minor payload. Not to mention the Japanese still had a smaller navy. The US had a lot of WWI era ships, but they were still perfectly viable. The Japanese had no chance from the beginning. Thats specifically WHY they attacked Pearl Harbor. They anticipated US involvement so to try and get ahead of the game, they waited until they knew many of the US naval ships were in Pearl Harbor to attack. While it certainly dampened our navy, it didn't stop industry building one up, and definitely did not even compete against US at the time. In terms of chess, the Japanese basically took a rook or a bishop with a pawn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_history_of_World_War_II#Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_history_of_World_War_II#... The Battle of Britain though was far more of an important battle. The British and whomever the Air Marshall was at the time got absurdly lucky they discovered radar. That coupled with the Air Marshalls strategy alone was a testament to his intelligence of the battle he was facing. He knew it was one of attrition so he let the Germans waste time trying to draw out his fighters. Radar helped them determine when the real invasion was coming so they could go balls out to defend it. Had Britain been taken over, I'd be willing to bet the US would only have faced the Japanese. Germany would've likely be able to successfully push through the eastern front with more resources as well.