i have a few questions about this, first of all how important was russia. Also why does america take the prize os saying they saved evryone, how ever you may or i encourege to speak about other things that are relivant to the thread.
Russia really wasn't important in the sense that I think you mean. But Hitler thought Russia was important for various reasons, not the least of which was that he thought they were lowly peasants or less. Thus, whatever anyone else thinks/thought about Russia, once Hitler felt it was important, it automatically became important. Without America entering the war, it's likely that Germany would have conquered all of Europe, Britian, as well as much of the Med Sea area. How can you or anyone see it otherwise? Europe had essentially fallen and was under control; the blockade of Britian would have worked easily if America hadn't continued to send in supplies; Africa was in Rommel's hands and no one could have stopped him (even though Montgomery was trying). But regardless of your hatred of America, she most definitely saved the Europeans and Britian from being conquered and ruled by the Nazis. To think otherwise is just ...ill-informed nationalism and false pride. Baron Max
Russia was extremely important to the war. They forced Hitler to fight on two fronts, and they contributed overwhelming manpower. They were assisted by the US and Britain. I don't think it's correct to say that US alone was responsible for winning the war. Without any of the major allies, it would not have worked.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly! It was a unified effort and I don't think any of us could have done it alone ...and I hope I didn't give that impression! Baron Max
The simple answer is both the US and Russia were of course absolutely critical to the outcome of the war. Without either, maps would look very different. I live in the middle of the US and anyone with a decent education understands this. Documentaries reflect this. Movies are another story but...well they are fiction.
My short answer to this short question really is: Without the U.S in WWII against the Nazis, Western Europe(Not Britian) would have a lot of people who can speak Russian today.
75% of wehrmacht resources were tied up on the eastern front for the duration. Germany was fighting the west with both legs and one arm tied behind its back. (not that they ever had a chance of winning, they didn't) As mentioned the resources provided by the US helped immensely in winning the war but it was the russians who did the lions share of the fighting. The idea in the US that the US won the war no doubt has something to do with attitudes spawned by the cold war that followed.
World War 2 Losses (estimated from primary sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Casualties_by_country United Kingdom: 383,600 military; 67,800 civilian; 451,400 total. United States: 407,300 military; 11,200 civilian; 418,500 total. Germany: 5,500,000 military; 1,840,000 civilian; 7,340,000 total Soviet Union: 10,700,000 military; 11,800,000 civilian; 22,500,000 total. Take a long look at those figures - they speak for themselves. Russian and German troops fought each other with a vengeance as each hated the ideology of the other, and all had orders to fight to the last man. The casualties on both sides were horrific. Without Russian involvement victory would have taken a lot longer with potentially much higher casualties for Britain and the US. We owe Russia a great and unpayable debt.
If you are interested in the subject. It was the first book I read which really gave a perspective to the scope of the war in the east and the soviets monumental effort.
"We" don't owe Russia shit. They got attacked and defended themselves. In 1939 they divy'd up Poland with Germany. Russia "owes" Siberian dominiant units a huge debt, without those winter offensives they would have been truely fucked."
Russia defeated germany when Germany decided to take a bite. where does america say this? america produced more war material than all of her allies combined. there are a number of threads on this subject.
hmmmm . . . wasn't the enigma code broken by the combination of the british at bletchly park and america by capturing a fully operational enigma machine?
The poles had most of it sorted out before WWII started. IIRC the Blectley Park and capture was an eight(?) cog machine, an updated version of the original. America captured one as well? In the movies maybe. It was the RN.
