FreddieN wrote:

> > If it weren't for Americans, China would be speaking
> >Japanese  today.  If it weren't for Americans, the
> > British Isles, along with all of Western Europe, would have
> > been speaking German for a few years before speaking Russian.

Adam Whyte-Settlar commented:

> LOL - So there are still a few fuckwits left that actually believe that?

Millions of them. The same ones who thought France should be so eternally
grateful that it should unquestioningly give the USA support in any and all
its military endeavours from now till Doomsday.

Perhaps they would be less self-righteous if they stopped to think that
France was invaded on May 12th, 1940, and the US did nothing to save them
from Nazi rule until their hand was forced by Japan in December, 1941.
Perhaps the following dates will also give them food for thought:

The Battle of Britain (Germany's biggest direct threat to Britain itself)
began on July 10th, 1940, reaching its climax in the heavy blitz of London
on September 15th, 1940, followed by the blitz of Coventry on November 14th,
1940. The USA began supplying war materials to Britain - not actually
fighting on Britain's side, mark you, just supplying arms! - on March 11th,
1941, months after the Battle of Britain had finished.

Germany invaded the Rhineland on March 7th, 1936, Austria on March 11th,
1938, Czechoslovakia on March 15th, 1939, Poland on September
1st, 1939, Finland on November 30th, 1939, Denmark and Norway on April 9th,
1940, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg on May 10th, 1940, France on May 12th,
1940, Yugoslavia and Greece on April 6th, 1941, and made an airborne attack
on Crete on May 20th, 1941.

The Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17th, 1939, Finland on November
30th, 1939, and began its occupation of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia on
June 15th, 1940.

Italy joined the war on June 10th, 1940, and invaded France on June 11th,
1940, British Somaliland on August 5th, 1940, and Egypt on September 13th,
1940.

Japan joined the Axis Alliance on September 27th, 1940. Hungary and Rumania
joined on November 20th and 22nd of November, 1940, respectively. Bulgaria
made a pact with Germany on February 7th, 1941. Yugoslavia joined on March
25th, 1941, shortly afterwards to be defeated by Britain.

Finally, on May 27th, 1941, the US saw fit to declare a state of emergency -
not to get involved, mark you! - but merely in recognition that things were
getting a little fraught.

On June 22nd, 1941, Germany (together with Rumania and Italy) turned on the
Soviet Union (henceforth their ally) and invaded it, losing thereby so many
human and economic resources that their ultimate defeat in World War II was
more or less guaranteed. The US was not to enter the war for another six
months.

Adam's comment about Germany potentially gaining control of the Atlantic is
partly true, but of course it was Japan's activities in the Pacific arena
that finally dragged the US into the war. As noted above, Japan had joined
the Axis over a year previously, so war with Japan was pretty much
synonymous with war with Germany.

Many Americans today appear to be totally unaware of all of this. Their
nationalist mythology regarding their country's history makes them as much
of a danger as the adherents to the America = Great Satan mythology. Which
is why it's always worth challenging such views and confronting those who
hold them with reality.

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com