Recent comments in /f/history

ItsRednaxlar t1_j7n0du9 wrote

Reply to Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

Hi I’m doing a level history and would like wider reading for my course on Russia however my school only provides wider reading for China considering that we use it for coursework, I’m not prepared to pay for books considering I would only use a chapter of each book depending on a topic and would rather wide ranging opinions from historians to incorporate into my essay

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Kraagenskul t1_j7my5dj wrote

Reply to comment by ApatheticHedonist in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

I always thought the Germans messed that entire scenario up. They could have done nothing, let the Soviets invade Poland (which I believe they knew was going to happen) and been like "We will save you Poland!" and attacked the Soviet Union. Everyone in the West would have been like "Eh, have at it." And Germany would have had a one front war.

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kawhi_2020 t1_j7mxcis wrote

Reply to comment by the_better_twin in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

Roosevelt judged Churchill accurately at the time. Churchill was an imperialist and Roosevelt (while certainly always pushing American political and commercial interests) did support the independence of India and other colonial territories.

De Gaulle was another imperialist that Roosevelt didnt like too much, but agreed to work with (though certainly not at the level of Churchill, for practical reasons).

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Arkslippy t1_j7mx7j2 wrote

Reply to comment by SigerMakkerMeget in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

That's what they teach kids in school history in Britain, but the actual fact is that Germany had no way of crossing the channel, especially with the Royal navy fully in the game, the luftwaffe was worn from the campaign in France and Poland as well as mechanically stretched after the first few weeks of the Battle of Britain, tye narrative has been, the raf were struggling and were saved by the change to bombing cities, but they actually had more aircraft available then than they did at the start, no hitlers error was attacking them at all, instead of pausing for a while and trying to negotiate, but Britain had Germany blockaded too.

Lots of ifs and buts

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Kraagenskul t1_j7mwxrh wrote

Reply to comment by svarogteuse in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

>U.S. and U.K. would not have been able to finish defeating Germany.

It would have either taken much longer but Germany was going to lose its naval and air superiority with or without the Soviets help. It would have turned into a horrible grind but they would have had no effective counter to the US industrial juggernaut and British intelligence as well as facing attacks from the west, north, and south. Couple that with a continuous massive bombing attack to eliminate Germany's manufacturing and transportation infrastructure I don't see how the Allies couldn't have won.

And then US just drops a really big bomb on the Eagle's Nest one sunny August afternoon and Germany most likely surrenders.

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Cetun t1_j7mwcqi wrote

Reply to comment by michael_harari in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

I'm looking at WWI and the British seemed to unilaterally attempt to take on the Ottoman empire in the middle east and Gallipoli. At Passchendaele the British proffered 50 divisions to an offensive compared to the 6 French divisions. In WWI we see the British taking the initiative and taking the fight to the enemy well before the US entered the war.

We do not see that in WWII. We see mostly defensive holding actions and retreats until the US enters the war.

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hoopsmd t1_j7mvypa wrote

Reply to Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

Not a chance.

After Pearl Harbor, the US would not (and never needed to consider) negotiation with Japan.

Churchill made it pretty clear they would never surrender.

The only thing that could have made both sides want to negotiate a peace would have been deadlock at the front as in WW1. But WW2 was a war of mobility so that wasn’t going to happen.

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lorgskyegon t1_j7mvyfn wrote

Reply to comment by Cluefuljewel in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

It's the same reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan, having little in the way of natural resources on the Home Islands, needed to keep conquering territories in the South Pacific. They hoped to bomb the US and then count on anti-war Congress to make peace and keep the US out of Japan's business in the war.

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Stormfists t1_j7mvqiw wrote

Reply to comment by TRex19000 in Would the Allies have kept fighting if the axis powers stopped? by Techno-87

The US wouldn't have got involved without the persistence of Churchill's personal relationship with Roosevelt, even despite Pearl Harbour - the US would have just focused on Japan. And by that time Hitler would have directed every resource to the Russian offensive, and even probably paid Britain for their tanks, resources, and aircraft... bare in mind the total capitulation of the French essentially bolstered the German war machine significantly - the same would have happened with Britain. Also, Mussolini would have probably supported too given Italy wouldn't have had issues in the Mediterranean, and Franco could have been pursuaded to throw the Spanish navy behind the German offensive. People underestimate just how significant Britain holding out made such a difference to WW2. It really is a remarkable story, albeit I wish it was just a story... Unfortunately it actually happened.

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