Who Won The War?

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by Junkie88

Kelly overestimates the importance of the battle of britain, the axis never went to full-power.

How can I overestimate the importance, or, for that matter, the relevance of the Battle Of Britain? If WE hadn't fought back and won, Hitler would've taken England and the World would probably be a very different place to be in today!!

[Junkie88]

Ok let my rephrase it without hurting any of your (famous) patriotic feelings.

It's thanks to Russia and the USA that Europe is free of nationalsocialism. But if they didnt help, England would've been the only country in europa with a democracy. The battle of britain is important for ppl in britain. But it wasnt an important battle for the rest of europe. Hitler didnt lose many important and vital troops in that battle. He did against the russians, that's why the Battle of Stalingrad is the turningpoint, not the britain-battle.

Do you think that britains military position now is stronger than in WWII? if so, who's got a better army?

[Junkie88]

Originally Posted by Kelly

How can I overestimate the importance, or, for that matter, the relevance of the Battle Of Britain? If WE hadn't fought back and won, Hitler would've taken England and the World would probably be a very different place to be in today!!

I was wrong, the battle of brittain showed the continent that the Axis werent invincible. The English victory ignited the resistance and was one of the first turning points in the war.

[krrish]

My own opinion is none of them were won or lost.Second world war was a lost to all human beings.Every nations wanted to take the credit of defeating the Hitler's Army.But I never support any of these nations,as they were responsible for the war.

[Spitfire XIV-E]

You could put it like this -

The Allies won the war but it meant different things to different nations.

The US ended WW2 as the richest nation on the planet. More Steel than it could use. More clothes than it could wear. More food than it could eat. The only country with the Atom Bomb. A Super Power.

The British won a moral victory but little else. The UK was virtually bankrupt at the end of WW2. Unrest in a lot of the colonies, particularly in the Far East (India, Malaya, Burma) and Africa saw the end of the British Empire with many nations gaining independance post war as Britain was simply too weak to hold them anyway.

The Russians were much in the same boat and had to re-build much of their infrastructure after it was destroyed by the retreating Germans. The Russians did however gain a foot hold in Eastern Europe which lasted until the late 80's during the Cold War. They also became a Super Power after acquiring through their spies, knowledge of the Atomic Bomb program in America to produce their own weapon in 1949.

The Germans despite actually losing the war found themselves winners. The Marshall Plan helped to re-build Europe post war and a modern democratic nation emerged from the ashes of the 3rd Reich.

The Japanese also became winners. The US was determined that Japan would be under it's sphere post war. Only US Troops were allowed in as an occupying force. Under General Douglas McArthur, Japan would emerge slowly as a highly industrialised, modern democracy with an extremely strategic and valuable position in World affairs in the Pacific Region.

[liowkc]

I think the major beneficiary of WWII is America. Without the victory in WWII, America would not be a superpower. Without Hitler chasing away all the Jewish scientists, there will be no scientific community as we know today.

In other words, the payoff for American's relatively late entry into war and small sacrifice is spectacular.