Why did the USA win World war 2?

Question

As an Englishman i was amazed to find out recently from many American users, that the USA won WW2 single handedly.Not only did they win the war, but they also prevented the British from now speaking German.
It had always been my opinion that the USA had been sat on their bums whilst the rest of the world fought against the Nazis.
So thanks to my new found knowledge i am now enlightened.
I always that the "Hollywood"School of history always reads better.

Answer 1

It was an ALLIED victory.

Soviet Russia, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Free French all worked together to defeat Nazi Germany. The US had the least number of combat casualties of any nation, while the Soviet Union had the highest.

It's correct that without Roosevelt's Lend-Lease program we would have been starved into submission by 1942.

It's correct that we would NEVER have been able to invade Western Europe without the millions of US Servicemen and women who came to help following Pearl Harbour, not to mention all the equpment such as landing-craft (even if Winston Churchill designed some of them, we had no material to build them!).

It's true to say that D-Day was about 60% an American invasion, but it still makes me very sad to see Hollywood films depicting America as the sole winner and fighting nation...

It is correct that the US didn't declare war on Germany or Japan until after 7th December 1941 ... but remember, they sent Lend-Lease supplies that kept Great Britain and the Soviet Union in the war.

and for those you call us 'Little Islanders' - well, you show how ignorant you are ... if it wasn't for us 'little islanders', Manhattan would still be a Dutch trading post, and America wouldn't exist, just a load of seperate countries speaking French, Dutch, Spanish...

hope that helps

Philip

BTW - I loved Band Of Brothers!

Answer 2

It's embarassing that people not only do not know history, but actually fail to understand the nature of the allied effort, which went far beyond direct military involvement.

A lot of Americans (and others) died just trying to ship things across the Atlantic to support the British effort. In the early stages of the war, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Ireland, and numerous other countries were allied against Germany; the British having a huge naval fleet.

With a predominantly land-based war in Europe, such naval force was not terribly useful, unless it happened to be used in specific areas, or for the movement of troops and munitions.

The pace of the German war-machine was such that no other country could gear-up so quickly, and produce what was necessary to counter-attack, and in that, the British goverment had completely failed to understand or prepare for the Nazi threat.

Without American help, where do people think that the hardware would have come from?

When people gloat over the effectiveness of the RAF in the Batle of Britain, perhaps they should remember that Rolls-Royce engines were being made at the Packard factory in America, and shipped over, while the German U-boat commands picked them off and sank the ships.

Throughout the war, there was a constant exchange of information and science, between trusted allies and "the special relationship."

It might bring people to their senses if war were to be declared against England again, because they would then realise the value of that "special relationship" and the sacrifice that so many made.

I'm afraid that when you've seen brave old men cry over the memories of lost relatives,friends and comrades, as they stroll among the millions of war-graves in Europe, or witnessed the silent bitter dignity of an old Polish woman who lost her entire family in a concentratuon camp, you don't find these sort of juvenile questions amusing.

America is no more Hollywood than England is Pinewood Studios.

I think it is time the questioner grew up, and prove that he is half courageous as his grandparents were.

Answer 3

For once I going to write a serious answer to one of your questions. It surprises me that there are so many Brits riles over American involvement in WWII. The British responders to this question hold a grudge against Americans for waiting too long to enter the war and for taking all the credit for winning the war.
What is wrong with you people?
The relationship between the U.S. and the UK prior to WWII is not the same relationship that the two countries enjoy today. Today's close relationship was built on WWII when we fought shoulder to shoulder against the same enemy. If the UK came under attack today, we Americans would respond immediately to help defend your country. It wouldn't take an event like Pearl Harbor to unite the country in a common defense with our British friends. There is no other country on the planet with which we Americans feel that closely bonded.
As far as the cinema goes, every film I've ever watched about the war in Europe always portrayed the US and the UK winning together. The only film which put a negative slant on that relationship was Patton. But, that film also portrayed Patton as a mental case.

Answer 4

Ah Sid, trolling again I see. Well let's add a bit of spice. America [unofficially] entered the war in 1939 with the lend lease-act. the act [as I am sure your are aware] kept Britain supplied and able to resist until the formal entry of the US into the conflict.

As for the USA winning WWII, I would have to say while they had great influence on that war, that in actuality, no country beat Germany, they beat themselves by opening up a front on the Russian lines. If they had held off from doing that for a year, then there was a good chance that Britan would have fallen.


As always Sid I am GLAD to enlighten you.

Answer 5

Great Britain together with Allied countires won the Wold War 2 for America by preventing the Germans to advance with the Americans picking up the pieces after the Germans were not able to survive winter. Americans must not claim solely the success in World War 2 because the triumph was a collective effort together with the British, French and other Allied countries.

Answer 6

The USA didn't win World War II, of course, but participated and, along with the Brits, the Aussies and other nations (including the French resistance movement), won the war.

But you know that. Guess my sarcasm meter isn't tuned well this morning :-)

By the way: when I was going to school, I never learned that "the USA won WWII."

Answer 7

Oh please...America helped you rebuild after the bloody war..Both Britain and France were almost taken over by the gestapo. You lost almost all of your British colonies. Thank God! It was the allies that helped beat Hitler down, not just America, but who's coming to your aid now? Aren't you being taken over by Muslims? You have sold out to the EU and are no longer a sovereign nation, merely administrators for the EU in Brussels Belgium, as you put on a farce of being free! Pay attention!

Answer 8

The world begged for us to enter WW1 and then again in WW2. The UN Begged for us to enter Korea and Vietnam. We were Begged by Kuwait to step in For Gulf 1. We were attacked for Afgahnistan and the UN asked us to take care of Bosnia and Gulf 2. Some war mongers. You are 1 Hundred percent correct it is a big lie the USA never was in WW2. Not one man not one ship..........

Answer 9

Because we are the best country ever. We won the war, and your ignorant British mind can't possibly comprehend why. You think the British won it? Just like how they beat the U.S. in the American Revolution? Yeah, right. Your golden age ended centuries ago. Now the U.S. is as powerful as the world combined. FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 10

USA officially declared war against Japan December 8 1941, the day after Pearl Harbour. Hitler declared war against US, meaning US reciprocated. However months prior to that, Roosevelt, realising Hitler was dangerous, did all he could to get America fighting alongside Britain: he had the US Navy control the waters 400 miles out from the US coast, freeing the Royal Navy to concentrate on the U-boat menace nearer to our shores. Prior to Pearl Harbour, the US Navy aided us in finding the Bismarck by crewing the US-built Catalina reconnaissance aircraft for us. But try as he might, Roosevelt couldn't force Congress to declare war when the US public was against it; it would have been political suicide. It's also worth remembering the US Army had only about 130,000 men-at-arms in 1940/41: tiny by any nation's standards.
There was also a precedent for Roosevelt's behaviour: Britain refused to stand up to Hitler, even giving Germany the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, thus leaving the Czechs in an indefensible land. That happened in 1938, and Chamberlain announced it "guarantees peace in our time." Chamberlain too was merely bowing to British public pressure, who saw no point in fighing over a country "so far away". As for "Doodlebugs", or V1 flying bombs, falling on London "years before the Yanks joined in..." the first V1 landed AFTER D-Day, numb Nuts! check your history before knocking the USA.
Incidentally, I'm Welsh, and served in the Royal Navy for 23 years. It was the US President who gave us NATO-earmarked Sidewinder missiles in order to win the Falklands air war, and the Aussies, Canadians, New Zealanders and even South Africans, who offered everything from bases to intelligence. And our great EEC allies France and Germany? They supported the Argentinians with equipment. As Maggie said: "In my lifetime, all the PROBLEMS have come from Europe: all the SOLUTIONS have come from the English-speaking nations of the world." Remeber that next time some Frenchman says we're fighting an illegal war (they ILLEGALLY supplied Iraq with SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles) just one month before the Iraq invasion began -- as discovered by Polish Spec Ops in the country when they were taken to them. The SAMs were dated March of that year).
To the Americans who were riled by my fellow countrymen's asinine comments, I offer my apologies, and ask you to remember every country has meatheads. I for one loved my times visiting US Ships McInerny, Theodore Roosevelt and others, and appreciated the courtesy and professionalism of your servicemen, and the wonderful welcomes I enjoyed at Virginia Beach, New York and Boston. But now is not the time to think those idiots gobbing off earlier speak for all Brits. (I also got riled at an answer elsewhere on this site, when a woman insulted the British Forces' fighting prowess. See my answer to "Do British sailors usually give up without a fight?")
Let's remember there'll always be people who put the crass in democracy, who spout verbal diarrhoea -- one of the drawbacks, but one of the bearable ones, about democracy.
Here's to staying the course, and proving the meatheads wrong.