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Moody_GenX t1_iweouf2 wrote

Reply to comment by Silver_Channel_3112 in TIL that the civilian sailors of the U.S. Merchant Marine had a higher casualty rate during World War II than any branch of the armed forces. by p38-lightning

Technically not wrong, we ended that shit.

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KiaPe t1_iweyh8h wrote

The rest of the world must not be awake yet.

No one except an American who has never been outside the American narrative bubble thinks America won or ended the war. Not Australians, not Chinese, not anyone in mainland Europe, and certainly not any Russians. Did America help? Of course. Did they win the war? No.

America's ascent as an economic power came largely because America lost so few young men, and suffered no economic damage whatsoever during the war.

It was weird seeing Americans react to countries that finally had rebuilt their economies and populations from the destruction of WWII overtake America in productivity and innovation in the latter half of the twentieth century. Because Americans had this fantasy that the only country not devastated by WWII somehow had some special power or spirit instead of lucky geographical happenstance.

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Swagasaurus-Rex t1_iwezakp wrote

The war in the pacific was won by Americans.

Sure, China sacrificed much but they did not defeat the Japanese Navy.

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WorshipNickOfferman t1_iwf24nl wrote

Or we had a massive population and massive industrial capacity and essentially supplied the Allies with vast amounts of war material. Don’t kid yourself into thinking WWII goes different without American involvement.

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Moody_GenX t1_iwf7uq8 wrote

Brother, you Europeans would be speaking German if it weren't for American involvement. We all won it together but it ended favorable once the US got involved. Our ascent to as an economic power has nothing to do with this conversation. We all know what happened to our economy afterwards. Do we kinda suck at being an economic power, I'd say yes but no amount of hate for our country will change facts.

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WorshipNickOfferman t1_iwnq609 wrote

Things were really dark in Europe in 1941. The UK was holding out, and German really would have struggled to actually invade that island, but the only major combatant still standing other than the Commonwealth was the Soviets. But for Hitler being dumb enough to break the non-aggression pact and invade the Soviet Union, Hitler could have sat back and economically strangled the UK. That war goes really different if the US doesn’t join.

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