American Involvement in WW2?

Hi, I'm having a debate with my American friend who claims that America were the prime reason why WW2 was won, and that they could have beat the Nazis alone.

I've tried telling him he is blatantly wrong, but seeing as I'm not in anyway a historian on WW2, I'd figured I'd ask on here.

So, can anyone share with me the level of America's involvement and how much they contributed to the success of the allies?

Most of the contributors here are knowledgable folk and there'll be a high level of agreement. I would like to make the point though that Hollywood and some of the TV networks have distorted popular perceptions as to who did how much of what.

I suppose all nations exaggerate their own military prowess (certainly the French do). Living as I do close to upstate New York, I sometimes wonder whether the events described on Watertown TV are the same as those in my history books.

Russia was rapidly advancing on German controlled territory, and in '43 the Italians went turncoat. based on several debates i have had in the past, i would say that the end of the Nazi empire would have come in early to mid 1946, if the Americans hadnt intervened. But that just me.

BTW, when you say American intervention, do you mean Italy, Africa, and Normandy or just Normandy? Aaron Katz

The USA could not possibly have defeated the Nazis alone. We wouldn't even have tried. There would have been some sort of coexistence, probably to the detriment of the US.

The US could certainly have beaten Nazi Germany by itself, but it would have taken far longer than it did in our timeline, especially if they had to defeat Japan as well. But to claim the US was in the main responsible for the defeat of the Axis is wrong. It was Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union while still at war with the Commonwealth that doomed Germany. Altho' American aid did greatly help the Soviets the bulk of this aid came after the Germans had failed to knock the Soviets out in 1941 and early 1942. Ironically Hitler accelerated the process by declaring war on the US after Pearl Harbor, altho' the two countries would all but certainly have gone to war with each other sooner or later.

tim gueguen 101867

There are so many what if's, but if GB had fallen and RN had gone with it there is no way US could have launhed an invasion over the atlantic ocean. If we take SU out of the equation (

Cheers and all,

America provided about half the material resources used against the European Axis. Her share of military personnel was far lower, however; the Soviet Union had by far the largest manpower.

The biggest problem with the United States 'defeating the Nazis alone' would have been bases for invasion. Launching an invasion of Europe from across the Atlantic would have been impossible. It would have been necessary to conquer some forward areas first, and it is hard to 'war-game' a scenario where the U.S. alone could have conquered such territory against a Nazi Germany not tied down by combat with the British Empire and Commonwealth and the Soviet Union.

The kicker in all this is, of course, the atomic bomb. but delivering it from across the Atlantic against a fully mobilized Luftwaffe not bogged down in combat against other nations would have been far more difficult that dropping it on a virtually defenceless Japan from nearby islands.

So all in all, I think your American friend is overstating his case. But he can be proud of the contribution his country did play in defeating the Axis, without needing to exaggerate.