WW2, disaster or glorius victory?

[Caleb the Cruel]

Regardless of whether it was intentional or not - the by-product was that the genocide was stopped. Which in retrospect made the war justified.

Just like the Persian Gulf WarII. A by-product of the war was stopping Saddam's genocide against other groups of Iraqis. Which in retrospect made the war justified, correct?

[flashleg8]

Regardless of whether it was intentional or not - the by-product was that the genocide was stopped. Which in retrospect made the war justified.

Just like the Persian Gulf WarII. A by-product of the war was stopping Saddam's genocide against other groups of Iraqis. Which in retrospect made the war justified, correct?

I'm no supporter of Saddam, and I agree with you completely that his treatment of the Kurdish people was intolerable. But the West ignored this for years when they could have pressurised Iraq and Turkey to cede some land to create a Kurdish home state - even if it was nominally under the control of one of these countries. This could have been achieved by negotiation with both countries (for example the lifting of the crippling sanctions the US put emplace that devastated ordinary Iraqis after the First Gulf War). The current America administration seems incapable of any diplomacy other that force.

[CrazyAnglican]

I voted victory. There was a focus on rebuilding after the War, by contrast look at the focus on punishment after WWI which made WWII inevitable. I can't speak for everyone in my country, but I've never met anyone who thinks of the Japanese or Germans as anything but friends on the World Stage. Which goes double for our ally England.

Basically those countries who focused on building commerce after the war are in good shape today; while those who focused on building militarily are not. With the possible exclusion of the United States. Even with our participation in the Cold War, we remained focused on building a strong economy. It boiled down to guns or butter.

[CrazyAnglican]

It is a sweet and glorious thing to die for one's country:

I prefer Gen. Patton's take on that "There is no honor in dying for your country. The honor is in making the other poor @$#$^*# die for his country"

[flashleg8]

I voted victory. There was a focus on rebuilding after the War, by contrast look at the focus on punishment after WWI which made WWII inevitable. I can't speak for everyone in my country, but I've never met anyone who thinks of the Japanese or Germans as anything but friends on the World Stage. Which goes double for our ally England.

Agreed. One thing we have to thankful to America for is her treatment of Japan post-war, turned a brutal repressive regime into an pacifist economic powerhouse which helped to propel Asian into the 20th century. I agree completely that the punishing conditions Germany was placed under after the Great War did nothing to stabilise the region (exactly the opposite). If Wilson had his way the peace deal would have been much fairer and would possibly have avoided WW2.
The post WW2 settlement in Europe has paved the way for the EU, which I firmly believe has had a great stabilising and unifying effect on the old squabbling European powers.

[Nobunaga]

... The translation I recall is, "It is sweet and seemly to die for one's country". But that's neither here nor there.

... Reminds me of the opening from Patton, where he tells his troops, "No dumb sunnovabitch ever won a war by dying for his country! You win a war by making some other dumb sunnovabitch die for his country!"

... Victory? Hell yeah it was a victory, for us anyway.

[Titanic]

Victory for Europe, USA, Japan.

Defeat for Eastern Europe, Middle East.

[Ruben Cassar]

This is a very difficult question to answer.

Personally I believe it was a disaster. I am European. Europe was the main theatre of war in WWII. Europe was basically destroyed. Millions of lives were lost and Europe was bled dry. I still believe that Europe hasn't fully recovered from WWII.

For the US it was a partial victory because it became a super power after the war and its international presence became dominant. It's economy boomed as well.

The USSR? Difficult to say. Russia lost 27 million people during WWII. That's more than all the other nations put together. True it emerged strengthened and a super power after the war, but isn't 27 million people too high a price? To this day Russia still suffers demographically from the effects of WWII and Communism.

Great Britain. It defended the whole of Europe single handedly for a couple of years. However this was done at the cost of the Empire. After WWII Great Britain emerged as only Britain. Sadly not so great anymore as an international player.

Germany. Disaster. Germans are still stereotyped as Nazis to this day. Their legacy is still alive today and Germans are still psychologically affected by World War II. Besides they lost 7 million people and national identity. They are still suffering from the post war East-West divide.

I could go on forever but WWII was much more of a disaster and there were no real winners apart from America partially.