Of course others were huge contributors, the point is that comparatively a lot less credit has been given to the soviet union. Which is unfair given that they suffered the biggest casualties.
The US begrudgingly fought Germany because it wanted to even the scales. Its ideal outcome was for the USSR and Germany to mutually destroy each other so the capitalist West could swoop in and feast on the rubble.
The USSR ended up massively outperforming everyone’s expectations and survived the mass extermination of its civilian population by the Nazis. Which is why after the war the US quickly went back to backing the Nazis, largely preserving their institutions and placing them in positions of power around the globe.
Despite only getting half of what it wanted out of the war, the US was propelled into superpower status in part because it was the only large industrialized nation whose industry hadn’t been obliterated, in another part because of the highly profitable rebuild of Europe, and in the third part because it took Europe’s place as the primary exploiter of the Global South.
The USSR, despite lacking those advantages and despite its 20 million dead, was able to withstand the Cold war for decades, until internal rot and revisionism weakened it enough that the US could undemocratically and violently dismantle it.
Right, right. I sure do remember when they beat fascism all on their own with no help from anybody at all…
No one said they did, dummy.
I wonder how that poll would look today.
Even more wrong, I’d imagine. Almost all the adults who experienced the war firsthand are dead now.
Of course others were huge contributors, the point is that comparatively a lot less credit has been given to the soviet union. Which is unfair given that they suffered the biggest casualties.
Through their own incompetence. Not to mention letting their guard down after signing a treaty saying they wouldn’t attack the Nazis.
The US begrudgingly fought Germany because it wanted to even the scales. Its ideal outcome was for the USSR and Germany to mutually destroy each other so the capitalist West could swoop in and feast on the rubble.
The USSR ended up massively outperforming everyone’s expectations and survived the mass extermination of its civilian population by the Nazis. Which is why after the war the US quickly went back to backing the Nazis, largely preserving their institutions and placing them in positions of power around the globe.
Despite only getting half of what it wanted out of the war, the US was propelled into superpower status in part because it was the only large industrialized nation whose industry hadn’t been obliterated, in another part because of the highly profitable rebuild of Europe, and in the third part because it took Europe’s place as the primary exploiter of the Global South.
The USSR, despite lacking those advantages and despite its 20 million dead, was able to withstand the Cold war for decades, until internal rot and revisionism weakened it enough that the US could undemocratically and violently dismantle it.