Reply to Why is US education so poor on WW2 in Asia/the Pacific?

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "Why is US education so poor on WW2 in Asia/the Pacific? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Part of the answer to your question is that the main U.S. effort went to defeating the Germans. In terms of their success and brutality, the world had not seen anything like the German army since Genghis Khan. And Genghis Khan did not have death camps, as far as I know. The Japanese forces were just not a threat (to the U.S.) on the same level as the Germans.

That being said, I do agree that the Japanese have been let off the hook for many of the brutalities they committed during the war.  I doubt many Americans know that they enslaved and tortured American POWs and even performed Dr. Mengele-like experiments on them. [/quote]

Not true at all. Japanese barbarism was so bad at areas like Nanking it disgusted even the Nazis.  The Japanese used to cut off peoples arms and legs and use live torsos for bayonet practice. They were ungodly barbaric in Singapore, Shanghai, Manila, and especially in the Andamans/Dutch East Indies. The Japanese too had death camps with appalling conditions that were arguably even worse than what the Nazis ran. In fact, more Americans were held in Japanese death camps that the numbers held in Nazi death camps.

How in the world were the Japanese not a threat to the US?  They friggin' bombed pearl harbor. They actually hit mainland US with bombs dropped by balloons that even killed a few US citizens. There are historical records of FDR sweating bullets because the US govt anticipated a west coast invsion of the US and the govt believed that the Japanese might not be able to be stopped until they reached Chicago.  It's a complete myth the Germans were more barbaric or were more of a threat. [/quote]

I don't think you actually read what I said. But let me try again:

U.S. Forces killed in Europe–Atlantic Theatre 183,588
U.S. Forces killed in Asia–Pacific Theatre       108,504

So, about 63% of the deaths were in Europe, which speaks to the level of American power directed at each country. And in terms of the Japanese invading, neither Japan nor Germany had the resources to invade the U.S. Invading France across the English Channel was nearly impossible. Anyway who talks about invading the U.S. across the Pacific or Atlantic is not a serious person.

[/quote]

Casualties don't mean squat. We had massive amount of equipment from Aircraft carriers, to planes, to marines all directed at Asia. THE ENTIRE MANHATTAN PROJECT BUILT A BINB DROPPED ON JAPAN.  The number of US casualties in the Pacific theater was slightly lower than Europe only because of the US' vast technical superiority over the Japanese.  In terms of Iives lost, however, the Pacific theater and Asia was just as bad, if not worse than Europe if you actually count Japan's invasion as Manchuria.  Percentage wise, the US destroyed far more of Japanese forces than the German military. WW2 in Europe was primarily won with Russian blood. The US was far more instrumental in liberating the entire other half of the globe. 
[/quote]

The Manhattan Project was an answer to Germany's push for a similar weapon and a concern that the Germans would win the race. The US didn't believe that Japan could produce a similar weapon due to a lack of access to key components, like Uranium.

The US didn't use the atomic bomb in the European portion of the war because the fighting there ended without a perceived need to use the bomb. Keep in mind that the US had two functional atomic bombs, it wasn't like there was a large number of weapons to use. And while the weapon had not been used so we didn't know what the outcome would be, everyone involved in the program was aware that it would cause catastrophic damage.  The Trinity tests confirming the atomic bomb would work occurred on July 16th 1945.

The US does a poor job of teaching history but I don't know that any class that I took at the high school, undergrad, or graduate level would list the start of WWII based on Japanese aggression. Every class that I have taken discusses the policy of appeasement directed at Germany, and to a lesser degree Japan, as being one of the major causes of WWII. No one wanted another WWI and that impacted policy choices that allowed for unfettered German and Japanese expansion. Most of Europe uses the invasion of Poland as the start date because that is when Europe went to war. I don't think anyone would try and teach that WWII was started because the European powers were concerned much with what Japan was doing. [/quote]

The point was that the lost you're responding to was in response to another post stating that the reason the US spend so much more time on the European war is because we supposedly spent more effort and resources there. That assertion is absurd, given how many planes, tanks, bombers, aircraft carriers, weapons, and military personnel the US directed at Asia.  The amount of scientific innovation that was spent on developing weapons went primarily to Asia as well. What are the tops 3 most important innovations/weapons during WW2?  Probably the atomic bomb, radar, and the proximity fuze.

The atom bomb was dropped in Asia. Next to the atomic bomb, the proximity fuze was probably the most lethal weapon developed during WW2 (in MD btw!). The reason the US didn't suffer as many casualties in the Pacfic compared to Europe was because we had the proximity fuze in use in Asia and the Pacific. In fact, the weapon was so important and secret that the US Navy initially refused to allow the US military in Europe to use it.  The point being that the assertion that the US spent more effort in Europe compared to Asia is absolutely flimsy given now much manpower, materials, and our top scientific inventions were used in the Pacific theater. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics