Anonymous wrote:It drives me bonkers when you ask the simple question of "When did WW2 start?" and you get the typical answer of 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. That's completely wrong, because the Japanese attacked China even 2 years before that in 1937 and committed many atrocities even long before Hitler even touched Poland. In fact, you could even argue they WW2 started even earlier in 1931 when the Japanese invaded Manchuria, or as far back as even 1910 when they invaded Korea and were trying to wipe out their entire culture.

The US entered WW2 in Europe late, and played second fiddle to the Russians at defeating Germany. All you're ever taught is how important DDay was, yet in the grand scheme of the war, the Battle of Stalingrad was much more important for breaking Germany's back. Meanwhile in Asia, the US was arguably at war with Japan long before we were at war with Germany (arguably even before Pearl Harbor) and the US played a much, much more significant role in defeating the other major Axis power which were the Japanese compared to r role we played in defeating the Nazis.

We are all taught about the SS, 3rd Reich, Hitler's Arayan race views and all of the deaths due to the Holocaust, but the Japanese had the same exact things with the Kempei Tai, the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere, their beliefs that they were the superior race, and the Asian holocaust where the Japanese were murdering millions of civilians all across Asia and literally used to terms like exterminate wrt things like the entire Korean race and culture.

I mean our schools probably teach some of the major battles like Midway and Pearl Harbor, discuss dropping of the nukes, and the Rape of Nanking/Korean comfort women, but they only begins to scratch the surface of WW2 in Asia and all of the horrific crimes committed by Japan. A single event like flooding of the Yellow River killed 500k-1M Chinese, yet all you ever learn are Russia scortched Earth policies. Everyone learns about Josef Mengele and Nazi human testing, yet the Japanese did the same and worse with Unit 731 and were even dropping biological weapons on China like 'maggot bombs' designed to spread cholera they killed 200k in Yunnan.

It just boggles the mind how poor US education is wrt WW2 and why US education always focuses on Europe when jit as many, if not, more people died in Asia depending on what time frames you look at, the Japanese were just as bad, if not worse than the Nazis, and the US had a far more fundamental role in defeating the Japanese compared to the role the US played in defeating the Germans. US schools should be spending 60-75% of time about WW2 on what happened in Asia and the rest on Europe given how much more the US was important in Asia compared to Europe. The foundations of education on WW2 were probably driven by so much ethnocentrism even though the Marine Corps and Army were allobe the place in The Pacific, China, India, Burma, Dutch East Indies, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree that the atrocities were equal if not worse.

A couple of reasons why we hear more about Europe:
1) we occupied it after the war
2) More Americans feel a connection to Europe than Asia (at least in the post-war period, demographics have changed a lot since)
3) More Americans had family and friends affected by the Holocaust and they and their families and descendants have made a huge effort in educating the public on what happened.

Anonymous wrote:It drives me bonkers when you ask the simple question of "When did WW2 start?" and you get the typical answer of 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. That's completely wrong, because the Japanese attacked China even 2 years before that in 1937 and committed many atrocities even long before Hitler even touched Poland. In fact, you could even argue they WW2 started even earlier in 1931 when the Japanese invaded Manchuria, or as far back as even 1910 when they invaded Korea and were trying to wipe out their entire culture.

The US entered WW2 in Europe late, and played second fiddle to the Russians at defeating Germany. All you're ever taught is how important DDay was, yet in the grand scheme of the war, the Battle of Stalingrad was much more important for breaking Germany's back. Meanwhile in Asia, the US was arguably at war with Japan long before we were at war with Germany (arguably even before Pearl Harbor) and the US played a much, much more significant role in defeating the other major Axis power which were the Japanese compared to r role we played in defeating the Nazis.

We are all taught about the SS, 3rd Reich, Hitler's Arayan race views and all of the deaths due to the Holocaust, but the Japanese had the same exact things with the Kempei Tai, the Greater East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere, their beliefs that they were the superior race, and the Asian holocaust where the Japanese were murdering millions of civilians all across Asia and literally used to terms like exterminate wrt things like the entire Korean race and culture.

I mean our schools probably teach some of the major battles like Midway and Pearl Harbor, discuss dropping of the nukes, and the Rape of Nanking/Korean comfort women, but they only begins to scratch the surface of WW2 in Asia and all of the horrific crimes committed by Japan. A single event like flooding of the Yellow River killed 500k-1M Chinese, yet all you ever learn are Russia scortched Earth policies. Everyone learns about Josef Mengele and Nazi human testing, yet the Japanese did the same and worse with Unit 731 and were even dropping biological weapons on China like 'maggot bombs' designed to spread cholera they killed 200k in Yunnan.

It just boggles the mind how poor US education is wrt WW2 and why US education always focuses on Europe when jit as many, if not, more people died in Asia depending on what time frames you look at, the Japanese were just as bad, if not worse than the Nazis, and the US had a far more fundamental role in defeating the Japanese compared to the role the US played in defeating the Germans. US schools should be spending 60-75% of time about WW2 on what happened in Asia and the rest on Europe given how much more the US was important in Asia compared to Europe. The foundations of education on WW2 were probably driven by so much ethnocentrism even though the Marine Corps and Army were allobe the place in The Pacific, China, India, Burma, Dutch East Indies, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:World history here also doesn't teach about the violence that the Koreans inflicted on to Vietnamese women during the Vietnam war.

https://laidaihanjustice.org/who-are-the-lai-dai-han/

Point being, there is not enough time to teach all the details of everything that went on, whether you deem some more worthy of notice or not.
Given the founding of this country, obviously the US is going to focus more on its own country's history and US/European history compared to things that have happened elsewhere in the world.

There the point. US role in Asia was massive and more important to defeating the Japanese than the importance of the US in defeating the Nazis. And the Japanese were just as bad, if not worse than the Nazis in many ways. War in Asia is fundamental to US history and we had a very committed people like General Chennault who dedicated his life and forces to protecting China.

The major difference is that we didn't put Hirohito on trial and almost immediately called the Japanese an ally. Germany was divided and given governments that did everything possible to distance themselves from the Nazis. Japanese atrocities were down played and Nazi atrocities were highlighted

The allies, including the US, did put many dozens of Imperial Japanese generals and other leaders on trial for war crimes who were sentenced to death or life in prison during the Tokyo and other war crimes trials. It's a myth the Japanese were not prosecuted. Over 1000 were executed after the war.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:World history here also doesn't teach about the violence that the Koreans inflicted on to Vietnamese women during the Vietnam war.

https://laidaihanjustice.org/who-are-the-lai-dai-han/

Point being, there is not enough time to teach all the details of everything that went on, whether you deem some more worthy of notice or not.
Given the founding of this country, obviously the US is going to focus more on its own country's history and US/European history compared to things that have happened elsewhere in the world.

There the point. US role in Asia was massive and more important to defeating the Japanese than the importance of the US in defeating the Nazis. And the Japanese were just as bad, if not worse than the Nazis in many ways. War in Asia is fundamental to US history and we had a very committed people like General Chennault who dedicated his life and forces to protecting China.

The major difference is that we didn't put Hirohito on trial and almost immediately called the Japanese an ally. Germany was divided and given governments that did everything possible to distance themselves from the Nazis. Japanese atrocities were down played and Nazi atrocities were highlighted