Posted by Allen on 1/8/2003, 12:13 pm, in reply to "Re: No Way!" Thank-you for you for your extended and informative reply. Yes, there is no direct link between the defeat of one of the Axis powers and the defeat of the other. Obviously, the elimination of one would leave the other exposed to the full might of the Allies, but that would have cut both ways. I think the decision to make Germany the primary target of the Allies' war effort was a recognition of: 1) Germany's superiority in scientific/industrial might compared to Japan. 2) The danger that Germany would knock Russia out of the war. You wrote that George Marshall's backing of the attack on Germany was more political an objective than a real strategic one. You are correct. As von Clausewitz said, countries go to war for a political reason and every campaign, evey operation must advance that cause.
162.40.96.4
Iceburn,
However one wishes to measure such things, Germany was by far the more dangerous enemy than Japan. I think the historical/fraternal/cultural ties between the U.S. and Britain also informed this decision. The U.S. was (and still is) governed by the English-Americans, Roosevelt's Dutch ancestry notwithstanding. Germany threatened Britain. Japan threatened Britain's colonies. True, the Philippines were an American colony(or Commonwealth, or whatever), but Britain's fall to the Will to Power would have been more portentous than the Philippines' fall.
As you know, at the height of the Ardennes Offensive, Germany deployed 1/3 of it's army in the West. If 100% of the Wehrmacht had been available to oppose Overlord, it is difficult to see how the Allies could have prevailed. It would have been irresponsible for Roosevelt and Churchill to assume that the Allies could have won the war without Russia. They knew it very well. I don't think it too much of an exageration to say that until von Paulus' surrender, keeping Russia in the war was our primary concern.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread