WW2: The Resource War - Lend-Lease - Extra History - Part 2
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 11. 04. 2016
- đ WW2's Resource War - Part 2 - Extra History
Germany's blitzkrieg had been largely successful. France fell early, and Great Britain appeared on the verge of collapse. Europe needed more resources to sustain their resistance, but the United States was bound by the Neutrality Act which established a policy of isolationism and forbade the US from supporting foreign wars in any way. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt skirted those restrictions. He lobbied Congress to reinstate a provision in the law called Cash and Carry, which would allow other nations to buy US war materiel with cash and transport it themselves into the warzone. He also established an agreement which allowed him to place American military bases on British colonies in exchange for destroyer ships, thus safeguarding the far reaches of the United Kingdom from possible Axis invasions. When it turned out that the English won the Battle of Britain and successfully staved off the attempted Nazi conquest, America decided to support them in a more substantial, long term way. Thus the Lend-Lease Act was signed: the US would loan equipment to their strategic partners (who were not the Allies yet). Though supposedly the equipment had to be returned, it was pretty obvious that war materiel would not come back in the same shape if at all, so this was really the largest donation of war supplies ever. But it wound up benefiting the US in turn, since the increased production galvanized an economy that had been stagnant since the Great Depression. It also kickstarted the involvement of the US Merchant Marine, who were among the earliest US citizens to give their lives in World War II and suffered the highest casualty percentage of any branch of the service. These unarmed ships navigated U-boat infested waters to bring much needed supplies to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Despite this, their service has gone largely unrecognized and unrewarded as they are still denied many veterans' benefits and were not even formally thanked by Congress until 2012.
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Fun fact, the United States is still getting shipments (mostly of rifles) back from its WWII allies even today.
+Jessy Mccain Wait, really? Where can I find info on that?
I'm guessing it's WW2 materials?
I can do even better. They are also still paying debts from the civil war.
JewTube
the Brits are still paying for the south seas bubble. Fucking Walpole
+Jessy Mccain Yeah source because i do not believe this anecdote
lots of WW2 era stuff that has become collectors items or hobbyist items are now primarily supplied via foreign nations that received and then stored much of that gear for decades, so it's still in great shape. Example, WW2 harley davidson WLA motorcycles, of which it is very hard to find bikes in the USA that are in good shape or that haven't been modified through decades of private ownership, but back in the day the Soviets stored the tens of thousands of those they got from the USA after the war and never used them again, so now Russia is a major supplier of surplus bikes and parts that haven't been in production since 1950.
"WWII was won with British intelligence, American steel and Russian blood", as Stalin said.
French surrender did not help.
@@adridaplague-boi the french resistance?
Or free france?
French surrender was at the weak government not the peoples however.
@@adridaplague-boi what were they supposed to do continue to fight and collapse most likely in a few days? Hell half of France was gone when they surrendered
@Metal 1974 Maybe it's a little bit reworked quote and he meant "soviet" blood?
a source would certainly help
im glad someone finally acknowledged the merchant marine.
+David Kelly Basically they did what Nicolas Cage did in the movie "Lord of War"
i don't ... ' ?
"What did he doe? i saw the movie." to recap, what you asked(?) me.
Do ask me that you didnt see the movie?
If so: He provided arms to countries for their war.. which inflicted more and more harm to many nations people of the world.
And he did it for the money and also , because he loved the job and its thrill.
Well... so i dont really see the sailors who give nations weapons to fight one side that might have overtaken them in a few months and then there would be peace, as heroes..
And before some half-street-historian now feels triggered to tell me what he had seen on History Channel or what he was told here in this Video, i say a fact:
The german Goverment sent over 2 dozens of peace offerings to England during 1939-1942 (Englands worst itme period in the war)
And i mean PEACE not an armistice or surrender. Because....
HITLER AND GERMANY NEVER WANTED A WAR.
for more info visit: thegreateststorynevertold.tv
oh my..
Same wasnât so aware of their effort before
It should have mentioned the Norwegian merchant marine as well. Norway had the 4th largest civilan fleet before the war, and when she was annexed, the 80% of ships (1000 ships) that were not taken by Germany were enlisted to the allied war effort. Half of those ships were sunk during the war. The dutch and several others also contributed.
+Magnus Dahler Norling Hear, Hear!
+Magnus Dahler Norling
For Lend-Lease the relevance for the US is different, as they were not at war and willing to go to war at the time in 1941, so it is a unique situation that does not really relate to the other merchant navies, as the point is on American exceptionalism before Pearl Harbor...
Norwegians joined the war effort after Norway was attacked, Americans before...
However, it is a great point on how so many different allied countries contributed all for the war effort in very different ways. But going into the broader understanding of the Battle of the Atlantic and all the relevant parties would be a great future Extra History Series (if we get that one vote through).
But still... It is a great point I had not heard about before, and will have to research further, thank you :)
+Dildo Faggins it's oft forgotten how many Europeans reached Britain to continue the fight
chezhoslovakian code breakers, Polish fighter pilots, French troops who made it out of Dunkirk. ships from a dozen nations.
+Magnus Dahler Norling The point of bringing up the American Merchant Marines was to talk about how the US were participating before they actually started fighting, not to talk about merchant marines.
+Magnus Dahler Norling While we're in the north, i've always had pride in Denmark; one of their objectives in holding back the germans before they had to surrender was buying enough time for a significant portion of the Danish Jewish population to get into neutral Sweden while the border was still open.
Why let a little neutrality treaty get in the way of a good crusade?
+Kntrytnt We cool!
+wingracer 16 And the US showered Great Britain with treasure and said, "Go get 'em, tiger."
+Kntrytnt Not sure, but since we're talking about The-Mockracy here, I guess elections.
+Jonathan Ellis But no gifts for you Finland. Presents are only for those that actually say the oath.
russias industrial out put was as strong as americas if it was not for the fact germany captured or bombed most of the factories and stalin had the tank factories and other vital factories taken apart piece by piece and moved to safe mountainous cold regions, but there was no time to give the workers somewhere to live so they dug holes and put a sheet over them at night, and most of the workers were women, i am british and there is no way we would have been a resilliant as russia, the death toll and sacrifice would have been beyond any western democracy.
In the UK the Merchant Marine is plenty celebrated. They were given, collectively, the honorary title of Merchant Navy as recognition of the threats they faced.
Wasn't that after world war 1
Yes. But the recognition of that achievement changed not one bit following wwii. To this day they are still the Merchant Navy and the most recognised sector is probably the WWII Arctic Convoys these days.
They honestly won the war
Sadly in the us your either a student of history or you have never heard of them. Itâs really sad.
Good luck getting medical benefits as a WWII merchant marine.
My Grandfather was an Irishman serving with the british merchant navy. When he got off during the height of the battle of Britain he went to sign up as a pilot and the sign up officer sent him back telling him it was more important to the war effort to keep the ships going. It wasnt until almost 60 years later that my dad found out he was actually awarded a number of medals but never got them and got them and framed them for him along side the pictures of all the ships he served on.
+connla Great story, but why the hell didn't they give the man his medals?
They were obscure medals I think because some were directly related to the ships he had served on and others based on the number of ships he served on and it wasnt until he was telling my dad (he was my grandfather on my mums side) that my dad looked into and realised he was due a medal but never got it and when he further investigated it at the british maritime museum in london (i remember this as I was a 12 year old kid left to amuse myself in the museum while he researched) he discovered that he was due more models and he made formal request to look into it.
Lend-lease had another big advantage you didn't cover, probably because you didn't think of it (few would). Ramping our production up for lend lease had the nice side effect of having our military-industrial infrastructure ready to go if war came, with the same designs of tanks and aircraft we were already lending to the Allies, battle tested by our allies and ready to put to work for us in a mature and battle-worthy form. That's critical, especially for a nation supplying arms not just to itself but also to its allies.
This is particularly critical because prior to about 1938, the US had let its designs for tanks and aircraft attrophy badly, and its production infrastructure for machines of war even more so. Most of our tank force was still using WWI designs, and our aircraft were only somewhat better. We were barely building any new tanks at all, and our infantry were training with wooden rifles to save money. Because of Lend-Lease the financial flood gates opened months in advance of the war and we were forced to redevelop our equipment rapidly, up to leading European standards even, and the results, while not exactly elegant (no one would say the M3 Medium Tank should win any beauty contests) was a series of designs that could be produced en masse and were state of the art for the time, and those designs, especially the B-17 bomber, M4 Sherman medium tank and P-40 and F4F Wildcat fighters, were good enough and served well enough to see the war out as frontline designs.
If we hadn't had the impetus of Lend-Lease, those designs would have come along up to a year later and America would have been fighting the war with designs everyone else would consider fit for army surplus at best, which would have meant higher casualties, Germany standing strong for a longer period of time, and probably more of Central Europe falling behind the Iron Curtain. We really owe a lot to Lend-Lease for allowing the US military to play technological catch-up while Europe service-tested our gear.
I tip my hat to your historical accuracy.
very very true. many of the designs we ussd through out the war like the m4 sherman where not top of the line but they were functional and worked well enough.
it was very nice of Britain and the USSR to field test our equipment before we had to trust out lives on it. Thanks for that guys!
so it's free field testing?
@@Yellow13Firestorm if getting paid is free then then yes free....
Honestly, I think resource war is one of the best Extra History sessions you ever did. not just describing historical events, but also diving deep into the reasonings of said events, detailing a part of history that often gets forgotten.
Yep, this series and the Seminal Tragedy (the events leading to WW1) are about the best series of the channel.
Iâm happy that the merchant marine was acknowledged. My great great uncle was a merchant marine, and he died while serving the U.S.
Coleman Studios R.I.P, he did die doing something great and thatâs way more than most people can say. He did his service
coleman?
@@emutv4100
What a resourceful pun.
Got 'eem!
+Cryp Tic how long did you use to come up with that
not long
Bryan Wan It's a pun. Puns never take long to come up with.
I greatly respect you mention the Merchant Navy or Merchant Marines in the US. I understand this video is specifically towards the US Lend-Lease situation, but all Merchant Navies of all nations, both neutral and at war, all lost lives doing their job. The constant psychological pressure for six long years was unbearable and everyone got affected in some serious way or another, but some took it much worse and had a terrible life after the war. Many committed suicide and very few got any recognition. I'm from Norway and In Norway this is true to over 75% of all the war sailors, a total of about forty thousand souls, not to mention the tens of thousands of sailors who were landlocked and sailed in an occupied country. They were also at risk of attack but got no recognition at all.
It is important to mention that the war sailors of all nations and Norway were not all military servicemen or even in the military. They were still civilian but drawn into a war they never wanted, but they knew nobody else would do the job and somebody had to do it. In the end most of them were civilians who had to pay for it with their lives. You could see it as active civilian casualties. From a moral perspective, that civilian ships was and still is to this day are legitimate war targets is sickening.
If you want to read more about the Norwegian effort I appreciate your interest: the interest in my own country is minimal and there is virtually no official support from the government. Only a quarter of the Norwegian war sailors, some eight thousand, got their pay, pension and recognition they legally deserved after the war. But the rest of more than thirty thousand was neglected first by a disapproving war government that wanted to forget the war, then later by ignorant governments that had no experience from the war. Thousands of court trials were made against the government because of this, but tens of thousands of sailors never wanted to do the humiliating process of going to court for money and recognition you legally owner decades ago. In the sailors view, it was simply too dishonorable and absurd for a war sailor veteran to beg for something they were promised by both their shipowner and government.
The Merchant Fleet was Norway's biggest international economy and the 4th largest merchant navy in the world. Merchant was one of the largest employers in the country. Over 1500 ships, more than 1200 of them got one way or the other into allied service, while the rest was landlocked. Norwegian shipowners also were one of the first to mass-modernize their fleets from steam to diesel power and invest into the oil trade. At the outbreak of the war in 1940, Norway had the largest fleet of modern diesel powered ships and the 5th largest oil tanker fleet. Not bad for a country with just 3 million people.
Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I hope it helps shed light over a dark chapter of Norwegian history, a history that reflects many other nations of the world, where many other sailors never got their recognition they deserved.
All but a few died knowing they sacrificed most and got nothing back. And those who sacrificed it all are still on watch at the bottom of the sea.
Respect everything you say, and full respect to all the merchant navies, as covered by the video, people signing up to be prey but with the "do or die" task of delivery of goods to do.
The only thing I don't agree with is that somehow them being targets because they are civillians, is any more sickening than the military. When societies go to war, the soldiers might be the first in line but the truth of the matter is, that line goes all the way back to the just born babes.
No one is truly spared in war. If you do not want the other side to be your government or tell your society what they can do for whatever reason, then you defend your society, by whichever means you can. But in the eyes of the other side, if you're putting rivets into a truck that delivers goods that supports the economy that is opposing them, then you're a legitimate target. If you're being indoctrinated with the enemies ideology and a current investment asset in a war, then you're involved. Not your choice, not fair, but being born into poverty is unfair. Life is unfair.
Do civillians dying sicken me? Yeah. But no more than a soldier. In a way I find it sad that noble people who care most about their countrymen to defend them, are the ones sent to die. Something sad in that.
And in that, probably why the merchant marines are doubly sad. They were civillians who got neither the recognition of the soldiers, but had fronted up to face the same task. Do what must be done to serve your society and keep your neighbours safe from those who might take you as possessions.
Graeme Scott An excellent and moving answer. Thank you.
Knut Ă shammer Norway was the first country to actually hold on for a few months though with quite feeble Allied support due to the awful communication and so I admired them. If we had Winston Churchill at that time we would've thrashed them so BLAME NEVILE!!!!!
I would rather storm a beach than to be in a ship or plane. Sailors have some big steel balls.
The British merchant marine made a huge level of sacrifice also. After the war the sailors got some recognition ( I was at least told by my mother that we owed a lot to the sailors who died to keep the country fed ) but still needed strikes to gain living wages and now have been totally replaced by outside workforces. Has the same thing happened to the Norwegian marine services?
Someone should make a movie about the merchant marines...
+Ricardo Toureiro Look up the 1943 film Action in the North Atlantic for a ww2 Merchant Marine film. Captain Phillips for a modern one.
+Ricardo Toureiro "the Cruel Sea" is not about the merchant Marines but it is about their escorts
Benjamin Button has a very quick portion of the film about the Merchant Marine. And an old one "The Navy comes through" is about Navy sailors acting as gunners onboard Merchant Marine ships. Which still happens today.
Greyhound
At first I thought he was going to honor the Marines, as a proud Marine I can say I am glad it was actually the Merchant Marine, I rarely hear of their sacrifice. Those guys were defiantly some brave American Souls.
Now I feel really bad for sinking all those ships in Silent Hunter 3. Sorry, Merchant Marines :'(
+manband20 Time to dig out Silent Hunter 4. \o/
+kommo1 Silent Hunter 3 is best Silent Hunter!
Wot is Silent Hunter..
Overworld Slayer Silent Hunter is a German submarine simulator game.
the difference between reality and game is that the ships in the game actualy dont have a crew at all. interesting idea for a nother video series: the only submarine that saw combat action and had a negative body count. the one submarine that created the modern submarine as a thing that truly is a submerged combat system (the type VII was not capable of prolongued dives) i mean the type XXI one of the most beautiful war machines. go look it up if you ignore the two aa guns in front of and behind the bridge it looks rather peacefull.
o7 to the merchant mariners!
+Onin o7 indeed.
+Onin Ladies and gentleman, salute! o7
+Onin My exact reaction. I did it involuntarily when I saw that, even though I'm not American, don't particularly care for war, and get easily seasick.
o7
That's what we need another movie about the Americans winning the war
I find it funny that the U.S. opposed war back then.
+KBLively I get what the upside of them getting involved is, but yeah...
Land of extremes I guess. All or nothing...
You'd hope things could balance out a little...
But I guess that's too much to hope for now when you have a country whose military spending comes close to being equal to that of every other first world country combined...
Well, that fell apart when Imperial Japanese Navy attacked.
Ha! If they'd been that way in the Mexican War...
If the US kept out right after WW2, Europe would have fallen. They were about to go back to war over the scraps of Germany, and then be swallowed by the USSR.
Think about it, war and violence has steadily dropped since the US took on a foreign strategy. They formed the UN, NATO, and protect over 90% of the trading routes.
They are also the only nation not to run military conquest wars, and instead have given conquered lands back, unlike every other nation has done historically.
And today, it is they who protect Europe and places like my home country of Korea and Japan from larger enemies that would love to see them fall.
Also, I'd like you to name a war recently that was started by the United States. He'll, go back to the start of the United States.
Now compare to other nations.
Exactly right. The post war Pasx Americana. But it is hard to recognize crisies prevented by US engagement in world affairs.
This is like that one Civ game where I used Petra to pump out and gift units into my neighbor who was fighting off a wide empire.
The situation in Europe looks dire, but the US does not want war. Yet there are other ways to help.
talk about greece in ww2
Are the suleiman series over?
+ΧÏηÏÏÎżÏ Î Î±ÏαÏÏÎżÎșÎ±Ï Why bother? Way more important things to cover.
+Jonathan Mensch thats why im asking
+Extra Credits Warsaw Uprising 1944 :D
I wouldnt say that Czechoslovakia fell, the better term would be that it was sold out.
Only a piece of Czechoslovakia was supposed to be sold.
That piece with factories and fortreses.
It was supposed to be a piece for peace. Unfortunately it didn't work.
Yes sell someone else's land. The Czechoslovakian representatives were not even allowed to the room where that damn agreement was signed. They were just told to obey. The saing is about us without us.
+MegaDuras
Can you blame the French and English for wanting to prevent another war in Europe after the horrors of 1914-18?
Remember only a piece of Czechoslovakia was supposed to go to Hitler. After the Czechoslovakia crisis both France and England changed their policy to challenge German aggression. England and France signed defensive treaties with Poland.
Hitler was effectively check mated in Europe. He didn't want to invade Poland fearing a war two fronts. Without the Nazi Soviet non aggression pact and secret protocol there wouldn't have been a war in Europe.
Hitler and Stalin were both warmongering tyrants.
As an American merchant mariner, thank you. It's a sad state of affairs that we give so much and aren't even recognized as a branch of the military, so all the stress and danger with none of the thanks or support. I'm so glad to hear someone not in the industry pointing it out to people.
My grandfather on my dad's side was a Polish Jew who fled the Nazi invasion and later became a Merchant Marine. I unfortunately didn't hear many stories from him because he lived far away, I was too young to understand, and we lost him in 1999 from a car crash. I never really thought much about the MM as they aren't talked about a lot, but now I have a better understanding for sure.
My great grandfather was a member of the merchant marine, and I'm so happy so see his deeds presented
thank you so much for the shout out to the civilian sailors of the second world war, my grandfather served as an engineer with the British merchant navy throughout the war and spent quite a lot of his time on the Atlantic convoys. I've always thought that the sacrifice of many countries merchant sea men during both world wars has been largely forgotten.
My grandpa was a Navy Merchant for England. He worked as a sailing merchant all his live from the Netherlands. When the War started, he immideatly helped out in England. Heck, he even went to bring ammo and other supplies to the soldiers at D-Day.
He was a great man, survived the war and lead a happy life. May he be and the thousands of other Navy Merchants be remembered for their great help.
I hope you donât mind putting my story here to. My grandad lead a normal American country life, but when the war started he joined the merchant marines, and joined a cargo ship on her maiden voyage to ship supplies to Australia. The cargo ship was attacked by Japanese ships, and while her escort sunk them, the cargo ship sank. My great grandad had to tread water for 12 hours, getting swallowed by waves every 30 seconds or so, to get picked up by a US ship
USA broken and hax. Pls nerf.
I'm dieing XD
Latin America and South East Asia need buffs
USA nerfed with political split and manipulation susceptibility in recent patch. The devs finally listened!
Male and female factory worker deaths and injuries 1942-43 , exceeded those of the military (during that same time period), of a factor of 20 to 1. From Arthur Herman's "Freedom's Forge" book.
I believe you, just would you mind posting a link?
Good ol' GB. Bein the literal Little Mac of the world.
+Storm Storkanus Noice
Petey T True but, thats in asset size, or well territorial. The UK is a really small set of countries when its JUST compared on its own.
Side B off the stage
This is the most praise I've gotten from strangers. Thank you!
(GB is my nickname, an abbreviation of Gil Brian)
+thefast4 SSB4 memes are best memes
My grandfather was a merchant marine during the war, and I deeply appreciate anyone who delves into the harrowing exploits of the men and women of that particular service. Hardly anyone touches on the USMM, because while heroic and necessary, it doesnât have the the same remembrance devoted to other acts by different services...
Merchant marine, yes, US one only?
Not so much.
Many nations including ones that fell early like the Norwegian one contributed their civilian fleet to the merchant marine.
And we too had huge losses on the seas due to that.
The merchant marines of all involved countries are too often given way less attention then the boots on the ground...
I really think the next series should be on Alexander the Great. In fact I'm surprised they haven't covered it yet.
It would make for a fascinating series, especially in the style of Extra History.
+Marrillandserpa Alexander the great is one of the most overrated people in history, a flash in the pan warlord whose only real legacy is that people from his region did well enough that their heroes are treated as demigods,
Thanotos Omega Alexander is not overrated by any means, but I can see where you got that thought. This comment is a year old, but honestly Alexander himself may have been just a "warlord" in the grand scheme of things but his tale and triumphant victorys across such wide territory will inspire many of the great men in history that we look back to as well.
Can you hear that! O, I can hear the Greek and macedonian arguing
My grandfather was a merchant marine so thank you for adding the division in the video and it makes me happy that more people will remember what he and his comrades did
I knew my grandfather was in the merchant marines, but I didnât know what it meant. Itâs really nice to know his part in WWII
Thank you so much for the tribute to the mariners of the Merchant Marine. It was a nice touch and very honorably attributed.
2:23 nice punch out reference
Ukraine: Write that down! Write that down!
I think one of the things I love most about Extra History is their tendency to cover topics and people often over-looked. WWI, Admiral Yi, Broad Street Pump, etc.
And WW2 is so overwhelmingly covered in modern culture, such that I would have figured everything related to it was already explored. And yet, here I'm being told about people and problems I've never heard of before.
Keep up the good work! I learn so much from this series and I'm always looking forward to it.
I feel like I'm learning more here than I did in secondary school. This is great! Keep it up please!
I absolutely love how this channel actually goes in depth on how the battles of WW2 plays out, pretty much all of the videos I watched before this I didnt really get that much info on how exactly how the battles played out. Keep it going.
Glad you talked about merchant marines. We studied this in school, as Canada had merchant marines in World War II as well. Carrying goods in unarmed ships you know is targetted by torpedoes is a demoralizing thought.
I really like these episodes, this is a side of history that is not so often explored. It's nice and really interesting to hear about it
Don't forget to talk about the rest of the world. Obviously America made a huge impact on the European front, but this topic has so much more to give than just looking at America.
+docopoper I think this is focusing on the resource war more than the actual battles which have been covered thousands of times so the series is looking at the resource value of the British Empire, the Axis resources, and America's aid contribution which bolstered the British and Soviets.
When the Soviets were blazing into Berlin, they did it with over four thousand US Sherman tanks due to the tens of thousands of Soviet tanks they had lost in attrition.
docopoper It's almost as if a 7 minute video made by American people DOESN'T have enough time to cover the perspective of every country, especially given that they produced the most! It's almost as if it ISN'T a part of a multi part series that covers many perspectives!
Thank you for recognizing the Merchant Marine, my grandfather was one such sailor aboard those ships and it took many years after the war for my country to recognize his contribution.
Thanks for the shout out! My dad is a Merchant Marine. They never get recognized for their efforts in times of war so thank you for talking about them.
I am a little disappointed that no mention was made of the Canadian Merchant Navy, or the vital importance of Canadian staging grounds for both the Canadian Merchant Navy and the United States Merchant Marines. To put it simply, Canada contributed ~10% of all cargo delivered from north America, and the use of Canadian ports, air bases, navy, and anti U-boat planes in Newfoundland saved countless American lives since the effective protection range covered nearly a third of the distance to the British Isles. Without this protection net U-boats would have been able to prey on American shipping pretty much the entire way, as America was not in a geographical or political position to cover the Western third of the Atlantic, meaning that American ships would have to travel ~2500km unprotected as opposed to ~1250km they did with Canadian aid. Eventually this protection expanded a full half the Atlantic, with the British Royal Navy taking over the other half. Even when America DID officially enter the war it was still Canada that protected the western Atlantic, as again geography meant that Canada was in the best position for a staging point for both convoys and their protection. If you want more information I suggest you look up Leondard W. Murray, and the Newfoundland Escort Force
Exactly! Thank you so much for mentioning that.
Yeah good point just a time crunch and the USA was still he largest weapon manufacturer
Great Britain gained my respect during history and now that I'm looking further into all this stuff, many other countries follow Great Britain and gain my respect. History is amazing, tragedy and victory, furiousity and monstrosity, heroic bravery, tactical minds, foolish or tricky. Kind, heroic, bravery, will, and much more.
We are so interesting and complex beings, but maybe being complicated is what makes us so interesting
Every invidual, is unique in their own way. :D
Poland
One of the more important elements of this series is how they always put the situation in perspective. I wish there where more documentaries like that,
I love hearing you guys cover more modern era historical events. The explosion of complexity that came with so many nations operating on such a larger scale with so much more potential power creates a fascinating dynamic. I'm always left with the impression that progress had so drastically outpaced anybody's ability to get a proper handle on it that the idea of truly informed decisions almost didn't exist. An entire world flying by the seat of it's pants, clawing desperately to understand the scope of it's newfound influence, where reliance on tried-and-true policies of not even a generation hence often meant disaster.
I really think this video chooses to overestimate the advantage Germany had over UK and USSR, for dramatic effect
+skykid And it also dramatically overestimates how dire the situation was in Britain, it was bad just not as bad as they make it sound.
+skykid For the part of the video in which the Nazis are described as unstoppable, that's before the USSR entered the war. When the UK was literally its only declared opponent.
+skykid I hate american flag waving bullcrap but the fact was that yes the UK was against the ropes BUT and its a big BUT the USSR was hold fairly firm, it was mostly a matter of time before the russians got the momentum, in amerocentic education(im australian so i leart from this point of view at 1st too) The USSR i think is too often down played and are really the saviors of the war
+skykid Note how he uses the wording of 'And then the UK won the battle of Brittain'. It is crucial to realize that if Goering and Hitler had been less zealous in bombing UK cities and gone after the RAF directly, that battle could have swung the way of the Axis.
In a similar vein if operation Typhoon had actually started before the Russian counter-attack, things could have turned fairly pearshaped for the reds as well.
We all know that they were defeated, but in WW2 fate swung on such incredibly narrow margins as both sides desperately attempted to not fuck up first more or less. Roosevelt did not have the historical foresight to see this though, from his point of view I am sure the entire world was going to go up in flames unless he acted, fast.
+Cyrus Levy They sure werent unstoppable in the battle of britain, battle of the atlantic and north africa. YOu know, the 3 campaigns/battles where Britain actually invested in at the time.
Let's not forget that part of the reason the US merchant marine lost so much in the early years was because, like the US army in N.Africa after Torch, they ignored British advice. Part of the reason German subs loved American harbours was because the US didn't use convoys for months, and so picked off millions of tons of shipping. They also didn't use sonar initially, so couldn't detect and flee from U-boats.
+CommissarWallace That was also because Americans lack the awareness of long-range U-boat raids. They weren't expecting the fact that not only Type 9 subs, but even tiny 7C showed up at their backyard, hunting down stranded ships on their forming-up voyage.
Ezekiel De La Croix Right, let's set this straight. The British army in North Africa was not gloriously incompetent, but under-equipped and unprepared. There were two divisions in N.A at the start of the war, against Graziani's 100,000. The 8th Army routed them, taking 38,300 prisoners at Beda Fomm alone.
Not only that, but it was Churchill's meddling that outright hampered it's effective performance afterwards. By Jan. 1941, when Rommel arrived, more than 2/3 of the Western Desert Force had been redeployed, either to Churchill's failed front in Greece, or to the disaster at Singapore. What was left were green troops on overextended lines who Rommel swept aside.
And if we really want to get technical, the reason Rommel was held in such high regard is the fault of the USA, because their military liaison in Cairo kept having his missives intercepted, and he kept putting our battleplans in them.
By mid-1942 we'd turned all this around. We had some tanks, courtesy of the US, our troops were experienced, and we'd re-written our tactical handbook along German lines (I know this because I've just finished a dissertation piece on mechanised warfare in N.Africa). As a result, we then ground Rommel to a halt at 1st El Alamein, setting the stage for Lightfoot in November to throw him back.
British performance in the desert was a result of having to spend twenty post WW1 years without any proper military investment, followed by a fuckton of green troops into a zone they weren't used to, against possibly one of the best armies and commanders to grace the World War Two battlefield. And I'd still say we didn't do too bad a job.
TL;DR - The British weren't shit, the war see-sawed because Churchill couldn't keep his fucking nose out, and we had priorities elsewhere.
Ezekiel De La Croix Given that I didn't mention anywhere near the end of 1942, when American forces showed up, I wasn't minimising at all. American troops turned up after we'd chased them all the way back to Tunisia, and as we breached the Mareth line, Torch happened.
British forces gave a mediocre performance in the desert, saying that they did poorly in to ignore the way the desert war swung back and forth, and the superb troops that came out of it. Nor do Americans really have room to claim that the British were bad for friendly fire, given that the USAF somehow managed to bomb British HQ in Italy rather than German forces around Monte Cassino.
Rommel was nowhere near as poorly supplied as has been suggested. He had adequate supplies for a cautious campaign, which was his remit, but instead he decided to risk them, and it was this audacity that made him both dangerous and caused him to lose in the end.
And really, if we take everything you say as correct, you still don't ignore the advice of someone with more experience. When the British said at Kasserine for instance, 'Don't advance, there'll be a hidden line of AT guns,' British troops know that because they've suffered for it in the first place.
This slice of paradise This sacred throne of Kings the US one bulge
Ezekiel De La Croix truee
I'm honestly very happy you guys took the time to aknoledge the merchant marines. Many sources I looked up on the merchants talk about how badly they were looked at by Americans during ww2. Thank you for giving the merchants the credit they deserve.
all the merchant fleets that wast traveling during world war 2 might be the most insane thing i have seen, when you see what the boats was outfitted with just to give the pretense to have some kind of real defenses. so im always glad when even just one of the fleets gets some kind of mention, since they did important work and they dont get enough recognition
"Donation"... The UK was paying off it's debt to the USA until 2004... The UK had rationing for years after the war due to the debt... hardly a donation... we were glad of the help, but it wasn't a donation
It was believed the consequences of England falling would be a dominoe effect.
it was more like a loan from Donald trump, or worse.
and you still control alot of our bases
I think you misunderstand. Or maybe I do. It seemed to me that at that time, there was no expectation that any of the goods given to GB would ever, ever be paid back, partly because it seemed the fall of GB was inevitable. But then there was still a GB after the war, so payments could still be made.
HussDog lend lease was a mistake
Lend Lease was not a donation in the sense that it was a gift. All the countries, that received any good under Lend Lease paid for those goods. Not necessarily in money, but also in gold and other valuable ressources. Also, quite a bit of the equipment was second grade stuff and not usable by the receiving nation.
The heroic sacrifice of the merchant navies is well remembered here in the UK. We know damn well we would have all starved without them.
My favorite bit of Darkest hour the film is when Churchill says: " But we payed for those ships!! ...with, the money- you gave us..." lolll
You didn't mention Canada's role as a proxy for allied loans during the war. Canada was the only allied country to have repaid their loans from wwi and therefore many countries used Canada's credit to buy goods from the USA
Also, legend goes that Canadians are some of the most terrifying armed forces to go up against
+Roman Nasuti yup, once again Canada is glossed over. It's like we don't exist until needed and then forgotten again.
+NelCelestine basically were the same country
NelCelestine[CG] donât worry, I remember.
Well, to solve the problem of shor finances Britain should have called some greatgrandsons of Blunt and Walpole and just reopened the South sea company
My Grandfather was a Merchant Marine. He was a kind man, and you honor his memory with your video. Thank you so much for the shoutout.
Thank you for this series. It marks a return to form for me. Many of the other series you produced (most notably Justinian and Suleiman) have been "Dates and Battles" much more than Context and Background. I support Extra History on Patreon because I am interested in these. In fact your series on the onset of World War I was what "brought me in". More of this. More background, more whys. :) Because history deserves being known beyond the mere numbers.
This channel is the embodiment of greater good
America is OP, plz nerf their startup economy, its ez game for allies when they just donate brit and ruskies
Stormer332 that's coming in patch 17.76
Ruskies is now my favorite term for Russians
Thank you for your kind words about the merchant marines. My father joined the merchant marines in 1944 at age 16 (he wasn't yet old enough for the navy, which he joined in 1946), helping to keep our fighting forces supplied (of course, this was after the time period of this video).
thank you for mentioning the merchant marines! my grandpa was a merchant marine from American Samoa. enlisted when he was 18 in the late 30's. served through WWI and Korean war. then became the harbor master back in Apia, Samoa. I miss him so much.
I'm very interested, what do you think about some cases, when American companies supported Germany during WWII. For example, ITT Corporation German subsidiaries or Standard Oil assistance to Nazi Germany. Maybe this topic should be covered in these episodes too?
+ĐĐžĐșĐŸĐ»Đ°Đč «Night» ĐĐžĐ»ĐŸĐČ Nah, it doesn't fit with American propaganda mate. Officially US has never done anything wrong.
+ĐĐžĐșĐŸĐ»Đ°Đč «Night» ĐĐžĐ»ĐŸĐČ I doubt they'll cover it, American's don't like the darkness of their past.
+Osman Oglu actually, most of the occidental elites were pro-fascist, because it was an effective way to counter communism and keep exploiting the laborious masses. Some historians have shown that french defeat was in fact wanted (and made possible (at least that fast) by acts of sabotage in supply lines and systematic retreat orders from some generals) by more than half of french elites in order to "restore some order" after left-wing government and the growing popularity of the communist party. And US did not avoid it, that's probably why they kept being "neutral" so long and they didn't even declared war on Germany (Germany did it with the hope that Japan would declare war against the Soviet Union in return).
+ĐĐžĐșĐŸĐ»Đ°Đč «Night» ĐĐžĐ»ĐŸĐČ We Americans know this, but we don't like to talk about it. The head of General Motors was given the Iron Cross by Hitler for supplying Germany with thousands of trucks. According to Hitler, the Blitzkrieg of Poland in 1939 wouldn't have been possible without General Motors. Ford Motors lobbied against the war so hard that America actually never declared war on Germany! We declared war on Japan and Germany declared war on the US! Many countries don't like to openly talk about their embarrassing history. Do you think Victory Day in Russia will ever mention the non-aggression pact with Hitler or joint invasion of Poland? No. People want to hear about their country's heroism in order to feel good about themselves. America is also a badly divided nation, so US media and entertainments often tries to spout patriotism to try unify the country.
This is very good and accurate answer. It is simply too early to talk about WW2 without heated emotions. I suppose in 200 years it will be like- meh whatever for all sides
Only thing im gonna be mad about is please show the map of Poland from the time period not from post war era xd thanks xd
Very late to finding this video - my grandfather was a merchant marine during WWII. He was only (legally) considered a veteran very late in his life. While it was (eventually, and largely reluctantly) corrected, the injustice remains a sore point in my mother's family even in the decades since his passing. Thank you for acknowledging this incredible group and their service. Too many people, to this day, know very little (if at all) about what they did and how important it was. Thank you.
My great grandfather was a merchant marine. He went on a trip to the uk and was able to come back to the states. But when that very ship was heading back to the uk, it was sunk by a u-boat and all the crew died. But due to the rotations, he was safe in America.
Something that this vid misses is that as well as saving the British Empire, the same scheme also absolutely saved the USSR. Thousands of tanks and planes. MILLIONS of pairs of boots.
Donât forget SPAM, the US gave the USSR enough food to give every Soviet soldier 1 square meal a day for most of the war.
The vid is interesting but he overstates a lot. Britain was never going to get successfully invaded. Germany didnât even get air superiority which wasnât just because of the Americans as he suggests.
The Russians marched into Berlin wearing American made boots.
the majority of uboat attacks occured with the uboat on the surface not with the subs under the surface. in the early period the norm was for night attacks then subs would fire torpedos from a rage of 4000 yards or more but almost always from the surface as there submurged speed was nomaly too slow to catch up to a convoys whos speed was nomaly 15 knots for the fat convoys and about 9 knots for the slow convoys
I don't think it undermines he sacrifice of the merchant many or affect the plot either eay
+Lizard Baron Its an interesting fact though.
it dosnt just pointing out that the majority of attcks where on the surface also the scarefice made by the german u-boat arm in the battle of the adlantic totalled to 27000 men or 75% of its total force and 65% of its total u-boats the total losses of merchent seeman where 33000 British ailed and neutral with 23000 being British mechen navy for those intrested in souses i used the Lloyds war losses for world war 2 as well ass Wolf Pack by Gordon Williamson, the war at sea my S. W. Roskill and Business in grate waters by John Train
Thank you for giving the love to the Merchant Marine. My father was in one of the Liberty Ships of the North Atlantic Convoy.
Henning Wehn regarding English football songs:
âTwo world wars and one World Cup? I donât recall America winning a World Cup.â
LOL
Though to be fair, USA were important in WW2, much less in WW1
DID YOU KNOW the USA had an army smaller than the size of Portugal's at the time!
165.000, including the Air Corps, in 1939. In 1940 Britain evacuated about twice that number from France.
This... is just fascinating
My dad and i used to spend a lot of time researhing WWII, but this chanel has showed me thing i never new. Also, the story on the merchant marines was quite moving. Please keep up the good work.
This is one of the best series you've done. Brilliantly fascinating.
When you say earliest Americans fighting fascists, you're not exactly correct. There definitely were Americans and Canadians fighting fascists in Spain in 1936-39.
+Joey Broda And American pilots fighting in china
Joey Broda The Americans who fought in the Spain were volunteers. The only governments that supported the Spanish republic were the USSR and Mexico. Stalin gave the Spanish leftists weapons on the condition that they would only prevent a fascist takeover and wouldn't try to seize power themselves, because he didn't want to alienate France by turning one of its neighbors into a Communist state.
Meanwhile, the democratic countries did nothing to stop Hitler and Mussolini from turning Spain into a fascist ally, that went on to supply vital war materials to Germany during WW2. Stalin the dictator was trying to save a Western democracy, the other Western democracies did nothing. Oh the irony.
Nazi's weren't even fascists, fascism stayed mostly isolated to Latin-Europe.
@@christinas.4342 "stalin tried to save democracy" uh huh
And their were a small number of Americans who illegally volunteered for the British armed forces, especially the RAF
Not sure I agree that Britain would have fallen without American help. Would probably have had to make peace with Germany but after the Battle of Britain the chance of the Nazis actually mounting a successful invasion plummeted.
There was never a real plan of invading the UK. Otherwise they would have destroyed the fleeing british army in dunkirchen. And at the battle of britain they would have bombed the airports instead of the citys (for propaganda reasons)
Sebastian Haban look up operation sea lion. No real plan to invade the U.K.?
Ser Harras Harlaw The plan was a joke and had no chance of succeding. Can barely be called a real plan
Germany never had a chance of amphibious landing, D-Day was tough enough for the actual naval powers, imagine how hard that would have been for the tiny German navy.
Though if America hadn't been sending supplies then I don't know where else they could have come from. Britain would have been forced out of the war regardless of if they actually surrendered.
War games supposedly proved that sea lion would have failed. I think it was in the time team about the stop lines.
My grandfather was a merchant marine captain during WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and even Desert Storm. Thank you for mentioning them and I am proud of his service.
I'm so glad you mention the merchant Navy. as sailor myself. in England often over looked great that you mention .
At the start of the war - on paper the Axis had a clear advantage. Germany, Italy and Japan in cohorts with Russia vs the UK, France, a civil war torn China and the US neutral. But by the end of the war you had basically Germany and Japan vs America, UK and Russia. Germany turning on the Russians and Japan attacking America have to be the two biggest blunders in military history.
+Zarcon I don't think Operation Barbarossa and the whole German offensive against the Soviet Union should be considered a blunder. Both sides knew it was coming, the ideological friction was too high and its outcome did hang on a knife's edge. Rather, I'd say it simply failed. Nazi Germany might have prepared well but the Soviet Union had prepared better.
The Imperial Japan's attack on USA was a massibe blunder, definitely. Besides finally giving USA a reason to go to war with the Axis powers, the way the attack started with a brutal surprise attack before the war had even been officially declared, meant that USA was galvanized in seconds against the Axis powers. The rest is history (and stuff we'll most likely see in the next few episodes).
+Zarcon I honestly want to know where the "Stalin was afraid of Hitler" part comes from. My understanding is that everybody, especially the two sides signing it, knew that the peace treaty they had signed at the start of the WW2 was really a truce, an agreement for both sides to do their "house-keeping" first and ready themselves before the inevitable Germany vs USSR war comes around.
Maybe it is hindsight, but I honestly don't think the Soviets would have agreed to an actual peace treaty from the Germans unless Germany had already managed to beat them, which of course would have needed an actual offensive operation right into Soviet territory, rather than the conquered territory the Soviets had gained at the start of the war. Fascism was such an antithesis to socialism and communism that I don't think the two sides could have had peace and Operation Barbarossa might have very well at least seemed like the best shot at beating the Soviet Union. Better to fight on your enemies territory and all that. Of course weather completely screwed over it like it had every single other time, but I suppose they would have hoped for 'this time' to be the magic one when it didn't.
+Zarcon Germany declaring war on the US was also a huge blunder too. They could have simply not declared war on the US when Japan attacked, which would have meant the British and Americans would be funneling soldiers and materials away from Europe where they really wanted them.
+Hertzila You have to put yourself in the shoes of these nations in 1940. Germany had steam rolled over France - one of the de facto great powers at the time. The USSR was just recovering from the great purge and they had a big mean Japan on their east. Saying they knew war was inevitable is about like saying war is inevitable today between NATO and Putins Russia or North and South Korea. There is tension but it doesn't really mean that it is going to happen. Germany looked unbeatable at the time. I am sure you can probably find some material on it but from my understanding Stalin was in NO rush to butt heads with uncle Adolf. If anything he wanted the none commie Westerners to all fight each other.
American industrialist helped finance Germany through their German subsidiaries. True story. Rich people always win.
+EnergyKnife Here's another way to look at it, you need to be rich to win, and if you win, you get richer
Really is a highlight finding these history videos in my sub box.. Thank you so so so much!!!!!! Please make this the main channel focus.
Stoped the video to say thanks for putting in the work to make this. So thank you and those that helped you
That merchant marine part made me feel an immense amount of Ametican patriotism. Murica!!!
I'm not an American. Not even close
Everyone is an American at heart
*Pssst hey kid! You wanna be American *hands you an immigration file
Ah the revving of the American war machine just starting to warm up
I hope you know that the Americans were the last to join in both world wars was actually the Canadians and British that were the best of World War 1 & 2 World War 1 the Germans thought we were shock troopers but we weren't so I mean come on then
@@pumpkingamer9 yes hence the reason of stating "American war machine just starting to warm up"
@@pumpkingamer9 and on top of that you completely forget the fact a ton of the British army wasn't even British they where from either the British colonys or from contrys who where neutral at the time... Just hope you know.
wow i really appreciate the praise given to the merchant marine core. i actually never knew about their part in the war. super stoked about the rest of the parts!
These are amazing. I'm flabbergasted at how much critical information I never got in schooling about how the World Wars actually progressed and turned.
"Split down party lines" Which partys on which sides?
+Heather N at the time, democrats (of which FDR was) favoring war support, with the republicans favoring complete isolationism. Keep in mind however the political situation, despite being polarized, was still significantly different from today. Democrats had their powerbase in the south, Republicans hand their power base in the north, Republicans consisted of populists, Northern economic interests, a shrinking number of progressive liberals, and evangelicals. Democrats contained the southern land interests, the old south, warhawks, ultranationalists, and a growing number of disenfranchised progressive liberals.
Germany would have probably still lost WW2 without American aid. Nobody conquers Russia in the winter, unless you are the Mongols! (Quoted from John Green)
Don't invade it in winter.... Lol. Without American aid, British front lines would be broken so easily, it already was. At the battle of Dunkirk hitter could of destroyed half a million British soldiers by his tanks. But he halted the advance. If he had gone with the offensive, ww2 would of been a success in the hands of the axis powers. The technology of the axis powers, especially Germany was far by superior. They were the most advanced one could ever view, with blue prints to modern day bombers we still use today. If the nÀzis had one more week in production, then they would launch their superior and technologically advanced machinery and weapons of mass destruction onto the allies, to the extent that the allies would have no chance, but instead be bombarded with the constant array of tech. That the front lines would be in America.
+Scientific Revolutionary This is total bollocks. German technology was barely better than Allied tech in anything but rocketry, and was in fact behind in many areas, including that all important nuclear technology. Russian tanks for instance were far better, due to the use of sloped armour and aluminium engine blocks.
+Exeggcuter Timur But if Germany had managed to avoid getting entangled in fights with the Soviet Union or the United States, it could have won. Germany was probably the biggest industrial power in Europe, after all, and its only likely rival in land warfare was crushed by a lucky surprise attack.
+Scientific Revolutionary I would more describe Germany's technology as 'marginally' better. They had a lot of fancy experimental stuff in development, but most of it was not economically practical or had engineering issues it would take decades of peace time development to make work.
neeneko In fact many of their 'wonder weapons' were part of the reason Germany lost the production race, because the cost of one V-2 rocket was equivalent to that of two Tiger tanks, or 5 StuGs, and was far less useful in the long term.
5:19 Salute o7
I didn't know about the Merchant Marines before I came across Extra History
Wow! I learned a couple of history facts I was completely unaware of! Great video series!
I just have to point out the irony of the Neutraliy law when looking at USA foreign policy after that...
what did you expect? usa had just fought a war as righteous as real war could ever be. and then it realized that they are now (arguably) the strongest nation on earth.
oh and usa was also the only nation that have the weapon to burn nations clean.
if would be weird if usa didnt went all gong-ho after all that.
+lyegm The atomb bomb in 1945 was not powerful enough to "burn nations clean" it could destroy a city in one hit, but it took several months to produce even one a-bomb. The two bombs dropped on Japan in August 1945 were literally all the bombs the Americans had until late September. It wasn't until the age of the hydrogen bomb that human hands held true nation destroying power.
+Sordatos yeah it went from "hey i don't really wanna pick sides" to "MERICA!! Fill em with -lead- democracy!"
+Sordatos Just keep in mind the difference between the liberation of Western Europe and what the Soviet Union did to Eastern Europe. The US paid to rebuild Europe (even their former enemies in West Germany and Italy), while the USSR extracted what it could out of Eastern Europe and even tried to starve out the citizens of West Berlin with a blockade. The US definitely did a lot of shady and questionable things, but the actions of the USSR terrified the rest of Western Europe who knew they were not in a position to stop them should they decide to invade unless the US stepped in. Looking back at the various atrocities that happened under the Stalinist regime, I could understand why people were so scared.
Meh, I very much disagree with how the UK is portrayed in this video. The UK was in a very good position for basically the entire war regardless of what the Brits themselves thought. The battle for Britain could have been lost and sure Britain would be at the mercy of the Luftwaffe however the Germans were never gonna perform a successful invasion of Britain.
I agree with you
but britain was never going to lose the battle of britain the RAF was actually larger more powerful and had the best air defence of any country at that time and had superior radar
The British just lost their ally, France, giving Germany many supplies and many areas to attack Britain. Not to mention the UK was running out of supplies. The British had every right to worry, the Soviet Union wouldn't have held off the Nazis by themselves, considering even with the help of the US and UK, they still lost 20 million people, they would've lost a lot more without the support of the U.S and the help of the U.K. Remember, the British didn't have enough supplies to combat Germany, it would be one super power vs a country close to being one, and 2 others.
Just remember that operation sealion would have been a shambles the Germans planed to land the first wave of troops over the corse of a entire day
The allies managed to land theirs within the first hours
And lend lease only started coming into play proverly in 1941
Not 1940
*****
The Germans did "bomb the shit out of factories and homes" and it did not matter. Air superiority doesn't make up for the fact that the German navy was a joke and one can defend against air attacks without an air force. There are multiple reports that state that any German attack on British soil would fail miserably soon after gaining a beachhead and they are largely believed to be correct.
It's actually surprising how ignorant what you said is.
+PendulumJustice actually with how inacurrate the bombers where it wouldn't have mattered, ships sat still at dunkirk and bombers pretty much never hit em so even with the RAF out of action the Royal Navy would have still beaten back the German air force with AA.
My grandfather was a Merchant Mariner during WWII, I've always been proud of him
My father was a merchant marine in WW 2. Thank you for recognizing their contribution
I hate, that you always say czechosloslovakia has fallen, with no mentioning, that that british and french just gave us to germany.
It's typical for powerful countries to play around with small ones
Well the French weren't involved in the deal. The deal was by the British prime minister at the time. Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, and the British made a deal basically saying "you guys can have what you've taken but you cant invade the rest of Czechoslovakia." Germany agreed, but then invaded anyway.
You could argue that the British gave away Denmark, but in reality what do you expect countries to do? Democratic nations cant just declare war "just cuz", and usually the war would be for little gain and extreme loss anyway. When Germany invaded Poland with the Soviets, the British and French finally declared war, but what are they going to do? You've got two of the most powerful and largest nations on Earth fighting in a country thats way too far to support.
Dictatorships can easily declare war because a dictator holds all the power and usually cares little for their people. In a democracy though the people essentially get to choose when to go to war (technically its congress/parliment but the people choose who gets into these positions), and people usually dont like war.
Czechoslovakia fell before Britain and France declared war.
At the end of the was Stalin took it and Poland anyways.
No sure what the point of the was was after that.
Whoâs here after the US reactivated Lend Lease for Ukraine
Enjoying this particular series a lot
Paradox has made an insanely good move by including Extra Credits in the advertisement with a good story :)