"Why the Allies Won" by Richard Overy is a great reference for a lot of WW2
history. An exceptionally good book, as all of his are. "Russia's War" is
another great one of his, especially if you read it along with the BBC or
Channel 4 TV series. Bit depressing, but. There's also "The Air War 1939-45"
and "The Big Man" (?) or "The Iron Man"(?), a biography of Goering.
A couple of other good ones, especially for the US involvement against Japan
are "Japan's War" by Edwin Floyt and "The Pacific War" by (?) Costello.
There'll probably be lots on the 1940 campaign available in the States,
particularly about the general America First movement.
Dammit but current US policy and especially Congressional attitudes set off
bells for me. So like after WW1 and just before WW2, two occasions when US
involvement in world affairs might have made an enormous difference.
And no, I'm not reneging on being against the US tendency to try to control
world events. That attitude is very much an America First type of response,
as we're seeing with the Kyoto and ABM treaties being dumped for internal US
political reasons. What needed to be done then, and to some extent now is
for the US to engage as a PARTNER with those forces that are mutually
beneficial.
For example, US involvement in the League of Nations may well have prevented
Japan's incursions into China in the 1930s, Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and
possibly the Spanish Civil War (at least may have kept Germany and Italy out
of it).
US backing for France and Britain may have left Czechoslovakia in one piece
in 1938. Britain and France were thoroughly snowed by the perceived strength
of Germany's forces, and totally underestimated the strength of the Czechs.
Had it turned into a forced invasion, Germany might have been defeated in
1938 well outside Prague. The German military shat itself when they got to
see the Czech defences in the Sudetenland, and they were still using 1938
Czech armour and aircraft in 1944. And in 1938 the highest levels of
Germany's Army were just looking for an excuse to get rid of Hitler,
personal oaths notwithstanding.
Cheers,
Brett
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Doug Pensinger
> Sent: Wednesday, 13 June 2001 2:33 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: US at war in 1940?1942? L3
>
>
>
>
> Brett Coster wrote:
>
> >
> > The chances of the US coming into the war in 1940 were absolutely zero.
> >
>
> Great post, Brett, good stuff. I take it you can recommend a good WWII
> reference?
>
> Doug
