Day of Infamy

aso

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 5, 2001
Messages
209
Location
NY
December 7,1941

Pearl Harbor

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lemlux

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Mar 27, 2002
Messages
2,366
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San Diego
Mr. Bombastic:

The insularity of the U.S. through the first two years of the war certainly paralleled that of Latin America -- (Inspite of the understandable clandestine programs of disinformation of the Churchill government to accelerate and inflame the American distaste for actions of the Axis powers.) It took the actions planned by the emotionally conflicted and fascinating (to me at least) Admiral Yamamoto to "awake the sleeping giant."

Far too many good people in every country affected by the war lost their lives. Far too many people in North Korea and China have yet to enjoy the the freedom and human rights that most of the allied combatants fought to obtain or preserve. Let us indeed remember them all.

The most interesting and ironic historical perspective of this horrible conflagration to me is that, at least through the '80's, Japan and Germany won the war economically.

By avoiding, through surrender imposed prohibitions, massive expenditures on defense in the late '40's, the '50's, the '60's and the '70's the Japanese and German economies triumphed through the '80's.

The '90's caused Germany to stumble as Germans dealt with the aftermath of 4 1/2 decades of Soviet repression to the Eastern half of the country. Rigid paternalistic business structures and imprudent banking commitments in Japan combined with the manufacturing awakening of the the ASEAN countries, Korea, and China caused Japan to stumble at the same time in the '90's.
 

Albany Tom

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Aug 18, 2002
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769
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Albany, NY
I don't think we can blame the war for Germany's and Japan's success afterword, nor defense spending. I'd attribute it more to the reconstruction of industry and government that they had to do after the war, and the US lack of corresponding restructuring. The short answer is that I believe they worked harder and smarter, and parts of our industry were a bit greedy.

If we had crippled the German and Japanese economies after the war, I think we'd be in far worse shape now. The screwed up treaty after WWI comes to mind. Without that, which I'd like to believe is the fault of the French, and of a spirit of revenge rather than sense, I don't think the Germans would have been capable of letting such a nut get into power in the first place.

That said, Pearl Harbor Day is a US memory, although there is certainly a huge bond between the US and British over that war. Lots of US sailors and merchantmen lost their lives bringing food and supplies to the British before we entered the war, and lots of British soldiers, sailors, airmen, and civilians lost their lives fighting the Germans before we were actively involved, too.
 

Mr. Bombastic

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 4, 2002
Messages
89
Location
The United Kingdom
I understand Americans sadness on this date, but many other countries had already been fighting for two years when this happened to The US.

We should remember all the soldiers who have fought and died for us so that we may live as we do. God bless them.
 

Monsters_Inc

Banned
Joined
Oct 8, 2002
Messages
654
Location
Monstropolis
Ya know before I saw that movie, I had no idea what Pearl Harbour was all about. Then again, I was born in Malaysia, raised in New Zealand and now live in Australia...
 
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