h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have read the information about the causes for WW2 with interest. The only area of minor disagreement I have is in the final section where it implies that the USA came into the war in 1940. I know there were a number of Eagle Squadrons flying RAF fighters and these were American flyers and no doubt there were a few others in other parts of the armed forces but to suggest that America, as a sovereign state, was involved in the war before Dec 7th 1941 is a little wide of the mark. Perhaps this point could be clarified in the near future. I'm not suggesting that the American government didn't give us moral and equipment support but by and large they were non-combatants until Pearl Harbour in 1941. That meant that effectively we, along with our Empire, were fighting the Nazi war machine alone from the fall of France and the Scandinavian territories until Operation Barbarossa in May 1941. Even then the victorious German war machine rolled on eastwards until Zhukov appeared on the scene. We Brits were fighting alone for about 18 months and I feel that this is sometimes overlooked.

Which entry are you referring to? "Causes of World War Two" throws up A1000774 in the search engine, and that doesn't mention the USA at all .

'...as with America, whose isolationist stance lasted until 1940.'

Right at the end. It doesn't say the US came into the war, but implies they stopped pretending it wasn't happening and began to at least make [fairly empty] declarations of support for Britain.

Ahh. That to me doesn't necessarily imply military involvement, just that they started to see what was happening outside their own borders and begin to start getting involved.

Well if your going by non-confrontatial involvement, the failure of the US economy during the early thirties had dire implications on Germany which lead to Hitler's rise of Power. On a lesser footnote, the Americans were supplying the Chinese guerillas with arms & ammuniation prior to Pearl Harbour.

I think one of the major reluctances of the United States not to join the war from the offset was those loan ties with Germany that Hitler was still paying.

I mean, the United States was not as isolated as it was before WWI. The US was a strong voice on the treaty of Versaille and the conditions against Germany could have been far worse with it's involvement. The US played a role in the formation of the League of Nations.

America did not have the means to enter the war until Pearl Harbor. In 1939 the regular army had 9 divisions which really meant that only 3 were fully combat ready. America was very isolationist and even providing aid in the form of the Lend Lease Act took alot of prodding by FDR. Prior to our entry into the war our tanks were antiquated and we had a handful of troops scattered around Asia. While its true American pilots were in the RAF and in China they were not under any specific American policy. One often forgets just how vulenrable the democracies were at that time and how facism was seen as the new world order. That was until the failed painter took his act on the road.