By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Politics Discussion - Could America have taken over the World after World War 2? Should they have?

Funny because it was recently that we saw this topic in my history class, and I became obsessed with it.

The U.S did came out as the biggest profiteer after BOTH wars. The Depression took place thanks to other internal reasons, mostly the stock market crash and the overused credit. It was World War II that pushed U.S' economy up out of the depression.

Germany got up on it's own two feet after being humiliated by the Allies... The U.S couldn't.

On topic, I believe they wouldn't be able to do it at the time, much less today. And the world's off better that way, imperialism doesn't work anymore.



Around the Network
spurgeonryan said:

China and Dubai seem to own half or more of America and now we went from winning a Cold War against Russia and World War against the Axis of Evil to getting our butts kicked by some villagers in Afghanistan and Iraq.


Dubai?



It wouldn't have worked.

Firstly, WW2 caused the second highest amount of casualties in American history. Only the Civil War had more.

405,399 Americans dead
670,846 Americans wounded
30,314 Americans missing
1,106,559 Americans are unable to fight.

139,928,165 was the population size in 1945
In 2000 40% of the population was 18 to 44 (usually capable of military combat).
Let's project 40% onto 1945 population size 55,971,266
Now let's half that to exclude women; 27,895,633
Subtract WW2 casualties = 26,879,074 men capable of fighting a war.

Operation Downfall projections assume 1.2 million American casualties in the invasion of Japan. (Note: this was to be the largest invasion in human history, but Japan surrendered after being nuked.) Project that 1.2 million casualties onto an invasion of any powerful country at the time and the US would run out of men very quickly.

The United States could have exercised Plan Rubber and have taken Brazil, but that's about it. (Note: This invasion plan was crafted in case Brazil sided with the Nazis, but they didn't so Plan Rubber was scrapped.)



"On my business card I am a corporate president. In my mind I am a game developer. But in my heart I am a gamer." - Satoru Iwata

Ka-pi96 said:
Aeolus451 said:
veritaz said:


You honestly believe they are trying to conquer those countries? The death toll in the middle east is super 1 sided. I see a lot of people underestimating the U.S military right now. We have by far the best military currently and could take out any country still with the amount of firepower and advanced technology we have. It's not like all that money that we spend on the military doesn't do anything. We still spend the most out of any other country by far.



We owe china nearly 1 trillion US dollars and it's growing. They are the #1 country we borrow money from. Our 2011 military budget was 664 billion. Overall, we owe around 3 trillion in foreign debt. We couldn't afford to wage war unless we borrow money or cancel some welfare checks.

Well if they were really intent on world domination they could just start by invading the countries they owe money to instead of paying it back...



China has twice the size of our military and the wealth to provide whatever they need. Their total population outnumbers us by 4 times. :D

WW2 was no easy victory and that was with the assistance of a massive amount of allies from Russia through to Australia and NZ. Drop those allies, add in that the US also had massive loses and resource shortages, add in the fact other countries were also on the verge of having nuclear weapons and most likely the US as you know it would have been removed from the planet by an alliance of other countries had it tried such a dick move.



Around the Network
ArnoldRimmer said:
America DID take over the world after WW2.

America has been THE profiteer of both world wars.

it almost seems like they've adopted a "world war strategy":
1. Initially, completely stay out of the conflict
2. Wait until the fighting parties have mutually ruined themselves
3. When all the key players are already mostly lying on the ground, find a reason for entering the war
4. No longer being faced with any significant military risistance, it's easy to force US will on pretty much all sides in the conflict
5. Exit the war as the big war profiteer, with hardly any losses
6. Fool later generations with endless amounts of Hollywood movies which give the impression that the US somehow was THE main force in the war, despite the US actually hardly even being involved (only about 0.7% of WW2 casualties were americans)

I looked at where you are from and laughed that it actually is Germany.  Anyways, no one makes anyone watch American movies so it is the consumers fault. 



I dunno. Remind me how that worked for Nazi germany... or any other empire in history. :P



ArnoldRimmer said:
America DID take over the world after WW2.

America has been THE profiteer of both world wars.

it almost seems like they've adopted a "world war strategy":
1. Initially, completely stay out of the conflict
2. Wait until the fighting parties have mutually ruined themselves
3. When all the key players are already mostly lying on the ground, find a reason for entering the war
4. No longer being faced with any significant military risistance, it's easy to force US will on pretty much all sides in the conflict
5. Exit the war as the big war profiteer, with hardly any losses
6. Fool later generations with endless amounts of Hollywood movies which give the impression that the US somehow was THE main force in the war, despite the US actually hardly even being involved (only about 0.7% of WW2 casualties were americans)

It's a pretty good strategy. Certainly a better one than:

1. Start a world war.
2. Lose.

@OP: You always ask the weirdest shit, spurge. Your head is one scary place.



Russia killed by far more germans than anyone else and are responsible for ending WW2 in Europe. I'm not pro-russian or anything but that is the reality. They did it at great cost to themselves. Seems unfair not to always point this out. Their input in the war was incredibly important.

The USA is not a conquering country, I think many immigrants had come from countries of injustice and the culture of the USA was not one for invasion. If anything there was a culture of isolation and many didn't want to get involved in world wars.

It's a frightening thought but as the power and influence of the USA diminshes and China rises they seem like a country that is politically immature with a capacity for war. I'm a UK citizen but the fall of the USA is very frightening for world peace because in recent years I think they have been a good influence internationally.

The whole world seems to owe China money. USA, Europe, UK, Africa for starters. What will China do when we simply can't afford to pay them back without our own citizens suffering.



No and no



The One and Only

VizionEck.com