World War II

I pulled my head out of the sand yesterday and found that nothing has changed. America remains the largest and best. That is, of course, if one ignores the politicians. Those people are quietly erasing the things that define America. 

I have been a critic of FDR for many years. He's the guy that first did everything he could to increase the power of the executive branch. Yes, I do know that he assumed an office weakened by comparatively cautious, somewhat incompetent, President's that a number of bad choices. As FDR gained success in moving America from a large and unknown factor on the world stage to a huge manufacturing giant, he eased the end of the depression years, increased our military capability, and turned the government towards liberalism. 

Just as he was becoming effective and popular World War II began. Great Britain was our major partner and joined the war before we did, and the French followed them. It was a losing team. Neither Britain or France was prepared to defend itself. Their industries were unable to support the war against Germany's Blitzkrieg. They had prepared, had produced enough armaments, and prepared their population for war. Britain and France simply could not stand against the military force of Germany. That is, until FDR loaned significant money and arms, particularly to Britain who then geared up their war making machine. 

France fell at the Maginot Line and for the most part, gave up. 

Britain fought a holding action with arms given or loaned (Lend Lease) to them by FDR. America and Britain came up to speed quickly, but the American public resisted officially joining them. To enable Britain to remain effective FDR loaned them guns, ships, and money while he struggled to overwhelm the American war resistance, the appeasers, and the citizens that felt we should fight in no war beyond our borders. Finally, just as Great Britain was about to collapse, America  declared war upon the Axis. At that time the enemy was principally Germany and Italy and they were gaining victory after victory, and gathering land and countries, and clearly winning the war. 

Meanwhile, Russia had joined the war on our side and they soon became a very significant ally. Essentially, we were defending and attacking from the west, and Russia was defending and attacking from the east. 

At some point Germany decided that "two fronts" were in order. They attempted to attack Russia as well as continuing the war on the western front. The decision apparently was Hitler's alone, and it was a disaster for Germany. His deployment of armaments and military personnel to engage Russia, weakened his ability to continue the pace of victories in the west. His attempt to conquer Russia marked the beginning of Germany's decline. The allies Britain and American crossed the channel and landed on French soil. From that brilliant, dangerous, and successful military action, the conquering of the German war machine became inevitable.