Germany hardly waged war against the US, toppled their governmnent, occupied it, bombed it, etc.
Japan did a few of those, though after much provocation to achieve exactly that and give an excuse to the US to sell the war to its public.
The US intervened in the European war (and not even decidely so, that's another myth), to ensure their improved role in the post-war environment, as the old European colonial powers were weakened by the war.
What exactly do you mean? It's just a description of Hitler's declaration of war on the US. It did not result in total war being waged on US soil, and it was mostly a strategic blunder on Hitler's part.
Note the count includes actions by Japan against the US. Compare it to the European theatre of war.
> Their lack of ‘total war’ on the US is mostly the consequence of a lack of resources / more pressing concerns.
But this is irrelevant for this discussion. The fact remains that the US didn't suffer total war waged by Germany on their soil during WW2, and this might explain the comment which sparked this thread:
> It wasn't very many years earlier that Germany waged total war against the US but a grudge hasn't held out there...
It's easier to hold a grudge with millions dead, bombing campaigns destroying your cities, etc, don't you think? Arguing formalities such as whether Germany and the US were at war seems pointless in this context, doesn't it?
No, I think you are vastly underplaying the extent to which Germany was America’s enemy. Don’t forget that Jews had escaped Germany to the US, especially prominent scientists like Einstein. The US didn’t ‘hold a grudge’ because the Cold War power struggles didn’t allow for it. West Germany needed to be an ally.
Oh, I definitely agree with this! This attitude also helped shape the narrative of WW2, especially of the Eastern Front [1], by former Wehrmacht officers in the employ of the US Army Historical Division. The Cold War made friends of former enemies, and let them tell their story in an unprecedented way -- an instance of history being told by the losers.
That war that was fought on European soil, and left the United States with their government intact, and moreover, squarely at the top of the world order.
Ask the Chinese about Japan.
It's more astonishing how russia acts to germany after the losses of WWII.
The US had never an attack on home soil like the UK.
According to Goebbels (and who should know the official line better?) the total war was to protect the west against communism ... and they would be protected even if they didn't want Nazi protection.
> " The West is in danger. It makes no difference whether or not their governments and intellectuals realize it or not.
> The German people, in any event, is unwilling to bow to this danger. Behind the oncoming Soviet divisions we see the Jewish liquidation commandos, and behind them terror, the specter of mass starvation and complete anarchy. ... Two thousand years of Western civilization are in danger. ... We could see our venerable part of the world collapse, and bury in its ruins the ancient inheritance of the West. That is the danger we face today.
> My second thesis: Only the German Reich and its allies are in the position to resist this danger. ... Bolshevism set ideological as well as military boundaries, which poses a danger to every nation. The world no longer has the choice between falling back into its old fragmentation or accepting a new order for Europe under Axis leadership. The only choice now is between living under Axis protection or in a Bolshevist Europe."
(That thread contains the original german, e.g. "Abendland", if anyone wishes to double check the translation copied above. I have not verified the transcript against the speech audio, but given that I've recently watched Triumph of the Will and read some of Ezra Pound's extended rants, I intend to consume some non-fascist content for a good long while...)
