Was Britain and its commonwealth allies let down in the final weeks of ww2 by the U.S.A. did they ?

Question

create the iron curtain through wantng to have dominance of the allies or at least feel more important and as such took their eye off the ball of what Stalin was up to. Can they say they were right to stand back & let the Russians take Berlin against British advice that we could and would have got there first. Do all the present troubles in eastern Europe lend themseves to the U.S.A. making bad decisions in the month before the war in Europe ended whilst disregarding the other allies advice

Answer 1

I was let down.  We should have let Hitler have you.

--Well, I wish we could go back and let that scenario play out without Americans involved.  Brits wouldn't have spent 60 years insulting the Americans that helped you and we'd have a lot more Americans that lived to be grandpas.

Answer 2

It is possible that your opinion is right but that's the problem it's an opinion, I'm sure the reason the allies agreed to let the Soviet Union enter Berlin was because of the united front that would present and I'm sure a certain level of revenge for the massacre of the peoples of the Soviet the Germans carried out.

Do you think the UK was let down by Churchill allowing the raising of Dresden? It's a controversial opinion but at the time 5 years of war and the people of the UK would, I'm sure, have felt cheated if he had stopped it. Likewise do you think from the 2008 perspective you have that America shouldn't have dropped either atomic bombs on Japan, or do you think that was just a reminder to the Soviets that America had the real power?

If you go back a bit further you could blame the entire rise to power of Hitler on the Frence government for demanding huge reparations after the first world war, or perhaps you could blame Britain and America for not fighting the Frence and letting it happen? Or do you blame the alliances of the 19th century for the start of WWI?

It's encouraging that you want to raise the subject as a topic for discussion but if you want more people to enter into the discussion you need to write the question more clearly.

BTW America has a long history of not looking beyond thier noses when it comes to arming people to fight an enemy only to have those newly armed people bite there arses for them.

Answer 3

It was nothing whatsoever to do with a unilateral decision by the Americans. Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Yalta Conference and settled the carve up of Europe post war.

Answer 4

What do you mean let down?

Roosevelt considered the Brits battling against tyranny of the the n***s alone an excellent time to bring down the the British Empire.

And the British people only paid off the 'loans' for freedom a few years ago - that's what I call a special relationship!

edit - still paying for pax- America!

Answer 5

Difficult to say - what is true is that Roosevelt was in fact dying at the time of the Yalta Conference and was not at his best.  Yalta decided the outcome of WW2 and decided who was to have what and which countries, when liberated, would have their own govts back in place and all foreign troops withdrawn (with the exception of Germany, which would be occupied).  As usual the Western powers complied and the Russians did not (except for Austria).

Answer 6

I think everything turned out fine. To be honest i think America over exaggerates what they did during the war, what they did do was much appreciated, but they are always saying that "we saved your arses in World War Two". America didn't, they just helped. They didn't bother about us until Japan attacked them at Pearl Harbour. Britain (along with countries like Australia and Canada) are saving America's **** in Iraq and Afghanistan. If Britain hadn't gone in, where would America be now eh? Britain is based in the most dangerous part of Afghanistan, Helmand Province. America is all cushy in Kabul!  

Answer 7

We, UK / Commonwealth and Russia held our ground very well before the US FINALLY came into the war when it was FINALLY forced to. We had strings of victories against Germany and it's cronie allies in all of the theatres (sea/air/naval). Many say that we couldn't have done it without help from the US and I tend to agree! BUT, boy did we pay for it? We only finished paying our dues to the US about 2 years ago. We owed them billions upon billions. Whilst we did all the fighting, they sent us the tools.

If we were let down by the USA, it's only because we probably let them let us down because we'd had enough. After all out war from 1939, we were sick and tired of it! That said, I am glad that the US came to 'help' us win, and like a good friend, they were there for us in the end when it really mattered.

Answer 8

USA let Britain down? Absolutely not. How could they?

Turn the clock back 70 years and you will see that the majority of people in America didn't want to fight, it was the US government who did.  It wasn't pearl harbour which brought America into the European conflict but Hitlers declaration of war on the US.  Hitler saw the writing on the wall: US aid keeps Britain in the war while the Russians grew ever stronger. Hitler had to declare war on the US in order to keep the Japanese in the fight.

If America hadn't entered the war would Germany have won? Probably not.

If Germany hadn't invaded Russia would they still have lost the war? Probably not.

It was Russia not the US who changed the course of the war and in the closing stages of the war in Europe, America didn't have the desire to take on the Russians and who could blame them?  The Russian army was motivated by a lust for revenge against the German people.  Germany never invaded Britain nor America, sure they bombed Britain but they "reaped the whirlwind" for it as Bomber Harris famously said later on. The Russians, however had an extra special "motivation" to be first into Berlin and no Ally would have stopped them.  In fact Stalin (a master of motivation) had let it be well known that the last Russian General to enter the city would be sent away for "re-education".

The iron curtain would still have come down.. it was just a matter of where it's boundaries would lay.  US (and other allied) soldiers would have died so that the berlin wall was a few miles further East, big deal.  American presence in Europe ended the war quicker and thus saved British and Russian lives.  They also ensured the curtain didn't cover the whole of Germany, was it worth it for that? Probably not.  What it did do, however, was deliver the atom bomb into America's hands, which saved American lives in the war with Japan, and without which they would never have become a world superpower.

If you wish to find a reason to blame America for letting Britain down look up Suez, if you wish to find a reason for Britain letting America down look up Vietnam.

Don't get me wrong, there is a "special relationship" between the two nations (of Britain and America), and it's held together by a wonderful glue, it's called oil.

Answer 9

The Freedom Fighters with Team Magnificent Seven from Team Allied Forces?

No.

Don't think so.

It was their team work.

That made it a success back in the past.

With the Liberation of Freedom from world war two.

For the good of man-kind.

In making this world a better place to live in time.

With their creation of peace on earth good will to men for the little ones in time.

In the creation of a new civilisation in the new century in time.

Luke 9.25,55-56,60

What do you think?

Answer 10

Russia had been our ally.

Had we worked with them after the war instead of being belligerant, things could have been different.

The US did not help.

Answer 11

Easy to answer what we should have done now, maybe if we lined up the population of britain now, layed them out as coffins the point is made more clearly. Thats about what it cost to finish WW2. Nobody had the stomach for more war, Churchill had Stalin weighed up, but Roosevelt had his nation weighed up and most of Europe. They'd seen enough of death.