If Christians Were Treated Like Muslims

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by Peregrino

Is there historical evidence that our choice "to offend Nazism" delayed the end of combat operations against Germany?

IMO, yes.

FDR's numerous 'insults' to the Nazi regime during America's undeclared war against Germany in 1941 motivated Germany in no small part to declare war against the U.S. in December of that year. (The enemy of the world emphasized this undeclared war in his speech of 11 December 1941 <<LINK>>. ) In the short term, Hitler's umbrage played to his enemies' advantage. By declaring war on the United States, the enemy of the world spared President Roosevelt the uphill task of convincing the American people that fighting Nazi Germany was the right thing to do.

Yet, in 1941 America was not ready to fight a general war against both Japan and Germany. This unreadiness translated to the Americans being treated like junior partners by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as well as by Winston Churchill. Until the Americans established equal footing with the British, strategic decisions (too) often served Britian's long term interests at the expense of the U.S.'s.

In turn, these decisions led to operations that many Americans felt delayed the establishment of a second front in Western Europe (e.g. GYMNAST/TORCH and HUSKY). The delays exacerbated relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. Both feared that the other might strike a separate peace with Germany.

To placate Stalin, the U.S. emphasized that war in Europe would not end without both the 'unconditional surrender' and subsequent partition of Germany. This position was codified during the Yalta conference of 1945. Although Germany had already committed itself to 'total war' in 1943--if not earlier--the notion of a Soviet interpretation of 'unconditional surrender' impacted the conduct of operations on the eastern front (where the Second World War was won). Anthony Beevor, among others, argues that the horrific civilian causalities suffered during the Battle for Berlin were attributable the Germans' justifiable fears of Russian retribution <<LINK2>>. (General Eisenhower's naval aide, Harry C. Butcher, commented in his diary on how German units would not surrender to Soviet units in May 1945.)

Moreover, contemporaneous American criticism of Nazi ideology struck many a nerve stateside. On the one hand, the U.S. rightly pointed out that Nazism codified a constellation of beliefs antithetical to liberalism (note, the lower case 'l'). Yet at the same time, America itself still had a long way to go on the long road to democracy <<LINK3>>.

While I am skeptical of the notion of 'the lessons of history,' I do think we should be exceedingly cautious in how we beat the drums of war during this current conflict.

My $0.02. YMMV.