Comments by "Dennis Weidner" (@dennisweidner288) on "TIKhistory" channel.

  1.  @juliantheapostate8295  This is not altogether true. Germany had a larger industrial capacity than the Soviet Union and unlike the Soviets could pillage occupied counties (basically all of Europe) and use their industrial capacity. The untold story of World War II is the failure of German/NAZI industrial policy and economics. How the Soviets with a much smaller steel industry built more tanks and artillery than the Germans. And how much of Germany's industrial output went west to fight the War in the West rather than support the Ostheer fighting the decisive battle of the war in the East.
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  2.  @robertleache3450  I tend to agree with you. But the problem for Germany was that NAZIs were not going to stop being NAZIs and their orientation was to plunder, enslave, and kill and those orientations are not conducive to effective economic management.
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  3. Ying, why do you begin by saying that my opinions are based on propaganda? Just because we disagree does not mean either you or I have not seriously studied the issue. As to Stlalin, surely you understand that throughout history, the real history you refer to, that alliances have been formed among powers that have different values and goals. In the American Revolution for example the French absolutist monarchy aided the American democratic revolution--very strange bed fellows. Believing in democracy does not mean you take a stupid pill. The NAZIs were the primary threat and very good at war, better than the democracies (France. Britain, and America). We had to compromise our values to defeat the Germans first. I do not know how we could have done that without the Red Army. (Or how the Red Army could have done that without us.) Once that was done, the United States formed a coalition of powers that stopped the further spread of Stalinist tyranny cold. It took 45 years, but the Soviet Union was eventually destroyed and Eastern Europe freed - all without another world war.
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  4. You can tell when a person has lost an argument. They start trying to put words in the other persons mouth, because they can not answer what a person actually said. I never said that Britain and France declared war on the NAZIs in 1939 because of the extermination camps. Those are your words not mine, They declared war because Hitler invaded Poland and was intent on war. Anyone who has ever opened a book on World War II knows that. That said, while the NAZIs had not yet opened extermination camps, they had opened concentration camps beginning with Dachau (1933) The NAZIs made no secret about it. The brutalities of the regime ere well known. But it was not why the Allies declared war. .The Allies wanted no part of the War, they did their best to appease Hitler. And while I agree with you about Stalin, why do you mot mention Mao, another Communist totalitarian who actually killed far more people than Stalin.
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  5. @Joshua Roesner Excellent points. Ying Yang has an agenda and you are nit going to get a reasoned discussion from him.
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  6.  @melvillesperryn9268  Based on Okinawa, a million Japanese is a low estimate. And you are ignoring the fact that by August the Japanese people were beginning to starve. And you are not considering what would have happened in the areas still occupied by Japan in Southeast Asia without the Emperor's surrender order. Other important matters include what would have happened to Allied POWs being brutalized and starved. Or the fact that it was the Jaanese who 1) began bombing civilians and 2) were using WMDs on civilians.
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  7. @addick675 You don't think freeing the salves as a result of the Civil War was morally right?
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  8.  @d.k8746  I'm not sure what your point is. There is no doubt that the Soviets were guilty of great atrocities. https://www.histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/wca/w2wca-sov.html It is no accident that the Soviets and NAZIs were allies for nearly 2 years.
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  9.  @addick675  You wrote "Nothing in war could ever be morally right in any time measured by any standards." The only immoral act America could have committed in the 1940s was not to oppose the pure evil posed by the Axis.
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  10.  @d.k8746  Absolute nonsense. Not one serious historian reports this. By making such an absurd allegation you demonstrate that you are a person that has nothing to offer in any serious discussion of the War.
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  11.  @d.k8746  More utter nonsense. Mosier is a revisionist historian of no interest except for people like yourself who have no interest in real history and facts. He is not a respected World War II historian. The historical record is very clear. But even if you want to ignore actual history here are two major problems with your nonsense. First, where are all the dead bodies you claim the Americans killed? Where are the mass graves? Second, how did the German soldiers feel about your nonsense? We know precisely how they felt. They voted with their feet. There was only once thing German soldiers wanted at the end of the War -- to get away from the Red Army and get as far west as possible so they could surrender to the British and Americans. And that is exactly what you would have done if you were in their shoes rather than spouting patently absurd revisionist pulp fiction.
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  12. Excellent assessment. It also helps explains why the Soviet Union and other socialist countries fail and why capitalist countries succeed. You do not assess, however, how the logistical system of the various militaries compares. Is it that the Gerjann logistical system failed because the economy was not very productive or that the American logistical system succeeded because the Arsenal of Democracy was very so much more productive.
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  13. Nonsense. What is your source?
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  14. You are quite correct about the failure of capitalism nonsense. I was listening to PBS yesterday. A reasonably well done documentary about the Fed head during much of the New Deal, but very misleading. First not a world about how the Fed turned an ordinary down turn into the Great Depression. Second they blamed the Roosevelt Recession on efforts to balance the budget. Not a word about the astronomical tax rates imposed by the New Deal. Sadly this is how the new crowd in Washington thinks.
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  15. This is an important topic. The fighting spirit of the German allies (Hungarian, Italian, and Romanian) is one question, a little challenging to get at. One matter is much easier to assess and that is the armament of these divisions. Tik does an excellent job at providing details on how poorly they were armed. Now, given that the Deutsche Ostheer was 80 percent unmotirized infantry, it is understandable that the Axis allies were not going to get vehicles and heavy armament that German units did not have. This leads to an important question. Why were the German allies and German units so poorly equipped when German heavy industry had a greater capacity than the Soviets even before many Soviet industrial cities were overrun. The answer is twofold: 1. German industrial policy was much less effective than Soviet policy. The Germans had fewer mass production assembly lines. And the Germans were most focused on high-quality production than the Soviets who understood that tanks and other weapons might only have a life span of a few days or weeks at the front. 2, The War in the West. While German MANPOWER committed to the Ostkrieg, the bulk of Germany's industrial output was committed to the war in the West, leaving the Ostheer poorly supplied and supported. Russian authors commonly dismiss the War in the est. Actually, it was vital to the Red Army's victory in the East,.
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  16. The Soviets did not have a population half of that of America, But they had an economy less than half as large and much less efficient..
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  17. @ keith walker Not for capitalis, but for our current economic managers and politicians.
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  18. @Perkelenaattori I could not disagree more. Just look at the Japanese. Or look at the Americans. Allied generals recognized that man for man, unit for unit, the Americans (and British) were not up to the fighting quality of the Germans. Here we are not talking about NAZI propaganda, but the assessment of Allied commanders. his affected Allied strategy throughout the War. It was one reason Eisenhower maintained the Broad Font strategy. The simple fact is that the children of democracy are not the best raw material for soldiers. Of course, this was made up for by the massive firepower differential supplied by American and British industry.
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  19. Something that needs to be addressed is why the Axis Allies did so poorly. The whole Stalingrad fiasco is often pinned on the Hungarian, Rimania, and Italian units on the flanks of the Sixth Army. Too often this is put down to the lack of fighting spirit. A more important factor is probably how poorly equipped and supplied they were. I would like to see a real discussion of this. This brings us to the issue of why they were so poorly equipped and armed. You must realize the Deutsche Ostheer (DO) itself was poorly equipped and supplied. Some 80 percent of the DO was unmotorized infantry moving east on foot with horse-drawn carts. Obviously, Hitler was not going to provide massive support to his allies when he could not fully equip the DO. And there was also another issue. He did not want for his Axis allies to be too strong. And finally, the major point I want to make. Hitler's fundamental problem was more than half of Germany's industrial output was going to fight the War in the West even though the War was being decided in the East. Something those who insist that the War in the West was a sideshow and the Soviets won the war on their own needed to consider.
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  20. What you say is true, but worth mentioning is that the Soviet Union was a NAZI ally for nearly 2 years and committed obscene atrocities in the countries it invaded (1939-41).
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  21. Part of the reasons that we do not hear much about the Red Army offensives are 1) Soviet/Russian archives were not open to Western historians and 2) Soviet authors published in Russian and most of these books have not been translated.
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  22. @ Dirk Bruere Chamberlain was not matching German spending.
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  23.  @dirkbruere  The problem was that appeasement began years earlier and by 1939 the Germans had a distinct advantage. Chamberlain's policy was that Britain did not need to match German spending, only have a military capable of inflicting damage. You say it was matched in n1939. I will point nut that in 1939 the RAF still had biplane squadrons, pilot training was NOT matched, and there was no program to build needed naval escorts in 1939. Just out of curiosity, what is your source that British defense spending matched German defense spending in 1939?
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  24. Tik, you go into the rise of anti-Semitism. What you say is essentially correct. And I understand that you can only go into so much detail. But one very important factor that has to be mentioned is education. Jews put a major emphasis on education, in part because of the need to read the Torah. This meant that literacy was higher among the Jews than among the wider population. When you get into the modern age this transferred into economic success and is part of the reason Jews did so well in the professions. You see the same dynamic in Germany and America when Jews from the Tsarist Empire immigrated in huge numbers.
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  25. The difference is that Harris helped put a stop to genocide while Goeth and Hitler's other henchmen fought so that they could conduct genocide on a wider scale,.
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  26. Tik, I think you do not mention the obvious as to why Hitker did not end the War. He was fully aware of the enormous crimes he had ordered and the millions murdered. And he had no illusions that he would face justice if caught by the Western Allies and god knows what if caught by the Soviets. It was best to fight it out. It extended his life for nearly 3 years of comfortable living and the ability to kill millions more Jews and his other racial enemies.
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  27. @Skipper. True, but also important is that the Soviets closed their archives to Western historians. So it was basically impossible to research the Soviet side of the Wat. Incidentally, under Putin, the Soviet archives are now closed again.
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  28.  @Saruman38  Numbers were a factor, but they were hardly the only factor.
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  29.  @TheImperatorKnight  What is not true?. The Soviets did have superior numbers. It is true that as you point out this was not the only factor, but they did have superior numbers. Now the numerical superiority was narrowed during Barbarossa by the massive Red Army losses and fir a time there was a degree of parity, the Soviet Union was a larger country with a larger population. And the Germans may have had superior numbers at the point of the spear at times in 1941 and 42, this advantage was lost as American trucks began to arrive in large numbers after Stalingrad.
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  30.  @charliebarber4899  What nonsense. American imperialism as you call it saved the world from being dominated by the great totalitarian dictatorships of the 20th century. Of course, mistakes were made. What war was ever fought without mistakes? But the overall arc of American history is toward freedom. at home and abroad In fact, it was in America that: 1. The world first broke from monarchy that had dominated humanity for millennia beginning in Sumeria. 2. The average Joe for the first time could own the land he worked--again for the first time in history when mankind primarily eked out a meager existence as a landless peasantry. It is you who has a poor understanding of history. And your understanding of economics is equally flawed. Please name a prosperous country that does not have a core capitalist economy. Or a socialist country that has a prosperous economy.
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  31.  @sheevinit1490  It is you who has a muddled view of the Revolution. It was a turning point in human history. 1. The world first broke from monarchy that had dominated humanity for millennia beginning in Sumeria. 2. The average Joe for the first time could own the land he worked--again for the first time in history when mankind primarily eked out a meager existence as a landless peasantry. Now I am a big fan of Britain and believe that much that is right about America is our British heritage. But in 1776 Britain still had a powerful although limited monarchy and only a small fraction of the British people could vote or own kand.
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  32. @ Education. Hopefully it will include the fact that after independence, India made little economic progress.
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  33. Your assessment of the strategic bombing campaign is largely correct, although you got some details wrong. But you say that the critics of the strategic bombing campaign are NAZIs or pro-NAZIs Actually that is a small part of the cohort. It is mostly left wing individuals or young people influenced by Marxist professors intent on blackening the historical image of America and Britain.
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  34.  @michaelkovacic2608  I have never heard that about the far left in Germany and Austria. I had thought the Left takes the position the Soviets won the War singlehandedly and that the War in the West was of little importance.
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  35.  @jackmack1061  Wow!. I thought educated used ideas and not insults. I will point out to you two important facts: 1) The only countries which even approach the attributes that you mention are countries with core capitalist economies. 2) And that these countries only exist today because the United States played a central role in defeating or stopping aggressor nations.
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  36.  @TheImperatorKnight  And those civilians are manufacturing tanks, aircraft, and U-boats, not to mention gas chambers.
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  37.  @dernwine  When a bomb goes off there is no way of preventing collateral damage with absolute surety. The difference is that maximum civilian collateral damage is usually the propose of a terror bombing.
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  38.  @sillypuppy5940  If the Germans were concerned about civilian casualties, they should not have started the ar.
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  39.  @pissiole5654  Absolutely correct.
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  40. Perhaps you have not noticed, but the Soviet Union no longer exists. the Soviet people voted to relegate it to the Ash Can of economics.
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  41. I am not holding on to any belief system. I am simply basking you for 1) your sources and 2) where the bodies are. Which you refuse to answer. Now if you want to make the case that the Allies commuted terrible crimes. I suggest you look at British conduct in Bengal. Here there is actual evidence. And I did not hide it in my World War II Websute: https://www.histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/india/w2i-fam.html
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  42.  @gandhiindia1685  Why would you say something like this? How would you like someone to say "Not all Hindus are bad you know. Are you aware of the number of Indians alive today because of the work of Jewish doctors and scientists?
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  43. What absolute nonsense. There were no Finnish SS units.
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  44.  @gandhiindia1685  What an ignorant response. Gandhi would be ashamed of you. That is hate speech pure and simple based on now fact and pure hate. In addition, you might want to look into how many Nobel prizes are worn by Jews. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/interesting-fact-of-the-day-jews-have-won-a-disproportionate-share-of-nobel-prizes/
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  45.  @gandhiindia1685  Pure hateful ignorance. Try educating yourself.
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  46.  @gandhiindia1685  Of course I have read the Torah. It is the first five books of the Christian Bible. I have read and studied the Torah. It is nor a racist book. The concept of race had not even been invented. This is why the heart and soul of the Abolitionist movement was Christian churches in America and Britain. And why Churches and Synagogues played such an important role in the Civil Rights movement.
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  47. Absolutely correct. German manpower was in the East. But much of German industrial production supported the war in the West, including the Luftwaffe.
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  48. @ Coop Kind of depends how you define old men. There were a lot oi middle-aged men called up for military service.
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  49. @ Al Mol. If Barbarossa had succeeded, so would the Germans have had the atomic bomb.
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  50.  @trololobochum  Absolutely correct. It all hinged on Barbsrossa.
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