Comments by "Luredreier" (@Luredreier) on "What if the US stayed neutral in World War 2?" video.

@paulpeterson4216 Maybe long term you'd be right. But the UK was already sending equipment before US resources where relevant, and by the time Germany invaded Denmark and Norway the merchant navies of these nations (both fairly sizable) where added to the British war effort. Britain was more than capable of providing aid to Russia for quite some time into the war even without US involvement. However you're right, continued submarine attacks would probably take its tole and the UK might have been forced to reduce its aid down the line. But helping other nations in Europe with war materials is something that the UK has done through many wars through history. And would have taken place even without US involvement.
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@w8stral The UK merchant fleet wasn't the only one involved. For instance the Danish and Norwegian merchant fleets where both sizable, and where made available to the allied war effort.
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@paulpeterson4216 Maybe, but I suspect that the UK could have kept up the production of the merchant fleet to keep up with the losses if needed. No one had the ship building capacity of the UK back then. Even the US needed time to catch up. And even then at least initially could only do so by focusing on obsolete designs that could be built by unskilled labour. Look up the Emergency Shipbuilding Program for details. The war in Europe would have been won without US aid, although it would have been a long and drawn out war.
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@w8stral Eh, not exactly small. Denmark and Norway both stayed neutral in most European conflicts since the Napoleonic wars and traded with all sides, growing our merchant fleets and wealth. We helped supply the UK and France during the Crimean war for instance. Profited from WW1. Submarines and mines of course took their toll. But our merchant fleet was still big. And had been for a long time. Combined it had always been a concern for Great Britain. The reason the UK attacked Denmark-Norway during the Napoleonic wars was concerns about our merchant fleet being used to transport troops more than it was abou our actual navy helping Napoleon, although that of course did play a part too in motivating the preemptive strike. Neither Denmark nor Norway could compare with the UK alone, but combined our merchant navy was significant. And we wheren't alone. The Dutch navy and merchant fleet as well as the navies and merchant fleets of pretty much every other European nation invaded by Germany ended up supporting the allied war efforts. Greek merchant ships, many French ones, fleets from the Balkans, Belgians, etc, etc... It all adds up.
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@waelomar7065 Not doing so would also have lost Britain its empire. The European continent as a whole would always be more powerful than the UK, the country stayed on top in part by always helping the underdogs against the biggest powers on land in order to ensure a balance of power where the UK could maintain its influence.
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Norway and Finland wouldn't remain under Germany in the case of a ceasfire and peace negotiations I think. Hostile population with a lot of resistance fighting, better supply lines for the Soviets and allies then the Germans, vulnerable to British attacks. France might be held, or at least portions of France would. Finland like Sweden would probably try to play the two sides against each other to the best of their ability. I'm not sure about the Baltics etc...
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