Was Germany ever more powerful then the US in the world wars?

[Mac-7]

we are not talking about now

Understood

I find history very interesting

But the most compelling reason to study history is for clues about the present and future

 

[Turtlesoup]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

The U.S. fought on three fronts and still turned the tide of the War... Japan was more brutal than the Germans and had the U.S. only focuses on Germany the war would have been short and quick because the U.S. was no nonsense back then...

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

There were 3 major mistakes in WW2 and if any of the 3 weren't done--Germany would have won.

1) The japanese attacked the US bringing the US in even though we wanted to be isolationists
2) Hitler didn't immediately invade Britain after taking out the French instead opting to celebrate and party
3) Attacking the sleeping Bear the Russians---

2) was an impossibility. The Germans had no concept of how hard a cross-channel invasion would be. The best they could come up with were UNPOWERED river barges with ramps added being towed across the Channel by tugs. Even if they managed to get their assault divisions onto British beaches, they RAF and RN would slaughter any follow-on forces and resupply efforts leaving the invasion force to starve with out ammo for it's weapons. The Look Duck and Vanish could then round up the survivors with it's pikes, polearms and shotguns.

Funny, but I think of the German U-boats and their Airforce as being completely capable of taking out their enemies. Use the planes to bomb the infrastructure---surround the British cutting off supplies--------and viola we have the brits as NK. If only Hitler attacked sooner and the US hadn't been forced in by the Japanese---we would all be speaking german.

 

[Turtlesoup]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

There were 3 major mistakes in WW2 and if any of the 3 weren't done--Germany would have won.

1) The japanese attacked the US bringing the US in even though we wanted to be isolationists
2) Hitler didn't immediately invade Britain after taking out the French instead opting to celebrate and party
3) Attacking the sleeping Bear the Russians---

..all of these IF scenarios are ridiculous--and you have a lot of ifs there= wrong
....even if he hadn't attacked Russia, there were resistance groups all over.....hitler could not invade Britain without air superiority AND you forgot that Britain had a powerful navy = no, he would not have won....
etc

I remember my history class well------------the brits were not prepared for war when Hitler invaded France-----------after defeating france, Hitler delayed his attacked on the brits to celebrate allowing them time to prepare to fight back. Had he not delayed this attacked, the brits would not have been able to fight off Germany atleast according to my history teacher.

Attacking Russia created a two front war which definately cost Hitler the war. He a caught a certain STD that effected his brain by then, likely knew he would die and was in a hurry to see his nazis the rulers of everyone. His impatience costs his people and his regime dearly.

If the Japs had first concentrated on taking out Europe--actually helping Hitler instead of pursuing their own agenda---The US wouldn't have gotten into the war and Germany would have won. If Japan hadn't done anything--the US would have stayed out of the war---and Germany would have won.

hahhahah--history class is NOTHING..they gloss over a lot of stuff/etc......a history class give you next to nothing on information/etc

It's true enough----------they did give very few facts---but the 3 mistakes was one of the few things and it is an accurate list according to all historic accounts that I have read since and my grandfather who was actually there with all 5 of his brothers. These 3 errors are also what the military teaches as the major mistakes and as an example of what not to do.

 

[Devils_Advocate]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

The U.S. fought on three fronts and still turned the tide of the War... Japan was more brutal than the Germans and had the U.S. only focuses on Germany the war would have been short and quick because the U.S. was no nonsense back then...

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

There were 3 major mistakes in WW2 and if any of the 3 weren't done--Germany would have won.

1) The japanese attacked the US bringing the US in even though we wanted to be isolationists
2) Hitler didn't immediately invade Britain after taking out the French instead opting to celebrate and party
3) Attacking the sleeping Bear the Russians---

2) was an impossibility. The Germans had no concept of how hard a cross-channel invasion would be. The best they could come up with were UNPOWERED river barges with ramps added being towed across the Channel by tugs. Even if they managed to get their assault divisions onto British beaches, they RAF and RN would slaughter any follow-on forces and resupply efforts leaving the invasion force to starve with out ammo for it's weapons. The Look Duck and Vanish could then round up the survivors with it's pikes, polearms and shotguns.

Funny, but I think of the German U-boats and their Airforce as being completely capable of taking out their enemies. Use the planes to bomb the infrastructure---surround the British cutting off supplies--------and viola we have the brits as NK. If only Hitler attacked sooner and the US hadn't been forced in by the Japanese---we would all be speaking german.

Japan is the sole reason why the U.S. jumped in but let remember Stalin Red Army hurt Hitler Nazi badly and the U.S. could have taken Germany down quickly back then...

Japan was the one that almost had us on our knees and let be clear had we not prevailed at the Battle of Midway the West Coast would be rating Sushi and the East Coast would be speaking German and Texas would be part of Mexico...

Wait, did they win and we lose?

 

[LuckyDuck]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

Actually, if Germany hadn't reneged on its treaty with Russia and Japan had refrained from attacking Pearl Harbor, the Americans, preferring neutrality, may have given Germany the edge it needed to win the war in Europe. They just took on too many nations at once. A classic case of overconfidence.

and IF some alien had dropped in on the party...want to add some more ifs?
....with every IF you people make up, there is a counter IF

I only refer to the original question, which didn't ask for an detailed analysis. Germany got what it deserved for waging war on Europe. I just pointed out what might have happened should a couple of scenarios not played out.

 

[Quasar44]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

If Germany never attacked Russia and spent more resources on its Air Force then I believe the USA would have had the most insane time winning.
It would have cost the USA over several million and the war would have dragged on several more years.
This is assuming that the atom was not weaponised

 

[Quasar44]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

The U.S. fought on three fronts and still turned the tide of the War... Japan was more brutal than the Germans and had the U.S. only focuses on Germany the war would have been short and quick because the U.S. was no nonsense back then...

The German army was vastly superior in technology and training than even the USA

 

[Quasar44]

Japan had few tanks and their army was basically only foot soldiers

 

[AZrailwhale]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

The U.S. fought on three fronts and still turned the tide of the War... Japan was more brutal than the Germans and had the U.S. only focuses on Germany the war would have been short and quick because the U.S. was no nonsense back then...

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

There were 3 major mistakes in WW2 and if any of the 3 weren't done--Germany would have won.

1) The japanese attacked the US bringing the US in even though we wanted to be isolationists
2) Hitler didn't immediately invade Britain after taking out the French instead opting to celebrate and party
3) Attacking the sleeping Bear the Russians---

2) was an impossibility. The Germans had no concept of how hard a cross-channel invasion would be. The best they could come up with were UNPOWERED river barges with ramps added being towed across the Channel by tugs. Even if they managed to get their assault divisions onto British beaches, they RAF and RN would slaughter any follow-on forces and resupply efforts leaving the invasion force to starve with out ammo for it's weapons. The Look Duck and Vanish could then round up the survivors with it's pikes, polearms and shotguns.

Funny, but I think of the German U-boats and their Airforce as being completely capable of taking out their enemies. Use the planes to bomb the infrastructure---surround the British cutting off supplies--------and viola we have the brits as NK. If only Hitler attacked sooner and the US hadn't been forced in by the Japanese---we would all be speaking german.

The Luftwaffe was never able to achieve aerial parity over the UK, let alone the superiority that would have been needed for an invasion. it was also a tactical Air Force designed for close support of the army, not a strategic bombing force. Of the two primary Luftwaffe bombers, the Do 17 carried a maximum of 2,200 pounds of bombs, the He 111 carried a maximum of 7,900 pounds for very short missions, but usually carried 4,400 pounds of bombs. Those aren’t good bombers for destroying infrastructure. In June 1940 Germany had forty six operational U Boats and no bases closer than Kiel. The English Channel is a horrible place for conventional submarines to operate, poor weather, nasty tides, poor visibility and crowded conditions. U Boats would have little effect on defending an invasion fleet that would mostly be attacked bu ships destroyer sized or smaller. The U Boats never came close to starving out England even with bases in France which they wouldn’t have in early 1940. They would have tolerate from bases in Germany cutting their time on station severely.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

The U.S. fought on three fronts and still turned the tide of the War... Japan was more brutal than the Germans and had the U.S. only focuses on Germany the war would have been short and quick because the U.S. was no nonsense back then...

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

There were 3 major mistakes in WW2 and if any of the 3 weren't done--Germany would have won.

1) The japanese attacked the US bringing the US in even though we wanted to be isolationists
2) Hitler didn't immediately invade Britain after taking out the French instead opting to celebrate and party
3) Attacking the sleeping Bear the Russians---

2) was an impossibility. The Germans had no concept of how hard a cross-channel invasion would be. The best they could come up with were UNPOWERED river barges with ramps added being towed across the Channel by tugs. Even if they managed to get their assault divisions onto British beaches, they RAF and RN would slaughter any follow-on forces and resupply efforts leaving the invasion force to starve with out ammo for it's weapons. The Look Duck and Vanish could then round up the survivors with it's pikes, polearms and shotguns.

Funny, but I think of the German U-boats and their Airforce as being completely capable of taking out their enemies. Use the planes to bomb the infrastructure---surround the British cutting off supplies--------and viola we have the brits as NK. If only Hitler attacked sooner and the US hadn't been forced in by the Japanese---we would all be speaking german.

Japan is the sole reason why the U.S. jumped in but let remember Stalin Red Army hurt Hitler Nazi badly and the U.S. could have taken Germany down quickly back then...

Japan was the one that almost had us on our knees and let be clear had we not prevailed at the Battle of Midway the West Coast would be rating Sushi and the East Coast would be speaking German and Texas would be part of Mexico...

Wait, did they win and we lose?

Where did you learn your history? The IJA didn’t have the troops to even mount a raid on the west coast and the IJN didn’t have the merchant shipping to transport the troops. It took nearly every modern tanker in the Japanese merchant marine to get six carriers and their escorts to Hawaii and back. To get an invasion force to the west coast and back, Japan would have had to rig masts and sails on their ships. Japan couldn’t even have invaded and occupied Hawaii in 1941.
If Japan had won big at Midway, by sinking all three Yorktown class carriers and their escorts, all that would have happened would be to slow down the US victory by a year or so even without nukes. The USN would still have Wasp and Saratoga in the Pacific with Ranger (which was at least as good as Hiryu) able to be in the pacific in a couple of weeks. Essex commissioned barely six months after Midway and in an emergency could have done so sooner with another Essex coming into service every three months. The Independence class light carriers started commissioning at the same time an were coming into service at the rate of one a month. Without speeding up construction, the USN would have replaced it’s fleet carrier losses by June 1943 and have seven light carriers as well. So by August 1943 the Japanese would be facing six fleet and seven light carriers carrying Hellcats, SBD Dauntless’ and Avenger torpedo bombers with six fleet carriers, two light fleet carriers (Junyo and Hiyo) and five to six light carriers. That’s a best case scenario for Japan assuming no losses at Midway at all. To make things worse, not only would the American planes been better, but the American carriers would be carrying more than twice as many of them.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

The U.S. fought on three fronts and still turned the tide of the War... Japan was more brutal than the Germans and had the U.S. only focuses on Germany the war would have been short and quick because the U.S. was no nonsense back then...

The German army was vastly superior in technology and training than even the USA

Hardly. The Germans never mass produced tanks, never made enough spare parts for the few tanks they did build, never had enough trucks to support its army, gave its troops essentially the same rifle they used in 1914. The only really outstanding weapons the German army producedBess the MG-42 machine gun and the MP-40 sub machine gun. Throughout the war he German army was mostly horse drawn and its infantry rarely ever even saw a truck, let alone rode in one. Even the vaunted big cats were badly flawed, not dependable and very expensive to build and maintain.

about the only thing you got right was that in 1941 and 1942 the German troops were better trained than Americans. By 1943 the Americans were just as good and in 1944 and 1945 the Americans were far superior in their training.

 

[harmonica]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

Actually, if Germany hadn't reneged on its treaty with Russia and Japan had refrained from attacking Pearl Harbor, the Americans, preferring neutrality, may have given Germany the edge it needed to win the war in Europe. They just took on too many nations at once. A classic case of overconfidence.

and IF some alien had dropped in on the party...want to add some more ifs?
....with every IF you people make up, there is a counter IF

I only refer to the original question, which didn't ask for an detailed analysis. Germany got what it deserved for waging war on Europe. I just pointed out what might have happened should a couple of scenarios not played out.

....even IF that all happened, there is no guarantee that Germany would've won

 

[LuckyDuck]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

Actually, if Germany hadn't reneged on its treaty with Russia and Japan had refrained from attacking Pearl Harbor, the Americans, preferring neutrality, may have given Germany the edge it needed to win the war in Europe. They just took on too many nations at once. A classic case of overconfidence.

and IF some alien had dropped in on the party...want to add some more ifs?
....with every IF you people make up, there is a counter IF

I only refer to the original question, which didn't ask for an detailed analysis. Germany got what it deserved for waging war on Europe. I just pointed out what might have happened should a couple of scenarios not played out.

....even IF that all happened, there is no guarantee that Germany would've won

Of course.

 

[whitehall]

WW2 Germany had a highly motivated and well trained and equipped infantry that relied on single shot bolt action rifles while the U.S. had the semi-auto Garand. It had only had token surface ship navy and a fair sized air force. Germany had some experienced generals like Rommel and qualified scientists like Von Braun but the overall strategy relied on the whims of a WW1 cpl. named Hitler. The U.S. had to fight a two front war and still defeated Germany in four years.

 

[gipper]

Many think that germany was such a big superpower in world war 1 and 2. But Im not so sure, the US was kinda isolationist but still had the much bigger potential, and they went to war, they also proved it. Do you think Germany ever had a chance at all? I think it didnt.

There were 3 major mistakes in WW2 and if any of the 3 weren't done--Germany would have won.

1) The japanese attacked the US bringing the US in even though we wanted to be isolationists
2) Hitler didn't immediately invade Britain after taking out the French instead opting to celebrate and party
3) Attacking the sleeping Bear the Russians---

Hitler didn’t immediately attack Britain because he offered them very attractive peace terms, but Churchill was a bloodthirsty warmonger and ignored Hitler. Then he mass murdered thousands of German civilians with US help.

 

[gipper]

WW2 Germany had a highly motivated and well trained and equipped infantry that relied on single shot bolt action rifles while the U.S. had the semi-auto Garand. It had only had token surface ship navy and a fair sized air force. Germany had some experienced generals like Rommel and qualified scientists like Von Braun but the overall strategy relied on the whims of a WW1 cpl. named Hitler. The U.S. had to fight a two front war and still defeated Germany in four years.

The Red Army defeated Germany.

 

[Quasar44]

we are not talking about now

Understood

I find history very interesting

But the most compelling reason to study history is for clues about the present and future

Yes and no
WW1 - they obliterated the Americans who came at the end
WW2 - we had a much more powerful navy and Air Force but the German army was the best

 

[Mac-7]

we are not talking about now

Understood

I find history very interesting

But the most compelling reason to study history is for clues about the present and future

Yes and no
WW1 - they obliterated the Americans who came at the end
WW2 - we had a much more powerful navy and Air Force but the German army was the best

The germans had very good officers.

 

[harmonica]

we are not talking about now

Understood

I find history very interesting

But the most compelling reason to study history is for clues about the present and future

Yes and no
WW1 - they obliterated the Americans who came at the end
WW2 - we had a much more powerful navy and Air Force but the German army was the best

The germans had very good officers.

....they had discipline/organization/record keeping/etc--all good for a good military