No, you don't get it! The BRITISH (holding my nose in the air) have for centuries carried themselves as the legitimate rulers of the world. They always protected that perceived birthright. There are those on FR who agree with that thought (you sound like one)! The WWI Brits battled for the right to make up the rules for everyone. Their mistake was it cost them their empire. They didn't have the horsepower to win WWI without the US. They sowed the wind (war in Europe) and reaped the whirlwind (financial ruin). The Brits are either at the US throat or at the US foot begging for a bailout!.....SOME FRIEND
The American influence on WW1 has been exaggerated.
American troops didnt fight in large numbers until April/May 1918, and an American army didnt undertake a solo major offensive until SEPTEMBER 1918, at St Mihiel.
It was the British (along with French and Australian and Canadian troops) who took the brunt of the German counterattack in Easter 1918 (the ‘kaiserschlact’). And it was the BRITISH who bore the brunt of what became known as the ‘Hundred Day Offensive’ in the summer of 1918, that drove the Germans back to the German border. Frankly the Canadian and AUSTRALIAN units in 1918 did as much, if not more, to drive the Germans back.
And in ww1, half of all US troops carried across the Atlantic were carried by the Royal Navy. And ALL US troops taken from England to France were carried by the RN.
And the AEF in 1917-18 relied entirely on British and French tanks, airplanes and artillery pieces. And all US combat training in France was given by British and French officers and trainers.
The American contribution to WW1 and to 1918 and final victory, although helpful and brave, has been grossly exaggerated.
It was the British who won the Western Front in 1918. And I am not saying that because I am British. Its because its the truth. The idea that the Americans turned the tide and even more farcically that they ‘won’ the war and ‘saved’ Britain is utter bilge.
America?. There were more Canadians and even Aussies fighting in Europe vs the Germans in 1918 than there were Americans. There were even large numbers of Indian troops. As well as French Algerian, British black caribbeans and black French africans.
And contrary to US myth, the US armies initially suffered defeats and appalling casualties, because of Pershing’s arrogance that the US troops were battle ready, which they clearly were not.
And here is another fact (go check it): the American army in 1918 had no planes, no tanks and no heavy artillery. ALL their supplies of the above came from British and French supplies loaned to America. Even a superpatriotic US historian like Stephen Ambrose admitted this fact in his last book (of history essays).
Yes, you HELPED us in 1917-18 and again in 1942-45 (even before). BUT you didnt ‘save’ us. Why Americans feel to need to boast that they did is annoying to most Brits (and other nations like the Canucks or Aussies or Kiwis). Its bad history and it is disrespectful to Britain and to the British, esp those British who died 1914-18 and 1939-45, as well as the other Commonwealth/Empire nations.
You helped us, and we are forever thankful. Be happy with helping and with the gratitude we have.
We lost 750,000 dead in WW1. Another 1.5m badly injured. Another 2.5m permanently disabled. Another 65000 from shell shock or gas. And thousands of British civilians killed by German bombing. In ww2, we lost nearly 450000 men and women and children, 382000 military and 61000 civilians.
Our country was bombed and blockaded. Our cities reduced to rubble night after night. We bankrupted an Empire and a nation to fight the Nazis and Fascism, a fight we fought alone for a long time.
The British ‘owe’ nothing.
We have paid our dues in blood.
And then some.
Well over a million dead, millions maimed, injured, missing, made homeless.
And you think we owe America or the world?.
Those Brits you sneer at have been at your side in two world wars, Korea, The Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. And have paid the ultimate price in many cases. And who was first at your shoulder after Sept 11th?.