I have always been a history buff and lately I have been immersing myself in WWII. Today at work I spent a few hours going through the timeline of events of WWII on Wikipedia (one of the only sites that we can access at work).

So for those who share my affinity for WWII, what do you find to be the most fascinating aspect of the war? For me it has always been a curiosity towards the mentality of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. For instance, how did Hitler think he was gonna keep the United States out of the war? He knew that the US would certainly bolster the Allied Army so why would he authorize unrestricted submarine warfare when he would've known that it would stir up support for the US joining the war?

So, those were some of my thoughts from today, I hope there are some other fans out there, I've been itching to talk about this for the past few days, haha.

Also, for fans of Band of Brothers, I made a mess in my pants when I saw this:

have you been watching WWII in HD on the history channel? thats a good place to start. its a 10 part series and they are only have 2 left, but have been pretty much playing all day now.

Ya I've seen some of it. Its an interesting personal aspect of the war, and definitely amazing to see such beautiful video thats almost 70 years old.

These are just my opinions and thoughts.

So for those who share my affinity for WWII, what do you find to be the most fascinating aspect of the war?
There are alot of them. One of the fascinating things for me is how Hitler initially looked up to Mussolini, at one point had him rescued, and eventually became the "sensei" to Mussolini!
Another thing is how he had such sway over people that Joseph and Magda Goebbels had their children, along with themselves, killed -rather than live in a Germany without Hitler.

For instance, how did Hitler think he was gonna keep the United States out of the war?
Hitler thought he was guided and protected by Providence. And to some extent, thought his will could direct things. He often blamed everybody from his Generals to his adjutants for not having his same will. He really believed that his war machine, guided by his will, would carry out his vision.

He knew that the US would certainly bolster the Allied Army so why would he authorize unrestricted submarine warfare when he would've known that it would stir up support for the US joining the war?
I think he thought that FDR would turn out to be another Chamberlain. And to a certain extent, FDR's letters/statements sent to Hitler, weren't very strongly worded, which helped him to believe this. But this is just one aspect of that answer. Certainly a book could be written on your questions alone!

*Besides having my stepfather fill me in on thoughts and feelings of the time, I find that John Toland's book "Adolf Hitler" to be very informative to those who find this stuff interesting. Not only does it give a pretty complete biography of Hitler, but it also accurately chronicles events and machinations of other countries/leaders leading up to and initiating the war.

I took a college course called Hitler's Germany which was fascinating to say the least! My professor recommended Ian Kershaw's "Hitler," which comes in two books: the first is his life up until 1936, the second book is from 1936-1945. Huge books, but if you have the time, very much worth reading! CenterBHSFan is exactly right about the United States and what Hitler thought about their possible involvement in the war. I've also been watching WWII in HD, some of the images are pretty gruesome but paint a very real picture, especially about how the Japanese citizens jumped off of that cliff instead of surrendering to the US.

How did Hitler think he was gonna keep the United States out of the war?

Actually he did keep US out of the war. Only Imperial Japans attack on the Pacific fleet in Hawaii got America activily involved in WWII. Also believe it or not the only reason the attack on Perial Harbor took place was because America embargoed oil imports to Japan. Which in the short, WWII US involvement was caused by oil.

Big WWII buff here.

Here's a Youtube link to the excellent BBC television documentary: The World at War

believer wrote: Big WWII buff here.

Here's a Youtube link to the excellent BBC television documentary: The World at War

Good stuff, Believer, The young would be very suprised. That the conflicts of today can be tract back to desicions made in WWII. Starting with the birth of a Jewish state and borders drawn up in mid east, asia, and the USSR.

^^^^NAW...many are too busy spending time at the mall getting body piercings, tattoos and the latest Wii games.

Being interested in history and government pretty much my whole life, I think that a lot of our amazement about the things that people like Hitler do come from our frame of reference with regard to what is a rational, thoughtful reaction. I believe that Hitler actually believed his own propaganda. The Third Reich was going to last 1000 years and that was not going to be changed by American intervention. Also, I think that Hitler thought that the sub warfare would help to quickly defeat Great Britain and with France already in the Nazi column, he figured the US might be too late and would be willing to accept a Nazi Europe in exchange for "peace in our time". He seriously underestimated the will of Americans and others who would never surrender and never accept despotism. If you want to thank those who made sure the Nazis would be defeated, if you are ever in Europe, make the trip to Normandy. The only other place that made me feel the way I did when I went to Normandy was when I went to the Vietnam Wall for the first time. I didn't have any personal friends die in WW2 but on that wall were the names of several I knew very well. That spirit lives. No despot will win in the final analysis.

Hubby's been watching the History Channel all week. My Grandpa joined the Army in 1942 when he was 34 years old. My Mom was 8 and had 5 siblings. It's interesting to hear her stories as she saw things as a little girl. Grandpa was in Italy and after just a little more than a year overseas, he stepped on a land mine. He lost an eye and his face was disfigured pretty bad. My mom said how my Grandma tried to get them ready for how bad my Grandpa looked, but when they saw him, they knew they were just lucky that he came back.

I am interested in all of Germany's crazy research projects and such. Heavy water, V2 rockets. I think those are interesting.

Also my grandfather was a truck driver in WWII he hauled artillery shells around... he came in a late wave on Dday and was in the battle of the bulge. Since he had a truck he kept a camera under his seat and took pictures along the way. His notes and pictures are very interesting. His diary of the war has made me hugely interested in the war against germany.

My grandfather actually had a V2 rocket land close to him in WWII they loaded it up in his truck and hauled it away. He has pictures of it too.

When does the new Band of Brothers come out? Any date specific other than 2010?

I love history and now that I'm in the Navy and on the USS Franklin barracks we were lucky enough to meet a few survivors of the ship that was attacked heavily during WWII. These men, though old and pretty elderly, were so excited to tell us Sailors about the war and what they went through. It was pretty cool to hear all the stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_%28CV-13%29

I'm a big WWII buff, and I've been watching WWII in HD (quite excellent--just amazing footage).

For me, I'm most interested in armored combat on the Eastern Front, particularly '41 to '43. Reading about Guderian, et al. is just fascinating. I'm not as interested in Western/Med/Pacific.

Is anyone a boardgamer? I find a lot of overlap between history buffs and wargamers. I'm in the midst of a PBEM game of Third Reich right now.

GRAYWOLF wrote: How did Hitler think he was gonna keep the United States out of the war?

Actually he did keep US out of the war. Only Imperial Japans attack on the Pacific fleet in Hawaii got America activily involved in WWII. Also believe it or not the only reason the attack on Perial Harbor took place was because America embargoed oil imports to Japan. Which in the short, WWII US involvement was caused by oil.

I find this to be a common misconception. Yes, technically we didn't enter the war until that point, but the US war machine was already going full steam in late 1941 and if it wasn't Pearl Harbor, it would've been something else. Considering all that we were contributing to the Allies prior to the US entering the war, if Japan didn't attack us Germany would've. At that point, most of Europe was under Nazi control and Hitler was over-confident and over-extended. We had a lot invested in the Allied fight.

Hitler originally thought that the United States was a nation full of Aryans, in fact the best ones because they risked everything to come over here. He had respect and fear for the U.S. and wanted to keep from fighting us until he had finished off Europe. Then later he apparently came to the conclusion that the U.S. was run by Jews, not Aryans, and he changed his tune, thinking we were weak. At that point he wasn't too concerned if we joined the war.

Hitlers biggest mistake in the war was betraying the Russians. hell if he didnt do that he very well could have taken over all of Europe

I graduated from OSU with a degree in History. My focus area was World War I & World War II and, more generally, Europe 1900-1945. I have been studying World War II since I was a little kid and was old enough to understand my grandpa's stories.


So for those who share my affinity for WWII, what do you find to be the most fascinating aspect of the war?
I think the most fascinating part for me is German culture from 1933-1945. Even during the 1920s, Germany was a fascinating place. It is amazing to study the reaction of Germans to the War (and the Holocaust) even today.

For instance, how did Hitler think he was gonna keep the United States out of the war?
Ultimately I don't think he really did. He was just going by the hope that the US would continue to push for isolation until he had Europe under control. At that point the United States wouldn't be as much of a threat. But, since Britain didn't surrender and the Russian invasion didn't go as planned, the United States' involvement in the European theater was a deciding factor.

He knew that the US would certainly bolster the Allied Army so why would he authorize unrestricted submarine warfare when he would've known that it would stir up support for the US joining the war?
Hitler was a very conflicted and paranoid person. There are so many conflicting events and decisions made during his time in charge of Germany that we could talk about them for eternity.

GRAYWOLF wrote: Good stuff, Believer, The young would be very suprised. That the conflicts of today can be tract back to desicions made in WWII. Starting with the birth of a Jewish state and borders drawn up in mid east, asia, and the USSR.

Conflicts happening today can be traced back even farther to the end of World War I.

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE 'THE PACIFIC'!

I'm a big WWII buff, and I've been watching WWII in HD all week.

I prefer learning more about the Civil War though lol.

Conflicts happening today can be traced back even farther to the end of World War I.

Very true, Actually WWI lead to WWII conflict.

I do disagree about American involvement in Eroupe. Congree only declared war on Japan on 12-8-41. War on Hitler was declared on 12-9-41 and then only after Germany declared war on the US in conection with the AXIS agreement. Also If Japan had not attacked Perial Harbor, american polling at the time was for isolation. FDR was a democrat just like in todays time re-election ment you followed the polls. American public wanted nothing to do with Eroupe at the time. Actually FDR had a silent war going on at the time with Hitler. Just my opinion. No one really knows what things would have been like if Hitler didn't follow his axis agreement with Japan

I'm finally up to the battle of Britain in the rise and fall of the 3rd Reich. Very interesting reading for those who like historical research. For me, the most interesting things about WW2 are the what ifs. Basically had Hitler not played yo yo with his generals in several different moments, the world would be a totally different place. Just for instance, had he not ordered his tank divisions to stop short of Dunkirk for 3 days, the Brits and French who evacuated there would have been wiped out. If they'd lost those 300,000 men, Churchill would have had massive public pressure to accept the German peace offerings (ultimatums) and the Nazis could have turned their attention to the east and the Russians again full force.

Being that it was a year and a half before PH, even if the Japs hit us, we would not have split our forces to fight them and save our allies in England since they would have already thrown in the towel. We'd have gone head first 100% at the pacific and the extra manpower may have made the island hopping a little faster.

Now assuming that we defeat Japan, and assuming that a Nazi war machine fueled by European manpower/resources and middle eastern oil (thanks to take the Brits out) slugs it out with the russians and eventually overcomes them with the hi tech weapons we know they were close to achieving, we could have been looking at an American-German cold war most likely centered on the middle east for oil and South America due to the colonization plans the Germans held for SA.

What if the Japanese actually hit our aircraft carriers and submarines when they attacked Pearl Harbor? They had the mistaken notion that Destroyers were the key to winning naval battles and therefore left the carriers and subs untouched at pearl harbor. Being that many of the destroyers that were hit were salvaged, its pretty remarkable that the Japanese only slowed us down when they could have really crippled us.

Also pretty remarkable is the fact that the entire western hemisphere by the end of the war had declared war on the axis. Imagine if the axis powers had an ally in South America? Maybe Brazil or Mexico? Opening up a third front (fourth?) in the Americas might have spread the allies a little thin. Imagine a Zimmerman Telegram going out during WW2 offering Mexico some territory in the US if they joined the axis.

All these "what ifs", has anyone ever read any works by Harry Turtledove? The guy writes alternative history novels. He has a whole line of novels where the Confederacy wins tthe Civil War and ends up fighting with the axis powers in ww2. And of course the axis powers win the war.

I am reading Harry's first novel about the civil war right now "How Few Remain" and it is awesome.

Turtledove's series from HFR to IATD is my favorite series of all time. I wish he'd taken it into the 50s.

believer wrote: Big WWII buff here.

Here's a Youtube link to the excellent BBC television documentary: The World at War

This is a great documentary. Use it as a tool to help educate the kids.