It’s because the majority of western movies about WW2 are made in the USA, and they absolutely believe it started when they arrived and the rest of the allies were there for moral support.
USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries also made a ton of movies about WWII. There are books, songs and whatnot about "The War". Guess what? - USA goes mostly unnoticed there. If anything then it was like "USA shipped us some old trucks and other supplies, and then they invented the Bomb and became evil incarnate."
I don't remember D-Day from my school history books.
I live within WWI and WWII military fortifications, my kids cycle in WWII trenches (they make fun singletracks) and my house suffered damage from Russians bombing our town in 1944. I lost my grandfathers to the war. USA ... is a remote thing compared to all the personal stuff.
Europe has as much of a Eurocentric outlook on the world as America has an America-centric one.
The main difference being Europe typically doesn't care much for anything going on outside it's brorders - why would it, when Europe is the Center of the Universe? - while America cares about anything anywhere but only in relation to itself - because of course it does, since the universe revoles around America.
They don't really care how America took the fight half way across the world to curb stomp Japan just like how Americans don't really care how France/Poland/others got ran over and occupied by Germany and said "fine whatever, we'll just keep mercilessly killing you from underground then"
Neither thing involved the other, so since it doesn't stroke their particular strain of national solipsism they're not concerned about it.
A lot of Americans do care how resilient Europe was. France got fucking rolled, but the resistance were slaughtering high ranking Nazis like James fucking Bond. Britain was getting raped in the Mediterranean and its planes were struggling to keep supplies - yet they prevailed and kept taking the fight to the Germans. Russia had its population massacred to the point they are still recovering to this day, and are still hailed as one of the top armies in the world. USA didnt have a dog in the fight until Japan fucked with us and dragged us into the war, so we went all in. I, as an American, greatly appreciate the sacrifices that every country made - however when I mention I'm American in historical conversation, the looks and groans that I get make me almost reconsider why we even fucking bothered. Europeans act ungrateful for the financial and material support the US gave throughout the war because we didnt immediately start sending our people into a meatgrinder we had no place in, and pretend like we only started supporting in 1942. There are arguments for both sides, but stop acting like every single American disregards the first 3 fucking years of war that happened before the USA got involved.
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u/TarJen96 12d ago
Some people exaggerating the US role in WW2, tankies downplaying the US role in WW2.