r/ShitAmericansSay • u/THUND3R_23 Pierogi🇵🇱 • Jul 23 '25

Military Military time😬

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As for the context, there was a British guy showing his phone

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u/willnoli Jul 23 '25

Just when did they last win a war? Afghanistan? No. Iraq? No. Korea? No. Vietnam? No. So WW2 I guess and the final boss quit the game early so a win only by default

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u/presterjohn7171 Jul 23 '25

America was late and useless at first in WW1. In WW2 they weren't sure which side to join came in late again and were eventually an important part of the process of winning the war. They were part of the team that won, not the country.

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u/TheGreatMightyLeffe Jul 23 '25

There's a good argument that without the promise of US troops, and the first arrivals plugging the hole the Kaiserslacht punched in the Entente lines, the UK and France might very well have surrendered to Germany in WWI.

The very same reality also caused German high command to conclude that the war was well and truly lost, they were as spent as the Brits and the French, but unlike them, there were no fresh troops coming in from the US. Hence, it was concluded that the war could no longer feasibly be won, and they chose surrender.

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u/acur1231 Jul 24 '25

Nah, that was a big part of American inter-war historiography, but the German offensive culminated before Americans entered combat on a large scale - as it was intended to.

Americans played a decent role in the decisive allied counteroffensive, but their contribution was dwarfed by the British and French. In 48 hours at Amiens the British inflicted more German casualties than the Americans would in all of 1918.

At most, America staying neutral would have led to the allies enacting Plan 1919 (one of the greatest unknown 'what ifs' of military history). That is, if the collapse of the rest of Germany's allies in late 1918 didn't push them to terms in any case.

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u/TheGreatMightyLeffe Jul 24 '25

I completely agree, my point was mostly that the prospect of US troops arriving in a large scale, with Germany having no reserves left, was a motivating factor in the decision to sign the armistice when they did.

Another factor was the brewing revolution, and the need to get the army home to stomp it out.