parsifal
Colonel
Sorry guys, have not read all of the thread, so my apologies if i am not relevant.
My opnion is that it was never a certainty that the US would enter the war, until Pearl harbour. Moreover, the gradual change in public opnion was no accident. America did not "drift" towards supporting the british, they were steered to that point, principally by Roosevelt and his administration, and carefully supported by Churchill. Getting the US into the war on the side of the allies was Churchills number one foreign policy objewctive after the fall offrance. Everything he said and did was aimed , very carefully at bringing the US and its public opinion ever closer to the british star.
Hitler, on the other hand, could care less about US public opinion, and paid virtually no attention to it. Its not that he actively sought war with the US, its just that he didnt do much to avoid it. And the perception of the US, at least in the German leaderships eyes, was that it was a weak and decadent society, preoccupied with the luxuries of life, and not able to bring itself to serious warlike endeavours. It was a nation well adapted to building automobiles and toasters, but incapable of building wqarships and combat aircraft.
How wrong the Germans got that part of the equation
My opnion is that it was never a certainty that the US would enter the war, until Pearl harbour. Moreover, the gradual change in public opnion was no accident. America did not "drift" towards supporting the british, they were steered to that point, principally by Roosevelt and his administration, and carefully supported by Churchill. Getting the US into the war on the side of the allies was Churchills number one foreign policy objewctive after the fall offrance. Everything he said and did was aimed , very carefully at bringing the US and its public opinion ever closer to the british star.
Hitler, on the other hand, could care less about US public opinion, and paid virtually no attention to it. Its not that he actively sought war with the US, its just that he didnt do much to avoid it. And the perception of the US, at least in the German leaderships eyes, was that it was a weak and decadent society, preoccupied with the luxuries of life, and not able to bring itself to serious warlike endeavours. It was a nation well adapted to building automobiles and toasters, but incapable of building wqarships and combat aircraft.
How wrong the Germans got that part of the equation