English language sometime surprise me

[wasab]

3 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

If the Americans hadn't entered the war, Germany would have essentially been fighting only on the Eastern Front (even if England hadn't been bombed into submission yet) and would have had far more assets to throw at the Russians. As it was, it was more the Russian winter and Germany's overextended supply lines that caused Germany to fail on that front than the abilities of the Russian military, which was pretty ragtag at that time.

If the Americans did not join, the Soviet Union would still win the war.

 

The Germans suffered more casualties in the opening months of the invasion of the soviet union than the entire campaign in Poland and invasion of France + the low countries. Not to mention by the time that Germans reached Moscow, they outnumbered the soviet defenders by 2:1. It wasn't until the arrival of troops from far east Siberia that the ratio came close to 1:1 with Germans still having a numerical advantage. From 1942, 1943, both sides were even in terms of troops, with 4-5 million soldiers on both sides. It wasn't until the late 1944 that the soviets became overwhelming with 11 million men to fight against 3 million of the Germans. 

 

The myth that the red army did not fight as effectively as the western allies and were saved by winter and poor German logistics, or my favorite yet by human waves attack in which the generals sent their men charging at machine guns were thus simply not true. The story of soviet NKVD squads that stay behind the line to execute retreating soldiers were also largely false. What really happened was when the front line began to collapse and soldiers began to fall back, these NKVD officers were often the first to ran away so they could escape the approaching Germans(Hitler specifically order that communist political officers be shot on sight.) 

 

By the time of late 1943, talented young officers and generals had picked up enough experiences from combat that they largerly compensated for the Stalin's purge of senior military commanders in the 1930s. By the 1944s, the Red Army practiced deep battle doctrine which was their own version of blitzkrieg that was just as skillful if not more so than the Gerrman's. 

 

Also, funny fact, soviet generals also came up with this armor warfare before the Germans. They weren't put into practice in the early years of the war because these military thinkers and commanders were all purged before the war. 

[wasab]

4 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Japan attacking Peal Harbor was not the reason we fought Germany. It was German U-boat attacks on American shipping that brought us into the European theater.

No, that was first world war. 2nd world war was totally due to the Japanese. America was paralyzed by Great Depression and strong isolationism+neutrality at that time. Congress would just banned ships from traveling to European ports than to risk a war to be honest. What really happened was pearl harbor happened first, then 3 days later Japanese allies, Germany and Italy, both declared on the USA. Then the pacific theater and European theater were truly merged into a giant world war. I find declaring war on the USA dumb moves by the Germans and also the Japanese. They should've known materials and industrial might of the US would easily crushed them. 

[Bombastinator]

5 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Japan attacking Peal Harbor was not the reason we fought Germany. It was German U-boat attacks on American shipping that brought us into the European theater.

...Which happened because we declared war on japan and Germany was allied to japan.  There are actual quotes by hitler on this subject.

[Bombastinator]

5 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

If the Americans hadn't entered the war, Germany would have essentially been fighting only on the Eastern Front (even if England hadn't been bombed into submission yet) and would have had far more assets to throw at the Russians. As it was, it was more the Russian winter and Germany's overextended supply lines that caused Germany to fail on that front than the abilities of the Russian military, which was pretty ragtag at that time.

It was when they were fighting the battle of Stalingrad.  It had more or less gotten itself together though (for certain values of together) by the end of the war.  When they drove the Germans out though they refused at first to enter Poland. They wouldn’t even let American forces land to do it instead.  There is a strong argument that they wanted the German artillery to decimate the polish guard so Stalin could invade and create a communist regieme.  Stalin was a douche.  Even the Russians think so.

 This is all very well documented, and it’s still not topical.

Im not going to argue revisionist history on the internet.  Believe what you want.  You will anyway.

 The original point was The demand for an apology on the grounds that without US intervention the U.K. would have been invaded by Germany in both world war 1 and world war 2 who would then have imposed their own language. One is fairly silly.  The other is much less silly but not a foregone conclusion.  Results would likely not have been good for the U.K. if either happened. England would have kept its rather annoying and complicated language but possibly not a whole lot else. Neither did though.  My stepmother was alive in Germany when the Russians entered.  She was 8.  She’s in a nursing home now.  This is stuff of a past era.  Apologies are not appropriate.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, wasab said:

No, that was first world war. 2nd world war was totally due to the Japanese. America was paralyzed by Great Depression and strong isolationism+neutrality at that time. Congress would just banned ships from traveling to European ports than to risk a war to be honest. What really happened was pearl harbor happened first, then 3 days later Japanese allies, Germany and Italy, both declared on the USA. Then the pacific theater and European theater were truly merged into a giant world war. I find declaring war on the USA dumb moves by the Germans and also the Japanese. They should've known materials and industrial might of the US would easily crushed them. 

You’re thinking of the Lusitania.  A cruise ship or something. IIRC it hit a German mine.  I wasn’t alive to watch the political stuff unfold in the US for either war.  I do recall being told that one of the big questions in the US pre WW1 was which side they were going to support.  There was very strong support for backing the Kaiser not the allies.  It still doesn’t matter.  This is a computer forum.

[amdorintel]

What are the hardest languages to learn?

[wasab]

4 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

You’re thinking of the Lusitania.  A cruise ship or something. IIRC it hit a German mine.  I wasn’t alive to watch the political stuff unfold in the US for either war.  I do recall being told that one of the big questions in the US pre WW1 was which side they were going to support.  There was very strong support for backing the Kaiser not the allies.  It still doesn’t matter.  This is a computer forum.

It did not hit a German mine and that ship was not American. It was a British passenger ship with Americans on board. Conveniently, the British also used the ship to smuggle weapons which was against international laws. The German U boat sank it, killing everyone including the Americans on board. Germans said the ships had weapons which was true but had no proof. This action alone was not the trigger for the US entry in WWI but did caused diplomatic tensions. Ever play games like Europa Universalis? You can think of the whole affairs like that game's in game diplomacy.

 

Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare. USA was pissed, relations -50. Germany sent diagram to Mexico, guaranteed Germany's assistance if they are to declare war on United States if United states declare war on Germany. relations -50. Germany sank British passenger ship Lusitania, relation -50. USA had enough and told Germany if relations falls to -200, she will declare war. Germany stop unrestricted submarine warfare to keep America from entering the war until 1917 when it was clear Germany was losing the war of attrition. Germany resume unrestricted submarine warfare, relations -50 and so USA declared war. 

[Bombastinator]

10 hours ago, wasab said:

It did not hit a German mine and that ship was not American. It was a British passenger ship with Americans on board. Conveniently, the British also used the ship to smuggle weapons which was against international laws. The German U boat sank it, killing everyone including the Americans on board. Germans said the ships had weapons which was true but had no proof. This action alone was not the trigger for the US entry in WWI but did caused diplomatic tensions. Ever play games like Europa Universalis? You can think of the whole affairs like that game's in game diplomacy.

 

Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare. USA was pissed, relations -50. Germany sent diagram to Mexico, guaranteed Germany's assistance if they are to declare war on United States if United states declare war on Germany. relations -50. Germany sank British passenger ship Lusitania, relation -50. USA had enough and told Germany if relations falls to -200, she will declare war. Germany stop unrestricted submarine warfare to keep America from entering the war until 1917 when it was clear Germany was losing the war of attrition. Germany resume unrestricted submarine warfare, relations -50 and so USA declared war. 

It didn’t hit a mine in the game Europa universalis anyway.

 

video games are video games.  Their primary concern is game balance not accuracy. Iirc when that game came out it was criticized heavily for possibly creating just exactly the problem you are demonstrating.  Research would have to be done to confirm or deny that though.

[Bombastinator]

13 hours ago, amdorintel said:

What are the hardest languages to learn?

Chinese is very hard to pronounce and to read for native speakers of European languages.  It’s easy to actually speak though.

 

Part of the issue is what base language one starts with.  There’s enough Germanic and Slavic in English that Northern Europeans find it easy.  Spanish and Italian are very similar so people from those area speak the other language easily.  I suspect that languages similar to Chinese have similar advantages.  The African click languages are supposed to be quite difficult to speak, partially because the only cousins they have is each other.

[Donut417]

On 11/7/2019 at 2:50 PM, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Japan attacking Peal Harbor was not the reason we fought Germany. It was German U-boat attacks on American shipping that brought us into the European theater.

I pretty sure it was more of we delcared war on Japan, and Germany and Italy declared war on us as a result. Yes, Germany hitting those ships was a reason we were at odds, but if Pearl harbor was never attacked, who knows if the US would have entered the war at all. Because until Pearl harbor, I dont think Congress was too keen on going to war. 

[Drak3]

[Lady Fitzgerald]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

What's sad is that actually makes sense (as long as you ignore that the examples were words that were "stolen" by english from other languages).