The Biggest Things About WWII That Still Don't Make Sense

[@CGFIELDS]

Rommel was protecting his friends & family from being executed also.

[@markwinters3079]

Correct. He was given a choice to commit suicide where his family would be spared and he would be given a hero’s funeral. Hitler didn’t want word to get out that Germany’s most famous general was part of the assassination plot.

[@sailorhms]

Ah, you beat me to it sir.

[@wilson2455]

he was also promised air support via the Luftwaffe. It never came.

[@jasonkinzie8835]

Thank you! It really irked me that the commentator suggested that Rommel took cyanide to protect his reputation. The Nazi regime punished not only their enemies but their enemies families. I found the comment really insensitive and ignorant.

[@rogerevans9666]

Two things about Rommel. 1. He asked Berlin for reinforcements before the battle at El Alamein. It was only after he lost the battle that Berlin agreed to send them which effectively meant that they were being sent to be captured by the British. 2. Rommel wanted to put tanks on the beaches of Normandy but Hitler said no. Hitler wanted them miles inland where they would have more room to maneuver. P.S. Lord Mountbatten visited Pearl Harbor three months before the attack and said that the place was wide open. We Americans did not seem to understand that the Japanese do not believe in the protocol of declaring war first, then attack. By declaring war, you give away the element of surprise. Decades earlier, the Japanese had attacked the Russian Port Arthur completely by surprise. Mountbatten had also been involved in the RAF raid on the Italian naval base at Taranto which basically destroyed the Italian naval power in the Mediterranean. He knew what he was talking about and gave a lecture when he visited Pearl Harbor.

[@Garfield.Farkle]

Backwards on the defense of Normandy. Rommel wanted an armored corps in reserve that he could quickly counterpunch an invasion with, but Hitler wanted control of that reserve in Berlin and they could not move until the order came from Berlin. Pearl Harbor was outside the range of the ships needed to carry out a fleet attack. No one had ever seen a weapon like the Kido Butai. So the U.S. did not know Japan had the capability to carry out an attack like that. Only one attack on an anchorage by carrier planes had ever been carried out - 21 Swordfish biplanes from a single carrier attacked Taranto. At Pearl Harbor, hundreds of aircraft from 6 fleet carriers were involved.

[@robertmaybeth3434]

A great, well-composed comment. Thanks

[@chrislambert9435]

Minute 1.08 He says "is still difficult to understand" is He joking ? ? The USA, The British Empire, The Dutch Colonies Etc all worked together to impose a 100% Trade embargo on Japan ! !

[@DULUTHDAWSON]

@@Garfield.Farkle It was the British attack at Taranto that inspired the plans to attack Pearl Harbor. Until then many of the world navies did not believe the true value of the aircraft carrier, just as Japan did not see the true value of submarine warfare. Had the Pearl Harbor plan included both the submarine base, oil supplies and the drydocks in the first wave or at least the second wave the ability of our Navy to recover and strike back would have been greatly reduced.

[@Garfield.Farkle]

I am quite sure the Japanese imagined using aircraft carriers offensively before Taranto. The British did, with previous raids by HMS Illustrious on Rhodes and Benghazi. A raid by 15 or 20 biplanes a couple hundred miles from their base just doesn't compare to a 6-carrier coordinated attack carried out over 3,500 miles from home beyond the range of the carriers. Oversimplifying ignores the huge, complicated hurdles the Japanese had to overcome in the launching, coordinating and commanding the attack. An indication of how sophisticated a weapon the Kido Butai was can be seen in the fact that it took the U.S. Navy 2 years before it was able to launch its own Kido Butai -type operations. Aso, the record of the Illustrious contains an ineffectual attack on an Italian convoy in January 1941 and taking significant damage from German dive bombers.

[@tarnishedknight730]

I'd LOVE to see a "reaction" video, done by an actual war historian, on this video. I can imagine they would have to have medical personnel standing by to administer oxygen.

[@johnwolf2829]

Yes, an actual historian would make mincemeat out of this junk.

[@vewaddell]

This whole video is about 80% accurate but the 20% they’ve gotten wrong makes a big difference. I had to stop watching.

[@poindextertunes]

I mean the official story is full of holes too so not much difference

[@MBKindell]

I agree, but I didn't stop watching

[@evankalbach9985]

I had to as well. Announcer got more than 20% wrong in my eyes.

[@torbjornlidin656]

to much wrong

[@robschmahl5037]

I concur, nice try tho

[@Me2Lancer]

On the morning of December 7, 1941 my dad was aboard USS Raleigh CL7 on the northwest side of Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Minutes before 8 AM, Raleigh was hit by an armor piercing bomb that passed through the ship and exploded on the harbor floor nearby. About an hour later, the Japanese attacked again, and Raleigh was able to fight off attackers. Following repairs, Raleigh was able to reenter the war in the Pacific and fought for the duration.

[@zen4men]

A hell of a day to go through! You must be very proud!

[@brentonherbert7775]

Only 3 ships were fully destroyed in the entire attack. The myth of the "great US loss" appears to persist even to this day... Forgetting most ships were fighting the japanese again by the end of the war.

[@larryjewell7048]

Retired CPO here. Salute to your dad.

[@onepcwhiz6847]

What's up with the newspaper articles talking about Sputniks and Kruschev? Dated 1957. Come on guys..get it together.

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

This whole thing is extremely sloppy. Extremely.

[@The_Dudester]

0:15 Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Huge underestimation by Hirohito. He thought that one attack would frighten the US into compliance. 2:03 Why wasn't Pearl Harbor better prepared? Complex answer. To save me two hours of typing, watch Tora Tora Tora. 3:38 Was Rommel a capable general? He was one man charged with the responsibility of holding back a tsunami. Considering what he was up against, he did one hell of a job. 5:02 The battle of Los Angeles I was a cop during 9/11. In the days after the attack everybody was frightened. I can easily understand how a rumor made a lot of people think that an actual attack was imminent. 6:14 Why did the nazi nuclear program fail? Again, I could spend hours typing, but in short, the Germans lacked raw materials and BIG money, as well as space to work. 7:25 Treatment of POW's Even though neither I or my family had anything to do with it, I apologize to the Japanese people. Because I follow half a dozen Japanese music groups, I know how creative and interesting that the Japanese can be. 8:55 Justification for the use of nuclear bombs. Anyone who questions this has never studied the battle for Okinawa.

[@SSN515]

This guys history really sucks.He needs to watch Indy Neidell and company for a better education.

[@wolfdog7265]

Well, I see you know it all. Or more, what is allowed to be known.

[@The_Dudester]

@wolfdog I am in my mid 60's and grew up in a small town where one of my favorite activities was reading in the public library. It helped get me a scholarship into a highly rated prep school. I ended up getting a Bachelors and Masters in Constitutional Law, so, yeah, I have a great gasp on history.

[@Angrybogan]

The German Chancellor should not have declared war on the USA and kept the wars separate. His country already had his hands full fighting 2 gigantic enemies

[@wolfdog7265]

@@The_Dudester I assumed and kind of knew that already. I read your first comment. I was also quite sure that you were an American.

[@_Fulgur_]

As for why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Japan made the mistake of thinking that America was a weak willed nation and wouldn’t put up much of a fight. This misinterpretation was mostly due to Hideki Tojo, for when Tojo toured the United States he concluded that Americans were weak willed and luxury living hence he believed if americas navy could be wiped out in one decisive strike then American spirit would make them fearful of the Japanese. Admiral yamamoto on the other hand had the complete opposite view on the Americans. He spent years as a naval attache to America and studied americas industrial capabilities in depth. He knew Americans were more than able to put up a fight.

[@antoniofernandesmarchetti1097]

From what i know, their Idea has to whipe out the American navy, conquer as much territory as possible, consilidate deffences and them try to strike a Deal with the USA in favorable grounds. The thing is, they underestimate the speed of recovery of the USA navy!

[@SDZ675]

They mainly needed the oil from the Dutch/British East Indies because of the US oil embargo, but they need a secure supply route and US controlled Philippines happened to be in the way.

[@KevinMaxwell-o3t]

Don't forget the war criminal who got off scot free: Emperor Hirohito. He lived a privileged life in comfort, and died of old age, while his victims were buried in mass graves or burned.

[@andrew8957]

The US knew pearl harbour was going to happen, and let it happen. They needed that reason for the population to enable the US to enter the war. Some great documentaries on this.

[@NEOSCISSORSJAGUARPRIME]

​@@KevinMaxwell-o3tTHE EMPEROR IS WEAK WILLED , TRUE HE IS A WAR CRIMINAL BECAUSE HE WENT ALONG INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO HIS BROTHER WHO WAS SANE ENOUGH TO EXPECT THE OUTCOME OF GOING AGAINST AMERICA... BUT ITS UPSTARTS IN THE MILITARY THAT HAVE THE LION SHARE, AND AMERICA LET GO OF THE MAJORITY OF THESE WAR CRIMINALS, ESPECIALLY THE ARCHITECT OF THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH MASONOBU TSUJI, IN EXCHANGE FOR JAPAN'S COOPERATION DURING THE COLD WAR

[@randallreed7415]

Nazi Germany did produce enough Uranium-235 to produce a nuclear bomb, but due to Heisenberg's "uncertainity principle," they weren't sure where they put it

[@zacharycook2674]

they were set for a test in 1945 but by that time it was to late

[@Jason-hg1pc]

@@zacharycook2674 too

[@Jason-hg1pc]

...nor could Cronenberg's "Scanners" differentiate kilo from mega, and a planned manned mission to Pluto for harvesting the Plutonium needed to bulk up another Fat Man was too expensive for the overweight Plutocracy

[@robertmaybeth3434]

There is a theory about Heisenberg and some of the other Nazi physicists: that they may have deliberately kept making excuses and inventing problems and otherwise dragged their feet, because they DID NOT want Hitler to have an atomic bomb!

[@davidvavra9113]

Bad graphite too

[@sugargliderdude]

Rommel was involved in logistics at the operational level, but the overall logistical organization was managed by the German military’s supply services, not Rommel alone. If Hitler had given him what he asked for, he would have won the Africa campaign.

[@eric-wb7gj]

He 'may' have won.

[@kittymervine6115]

further study takes it beyond the movie and the image created for Rommel. Hitler was stuck with the worst ally of all, Italy. Hitler even had a promise from Mussolini to not invade Greece, the night before he did it. It was never "Rommel alone" or even "Hitler alone". Note, North Africa was NOT on Hitler's to do list. He was depending on the Italians to their share, and they gave up in huge groups...as the nation never understood why they were fighting Germany's war, and Mussolini had the goal of colonies. German troops were indeed well disciplined and fought the Italian war for them, but Hitler was never giving up his goal of England and most of all Russia. His book, his speeches, his anger about losing WWI, it was all Communism and Russia. North Africa confused the German citizens, as noted in private diaries and letters of the time. (note the German soldiers did enjoy Greece). But, it would be better to write "If it had been Hitler and Rommel alone, there would have been no war in North Africa."

[@eric-wb7gj]

@@kittymervine6115 Its more nuanced than that, unfair to say Italy was Hitlers worst ally, fairer to say Mussolini's decisions in the long run. Without Italy in the first place, Spain wouldn't have fallen to Franco, Hitler wouldn't have been able to take Austria or Czechoslovakia (which helped build up his armed forces considerably) & Britain & France wouldn't have to had to dilute their strength in 1940 covering the Mediterranean & East African areas they never had to in WW1. This was in part critical for German success in 1940, & helping other Axis allies fall into their sphere (which then allowed Hitler to attempt the Russian invasion). Yugoslavia & Greece were always a worry to Hitler, allowing Allied forces to strike from there, so it made sense to have them join the Axis (which was tried & failed), or take them out by military means, whoever did it. Italian troops were critical in the invasion of Yugoslavia. The 3 divisions initially sent to Russia did well, & eventually 230k+ were sent to Russia. Again, these were critical to the Axis in the Germans '1942 Case Blue', who had to realistically win by end of 1942. The Germans never sent as many troops to help obtain Italian objectives, as the Italians did for the Germans. It's true the Germans did send the Afrika Korps (& air forces), but Rommel disobeying orders & attacking may not have helped in the end either. There just aren't enough supply ports of the right size for the Axis to keep attacking. Not taking Malta was a critical failure of BOTH Hitler & Mussolini. Mussolini's decision (perhaps read pride & ambitions) to declare war on the Allies (& then America) was his undoing. The Italian people didn't see the point in it. We don't know how much bad Military Intelligence he had though. On paper, his forces appeared stronger than his opponents in 1940-41, but Italian serviceability was awful, & like Germany, Italy had a big fuel problem. IF he'd kept Italy 'neutral', while posing a threat to the Allies, & just supplying 'volunteers' & material for the Russian Campaign, he'd have got any benefits of a German victory, & have possibly survived, perhaps even bought off with some concessions by the Allies for full neutrality by 1943/1944.

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

He ignored his logistics. He underestimated how much he'd need, etc. He attacked without enough. He was too in love in running to the front and giving orders to individual soldiers like he was a Captain or a Lt.

[@peterkerr4019]

If the supplies had got through, that is. Thanks to code breaking efforts a lot of shipping & airborne supplies were able to be intercepted, slowing Rommell down considerably. Plus, until the Germans eventually took Tobruk his supply route was hundreds of miles long, requiring a huge amount of fuel to be burnt just getting the supplies to Rommell.

[@charlesharper2357]

Studies done by logistics experts say that if the Japanese had destroyed the US fuel storage and dry docks the US counter offensive would have been delayed for at least a year or two. In early 1942 the US didn't have enough tankers to replace the fuel that was stored at Pearl harbor...that was essential to allow the US navy to operate in the Western Pacific.

[@colinhunt4057]

Quite right. The oil storage facility was damaged enough that even by the time of Midway in June, 1942, the US fleet was limited to its fleet oilers for fuel supply. The US had seven battleships at Pearl, but did not deploy them because there was no fuel capacity for them. So, carriers and cruisers only at Midway.

[@iamza.]

4:30 there's a very long list ahead of Rommel on who to blame for not stopping D-Day. Hell, if he had had his way he probably would have.

[@chestnut1279]

do you wish he had stopped D-Day? I don't. LOL wtf

[@iamza.]

@@chestnut1279 where do I ever say I wished it was stopped?

[@sthrich635]

Of course, if Rommel could have his way of deploying his units as close to the beachhead as he wanted, he would have stopped D-Day on 6 June, because most likely the Allied planner would delay D-Day for a few extra days and let their navies and plane spotters spending more time and shells on target practice of German panzers nicely provided by Rommel. But nooo, Hitler was keeping Rommel down and he would have won the war if he listened to the "Desert Fox" who just lost his natural habitat 1 year prior.

[@jamesw71]

@@iamza. you kinda stopped mid sentence there so there is no full context of what you were trying to say to be honest.

[@iamza.]

@@jamesw71 that's not stopping mid sentence. Do you know what a sentence is? From how you look, probably not. What did you expect me to do? Write a whole essay on it? Most people know exactly what I mean by that. Just because you don't know, nor what a sentence is, stop trying to sound smart online. It's not working out very well for you.

[@McKluskie]

Once again, this is pure nonsense. Rommel's challenges stemmed largely from a lack of equipment, as the UK intercepted and sank a significant portion of supplies en route to Africa. The notion that his issues were due to poor administration is just incorrect. Regarding D-Day, the problems were predominantly caused by Hitler's mistakes, not Rommel's. Hitler's interference and strategic blunders were the real culprits behind the failures. For instance, Hitler was asleep during the initial stages of the D-Day landings, and his officers were too afraid to wake him. Additionally, he fell for the Allies' deception tactics, believing the main invasion would occur at Pas de Calais rather than Normandy. These miscalculations and his rigid command structure significantly hampered the German response, leading to the eventual success of the Allied invasion.

[@jameshannagan4256]

It's ironic that Hitler started out listening to his generals but as the war went on he listened less and less and Stalin didn't start out that way but the USSR fared much better when he finally did start to trust them.

[@chrislambert9435]

Minute 1.08 He says "is still difficult to understand" is He joking ? ? The USA, The British Empire, The Dutch Colonies Etc all worked together to impose a 100% Trade embargo on Japan ! !

[@colinhunt4057]

@@chrislambert9435 Exactly. Wars are about logistics, weapons production and fuel supply. Germany failed hugely at logistics and fuel supply. It had no oil.

[@chrislambert9435]

@@colinhunt4057 They made synthetic oil from coal, it was never enough and actually affected their Counter-attack strategy in Russia. By the way in answer to my earlier fun question, it caused the Germans to throw themselves onto Russia in a desperate gamble which they lost, Yep. England brought the world down on them see the Churchill - Ribbentrop pre-war discussion, they lost the War before they started it, unless all their enemy Nations like the UK, Russia just laid down and let them run over them (like the french did) The greatest weapon that Britain had was The Royal Navy

[@colinhunt4057]

@@chrislambert9435 " They made synthetic oil from coal, it was never enough... " Exactly so. It grossly inadequate. Between the synthetic fuel plants and lootng as much oil from Rumania as possible, Germany still had an oil deficit of about 50% of total national demands. This crippled agriculture, bringing on a huge crisis in food shortage and mass starvation in Germany. Barbarossa was indeed a desperate gamble in 1941. The general responsible for supply made it clear that the Reich had enough fuel for about 100 days of full operations. Hence, Barbarossa ground to a halt at the end of September 1941; not from Russian mud but from an absolute shortage of fuel. The fuel shortage was so bad that the Wehrmacht considered demotorizing a number of panzer and panzer-grenadier divisions in early 1942. Yes, the Royal Navy stranglehold on German oil imports from Venezuela is what cost Germany the war. The Second World War in many was was the world's first OIl War.

[@kelmag1724]

One of the biggest things that doesn’t make sense is Hitler declaring war on the US a few days after Pearl Harbor. He was not obligated to do so by the Tripartite Pact with Japan, and Japan was not obligated and did not declare war on the Soviet Union. Hitler declaring war on the US solved a serious problem for Roosevelt - asking for a declaration of war against Germany when they had not attacked us. The timing is even more puzzling since it happened less than a week after German forces had been rebuffed in front of Moscow and a long war in the East looked probable. The quick declaration also allowed the US and Britain to agree on a “Germany First” strategy before the US had committed major forces and material to fight Japan. Britain had no chance of invading occupied Europe on its own. Bringing in the US provided the only chance for an attack in the West and the creation of a two front war, the very thing Hitler himself feared. It makes no sense and there is no historical record of what went into the decision or a convincing explanation by historians.

[@Redemption7825]

Didn’t Hitler have a pact with Japan that if one went to war with the US that the other would declare war?

[@alexbowman7582]

On the 8th February 1942 Hitler’s armaments minister and architect of the autobahns told Hitler with tears in his eyes at a conference that the war was unarguably lost since both Russia and America can produce 5 or 6 times the bombers Germany can. Fritz left soon after and Albert Speer was to fly out on the same plane but Hitler persuaded Speer to stay, the plane mysteriously blew up in the air and Speer got the job. Himmler told his Swedish masseur that Hitler was suffering from syphilis and it make’s people pick the wrong decision.

[@colinhunt4057]

Hitler's view of the war declaration was very simple and obvious. The United States was already at war with Germany long before December 7. It was taking an active military role against Germany with the passage of the Lend-Lease Act of March, 1941. This granted huge military support to all of Germany's enemies. The United States was providing repair and basing support for Britain's Royal Navy. The United States gave destroyers to the RN. The United States was supplying Britain with its most modern military equipment in tanks and lavish support in desperately needed trucks. The US navy was conducting military patrols in the Atlantic with orders to sink any German warship or submarine encountered. Hitler's declaration of war changed nothing except that German submarines were now allowed to shoot at US shipping. Hitler's views on these matters were stated bluntly and clearly in his Table Talks.

[@sthrich635]

Except it did make sense and the whole thing about "Hitler declared war on US for no reason" was just a big WW2 misconception stemmed from conclusion with superficial understanding of the context then. Even before the war declaration US was in practice participating in the Battle of Atlantic against the Germans - US convoy was shipping many valuable materials and supplies to UK and soon to USSR too, which came into direct conflicts with Germany operations against them and they couldn't not ignore those convoy. And not to mention US Navy had already been given permission to defend the convoy at will. If without declaring war, inevitably Germany would be forced to do a "Pearl Harbor" on US ships, "unprovoked" attack that gave grounds for war declaration in addition of painting an even worse picture for Germany in US public mind. In a way, as far as the German leadership concerned, the war declaration on US was a "return war declaration" for the already on-going US willful intervention on the Atlantic. It only make no sense to people who believed they would have complete and true historical picture of WW2 from just History TV channels and school classes - that would be like saying completing high school physics classes plus a dozen KZbin videos make someone a physicist automatically.

[@aleksazunjic9672]

Germany was practically already in war against US, as US was supplying Britain (and partially USSR) , and US destroyers were conducting "neutrality patrols" effectively blocking German U-boats. With declaration of war Germans at least got "second happy time" for their subs for few months.

[@jaycurtis5036]

You are completely wrong about Rommel. Hitler did not support him and he was always low on supplies due to that. NOT his own disinterest in logistics.

[@johnchristopherrobert1839]

Rommel’s tactics are still taught in US Army’s military college. So he is still respected as a military commander.

[@colinhunt4057]

Why? He was defeated heavily at Operation Crusader, El Alamein, Tunisia, Normandy in 1944. His largest battles were all disasters for Germany.

[@johnchristopherrobert1839]

@@colinhunt4057 he was defeated because he ran out of fuel and ammunition. He only had control of the supply lines once they were dropped off in Africa. If you consider the D day invasion debacle from the German standpoint. There was no clear chain of command. The Germans had multiple commanders that wanted to do their own thing with no one really in charge of all the defensive operations. This is why the D-Day invasion was so successful. The German leader ship was sabotaging each other instead of working together to defend the invasion..

[@BeefT-Sq]

@@colinhunt4057 Because he was a great tactician. That's why. Rommel used reverse-slope defense, employed the "88" guns to destroy tanks lured into range, moved fast and did the unexpected. He was larger thwarted by Ultra code-cracking though.

[@colinhunt4057]

@@BeefT-Sq Try reading my answer. His army was smashed at the above-named battles. At Gazala, in April 1942, his rashness almost led to his entire mobile force being surrounded and obliterated. His successes mostly came from the British having no viable combined arms doctrine whatsoever and a few commanders (Ritchie, Pienaar, Cunningham) who were entirely unfit for senior command. Rommel was a competent tactitician; he merely looked great against incompetent opponents. Against someone who knew what he was doing (Montgomery), Rommel's record was a string of disasters starting at El Alamein.

[@duncanidaho1313]

@@colinhunt4057You’ve obviously lack a great deal of history in your studies which formed a pretty prevalent bias. How do you think Rommel attained THE highest military ranking and is noted by historians to be the second greatest military tactician of all time? Julius Cesar being number one. I encourage you to question your conclusions and do more research because a great deal of WWII historians completely disagree with you.

[@Phalanx11]

This video sucks. Rommel didn't take the Suez because he couldn't. Not because he didn't want to.

[@jameshannagan4256]

It's almost a miracle they got as far as they did.

[@toshe.6690]

Rommel also had almost perfect intelligence reports. the US diplomatic codes had been compromised and US observers were reporting British army dispositions to their embassy in Rome and hence to the axis armies.

[@peterlenihan5712]

I love how you talk about the Japanese attacks on the west coast and mention the often forgotten attack on Oregon yet you completely ignore the other often forgotten attack on Alaska

[@arturorosas7585]

Please take this video down. you got so much wrong it would be an abomination to keep it up. Either try again with the right facts or do the world a favor and don’t let one single person think they’re learning truth from this. I would even help you to correct it. That’s how wrong you got it

[@garychristison763]

Didn't cover the number one thing I always wondered about. Why didn't they ever try to drop a bomb on Hitler's head. The closest I've come to an explanation is that intelligence knew where he was but didn't try to take him out because he was such a bad military leader and there was a chance that his replacement would be an improvement.

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

They mentioned it in the movie "The dirty dozen 2". Mustache man was the Allies biggest ally.

[@MihaiMarinescuJr]

To be fair: Germany and Russia started WW2 together. Based on the Ribbentrop Molotov Treaty both countries attacked almost at the same time! Germany attacked Poland from the West and Russia attacked Poland from the East and also Finland, the Baltic States and Romania. The fact that Germany was dangerous for Western countries made it "the enemy". Central and Eastern countries didn't matter. Some say that Communist Russia was worse than Fascist Germany. I agree!

[@mickberry164]

We declared way on Germany only after Germany declared war on us. Germany was allies with Japan. When we declared war on Japan, Germany declared war on us. The Soviet Union never declared war on us.

[@chrislambert9435]

One of the greatest Mysteries in WWII is; Why did Adolf Hitler declare War on the USA straight after The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour ? They did not have to do this ! Most Americans today do not know about this Nazi declaration of War on The USA by Hitler & they have never heard the Speech Hitler made at this time ! ! Perhaps this video would be better to mention this issue ! !

[@colinhunt4057]

@@chrislambert9435 The United States was already at war with Germany in March 1941 with the passage of Lend-Lease and the Atlantic naval patrols.

[@patrickflynn607]

The attack on Poland was almost at the same time. Almost. But Britain and France declared war on Germany because it invaded Poland, so you are incorrect that "Central and Eastern countries didn't matter." The Soviet Union did invade Poland soon after and it is a good historical question as to why they did not also declare war on the USSR. I would argue that it was simply Realpolitik. They could not physically get to the Soviet Union and they made the correct calculation that eventually Hitler would turn on his partner, without which Britain had no hope of defeating Nazi Germany.

[@colinhunt4057]

@@patrickflynn607 I tend to agree. Germany always intended to attack the USSR. Hitler had stated so decades before in Mein Kampf. The plan was always to invade the lands of the East, kill everyone and steal everything they owned. The Nazi alliance with Stalin was to simply buy time, allow Germany to build a larger army and get rid of Poland which was separating the two. It also allowed Germany time to round up some more useful allies in this crusade to annihilate the Slavs: Rumania, Finland, Hungary and Croatia.

[@jwwj30]

Yes, definitely make another video about Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941. Thank you, I enjoyed this video as well.

[@michael-oj4lk]

The purpose of the IJN's attack on Pearl Harbor was to knock out the US Pacific Fleet so that it could not interfere in Japan's operations in the Western Pacific. This they achieved; it was 6 months before the bulk of the fleet was ready to mount major operations again. They didn't sink any of the carriers because they were not there; they had put to sea 3 days earlier. This video was well made but there was so much info that was either missing or wrong that it gives almost misinformation on every topic you covered.

[@zoezulma594]

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a failure. The battleships were sunk in shallow water so most were repaired, the 188 aircraft destroyed were mostly on the ground so we didn't lose many experienced pilots and the aircraft were easily replaced with more modern planes, and the main target of the attack, the aircraft carriers, were not touched.

[@andrewward5891]

The battleships the Japanese sunk were already outmoded weapons. All naval battles in thd pacific were done by carrier planes not by battleship salvos. Later in the war the Japanese built the world’s battleship called the Yamamoto. American carrier planes sunk it in 40 Minutes.

[@zoezulma594]

@@andrewward5891 Yes, but the Battle of Leyte Gulf was a notable exception, when the Japanese Navy's Southern Force consisting of the old battleships Yamashiro (flag) and Fusō, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and four destroyers ran into the American Seventh Fleet that included six battleships, five of which had been sunk at Pearl Harbor and then repaired. Three of those battleships had radar fire control and did considerable damage to the Southern Force along with torpedoes from American destroyers and thousands of shells from American cruisers.

[@BeefT-Sq]

@@andrewward5891 Our battleships were used to pound shore defenses to support amphibious landings.

[@SnakePliskin762]

​@@BeefT-Sq which was also ineffective

[@bb62bb62]

@@andrewward5891 The Japanese battleship was the Yamato, not the Yamamoto (a Japanese admiral).

[@jdevine42]

Pearl Harbor is the ultimate example of the difference between a tactical victory and a strategic defeat for the entire Axis powers

[@jamesw71]

Agreed...if Japan had concentrated on China/Russia instead of waking up the USA then Germany would have had more time and resources to spend attacking Russia and Africa. Instead the Americans took Africa and drained a lot of resources from both the Germans and Japanese that could have been used to take control over most the world between Berlin and Tokyo, then take on the UK and USA when they had the resources to counter them.

[@GaryAa56]

Captured Nazis? The average captured German soldier was not a member of the Nazi party.

[@rickymcginnis7300]

Yes, not all Germans were Nazi's and not all Nazi's were German...

[@IntyMichael]

Especially not the German soldiers from WWI shown in one picture.

[@chrislambert9435]

One of the greatest Mysteries in WWII is; Why did Adolf Hitler declare War on the USA straight after The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour ? They did not have to do this ! Most Americans today do not know about this Nazi declaration of War on The USA by Hitler & they have never heard the Speech Hitler made at this time ! ! Perhaps this video would be better to mention this issue ! !

[@colinhunt4057]

@@davidmack4185 Quite right, except the passage of Lend-Lease was in March, 1941. And the US had a task force at sea in May 1941 actively trying to find and sink the German battleship Bismarck.

[@captainamerica6525]

Maybe not but they sure as hell fought hard enough for them didn't they?

[@raymondohlsen5054]

I just love the fact that when videos show footage of Pearl Harbor, that much of the footage is actually footage from the movie 'Tora, Tora, Tora!'

[@ZachariahMorningstar]

You are too amusing

[@raymondohlsen5054]

@@ZachariahMorningstar Yes, but truthful...Same thing happened on the History Channel. They made a big deal about a show called WW2 in Color.

[@neilanderson891]

Oh Lord! Don't you realize that "Tora, Tora, Tora" used actual news-reel footage that was filmed both during and after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and was then distributed to Theaters across the US mainland to inform the entire US Population. Your superficial comment raises the spectre that Germany's Death Camps will be the next fact of history up for Denialists. Oh, wait a second, that's already a denial in progress ... Let me start-over: Your comment raises the spectre that WORLD WAR II will be the next fact of history offered-up for denial.

[@AmericanActionReport]

One of the mistakes people often make in trying to understand historical events is the assumption that people knew then what we know now. Conventional wisdom of the day said that a Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor was impossible for several reasons. Pearl Harbor was too shallow to accommodate torpedoes dropped from planes (Solution: the Japanese made their torpedoes more buoyant.) Dive bombing was thought impossible because the planes would get shot down before dropping their payload. (Wrong.) The Japanese couldn't move a fleet halfway across the Pacific without being spotted. (Solution: The Japanese followed behind a storm front.) Newly invented radar would detect incoming planes. (Well, yeah, they did. But radar was so new that the radar operators were unsure of their own equipment.) For all those reasons, U.S. planes were bunched together as a precaution against saboteurs, although this made them easy targets for dive bombers.

[@jdee8407]

Why did Japan attack? It boils down to this: that the Japanese military leadership had very little understanding of the concepts of strategic logistics and production capabilities on a large scale. For example, when they hatched the plan to take-over the Dutch East-Indies for the oil, one of the civilian ministers brought up the fact just because they conquer it doesn't mean the oil is theirs, they still had to ship in to Japan, and that rout would be very vulnerable to interdiction. Because both the Japanese and German military school did very little teaching in economics, unlike American military schools. This was the same failure the German Generals had when attacking Russia. The Axis officers training mainly consisted on studying tactics, and they were very good at it. However when it came to grand strategy for a total war they had a big blind spot.

[@chrislambert9435]

Minute 1.08 He says "is still difficult to understand" is He joking ? ? The USA, The British Empire, The Dutch Colonies Etc all worked together to impose a 100% Trade embargo on Japan ! !

[@niyanlan8928]

How can you mention the German nuclear programme and not mention the Heroes of telemark? One of the greatest war stories ever

[@castlerock58]

The biggest thing that makes no sense is why, when Germany and the Soviet Union both invaded Poland and divided its territory, Britain and France only declared war against Germany and ignored Russia. It makes sense on pragmatic grounds since war against Germany and the Soviet Union was suicidal. It makes no sense on legal or moral grounds to make an alliance with a country and only declare war against one of two aggressors who invaded it.

[@passantNL]

You just answered your own question. So it seems to make perfect sense to you.

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

Didn't Soviet Union claim they did it just to prevent Germany for getting whole Poland

[@cromwelljones53]

Thank you for speaking out about the myth of Rommel's reputation. Despite the qualities of the man, I've always felt his skills as a general have been over-praised.

[@myplane150]

Rommel did really well in the early days of the war. He was effective in France, Greece, and in Africa in 42 and early 43. The man was a good General but was really handicapped in Africa by Hitler because it was the campaign was secondary to Barbarossa. Who knows how good he might of been had he unlimited support from Germany. Also, he didn't have much to work with in Normandy from the beginning and had to basically start from scratch. Was he great? Maybe. Was he better than average? Certainly.

[@ronstreet6706]

One of the reasons the Nazi nuclear program failed was the raid on Telemark, which destroyed the only place in Europe making heavy water, vital for nuclear weapons development.

[@colinhunt4057]

No. Heavy water was irrelevant to the Manhattan Project.

[@robertmurphree7210]

@@colinhunt4057 the US chain reaction nuclear pile stage of development used neutron slowing purified graphite moderator. Germans didn’t knots about graphite so they fixated on heavy water

[@jimbailey6499]

Yamamoto never uttered that line about "awakening a sleeping giant." The origin of it is from the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

[@ulfalling2378]

You forgot to mention Italian-Americans and German-Americans were also interned in camps.

[@jamesw71]

Here is another question for you...prior to 1943 the Germans outnumbered the Russians on the Eastern Front nearly 2 to 1, then all the sudden the Russians go from having 2 million troops to up to 6 million troops (including tanks and planes) in less than a year (few months in fact) this doesn't account for lend-lease or conscription and reserve activations and the Russians still had to keep large forces in the East to counter Japans invasions of China and Manchuria. So where did these 4 million troops miraculously appear from? Or were they just mostly conscripts and just that many on paper who had no weapons or training and filled in as Russia took on losses?

[@Albemarle7]

Trucks. The Russian soon had far more than the Germans. Men and materal are useless if they are not at the battle area on time. The germans had about one tenth of of the number they needed. The proud Panzers had to wait horses to bring up they supplies.Vast numbers of Amercan trucks gave the Red Army real mobility.

[@billrandall9704]

@2:54 - video says Kimmel was "directly cautioned by Japan to execute an appropriate defensive deployment" - doubtful that warning would be given to your anticipated opponent

[@BeefT-Sq]

Correct ! Kimmel was warned by Washington ( not Japan) and misinterpreted the warning as referring to a danger of sabotage.

[@robmeagher2443]

The Aussies were the first to inflict a defeat on the Germans - it was them (completely outnumbered and out resourced) that stopped Rommel from reaching the Suez Canal. Australia played a huge part in WW2 on both the European and Pacific theatres to the point there are towns in France named after Australian cities to honour the thousands of our men that fell for other countries petty issues. Least you could do is mention them in your little spot about Rommel. Just a quick last note - doesn't matter what the yanks did in Europe (or the Poms) its us Aussies they revere for what we gave up.

[@onlyactingup]

This channel gets so much wrong in this video I won't be watching anymore they are only interested in promoting America and that's it. Australia doesn't exist in most American minds.

[@Anon54387]

And very fortunate, had the Germans reached the Suez the lifeline of the UK would've been cut off, but I think you are not giving the Americans a fair shake for their contribution.

[@colinhunt4057]

"The Aussies were the first to inflict a defeat on the Germans" Umm, no. The first defeat of the Germans was Operation Crusader in November 1941. No Australians present for that one; just New Zealanders and a lot of South African and Indian troops.

[@colonelfustercluck486]

@@colinhunt4057 And of course, the naval battle of the River Plate with NZ and British Navy forces. (South America, off and in the large bay / inlet between Argentina and Uruguay....) That was very early in the war. As a result, a German cruiser was scuttled by it's management, to prevent it being taken into allied hands. The name of the German cruiser was: Admiral Graf Spee. 1st Naval battle of WWII.... 13th December, 1939. Great Britain and New Zealand (Winners corner) together against the Admiral Graf Spee.

[@joannedickie7863]

@@colinhunt4057 Australian troops were involved in Operation Crusader. Australian troops from the 9th Division held off repeated German attacks on Tobruk. They earned the name "Rats of Tobruk" & were highly respected by Rommel's Afrika Corp.

[@treyweaver5396]

Good vid.

[@marcjohnson2610]

While not a specialist on Rommel, it should be pointed out that both in North Africa in 1942 and France 1944 the man had to deal with the Russian Front havng priority over both men and material. A meddling Hitler by 1944 made tactical decisions difficult. German POWs were generally well treated, as were many of the Western Allies troops they took prisoner. This was based both on the Law of War and an enlightened desire on both sides not to encourage suicidal resistance nor have retribution on one's own POW's. That said, there were a number of brutal exceptions such as the Malmedy Massacre and the deadly feud between Canadian troops and the SS. The Pacific, by a contrast, was a war of annihilation, While the Japanese started it, the Americans savagely dealt it right back to them.

[@dezartsean6059]

Easy to knock Rommel.....however for three big reasons he was denied a reliable supply chain to maintain any momentum : Malta and the convoy interference, aide to Italy in Greece and Operation Barbarossa. The first round between the US military and Rommel went to the latter : In the early morning hours of February 19, the Germans launched their attack through the Kasserine Pass. They were able to inflict heavy damage on the Allied forces in the coming days, as the Allies reeled westward in retreat for 50 miles. Underlying problems among the Allied forces, and within the American Army in particular, became painfully clear. The Allied forces were not properly positioned because their commanders had not personally reconnoitered the landscape. Not only were the American, British, and French forces uncoordinated among themselves, but within the American forces Fredendall had split up elements within divisions, assigning them individual tasks on the battlefield rather than emphasizing coordinated, integrated actions. The inexperience of the US Army in combat was evident in the performance of both troops and equipment. These elements later drew Rommel’s personal scorn. Finally, it was evident that the Allied leaders did not inspire confidence among their men.

[@colinhunt4057]

Rommel's biggest handicap was the port landing capacities in Africa. As matters stood, they were strained to the absolute limit of the tonnage of cargo that could be delivered.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

It seems to me that a few people didn't do their homework... Rommel was at home in Germany when the Allied attack on the French coast began. It was his wife's birthday and the weather conditions were so bad that an attack seemed impossible. Therefore, Rommel could not repel the attack. And there was still Hitler, who could only release the tank reserves personally. And as for the fight in North Africa... Rommel never had the mass of supplies that he really needed. Moreover, it was not his job to take care of it personally. Since Frederick the Great, it was common for commanders to command their troops from the front. Leadership from the front! This enabled quick tactical decisions and also the rapid recognition of opportunities. Not infrequently, this was decisive for the battle. Things like supplies had to be taken care of by subordinates. Period! In contrast to Allied commanders who, as was once said in Black Adder, were shaking their balls 35 miles behind the front... By the way... Did you know that the first shot of the Pacific War was fired by the Americans...? And the issue of the use of nuclear weapons in Japan was already discussed in detail in 1966. The book on the subject is called "Nuclear Diplomacy"...

[@raymond16960]

This video really takes it easy on Rommel. Like, he also failed to capture Iran, Iraq, Thailand, Australia, etc. Plus, he didn't bother to invent and produce such things as radar, antibiotics that his troops could have really used. He was just a lazy general with an abundance of time and resources, he could have at least come up with a special interpretive dance for his troops but he couldn't be bothered.

[@colonelfustercluck486]

would the special interpretive dance be like that broken "break dancing" by the Australian academic Olympian who scored totally zero points. That is the total score. Endorsed by the Aussie Govt, that one? Ray-gun maybe her stage name... F**k it was so bad it is hilarious. Well you can see why he performed no interpretive dancing for the troops... it would have made them puke.

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

😂😂😂

[@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd]

Great video. If you were a German soldier in WW2 you definitely would rather be captured by the Americans or the British as your chances of long-term survival in Soviet hands was very low. The nuclear bombing of Japanese did help bring the war to a quick end but the fact that the Russians declared war on Japan a few days before the bombing and struck a hammer blow at the Empire with the Red Army at its full force was also important along with the Allies finally agreeing to let Japan keep its Emperor.⚛️

[@davidvavra9113]

The Germans didn't realize their graphite was contaminated with boron, so they switched to heavy water.

[@NDB469]

Didn’t know about the 1940 draft, makes sense though. A peacetime draft turned out to be a smart move.

[@brosrcool]

Rommel told the high command that if the Allies were to land they would land in Normandy. Hitler and his staff disagreed. They were sure the landing would take place in the Pas de Calais. They, the high staff, put resources there including a large number of tanks. Perhaps, if the tanks were allowed to go to Normandy immediately, Hitler held them back, history would be VERY different.

[@brosrcool]

Yamamoto never said "sleeping giant" When the movie was first screened critics did not like the ending of the movie because it ended with the Japanese victory. So the producers decided to add that scene at the end.Old people know this.

[@colonelfustercluck486]

Maybe or maybe not. But Yamamoto did warn the Japanese Powers (Military, Govt and / or Emperor) that this plan of action (warring with USA) was only going to be good for 12 to 18 months.... and then the massiveness of the USA industry and military would catch up, and exceed what Japan could throw against USA. So he did tell them that, long term, it was not a good idea. Whether he actually said anything about sleeping giant..... who knows. He may have done. He was fluent as hell in the English language as he spent years there living and working just before WWII. Yamamoto is an interesting person to look at on Wikipedia. He was not an ordinary person.

[@davidingham3409]

There is a report on the Farm Hall bugging of German scientists (in the Palo Alto library) that clears up the German nuclear project. They took money from the ordinance department but never seriously thought about how to make a bomb. They had nowhere near the resources and didn't even get a reactor going. The main outcome was that Feynman didn't speak to Heisenberg.

[@charlesrichardson8635]

Getting to the Suez Canal. The Afrika Corps was a small set of troops and equipment based on the idea that Britain would fold in Africa. Remember the big focus Russia. So the British attrited The Germans by almost stopping all troop and munitions at sea (Malta) and just grinding them down. Even Patton had great respect for Rommel. As for the Invasion of Europe, Rommel did more to strengthen the Wall that the Allies wanted.. It was Hitler's belief that the Calais was the point of attack. Six generals tried to get Hitler to allow ROMMEL's plan to attack immediately to go forward. When your boss is a psychopath... As for the way Rommel's death was handled, it would be a huge drop in moral for the European armies as a whole if they knew that Rommel did not support Hitler anymore.

[@MrGibsonguy335]

For some never explained reason, all the carriers at Pearl were mysteriously ordered to sea the night before the Dec 7 attack. One carrier attempted to return to port after the first wave and that one was the only carrier damaged in the raid.

[@kevinbutler-hm1]

No carrier was damaged. Enterprise was ferrying planes. Lexington was doing exercises around Midway. Saratoga was getting refitted and in San Diego. Hornet was going through a shakedown cruise. Yorktown, Ranger, and Wasp were in the Atlantic at the time. Lexington was first to return but they were ordered to leave in case the Japanese wanted to launch another strike.

[@dennisfriske310]

This is not very good

[@danielhamilton1130]

Why?

[@WilhelmHeiden]

Rommel's failure at D-Day was not his own. He argued to have the armor behind the front where he thought the invasion would take place, and he thought correctly Normandy. Hitler was convinced it was Pas-de-Calais and wanted the armor held back at a central location, too far back to save the day.

[@abestm8]

Hindsight is always 20/20. Its such a shame you were not running the show in some of these cases as you're obviously way better than mere adversaries like Rommel and such and would have beaten them in hours Im sure.

[@terminallyelleofficial]

I need daily WW2 videos, please, and thank you ❤

[@richardcutts196]

Actually the US was aware of a possibility of attack on Pearl Harbor. It had come up in wargames run during the 30's. As a result one of the standard exercises was against an air attack on Pearl Harbor. That's why, when they sent out the message about the attack, they added the notation that it was not a drill.

[@richardcutts196]

The US was expecting massive casualties from invading Japan. In response we made so many purple heart wound medals that we are still using them today, almost 80 years later.

[@Air-bear]

Rommel accepted death to save his family

[@user-ld4xx1el6q]

Rommel was a brilliant tactician. He was not a strategist. He was not responsible for logistics and supply and that was awful. When Italy could get supplies through he was good when they could not he was, literally, out of gas. By 6/61944 Germany had lost control of the air, they never had control of the sea. Rommel did as well as anyone could have given his supply situation in all instances.

[@ives3572]

“You don’t win wars by dying for your country. You win by making the other guy die for his.” - General George Patton

[@johnnydavis5896]

Rommel did a good job with the logistics he had and his aggressive plans where in part designed to get supplies from the British and he had great success at doing so. The German High Command neglected strategic logistic especially for North Africa. Halder was jealous of Rommel and sought to undercut him. The German High Command was not good.

[@densnow4816]

On Dec 7, all world navies wrongly believed battleships were top targets. Japan never assumed destruction of carrier fleet at Pearl Harbor.

[@billwendell6886]

This is like the term paper you tried to turn in by reading an encyclopedia instead of going to the library because you got high all weekend.

[@billflood50]

Why is there a 1957 newspaper with headlines mentioning 'Sputniks' in the part about the WWII "Battle of Los Angeles"? How can we take anything else in the video seriously when we see that? You're obviously not paying attention or just don't care about what you're putting out.

[@bwhog]

As I was taught, the big reason Germany didn't build a nuclear bomb was that they made a mistake in their determination of how much material was needed for prompt criticality. This meant to them that a bomb was not practical so funding was greatly reduced.

[@colinhunt4057]

Physics had nothing to do with it. Germany was incapable of the industrial effort to duplicate the Manhattan Project.

[@yesyesyesyes1600]

Afaik Hitler had a dislike for jewish science like nuclear-physics

[@haginmatt]

At 5:28, there is a photo of a newspaper story featuring Krushchev and Sputniks. That's not WWII.

[@colonelfustercluck486]

that piece of news paper was dated in the 50's

[@ronaldsmith4153]

the U.S. froze Japanese assets on July 26, 1941, and on August 1, it established an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan.[15][16][17] The oil embargo was an especially strong response because oil was Japan's most crucial import, and more than 80% of Japan's oil came from the United States.

[@ДмитрийБочарников-б1ь]

You've missed the most miraculous thing in WWII, Rudolf Hess flight to Britain. Was had been agreed between Allies and Nazis?

[@chrislambert9435]

One of the greatest Mysteries in WWII is; Why did Adolf Hitler declare War on the USA straight after The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour ? They did not have to do this ! Most Americans today do not know about this Nazi declaration of War on The USA by Hitler & they have never heard the Speech Hitler made at this time ! ! Perhaps this video would be better to mention this issue ! !

[@johnchristopherrobert1839]

German POWs after the war were not treated well at all. They were made to stand in pens for days with little food or water. Many POWs died in these conditions. Now POWs that made it back to the US during the war were treated better.

[@pascalplace5981]

German POWs in the USA were well treated only because there were US POWs in Germany at that time. When the war in Europe ends and that all allied POWs were freed the treatment of Germans POWs in the USA worsened. And after the war the infamous Rhine POW camps had very bad conditions.

[@derkaiser420]

The reason why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because they thought they could completely destroy the US Pacific Fleet and the USA would not retaliate. Why? Because they did it before. During the Russo-Japanese War the Japanese completely destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima Strait by luring them into a trap. This effectively ended the war. The Japanese were cocky and thought they could do it to the United States too. Unfortunately for them, the American carriers were not at Pearl Harbor during the attack so the Japanese needed another decisive victory. For this they chose Midway Island which the Americans figured out then they were completely defeated in the Battle of Midway which they were never able to recover from. Semper Fortis.

[@moneybagzz]

Using Nuclear Weapons Against Japan: there were multiple reasons, one of which was to prevent Soviet Aggression. They had multiple millions of troops in Central and Eastern Europe ready to start another war if Stalin ordered it. Deterrence is a valuable tool in preserving a hard-won peace.

[@colinhunt4057]

No, the alternative to nuclear weapons was Operation Downfall. This was the conventional invasion of Japan that would have produced millions of fatalities. Harry Truman and the US military knew that this conventional invasion would be the bloodiest war the US had ever fought. The Soviet Union was irrelevant to the need to drop the bombs. Japan was not going to surrender unless they were confronted with a weapon, against which they had no defense.

[@maxrudder6091]

Deterrence was mentioned by some proponents of using the A-Bomb, but not specifically against the USSR. Rather, it was about making major power war unthinkable. Oppenheimer specifically talked about this. To understand why the bomb was used, you have to understand the whole situation in August 1945. The Japanese military still occupied Korea, Indochina (Vietnam), Thailand, the East Indies, and large swaths of China. The war was killing thousands of people every day from combat, disease, starvation, and Japanese military brutality. The U.S. bombing campaign was killing tens of thousands every night, and 110,000 had been killed the first night. Nobody wanted this to go on. The options were invasion, which was predicted to cause a million allied casualties and millions of Japanese civilian deaths (based on experiences on Saipan and Okinawa, where civilians had been used as human shields and were made to attack American positions armed with sticks and knives). Or a blockade, which was predicted to lead to something like 7 million deaths from starvation and large ship losses for the U.S. from kamikaze attacks. Or dropping an atomic bomb in the hopes that the Japanese war cabinet would see the futility of their position and the terrible death and destruction their people would suffer. The bomb was seen as the least horrible alternative. It still took two for Hirohito and a few of the cabinet to muster the courage to surrender.

[@colinhunt4057]

@@maxrudder6091 I agree. To which I would only add that the Japanese government headed by Tojo had no intention of ever surrendering to just conventional weapons. Like Hitler, the Japanese military government laid its hopes in 'miracle' weapons. Japan's first jet fighter, Nakajima Kikka, flew its first test flight just a week before Hiroshima. It resembled and was inspired by the German Me-262.

[@dixiefish0173]

What happened to the nuke bomb for the Nazis they were stupidly biased against scientists who were Jewish & didn’t get it… Albert Einstein went to USA to help make it instead by contacting the president by a letter & A.E. Said it was the biggest mistake of his life… also the German’s the First Nation conquered by the Nazis thought they could win by normal means & didn’t put enough effort or resources into acquiring it what little they did ended up being taken by stallin’s armys & the British operation heavy water where they destroyed a manufacturing place to make it & American army towards end of 1945. The nuke bombs aka atom bombs where originally going to be dropped on germany but they were defeated before that took place so they dropped them on the empire of Japan… had they not millions more would of died by a land invasion of the home islands, google the plans Japan had for that basically they wanted a continuation war till the point it would almost be a genocide of the Japanese population some generals in Japan wanted it even after the atom bombs where dropped on the city’s btw America had a third bomb in the works but didn’t get used.

[@colinhunt4057]

No. Germany had neither the resources nor the manufacturing capabiity of duplicating the Manhattan Project. It certainly didn't have the HR capability, as most of the nuclear scientists had fled Germany in the 1930s. It could no more produce a nuclear weapons program than someone could fly and Me-109 to the Moon. The program that Germany did have served only one purpose: the handful of people working on it were protected from being drafted into the Wehrmacht and sent to certain death on the Eastern front.

[@coolsunday6339]

Japan hit Pearl at the same time as multiple others targets. Japan was looking to secure access to oil. The US had limited export of oil to Japan. Japan expected to be able to secure an early peace with US allowing them to keep their new empire.

[@PatrickMcLaughlin-ji4rb]

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in a mistaken belief they could nullify the US in the Pacific and then gain easy access to energy stores in Indonesia and Malaysia, they had hubris about their evil efforts in China and thought they could easily put the Americans away, big mistake. They did this also because the US had limited the amount of energy Japan could import, so this political act motivated Japan. But, as mentioned, hubris impacted their expectations

[@rayatkin3913]

Don't criticise Rommel for "failing" to take the Suez Canal, his supply lines were too long, he never had sufficient armour or trucks for the task, the British forces had built up to considerable strength in Eygypt, the RAF had grown too strong, RAF attacks based out of Malta sank close to 40% of ships supplying his main base at Benghazi and the overall stress of commanding the Afrika Korps rendered him to exhaustion, pneumonia. See Winston Churchill's "History of the Second World War", a six volume set he wrote from 1948 to 1953 when he had access to German documents and diaries, including Rommel's.

[@coachhannah2403]

Uranium is plentiful but extremely hard to refine. It goes boom trivially. Plutonium is scarce, but trivial to refine. It is EXTREMELY hard to make go boom.

[@colinhunt4057]

You don't understand how nuclear fission works. You should stop now.

[@davesheppeck696]

I was of the understanding that the cities weren't of great military importance. But rather not damaged by our bombing so far. Making it a perfect real world test subject. Not to mention a way to let every other country see what we had .

[@caramanico1]

Pearl Harbor is not hard to understand. Yamamoto was US educated (Ivy League, I believe) and he was well aware of the sleeping but tremendous potential industrial and personnel capacites of the US. Knowing they could not win a protracted war, the Japanese high command figured the currently weak Americans had no stomach for war and thought that they would instantly fold after an attack on Pearll Harbor. Nuking Japan was absolutely necessary. Having to invade and occupy a chain of mountainous islands inhabited with military and civilian populations that extolled that dying for the Emporer was the greatest thing any of them could do, they would never have surrendered. The previous fire bombings actually killed more people, but the atomic attacks were done using only on bomb at a time of course. Then throw in the aftereffects of radiation, etc.. Even then the Japanese government didn't say 'Uncle" until after the second bomb. Such an invasion would have killed untold millions on both sides and would have dragged on for another 1-2 years.;

[@davidpatterson9840]

The thing which cost the Nazis the bomb was that they made their scientists compete against one another. We made ours cooperate. Cooperation beats competition every time. Capitalist would be well to remember this.

[@jamesivie5717]

I agree with @waddell, 80% accurate but 20%. Rommel was great, Japa bombed Pearl in hopes of knocking out our carriers, which were conveniently out to sea.

[@NorvelCooksey]

What about after the war when general Eisenhower said I think we just defeated The wrong enemy

[@himeccms893]

I think that was Patton

[@panthergraf9630]

That was Patton, not Eisenhower. And what did Patton know, he fought against vaccuums and enemys on their backfeet but once - and failed (Lorraine campaign).

[@NorvelCooksey]

@himeccms893 thank you for getting that Information correct

[@NorvelCooksey]

@panthergraf9630 dose not mean he was wrong about Russia. How long was the cold war?

[@madmark1957]

@@NorvelCooksey Yes, but the USA created the cold war. Because the USA joined in the war in Europe (not how or why you think), and had a lot of troops involved in D Day, overall command was given to Eisenhower. In the last days of the war the allied forces who had landed in France were in two columns, the Americans and the British. The British were three days ahead of the Americans. For pride's sake Eisenhower ordered the British column to halt. They stopped for 2 days, at which point Eisenhower discovered the Russians were close to Berlin. He ordered the British to go, but they arrived after the Russians did. Had he left things to happen without interference, the British would have arrived more than a day before the Russians. The cold war was largely based on the splitting of Germany and Eastern Europe. Had the British got to Berlin first the Russians would probably not have attempted to enter the city, Russia having been on the losing side to the British and the French on many occasions.

[@TomSwift-wy1gx]

PLEASE COVER the Soviet invasion of northern Japan, which led directly to Japan's surrender.

[@pjesf]

Yes, please - more on Dec 7 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Also, is that a huge sore on Rommell’s lip at 4:40? I wonder what the cause could be. Thinking, thinking… 🤔

[@Marcfj]

Don't underrate Rommel, had he been given what he wanted he would have pushed the Allies out of North Africa and protected Europe's underbelly. Also, Hitler's big mistake was ignoring Malta and invading Crete. Had he invaded Malta and establish a German base there he could have protected his supply-line to Rommel. Regarding Pearl Harbor, the Americans were either incredibly careless, or Machiavellian clever.

[@Normandy1944]

It is my belief that after the dropping of the (2) atom bombs Aug 6 & 9, 1945, the Japanese were in a considerably weakened state, not defeated, but weakened. Thus, in the meantime Russia declared war on Japan on Aug 8, 1945. Being in that weakened state and having Russia now also against you, all the US had to do was say... "...you have two choices, you militarily unconditionally surrender to us, we let you keep your sovereignty as a Shinto state and give us your state secrets (Units 731, 526, 516), or we let Russia roll over you." After considering the 1905 Russo-Japanese war where Japan beat Russia and what Russia did to Germany, it didn't take long to figure out what would happen to them.

[@skipstalforce]

Doesn't, the proper adjective is doesn't not don't.

[@anjalidevi7168]

Please make a video about the day of Pearl Harbour. Many thanks.

[@loboblanco4426]

FDR knew something was coming but couldn't have seen the scope of the attack.

[@jonwhisler6967]

igrew up visiting the USS Missouri and have always thought the pearl harbor attacks sunk similar battle ships. recently i've learned the ship in pearl harbor were older ships that were replaced by the massive Iowa class boats upgrading the american sea power

[@kevinbutler-hm1]

The Pennsylvania, Nevada. Tennessee, and Colorado classes of ships.

[@pedzsan]

You can get much better information about Germany’s nuclear program on other channels like Kathy Loves Physics and History. The nuclear bomb debate is lame. Indeed, the bits of this video that I have knowledge about indicates an extremely lack luster attempt which leaves me deciding to cast a down vote and ask KZbin to never suggest this channel again.

[@McKluskie]

jesus, you people really need to you your history, the reasons for pearl harbour are well documented and explained in detail by Isoroku Yamamoto himself, he believed that a surprise attack would provide Japan with a strategic advantage by demoralizing the American forces and preventing them from interfering with Japan's expansionist goals in Asia1 . He hoped that such a severe blow would force the United States to negotiate for peace on Japan's terms.

[@jameshannagan4256]

That wasn't really Yamamoto's plan but he was a patriot and if he was forced into a war that he didn't really think they could win, he was going to try and win it. Not that he thought they could ever win a total war with the US but he thought Pearl Harbor would give them a chance at a negotiated peace with good terms for Japan. It worked against Russia so they mistakenly thought it may work against the US as well.

[@McKluskie]

@@jameshannagan4256 you've basically just said the same thing slightly differently...

[@jameshannagan4256]

@@McKluskie Except for the part where it was Yamamoto's wish to go to war with the US. He advised against it along with others but he was unable to convince them. I think that's a distinction worth mentioning.

[@chrislambert9435]

Minute 1.08 He says "is still difficult to understand" is He joking ? ? The USA, The British Empire, The Dutch Colonies Etc all worked together to impose a 100% Trade embargo on Japan ! !

[@marcdc6809]

I think Rommel suffered from Peter's principle, he was at his peak during the attack on France, the ghost division... but higher up he just lacked the managerial skills, he was not a Guderian, does that make him a failure? I don't think so. Pearl Harbour was definitely a military target, I always wondered why they try to make it look like Japan capet bombed Los Angeles that day, they killed people who were supposed to keep an eye out for danger... it's the USA that looks a bit negligent in this episode of the war...

[@christophermurphy7113]

@2:54 -- so, the Japanese government contacted Admiral Kimmel and directly cautioned him to execute appropriate defensive action? I would love to see the documentation for THAT! 😂

[@BeefT-Sq]

That was a howler error !

[@aussietaipan8700]

Japan surrendered largely due to the risk of Soviet invasion, they surrendered to the lesser evil.

[@timothygavin6836]

The U.S. Navy had a ship in the south Pacific whose only job was to make ice cream for the troops, while Japanese troops starved and resorted to cannibalism to survive. They lost the war when they dropped the first bomb on Pearl Harbor, it was only a matter of time.

[@robertmurphree7210]

they wakened the american bear, the pacific was a vast logistical challenge the huge US economy could master in ways no one could have predicted, including the allies. the ocean's were filled with huge carrier groups by 1944 that dominated anything the japanese had.

[@hennasen]

Crippling military hardware should have accounted for 25% of Japans mission. Devastating military infrastructure would have had longer lasting impacts I think.