The shattered image...

[mAd_ScIeNtIsT]

Re: The shattered image…

@Agent Smith

Are you kidding me? US was itching to get into war because that was the only way they could save the frail economy. Japan had no choice other than to attack Pearl Harbor because U.S. increased military and financial aid to China, embarked on a program of strengthening its military power in the Pacific, and cut off the shipment of oil and other raw materials to Japan. US tempted Japan to attack PH so that it would give them an excuse to join the WWII.

How did going to war save the US economy? The USA ended up deeply in debt due to having to spend on war materials, plus men were transfered from economically productive tasks to military service instead.

The US military and financial aid to China was pretty much insignificant, as witnessed by victory after victory of the Imperial Japanese Army. The USA took purely economic action against Japan, but also went out of the way not to provoke Japan through not reinforcing its Asian outposts. For example, the US Pacific fleet was kept at Hawai, rather than than at the Phillipines where it would have directly threatened Japan.

Similarly, the USA econonomy and war machine were firmly on a peace footing until after December 1941. The Air Force and Army were tiny compared to 1941 British, German, Italian or Japanese forces. There is no evidence beyond paranoia to indicate that the USA was expecting to get directly involved in the war.