Patterson Harbor: Fill & Download for Free

This is an easy one, and the answer is remarkably simple. In fact, I can give it to you in just three words: THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.I know it sounds facile, but the truth of the matter is that the Atlantic is what allowed the US the luxury of focussing its energy on development of the atom bomb. Germany also had some great scientists, and some very apt technicians, who worked on, and well understood what was needed to build the bomb. The main problem Germany had was the fact that they were involved in a 2 front war (most of the time), and it was not logistically or tactically viable to construct the type of facilities they would have needed to build an atomic weapon. Consider the Doolittle Raid; Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th. Slightly more than 4 months later the US bombed their capitol city. Pearl Harbor is about 4,000 miles from Tokyo. This was the length that the US went to for what was essentially a psychological blow against the Japanese, and an effort to build morale in the US. Can you imagine the kind of pressure that would be brought to bear on any facility that the US suspected to be involved in the development of atomic weapons? The amount of force that would be directed at such a facility staggers the imagination.You may have noted to yourself that the distance from New York City to Berlin is also about 4,000 miles. It seems counter-intuitive that the Atlantic would protect the US from Germany, but not Germany from the US. It might have done both, but unfortunately for Germany, right after Pearl Harbor they made what was possibly their most costly blunder; they declared war on The United States. Since Germany was also at war with Britain, this gave the US a really marvelous unsinkable aircraft carrier to launch their planes from, and to ship their supplies to. In case you were wondering, the distance from London to Berlin is about 700 miles. What this meant in substance was that the US could bomb the piss out of their industrial heartland, striking targets more or less at will, while Germany could only gaze with envy across the waves as the US churned out war material from a secure distance, and developed the atom bomb.This is only half the answer though. The reasons the USSR didn’t develop the bomb first are twofold, and also rather simple.The first reason is that purges in the USSR killed a lot of their intellectuals and scientists, and drove many more more to emigrate. Scientists that are dead or gone can’t be counted on to do good work for the regime.The second reason is Germany. Yeah, the Soviet were wizards at moving factories, defense in depth, and they had a great big country to slow the Germans down. However, if there had been a truly viable Soviet bomb project, the Germans would have moved heaven and earth to wipe it out. To be not only defeated, but dominated by “Slavic Untermenschen” would have been intolerable. Germany would have (and did) bled herself white before allowing that to happen.So in short, The Atlantic Ocean kept the Germans from getting it first, and the Germans kept the Soviets from getting it first, while the US was able to sit behind a 4,000 mile moat and craft the bomb at their leisure.

There were a few reasons whyAmerica had just endured and were sort of still enduring the lasting effects of the Great Depression. Most Americans felt it would be idiotic to spend money they didn’t have on a war they didn’t need to be a part of. This had a profound effect on getting soldiers to enlist voluntarily which is why a draft was needed.This follows the first reason. Most Americans were isolationists. Which meant that World War II was seen as a European problem and should be resolved by Europeans. Obviously the threat of communism, attack on pearl harbor, and Hitler’s genocide against Jewish people changed this belief.America may have been isolated but they still profited from the war. Through policies like the Lend-Lease Act America provided the allies with supplies in exchange for much needed money, used to fuel their damaged economy.Lastly, America wasn’t the superpower it is today. This came after WWII. It was a powerful country but wasn’t as strong as Great Britain during that time.All in all, America joined in at the perfect time in my opinion. They lost fewer troops, and gained the most profit, becoming the number 1 superpower in the world.

I am American. I currently live in China and I often ask Chinese people how they feel about Japan. The younger generation doesn’t seem to have any bad feelings against them, however when I ask some of the older locals they usually have a negative opinion about Japanese people.The Nanjing Massacre was a clear example of how dark WWII was. Think about everything that occurred. The Nanjing Massacre, the Holocaust, the genocides in Ethiopia, Pearl Harbor, etc. Innocent people dying for a war they necessarily did not want to be involved in. Japan committed war crime after war crime, viewing Chinese people as animals instead of human beings. Holding up babies with bayonets, having competitions of who could behead the most villagers, taking photos with the deceased. It was nothing short of sick and should forever be a dark chapter in Japan’s history.People all over the world should never forget the horrors that took place during World War II. The Raping of Nanjing was a senseless act and should serve as a reminder that war should never be the answer.