Who won WWII?
There is little dispute that the Allies won WWII and that the most important of these were the Great Britain (and its empire), the United States and Russia. Public belief differs in each of these countries about which country made the greatest contribution to the final victory. Each has good reasons for their belief.
Great Britain
- Fought the war the longest - 1939 to 1945
- Fought in Europe
- Fought in Asia
- Fought in Africa
- Fought major land, air and sea battles
United States
- Fought in Europe
- Fought in Asia
- Fought in Africa
- Fought major land, air and sea battles
- Played the greatest part in defeating Japan
Russia
- Fought in Europe
- Fought in Asia
- Fought the bulk of the German army from 1941 to 1945
- Fought the largest army and tank battles of the war
The figures
One, admittedly crude, meausure of the contribution is the combat causualties sufferred in the war.
- Great Britain including colonies 383,700 dead
- United States 407,300 dead
- Russia 8,668,000 to 10,922,000 dead
It should also be acknowledged that China was fighting Japan from 1931 to 1945 and sufferred 3,000,000 to 3,750,000 military dead. How many of these died fighting Japan is obscured by the civil war taking place during the same period.
Although many of the huge Russian losses in the early part of the war were due to poor training, leadership and equipment, by the end of the war they were better trained, better led and much better equipped.
Other factors
Other factors that contributed to the Allied victory include:
- The destruction of German industrial cities by British and US bombers
- The cutting off of German oil supplies from Rumania by US bombers
- The cutting of off of supplies to North Africa by the British Navy
- The destuction of the Japanese Navy and merchant shipping by the US Navy
- The destruction of Japanese industrial cities by US bombers
- The supply of war materials to Britain from the US
- The supply of war materials to Russia from Britain and the US
Conclusion
Ultimately WWII was won by the "poor bloody infantry". Even the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan could not have been acheieved without troops capturing island after to island to bring Japan in range of air attack. The massive destruction of German cities did not cause Germany to surrender. Only Russian troops fighting all the way to Berlin was able to bring an end to the war in Europe. So I believe, that at a massive cost in lives, it was Russia that made the greatest contribution to the Allied victory and that this should be more widely known in the West where most think it was Birtain or the US.