On American Intervention In Germany: A Follow Up
One year ago today, I published a rejected op-ed for antiwar.com that has since gone on to be my most popular article on Medium. To this day, I get people commenting on it, clapping for it, and talking about it, which honestly surprises me.
As of today, my article “The Myth Of American Intervention In Germany” has 330 claps from 57 different people. Again, I am honestly shocked so many people took an interest towards a rejected op-ed I found on a Google Doc and decided to upload here.
In honor of the anniversary of the article, I figured I should expand on some things I left vague and clarify some things I left unclear. A good number of my critics simply do not understand the article I wrote, that’s not me insulting them, one commenter said such:
I once taught international relations at the college-level. And I have some experience with reading, writing, and (on occasion) even living history. And I have no idea what this piece is trying to say. The last paragraph in particular is a head scratcher.
The main thesis of my article is such: The claim that what the United States did during the second World War is in any way comparable to the various interventions criticized by non-interventionists and anti-war activists is nonsensical. The Axis nation of Japan attacked the United States during Pearl Harbor, and the only reason the United States went after Germany was because Germany insisted on backing Japan through declaring war on the United States.
I’ll admit, I primarily wrote this article out of frustration with interventionists I was arguing with on Twitter back in the summer of 2019. However, since I did not mention that, the article comes off as if I’m refuting voices in my head instead of actual human beings. I tried to balance this by bringing up examples of American politicians doing what I criticized, however they were more engaging in praise for Winston Churchill than anything else.
However, no line of this article has gotten me more criticism than the following:
To make it simple, had Germany never declared war on us, World War Two would have never happened.
Many have criticized this line, saying that World War Two was going on for years before the United States got involved. While this is true, it seems many of these people forget it was called World War Two for a reason.
World War Two was massive, spanning North America, Europe, and Asia as they directly fought against each other. While overlooked, Africa also had a part to play, with various countries aiding the Allies in their fight against the Axis Powers. The Roosevelt administration even overthrew an Iranian leader who wished to remain neutral, replacing him with one who would back the administration.
Without the United States joining the battle, the war would have merely been fought by Europe and some of Asia. While that is still a massive war, that is not considered a World War because — well, the entire world was in noway involved. For comparison, what I described was exactly the state of the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, yet nobody would ever consider that the first World War.
Remember, history could have unfolded in many different ways.
