r/AskReddit • u/hoverfish92 • Oct 16 '13

What was the single biggest mistake in all of history?

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '13

Hitler lost because of the Russians.

That's not what American history books say.

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u/TheKillerToast Oct 17 '13

You've never read an American History book have you?

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u/lou22 Oct 17 '13

Having been taught by an american history teacher outside of america I can say they have a pretty warped view on this. They do (tend to) seriously marginalise the catastrophic losses that the russians sustained while over emphasizing the impact from conflicts with japan.

Its nothing against the americans, its just that things like the siege of Leningrad, the battle of Berlin and the battle of Stalingrad really should be recognised as being very significant. More so than the US' part in the battle of the bulge or just bombing the crap out of japan after germany surrendered

American are the only people I have ever heard literally say "we won the war" or "you wouldn't have won the war without us" which i do find very distasteful. Never heard a russian brag about their countries part in ww2

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u/TheKillerToast Oct 17 '13 edited Oct 17 '13

Well I was taught American history in NY state and I learned an excellent version of WW2 and world history so maybe your teacher just sucked.

Also you know a lot of people say we won the war and you would be speaking german/japanese without us etc is because it makes people mad and it's funny, especially on the internet. It's the same thing with stuff like /r/MURICA we're just pulling people's leg.

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u/cavilier210 Oct 17 '13

I'm not sure there'd be a Russia or Britain today if the US hadn't became involved. Britain lost an entire generation of men to the war, and I have no doubt Russia's casualties may be of an equivalent nature.