Re: LOTR and 20th Century Western European Prejudices

"MasterDebater" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

[snip]

> Yes. Nations act in their own self interest. America acted to increase her
> power in the world, just as Britain did when she rose to superpower
status.
> As long as we can keep our eye on the overridingly important fact that
> Britain was greatly *aided* by America during the war, then we can also
> point out that America did certain things which can be interpreted as acts
> which resulted in Britain losing part of her Empire. But these
> Empire-depriving acts on the part of America were relatively unimportant
> when compared to what America did to aid Britain - the Atlantic convoys of
> Liberty Ships and lots of troops and equipment. These important acts, if
> they did not actually *save* Britain from extinction, certainly helped her
a
> great deal.

Give it up. Putting an end to the British Emnpire was a stated goal of
Roosevelt's government, though of course they did not say so in public
speeches. But many statements of their intent have been preserved.
Furthermore, they did not introduce Lend-Lease until they had gobbled up
every penny of the British imperial cash reserve. Of course, they didn't
want Britain to lose the war, but they did want to undermine it as an
imperial power. A bit unncessary, in my opinion, if for no other reason than
that the Empire was on the wane anyway.
  Yes, America helped Britain survive; but it never lost sight of its own
hegemonic goals while doing so. A surviving Britain and a democratic,
capitalist western Europe were very much in America's own interests, which
is why Europeans tend to be slightly less grateful to America over its
actions in WWII than some Americans apparently would like. America did,
however, neglect to be sufficiently on its guard towards the Soviet Union,
apparently because it underestimated that country.

Öjevind