Victor Davis Hanson: World War Two-Then and Now (May 2, 2018)

Presented at CU Boulder on May 2, 2018

The Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy presents:

Victor Davis Hanson: World War Two-Then and Now
World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya.
Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war's origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory.

05/02/18
5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Eaton Humanities 150
University of Colorado Boulder

Featuring:
Victor Davis Hanson, Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Sponsored by:
Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy (CWCTP)

[trevorwinston]

Really great lecture from one of America's brightest minds. The explanation of the internal army/navy strife in the Japanese military was more thoughtful than I've ever heard. It's always a pleasure when new VDH material gets published.

[hiyathere-cv]

Beyond stunning how much knowledge Dr Hanson has not just about World War II, but modern day American politics, ancient civilizations like Rome and grease.

[MegilUrgand]

Awesome historical perspective on WWII. If only this presentation was required viewing within the American public school system.

[stevet]

No mention about ‘The Battle of Britain’ that was a massive turning point that stopped Operation Sea Lion.

[MsHburnett]

I learned more about Ww2 now than the previous 50 years thx victor keep YouTubing your wisdom

[domerbuz]

Trucks for Russia were not only Chrysler and GM, but mostly Studebakers. So many, in fact, to this day Russians refer to trucks of this size as "Studes".

[MegilUrgand]

VDH didn't mention it but the key part of any military endeavor is logistics. The extremely long logistical trail is a big reason why the Germans lost on the Eastern front. The issue was both long trail and the bombing of rail lines back to Germany reducing the ability of the Germans to support their troops. They tried with aircraft but their air force did not include large cargo type aircraft.

[debeeriz]

i think you will find new zealand was in there from day one until the end and so was australia so britain was not the only country, very interesting video i might add

[williamsoto]

I love Dr. Victor Davis Hanson, but he's wrong about the Third Reich never having a 4-engine bomber. The Germans did develop a heavy bomber, the Heinkel He 177 Greif. It was a 4-engine bomber, where the engines were packed into two nacelles instead of four. This was done to maximize efficiency of parts and lower building costs. Over 1, 000 were built. The bomber suffered problems from overheating.

[stephendean]

The German army blamed civilians back home for the loss of world war 1
And before world war 2 ended they blamed the entire war and the lost of the war on one politician
No wonder they lost two world wars
People who can't take blame for huge mistakes and not only unwilling to take the blame but shifted there mistakes to other people make terrible leaders
Most high ranking officers at the end of world war 2 where not upset about what they had done
They where worried that what they had done would cost them the respect and honor due a German officer

[davidjackson]

They could have fought if they wanted. Yes.

[anonymike]

Germany and Japan were trying to overthrowing a world order in which the United States, The British Commonwealth, and France were the flagship civilizations and linguistic cultures, with Russian and China potentially coming up on the side. The German and Japanese nationalists saw correctly that to compete in world power and make the German and the Japanese into the world's leading powers and flagship linguistic civilizations they would need resources on a continental scale like America, Russian and China had or on a worldwide scale like smaller Great Britain and France with their worldwide empires and linguistic civilizations.

The Germans and the Japanese foresaw that although they might continue to grow as economic powers, their situation in relation to the giants would only get worse, and they would never have equality as civilizations. So why not go for it while it was still possible given the perceived unwillingness of the West to fight and general poor development of China? This is the story in a nutshell.

[happyduck]

First, I'd like to thank VDH for his steadfast support for the interventions that led to the creation of ISIS. Hard to maintain an empire, even in the form of global hegemony, when you blow all your money on disastrous interventions, and provide security via 800+ foreign bases, in service of foreign powers and global elites (American included). Our military power is not overall put in service of the interests of American citizens. Our Founding Fathers admonished us over and over not to get involved in foreign military entanglements (they admonished us to be wary of taking in too many foreigners too fast as well). We have followed VDH advice over and over at our own peril. VDH is not even impressive as a WW2 in his analysis of WW2. Anybody can easily google GDP figures, armament statistics, troop and casualty numbers. But when it comes to the why's and wisdom of decisions, he just gives you the same old conventional BS mythology and propaganda. Why? For he is the Court Historian of the Neocon Establishment. No matter what interventionist blunder, no matter how great the failure, his reason why all the interventions he pushed for and cheer leaded failed is because our commitment was just not strong enough. But why do we need all these great precedents of the past but to support modern wars in the interest of, you know, the country the whose interest the Neocons put above all else, no sillies it's not America's.

I'll give you a list of VDH positions.
VDH believes Putin should have been pushed out of Crimea and the whole Ukraine thing was similar to the West's appeasement of Hitler at Munich. How many of you want to risk war with Russia over Crimea, a region that wanted to be part of Russia anyway, and that until not that long ago was actually part of Russia, not just the USSR. Why does VDH hate modern post USSR Russia so much? May have something to do with Israel. For some reason they believe he interferes with their ambitions too much.

VDH wants war with Iran, because he believes it is inevitable. He said the Iran Deal was, wait for it, tantamount to the West's appeasement of Hitler at Munich. See according to VDH, Iran is a major threat to US security (meaning Israel's) so it is in our (Israel's) vital interest that America (actually America this time) fight a war with Iran that would make the Iraq War look like a cake walk, to preempt Iran's barbarous nuclear attack against the US (Israel) - (Israel that has 300 nukes). Absurd? Yeah, but Hitler.

Or, VDH on if we should overthrow Qaddafi in Libya?" VDH, reply: Oh yes, indeed.."if Gadhafi or his family survives in power after the United States simply got tired and quit, we will also be able to say that this sort of defeat is something quite new in American history." How has that worked out VDH? Libya is a failed state. Qaddafi warned that if you took him out, Africans and Muslims would pour through Libya flooding Europe. Oh and they are. But if we had only more fully committed, I guess occupied, well we indefinitely occupied Libya, things would be different. The overthrow was good, it was the lack of commitment that was bad. Sure, VDH.

VDH on his support for the US invasion of Iraq: "Hanson believed that the Iraq War, given the repeated serial violations by Iraq of UN sanctions, congressional mandates, and the threats that Saddam Hussein posed, in a post-9/11 climate, to the long-term security of the Middle East, was a necessary and worthwhile undertaking—and was, after a flawed occupation, eventually a laudable success that had led to a workable government in 2009 and relative calm in Iraq: analogous to the foundations of the successful American occupation of South Korea in the latter 1950s that led to the democratic society of today. However, he stated in 2008 that he, "... disagreed with many of the decisions made about the Iraq war, " such as the dissolution of the old Iraqi army.[19]
Hanson argued that the "surge" of 2007 had largely won the Iraq War by the beginning of 2009, and that rise of the Islamic State terrorist group which seized control of much of Iraq in mid-2014 was the result of what Hanson sees as the unwise withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq in December 2011, which he blames on the Obama administration.[26] Hanson argued that if only American troops had stayed in Iraq after December 2011, then the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would have been less sectarian and the Islamic State group would have never emerged.[27] Hanson argued that the December 2011 withdrawal from Iraq was motivated to help improve Obama's chances of reelection in 2012, an act that he compared to being equivalent to the United States pulling its troops out of South Korea in 1955, arguing if only the Americans had stayed in Iraq, then that nation would have evolved into a Near Eastern version of South Korea.[28]"
Uh huh...or the common sense analysis that we would have to remain in Iraq for decades in order to forestall the inevitable, i.e. the Shiite majority would take power, align itself with Iran, which would fill the vacuum we left. Oh and thanks for supporting a war that created ISIS in order to take out al Qaeda that didn't exist in Iraq.

VDH supported war against Serbia. Serbia/Kosavo was a BS intervention and has not even benefited greater Europe. Our leadership of Europe has led to a situation where Europe will soon no longer be Western, no longer be European, not too unlike our own country, taking in 2 million immigrants legal and illegal every year.

[jackymarcel]

Moore Amy Gonzalez Margaret Wilson Angela

[coconutz]

VDH is so inspirational and when he is talking about Trump.

[MrMedukneusha]

How to sum up WW2...
The free west vs. socialism

Yes the National Socialist German Workers Party (NAZI) were fighting the marxist socialists (commies) but that doesnt make them anti-socialist.
Shia and sunni are both islamic. ha ha, your revisionist history of the NAZI being "right-wing" just blew up in your face with facts, haw haw.

[Firearcher]

Germany never started the war Mr. Hanson - the JEWS started it and planned it.

[copsondonuts]

The greatest army? Is this guy smoking hash?
The german army who couldn't contain/defeat a mostly peasant red army during barbarossa?

The german army who couldn't contain/defeat an underequipped red army who contantly ran out of ammo? Lol

The germans, who created a land based army...who planned on covering the known VAST TERRAIN of the USSR...and went in HALF MECHANIZED? lolol

The german army who had experience and fought from well dug in defensive positions that failed to contain GREEN American troops? Those guys?

The same german army whose elite soldiery failed to overrun underequipped american lines at the bulge? That army?

The german OKW actually planned an invasion of Great Britain...an island....with a bathtub navy and twin engine bombers and this guy giving the lecture said they were the greatest army....what a joke. Oh and whats worse? This same german army bombed Great Britain...who was in the rear of the reich, while amassing their limited resources against their land army....which is about as dumb as the retarded door greeter at walmart....guess what happens next? Yeah you guessed it...the brits bombed em right back with impunity lololol. Ive witnessed better strategy in a game of counter strike.
I could literally go on for days about the incompetence of the wehrmacht starting with their clothes, their weapons' ridiculous rate-of-fire with NO stopping power (many stories exist of how american and russian soldiers would be shot 3-4 times but still ran to cover at half speed), their woeful urban-tactics that nearly ways doomed them...and so on and so forth.

They were a laughable military when inspected with a cold unbiased eye.