ORIGINAL: Charles_22
ORIGINAL: Warfare1
ORIGINAL: Charles_22
Alright, I understand your point, but my point was that if you were thinking that historically nations geared up for war just because Hitler invaded a country or two, that proved incorrect, at least in the case of the USA. Normally what you said was correct, but the USA was a major contradiction to that general wargame ruleset we have seen before, and being that the USA was one of the more powerful nations if one is resorting to being more historical with something so very basic like that, then it is important to realize just what an exception to the rule the USA was.
Sorry, but the USA was not the exception to the rule.
While public opinion polls were isolationist, President Roosevelt and the top military brass were doing everything they could to help Britain, and to prepare the USA for the coming conflict they saw looming in Europe and the Pacific. The USA did not exist in a vacuum.
Examples:
1) In 1938 the President authorized the billion-dollar Naval Expansion Bill to raise the navy's strength by 20 percent which provided for two fast battleships, 40,000 tons of new carrier construction and 3,000 naval aircraft.
2) A little later in 1938 Congress was asked for $100 million to build 10,000 aircraft.
3) In 1939, the USA sent Britain and France multi-million dollar arms deals and carried out "neutrality patrols in the western and southern Atlantic.
4) In 1940 Congress voted for $1.1 billion for the US Army; a 70 percent increase in naval strength (to include 11 fast battleships, 11 Essex carriers, 50 cruisers, and 100 destroyers); and the Selective Service Bill to begin conscription was sent to Congress.
5) By late 1940 the USA army went from 200,000 men to 1 1/2 million men.
What I am suggesting is that as war heats up in the game, and as more countries are attacked, then a country such as the USA will increase its war footing and siding with Britain/France on a % basis over time (as it did in the real war).
There has to be opportunity and political costs for a country such as Germany to attack other countries.
What you have there is an accelerated pattern, but I'm still not convinced the USA was ready for war in any form, though naturally the navy had to decide earlier when it came to building ships. The only mark you have there that might be attributed to poland would be #3, all the others are "possible" reactions to either the invasion of France or the later Battle of Britain. If you don't believe this, notice how paltry the US Army was according to those statements as it was a mere 200,000 until late 1940. Clearly that stems from the invasion of either the major nation of France and/or the possible invasion of England. While I cannot make a very strong case of USA isolation due to your data, I can tell you that it wasn't ready on 12/7/41 and that it certainly didn't gear up some major effort due to the minor nation of Poland being invaded. After you add up all those factors, only then can you even come close to making a case that I anticipate you would want to see out of this game (it didn't all happen on 9/39).
You simply can't put the USA on full war footing due to what was happening in Europe, much less Poland, if that's what you have in mind. Their war footing, even in just the general sense, would be nothing like the war footing for both England and France. If it's some more universal truth that nations gear up when "other" nations are invaded, especially on completely different continents, then I would have to ask just how many nations geared up for the current Iraq situation, or for Korea or Vietnam for that matter. I realize that the USA is often more a mother hen than a lot of nations are, but even she wasn't that way in WWII just because France and England decided to declare war for Poland and do absolutely nothing for the longest.
Hi Charles_22:
I certainly agree with many of your sentiments.
The USA did not step up to a high war footing like Britain and France.
The USA was indeed a special case, and it was a real tightrope to walk for those wanting to get into the war and those opposing it.
For a long while (until Pearl Harbour) public opinion polls were largely isolationist, even though the public sympathized with China and Britain.
Roosevelt and the military brass were playing a very delicate game: trying to appease the isolationists while at the same time, trying to prepare the USA for the coming war they knew the USA must eventually fight in Europe and the Pacific.
It was this "slow creep factor" where the USA war footing can be seen. In addition, to those points I listed above, the USA gave Britain 50 DDs, sent troops to relieve British forces, extended shipping patrols, carried out Lend-Lease, etc, etc...
And it is these areas where the game should take special note: that the USA did not exist in a vacuum. Each Axis attack was met with a measured USA response (see above). Roosevelt knew that France, and later Britain, were the first lines of defense for the USA. He had to keep them in the war.
The USA had a deadline of 1942 before it thought it would be ready. However, Japan (Dec 7/41) and Germany (Dec 11/41) caught it still less than prepared, especially given the fact that the USA could not get onto a war footing UNTIL it was actually in the war. Plus, it takes time to build and complete BBs, CVs, etc....
So, as far as the game goes, the more the Axis attacks, than the neutral USA should slowly increase its war footing and it should receive PPs (to simulate increased funding for armaments).
Cheers!
Drinking a cool brew; thinking about playing my next wargame....
It would be good to have some cause and effect here but I'm not sure thats teh way to go.
