Brit-Am Historical Reports (2 May 2016, 24 Nisan, 5776)
Contents:
1. Orde Wingate: Friend Under Fire By Michael B. Oren
2. How did Germany defeat France so easily during the World War II? by Rupert Baines.
3. The Theoretical Strength of the USA
If every single country got into a war with no alliances, who would win and why? by Dan Holliday
4. Which country had the most powerful army in WW1 & WW2? by Roland Bartetzko
5. Why is Germany disproportionately powerful in the EU? by Jonathan Lowenstein
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1. Orde Wingate: Friend Under Fire
By Michael B. Oren
http://azure.org.il/include/print.php?id=279
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2. How did Germany defeat France so easily during the World War II?
https://www.quora.com/
by Rupert Baines,
Extracts:
Originally Answered: What were the reasons for France's poor military performance during the Second World War?
Two things
Staggeringly incompetent military leadership.
They had poor intelligence, made bad strategic decisions, did not use aerial reconnaissance, did not use air-power well at all, held back reserves when they could have made a difference, did not realise what Germany was doing, did not use radio etc etc.
Secondly, a seriously dysfunctional political system. Savagely polarised, weak executive decision-making, etc etcÂ
Not to diminish bravery of French soldiers. About as many French soldiers died in six weeks in 1940 as Americans died in the entire Western front over thee whole of WW2.
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3. The Theoretical Strength of the USA
If every single country got into a war with no alliances, who would win and why? by Dan Holliday
https://www.quora.com/
Extracts:
The USA benefits from the fact that it's got military assets on the doorstep of a lot of other nations to take them out quickly (or critically wound them before those bases are wiped out). Then the nations on the USA's doorstep are, shall we say, not really in fighting condition against the US. .... The USA has materiel and tactics that have been honed in non-stop wars for over a century. Not so much the other guys.Â
And one other thing works for the USA, we are an island continent that would quickly overtake the rest of the "bodies" on our island continent before any other nation would come get us.
Same for Europe. Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany all have relative military strength that are more than equipped at any time to inflict so much damage to each other that, again, by the time the USA headed east, they'd be warn out. Germany might be victorious, but she's not set up to fight France, and thinking strategically, the USA might want to strike a death-blow to Germany from bases inside her, knowing that she'd be the toughest nation to beat in any protracted war that made it's way to Europe.
But not Russia? Remember, Russia's not just fighting in Europe against Poland, Ukraine and her arch-nemesis, Finland (and getting her ass kicked, I might add), she's also pounding away at Turkey & Kazakhstan to the south (already invaded and conquered half of Armenia and Georgia and quickly ran into Turkish forces heading north), Mongolia and China in the East. She's really got her hands full. She's holding her own, but Turkey, Iran and China are really tearing her apart.
China too would really be shredding the "Red Army" if it weren't for those Pesky Japanese (who took Vladovostok and are now invading China too), and Koreans on her doorstep ...
In South Asia, Pakistan and India have really thrown themselves at each other, but it's a clear Indian victory after about a year because of shear numbers. .... Israel, for obvious advantages of materiel, has already flown through most of the Levant and is running up against the large Turkish and Egyptian numbers and a well equipped Saudi Arabian military that's been building up for two decades.
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4. Which country had the most powerful army in WW1 & WW2?
by Roland Bartetzko, former German Army, Croatian Defense Council, Kosovo Liberation Army
https://www.quora.com/
Years ago the General Staff of the Israeli Defense forces conducted a study to figure out which army of the 20th century was the best.
More than 1000 military experts were asked which army they considered the best, regarding discipline, initiative and bravery.
With the answers of this survey the Israelis compiled a ranking list:
The maximum number of points to achieve was 100
For World War I:
German Army  86 points
French Army   65 points
British Army   59 points
Turkish Army 52 points
U.S. Army       49 points
Russian Army 45 points
For World War II:
German Army 93 points
Japanese Army 86 points
Soviet Army     83 points
Finnish Army  79 points
Polish Army     79 points
British Army    62 points
U.S. Army        55 points
French Army    39 points
Italian Army     24 points
The best military units (only WWII):
U.S. Marines
British Commandos
French Foreign Legion
Waffen SS
Russian Guards units
Sources: Wolfgang Hennig, Zeitgeschichte in Europa, Tuermer, Berg, P.123 in "Der Grosse Wendig", Grabert, Volume II, 2006
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5. Why is Germany disproportionately powerful in the EU? by Jonathan Lowenstein
https://www.quora.com/
Extracts:
Because of the Euro.
When the nations of Europe adopted the Euro, without realizing it, they all pegged their economies to the German economy.
If the Germans were still using the Mark, it would be an expensive currency and make buying German products expensive, reducing German exports. The same is true in reverse for the other European states, if they were still using their original currencies, their currencies would be very low against the Mark making their products cheap and German products very expensive. So they would buy less German products and the Germans would buy more of their products. This also applies outside of Europe.
Because they are all using the same currency German products (which are incidentally of higher quality then those of other European countries) are very cheap while the products made by other European countries have become very expensive.
The result is a bonanza for Germany and devastating for everyone else. In addition the German contributions to the EU grow (Because they are selling more produce and have more money) while everyone else drops, so the Euro also makes the Germans more influential.