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WWII a just war?

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sirmonty posted on Wed, Jan 28 2009 11:45 AM

What are the general thoughts on WWII here on Mises.org?

Were the Allies justified in fighting WWII? 

What would have happened if the US wouldn't have gotten involved in the European theatre?  Should they have?

 

I have always been interested in this time period, so I was curious what you guys thought on the issue.  Any articles or books discussing the war from a Libertarian standpoint are very welcome.

 

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Marko:

GilesStratton:

I disagree, without the intervention of the allies, Hitler would have been removed from power far quicker.

A historical fact is that the anti-Hitler plots only came to the forefront once the tide of war had turned against Germany.

 

It's also historical fact that Hitler did not make all the correct choices concerning warefare, and it's quite forseeable Hitler himself would've helped contributed to his own downfall regardless. 

Aside from this crystal ball nonsense regarding on if such & such ocurred is best left to the science fiction & historical revisionist writers.  WWII remains unjustified, unless anyone here wants to go pop-in Minority Report & wonder if there is such a thing a super-positional pre-emptive intervention :P

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Marko replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 5:57 AM

Nitroadict:

It's also historical fact that Hitler did not make all the correct choices concerning warefare, and it's quite forseeable Hitler himself would've helped contributed to his own downfall regardless. 

Which is incidentaly a part of the reason why the officers turned against him.

 

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Eric replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 7:17 AM

If we did not get involved there would be alot less good war movies though.

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Juan replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 9:00 AM
Good war movies ?

February 17 - 1600 - Giordano Bruno is burnt alive by the catholic church.
Aquinas : "much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death."

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Juan:
Good war movies ?

Yes good war movies.  "Good" as in enjoyable for entertainment.

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sirmonty:

Spideynw:

No, the Allies were not justified in fighting WWII.  If the US had not gotten involved, there would probably have been a lot less death and destruction.  They should not have gotten involved.

Whilst I agree for the most part (at least in principle), I am curious as to what you back these assertions up with, exactly?

http://my350z.com/forum/politics-war/405226-pat-buchanan-wwii-was-an-unnecessary-war.html

At most, I think only 5% of the adult population would need to stop cooperating to have real change.

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Juan replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 10:07 AM
sir monty:
Yes good war movies. "Good" as in enjoyable for entertainment.
The depiction of nationalism and mass murder is enjoyable entertainment ?

February 17 - 1600 - Giordano Bruno is burnt alive by the catholic church.
Aquinas : "much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death."

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sirmonty replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 10:27 AM

Juan:
sir monty:
Yes good war movies. "Good" as in enjoyable for entertainment.
The depiction of nationalism and mass murder is enjoyable entertainment ?

Yes it can be.

It also shows personal relationships and bonds that are forged in such atrocious things.

 

I suppose you are going to label me some statist now that I claimed that I enjoy war movies....

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Juan:
sir monty:
Yes good war movies. "Good" as in enjoyable for entertainment.
The depiction of nationalism and mass murder is enjoyable entertainment ?

All Quiet on the Western Front is about WWI yet it's a wonderful novel.

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Juan replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 10:48 AM
Which I didn't see but understand is an anti-war movie.

edit: My bad I forgot it originally was a novel, not a movie. Im Westen nichts Neues : Nothing new in the West.

February 17 - 1600 - Giordano Bruno is burnt alive by the catholic church.
Aquinas : "much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death."

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sirmonty replied on Thu, Jan 29 2009 11:07 AM

Juan:
Which I didn't see but understand is an anti-war movie.

edit: My bad I forgot it originally was a novel, not a movie. Im Westen nichts Neues : Nothing new in the West.

Yeah not all war movies are "pro- war." 

The Patriot is a really good film and it dealt with overthrowing tyranny.

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An earlier post suggested Rothbard's Audio Speech on America's only just wars,

"Two Just Wars: 1776 and 1861":  http://mises.org/multimedia/mp3/War/War4.mp3

as an answer to the original question for this thread.

It looks like a good speech, but does anyone know of a good article/speech/video (on mises.org or elsewhere) that specifcally deals with why the US should not have entered WWII and is a lot shorter?  I'd like something that would be a good introduction to the idea, in order to send to someone that does not know Austrian Economics and will not take 50 min to listen to a speech from some guy named Rothbard they've never heard of.  I had a hard time finding something to fit this purpose.

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You might have to create it.

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Here are a couple of non-revisionists, Hitchens and Hansen, discussing the topic. Specific reference to Buchanan's book:

Austrians do it a priori

Irish Liberty Forum 

 

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Buchanan responds to Hitchens on LRC, check his archives over there. His conclusion is that Hitchens is pretty clueless.

Patrick Buchanan:
And why did Hitler invade Russia? This writer quotes Hitler 10 times as saying that only by knocking out Russia could he convince Britain it could not win and must end the war.

Hitchens mocks this view, invoking the Hitler-madman theory.

"Could we have a better definition of derangement and megalomania than the case of a dictator who overrules his own generals and invades Russia in wintertime ... ?"

Christopher, Hitler invaded Russia on June 22.

Conclusion: Hitchens is clueless.

Source.

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