History Main / AmericaWinsTheWar

* In the ''JusticeLeague'' episode, "The Savage Time," the immortal supervillain, Vandal Savage, manages to send a laptop full of technical information for superweapons to himself during World War II. There was also a video recording message telling himself what to do with the info, such as usurp Hitler and a specific warning to ready the Third Reich for a massive US/UK/Canada seaborne invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. While the success of Operation Overlord in 1944 was definitely very bad news for Germany, wouldn't a specific warning not to invade the Soviet Union in 1941 before neutralizing the Western enemies first have been a higher priority?
** The laptop he sent back in time could have arrived ''years'' before 1945 (the Martian says it). Savage had enough time to set himself up as a revolutionary scientist, prove his new weapons, and then remove Hitler. Since there's no mention made of the Soviets, one could assume he never invaded the USSR, and was instead focusing on the center of Allied supply lines, the US.

*** [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] went and both analyzed and deconstructed this trope during his review of ''Airborne'':
--> "So why does the US have such a fascination about [[NeverLiveItDown a time that everyone else would rather just forget about and move on]]? Well, probably because that was the last war in which they did any good; when they had a clear win over an [[BlackAndWhiteMorality unambiguously evil villain]] [[ClassicVillain who posed a genuine threat]], rather than any of these [[OvershadowedByControversy wishy-washy]] [[TheWarOnTerror recent wars]] where they just [[{{Eagleland}} run in, stomp all over a developing nation and run out again declaring victory]] around the time the population have to start ''[[NightmareFuel eating their own dead]]''."

Keep in mind that despite having the name "America Wins The War," this is '''not''' a strictly American trope. The British can and will exaggerate ''their'' role in the war as well, with an additional jab that the Americans were not only late to the party but also stole all the credit, and additionally only joined in when they knew who was going to win. Russia also this; there, you'll find claims that WWII lasted from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945--when this was actually just the duration of the war between the USSR and Germany, known as the "Great Patriotic War". (However, this mixing up of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War also sells the Soviet Union short, in that it ignores their successful campaigns against Japan in 1939 and late 1945). In short, many countries have tried to play up their part in the war at the expense of others and such examples are more than welcome.

Keep in mind that despite having the name "America Wins The War," this is '''not''' a strictly American trope. The British can and will exaggerate ''their'' role in the war as well, with an additional jab that the Americans were not only late to the party but also stole all the credit, and additionally only joined in when they knew who was going to win. Even Russia does this; there, you'll find claims that WWII lasted from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945--when this was actually just the duration of the war between the USSR and Germany, known as the "Great Patriotic War". (However, this mixing up of the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War also sells the Soviet Union short, in that it ignores their successful campaigns against Japan in 1939 and late 1945). In short, many countries have tried to play up their part in the war at the expense of others and such examples are more than welcome.

Some see this general 'limited scope' thing as extending to the "official" date of the war's beginning, September 1st, 1939, the date of Germany's invasion of Poland. Most, however, accept that the moniker of 'World War' denotes merely the geography of a war (the British Empire alone spanned three continents at the time), rather than [[UnfortunateImplications implying the conflict wasn't 'serious' or something]] ([[ImperialJapan the Japan of the time]], and many Japanese ultranationalists since, call it [[InsistentTerminology 'The China Incident']]). Though bloody and horrific in its own right[[note]]With casualties to the tune of at least 15 and as many as 30 million, as well as an impressive gamut of war-crimes like mass-rape (e.g. Nanjing) and live-human-experimentation[[/note]], the war that [[ChiangKaiShek Chiang Kai-Shek's]] [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors Guomindang]] waged against ImperialJapan wasn't part of the 'World War' [[WorldWarTwo until The Imperial Navy lashed out to take Malaya and the Philippines]].

* Hetalia: Set in in WWII. America's plan to defeat Germany? All the other Allies support him while he wins the war. "I'm the Hero!"

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

America Wins The War is a form of HollywoodHistory in which a story implies or outright states that the United States single-handedly won WorldWarII[[hottip:*: To be fair, the USA 'did' provide the USSR with over an eighth of their total armaments during the war, and as much as a quarter of their food and other (rare) materials. Still, there is a certain imbalance of 'blood' versus 'iron' spent to achieve victory, one very much in the USSR's favour with 10+ million Soviet Military and 12+ million Soviet Civilian casualties versus 3 million suffered by The Commonwealth and France and the USA. German casualties stood at 7+ million, for comparison]] Sometimes, it's [[UnfortunateImplications unintentional]]; the viewpoint or focus is simply too narrow for the audience to be reminded of the bigger picture. Other times, though, it's a blatant example of HollywoodHistory.

The D-Day landings are another good example. Many American-made productions will focus solely on Omaha Beach, the most heavily fortified of the four landing sites as well as the best-defended--both facts which Allied intelligence failed to realize prior to the operation. The carnage that ensued is a favourite among producers, since it emphasizes the sacrifice Americans made during the war--but doing so gives the impression that Omaha Beach was ''the'' decisive turning point that led to the Allied victory in Europe. (The focus on Omaha Beach is also partially because ''SavingPrivateRyan'' did it, [[FollowTheLeader other games/movies/TV shows want to replicate its success]], and because it's more exciting to show a strongly opposed landing than an unopposed one -- not that the other landings were exactly 'unopposed' (For instance, Canadian troops landing at Juno Beach on that day faced opposition almost as formidable and made better progress towards their objectives in spite of it[[hottip:*: Due to better small-unit communication and leadership, something the military training of smaller nation-states tends to emphasize given their lesser material resources]]), but still.

Some see this general 'limited scope' thing as extending to the "official" date of the war's beginning, September 1st, 1939, the date of Germany's invasion of Poland. Most, however, accept that the moniker of 'World War' denotes merely the geography of a war (the British Empire alone spanned three continents at the time), rather than [[UnfortunateImplications implying the conflict wasn't 'serious' or something]] ([[ImperialJapan the Japan of the time]], and many Japanese ultranationalists since, call it [[InsistentTerminology 'The China Incident']]). Though bloody and horrific in its own right[[hottip:*: With casualties to the tune of at least 15 and as many as 30 million, as well as an impressive gamut of war-crimes like mass-rape (e.g. Nanjing) and live-human-experimentation]], the war that [[ChiangKaiShek Chiang Kai-Shek's]] [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors Guomindang]] waged against ImperialJapan wasn't part of the 'World War' [[WorldWarTwo until The Imperial Navy lashed out to take Malaya and the Philippines]].

* Subverted in ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'': the trailers suggested that the movie would be about a bunch of US special forces guys killing Germans in occupied Europe, but the main plot of the film is about the cat-and-mouse game between a vengeful French Jewess and a MagnificentBastard Austrian SS man (mostly in subtitled French and German) and the US special forces guys are the comic relief B-plot.

--> "So why does the US have such a fascination about [[NeverLiveItDown a time that everyone else would rather just forget about and move on]]? Well, probably because that was the last war in which they did any good; when they had a clear win over an [[BlackAndWhiteMorality unambiguously evil villain]] [[ClassicVillain who posed a genuine threat]], rather than any of these [[OvershadowedByControversy wishy-washy recent wars]] where they just [[{{Eagleland}} run in, stomp all over a developing nation and run out again declaring victory]] around the time the population have to start ''[[NightmareFuel eating their own dead]]''."

--> "So why does the US have such a fascination about [[NeverLiveItDown a time that everyone else would rather just forget about and move on]]? Well, probably because that was the last war in which they did any good; when they had a clear win over an [[BlackAndWhiteMorality unambiguously evil villain]] [[ClassicVillain who posed a genuine threat]], rather than any of these [[OvershadowedByControversy wishy-washy recent wars]] where they just [[{{Eagleland}} run in, stomp all over a developing nation and run out again declaring victory}} around the time the population have to start ''[[NightmareFuel eating their own dead]]''."

--> "So why does the US have such a fascination about [[NeverLiveItDown a time that everyone else would rather just forget about and move on]]? Well, probably because that was the last war in which they did any good; when they had a clear win over an [[BlackAndWhiteMoralith unambiguously evil villain]] [[ClassicVillain who posed a genuine threat]], rather than any of these [[OvershadowedByControversy wishy-washy recent wars]] where they just [[{{Eagleland}} run in, stomp all over a developing nation and run out again declaring victory}} around the time the population have to start ''[[NightmareFuel eating their own dead]]''."

*** [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee's]] review went and analyzed and deconstructed this trope during his review of ''Airborne'':
--> "So why does the US have such a fascination about [[NeverLiveItDown a time that everyone else would rather just forget about and move on]]? Well, probably because that was the last war in which they did any good; when they had a clear win over an [[ClassicVillain unambiguously evil villain who posed a genuine threat]], rather than any of these [[OvershadowedByControversy wishy-washy recent wars]] where they just run in, stomp all over a developing nation and run out again declaring victory around the time the population have to start eating their own dead."

* ''[[ReturnToCastleWolfenstein Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory]]'' allows you to play as one of two sides: one is UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, guess who the other is? Considering you know how the war turns out the implication is a given.

** The film does tend to focus on the American sectors, especially Omaha beach (with some justification, given the intensity of the fighting and the numbers of Americans vs. other Allies involved on June 6, 1944), and the Canadians are nowhere to be seen. Also, it is one of several major Hollywood movies focusing on the Western front very much to the exclusion of developments on the Eastern front, which prevents an incomplete picture even for 1944, when the crushing Soviet summer offensive was co-ordinated with the Normandy landing.

* Thoroughly averted in ''Patton'', despite some would have you believe. Yes, the film focuses on the deeds of George S. Patton throughout World War II, but Patton does not single-handedly curb stomp the Nazis. His rivalry with British general Bernard Law Montgomery features prominently, and he expresses frustration when resources are diverted to important British operations rather than his own. He is just as much upset by the Soviets conquering Berlin and being the ones to force Nazi Germany to surrender.

* Played pretty much straight in ''Patton'', which plays up George S. Patton's acrimonious rivalry with Montgomery and his antipathy towards the Soviet Union. Here Patton also boasts that America had never experienced defeat while addressing his troops. (Historian Shelby Foote in Ken Burns' Civil War series pointed out the irony of this, given that Patton's grandfather had been a Confederate officer and so of course had experienced defeat).

* Averted in ''TheGunsOfNavarone''. It was about an Allied commando team, consisting of a New Zealander, an American, a Greek, a Scot, and another Brit. They were sent on their mission by the British army, to destroy enemy guns threatening British ships, that were on their way to rescue British soldiers. The blurb on the movie tie-in edition said something along the lines of "They had to succeed where the entire ''U.S. Navy'' had failed!" This story is based on the SAS attack lead by Paddy Mayne against the guns at Sicily prior to Allied invasion of the Island.

* Averted in the 1961 adaptation of ''TheGunsOfNavarone''. The team consisted of a American (Mallory), two Brits (Franklin and Miller), two Greeks (Stavros and Pappadimos) and one person of unknown nationality ("Butcher" Brown, played by Welshman Stanley Baker).

--> '''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]]''' to some British citizens, "The Regina Monologues"

->''This country never has lost a war\\
From days of William Penn,\\
We did it before, we'll do it again.''
-->-- "We Did It Before" ([[WarOf1812 Historically Dubious]] American WorldWarII song)

** Interestingly author/screenwriter {{George MacDonald Fraser}}, who had been an infantryman in Burma during the war, said in his book ''Hollywood History'' that he rather liked ''Objective, Burma!' and that at least American troops had fought in that theater.

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<<|WorldWarII|>>

When this trope is in play, the efforts and contributions of the other "Western" Allies are downplayed, and the Eastern Front (where more than ''80%'' of the Wehrmacht was engaged at any one time after June 22 1941, and where the Germans suffered approximately ''77%'' of their casualties) is considered a ''sideshow'', if it's even mentioned at all. Often it seems like the only other Allied nation-state that actually did anything to fight Germany was the UK, which ([[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys after the Poles and French got their asses handed to them]]) kept the hopeless fight alive until the USA joined in and saved the day. This is likely a result of the ColdWar making American educators and filmmakers unwilling to glorify [[DirtyCommunists the Soviet Union]].