history is clear... it was the soviet army that destroyed the german army on the ground. airpower from mainly usa but also uk damaged german industry and infrastructure to the point where it could not cover losses.

usa did not enter war in europe until hitler declared war on usa shortly after pearl harbour attack by japan. roosevelt was constrained by strong isolationist lobby in us, charles lindberg among the pro german activists.

It was Britain who stood alone against Nazi Germany for a long time.

America, being America, concentrates on America's contributions to the war effort. A lot of Americans are still surprised to learn that the war had been going on for two years in Europe and, arguably, a decade in Asia by the time the US got involved.

Also America being America, what happened in the Soviet Union isn't well known here. (I run into the occasional person who believes Russia was the enemy in WWII.)

There is a lot of misinformation about the war over here ("We let Russia make it into Berlin first!"). That being said, it would be just as much of a mistake to minimize America's contributions to the war effort. A significant amount of the materiel the Allies used to win the war on both fronts rolled out of American factories. When all is said and done, it was a team effort.

Many of the people who best know what actually happened in the war in Europe — wargamers. Seriously.

As a fellow Greek, all I can say is.........ΟΧΙ!
28th October 1940.

My point being, many countries played their part and quite a few had seminal moments without which the outcome of WW2 could have been very different.

But to answer your question, from my experiences with my American friends and acquaintances, I don't get the impression that they are taught this at school specifically. It's simply the propaganda that many of them adopt and repeat.

Some American volunteers went to the European conflict by joining Canadians on troop ships bound for England but the USA was not officially involved in WWII until the bombing of Pearl Harbour. The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima would not have influenced the war in Europe much. The end of WWII came about both by Canadians finally taking key strategic beaches on the west coast of Europe and by the Russians who bated the Germans further into their cold north, flanking and surrounding them to cut off their supply lines completely.

Ever ask an American "to what HOLY SITE were the founders of the thirteen colonies headed for on their "PILGRIMAGE"? Or "To what REPUBLIC (swearing allegiance to the flag and to the republic on which it stands) are they swearing allegiance to? Like the Roman Empire did (and the Roman Catholic Church) Americans edited and rewrote their history.

Well, to be fair, it took all the Allies to bring down the German war machine. For Americans to discount the contributions of the Red Army is not fair. But for others to discount to contributions of the Americans is also not fair. Both the US and the USSR were late comers to the war in Europe and both only joined when war came to their shores.

European here. I was taught more or less the same. What I was not taught is that American supplies aided the Red Army. I was not taught either that Patton wanted to go on with the war and defeat communist USSR. I was taught about Hiroshima, but not about Dresden. I was taught about the German concentration camps but not about the Japanese atrocities in Eastern Asia. I was not taught why fighting the nazis was the right thing to do, but signing agreements with the communists in Yalta was fine too.

I was thought a partial, biased view, with a devilish country that was accountant for all the evil going on between 1939 and 1945, instead of different kinds of evil. I was taught that the root of evil came from Europe, and Europe had to pay for it. I was taught a lot of bullshit.

This video provides a solid explation regarding the importance of US involvement in WW2.

[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-60bP1hnpaI]

There's always going to be a bias in history, with the victor authoring it. As the US emerged out of the conflict intact compared to the other warring powers, becoming the world's sole superpower, we kinda got to write the narrative.

Germany lost a majority of its troops, etc on the Eastern front. That being said, if WW2 were just Germany and the USSR going at it without other countries in the mix, the USSR would've fallen.

Thank you (almost) everyone for your answers.

One thing I found quite interesting was the fact that some of you answered the questions in a "yes it was Russia/the US that ended the war but with the help of *enter the person's home country*".

Another quite interesting thing was that some of the lovely Brits decided to go that extra mile of cockiness in order to answer...even though the question was not about Britain.

Finally, when a question requires a simple "yes or no" answer (-is that what you were taught? -yes/no/ I don't remember) focus on that instead of trying to explain why you're so proud of your country!!

Canadian, I'm told Americans were the last to join WWII, as well. I've also heard Russia played an insurmountable part in ending the war. I've never tried to verify those accounts, but what you say adds up to me.

I should probably say here too that 1) America is HUGE, so teaching is not the same everywhere (both in quality overall and focus on WWII), and 2) FAR, FAR, FAR too many Americans are completely uninterested in its history.

Seriously, my in-laws are completely oblivious to history, and they are otherwise intelligent people. Without a question, many of those who DON'T PURSUE learning and knowledge of WWII and how it really went would say "the US won it for those other guys".

I guess I'm saying, it isn't necessarily the actual education in many cases, but rather the shallowness or interest of the individuals receiving the education. My mom and dad lived during WWII - so I grew up with stories and with a natural interest. In the years since then, there is just no tie for people to the war, and so education and interest has waned significantly which causes a tendency to oversimplify to "yep, we won it".

A lot of people I’ve met here think we won the Revolutionary War by ourselves too
We like to make our part seem more important

I don't like it when people say "us" like they were there lol.

US public schools don't even teach history anymore. They basically show you a painting of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, some cannons and boats, and then piles of dead Jews when we get to the Holocaust unit. Everything else I had to read on my own.

But yes, it is true that the US turned the tide of the war. France was screwed, English forces were stretched thinner than me buttering toast when the butter container is empty. Everyone else was irrelevant, neutral, or Axis. After the ground froze in the beginning of winter during Operation Barbarossa the German tanks and mechanized support were freed from the mud and actually got about 30-40 miles from Moscow. Hitler chose not to punch through instead opted to take a few Northern cities like Leningrad to cripple Soviet industrial capacity, as well as the oil fields to the South to fuel German armored divisions in the area. This decision, plus the US attacking them on the Western front led to the German's downfall.

As has been said many times, the victors write the history. And because of this a lot of people don't appreciate just how close Germany came to victory. It was basically a couple bad decisions and bad luck that cost them the war.

Hitlers obsession with Russia did play a serious part in Germany losing the war-Churchill was quite keen on invading Russia after it ended but the Americans talked him out of it.
American help was invaluable in ending the war but they were late players in the game.Pearl Harbour helped in getting them involved.But if Americans are taught that they and they alone ended the war in Europe then that’s a bit rich.I can’t believe they are.The War in Asia is another matter.The Nuclear bombs undoubtedly caused Japans surrender.

No, it was a combined effort by all concerned...

For a while there, Britain stood alone against Germany.

If you want to criticize another country besides Germany, criticize the other European countries that literally let Nazi Germany steam roll right over them...

We tried to remain Neutral. Pear Harbor, the Declaration of war on America by Hitler changed that. We did get the attention of Japan with 2 nuclear strikes. That said, realize the race for development and use of nuclear weapons was not only something America achieved. Look that up in history. The Russians had the winter to their advantage, otherwise the German military might well have decimated them. The Russians also had issues with Japan but hesitated until we (The US) defeated them...then Russia moved in. BTW I'm not attacking you. Just stating some facts. And as per Russia, the US, and Great Britain, the world in 1945 after the war changed and did so dramatically, and in the case of the US, cost us dearly, aka The Korean War and Viet-Nam.

all of the above are some what correct , hitler made a grave mistake to go in to russia his generals tryed to stop him but he insisted, he lost a lot of young men and resources there thanks to the Russian army and the harsh winter, england did fight for a long time but the us did give alot of supplies and other help, france also put up a fight but the us meat the german army in many places like north africa, no one claims that russia was at normandy helping the resistance they m stayed in there country and fought there mostly on defence untill germany got run down and coundnt hold them back, put it this way pussia didnt see it as there job to save western european countries, they mostly defended them selves untill it was time to divide the spoils of war, one could always wonder if hitler didnt provoke russia and get them involved or if the US didnt get what would the outcome have been? the US really got in after the Japanese bombed US at pearl harbor so question is when would the US get in if it wasn't for that, i think thats why the US gets involved in so many things now ,, never to let that much evil go unchecked. sorry it got so lone but it really was complicated

Every country teaches that their's was the country that won the war... regardless of which war.

If it's any consolation, history books in the US are routinely "rewritten", so as to keep with the political and social narrative of the day. The fact that history is made up of both good and bad things, means nothing.

This is why US college students are tearing down Civil War era statues (because they don't know that most of the statues represent those who fought slavery and sought equality for all, regardless of which side they fought for).

[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gczkM8cL2hs]

It wasn't even the Russians, they couldn't advance. Much like China today they can hold their soil with their tanks but beyond that... it was Germany. Germany ended WW2 for us all

I don't remember much, but I can tell you without doubt we were not thought we were the ones to end the war.

We were thought we were of a major turning point to the war, but the russians were given their big credit where it was due.


Most of the pride went into the retaliation on Japan rather the involvement in Europe.

Everyone who was against the Germans and fought in ww2 helped end the war....too many died to even argue who did the most or least...

The Americans are always last to join even ww1 they took till 1917

It was the allied forces that ended the war. Everyone did their share to rid the world of Hitler's tyranny.

This should answer your question
https://vm.tiktok.com/9JDT2k/

Its literally less than 60 seconds. Just watch it.

Robert E Lee was a general I think.

It happens in lot of wars. One side will only say parts of the truth that make them look good.

There’s nothing wrong with speaking German, most Europeans speak some German anyways , a lot of business is done a lot with Germany 🇩🇪

The allied forces won the war with Germany.

True,it was a coalition of many countries that brought down the nazis 🙂

I'm not American, but I was taught the USSR did the majority of heavy lifting in ww2