5. The Soviet contribution is the greatest. Had Soviet fallen and not ruined the German forces like they did, the NAZIs would have won the rest. Eurasia would have been United in a German, Japanese alliance. America would then have had absoulutely no chance.
America was perfectly fine across the Ocean. Pearl Harbor was the extent of our damage. After wrecking out the Japanese in the Pacific we were through with out enemy. Hitler was yours. Your kind should have been left to stand up for yourselves instead of getting the American handout you have become so used to.
But as it turns out, America's contribution throughout the 20th century, to include World War II, was everything...
1) WWI ~ After two years of stalemated trench warfare, the British Army had gone though a period of failed offenses and the French army was in complete disentigration. Spirits were raised when they heard that America was crossing the ocean to get into your fight. Even Ludendorf (Germany) planned the Spring Offensive in order to break the stalemate before American forces could determine the outcome of the war. As German stormtroopers were making unprecedented advances into France, they were unexpectedly stopped at the Battle of Chatteu-Thierry and Belleau Wood. American, European, and German media reported that American Marines were in the fight. We can honestly state that this was the turing point of the war, since a series of allied offenses afterwards were succesful in driving German forces further from Paris and back to the border. While American forces did not win WWI for the Allies in Europe, it sure prevented them from losing.
2) WWII ~ This was a result of European inabilities to fairly deal with a defeated Germany post World War I. We are criticized for showing up in Europe late (as we had a duty at all) even though we were fighting our own war in the Pacific largely alone. But we did show up and we were the fist in the west and south of Europe. It was us at Normandy that knocked the German door down and it was us that struck through Italy (with the British along for the ride). And once again it prevented the Allies from losing and helped Britian and Russia free Europe from the Nazi grip. But in this war, France was in need of complete liberation and even with this fact, American forces bled more than Frenchmen to liberate their own home. And the ultimate downfall of Germany came from it's inability to continue oil importation due to American and British efforts to dry them out in the Middle East. It certainly wasn't due to Vichy France or the dictatorship in Spain.
3) Cold War ~ While licking its wounds, most of Europe got away with the bare minimum as American and British forces dealt with one crisis to the next. An American force would remain parked in Western Germany to hold the Wall even as American troops were pick pocketed and mugged in the streets from your kind.
Self interests? Sure. Isn't that the name of the game? But it's funny how our self interests involve saving Europe or benefitting Europe in so many ways. You may argue that this was in the past and doesn't matter any more...at least not enough for acknowledgment. But let's take a look at recent events.....
1) Bosnia? What did that have to do with us? Yet another European problem, but we involved ourselves. It could be that Europe drove the world into World War in 1914 over this region and when it came to genocide and militaristic madness in 1995, America did what Europe wouldn't on its own if only to prevent us from shedding more American blood in an escallated event later.
2) Kosovo? More madness in Europe that continued to be ignored, which may have pulled American forces into a bloodier and messier conflict later.
These, along with the 3 above were all Europe's needs whether America's interests were factors or not. And when it was America's call for aid....
1) Afghanistan ~ European forces sent the bare minimum and would later complain about being there in "America's war" in the first place. Those military forces that were sent were given (as required) rear area dutis far from the fight. And the most casualties have come from American, British, and Canadian forces. All English speaking nations. You may argue that since this is "America's war" then there should be more American blood on the dirt. One may wonder if America should have had this attitude during WWII when more American blood was spilt than even the French who needed their lands liberated.
2) And what of Iraq? It had nothing to do with you people? After all, in the end, it was American and British forces left baby sitting the dictator for the UN's "Food-For-Oil" Program. It was American forces that increasingly developed in numbers due to Hussein's games for 12 years. And in 2002, it was Osama Bin Laden that used our presence in the Gulf and the "starving children of Iraq" as an excuse for 9/11 on American soil. The sins of the UN and that of every single European government that agreed to preserve the dick in the desert helped create this environment and allowed America to take the fall. Did any European governmemt come forward and state that we are all guilty of the mess in Iraq in light of Bin Laden's BS? Of course not....as always...if America can take the fall, the blame, and the criticism, then let it.
The League of Nations? - An American attempt to unite European powers under a roof of unity only to see Europeans wreck it. The U.N.? An American attempt to unite global powers under a roof of unity only to see our enemies (and Europe) use it to exonerate bad morality. NATO? An American attempt to unite European powers under a roof of protection for which Europeans turned it into a club of free loaders. An entire twentieth century of American presence has steered the world in a better direction than European colonialism was ever going to. Two world Wars and a Cold war began in Europe...and America was there. In the 90s, genocide and ethnic cleansings in Europe was threatening to escape borders....and America was there. The world, especially Europe, is a burden to America. When you misbehave it costs American lives. I find it insulting and ignorant that Europeans can stand and breath free democratic air (at the expense of American blood) and dismiss America's involvements and contributions throughout the last century because of some simplistic moronic need to find a little pride in their region.
Maybe it's a way to deny the fact that you damn well do owe us.