Quote:vorticity wrote:Not going to argue most of your point here.
Using the U.S. as the aggressor in the Second World War is still really bad though, even in an alternate universe. Japan is a country where their PMs still honor their war criminal soldiers, and they can't seem to apologize for taking Korean sex slaves. The AU just perpetuates the culture of ignorance. Americans, for all their flaws, are much better at recognizing the colossal fuck-ups in their past.
From the Japanese perspective, however, we were the "aggressor". They were responding to a trade embargo we'd put on them, because of their actions in China. From their perspective at the time, they weren't directly threatening American interests, so it was none of our business, and we were effectively the ones backstabbing them, cutting them off from critical resources at a time when they were vitally needed.
A lot of people don't remember this. They also tend to forget that we were openly supporting Britain against Nazi Germany well before the declaration of war there, doing everything short of actively sending troops.
The thing about history is that everyone acts from what seems to them to be rational motives at the time. Not even the most despised of sovereigns was the kind of moustache-twirlingly-evil we like to portray in media.
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Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.