I am so tired of this Yalta debate and the veiled attacks on FDR.
The simple fact of the matter is that unless you wanted to fight an all-out war against Stalin (and, mind you, when Yalta took place, we were still faced with the awful prospect of an invasion of Japan and we were getting brutalized in the island hopping campaign in the Pacific – Iwo Jima took place a week after Yalta and Okinama, the bloodiest battle of World War II for Americans, occurred several months later).
Yes, it was regrettable, but I don’t understand how any other outcome but Soviet occupation of the Eastern Bloc states was possible. Does anyone think that we could have simply bided time in Europe after VE day (which, btw, was not a foregone conclusion when Yalta took place, although the general consensus was that after the Battle of the Bulge all meaningful resistance by the Germans had been crushed), then finished off the Japanese, then after VJ day, shifted all of our assets back to Europe to battle an enormous, battle-hardened, entrenched Soviet Union?
Anyone?
*** Update ***
As was pointed out in the comments, we did not have the Atomic bomb at the time of Yalta, and it probably would not have been desirable to use it in Europe, anyway).
*** Update ***
For the love of everything holy, people. By noting that criticizing Yalta is stupid, I am not tacitly endorsing the 45 year oppression of millions of people by the Soviet Union. I hate communists, and I hated the Soviet Union. Make that capital “H” hate, and I still don’t trust them, and one of my many flaws in my personality is that I still have a Cold Warrior mentality to things. One of the most upsetting things to happen to me in my life was that I was born too late to be of legal voting age when Reagan was running for President.
Having said that, if you think there was the political will and military capability to send all of our resources to the Pacific, defeat the Japanese (which, again, was not at this time a foregone conclusion by any account), and then send all of our boys BACK TO EUROPE to fight an entrenched, battle-hardened, tenacious Soviet Army that was dug in, familair with the terrain, and led by a fanatical officer corps and Joseph Stalin, all the while maintaining occupation armies in newly conquered Japan and Germany, you just need your damned head examined. Put down the damn crack pipe.
Yalta was not a communist plot in our government. It may have had a tragic outcome for many (it was also the framework for a 50 years period of pecie, albeit contentious and tense), and there certainly provisions within Yalta that are abominable, but claiming there was another way is just stoopid with two O’s. And let’s not forget that we NEEDED the Soviets when Yalta took place, if for no other reason than to mention a Soviet invasion on the northern front to scare the shit out of Japan and bring them closer to surrender.
And I like newly commissioned General Jonah Goldberg, but please quit quoting him as a source for military strategy circa 1945.
*** Update ***
Just goes to show you, no matter how long you blog, you never know what posts are going to strike a nerve. This has well over 100 comments, and I quit reading them long ago (they got circular after about the 30th comment), so if you want me to address something, email me.