If you had to name one country for beating the Nazis in World War 2, which would it be? There seems to be a group of people who believe it to be the Allies and the United States while others think it’s the USSR.

The one indispensable country for beating the Nazis in World War 2 was the United States. It was not only the “Arsenal of Democracy” but the breadbasket as well. Without the productive capacity of the U.S., it is highly unlikely that the war in Europe could have been won by either side.

Let’s go back to 1938 as a starting point before the war and compare it with 1944 towards the end of the war. The following GDP numbers are in international dollars with 1990 prices in billions.

USA 1938 - $800 1944 -$ 1499 an increase of 87.3%;

UK 1938 - $284 1944 - 346 an increase of 21.8%;

USSR 1938 - $359 1944 - $362 an increase of 0.8%

France 1938 - $186 1944 - $93 a decrease of 50%

Germany 1938 - $351 1944 - $437 an increase of 24.5%;

Austria 1938 - $24 1944 - $29 an increase of 20.8%

Italy 1938 - $140.8 1944 - $117 a decrease of 16.9%

Both France and Italy were out of the war in 1944 except for Free French

Populations in 1938 in millions:

USA 130.5; USSR 167.0; UK 47.5; UK Dominions 30.0; UK Colonies 453.8; France 42.0; French Colonies 70.9

Germany 68.6; Austria 6.8; Italy 43.4 [1]

Much is made of the enormous sacrifice made by USSR in WWII and the number of Germans killed in the east. Not to minimize the sacrifice made by the USSR during WWII, much of it would not have been possible without material aid from the U.S. and Britain with the bulk of the supplies coming from the U.S. The so called “Lend Lease” provided 16% of tank production, 12% self-propelled gun production and 100% of armored troop transport production. More critical was the tactical vehicles provided by the U.S. which amounted to 68.5% of all tactical wheeled and tracked vehicles. The U.S. vehicles were much superior to Soviet produced vehicles which were based on a U.S. prototype from 1930. In fact, the U.S. trucks were superior to anything else on either side on the eastern front. Between 1942 and 1944, the U.S. sent a total of 14,833 aircraft of all types to the Soviet Union. [2]

Equally important were shipments of food, clothing munitions, industrial supplies, etc. Without these, Ivan would have been hungry, barefoot and walking. All in all, the U.S. sent almost $11 billion in aid to the Soviet Union, 2nd only to the British Empire. [3]

Some personal notes. When WWII broke out, I was living in a semi-rural area of San Diego County on about 1/4 acre. The neighbors across the street had about 3 acres. I raised vegetables, chickens, and rabbits while the neighbors across the street had chickens, turkeys and a cow as well as corn and other crops. It seemed as though almost everything was rationed. Growing your own was patriotic and avoided the rationing system. I was able to sell surplus rabbits to the local meat market and the neighbors across the street sold butter, eggs, milk, and other produce. Other neighbors up and down the street were also growing fruits and vegetables and were exchanging on a barter or cash basis. As I recall, we were told that the rationing was necessary to provide for our troops, but quite a lot went to Britain and the Soviet Union. I also participated in scrap drives, bought war bonds and other things to help the war effort. My mother went to work in a nearby lumber year that was converted to war production. My father was career Navy and was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. During the war period we were with my father in Reno and Salt Lake City when he was on recruiting duty for about 18 months and 6 months respectively. I was 10 when the war started and a few days short of 14 when it ended.

1] The economics of World War II: an overview by Mark Harrison (data only)

[2] Lend-Lease Tanks and Aircraft

[3] Lend-Lease – Wikipedia