It doesn't take much to disabuse oneself of the notion that the United States did not win World War II. The National WWII Museum tallies the total U.S. casualties from the conflict at 418,500. Less than 2,000 of those were civilians. The deaths of Russian soldiers alone range from 8.8-10.7 million. But unlike the United States, the Soviet Union was dealing with the German war machine being right next door, and the Nazis' plan was to kill every single one of them. It is estimated that the Nazis slaughtered somewhere around 13 million civilian citizens of the Soviet Union during World War II.
In his 2012 documentary series and companion book "The Untold History of the United States," acclaimed film director Oliver Stone paints a different picture of what American history classes teach as the United States' unfortunate but necessary action that brought the war to a terrifying close. He argues that the atom bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unnecessary to end the war. And he's not alone. Six five-star generals, including famed General Douglas MacArthur, also weren't on board, but they unfortunately didn't press President Truman too hard on the idea of not dropping the bombs. So, did the United States win World War II? No. But is Russia the squeaky clean savior of the world? Not by a long shot. Stalin ignominiously killed millions of his own people, as well.
