Seems people compare modern day America to Rome before the great decline but I think it has more in common with the oppressive Hitler regime in Germany before WW2. Comments?
201460
Present America is like pre WWII Germany!\nYou just see they want any others to prosper. Because of their ongoing fookish decisions, whole world is suffering (e.g. hike in petrol price to $72/barrell!!! Is it not fact?)\n\nAmericans are enjoying their lavish life at the cost of world.\n\nThose who think otherwise, should re-assess their veiws & may modify their comments.
626276
Five years ago, I would have said they were liberal liars who simply hated America.\n\nToday, I would say they're pretty much spot on.  Over the past 5 years, I have watched in horror as the US trounces human rights, civil liberties, and the protections of the US Constitution - and Americans still re-elected this President.  By a slim margin, true, but that even 50% of us still thought what he was doing was by any means appropriate is to me, perfectly disastrous.\n\nAmericans will never stand up for what it means to be American so long as they have bread and circuses - that is what Roman emperors called 'appeasement of the masses' - so long as they had enough to eat, and entertainment, the Roman citizenry allowed their government to get away with all sorts of atrocities.\n\nSounds familiar, doesn't it.  America.  What a waste of opportunity.
110233
German Hitler=megalomaniac, tried to create a dynasty by conquering Europe.  Japanese=pissed at the US over trade practices, attacks the US @ Pearl Harbor.  The US fights (with Allies) in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific.  Wins.
643111
I am not German, but English. I have read Mein Kampf in German and also the translation into english. You can read in parts how Hitler was a genious in his earlier days, but also the points where his reasoning went slightly astray. ie "Give me an army behind me, a minority to hate and I will rule the world"  Bit like Bush really, come to think of it !!!!
81664
The differences are as wide as chasms. The United States is a democracy that unilateraly invaded a repressive tyrrany. Nazi Germany, a repressive fascist state, invaded democracies across Europe, until they faced the full might of another repressive regime in the guise of the Soviet Union. The leaders of the respective countries also attained power very differently. Dubya Bush won the presidency through manipulation of voting system and media, especially in regards to the Florida controversy. He is perhaps one of the few presidents that has won without a popular mandate. Only 9/11 enabled Dubya to win a second term, as a society prefers familiarity over reality. Adolf Hitler, meanwhile, combined brutal thuggish tactics and playing the fears of industrialists and the middle classes against Communism, as well as the hardships of the Great Depression, to win the Chancellary. \nIn the end, the whole corrupt and debased character and structure of the Nazi regime proved a factor in its eventual downfall. The United States, currently a unilateralist, still maintains its strong democratic traditions, enabling the citizenry to practice their rights. Dubya Bush did abused the democratic system, and pulled the wool over everyones hat in the world. However, there are still enough checks and balances for Dubya to be remained in check. And most of all, the most starking difference between the United States invasion of Iraq, and Nazi Germany's rollup of France, was that the former would actually hand back power to the Iraqis, albeit will be heavily influenced for the next decade or so. Nazi Germany did not, and the Vichy monnicker of a state was blatantly nothing but an autonomous puppet state within greater Nazi Germany.
594220
Given many of the answers so far, it seems ordinary American people are not that decent after all. In fact they appear to be hate-filled racists who support their Government's use of a concentration camp, detention without trial, kidnapping and rendition to third countries that engage in torture etc.\n\nThere are strong parallels here with what went wrong in Germany between the two great wars.\n\nFor God's sake Americans - wake up! Protest in your millions against Guantanamo and let the people of the World see that you are not all latent Nazis, filled with a grievance and obsessed with militarism and dominance at all costs.
560575
In the modern age it was British proto capitalism that paved the way for the US and the other great powers to scramble for resources in the name of nationalist greed. Unfortunately for Britain WWI and WWII doomed the empire and all that is left of their legacy is that of their language which is spoken by most of the world.
478442
LOL.......I have allot of European friends. And lived there for a while. When worse comes to worst, you can always remind them of WWII....! And how they once ran around colonizing the world. The Conquest/rape of South America is a good jab also.That usually shuts them up right away when they get superior and rudely criticize the U.S.\n\nWho are they to talk about us? They've done far worse historically. And we bailed them all out in World War II.\n\nTry it the next time....:)
123996
Yepper,Bush is a dimwitted version of Hitler(who his grandfather, and probably his daddy too, supported.\n\n andyandy28227, Hitler was a FASCIST, not a socialist.\nya, the Nazis used the word, don't judge a book by its cover. Former East Germany was officially named the German DEMOCRATIC Republic, did that make it a demcracy? of course not. I think you're the one who needs to grow a brain, just as much as Bush does.\n\nrepublicanr...: fascism is EVIL, and against a free democracy.  It even worse than capitalism, both only help the rich.
136818
There are way too many comparisons to even get started.  The economic circumstances as they relate to foreign trade and relations are nearly identical.  The "military advantage" over the conquered is identical.  The transformation of republic into totalitarian rule is identical.  To think that just because we repeat history but we throw more money and we have more technology so the outcome will be different is just ignorance and arrogance mixed...which the Romans had in spades just like us.
637016
Brig-Gen Aylwin-Foster hits the nail fully on the head. The Americans only understand total war and seems never to learn the lesson: Modern wars are not fought in this way. \n\nIn Malaya the British used small units of highly professional soldiers to kill only where necessary and to win hearts and minds wherever possible. These well-led fighting units knew their terrain and knew their enemy. They worked in amongst the people, in the towns and in the villages and deep in the jungle. More often than not, their successes were measured in the way they turned the local populace against the communists insurgents who'd spread like a cancer through the communities of the Malaysian pensinsula. This campaign was marked by brilliant soldiery - by the bullet and by persuasion. It was the skilful combination of the two that won the day. \n\nSomething in the American psyche (often revealed in the macho output of Hollywood) leads them to believe that overwhelming force wins wars and wins friends. It does neither. It has lost them every major military intervention since World War II. And before American respondents say American might won World War II, remember this - Germany's forces were mightier that those of the Allies, yet they lost.\n\nAmerica needs to look closely at itself. With every day that passes its swaggering, gung-ho approach becomes more of a pastiche of the goose-stepping Nazis pre-World War II. The Nazis are reviled and mocked in equal measure now - at once a joke and a horror. One day the America of the early 21st Century may be similarly seen by the civilised people of this small planet.
501725
Firstly Germany shores up its borders and moves into a massive reconstruction programme, this fuels its economy for the next 10 years of so called peace.  \n\nThe Brits are doing well as they do not have the massive burden of war debts that were built up and there Empire is still going strong 10 years later as it was not dismantled at the end of the war. \n\nThe war in the pacific decimated the American population, although they one the war, the loss of life on the American side was increased 3 fold as it was held conventionally and the Japanese decided not to surrender as there was not immediate threat to the civilian population.  This loss of life, coupled with the lack of a cold war with the Soviet Union makes the USA go back to its position of isolation and it never takes a major play in world politics.   \n\nThe Soviet Union stumbles along, but as it does not have the land's it gained at the end of the second world war the money to fuel its economy was never present so after 10 years it is already crumbling at the seams. \n\n1955. \n\nEngland\n\nBritain is worried about the growing political power of the Third Reich, it controls large swathes of Europe and it has developed a bomb that is reputed to be so powerful that it can destroy cities.  Britain steals the technology from the Third Reich and develops a bomb of its own as a deterrent.   \n\nGermany.\n\nWith the development of a nuclear bomb Germany looks to expansion once again, it has its eye on the Soviet Union, and is looking for an excuse to invade.   The rest of the world looks on as both Soviet Russia and Fascist Germany - now the Third Reich which encompasses Germany, Italy, France, ect are despised and the thought of them destroying each other is approved by most over nations. \n\nUSA. \n\nThe USA is now a major economic power its integrations of Japan as its 51st state has worked, and it has also integrated Mexico and Korea as its 52nd and 53rd states respectively.  It is worried again about the situation in Europe, but due to its policy it does not have a large spending on military and is more of an economic force than a militaristic one. \n\nSoviet Union.\n\nThis country was on the brink of collapse, but as always the threat to its identity by the fascist forces of the Third Reich have had an up swelling of pride and the army is growing at an exponential rate.  It is worried about the nuclear bomb but can not get its hands on the information of how to create one. \n\n1960.  \n\nGermany attacks the Soviet Union in the summer, the war was going well, but winter is setting in and once again the sever Soviet winter is acting as the saviour for the country, Germany is threaten to use nuclear and biological warfare against the Soviet Union, and the threat of this forces the Soviet Union to act first, and in an unprecedented act, in the absence of nuclear technology, carpet bombs large parts of the Third Reich with chemical and biological agents.  Germany responds and Moscow, Stalingrad, Leningrad are destroyed by nuclear weapons.  The Soviet Union collapse, however the damage inflicted upon the Third Reich is also insurmountable and this regime also collapses.  Both the United Kingdom and the USA step in and take control America's money is funding the British military and an agreement is set up that the remaining inhabitable parts of these two once great powers of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union will be split up between the two remaining powers.  \n\nThe United Kingdom is now in control of Europe and Africa with interests in South America and the Far East but most of the new world is controlled bythe Americans.  Due to the long standing friendship between the two powers, a lasting peace is at long last known to the world.
574176
Nahhh, if you check history. The troubles we're in now are a piece of cake. Look at World War One & Two, The great Plague, Various Famines, French Revolution, The Civil War. Attila The Hun. I think it was the 1700's when a single volcano erupted and the ash cooled the earth so much that it snowed in July in the USA..\n  My advice. Live a good life and don't worry about it.
136187
Well, you have to realize that after WWI, Germany was plunged into a deep depression. Both economy and morale were virtually nonexistent, and they were deeply humiliated by their loss. But then along came Hitler, who was, by all accounts, an excellent politician. He was a magnanimous speaker who told the German people exactly what they wanted to hear. He raised both morale using a sense of nationalism, and the economy, using the "common man" (I think he focused mostly on farmers). Even the anti-semitism made sense at the time; they felt like they needed SOMEONE to blame for all their hardship, and Hitler gave them one. It was in this fashion that he managed to seize power; Germany was putty at his feet. There were obviously a select few who did find something wrong with the regime, but these were exceptions, rather than the rule. \n\nPoint is, Hitler knew what the hell he was doing. He was brilliant, plain and simple. Of course, he was also very wrong in the head. He had skewed ideals regarding other races, he wildly misinterpreted Nietzsche (although to be fair, just about everyone does), and his intentions were nothing short of evil. But he was brilliant. Taking all these factors into account, it kind of makes you wonder how anyone in Germany COULD think their government was wrong.
385314
Well i am biased when I say that I rather live in America even with all of it's troubles.  This is a beautiful country with a relitave short history but a treasured one as well.  America has had it's dark periods that we wish we can sweep under the rug-- but what country doesen't have them ten fold.  Mother and Father's parents were born in Italy so I have a love of sorts of that country too.  But my allgience goes to the USA. \n\nAnd as for Americans being war mongers remember the OLD COUNTRY and AISA nations have had thousands and thousands of years of battle and bickering and it seemed  people forgot them because it happened so many years ago.   We are about 230 years old -- a baby !  But it is nice to know that this young country of ours took in people from different countries and made it a super power in every sence of the word.   And that  the people that live in America are here because they came here from Europe.   Not all but Europe was used as a comparasion.  \n\n\n\nAnd that the Europeans that look down on us are looking down on themselves -
227486
PEOPLE IMITATE THINGS THEY ADMIRE. THE AMERICAN MARKETING EMPIRE REACHES AROUND THE WORLD AND INFLUENCES ALL NATIONS IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. HAVING THE GUTS TO TAKE CHANCES AND MUDDLE THROUGH THE ROUGH SPOTS IS ALMOST INBRED IN EACH AMERICAN.  SOMETIMES THEY SUPPRESS THE DRIVE WITHIN THEM BUT IT IS STILL THERE. EUROPEANS SUFFERED THRU THE CENTURIES OF SERFDOM AND SUBJUGATION  UNDER ROYALTY AND CHURCH POWERS.   AMERICANS GREW UP FREE TO TRAVERSE CLASSES THRU THEIR INITIATE.
669926
i'm really scared by intolerance and how it is masked as self defence.  It scares me how the USA can get away with awful things just coz they are the USA and I strongly believe that in the future, historians will look back at the Bush administration in a similar light to other fascist dictators.  It's weird how people who are in the thick of it at the time can never see it.  I think that the Bush administration (in a similar way to the Nazis) have used moral panic very effectively.