The Second World War — Seventy Years Later

By Victor Davis Hanson "In fact, Britain nearly alone saved Western civilization between September 1939 and June 1941. From May 1940, it fought almost alone against the entire continent of occupied Europe, when the United States was still isolationist and the Soviet Union was actively helping the Nazi cause. One of the great mysteries of the war is how an isolated Britain survived the Blitz, German submarines, Gen. Erwin "the Desert Fox" Rommel, and the industrial might of the entire European continent until Russia and America joined its cause."