An honest look at things finds that D-Day did one very important thing -- the USSR didn't get to turn all of continental Europe into Communist states. Stalin may or may not have been willing to make peace but Hitler was incapable of allowing such a thing to happen. It might have take a bit longer, but the Germans had absolutely no chance of turning the tide. The USSR could have finished Germany and even Italy all on its own. They appreciated the help but didn't absolutely need it.

Originally Posted by godofthunder9010

The USA sent craploads of material to the USSR. It is my belief that even though this constitutes only 10-15% of the material the Soviet Union used, it was enough of an edge to help them manage to turn the tide.

Give credit where credit is due -- the USSR turned the tide on the Eastern Front mostly going it alone. The USA and UK bombed a lot and most of that bombing campaign was sold to their citizens as being a helluva lot more effective than it actually was. The USSR pushed the Germans back with a terrible price in blood, resources and devastation to their nation.

You're correct. The US's most vital contribution to the European theatre in WW2 was not the USAAF bombing campaign, nor was it D-Day. In fact, it was Lend-Lease, that allowed the Soviet railroad system to survive in the face of the huge upheavals of 1941. This allowed the Soviets the logistical infrastructure so that they were able to fight back effectively, as well as providing some very valuable items such as high quality radios and machine tools. The impact of Lend-Lease is often very underplayed or not even mentioned at all, yet it literally saved the Soviet Union from destruction. Despite that, IMO the Soviet Union was the only nation in the world who could have survived the hammering they took in 1941/42. They paid a terrible price for repelling the German invasion.

Coming back to the question. The 2 big winners were the USA and the Soviet Union. The USA because they shook off their isolationist chains and became the major influence in the western world and the Soviet Union because they gained the buffer zone to their nation that they had always desired.

swiss... they were neutral, got all the wealth of stolen cash and nazi loot in their banks and didnt suffer a casualty for it...

all the countries who participated lost people, but i would say USA came out the best. and the US helped the west become prosporous again, by rebuilding western europe and also japan.
russia came out a victor, however they lost millions of people in the process, became a dictatorship and had alot of their country ravaged by the war. however they did gain a lot of territory.

some countries in ME and africa became independant after the war. so they won.

I like the replies on here, very very useful. I deas may even be used on my history paper. thanks guys bring on more.

After the war, in some ways you could say japan and germany were the winners. japan went from having a small economy to 2nd largest in the world, thanks to the americans re-building there country and the same for germany, the american money spent on rebuilding has turned them both into economic powerhouses.
But the USA and USSR were the winners as there economies and militaries were stronger then before the war and there influence affected the rest of the world.

I agree that looking at economies Japan Germany USA and USSR all won but who do you think contributed the most to the war?

I think that it has to be the US, USSR and the UK gave the most to the war, in the early years 1939-1940/41 the Uk gave the most almost single handadly fighting the war, but after that the US and USSR took over the war effort. The US gave the most fighting in 3 war zones and financing the war for many countries, but the USSR gave the most in manpower/casualties.

Originally Posted by Shadowalker

I think that it has to be the US, USSR and the UK gave the most to the war, in the early years 1939-1940/41 the Uk gave the most almost single handadly fighting the war, but after that the US and USSR took over the war effort. The US gave the most fighting in 3 war zones and financing the war for many countries, but the USSR gave the most in manpower/casualties.

Well part of the reason for casualties was that troops did not have guns, sadly and had to scavage them off of dead troops

Stalin gave the USSR the worst possible start to the war for russia, he got rid of the decent officers, didnt believe russia would be attacked, but these problems have always been in the russian military, even in WW1

Originally Posted by drilldownmaster2004

I agree that looking at economies Japan Germany USA and USSR all won but who do you think contributed the most to the war?

This question, I already answered. Victory in Europe was achieved primarily by the blood and suffering of the Soviet Union. The USA and the UK were significant contributors in diverting a substantial portion of the German industry and manpower. It certain took some pressure off when the Western Powers managed to create additional fronts in Italy and France, but 70% of German forces and all their best remained on the Ostfront trying to stop the Russian advance. The USA and UK also threw as much help to the Soviets as possible but most of the USSR's success was self created. I very much doubt they'd have done it alone, but they were, by far, the greatest contributor to victory.