• AbsentBird@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    5 months ago

    There were many brave and accomplished citizens of allied nations who refused military service and who were integral to victory over the axis.

    Alan Turing broke the German cyphers and was staunchly antiwar. Howard Florey won the nobel prize for the mass production of penicillin and rejected military rank. Einstein himself was an outspoken pacifist, but it was his research that made the atomic bomb possible.

    If the allies had been as interested in forcing everyone into military service as the axis, it’s likely the war would have been even more bloody and prolonged.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      There were many brave and accomplished citizens of allied nations who refused military service and who were integral to victory over the axis.

      Alan Turing

      … didn’t refuse wartime service. The exact opposite, in fact. You… you do realize not all military service is shooting guns, right? Turing’s work was directly related to discovering German movements, and then, killing them. The Brits weren’t codebreaking to find out the Nazis’ favorite color for a Valentine’s day card.

      Howard Florey won the nobel prize for the mass production of penicillin and rejected military rank.

      … okay?

      Einstein himself was an outspoken pacifist, but it was his research that made the atomic bomb possible.

      If the allies had been as interested in forcing everyone into military service as the axis, it’s likely the war would have been even more bloody and prolonged.

      Well, I am glad you agree that the atomic bombs saved many lives, at least.

      • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        Alan Turing didn’t refuse wartime service.

        He was part of the anti-war movement while attending Cambridge. By your reasoning Gandhi was part of the military because he volunteered as a medic. Turing was not a soldier.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          He was part of the anti-war movement while attending Cambridge.

          … okay? Your argument is then because at the age of 21, near a decade before WW2, he was part of an anti-war movement when in college; therefore, he was a total pacifist and his willing and eager service to military intelligence at the outbreak of WW2 against one of the most vile governments in modern history ‘didn’t count’?

          By your reasoning Gandhi was part of the military because he volunteered as a medic.

          When was this? The only military service I remember Gandhi being a part of was pre-WW2, and in those cases, quite decidedly in support of a brutal imperial British machine.

          • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            5 months ago

            Turing was never a pacifist, but he was anti-war. He probably saw his work in signal intelligence as important to ending the war.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 months ago

      Alan Turing broke the German cyphers and was staunchly antiwar.

      Are you confusing correlation with causation?