You know I don’t think there is a single population on this planet that has ever welcomed invaders without forming some type of home spun resistance or even an exiled army hoping to win the day again. Even the favorite whipping boy France had organized civil resistance even after the politicals had surrendered.
Personally, I’m against it.
Reguardless of events, I think we would always have at least one ally…the British. They have been a good ally to the US, and one of the few that has always stood with us (no matter how stupidly WE act sometimes) since WWI. I don’t see them abandoning us.
Of course, the whole thing is ridiculous. War on that scale these days is national suicide. The rest of the world attacking the US? Might as well just put a gun to their collective economic heads and pull the trigger. Even if they could win (which I highly doubt…numbers mean nothing compared to training and equipment, which we have the edge on EVERYONE), WHAT would they win? Their collective economies would collapse, making the Great Depression look like a blip.
From DdDHellspawn
As has been stated, your co worker is an idiot. I’d recomment shock treatments, as he’s obviously out of touch with reality (the shock treatments won’t help, but they would be fun to watch :)). America is probably THE most dangerous country in the world. Leaving aside the remnants of the Army/Airforce (and the fantasy of getting THROUGH our Navy) that would be sure to be fighting, leaving aside the huge mass of reservists and stockpiled equipment of war, the population at large would be a loose canon. It would be a nightmare for invaders. Not only is the average American well armed, he/she also has MILES of attitude…and worst of all, he/she thinks that they are RIGHT. All the time. No questions asked. Sure, SOME idiots would welcome invaders (hell, there are folks on this board that qualify), and some Americans would either stand by and watch or would actively collude (not sure if this is the right word, or if I spelled it right…I mean they would help out or inform). But even if the majority of Americans did this (which I doubt), there are enough hard cases, survivalists, and assorted other fringe types alone to make an occupying army cringe.
From Yola
Japan never intended to invade America, from what I remember. They never intended to win the war either. Yamamoto’s concept (from what I remember) was to hit the Americans hard enough that they would sue for peace and allow the Japanese to expand into the southern pacific unmolested…allowing Japan to aquire the resources they needed to become a superpower. There was a belief (widely held, and not just in Japan but pretty much world wide) that Americans would and could not fight effectively or take losses on the battle field, but would always sue for peace. Hitler had the same belief. It comes from a misunderstanding of how America and Americans work. Get the people roused…and there will be hell to pay.
-XT
I’m sorry, I just don’t get this American thing about an armed populace deterring opponents. You have the most powerful navy the world has ever seen. You have an army and airforce equipped with technology a generation or more ahead of everyone else. You have two immense oceans between you and any realistic opponent. You have significant and (mostly) reliable allies all over the world, and all major powers have other enemies that wouldn’t just ignore the situation.
Oh, and a huge and in large part unstoppably nuclear arsenal.
But it’s a bunch of civilians with guns that really scare militaries planning an attack. 
In the ridiculously unlikely event that an opponent did conquer the US, they wouldn’t have anyone to restrain them (diplomatically or with outright threats) from being just as unpleasant as they want and have to be (and after a war like that they would be unpleasant). There would be no-one to supply advanced weapons or training, because they’d be conquered too.
Partisans and terrorists\freedom fighters can irritate an occupier, and make life sufficiently unpleasant that domestic opinion considers the whole thing worthless, but there’s gonna have to be some external problem for an Evil Dictatorship ™ to give up.
But as everyone said, the whole thing just isn’t gonna happen.
You guys are going about this all wrong. Its plain to see that America will not be invaded because there cannot be any organization of nations that withstand the miltary capabilities of the US armed forces.
If WW3 is going to ever happen, it would be cause the US went bad. The US will over exert its military might because its leaders became too lazy to negotiate. The Media will be controlled and popular opinion among americans will be controlled by the govt. Dissenters will be punished (or sued) and disinformation will be spread efficiently over the Internet 2 (America-In-Line) Since only americans can have broadband, the rest of the world cant hack in.
Now, America will be occupying Iraq, Kuwait and have a strong representative in Saudi Arabi. That controls the worlds Oil. American Allies would be Britain, Israel and Japan. Europe has been taken over by France and Russia is (as usual) playing both sides. All of this is just fine by the US where it not for…
CHINA has openly declared war on the US. It is seizing all of Taiwan and are blockading all merchant ships within its 300 mile territorial waters. It is buying up arms from Russia, mobilized several million troops and are planning to expand.
When all available forces are routed to the Pacific, Egypt and the league of Arabs decide that US occupation of Arab oil is at an end. Theya re supplied by France.
Now thats a world war.
Let me use an American football analogy and some personal experience:
I was playing football with some friends. I was on the defensive line. My job was to hit the other team’s quarterback before he could throw the ball. The play began. I managed to get though the offensive line (big guys that try to stop people like me from hitting the quarterback) a little banged up. I had a clear shot at the quarterback, but then the free safety popped up (a slightly smaller guy whose job was also to stop people like me from hitting the quarterback) and he nailed me.
Think of me as an invading country and the free safety as the armed American populace. If it was just me against him I could easily knock him out of the way, but I was weakened by the offensive line and couldn’t. Think of the offensive line as the professional army of the US. Clearer?
Oh, I almost forgot. WOLVERINES!!!
The free safety? The free safetry is a defensive position.
One of the runningbacks maybe?
Don’t forget cyberwar. I’m sure that the US is home to its share of computer savvy people who could make grief.
I think that WITH internal collusion, th eodds of a successful take over increase dramatically.
Why in the world should the rest of the world declare war on us? We’re doing a perfectly fine job of fucking ourselves up; other countries can just sit back and enjoy the show.
Yola: I’ve never read anything to indicate that Japan planned to mount a serious attack on the U.S. after Pearl Harbor. That attack was made simply to secure Japan’s ocean flank after that country invaded mucho territory in Asia and the Pacific islands. In fact, some Japanese leaders believed we would simply fold after the devastation at Pearl Harbor.
And before you bring them up, the invasion of the Aleutians was launched simply as a feint to divert attention from the Midway invasion and Yamamoto’s plans for a big navy battle.
wolf_meister: I think you’re wrong about al-Qaeda. Sacrificing 19 expendable terrorists to take out about 3,000 people and inflict billions of damage on your country’s economy sounds pretty smart to me. I also notice bin Laden remains on the lam.
Yeah, but I can’t help thinking it’s more like (to switch sports) putting an amateur rugby team up against the All Blacks, and telling them they have to score a try. And them telling them to watch out, because there’s a really aggressive dachshund tethered by the posts.
There’re more things to consider than arms and armaments. Look at al Qaeda. If they can do what it is that they do spread out over the entire globe, (so I’ve heard), with the resources that they have available, imagine what a US resistance group to would be capable of in a more concentrated land mass with greater resources.
US resistance movements would have one signifigant advantage over other resistance movements throughout history- wealth. By wealth, I mean general access to things like food, tools, technology, and information as well financial wealth. The capacity for resistance would be greatly amplified by the sheer amount of cash available to private Americans. Certainly lots would be seized in various ways, but much is already hidden. The vast proponderance of tvs and radios etc makes for a resistance movement with a greater potential for coordination and communication than any other in history. No other occupied nation in history has the such a high level of education. This education and availability of information US would provide a necessary knowledge of subversion, warfare and propaganda unsurpassed by occupied nations in history.
One thing that could put a huge wet blanket on an American resistance movement would be internal collusion w/ the enemy. Particularly harmful would be treason from the ranks of pre-war elected officials and members of the government.