Please note - I'm guessing the banner saying "South America" that is attached to this post is part of the theme in this subreddit this week, but this is not a question about South America. My apologies for any confusion.
Hello all, I am brand new to this sub but I have a question/discussion point I hope you all can answer for me.
A bit of backstory - I have a friend from Austria that I met when she was an exchange student at my high school (I am an American). I was speaking with her about the recent attacks in Paris when she claimed that "America was behind all of it". At first I thought she was just referring to the Islamic State (ISIS), which I know did spawn from US military action in the Middle East, but she went on to claim that the US aimed to profit off of all the wars in Europe and that the US was even responsible for World War II.
Here is how the conversation went:
Her: "Its horrible over here..."
Me: "What is horrible?" (Since she lives in Austria, I wasn't sure exactly what she meant.)
Her: "And did you know? Amerika is behind all of that
All the terror
Terrorists
And bombs
The war in syrien"
(Please excuse her spelling, English isn't her first language.)
Me: "Indirectly, yes"
Her: "Yes"
Me: "Isis started as a result of the war on terror after 9/11"
Her: "Just that usa can make profits of all the wars in europe"
Me: "I've heard that theory but I don't know that it's completely true
I know that one of the main reasons for US involvement in Iraq was for oil, but so far as Europe goes idk"
Her: "Did you know that the usa is fault of the world war 2? Usa sent hitler some letters and told him what to do. Just that they make peofits cause of our war. Lending us money to rebuild all the cities and stuff. And then they making profits again and blablabla"
Me: "Where did you hear that? I don't believe that"
Her: "Sure they dont tell anybody in usa But they find out"
Me: "Did you know that Nazi Germany tried to make an alliance with Mexico?"
Her: "Its detected"
Me: "The British intercepted the message and notified the US And the other allies, of course"
Her: "Yes But behind all of that, usa is fault of that Of all of the wars in europe nearly"
Me: "I would have to see definitive proof from reputable sources before I believed that"
Her: "There arr reputable cources!!"
Me: "What are they?
Actually, that message to Mexico from Germany was part of WWI, not WWII. I got mixed up a little, haha
It was called the 'Zimmerman telegram'"
I think you all can see my doubt. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but that I've never heard anything that would prove it. The whole thing sounds a lot like a conspiracy theory to me, but I thought it would help clarify things for my friend and I if I asked and got some evidence one way or the other.
I asked my friend for evidence of her claims but she has yet to respond, and I'll update the post if she does.
Basically my question to you all is this: Is there any evidence that the US was responsible for all the European wars and telling Hitler what to do as my friend claims, or is she dead wrong, as I have been assuming? Please back up any claims with reputable sources.
Thank you.
First Edit - Clarity
Second Edit - Added entire conversation between her and I
This is a load of crap.
Prior to WW2 the US took a highly isolationist stance in world politics (only briefly coming out of its shell in WW1). Although America was somewhat sympathetic to the allied cause in WW2, in both wars they did not militarily intervene until they had a rather decent casus belli (in the case of WW2, the Nazis actually declared war upon America after pearl harbour, not the other way around).
America spent an absolute fortune on WW2 even prior to joining - the lend lease supply of the British and Soviets amounted to massive military subsidies in the form of food, guns and vehicles. This only got worse once she mobilised her own troops. In fact to drum up cash there was a significant push on selling War Bonds to the US populace towards the end of the war in order to keep the war financed. Debts from lend lease supplies would be settled as late as in the last 20 years (I think it may have been 2001) in the case of Britain.
Even after the war America was still spending big on Europe, in this case paying Marshall aid to the western nations in order to rebuild them in the face of the strong eastern communist bloc. Although this resulted in western Europe to become a big market for American goods and major trade partners, trying to claim America engineered the war and all the ensuing debts just to gain (much later) economic supremacy is simply ludicrous (not to mention I'd quite like to see the letters she mentions...)