In the past I have posted corrections of common mistakes where ‘facts’ that are often quoted were not really true. However I recently came across another interesting contradiction in ‘facts’. In the Great Courses ‘History of the United States’ the professor mentioned that during WWII the Allies purposely did not attack Germany on a second front to keep the Russians and Germans fighting each other and weakening both of them. I am also reading Winston Churchill’s “The Second World War’ in which he is aware of this perception and vehemently denies the charge. He contends that the Allies did not have the resources and he does a good job of backing up his contention with ‘facts’. However, Churchill was also VERY anti-Communist and was very upset at the Russians for signing a peace treaty with Germany and letting Britain fight Germany alone. Since I do not know the source of the statement by the Great Courses professor it is hard to make a judgement on why he makes this statement. This is a good example of the need to be wary when motivations and reasons are stated as facts.

(The Great Courses – The History of the United States) (Book – The Second World War – Winston S. Churchill)