against the chinese, i think we could get a shock. >> 9 minutes left in our conversation with max hastingstom, ann arbor, michigan. go ahead. >> mr. hastings, i am in awe of your understanding of the details associated with these different wars. i'd be interested in our absolute certify vagues of two generalizations that many clueless americans have, one ise most peaceful periods in history and western europe as well. >> thank you, tom. >> let me say one first, again, michael howard, the british historian was so much my mentor and one of his phrases that he often used, he said we used the word peace far too much. the greatest good is not peace, it's stability and the reason that michael was among many people including richard hass, the president's of american foreign relations and american strategy groups think we are living in such grave time because stability is out of the window. we are living in unstable times and the word certainty during the cold war that advantaged and you find awful lot of senior military on both sides of the atlantic, they almost -- you could predict what the sovi

max hastings, the distinguished historian, he's very big on the idea that in europe and i'm going to make this about pearl harbor in the second but about europe that the russians really won the majority of that war which i always thought well, we landed in normandy on the sixth and typepad on the 16th . two fleets that were able to land troops halfway around the world. so i've always thought if we weren't fighting the japanese and we would have applied all our resources to europe, how quickly that outcome would have happened so that you can answer this question in the genre here's what i'm going to ask the question is what happens if the germans attacked pearl harbor? [laughter] >> we have officially jumped the shark. >> one of the things you have to do when you do counterfactual analysis is figure out what counts and what doesn't. or to think about the relative likely influence of events and their connectedness. that hastings argument is quite common by people who want to denigrate the american contribution to world war ii. the united states is the only belligerence that plays a maj

max hastings, the distinguished historian, he is very big on the idea that in europe, and i will makeis about pearl harbor in the second, but about europe, and the russians, really winning the majority of that war. i always think, well, we have landed in normandy on the six, and saipan on the 16th, with fleets that were able to land troops. we did this halfway around the world. so, i have always thought, if we were not fighting the japanese, and we would have applied all of our resources to europe, how quickly would that outcome have happened? if you can answer this question in the genre, here is how i will ask it. what happens of the germans attack curl harbor? >> [laughs] >> we have officially jumped the shark. >> one of the things you have to do when you do kilter factual analysis, is figure out what counts, and what does not. you have to think about the relative likely influence of events, and they're connected miss. the hastings argument is quite common by people who want to denigrate the american contribution to world war ii. the united states is the only belligerent that plays