The goal of the Allies was to stop Germany from conquering Europe only with the addition of the United States. World War 2 was long under way before the addition of the Americans and all the Europeans were doing was trying, in futility, to defend themselves against the German invasion. In Asia, the Commonwealth was desperately trying to fend off the Japanese invasion, but it wasn't until America entered the war that the tide had turned towards the side of the Allies.
Russia only wanted to take over Poland (which they did, together with Germany) and the Americans were trying to maintain some sort of enclave before the bombing of Pearl Harbor occured.
Nobody gave a shit about the Jews. When they dissapeared, nobody cared. It is only out of convenience that the Jews were liberated from their concentration camps. Allied intelligence knew of their existence, knew of where those camps were located, but even as Germany was being taken by the Allies, they were not rescued. Innumerable Jews were slaughtered by their Nazi captors to eliminate 'proof' of their existence when the Nazis would eventually surrender. Nobody cared.
WW2, as everyone should know (but for some reason fail to) encompasses the period from 1939 to 1945. It encompasses the widespread Nazism throughout Germany and their aspirations to take over Europe. It covers the atrocities, the battles and bombardments in which entire cities were left in rubble (see: Warsaw, Berlin, etc). Yes, it's true that the Allied Front (of which many battles were failures - like Operation Market Garden, while others like Operation Overlord a.k.a. D-Day were successes) was an overall success, but the war itself was the appaling result of mankind's failure as a whole.
It would be nice to believe that America was fighting for some abstract higher ideal, some sense of righteousness. Some desire to free the European people from the evil tyranny of Hitler. But was that really the case? Absolutely not. America's government went to war with the Axis for its own self-preservation, and for future financial interests. It's the same with Iraq and Afganistan. Wars might be considered a success for military industries (though not the military itself) and for politicians who line their pockets with campaign funds donated by those industries, but as a whole, wars are always a failure. I don't think that there's even been a modern war fought for the sake of the greater good. For doing what's right. Not even the American war for Independence was fought for any higher ideal, despite what history books will lead you to believe. What it comes down to, really, is how local lords, generals and politicians wanted more power, free of the British rule. If you know history, you would know that General George Washington was a very high ranking general in service of his majesty the King. He was a bastard, and he squandered a LOT of money during his reign as the President of the United States. Coffee money amounting to 200,000 dollars. Which would amount to millions of dollars today.
War. War never changes.
