I always think of the beginning of Mendelsohn's Symphony # 5, the  "Reformation Symphony" as its opening phrase is the "Dresden Amen".

Warfare had taken a hiatus from targeting civilian populations during the late middle ages through the early 20th century.

Then we reverted to mideval tactics with modern weapons.

May God have mercy on us.

Goose wrote:

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Could any British or American leader look his people in the eye and say that he did NOT do everything in his power to bring the war to an early end?

Probably not, for the simple reason that WWII's total mobalization was the perfect kickstart to the global economy after the Great Depression.   Good thing that the Cold War immediately followed because we just "happened" to be spared the usual "post-war recession"  With the war not ending but merely transitioning to a different foe the downturn never came.

It is arguable that the 2005- and onward "downturn" is a delayed depression from the end of the Cold War.
 

Goose wrote:

The Cold War was inevitable.
There was no way that the US and UK were going to stay allied with the Soviets after the nazi threat was removed.

I don't doubt that someone, somewhere, considered hitting Russia while they were still reeling from their conflict with the Germans.  

From an economic standpoint, there was no way they could have sustained any kind of large-scale defense.