Randomizer

Please don't think that I am cherry picking something out of context, national moods and mores certainly play their part but counting on them might prove to be disasterous. Several historians have taken up this theme:

Victor David Hanson - Carnage and Culture and Ripples of Battle;
Wolfgang Schivelbusch - The Culture of Defeat; and
Grady McWhiney - Attack and Die

All these (and others, these three just spring to mind) reference military outcomes to social factors normally ignored or overlooked in military historical narratives. While I certainly would not reject this methodology entirely, I think it best used with caution and in context of the times.

Remember that everybody looks at events through a cultural lens, in 1800 the Chinese were totally disdainful of the barbarians from the West while a mere 100-years later a handful of Europeans full of moral hubris had the worlds most populus culture firmly under their hob-nailed boots. And 100-years after that...

I would suggest that there is no evidence to suggest that American submariners held any overall character advantages in bravery, competance, skill or initiative over German submariners in WW2.

Edited to clairify a point.