I enjoyed reading about the two world wars because I never quite understood what was going on in the first, and the second has been talked about a lot. The connection between the two wars, in that the way the first war was finally settled (the Treaty of Versailles) “set the stage” for the conditions of the second (631) was something that I hadn’t been aware of (I am very sorry to admit).
The physical isolation of the U.S. compared with superpowers of the past has come in handy in world conflicts, as we have been—and remain—fortunate to have limited the war on our own soil to the war we fought against one another. It has therefore been more difficult for U.S. students to comprehend the divisions in countries in Europe and Asia. I like that Strayer characterized WWI as “essentially a European civil war with a global reach” (625). It makes it easier for this American to comprehend. It is unsettling, however, that he says “the rulers of the major countries of Europe saw the world as an arena of conflict and competition among rival nation-states” (628, 9). (I hope that this is no longer true. It would be nice to think that today these rivalries can be limited to being fought with cash rather than with blood. At least in terms of global power.) I get really tired of countries (read, people in power) using human beings as tools to get their personal and global needs met.
What’s the deal with German aggression? As a country, do they just need to be in control—are they the attack dogs on the block? A friend of mine has a theory that they have finally ceded defeat militarily and are now going to buy their way to power, country by country, beginning with Greece…
Personally, the 2nd WW is important to me, as my father was retired Navy, so he would have had some interesting stories to tell me. He joined the service when he was 16, which would have been in 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I know that he was stationed in Japan for awhile, and my eldest sister was born in Yokosuka in 1950. My father told me that he was in Japan while the country was repairing itself, and he made friends with some of the Japanese officers after the war. It is really exciting for me to read about all of this, and sad at the same time because I cannot ask my dad more about his experiences (he passed away 15 years ago).
This time period is particularly interesting to me because I know people who had direct experience with the dramatic events that were happening at this time in history. Since many people I know still have family members who were involved in the events of WW2, I think it’s important for them/us to gather as many personal stories as possible before these people pass away, taking their stories with them. I got really excited when reading about this period, and as you can see, I tried to start a conversation with my friends on Facebook to post stories of family members. I gave them until the 18th to post, so hopefully I’ll get more “bites.”
I also have to say that I’m particularly disturbed by reading about the behavior of the Japanese. I had heard that they were unbelievably cruel to the Chinese, and as I said above, my parents spent time in Japan after the second world war. Neither of them displayed any animosity towards the Japanese whatsoever, so it has surprised me to learn the depth of their depravity. I suppose there are not many civilized war stories after all. War sucks. But to compel 300,000 women in countries of their “possession” to “serve the sexual needs of Japanese troops as ‘comfort women,’” to accommodate “twenty to thirty men a day” (651). TWENTY TO THIRTY A DAY? That makes me physically ill. You just cannot treat people like that. You absolutely cannot treat people like that, and there must be a special place in hell (even though I don’t believe in hell…) for creatures that can treat other human beings like that.
Moving on to the cold war, I must say I didn’t find that chapter very interesting. That is probably because I have lived so much of my life during that war, and was fortunate to be oblivious about what was going on. I used to have “discussions” with my father about Vietnam, and never understood the bigger picture, and what had instigated the rise and spread of communism, and why everyone was so afraid of it. I feel very, very fortunate to have lived my life in this country, to have not been touched by war, to have not seen the atrocities and poverty that people have suffered. I’m also pretty sad to see that the U.S. is losing ground globally as a power, and as an example of people with principles (thank you, George W. Bush, Cheney, et al. for the destruction of our image abroad, and all you idiots who elected them for a second term after they stole the first term with the help of the Supreme Court and Florida…). Whatever. I am tired and disappointed. History continues to be a sad topic. Second only to Political Science. :-)
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