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World History 1500
Christian Picasso
Dr. W. Kesler Jackson
World History 1500
28 October 2014
The Need to Fight
Violence is seen every day in the media. As technology advances so does the graphics in
video games, movies, and now television programming. There are methods to block these images
so younger generations cannot see it but even though it’s a source of entertainment and/or a
struggle, depending on an individual believes, one may never wonder how violence ever began.
Some can say that it started with television but in reality violence has been a part of history.
Every epic war with a victory has been recorded down on paper and now is being taught in
schools across the globe. Battles like Balaclava, the Crusades, and even the American Revolution
play significant roles in human history. One particular war that has numerous of movies and even
a video game named Call of Duty portrated the events significant to this war and this was World
War II. According to the National World War II Museum of New Orleans 25, 000, 000 soldiers
were wounded during battle and 15, 000, 000 died worldwide. 45, 000, 000 civilians from all
countries that the battles took place died during these dramatizing time.
War is an organized conflict between states, countries, cities, and/or religion. As far as
anyone can remember a war has been going on like World War II where some grandparents has
fought in to the war in Afghanistan where fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and even close
friends are currently in. Emily Ekins would like to say that 58% of Americans don’t agree with
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war(2014) but soldiers are still being marched down to unknown lands to fight against “the
enemy” for number of reasons. Even though war has its advantages towards a country and it can
also have its disadvantages, discrimination against the soldiers and cause distrust between the
people and its country.
War isn’t anything new to human nature so when the first colonies settled, on the land
they landed on and which were called the colonies, their obedience was about to rise against the
British. The Department of Veterans Affairs remembers the wars that the United States has
attended like when The Colonies declared Independence from Great Britain on 1776 and official
named their new country the United States of America. As the new country wanted to expand it
faced natives living on the land they wanted and on 1846 Mexico and U.S. fought against each
other for the state of Texas, which was known as the Mexican-American War. As the country
was growing there was growing conflict between its people about slavery. The country split into
two mostly the North, the Union led by President Abraham Lincoln, and the South, the
Confederate led by Jefferson Davis. The Civil war was the name given during this time, 1861 to
1865, and the result was that the Union won which abolished slavery and therefore created the
13th amendment. As changes occurred within the counties own borders conflict was occurring
across the Atlantic during 1914. On 1918 the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, the German
Empire, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire) was defeated by the Allied Power (France, Russian
Empire, British Empire, Italy, and the United States) but twenty-three years later another World
War Occur with the Allies defeating the Axis power on 1945. The Korean war (1950-1953), Gulf
War (1990-1991), Vietnam War (1959-1975), and the Irag War (2003-2011) were wars that were
followed and even today the Afghanistan war is still occurring since 2001.
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Besides war, The United States had its ups and downs with its economy throughout its
history like the Great Depression to the Great Recession but many historians remember the great
struggle that Germany had after World War I. On October 24, 1929 the Stock Market crashed
which caused the Great Depression and especially in German because its 2economy was built by
foreign capital and mostly loans from the United States so it depended on foreign exchange for a
source of income. In the United States the government step up and provided programs to help
boost the economy but Germany didn’t because there was no money to be funded. Food
shortages occurred where younger children suffered the worst and therefore died from
malnutrition and hunger related diseases. The only hope that Germany had to get out of this
Depression was a man named Adolf Hitler. 3He and his party, the Nazi party, step into politics
when politicians started to separate due to their own selfishness on fixing their home country
which was a perfect opportunity for Adolf to step in because there was a lot of conflict and a lack
of companionship so once he had the chance he promised he’ll fix the economy with persuasive
propaganda. It worked because citizens were tired hauling stacks of money to buy a loaf of
bread. Adolf did fix the economy by making tanks, automobiles, and other war tools and once
Adolf had the trust of the country he invaded Poland in 1939.
August of 1939 Germany and Soviet Union, under Communist dictator Joseph Stalin,
signed the Nonaggression pact, national treaty between two or more states or countries to avoid
conflict between them and resolve disputes through peaceful negotiations, and secretly planned
their invasion against Poland. England and France reacted to their invasion by declaring war
against Germany which started the European War. In the meantime, the Soviet Union invades
Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia and threatens Invasion. The following year Norway,
Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg fallen to the Soviets and Germans. September
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of 1940 hundreds of Germany planes began bombing London for fifty-seven nights straight. This
attack was named the Blitz and killed more than 40, 000 people and called the air raid campaign.
During the same time Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a Tripartite Pact (agreement that for the
next ten years that they would help one another for the soul purpose to establish and maintain a
new order to promote the mutual prosperity and welfare of the peoples concerned which can be
also referred to the birth of Facism) which was a warning to the United States to stop assisting
England. The United States kept assisting and on January of 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl
Harbor and the United States joined the World War. As the battles continue throughout the war,
400, 000 Polish Jews were taken into a part of Warsaw also known as the Warsaw Ghetto. This
was the start Nazi campaign against the Jews which led to the Holocaust. On May of 1945 the
Allies accepted Germany’s surrender after when Adolf Hitler committed suicide and Japan
surrendered on August after the two atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski by the United
States which officially ended World War II.
The cost for the war in Afghanistan, according to National Priorities, is $10.17 million
and counting and for the action against ISIS is $312, 500 and counting (2014). I interviewed
Santi Khoundet from the U.S. Army Reserves, Linguistics Department, and during the interview
I asked him “Do you believe that greed plays a major part when going to war?” and his response
was yes because of money. This money comes from taxpayers and whether if an individual
agrees with their country going to war the war can provide jobs for the non-taxpayers, the
unemployed. Within the first months when the U.S. joined the Allies the unemployment rate
dropped significantly from its record high of 10% during the depression. Employers who were
providing war supplies were in desperate need to support the boys overseas and with so many
men across seas they hired on women and non-whites and with so many out of the country less
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money was being spent within the states. An article created by many students on Shmoop
mentions “While Americans had fewer products to buy, they were earning much more than ever
before. As a result, families were compelled to save money throughout the war years. Once the
war ended and manufacturers discontinued production for war mobilization, consumer products
once again filled store shelves. A population buoyed by full employment, rising wages, growing
prosperity, and renewed national confidence began to spend—and to spend enthusiastically”.
As employees work to support the war, what were they working on? The Armed Forces
History Museum states “At the beginning of WWII, little of advancement had been seen since
the end of WWI. However, just six short years later the face of warfare morphed significantly
with the military utilizing het aircrafts (tanks, vehicles, ships, small arms) and ballistic missles”
(2012). Tanks were seen as an advancement for its speed, armor, and firepower and “The
amphibious DUKW was another crucial development during the war and was utilized
extensively for troop deployment and as a means to transport tanks to areas in need”. New
aircraft carrier ships dominated the seas which were equipped with heavy fire power and a lot of
older battleships were converted to resemble the new ships. Semi-automatic and assault rifles
were made during this era and now a favorite among collectors. The use of aircrafts increased
during this war as bombers, fighters, and reconnaissance for both Allies and Axis powers.
“armament, maneuverability and radar assisted with the continual advancement of military
aircraft” was all from these aircrafts. “As a result, incredible advancements in technology –
necessitated by the advancements of the enemy – were witnessed throughout World War II”.
As many historians can agree on is that most of history is made up of victories of wars.
Stefan Grasso form the Smagic Blog wrote about his opinion about war and its advantages and
disadvantages and one advantage was “You get to play your part in history—History is written
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when conflict happens, and those who participate in wars play a role in shaping the course of
history” (2013). In his article he only has four advantages and six disadvantages and to name a
number of disadvantages are: obvious casualties, hatred and propaganda, and environmental
damage. Another one that Stefan didn’t mention was the distrust that the civilians have towards
their own government when some wars were declared.
The National World War II Museum of New Orleans would conclude that 60, 000, 000 of
humans died during this war which mostly are men which left behind families that they
supported but the most significant number deaths that made a mark in history was the genocide
of over six million Jews that is referred to the Holocaust. On January 30, 1993 President
Hindenburg, president of Germany, appoints Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany and from there
propaganda against the Jews was strongly enforced. Boycotts of Jewish-owned shops and
business was the beginning acts of hatred towards the Jewish and before the start of taking Jews
into Ghettos on October 8, 1939. July 6, 1941 Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) shoot nearly
3, 000 Jews at the Seventh Fort, one of the 19th century fortifications surrounding Kovno and the
Einsatzgruppen travel from Ghetto to Ghetto and continue their rampage. On August 3, 1941
Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen of Muenster denounces the “killing program” in public
sermon. July 15, 1952 Germans begin the mass deportations nearly 100, 000 Jews to the east
towards Auschwitz and by September 12 the mass deportation of about 265, 000 Jews from
Warsaw to Treblinka was completed. Death marches occurred in the beginning of 1945 when the
Allies started to invade on Axis powers land which Jew were shot while running for miles. It
wasn’t until the end of the war when the Allies realized the concentration camps. Wars do end up
with high numbers of deaths but when it’s genocide with women and children being murdered is
a major downfall in any type of combat.
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With a high number of casualties among men, women, and children it brings up the
question that how can act be committed. Propaganda (information, especially of a biased or
misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view) is
believed that is one of the many reasons for just horrifying acts. On World-War-2.info it
explains how the Nazi party used propaganda and how it worked greatly towards their cause.
“The Nazis believed in propaganda as vital tool in achieving their goals. Adolf Hitler……was
impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during World War I and believed that it had been a
primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918”
(2014).
Anorak from Flashbak (a digital collection of thousands of wonderful pictures, stories, letters,
sounds, and movies from across the past with one aim – to make the past come alive) posted
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many propaganda posters that were posted during the war. Anorak
states “The German war machine created posters and leaflets
exhorting Soviets to defects to a place of warm welcome, good
medicine and lots of food. Fighting on was useless. Surrender was
the only way to preserve life and limb. Surrender meant no longer
working for the Jews – yep, those same Jews the Germans were
slaughterin
g by the million” (2014). Justin Garbe
wrote a paper about a boy, Gunther
Garbe, living through these times and
seeing the posters. One particular poster
of Adolf portrays him as a “Jesus Christ”
figure as he was the one who salvage
Germany from the Great Depressions in
the German wording it translate to “Long
Live Germany”. Justin also mentions on
how the government controlled the media
and with the radio being one of the most
popular use of entertainment “The radio was completely monopolized by Nazi propaganda.
Every Thursday evening the Nazi ministers of Propaganda, Joseph Geobbles, made a speech that
last for hours” (2010). With Adolf being an icon for the German people and with his persuasive
team he used propaganda to blindly convert his people against the Jewish.
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During World War II many battles were taken place in the sky and in the waters but
mostly on land. As war continue on it leaves a mark on the land that the battle took place and
with so much destruction the battle field is left the way it is. Clay Risen from the Washington
Monthly discuss how the environment is being impacted from World War II. “In the waning
days of World War II, the retreating Japanese army left millions of chemical weapons scattered
across northeastern China. To prevent all the Allies from capturing them, unites buried the shells
– containing chemicals including mustard gas, phosgene, and lewisite—in the fields, lakes, and
streams. The result has been a slow-motion public health disaster: according to Chinese officials,
in the last sixty years more than 2, 000 people have died from toxins leaking from the weapons,
and countless more have been sickened and permanently injured by them. (There isn’t anything
in play that requires any country to clean up after any war) If countries don’t want to pay for
cleanup, international law can hardly make them. While a number of treaties since the 1970s—
the First Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, the Environmental Modification Convention, and
others—have tried to limit the environmental consequences of war, they have all made broad
expectations for military necessary activity” (2010). “Two atomic bombs made the allied powers
(USA and UK) from uranium-235 and plutonium-239 were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
respectively early in August 1945” (World Nuclear Association, 2010). Hiroshima had a
population of 250, 000 before the bombing and 45, 000 died from it and Nagasaki had a
population of 174, 000 and 22, 000 died within a four month span 17, 000 have died from the
exposure from the bombs but as the World Nuclear Association discuss “Most deaths appear to
have from the explosion rather than the radiation”. Every living thing went up in flames within a
quarter mile radius from where the bomb was dropped destroying life within seconds. Both cities
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are operating with Hiroshima exporting cars like Mazda and Nagasaki with Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries but the land wasn’t able to grow any type of vegetation for years.
On June 22, 1944 the G.I. Bill came into play which provided benefits for every veteran
who fought during the war. While many citizens signed up for the army many were Hispanics
and with Hispanics being the biggest minority group in the United States many jump in to take
advantage. During the time Hispanics weren’t consider a race, according to the U.S. Army
Center of Military History, but roughly many as 250,000 to 500,000 fought during WWII. A
spectacular reason why to join for any immigrant like Santi. During the interview I asked if
joining the army was anything that he expected and he’s response was “I didn’t know what to
expect. The only reason why I joined up was because it paid for my school and they paid me
$600 a month”. Santi never expected to make a carrier out of the army and now he has his
Masters without paying a penny but not every non-white veteran had the same experience,
during World War II, that Santi had. Marcario Garcia (1920-1972) an immigrant from Villa de
Castano, Mexico was born in a poor family. His family decided to move near Houston in 1923 to
support their nine children. On November 11, 1942 Marcario was drafted and served in three
groups. November 27, 1944 he “single-handedly took two enemy machine gun nests that were
blocking his unit’s advance. Though wounded in the shoulder and foot, he advanced alone to the
two machine guns, killed six German soldiers, captured four, and destroyed the enemy defense
with grenades” (Texas State Cemetery). His action was recognized and was promoted to Staff
Sergeant. After his return to home in February of 1945, after being assigned to Fort Sam Houston
in San Antonia, he was sent to Washington D.C. for the presentation of his Medal of Honor.
President Truman presented this glory moment of Marcario but six months later he was refused
service at a local restaurant in Richmond, Texas while in uniform with the medal hanging from
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one of his pockets. Out of frustration he had a fierce argument with the restaurant owner and
rampaged through the restaurant destroying anything he could get his hands on. The police were
called and Marcario was arrested and since this incident “Garcia became a symbol of the
discrimination returning Mexican soldiers faced”.
On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorist. Four
commercial airplanes were used – two that crashed into the Twin Towers, one supposedly
crashed into the pentagon, and the last crashed in an abundant field – which caused 4over 3, 000
deaths in the planes and on the ground. The two planes that crashed into the world trade center
were caught on camera it shows this is an act of terrorism but a number of American Citizens
believe that 9/11 was plotted by their own government for military reasons to strike against
another country. The Staff of News One (Destination for news and information for and about
Blacks, untold conspiracy theories, in America) mentions that “conspiracy theories surfaced
shortly after the September 11th attacks…..Theorist believe that the World Trade Center
buildings were demolished by bombs……and the former President George W. Bush secretly
profited from the attacks” (2012) and concluded the eleven most compelling 9/11 conspiracy
theories: Insider traders knew about attacks before they happened, air defense was told to ‘stand
down’, planes didn’t make twin towers collapse it was bombs, the Pentagon attack scientifically
doesn’t hold up, Flight 93 was completely staged, the hijackers are alive, cell phone calls made
from plane were faked, Jewish people knew attack was going to happen and took off work day,
black boxes found by search crew kept secret, bin laden tapes are fake, and aluminum planes
can’t penetrate steel structure of World Trade Center. As other citizens can argue that these
conspiracies are completely biased and disrespectful there is distrust between the people and its
government. With the history of policing, the first officers on the force took advantage of the
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people and did nothing when it came to justice unless it involved them. Time has change and the
believe of abusive officers and the hatred towards the government is still strong but as News One
and myself would like to say that the killing of thousands of people can never be justified and
even “Twelve years after the attack, we may never know the entire story but we will always
remember the people who we lost on the this tragic day”. (2012)
As each war that the United States gets involve with it has its advantage of technological
advantages, land that can be obtain, and portraying the strength that this country can show but
most importantly the mass amount of money that can be gained. This money can be used towards
our schools to educate the new generation of voters. Also, to support the immigrants and
homeless that roam around the streets of our famous cities like Los Angeles, New York,
Chicago, Salt Lake City, and Washington D.C but what are the consequences of these military
actions? Is it worth losing trust between importations from countries all over the world? Is it
worth losing thousands of citizens that leave behind families and friends? Is it worth losing the
trust of the citizens and have 60% of the U.S. population not to vote? A quote from Thomas
Parker states “The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working”
and with a number of American citizens already distrusting their government hopping on the
conspiracy bandwagon became the new thing to do. I come from a family of immigrants and I
believe that I have to do better than my father because I know my father never wants me to
experience what he had to for my family to live in great home with a ridiculous amount of
support. Santi briefly describe the same thing during our interview and reach common ground on
why we participate in these government programs and I believe Marcario shares the same
expression. The money for these programs must come from somewhere and war has proven that
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it brings in large amounts of it but how the government spends it is another story like more on
our prison system rather than our educational system is a bit discouraging.
Citations
Anorak. German Pro-Soviet Propaganda of World War Two: The Crimea, The Jews and the
Nazi Good Guys. 3 Mar 2014. Web. 29 Nov 2014.
Barrow, Mandy. When did World War II end? Primary Homework Help. 2013. Web. 28 Nov
2014.
Ekins, Emily. Poll: 58 Percent of Americans Want the US to Stay out of Ukraine. Reasons. 4 Apr
2014. Web. 28 Oct 2014.
Garbe, Justin. World War II Germany Through the Eyes of a Boy, The Story of Gunther Garbe.
n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2014.
Grasso, Stefan. Pros and Cons of War. Smagic. 29 July 2013. Web. 28 Nov 2014.
n.p. The 11 Most Compelling 9/11 Conspiracy Theories. News One. 11 Sep 2012. Web. 29 Nov
2014.
n.p. Advancements in Technology in World War II. Armed Forces Museum. 2012. Web. 28 Nov
2014.
n.p. By the Numbers: World-Wide Deaths. The National WWII Museum of New Orleans. n.d.
Web. 27 Nov 2014.
n.p. Cost of National Security. National Priorities Project. 29 Nov 2014. Web. 27 Nov 2014.
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n.p. Economy in World War II: Home Front. Shmoop. n.d. 28 Nov 2014.
n.p. The Great Depression in Germany. Alpha History. n.d. Web. 28 Oct 2014.
n.p. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Subsequent Weapons Testing. World Nuclear Association.
May 2010. Web. 29 Nov 2014.
n.p. The Holocaust and World War II: Timeline. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 20
June 2014. Web. 28 Nov 2014.
n.p. Marcario Garcia. Texas State Cemetery. n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2014.
n.p. The Rise of Adolf Hitler. The History Place. n.d. Web. 28 Oct 2014.
n.p. Timeline of U.S. Wars and Conflicts. American Veterans. n.d. Web. 27 Nov 2014.
n.p. World War 2 Propaganda. World War 2. 2014. Web. 29 Nov 2014.
n.p. World War II Timeline. National Geographic. 2001. Web. 27 Nov 2014.
Risen, Clay. The Environmental Consequences of War. January/February 2010. Web. 29 Nov
2014.
Weidinger, Patrick. 10 Famous People Who Avoided Death on 9/11. Listverse. 12 Dec 2011.
Web. 28 Oct 2014.