Monday, April 19, 2010

Blog #14

Answer each of the following, and cite statistics or sources wherever appropriate:

1. What are the most interesting aspects of World Wars 1 and 2?

The most interesting aspects of WWI for me would probably be the “cause” (the assassination of Franz Ferdinand) that lead to one big chain event, The Black Hand, the alliances and their plans, and how much WWI changed war all together.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm

The most interesting aspects of WWII for me would have to include the dictators (Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, and Stalin) because they all seemed like psychotic geniuses, what the governments of Europe did to try to stop/prevent the war (treaties), the weapons and how much they destroyed and killed, and Dr. Seuss’s political cartoons.

http://www.cedarville.edu/resource/education/subjects/history/wwiijmf/dictator.htm

Example of Dr. Seuss Political cartoon: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/pm/10813cs.jpg

2. What do you hope to learn about these wars?

I learned a lot in Lori Fisher’s class last year about WWI and WWII so I’m not sure what else I can learn, but I know there’s plenty. I’m most interested in the triggers of battles, and such. It all seems like some sort of domino effect to me. I’d also be interested in learning about the minds of the Dictators, and how they grew up. What made them so insane? Things like that truly fascinate me.

3. How/Why are these wars important today? How do they impact and/or inform our world today? hint: think about alliances, democracies around the world, cultures, international institutions, nuclear (and other) technologies, etc.

Many weapons were formed during these wars, and changed the way we kill thousands of people. Just thinking back on what I learned about all of this makes me a little queasy. A lot of grudges between countries seemed to be formed as well due to these battles. Countries lost land, more stereotypes were formed, and some (not all) lessons were learned. Hopefully, in this sense, history will not repeat itself.

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