Wednesday, June 4, 2010

Wednesday, June 4, 2010

So on Friday, it is Poppy Day, which is a holiday the UK celebrates to commemorate the two World Wars. We are going to the Imperial War Museum after a class of learning about the wars. I am super excited for it. In preparation for that day, they've asked us to write down our feelings about the wars and then research the causes of those wars.

So here are my feelings about the wars:

World War I:

World War I was such a long time that it is much harder for me to be personally invested in it than I personally invest myself in WWII. Nevertheless, when I read about WWI, I am absolutely blown away by the things they suffered through. Trench warfare just sounds like a terribly miserable experience. I think about all the standing water, as well as the gas bombs, the regular bombs and the schrapnel from them. It was just so unsanitary. I feel like war back then was just about as miserable experience as you could have. Now, it is pretty easy for the Army to set up shelters and the like to create an environment that is a bit more comfortable than it was then. Those guys suffered. I can't even imagine the amount of sickness there was in those trenches. And not only there, but also life was also super rough in other parts of the war. I've seen films on World War I pilots and the planes then were still super new (only 10-15 years old) and there were still a ton of problems with them and the firearms they used. It was just so elementary.

As far as how WWI impacts my life, it does, but I don't consciously think about its effects like I do WWII's effects on my life. I suppose there have been far fewer media productions on WWI, so I appreciate it much less because I know so much less about it. I am excited to go research it, learn about it on Friday, and see things from it in the Imperial Museum.

And now feelings on WWII:

Wow. So many thoughts. I have learned so much about WWII that I actually have some kind of idea how it affects my life. For some reason, I am fascinated by what happened to a country under the power of a powerful, charismatic, wicked man. There was so much sadness that he brought about to millions and millions of people.

I first think about the concentration camps and the suffering the Jews went through there. I have been to the Holocaust Museum in DC and it was truly moving. Such abject humiliation was thrusted upon them. I think about the Nazis and what must have gone through their minds as they assisted in the treatment and killing of the prisoners—surely some of them had to have felt totally lost as to what to do. They had to have dealt with immense amounts of guilt as they inflicted the pain on those poor people.

Lastly, I think of the soldiers who fought for the liberty of so many people. I remember watching Saving Private Ryan and seeing the immense courage the soldiers had to face bullets literally coming straight at their heads. Oh, how that must have been terrifying. They were not ordinary men, even if they were just like any other ordinary kid on the street. Those men had heart and impeccable courage.

I meant to write about an experience I had a few weeks ago when we went to Cambridge, but somehow never did. We stopped at a memorial for American soldiers who were stationed in Britain during WWII and died in the fighting, especially pilots who flew over the Channel to fight over France. It was a moving cemetery, with all the white crosses marking their graves, as well as a chapel dedicated to them, a wall with all their names on it, and an American flag. I felt quite a bit of reverence as I walked along the wall and into the chapel, but the really powerful experience came for me when I stepped onto the grass and among the graves of those soldiers. I could feel them. I have, on few occasions, held anyone in such high regard. And certainly not anyone my own age. Those men died so that so many others could live. I could feel the honor they felt in having fought for that freedom; the sadness they felt for what was happening in the world at the time; the happiness that we still honored what they and others did for the world. Who knows what would have happened if they had not done what they did. They saved thousands, millions. I thank my Heavenly Father for their sacrifice.

And now the causes:

WWI:
1879 – The Dual Alliance – Germany and Austria-Hungary form an alliance to protect themselves from Russia.
1881 – The Austro-Serbian Alliance – Austria-Hungary makes an alliance with Serbia to prevent Russia from taking over Serbia
1882 – The Triple Alliance – Germany and Austria-Hungary make an alliance with Italy to stop Italy from taking sides with Russia.
1894 – Russia forms an alliance with France to protect itself from Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1904 – Entente Cordiale – Agreement, not formal alliance between France and England, stating that they would thenceforth co-exist peacefully, unlike the past....forever.
1907 – Anglo-Russian Entente – This was basically an earlier version of the Cold War, but between the two, though they hadn't had any real conflicts. But it was an unspoken rivalry they knew would eventually boil over into a real conflict, so they thought they would stop the conflict before it happened.
1914 – Triple Entente – England, France, and Russia all agreed not to sign for peace separately. This basically formed an alliance that would counter Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. Other countries influenced this agreement, including the US.

And then Serbian revolutionary Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in August, 1914. And all hell broke loose. Essentially, the gun had been loaded for years, but the trigger simply needed to be pulled, which this assassination did. It was simply a huge blame game once the trigger was pulled on Ferdinand and wife, and people needed an excuse to get involved. And then all of Europe is at war. Bad news bears, I tell you.

World War II:

After the ending treaties of World War I, Germany was in a pretty sorry state. Before the war, there were 4.7 Francks to the dollar; at the end there were about 4.7 trillion Francks to the dollar. They were in dire need of a leader who could pull them out of the abyss in which they found themselves. And along came Hitler, a blastedly charismatic and idealistic man who presented a stance so convincingly that he got much of the country rallying behind him. Setting up a fascist dictatorship, Hitler created a country where he ruled with an iron fist and he simply got his way. Starting in 1933, he started building up the army and weaponry, as well as made military service compulsory.

In 1936, Hitler's troops invaded Prussia. Hitler also made two important alliances that year: the Rome Berlin Axis Pact, which allied Italy to Germany, as well as the Anti-Comitern Pact, allying Japan to Germany.

In 1938, Germany started reclaiming lands lost from the results of World War I, starting with Austria. In a vote forced on the country, 99% of the people said they wanted to be part of Germany. Hitler promised this would be the end of his expansion, but within six months, he was back on the move, taking back the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain met with Hitler, drawing up the Munich Agreement, stating that Hitler would stop there or risk war. Hitler again broke his word in March, 1939 and invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. France and England knew they could not stand idly by, so they agreed that if Hitler invaded Poland, they would intervene. And that he did, in August of 1939.

And all hell broke loose again, involving country after country.

And the last part of the assignment is to write down all the choral pieces I know that are about war. They're not many, but here goes:

War Requiem, by Benjamin Britten
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Yankee Doodle
Un Soir de Neige – Poulenc
Star Spangled Banner
Dona Nobis Pacem – Vaughan Williams
Onward Christian Soldiers
Flander's Fields - Aitken