2 Different Wars?

During the second world war, the U.S. was practically fighting in two different places against two different enemies. The Pacific war and the European war. And really these two places couldnt be much more different. The Pacific consisted of mostly sea and air battles with some close range fire fights on islands. There was not much heavy duty armory, but there was alot of infantry and bombings. On the other hand the European war was totally different. It consisted of the whole continent so there was much more room which consisted of much more fighting. The germans had tanks, armor, bombs, battleships, and fighter planes. This side of the war i think consisted of much more tactical strategys that played a future role in the war, where in the Pacific there wasnt much else you could do then to just try and sink the enemies battleships and try to take islands. Both had important battles that were crucial to U.S. success, but they were so totallly different that soldiers fought completely different battles. How do you think these two different war scenes were alike and how do you think the soldiers could compare with each other what happened?

My Thoughts regarding Guadalcanal

How was war like a "giant catapault shot that accelerated life beyond any possible prior imagining?" 



I think that before the war began, most Americans including the whole American Army thought that they would go over to the Pacific, shoot some Japs and they would be done and the war would be over. I think that they took it that they were overly superior to the Japanese that they would have no chance at all at putting up a fight. Even when the platoon was sitting at night watching the battle off the coast between the ships they took it that they were winning when they couldnt tell who was who. Then in the morning when they found out that they had lost 2 battleships to the Japanese navy they were stunned that it was even possible that they lost a battle. I think as soon as the fighting starts the soldiers quickly realize that the japanese are stronger then they think and that they are very capable of winning the war. I think that nothing they couldve done before the war could have prepared them for the war like actually being in it because nothing can prepare them for the emotional and physical toll that they go through everyday. The war really showed these soldiers what was going on in the Pacific which really differed from what they recently thought when they were back in the states.

Japanese genocide vs. American genocide?

Many historians and people feel that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was uneed to end the war and can be considered a mass murder of civilions. Maybe not genocide, but something close to the fact. I feel that how is this any different from the rape of Nanking? The Japanese army purposely tried to kill innocent civilians including woman and small children for the fact that they didnt want them to get in the way. There was no war at the time. Japan was just trying to get more land and these people happened to get in the way, so they killed them all. Basically a genocide. I feel that this is way worse then what we did to Japan by dropping the A-bombs. We were still in a war with Japan even if their defeat did seem evident. If you think that America did commit some kind of crime by bombing innocent Japanese cities, think about what Japan has done and even other countries have done in the past. There have been way worse things to happen other than the dropping of the A-bombs.

JOEY STALIN!!

Papa Stalin, what a great leader.

Time traveler in the Roaring 20's!?

Since everyone says that Adolf Hitler and Cahrlie Chaplin look so much alike I decided to really compare the two, and during my investigation I found a crazy Charlie Chaplin video that show a what appears to be a man or woman talking on a cell phone... IN 1928! Is this one of Charlie Chaplin's Hoaxs? Or is it a time traveler from the future that happened to get caught on tape? No one really knows. I found an article posted a couple days ago that this video is a certain trick because there were no cell towers in 1928 but they pose the possibility that it could be an alien talking to a mothership. Anyway you see it, it is interesting. I dont really know how this also relates to world wars but I thought it would be a cool little story to share with the class.
I personally think that it is a time travler thaty came back in time to purposly walk through Chaplin's circus video and draw attention so in the future he can see himself in the video. 

Heres the link to the youtube videos and also that article.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiIrpEMbQ2M

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5942802/the_charlie_chaplin_cell_phone_footage.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1324132/Time-travel-Charlie-Chaplin-film-1928-footage-shows-woman-mobile-phone.html

Here's the site from the previous post

http://gulaghistory.org/nps/onlineexhibit/stalin/living.php

Life in a Gulag

Found a great site that really explains the tough conditions that prisoners had to endure while in the Gulag. The camps were basically just like nazi concentration camps except they forced you to work instead of just killing you. They were forced to sleep on small barracks that were extremely close to each other and sometimes prisoners were forced to stay in a solitary confinement cell with only a wooden plank to sleep on. What these prisoners had to go through was extremely tough even for doin nothing to deserve being sent to one of these Gulags. If i had to be sent to one of these places and work day in and day out I would probably seriously go crazy, which im sure the ones that didnt die did.

Benito: Father of Facism

How could a country that followed a leader into a world war hate him the next? Here in this picture Benito Mussolini is seen hanging for public humiliation. For decades this guy was the sole leader of Italy and brought great success in some parts, but once the war was over and Italy along with Germany lost they took out to kill Benito. How could a country so quickly overthrow the person that was adored for so long?

Why did the U.S. enter WWI?.............This is why.

I have looked up many reasons why the U.S. entered WWI. Most sites have come up with 5 different reasons and when they put them all together that was an excuse to go to war with a country halfway across the world. Some say it was the sinking of the Lusintania, a British cruise liner that was carrying Americans but also ammunition that would be used to fight the Germans. Others say it was the Zimmerman Telegram which was a letter sent from Germany to Mexico that said if the U.S. joins the war then Mexico would be allies with Germany and have to fight the U.S. on the home front. If the Germans then won, they would help Mexico re-conquer Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. I think all of these reasons put together make a really good solid argument to go to war, but I feel that the real reason was so that the U.S. could show off there new ability to fight. Think about it... The U.S. didnt even enter the war untill it was practically over. Everyone knew that the Germans were backing up and starting to lose more battles. This was the perfect time for the U.S. to actively put themselves in this war so they would seem like the heros. They were producing almost all of Britains ammunition and weapons since the start of the war, so really they were a very big part of the war from the start. This is when the U.S. really was starting to get realized as a global super power and the only way to back up there progress would to put an end to the never ending war, which was about to end with or without U.S. help. You can say that America was fighting for revenge of the Lusintania or for democracy by fighting against a German communist government, but the real reason was to show the world who the next super power is, and they have been ever since.

Armenian Genocide! Was it a genocide?

The Armenian Genocide just recently within the past decade has been declared a genocide by only 15 countries. Why are some countries denying it was a genocide and really only an ethnic cleansing of their country. Many compare this genocide to the Jewish halocaust because of the similar time period and the way mass murder was happening. Why is it that more emphasis was put on the Halocaust rather then the Armenian Genocide? Why is the the history of the Jewish Halocaust being taught in schools and the Armenian isnt?