Lessons From Wars
Welcome
Welcome to our page on lessons learned from wars. On this page you will read about some of the wars that have taught us lessons.
- World War I
- World War II
- Civil War
Iwo Jima Memorial, Washington, DC.
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| Marine Corps Memorial shows the raising of US flag on Iwo Jima during World War II. Permission to use this image is from Wikipedia (granted under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License) 2009. |
World War I
World War I was called the war to end all wars, and also the Great War. People thought that if the allies won there would never be war again. The lesson here is that if men don’t learn to get along, there will never be world peace. Fighting wars does not solve problems and does not guarantee that new wars won’t start. Wars only create bloodshed and deaths.
The Beginning of the War
The Allies were a multi-nation force made up of the U.S.A, France, England, and Russia fighting against the Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and any other country that helped in the central power’s quest for power. The Allies’ original name was the Entente and they had backed Serbia when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a man from Serbia. That started the war because of an age-old feud between Austra-Hungary and Serbia. Russia jumped in to help Serbia and Germany come to the aid of Austra-Hungary. Becuase of several alliances, soon most of Europe was at war.
By the end of the year the Central powers had summoned their troops and dug out trenches along the city of Ypres, and the Allies had done the same. That was how most of the war was fought, in ditches because it was easy to take down the enemy when they couldn’t see you and when you could see them. For three and a half years neither side could advance. France and England fought against Germany. The area of their fighting was called the Western Front. On the Eastern Front Russia also fought Germany and fought Austria- Hungary too.
World War I continued
Entering the USA in the War
President Woodrow Wilson was doing every thing to help the Allies and keep the U.S.A. out of the war; the people of the USA salvaged every thing and gave up most of their food to send across the seas to the fighting troops in Europe. When the Germans saw what they were doing they sent out submarines to stop the flow of food, water, and ammunition, and began sinking unarmed passenger ships and cargo ships. Soon enough Woodrow Wilson got fed up and created a military draft that drafted men into the army even if they didn’t want to go. Even though the USA entered the war officially on April 6, 1917, it took over a year to get a few troops overseas to Europe. When the USA entered the war they made a big difference in the war. In the fall of 1918, the Central Powers surrendered. An armistice was signed on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:00 a.m. It was called the Versailles Treaty and it set up perfect conditions for World War II.
Citations
Strachan, Hew. "World War I." World Book Advanced. 2009. [Place of access.] 10 March 2009 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar610440>.
And World War I America at war, by Scott Marquette, Rourke publishing
World War II
The Second World War taught us many things. We learned how a dictator convinced his people that they were superior. We also learned that this feeling of superiority gave them the feeling that they had the right to dominate others. It all started when Germany lost the First World War and was angry because Germany had to pay back all of the debts from the war. The German economy was very bad at the time. This helped Adolf Hitler come to power during the 1920's. He convinced his people that they were better than Jews, Slavs, Gays, and Gypsies. He began creating a separate army called the storm troopers and started a party called the Nazi party. In the 1930's he took control of Germand and becaue it's dictator. He started blaming the problems of Germany on the Jews and then burned Jewish books and literature. In 1938 Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslavakea and signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. World War II started when Germany invaded Poland on August 1, 1939.
In 1941 America joined what many people call the greatest war in history. Allies from England and France helped to fight against Japan, Germany, and Italy. In 1942 Adolf Hitler ordered the Nazis to start killing millions of people including Jews, Gays, Gypsies, and Slavs who sadly lost their lives. The death toll totaled up to over fifteen million people, six million of them were Jews who were exterminated in concentration camps. This is known as the Holocaust.
World War II Continued
The Germans quickly took over most of Europe, but the English never gave up even though they were bombed on a daily basis. They resisted fiercely and the Germans were never able to make them surrender. On December 7, 1941, the empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a U.S naval base in Hawaii and the U.S. naval base housed all of their battleships. The attack sent the U.S into war and the U.S. naval base housed all of thier battleships. The attack sent the U.S. into war. The U.S. started to create bombers and tanks and ration food so they could send it to Britain, Frace and U.S. troops. But when Germany saw the cargo ships going across their waters they started sending out German subs to destroy them.
The U.S.A had to think of a way to stop these attacks so they developed the use of sonar to track down a potential threat and then fire torpedoes to destroy them. These "wolf packs" or groups of boats clumped together, were created for protection and a more focused attack. When the Germans saw this they started using the same technique. After the allies (America, France and Brittan) invaded North Africa in 1942 they started attacking and pushing through the armies in Northern Italy in 1943. The Allies all started gathering together to create the largest seaborne invasion in history. It was codenamed “D Day” and took place on the beaches of Normancy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is credited for this fmous invasion on June 6, 1944. The troops had to cross the English Channel to get to the beaches where they were met by deadly gunfire.
World War II Continued
But the invasion was ultimately a success because the U.S had the technology, the support, and the most planes. Soon after the Allies heard that Adolf Hitler, the ruthless dictator of Germany, had killed himself, his wife and his dog and then Germany surrendered. The war against Germany and Italy was now over and the Allies to defeat Japan. They created the Atom Bomb. The first Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in northwestern Japan on August 6, code named “Little Boy. ” It was a uranium-based nuclear weapon, the second was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, and it was code named “Fat Man.” While these bombs served their purpose by making Japan surrender, sadly over 80,000 people were killed and many of them were innocent.
World War II Lesson
So the lesson here is “Every Man Is Created Equal” Martin Luther King Jr., and that no man should think that one race is superior and all of the other races are inferior to that mans race. The same way Japan’s leaders, Italy’s dictator Benito Mussolini, And Germanys Adolf Hitler did.
World War II Citations
Citations
Stokes Bury, James L. "World War II." World Book Advanced. 2009. [Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.] 19 Feb. 2009.
<http://worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar610460>.
World War II America at War, Rourke Publishing
The United States Its History and Neighbors HBJ Social Studies.
Civil War
The Civil War started on April 12, 1861. The war was fought between the northern states known as the Union states, and the Confederate states also known as the southern states. The war started because there was an issue over slavery. The Confederate states depended on African American slaves to do their work for them, and the Union didn’t approve of this. The Confederate troops started the war on April 12, 1861, when they fired the first shots at the Fort Sumter military post in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Civil War is known as the bloodiest and most devastating war in US history. Over 2700 confederate troops died and over 2000 Union troops died.
The war ended on April 26, 1865 and the Union was victorious. During the war, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, so slavery was abolished and every slave was freed. Because of the many sacrifices that these men made, there is no slavery today in America.
Citations:
Allen C. Guelzo, Ph.D., Henry R. Luce Professor of Civil War Era Studies, Gettysburg College.
Guelzo, Allen C. "Civil War, American." World Book Advanced. 2009. [Place of access.] 25 March 2009 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar117060>.