I Got This

During the 1920's and 1930's, there was a significant rise in Totalitarian governments around the world.  I think this was caused mainly do to the fact that people need stability.  After WWI and again during the Great Depression, countries around the world were in chaos.  People needed somebody, anybody to believe in.  This allowed a strong willed individual to completely take control.  All anybody had to do to gain support was sound in control.  The people NEEDED a leader and they will take any they can get, good or bad.

Why can't we be logical?

President Woodrow Wilson had some great ideas at the end of WWI that would have saved the world a lot of trouble if only it had listened.  Unfortunately, he was ignored.  Why?  I mean even just from a logic standpoint, his fourteen points with the League of Nations were a great idea.  Did the American public really just want to be done with the war so bad that they would just take any solution?  If that's the case, it is incredibly ironic that the very reason for not joining the League of Nations was to keep out of a future European war that the U.S. would end up getting into anyway in WWII.  It's so frustrating.

Thank You WWII Combat Soldiers

Reading The Deadly Brotherhood gave me a good sense of what it was like on the field of battle for combat soldiers during WWII.  This book goes in depth, talking about the food, and conditions (both good and bad) experienced by these brave men.  The only thing the movies show is glory on the battlefield, men going above and beyond to do the impossible.  This book tells the whole story of the WWII combat soldier, which involved little or no glory.  It tells the real story.  Overall a great read and I am glad to have read it

Everything is a mess and I can fix it

Totalitarian governments became a craze during the 1930's.  Russia, Germany, and many others jumped on the terrible totalitarian bandwagon.  But why did this type of government became such a craze?  WWI is to blame.  The devestation provided by the war, coupled with the world wide depressions that insued during the late late 20's to early 30's left many countries lacking in strong leadership and direction.  This allowed storng willed individuals to take control, promising stability and a rise to greatness.  People just wanted someone to believe in.  This need for leadership allowed intense leaders to arise and create totalitarian governments.  In times of need finding any and I mean any leader may not be the best decision

Nobody Was Ready For This

WWI. Machine Guns. Generals totally unprepared.  Sounds like a mess.  It was pretty clear from the onset of the war that old military strategies were not going to work anymore.  With the new technology, namely the machine gun, the old strategy of massing troops at a weak point to break through became obsolete.  Three guys on a machine guns could mow huge amounts of soldiers by themselves.  You got to love the perseverence of the commanders.  Despite learning early on that charging machine guns is a BAD idea, they continued to do so.  I know it sucks to have your learnings become obselete but come on guys get with the program.  We all know the definition of insanity.  I guess WWI commanders missed the memo.

Finally Some Action

The first month and a half of this class has been all about the causes of WWI.  BORING!  We spent hours discussing reasons, ultimately resulting in different viewpoints for each person.  Finally we can move on to the war and facts.  Communication is a beautiful thing.  It has the capability of making a relationship stronger, or completely fall apart.  The serious lack of effective communication is obvious from the outset of the war.  Just look at the Schlieffen Plan.  Despite extensive knowledge that the plan was a certain failure, the German's immediately imployed it as soon as war broke out.  Just stupid.  Austria-Hungary was loosely told that Germany had its back against the Russians when the Russians were done mobilizing.  Unfortunately, this did not come to fruition as the Germany did not have enough troops to keep their promise.  Stupid decisions defined the early part of WWI.  Can't people just talk?