learntoquestion ltq discussions

Sources to peruse:

In addition to what we’ve done in class, our screening of the 2018 film directed by Peter Jackson, They Shall Not Grow Old, and your examination of the following powerful websites/online exhibitions:

1. World War I via photographs
2. World War I by the numbers
3. 5 Things You Need to Know about World War I
4. The firsts of World War I
5. The first World War: The Study of a Global Conflict. For this site, poke around. This site is SIMPLY AMAZING. Pay particular attention to these sections:

#1: Origins [3:16]

#3: Empires [3:29]

#5: Slaughter [5:05]

And make sure you click on the interactives between the horizontal number menu along

the lower part of the screen.

The four BIG questions I’d like you to address in this post depend on your thoughtful and careful examination of the five items above. As you respond, please make specific reference to these five items AS WELL AS anything relevant from class.

• We can debate the whys behind the war, the long-term and short-term causes (and I’m sure you’ve taken tests in other classes about this) etc. but here’s the essential question that matters: What was the point? What was gained from this war? What was lost? Why did it matter?
• What lessons should we learn from this war? (And by extension, what lessons did the world learn—at the time?)
• There are folks who argue that there was a world before the First World War and an entirely different world afterwards. Is that true? What changed forever?
• And finally, why is it important to understand World War I and learn about it, even if we can argue that war = insanity, (this one in particular)?

There was no point for why World War I happened. A lot of the reasons why the “War to End all Wars” occurred is primarily due to alliances that existed before the war, a sense of nationalism among many of the nations involved within said alliances, and technological advancements. It was a simple matter of maintaining good relations with other nations, turning into a large-scale fight between many uninvolved nations. For example, if Nation X declared war on Nation Y for the assassination of a key political figure, then the allies of Nation X would come to assist them. Nationalism was also a factor that led to the Great War starting, which was primarily the tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Slavic people within the Austria-Hungarian Empire wanted to leave to be a part of Serbia, which eventually led to the fuse that set off the war: the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. These tensions could’ve been settled or compromised through heated debates between old, political men, but instead, they plunged the world into war and cost the lives of about 40 million people. The last factor that contributed to the Great War was technological advancements. What I mean by this is rising arms race, mass production and industrialization of nations, and innovation. Nations were building large armies and navies, which also meant there needed to be a large supply of weaponry. From the article “Things You Need To Know About The First World War”, it was stated that Britain alone had produced “4 million rifles, 250,000 machine guns, 52,000 aeroplanes, 2,800 tanks, 25,000 artillery pieces and over 170 million rounds of artillery shells by 1918” (IWM). Furthermore, weaponry and communication would drastically change during World War 1, ranging from chlorine gas attacks and the widespread use of barbed wire, to the first appearance of tanks and usage of aeroplanes. Usage of these new technologies would be used to gain control of land, at the cost of thousands of lives in one battle.

The “gains” that many countries obtained wasn’t land, but rather international peace, at the cost of 40 million casualties, permanently destroyed land and homes, and morale of the people. The war would end with the League of Nations and a sense of security and peace, but that only came to fruition because every single nation involved was tired of fighting for land that was half the size of a football field. There was nothing gained, aside from the future unrest that would rise up in Europe again 20 years later. The only lesson that the world learned from the “War to End All Wars” was how useless it was. The war started from conflict within a portion of Europe, yet it would plunge the entire world into economic turmoil, mass death, and destruction. In addition, the world needed someone to blame for the whole matter: Germany. The Treaty of Versailles would make Germany pay reparations to the Allies, make Germany the scapegoat of the war, surrendering territory and colonies to the Allies, and reducing the size of its military. The extremities of these repercussions showed how desperately the entire world needed someone to blame for all of the atrocities, but not a group or even themselves.

I think the claim that there was a world before the war, as well as the claim that a different world formed after the war is true. On a large scale basis, territory heavily shifted. Geographic lines were redrawn on maps, colonies were gained / lost, and an international organization was formed to maintain peace and to settle disputes. Technological innovation was pushed to its limits during the war, with many societies also entering a war production economy to maintain momentum. I think the biggest difference would be the thoughts of people living in society before and after the war. Rather than worrying about a war potentially occurring or living their lives, it is instead about rebuilding their home from the bottom up and to constantly blame one party for what happened. As stated previously, new geographic lines were redrawn on maps, which meant that empires had collapsed and new beliefs rose up. The biggest example would be the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the Russians abolished the monarchy and established a new socialist system of government. The lives of the common people had changed drastically due to politics, war, and technological innovation.

Despite the insanity of what World War I was, it is still important to learn about it because of the impact that World War I had. The cause of World War I is ridiculous, but its effects were tremendous, specifically, the Treaty of Versailles. The amount of guilt placed onto the Germans, as a way for other nations to get off scot free, came to bite those nations back. The results of World War II greatly shaped our modern world today, ranging from politics and alliances, to medical care and military technology.

World War l was a show of the countries to show off how much power they each have. It started over the killing of the Austrian king, which should have been resolved between Austria and the person who killed their King. Instead by declaring war on Serbia, even though they had very little connection to the murder, they launched a war involving the entire world. There was no main point of the war, not enough for the entire world to get involved. Personally, the US gained a spotlight on the world stage. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor they had no idea what they started. As the US entered the war its military and manpower was put to a test. While we gained this title we lost a lot of money and people for a war that didn't concern us. While the Great Depression started from a multitude of things, the loss of money and decline of the economy as a result of world war 1 didn't help. Also because Germany had to pay so much money in reparations their economy also declined, causing Hitler to become a voice of savior leading to the Nazi party and WW 2. The war was so important because it was the first time the majority of the world was fighting against each other. It also tested the different feeding relationships which is why so many countries were involved in the war.

The US learned that we had to be more vigilant of further attacks so Pearl Harbor will never happen again. The US felt weak when they were attacked. They felt like Japan made a mockery of them and a country that was supposed to be all-powerful was seen as weak. The world learned how important the foreign relationships they had were because without them the war would have gone very differently. After the war the entire world was on its toes trying to prevent another total war. We also all learned that without these relationships anyone could declare war whenever they felt like it.

I also believe that the before and after WW 1 were completely different. Before the war there was a sense of individuality and isolation of the countries, they were all doing their own thing to improve their power. People were much more focused on creating the best thing in the moment and not creating safety nets for the future. After WW 1 everything changed. Once there was an increase of racism, especially against Japanese- Americans in the US as a result of Pearl Harbor. There was also a division connected to politics over the idea of war; and whether it was helpful or not. Then came the creation of the New Deal. This helped to create the security safety nets we still have today. The entire world strengthened its international relationships and increased its military materials in fear of another war.

World War 1 is important because it shows the shift of the whole world. It was almost like after the war people realized that we had to learn how to all live together and create laws that would ensure the future for the next generation. The war changed the way the US and the rest of the world interacted with each other. Overall while the reason the war started for an unnecessary reason, like most wars, it forever changed the course of US and World history.

To me, the whole idea of the first World War is completely childish. I cannot think of an actual valid point, only that certain nations wished to make points. It all is just very petty, and I just can’t comprehend why a war broke out because one guy died (obviously this isn't the ONLY factor, but it helped to kickstart the war). I guess what was gained was more tech and war strategies, but I honestly don’t think it was worth it. Obviously, we lost a lot of lives, but I think the world also lost a sense of humanity because of the war. I think the fact that over 65 million men volunteered shows this lack of humanity. Men felt like they had to do it, similar to what Ms.Freeman said, it was kind of a way to fit in. We of course cannot forget things like shell shock and the horrifying ptsd that survivors had to deal with. I think it mattered because it showed us how dangerous war can really be.

I think that technically, we learned more war strategies and more about how to cope with war. For example, we learned that soldiers had to be quick on their feet, especially when it came to toxic gasses. They had to be attentive to certain sounds and smells, because the gas mask wasn’t the only important thing, it was also the filter that you used. I am not exactly sure if we learned this, but I hope at least some people realized just how detrimental war can be. I also believe there were definitely some medical lessons learned, in terms of things like trench foot.

I do think that the world was never the same after World War 1. I feel the years following the war were probably grim. As I mentioned before, there was a definite loss of humanity and morale. There were soldiers who were haunted by their trauma, but I also want to point out that so much of this brutality was normalized. Today, we were watching a colorized version of old footage from the war, and the men narrating just seemed as if they were telling a story. There were many corpses portrayed throughout the film, and even I got “used” to them at one point, and so imagine if you were there for as long as these men were.

I think it is important to try and understand the war so that we can understand what not to do. Basically we should reflect on the horrendous mistakes made and attempt to learn from them.

This war was fought off power-seeking, grandiosity and nationalism. The decision-makers in this war needed to show that their country had the power, technology, and people to fight in a war. To me, it was a war fought for the sake of fighting a war. The last hurrah of the empires.

If we said that over 20 million lives were lost (BBC) and ended it there, it would be ignorant. When we watched “They Shall Not Grow Old” in class, I could not fathom how soldiers could treat their lifestyle like a typical job or a club to sign up for just because their friends were doing it. Granted, many of the involved governments utilized propaganda developing the mindset that if you were a man and you looked 18 years old, you should be going to the war — and if you weren’t a soldier, that was shameful. I could not imagine a twelve year old going to war: imagining myself at twelve years old, I would be sh*t-scared to join, much less be a part of a troop.

Hidden behind medals and stoic faces, gigantic shells, gas masks, happy soldiers fighting for their country, and machine guns is pure brutality (World War I in Photos). The romanticization of war was cranked up to high heat during “the war to end all wars” (another romanticization of war). The soldiers and orchestrators of World War I were so caught up in the idea of patriotism and nationalism, they became blind (or simply decided to ignore) the horrors and atrocities of this war. Many didn’t know what they got themselves into. As seen in the film, they did not anticipate trench foot and amputations. Nor did they anticipate so many of their comrades being killed, flamed alive, repeatedly stabbed. (“All Quiet On The Western Front”)

I do not think that the world learned its lesson and I do not think it will for the foreseeable future. Being a soldier is a difficult job and is honorable for the skills, effort and sacrifice put into it, but for as long as we keep romanticizing military service and painting it in a positive light, we will never learn the lessons of the world wars — or any war, for that matter.

World War I was the downfall of the ancient empires and the rise of polarized political parties. Without World War I, World War II would never have happened. Hitler would have never likely invaded Poland, the US would not have become as powerful as it is and was then, and the genocide of Jewish and mass killing of Nazi-targeted populations would have never occurred. To learn World War II, it would be a tragedy to not know the war that preceded it and was responsible for it.

There was no point to WW1. It was a result of awful leadership, nationalism, alliances and empires, rapid industrialization, and what can only be described as a series of unfortunate events. From the Guardian’s interactive WW1 documentary: “it’s about patriotism, and each of them think they have the best way”. Patriotism and nationalism were growing in european populations. German citizens hated the French and vise versa. This hate for other countries and love for their own country made people very welcome to the idea of going into war. The leaders of the countries were as nationalistic if not more than their people. The technology was so capable of destruction, and yet in its infancy. It seemed no country was able to grasp how going into a war of such magnitude and with such powerful technology would play out. The technology far surpassed the people, and so soldiers from all sides were just running into their deaths.

Not much was gained from the war. I would say that we learned things from the war, but did we really need such a catastrophic series of events to teach those lessons? We learned that our weapons have become way to advanced for us to be fighting over territory. We learned that the love for a country and hate for other countries should not surpass the desire for your people’s safety. Have we even learned these lessons? The situation with Russia and Ukraine makes it seem like no. That’s the problem, just because this history is there, doesn’t mean that every leader in every nation will learn from it.

So much was lost. There were unfathomable casualties from various causes but all rooted in this war environment. It’s an unfathomable number, so it’s even harder to fathom the meaning of those lives. Young men with futures, families, dreams. We don’t have a number for how many mothers cried, but we know 2 billion letters were sent by the end of the war. 12 million letters were sent a week. Not even those additional numbers get one even close to fathoming how much those deaths meant. Of course this war matters. It was the first war fought on land, air, and sea. It was the first war with tanks and and poison gas and flamethrowers and other technology. The sheer magnitude of it and its impact is enough to say it matters. It is definitely true that the world after WW1 was a different world. The european countries that had their toes dipped in every corner of the world, and that hated/competed with each other, threw insane money, soldiers, and technology into destroying themselves. The world couldn’t be looked at the same way, knowing what was possible. Even something like the shortage of men after the war, changed the world or at the very least Europe to some extent.

It’s important to understand from WW1, that humans are way too fragile and modern weapons are way too destructive for us not to be treading every dispute with absolute caution. It’s very possible for something as destructive, if not more destructive to happen.

World War I displays the proclivity humans have towards destruction, especially in an age of industrialization and powerful military industrial complexes. 65 million soldiers were mobilized and this was the first truly global. Not much was gained after the war. The Treaty of Versailles was signed and the League of Nations established but both examples of international cooperation would fail to prevent future conflict . Humanity’s expression through the arts and culture would definitively change as well, and get impacted by the destruction of war. Additionally, tech advancements created new weaponry like planes and tanks which were novel creations that became a part of a new strategy to innovate militaristic solutions to conflict. Most of all, human life was lost. According to the Article from the BBC, after a period of 4 years more than 8.5 million soldiers died and 13 million civilians were killed. This war was truly impactful in terms of history and human life. It represented a shift away from the traditional 19th form of fighting () and into a more defensive style of trench-warfare, which would prolong conflict. Most of all, it exposed the absurdity and falling of dominoes that characterized humanity. Children my age (that’s insane!) were signing up to go to war, and willingly. The movie we watched in class exposed how much violence can be seen as a game.

2.We should learn two things. The first in my opinion is the very real danger the intersection of industrialization and the military poses. In WW1, fast paced industrialization led to the creation of new weapons and became literally a war-machine. The Article from the IWM details that more than 150 million artillery should were made. 150 million. The world may have learned the capacity of human destruction but there was no significant action against this. Sure there would be international agreements to prevent escalation but they would fail. In WW2, this also became an issue that would drive the deaths of millions more. Today, we have not fully learned our lesson. The American Military Industrial Complex is blamed for driving us into war and escalating tensions all throughout the world. We’ve witnessed the dangers of extreme greed and its repercussions on human life.

The second thing we should learn is the propensity humans have towards violence. It might not be natural to kill or to commit violence but it is a part of human common behavior to blindly follow the crowd. We can see this when in the documentary, soldiers were reported to enlist as a point of national and community pride. The guns and weapons we create are perfected to kill. Each weapon designed with a specific intention.

3. I somewhat agree. The aftermath of the First World War represented a huge shift in the makeup of the international system and livelihoods of people. Before WW1, the Guardian article titled "A global guide to the first world war - interactive documentary" contextualizes that the world was characterized by empires: Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, etc. During WW1, these empires would become significantly weakened and their colonies would also be used in the war. 1.5 million troops were sent from India (last ev). Some empires would no longer exist, and their grasp over colonies would diminish. The humans resources that were lost could never be recovered. Inevitably, WW1 was a turning point from the old world and into a new world characterized by new powers, agreements, and weapons.

4. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. Understanding WW1 is crucial to understanding the broad historical changes in the world and the violence we see today. We learn about mustard gas in the documentary that the soldiers could not avoid, the gangrene that afflicted the feet of soldier’s, the widespread young adolescents that signed up for the war, or the horror of shrapnel raining from the sky. History isn’t just about learning what happened but what people experienced, and WW1 depicts life experiences that aren’t so far away from the violence and war we see today. Through this learning, we learn to live, feel, smell, and hear the experience of war on a personal and connected level.

Overall, there was no point for the war. There is no moral way to justify the death of 8.5 million people. Although Germany was ultimately blamed for the global escalation, the three major powers have similar guilt - Germany, France, and England. While watching “All Quiet on the Western Front” I saw a German General plan an attack for the 15 minutes before the armistice, in order to gain some territory before the war’s end. Even if his character is fiction, his nationalist sentiment is what I believe fueled the war. All sides were motivated by nationalism and a greed for power. The general who ordered the attack never fought, he simply stayed in his mansion with his supply of food, sending off others to fight for him. This struck me deeply. From Peter Jackson’s “We Shall Not Grow Old” I heard similar things. The British soldiers thought what they were doing was simply serving their country and being patriotic. This patriotism caused so many to die. To summarize, nothing good was gained from the war, many lives were lost and cities destroyed, and it matters because it should be something that never should happen again.

We should learn that blind patriotism and nationalism fuel conflict. There is nothing wrong with having a national identity, however there is something wrong with holding grudges and causing deep seated resentment toward others. Another lesson to learn is that monarchies are bad. The German monarchy was responsible for millions of German lives lost, the Austrian Archduke would not have been murdered if the Austro-Hungarians had not ruled the Balkans with an iron fist, and the Romanov Dynasty wouldn’t have been ended so violently if only they let go of their pride and greed and respected their people.

It is true to a certain extent. Warfare had changed yet the empires at war had not changed. In some of the pictures above you can see German generals decorated in traditional attire with swords and things. This demonstrates how backward the government and leadership was compared to the advanced forms of warfare.

It is important to learn about World War 1 because it demonstrates the uselessness of war. Although most wars are useless (at least for any positive change, in my opinion) World War 1 epitomizes a conflict that has nothing to accomplish overall. Soldiers didn’t know who or what they were actually fighting for, according to Albert Einstein “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Soldiers charging over the trenches again and again, loading shells again and again; World War 1 was undoubtedly an insane conflict.

The first world war has always been notable to me because of how ludicrous it is, and how in the end, there was absolutely no point for this bloodshed. I think that the entire war boils down to the rising tension in Europe as new powers wanted to overthrow the old powers, with the death of Franz Ferdinand just being a convenient excuse to declare war. The problem is that this “reason” barely constitutes a war, especially not one to this degree. This war decimated an entire generation of European men, just to gain almost nothing. They say that war has no winners, but in this case there were quite literally no winners: every country suffered heavy casualties, economic crises, and most governments even lost their credibility. The war matters to us, because we know how that leads into the Great Depression and WWII, and how that eventually leads to the shaping of modern society. Yet, to the actual soldiers who fought in the first world war, they had no reason to fight. Most participants had been peer pressured by their societies to join, even willingly applying to the army despite being underage. Even twelve year olds (sixies!) fought in this war because they thought it was the right thing to do, without truly understanding what war really was.This war brought these young men no benefits, just trauma and suffering.

I think that the biggest lesson we learned from this war was how absolutely brutal and devastating war could be. It seems obvious now, but at the time, war was easy to romanticize for younger men, leading to unwilling participants being lulled into battle. This war also signaled the shift from more archaic warfare to modern warfare, with the innovation of tanks and warplanes as opposed to cavalry. We really saw the capabilities for human destruction unfold during this war, through hazardous gas and regular shelling. Plus we saw disease run rampant, as lice invaded the soldiers’ clothing and cases of trench foot and frostbite skyrocketed. The trench was like a breeding ground for some of the worst conditions for a human to live in, much less fight in, and brought forth some of the worst in humanity. The damage that was left behind had most definitely caused a shift in the world. This war, after bringing out the worst in the previous societal systems, gave birth to radical change throughout the world. It was after this war that the New Deal was able to occur, that fascism and Nazism were able to take root in Italy and Germany respectively, that caused Japan to become as imperialistic as it did. Even Russia had to pull out of the war, because their revolution happened to coincide in the middle of World War 1. Had it not been for this war, the globe would be very different today and probably would have remained Eurocentric, with a ton of other ramifications that I could not even begin to conceive.

World War I, although very often shadowed over by World War II, was very essential to the history of genocides and our past 100 years. World War I basically paved the way for World War II, by putting Germany in a crippling depression, inspiring Hitler to conquer for more power, and so forth. He was also inspired by the Armenian Genocide, which lead to the Holocaust, which is definitely a huge flaw in our history. Nothing was gained in this war, and if anything was gained it would be overshadowed by the amount of bad that came out of it, so it doesn’t really matter now, does it? The fact that Serbia was supposed to say sorry for the action of one man is absurd as if all of their citizens are supposed to be role models, which is so damn stupid. Austria should’ve just been the bigger man, and besides the man was too confident, and even though it sucks, that man was not worth a war, no offense.

A thing we should learn is that we should talk through our problems instead of resulting in this catastrophe. That’s what the League of Nations was for, but it failed, and therefore we have World War II. We have the United Nations now, which is so far successful in not creating any world wars, which is a start. We should also learn the amount of money that war costs because financially, it takes so much money and energy to train good soldiers. Personally, war is stupid, and most of the problems that start these wars can be resolved by talking it out, saving so many lives. Perhaps the protection of other people is a good reason to have an army, but overall it's just pointless, unfortunately, we don’t live in that ideal world.

There are definitely some changes that happened after World War I. As stated before, World War I lead to World War II, which has an effect on us even today, but some instant consequences after the first War were the trust between Europe and Germany, and the economic setback that it brought to Europe. Something that changed forever was all the possible influencers that were killed off young in these wars, all the possible presidents, and so forth. Perhaps 100 years from now, we won’t see these things as important as they are now but I do believe that these wars will be remembered for a very, very long time.

It is important to understand World War I, and just any War in that fact because we can see where we went wrong and fix that, for example how these wars started, and how they could be alternatively solved and implemented for the future. Also things like how we treated soldiers, and the effects that war has on them, mainly young soldiers. Like how the British army recruited underage kids, without any true knowledge of what they were getting into. The way they are treated too, like 1 toothbrush a year used for multi uses can cause many health problems in the future, even if they live in the war. Perhaps maybe more sanitary precautions, however, I am not aware of how the army is at this point. Anyways, point being, World War I was stupid, never should have happened, and we should learn from that.

Even after all the research I did and all the discussions we had in class, I myself am still unsure what the point of this war was. It just seems like a power struggle between the higher ups of each country that resulted from the actions of one 19 year old (Gavrilo Princip). Seeing a picture of him was strange in a way since we know what his actions eventually caused. Anyways, one of the main reasons this war even grew as large as it did was not just because of Princip, but the large number of alliances that the European countries were in. I’ve learned about these alliances several times in other history courses as well as Facing History, but it’s still just as interesting how it was basically a domino effect of countries joining because they promised to fight for others if a war started. These alliances basically roped in a bunch of countries (including the big powers such as Britain) that had nothing to do with the original issue of the assassination in the first place. As for what was gained from the war, I’d argue that it was a fairly pointless war. I’d argue that if you walked up to a few random students and asked them what was gained by each country during WWI, they would have a very difficult time answering. Most of it was just some trading of territory but that was it. Much more was lost than was gained.

The main thing that was lost during the war was human lives. Millions were killed because of a pointless war. Millions. It’s hard to wrap your head around such a large number. It also becomes a bit sadder when you realize how many of these dead people were just civilians - they weren’t even a part of the war and still suffered for it. In the source that listed off 5 facts about WWI, O read about how militaries would attack a nation’s civilians in order to “break their opponents’ home morale and diminish popular support for the war.” These efforts led soldiers to commit horrible acts against millions of innocents (not to say the soldiers aren’t innocent people whose deaths could be justified, it’s just that killing people who aren’t even fighting in the war is a bit different). Being able to recognize that millions lost their lives for a pointless war is important in actually understanding the horrors of war.

A few lessons that we can learn from this war is that the effects that a war has on its victims is not worth it. War in general is not worth it most of the time (though for other circumstances like WWII in which Germany was oppressing millions, saying the war wasn’t worth it is much more difficult). Additionally, this war shows us that most of the time, war is just a battle between those in power who use their influence and population to fight the battle for them. As I mentioned prior, basically nothing of actual value was gained from WWI (except making Germany mad and eventually leading to WWII, yet another deadly war). In the source about the firsts of WWI, I found out that this war started the widespread recognition of PTSD (referred to as “shell shock” back during WWI and in the source). Pictures of traumatized soldiers began to open people’s eyes about the true effects of war on a person. Thousands (probably even millions) came home from the war traumatized, disabled, and changed (mentally). How could a person be expected to go back to their normal lives after facing death for months, even years for some?

I do wholeheartedly agree that World War I had an incredibly large impact on society. Before saying anything else, it is important to of course mention how this war played a large role in Germany’s rise out of spite, which led to WWII. Additionally, as said in the 5 facts source, WWI saw the creation of a bunch of propaganda against other countries. This of course forever changed the way certain people saw others of different countries. Additionally, since this war was an “industrialized war” (large production, innovation), it was much deadlier than previous wars. This made WWI a key factor in changing the nature of war / other global conflicts forever. The amount of new weapons (such as poison gas) allowed for the war to be fought on land, sea, and air, putting everyone at risk. Additionally, the targeting of citizens began to normalize the tradition of attacking “enemy” civilians during war to weaken other countries (terrible practice, a big example is the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that pushed Japan to surrender). Before moving onto the next question, it is also important to remember the Indian soldiers that fought during the war as well (British colonization). As stated in the “Empires” section of the interactive WWI website, many Indian politicians thought that proving their loyalty to their colonizing empire could be used as a bargaining chip post-war for greater political power. The war helped further industrialize India as well as many other parts of the world.

It is important to understand World War I because we must remember its victims and recognize the humanity of the soldiers that fought. In the film They Shall Not Grow Old, we get real stories from actual veterans of the war. This gave me a lot of insight into how difficult war actually was for the soldiers. It was like they were constantly surrounded by death and nastiness. They were not even given the proper tools to live semi-good lives. Additionally, while looking at the pictures from WWI, I came across an image of a group of German soldiers celebrating Christmas in 1914. This reminded me of the Christmas Truce that we learned about, which was an event that really helps people understand that these soldiers are still just people; They still just wanted the war to end, they still just wanted to celebrate Christmas, and they still deserved to live and be treated like human beings. Also, in the WW1 numbers source, I found out that the youngest soldier to fight in the British army was 12. 12. Imagine being so young and getting pressured into dropping everything to join the war for your country (even if you don;t really even know aht the war was being fought for). It’s crazy to me how so many people lost their chance at a happy childhood because they were pressured to go fight by those in their society. It’s just not right, so being able to understand WW1 allows you to recognize the suffering of the victims and understand how useless it was.