Okay, I need to really stop trying to post an entry only to find myself distracted by cooler things - like, you know, life. As such, I've been finding myself forced to use the "In Case of Emergency" folder, and I keep telling myself to stop, stop, stop using that blasted folder!
Well, with life, being what is is, I'm not surprised that I'm using it more and more - especially because of this month and my frakkin' requirement. Ah, well. I have something ready and primed, but I need to go through some coding changes for it... so, yeah.
Yes, call it a bad judgement of timing or what not, but eh. Until the 'morrow.
Every war that humanity puts itself through changes the lives of those involved. These alterations are reflected and dispersed throughout all areas of civilization – entertainment, law, social values, history, and more importantly, literature. World War II was illustrious in the fact that the entire conflict was diffused into the mainstream, remembered for its revolutionary tactics (such as the devastating blitzkrieg), advancements in technology (like the vast improvements of tanks and more notably, aircraft), the gory engagements that were waged at the cost of thousands of lives (such as the battles of Normandy and Iwo Jima), and the repercussion of the end (which introduced nuclear warfare and objects such as the Geneva Accords). It was a war that left a permanent crater of change, impacting and molding the future forever.
After the end of the Great War, Germany was left in tatters. Inflation was tearing the country apart, and war debts owed to various countries were just making everything even worse. With the Great Depression of 1929, the entire world spiraled downhill. Germany was in desperate need of someone to help them recuperate from the last ten years, and in 1933, her cries were answered when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime came to power. Through them, the country not only rebuilt itself from the ashes, but also turned it into one of the most powerful nations on the globe at the time.
September 1, 1939 marked the beginning of the Second World War when Nazi Germany invaded neighboring country Poland. Within a time span of two years, it would take over the majority of Europe, invade France, humiliatingly push back any Allied forces out of the continent (thus creating the seemingly invincible “Fortress Europe”) and pull a fast one on Joesph Stalin and the Soviet Union, who was at the time was in agreement with Hitler via a non-aggression pact. After the Japanese bombed the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941, it truly became another World War, and for two years, the war dragged on, adding person after person to the ever-growing list of casualties while Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific ran crimson red. Germany and the Axis Powers were gradually growing duller by the day, but were still sharp enough to stab and kill.
Then came the crucial moments of the war. The powerful Japanese fleet that created chaos at Hawaii was, for the most part, annihilated during the Battle of Midway. Stalin got his soldiers recovering from Hitler’s betrayal and got the Germans running back home. The Battle of Normandy was staged, hurling thousands upon thousands of Allied soldiers into German-occupied France and successfully pushed them from the coast. The Pacific tactic of island-hopping captured Japanese territory. And when the end came for the Axis Powers, the Soviets got a hold of Berlin while the United States dropped the first ever nuclear weapons on Japanese soil.
World War II was the original mold that crafted the modern world into what it is today. International laws and organizations are in place to prevent tragic events such as the Holocaust from ever happening again. “Fat Man” and “Little Boy,” the first atomic weapons, would become the forerunners of today’s precision-guided nuclear warheads. The war’s most famous battles would be portrayed in movies and video games.
However, a major literary piece that proved the vastness of the impact crater was the documentary book Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. It follows the movements of Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne from their basic training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, through their mis-drops in Normandy in “Operation: Overlord,” to the failed “Operation: Market Garden,” to the stalemate of the Battle of the Bulge, and all the way to occupying Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany. The book shows the importance and impact of these American paratroopers. They were renowned as one of the best rifle companies of the world, but what made these people different from today’s elites were the fact that they did not want to be the best by choice. They were the average Joes who were conscripted and ordered out of their homes so they could train and fight to become the 101st Airborne. They paid with their time, their skills, their services, and sometimes, their lives.
Their training was important as well. It was apparent that most of them were entering the field as nervous as they’ve never been before. But their intense, rigorous training aided in repressing their fears, and only the body’s will to stay alive was left. They could each work independently, but their true effectiveness was apparent as a team. During “Operation: Overlord,” they were dropped all over Normandy in various spots far away from the rest of their unit. However, they were still able to pull together into a unit and assault a battery of German artillery positions so effectively, their battle plan was taken and is now taught to today’s best-of-the-best at West Point. It may have been just the basics, but it sharpened them to pinpoint perfection.
World War II wasn’t just another war that engulfed the major players of the world. It changed the paths countries would take, and placed an important milestone in the brave men and women that fought in this deadly conflict. It shaped modern warfare with new weapons and new tactics. It created and reinforced alliances while placing distrust among rivals. War is never a pretty sight, but one must remember the old rule "There is no change without conflict."
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