I happened to catch the end of Man, Moment, Machine on the History channel this weekend. The documentary was on Wernher Von Braun. He was a German scientist that was responsible for the creation of the V2 missile.
Hitler happened to get his hands Von Braun's blue prints on the missiles and hastily had hundred's of them built. The Nazi party apparently directed these missiles at London England. Between September 1944 and March 1945, five thousand people were killed due to the sneak attack of these deadly missiles. Hitler used slave labor to build these enormous V2 weapons.
Luckily after Hitlers death, Von Braun was able to escape Nazi control and hid the documents in an iron mine in the city of Dorten.
As it turns out Americans find the documents and had them translated, discovering the key to German technology.
Von Braun wanted to give his creation to the US because he understood that the United States was and industrial gold mine or "cash cow".
The technology of the V2 was eventually used to help Neil Armstrong land on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Wernher von Braun's moral decision to come west to fulfill his dream of space flight put valuable technology in the hands of the United States rather than in Hitler's Germany or other nations.
Cool documentary, hopefully I can catch it in its entirety
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rosie the Riveter Gets Married
Rosie the Riverter Gets Married:
This story is all about Women and their roles during and after World War II.
World War Two opened the door of opportunities to women all over the country. Women were given the chance to take up new occupations, express themselves however they pleased, and to promote their sexuality publicly.
With all these new opportunities also came quite a few hardships. Women were forced to deal with sending their husbands, sons, and brothers off to war with the fear of them possibly not returning. Relocating was also a very popular trend during the war. If a woman's husband was stationed somewhere in the United States, that is where the family lived.
When the war itself broke out after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, new "emergency callings of strength and sacrifice emerged." Women were ready to go to work wherever they were needed, and many businesses and factories were even "recruiting" them in herds. Women entering the workforce was seen as a "Patriotic Duty" in the eyes of the United States, so therefore the taking of mens job's was widely accepted. Because women were taking on the jobs that men previously worked, "gender- neutral lines brought an end to sex segregation in the workplace." Women often went to work without having many issues concerning their gender or lack of experience.
What came as a shocking surprise to the country was the fact that during the war, Marriage and Childbearing became exceptionally popular. Many actually expected the exact opposite to happen, but the truth was nearly one million new families emerged between 1940-1942.
In the workplace, "the fastest growing group was married women who took jobs during the war in record numbers." This was due to the fact that single women were looked down upon ( they were seen as promiscuous and walking around with diseases, as well as a disruption to normal family life) and not let into the workplace as easily. Also the age of women marrying was getting lower and lower as the war progressed. It was easier for older married women to work because they did not have to care for children because they were already older, and they already knew what to expect when entering their new jobs (many saw the women head to work during world war one, this was no surprise to them).
"Although more and more women were welcomed into the paid labor force, most of them still ended up in low paying, sex-segregated jobs."
This was largely due to the fact that women were still looked down upon if they took on a job that was previously held by a man. They were often called "masculine" and "not lady-like" for working these higher paying jobs, and that scared many women out of wanting to apply for those types of jobs. However, women did fight for better working conditions and higher wages, and they even attempted to have bills passed and put into law protecting the rights of women in the workplace. Despite all the numerous attempts to gain acceptance and respect in the workplace, all the bills were voted down, equal pay never came, sexual harrassment often continued, and better working conditions remained the same. *** Automobile companies rarely hired women to work for them because they were completely against the idea of having women work for them.***
Some women did luck out and held higher positions in the workplace. For example, Almira Bondelid worked for a company that built parts for the Boeing B-24 bombers. She was in charge of designing long drills and bulk heads for the wings and hull of the airplanes. These jobs were very important during the war, but once it ended, they were immediately given back to the returning war veterans.
Women were also allowed to enter any area of the armed forces as long as they were not put in combat. Many women jumped on this opportunity and quickly adapted to life as a soldier, nurse, or corpsmen. However, women had to maintain their feminine qualities and not lose touch with their houshold skills. Lesbians had to act feminine to get into the armed forces because the government wanted to preserve the tradition of the "typical American women." ***Childbirth was considered an honorable discharge in the armed forces***
There were some negative effects for women that were in the armed forces. there was a double standard when men were given contraceptives to prevent them from catching diseases (from women of course) and women were not allowed to have or use birthcontrol pills.
There were many things that changed in the United States during World War Two. Women were given many opportunities to try different things and work in different areas. The rate of marriages and childbearing skyrocketed and nearly trippled during the war. Millions of women chose to do volunteer work in their communites and help with the war effort in any way they could. Hollywood's actors and actresses even took part in the war effort and played the roles of the typical man and women during the war!
***Betty Grable was the #1 pinup girl for men serving in the war***
Once the war was over, women had to return to their normal lives and leave their jobs. They were immediatly encouraged to go back to working in the home and either take care of children or start out their families. Although the 1940's brought major changes during the war, once it was over, those changes seemed to be over as well.
This story is all about Women and their roles during and after World War II.
World War Two opened the door of opportunities to women all over the country. Women were given the chance to take up new occupations, express themselves however they pleased, and to promote their sexuality publicly.
With all these new opportunities also came quite a few hardships. Women were forced to deal with sending their husbands, sons, and brothers off to war with the fear of them possibly not returning. Relocating was also a very popular trend during the war. If a woman's husband was stationed somewhere in the United States, that is where the family lived.
When the war itself broke out after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, new "emergency callings of strength and sacrifice emerged." Women were ready to go to work wherever they were needed, and many businesses and factories were even "recruiting" them in herds. Women entering the workforce was seen as a "Patriotic Duty" in the eyes of the United States, so therefore the taking of mens job's was widely accepted. Because women were taking on the jobs that men previously worked, "gender- neutral lines brought an end to sex segregation in the workplace." Women often went to work without having many issues concerning their gender or lack of experience.
What came as a shocking surprise to the country was the fact that during the war, Marriage and Childbearing became exceptionally popular. Many actually expected the exact opposite to happen, but the truth was nearly one million new families emerged between 1940-1942.
In the workplace, "the fastest growing group was married women who took jobs during the war in record numbers." This was due to the fact that single women were looked down upon ( they were seen as promiscuous and walking around with diseases, as well as a disruption to normal family life) and not let into the workplace as easily. Also the age of women marrying was getting lower and lower as the war progressed. It was easier for older married women to work because they did not have to care for children because they were already older, and they already knew what to expect when entering their new jobs (many saw the women head to work during world war one, this was no surprise to them).
"Although more and more women were welcomed into the paid labor force, most of them still ended up in low paying, sex-segregated jobs."
This was largely due to the fact that women were still looked down upon if they took on a job that was previously held by a man. They were often called "masculine" and "not lady-like" for working these higher paying jobs, and that scared many women out of wanting to apply for those types of jobs. However, women did fight for better working conditions and higher wages, and they even attempted to have bills passed and put into law protecting the rights of women in the workplace. Despite all the numerous attempts to gain acceptance and respect in the workplace, all the bills were voted down, equal pay never came, sexual harrassment often continued, and better working conditions remained the same. *** Automobile companies rarely hired women to work for them because they were completely against the idea of having women work for them.***
Some women did luck out and held higher positions in the workplace. For example, Almira Bondelid worked for a company that built parts for the Boeing B-24 bombers. She was in charge of designing long drills and bulk heads for the wings and hull of the airplanes. These jobs were very important during the war, but once it ended, they were immediately given back to the returning war veterans.
Women were also allowed to enter any area of the armed forces as long as they were not put in combat. Many women jumped on this opportunity and quickly adapted to life as a soldier, nurse, or corpsmen. However, women had to maintain their feminine qualities and not lose touch with their houshold skills. Lesbians had to act feminine to get into the armed forces because the government wanted to preserve the tradition of the "typical American women." ***Childbirth was considered an honorable discharge in the armed forces***
There were some negative effects for women that were in the armed forces. there was a double standard when men were given contraceptives to prevent them from catching diseases (from women of course) and women were not allowed to have or use birthcontrol pills.
There were many things that changed in the United States during World War Two. Women were given many opportunities to try different things and work in different areas. The rate of marriages and childbearing skyrocketed and nearly trippled during the war. Millions of women chose to do volunteer work in their communites and help with the war effort in any way they could. Hollywood's actors and actresses even took part in the war effort and played the roles of the typical man and women during the war!
***Betty Grable was the #1 pinup girl for men serving in the war***
Once the war was over, women had to return to their normal lives and leave their jobs. They were immediatly encouraged to go back to working in the home and either take care of children or start out their families. Although the 1940's brought major changes during the war, once it was over, those changes seemed to be over as well.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Peggy Terry: The Good War
Peggy Terry reflects on her life as a young wife, of eighteen years old, working in a shell-loading plant in Kentucky during wartime. She admits that she was ignorant to the deadly cost of war, as well as to the hazards and injustice of working in the factory. She appears remorseful when she speaks of this time because she recalls that she never for one moment connected that fact that she was helping to build bombs, bombs that were meant to kill people! She defended her ignorance by saying, "we were just happy to have work" in order to pay the bills and put food on the table.
Terry explains that during this time, she "vaguely" knew that there was a war. In her little part of the world, she just felt lucky enough to find work after suffering through the Depression. As she reflects on these days, she laughs at the fact that between her, her mother, and her sister, they only brought home thirty-two dollars a week.
As the war lingered on, Terry speaks of the propaganda that was used to get America on board to support the war. People were led to believe that if they did not support the war they were traitors or not true Americans.
The hours in the factories were long and the conditions were poor. There were no unions or job security to protect the employees. The workers would come out of the factory covered with and orange film that dyed their hair and skin. Unaware of any hazards from this orange substance, they were more concerned that someone might think that they intentionally dyed their hair . The toxic substance was actually tetryl, the ingredient to make the explosive.
Although Peggy Terry was oblivious what was happening outside the boarders of the United States, she was not the only one. Because of the war there were many war-jobs that enabled families to buy the items that they could only have dreamed about during the Depression.
Terry explains that during this time, she "vaguely" knew that there was a war. In her little part of the world, she just felt lucky enough to find work after suffering through the Depression. As she reflects on these days, she laughs at the fact that between her, her mother, and her sister, they only brought home thirty-two dollars a week.
As the war lingered on, Terry speaks of the propaganda that was used to get America on board to support the war. People were led to believe that if they did not support the war they were traitors or not true Americans.
The hours in the factories were long and the conditions were poor. There were no unions or job security to protect the employees. The workers would come out of the factory covered with and orange film that dyed their hair and skin. Unaware of any hazards from this orange substance, they were more concerned that someone might think that they intentionally dyed their hair . The toxic substance was actually tetryl, the ingredient to make the explosive.
Although Peggy Terry was oblivious what was happening outside the boarders of the United States, she was not the only one. Because of the war there were many war-jobs that enabled families to buy the items that they could only have dreamed about during the Depression.
" I remember a woman saying on the bus that she hoped the war didn't end until she got her refrigerator paid for"
Comments like these were spoken by some people, probably the people that were suffering for so long without the basic necessities, that they were unaware of what they were actually saying. I doubt that if they had more information about the death and destruction from the war, they would not have uttered statements like this one.
Peggy Terry finally realized the cruel affects that the war had when her husband came back from the war zone. He became a drunk that was abusive to her and their children. He had awful nightmares and became very jumpy at any loud or sudden noise. The war, she originally thought, was a chance for prosperity after a long period of poverty because of the Depression. However, she came to understand that it had inflicted everlasting anxiety on her husband that took away his gentle disposition and replaced it with a sadness and anger that changed their lives forever.
Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1935)
Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" is often described as the most famous propaganda film of all time. Most historians agree that 'Hitler's favorite film director' did create one of the greatest works of cinematographic propaganda of the 20th century. Riefenstahl did not agree; in a 1964 interview she argued that the film was a documentary:
Despite her protestations, this film is an important historical document of Nazi propaganda and it deserves to be viewed critically by students seeking to understand the nature of Nazi ideology in the years leading to the Second World War. For a great discussion of Leni Riefenstahl read Susan Sontag's "Fascinating Fascism" (from Under the Sign of Saturn, 1980.)
"If you see this film again today you ascertain that it doesn't contain a single reconstructed scene. Everything in it is true. And it contains no tendentious commentary at all. It is history. A pure historical film... it is film-vérité. It reflects the truth that was then in 1934, history. It is therefore a documentary. Not a propaganda film. Oh! I know very well what propaganda is. That consists of recreating events in order to illustrate a thesis, or, in the face of certain events, to let one thing go in order to accentuate another. I found myself, me, at the heart of an event which was the reality of a certain time and a certain place. My film is composed of what stemmed from that."
Despite her protestations, this film is an important historical document of Nazi propaganda and it deserves to be viewed critically by students seeking to understand the nature of Nazi ideology in the years leading to the Second World War. For a great discussion of Leni Riefenstahl read Susan Sontag's "Fascinating Fascism" (from Under the Sign of Saturn, 1980.)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Unknown Soldier
Through his writing titled The Body of an American, John Dos Passos attempts to give an identity to the American unknown soldier, known as “John Doe” and restore his lost humanity. Dos Passos used descriptive and insightful language to establish the fact that John Doe is every American, no matter the social class, region of origin, or ethnic background. He depicts the life of John Doe as the life of every possible man in America; from birth, through childhood and into adulthood as he becomes a soldier who gives his life for his country.
In addition to pointing out the humanity of these men, Dos Passos depicts the horror and fear of death which the soldiers at war experience; and in a very detailed way he shows us the painful process of recovery and returning of the bodies of these unknown soldiers to their home land.
Although he shows us a very crude and sad reality, Dos Passos’ main goal is to make an effort to honor and give tribute to the lives of those men who died, unrecognized and forgotten; and to make a point to indicate that every John Doe must be honored even by the highest regarded citizens, including the president.
In addition to pointing out the humanity of these men, Dos Passos depicts the horror and fear of death which the soldiers at war experience; and in a very detailed way he shows us the painful process of recovery and returning of the bodies of these unknown soldiers to their home land.
Although he shows us a very crude and sad reality, Dos Passos’ main goal is to make an effort to honor and give tribute to the lives of those men who died, unrecognized and forgotten; and to make a point to indicate that every John Doe must be honored even by the highest regarded citizens, including the president.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points"
President Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" (January 8, 1918.)
"It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world. It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age that is dead and gone, which makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are consistent with justice and the peace of the world to avow nor or at any other time the objects it has in view.
We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secure once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us. The programme of the world's peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme, the only possible programme, as we see it, is this:
I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.
II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.
III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.
IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.
V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.
VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.
VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.
VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.
IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.
X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.
XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.
XII. The turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.
XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.
XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.
In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the governments and peoples associated together against the Imperialists. We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.
For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace such as can be secured only by removing the chief provocations to war, which this programme does remove. We have no jealousy of German greatness, and there is nothing in this programme that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of pacific enterprise such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace- loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world, -- the new world in which we now live, -- instead of a place of mastery."
Document Source: Avalon Project, Yale University.
"It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world. It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age that is dead and gone, which makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are consistent with justice and the peace of the world to avow nor or at any other time the objects it has in view.
We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secure once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us. The programme of the world's peace, therefore, is our programme; and that programme, the only possible programme, as we see it, is this:
I. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.
II. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.
III. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.
IV. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.
V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.
VI. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.
VII. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.
VIII. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.
IX. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.
X. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.
XI. Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.
XII. The turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.
XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.
XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.
In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the governments and peoples associated together against the Imperialists. We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.
For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace such as can be secured only by removing the chief provocations to war, which this programme does remove. We have no jealousy of German greatness, and there is nothing in this programme that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of pacific enterprise such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace- loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world, -- the new world in which we now live, -- instead of a place of mastery."
Document Source: Avalon Project, Yale University.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Great War Poems
On Being Asked for a War Poem
I think it better that in times like these
A poet’s mouth be silent, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
He has had enough of meddling who can please
A young girl in the indolence of her youth,
Or an old man upon a winter’s night.
W. B Yeats (1915)
I think it better that in times like these
A poet’s mouth be silent, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
He has had enough of meddling who can please
A young girl in the indolence of her youth,
Or an old man upon a winter’s night.
W. B Yeats (1915)
John McCrae (Second Ypres, April, 1915)
Poetry of the First World War
Dedication to Robert Service's Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, 1916.
Poetry Books of the First World War available online at Google Books:
Allan Seeger's Poems, 1916.
Robert Service's Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, 1916.
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Battle of the Somme
This battle took place in the southern part of the British line, it was the bloodiest war ever. The Allies demonstrated how important it was to have the most modernist machine guns. With modern machine guns any country would extend their power and take over other countries easily. The purpose of this battle was to draw the German forces away from Verdun. On July 1st of 1916, the British lost about 57,000 causalities and 19, 000 resulted dead. Future Germans leaders participated in this horrible battle.
This battle was appointed by General Sir Douglas Haig. He had military experiences so he was the right person to direct it. His plan was to take off the pressure of the allied French at Verdun. In this battle the Germans troops were force to return to their trenches because they were attack with machine guns. The French bombardment lasted for eight days without stopping in the German lines, their main target was to destroy the entire forward defense and take possession of the German lines. When the battle had ended, the British and French had gained 12 kilometers of ground.
The outcome of the war involved the killing of thousand of soldiers and innocent people. As a result, General Douglas Haig gained was given the title of being “The Butcher of Somme” to make him consciously aware of the many losses in this battle.
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