UNIV 3539 Blog

It is unbelievable the amount of money that has and continues to go into military money on nuclear weapons. The bad part about it, besides the fact that too much money is being spent, is also all the other horrible problems that also come along with nuclear weapons. But the positive side of these weapons are that they have kept some sort of peace, enough for WWIII to not occur, although there have been many other wars in our era that have been very damaging. I feel the nuclear age has been more of a curse than a blessing because anything that can tear apart so much of something/anything at a time can not be a blessing but i guess if i had to say it was a blessing in any way it is only because it has kept some peace in order for a huge World War to not start again. I personally feel safe living in America, but I am sure if I lived somewhere else in the world i would be hanuted.

A New Era of World History: The Nuclear Age

According to the Brookings Institution, from 1940 to 1996, the United States spent $7 trillion (in 2006 dollars) on nuclear weapons . This represents only 29% of ALL U.S. military spending for the period. According to the Federal Bureau of the Public Debt, on November 23, 2007 the U.S. national debt stood at $9,130,889,561,057.31.

Cost aside, nuclear weapons also pose numerous other problems: long-term radioactive contamination and other ecological consequences, proliferation dangers, terrorism potential, Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), and brinksmanship to name a few. And yet, from its inception, the nuclear age has also tantalized us with "the peaceful atom" of nuclear reactors that would produce electricity "too cheap to meter." Nuclear medicine has opened new vistas for the medical profession.

For many ordinary people, the nuclear age evoked a fearful bravado?not unlike whistling past the graveyard?as forces seemingly beyond their control threatened annihilation at a moment's notice. The resultant wave of bomb and fallout shelters, "duck and cover" drills, and civil defense preparations were more psychological defenses against the unthinkable than reasonable, realistic, rational responses.

Nevertheless, since the apparent end of the Cold War in 1991, many insist that the very presence of a huge nuclear arsenal kept the peace for more than half a century?World War III did not follow World War II (at least not yet).

Given the unprecedented calamities of the world wars, has the nuclear age been a blessing or a curse? Is the verdict still to be determined? Do you feel safe or does the spectre of global thermonuclear war sometimes haunt you?

Having grown up in the Great Depression and winning World War II, the ?Greatest Generation? turned decidedly domestic: a house in the suburbs, a new car or two, a ?nuclear? family. How did such simple postwar ambitions of ordinary people bring about the radical transformation of the American landscape (both physically and culturally)?

When World War II in Europe came to an end on May 7, 1945, a new war was just beginning. This war became known as the Cold War and was between the two world superpowers, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991. Fears between the two nations, which started in World War I, and grew in World War II, caused the Cold War to break after the end of World War II. The conflict in the Cold War was the difference in politics between the US and the USSR. The United States was capitalist when the USSR was communist. Both nations started a nuclear arms race among each other. In other words, the Cold War was a war of tension and competition.

At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into 4 sections controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. What marked the start of the Cold War was that there wasn?t an agreement on unifying Germany. The Allies were angry due to the free election promises given by Stalin at the Yalta Conference. The developed a foreign policy of containment to keep communism in the areas where it already was. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was issued. It stated that America would help any non-communist country to resist communism. The United States also gave large amounts of money to help aid the non-commuist countries. This was known as the Marshall Plan. The Western Allies unified West Germany and the USSR reacted by putting a blockade on Berlin. The people in Berlin were starving from the lack of food. The United States arranged that all food and other items be airlifted to West Berlin. This is what is known as the Berlin Airlift. In 1946, Mao Zedong, a Communist leader, was in war with Jiang Jieshi, a nationalist leader. The civil war in China lasted until 1949. The communists came out victorious. This added to the Cold War.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was one of the leading spiritual, political, moral, and cultural leaders of the 1900's. He helped free India from British control by using a unique method of nonviolent resistance. Gandhi is honored by the people of India, as the father of their nation. He was slight in build, but had great physical and moral strength. He was assassinated, by an Indian, who resented his program of tolerance for all creeds and religions.
Gandhi was born on Oct. 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India. His parents belonged to a Vaisya (merchant) caste of Hindus. Young Gandhi was a shy, serious boy. When he was 13 years old, he married Kasturba, a girl the same age. Their parents had arranged the marriage. Gandhi had four children. Gandhi studied law in London. He returned to India in 1891 to practice law, but he met with little success.
People in India called Gandhi the Mahatma (Great Soul). His life was guided by a search for truth. He believed truth could be known only through tolerance and concern for others and that finding a truthful way to solutions required constant testing. He called his autobiography My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi overcame fear and taught others to master fear.
He believed in nonviolence and taught that to be truly nonviolent required courage. He lived a simple life and thought it was wrong to kill animals for food or clothing. Gandhi developed a method of direct social action, based upon principles of courage, nonviolence, and truth, which he called Satyagraha. In this method, the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha was used to fight for India's independence and to bring about social change.

Mohandas K. Gandhi is a very well known, wonderful man who made a great difference in the world, especially in the twenetieth century, and many/most people have great respect for him and his works. Gandhi's message of hope spurred a struggle for freedom that, in 1947, would lead to the birth of a nation -- and inspire the fight for independence on another continent half-a-world away.Freedom Now talks to the people who witnessed and participated in the fight for freedom in India and Africa. What emerges is a story of struggle, exhilaration -- and, more than occasionally, civil war. England was under imperial rule until Gandhi made a huge campaign of civil disobedience--he was fighting for their freedom. Another man who also preached civil disobedience like Gandhi did was Kwame Nkrumah, but when he was imprisoned Komla Gbedema took over.In 1951, in the face of growing unrest, the British acceded to demands for free elections and a national assembly. Nkrumah's party won a landslide victory. It was the beginning of the end of British rule in Africa. In 1957, the people of the Gold Coast became the first black Africans to achieve complete freedom.
To Africans, the Mau Mau were freedom fighters; to the Europeans, they were terrorists. By the late 1950s, it was becoming increasingly evident to British officials that they could hardly continue to protect their one percent of the population in the face of escalating African demands. Although Africa finally got their freedom in 25 countries over the British, French, and Belgians; there were new problems: Unity was difficult in new countries whose boundaries had been drawn to suit European convenience. Many tribes were forced to live on the wrong side of new borders -- in hostile territory. Takeover followed takeover in many countries. Most of the new governments were cruel and corrupt -- and for many Africans, one kind of repression was replaced by another. For most of Africa, the colonial legacy was a bitter one. New nations still had to convert their new autonomy into freedoms they'd hoped for, but had yet to win: freedom from hunger, poverty, political oppression.

the cold war did have effects on colonies around the world. with the world powers busy with an arms race and trying to keep an eye on each other the colonies around the world where left alone to thrive on their own. In this time they were able to live they way that they wanted to and start building their land they way they wanted it without any interfering from world powers. now that many governments were pulling their people and resources out of colonies many had to find a way to stand on their own. this was not easy as many had conflicts.

Gandhi?s long struggle to liberate India from colonial rule reached fruition in the aftermath of World War II. Nonviolent civil disobedience appeared successful but within a year of India?s independence, Gandhi was assassinated. Today, celebrating fifty years of independence, India is a rising economic force, a nuclear power, and the world?s largest democracy.

In Africa, colonial rule was challenged more forcefully?notably the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya and the Algerian war against France. Although Britain (and especially the United States) believed that the Soviet Union was supplying the rebels, there is little evidence to support these Cold War fears.

In Egypt, however, Gamal Abdel Nasser exploited Cold War tensions to seize the Suez Canal from British and French control. Britain and France intervened militarily to recapture the canal but the U.S. forced a cessation of hostilities as the Soviets grew increasingly belligerent in their support of Nasser. To what extend did the Cold War affect the struggles for independence by colonials around the world? What other factors shaped the era of decolonization?

There is no way that the United States could have wiped out communism. despite their best efforts in the cold war their crusade for democracy failed. The Cold War lasted nearly 50 years and put the United States no closer to their goal at the end of it. The cold war was better than world war III and better option. although peace would have been the best option as many other countries suffed and still suffer from the side effects of the cold war. the cold war mass produced weapons which is where all terrorist weapons come from.

With a blinding flash the world entered the nuclear age in 1945, bringing to an end the greatest calamity in human history. In the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the speculation grew (and continues today) that the A-bombs had been used?at least in part?to demonstrate American strength and resolution to the Soviet Union. The devil?s bargain of alliance with Stalin had rapidly degenerated as Nazi defenses collapsed. The seeds of the Cold War were sown well before VE-Day.

The postwar division of Europe was inevitable given the fact of Soviet military occupation. Unless the U.S. (and other Allies) went to war with the U.S.S.R. to liberate eastern Europe, Soviet control was a fait accompli. Postwar tensions (e.g. the communist revolution in Greece) quickly led to the development of the Truman Doctrine?the U.S. would seek to ?contain? the expansion of the Soviet empire by all means short of total war.

In Europe, the Iron Curtain (in Churchill?s eloquent description) would be the trip line for total war?hostilities between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. would rapidly escalate beyond diplomacy unless cool heads prevailed. When the Berlin crisis occurred in 1948, the U.S. monopoly on nuclear weapons undoubtedly deterred further Soviet aggression. Within a year, the monopoly ended and the nuclear arms race began. The arsenal of megadeath still stands poised for World War III.

Should (could) the western allies have freed eastern Europe from communism in 1945? Was Cold War a better choice (more cost effective, less deadly, etc.)?

I think the only way you can compare the two is by saying that both are singling out one group of people. However, the Jim Crow Laws just seem to sort of just say what the blacks couldn't do. The only slight similarity I see is between the interracial marriages where the Jim Crow laws say that if you've married someone who is just 1/8 black, then the marriage doesn't count. But then I remember, those very precise Nuremberg Laws which weren't at all confusing, it was indicated that if you were indeed already married to a Jew, you may be considered Jewish also. And then, if you were married to a Jew, you would have to do "hard labor" (i.e. concentration camps). But basically, the two both forbid the blacks and Jews from mixing in with the whites and Germans. In the case of the Jews, the laws were a lot, lot more harsh and tried to be more accurate, but they came out really confusing in some aspects. In both though something I've noticed, is that the people making these laws, trying to keep the peoples apart are treating the targeted group as if they are not really people, and they have no say in how they are treated, that they should just go along with this harsh treatment. Though the Jim Crow laws are wrong, they do not really compare so much to the Nuremberg Laws. On the whole, all the Jim Crow laws are saying is to seperate different institutions amongst the whites and blacks so they never have to deal with one another. This is not fair by any mean, but when you think about it, there was so much prejudice in the south against blacks, that if some of these laws didn't exist, then there might have been even more gang attacks on blacks.However, there are other laws there saying a black can't be buried amongst whites. Now such things as this law are ridiculous. That is definitely pushing it, and that is basically what the Jim Crow Laws seem to do, just keep trying to push the blacks to the edge, and see how far they can actually go.
Then, the Nuremberg Laws basically come out saying all the ways you can be determined a Jew, few of which are actually clear, and the penalties which come as a result. And then they set restrictions upon the Jews. They are extremely harsh and unjust, and completely unacceptable. They take penalties a lot further and are more unfair.So to conclude, you can compare the two based on the fact that they both set restrictions for certain groups and discriminate against them very clearly, but you cannot compare them based on degree of penalties/strictness. The Nuremberg Laws far exceeds the Jim Crow Laws on the basis of injustice and the scale to which one is penalized for not following the laws. And yes, something akin to the Holocaust could most definitely have happened in the United States.

The end of the Cold War was accompanied by a large growth in the number of liberal democracies. In areas where superpowers had been waging proxy wars, and subsidizing local conflicts, many conflicts ended with the Cold War and the occurrence of interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, or refugee and displaced persons crises declined sharply, thus propelling a prosperous standard of living throughout the world.

The New Deal definitely help aided America in getting out of the Great Depression. With the help of Congress, Roosevelt's plan to get America out of its current disposition made a tremendous impact on society. With the emergence of The Civilian Conservation Corps, The Public Works Administration, and The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, America was definitely on its way to recovery. It is my belief that FDR, in many ways, had indeed, "acutally saved the country." Sweden suffered severely during the early years of the Great Depression. In the early 1930s unemployment rose, and reductions in wages caused a series of harsh labor conflicts. The election of 1932 brought a considerable advance to the Social Democratic Party, and to some extent to the Farmers' Party as well, and led to a Social Democratic administration under the leadership of Per Albin Hansson. It offered a comprehensive policy to fight the crisis, including extensive public works and a number of moves in support of agriculture. The economic crisis of the '30s was overcome more rapidly in Sweden than in most other countries. As early as 1936, wages had reached their old level, and by the end of the decade unemployment had become insignificant. Great Britain remained in a kind of chronic slump, which was the result of its loss of overseas markets and which was intensified by its refusal to devalue the pound in the 1920s and Germany responded by massive inflation, because of the continuing struggle with France over war reparations.

A third great calamity engulfed humanity between 1931 and 1945. The Second World War grew from long-germinating seeds: the Spanish Civil War, the Great Depression, the inequitable Versailles Treaty, the unprecedented scale and carnage of the Great War, the paternalistic and racist colonialism of the European powers (and the seething anger it engendered in colonials and competitors), rapacious American capitalism (also racist), and the dizzying pace of technological change that destabilized traditional patterns of life across the globe.

The direct causes of the war are obvious?the rise of fascism in Italy, National Socialism in Germany and jingoistic militarism in Japan. All three members of the Tripartite Pact (the Axis) had enormous popular support at home. The aggressive policies of the Axis leaders provoked the war. In Asia it began with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, in Africa with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, in Europe with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and in the United States with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 (the U.S. Navy had engaged German submarines in the Atlantic in April and the encounters escalated throughout the year). By 1942, most nations worldwide had declared for either the Axis or the Allies?few countries were neutral.

With a scale and scope previously unseen and unimagined in human history, the conflagration of World War II irrevocably changed the world. By summer?s end in 1945, the world had entered the nuclear age and uncharted territory. A seemingly endless Cold War with its MAD threat (Mutually Assured Destruction) and limited hot wars (Korea and Vietnam) resulted.

Ordinary people the world over keenly felt the shock of total war. Killed, wounded in body and mind, tortured and abused, made homeless, isolated, despairing and afraid, the peoples of the world suffered as never before. As a result of the war, every single person was potentially at risk?war knew no limits.

And yet, within a generation, the world seemed remarkably different. Despite the Cold War, the United States had grown far more prosperous and the material standard of living reached unprecedented heights. A ravaged Europe recovered?with help (the Marshall Plan). Japan rose from the ashes to become the world?s third greatest economy. Throughout Africa and Asia new nations arose from the wreckage of colonialism. Why?

They discussed the idea of the master race, and created a mythology of German heroism that encouraged loyalty to the group and glorified death for the country. Hitler and many Germans like him, was an enthusiastic student of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel who argued that the State ?has the supreme right against the individual, whose supreme duty is to be a member of the State.? Hegel foresaw in the early 1800?s that ?Germany?s hour? would come and that the country?s mission would be to redevelop the world. A German hero would complete this mission. Like Hegel, another German philosopher more directly portrayed the conventionality and obedience necessary for a secure State. Heinrich von Treitschke espoused that it was of no consequence what you thought about anything, just as long as you obeyed German law. Germany?s tradition also produced Friedrich Nietzsche who preached the coming of a master race and the superman who would conquer, impose a glorified state, and purify the master race. Finally, German legends were full of heroes and heroines like Hagen, Siegfried, and Brunhild, who were so superbly depicted in Richard Wagner?s opera, the Nibelungenlied. Heroes such as those, inspired Germans including Hitler, to think of themselves as larger than life and capable of bringing great glory to Germany through both life and death. I do not believe that anything akin to the Holocaust would ever happen in the United States unless it was an unforced issue. For instance people are attracted to different type of people. So when someone finds a spouse they are choosing that person to be with and it is mutual. Today?s physical standards are for everyone to be fit and thin. So with our standards getting higher, the amount of people in this kind of shape are growing as well. The master race of blonde hair, blue eyes, and muscle bound is something that will never happen under a controlled situation besides in the breeding of animals.

Master Race deals with Nazism overtaking German society. In 1933, in Berlin, with a unique blend of nationalism, militarism, and racial theory, Hitler persuaded millions that they were the master race, that they were unique and special, with a special destiny. He promised a more orderly and united society, free of industrial conflict and ripe with opportunityand new jobs. He was a very liked and popular leader at that time.
To build national unity, the Nazi's turned to blame: They blamed the Allies of the First World War were responsible for the country's economic distress, weak leadership of the 1920's contributed to Germany's problems. And then of course they really blamed the Jews. Nazi's drew on old hatred and old jealousies. Horst Slesina recalls that "it was a process which developed slowly, but surely, and took over all sections of the population who had never thought about it before."
Those who were not considered a threat to the German race, their lives improved during this time span, but Jews, blacks, homosexuals, mentally/physically challenged, or a Gypsy were the ones whose lives were not improving.The Nazis were determined to expand their territory, and by 1941 the decision to systematically kill all Jews-the "Final Solution" had been made. After this "Final Solution" was put into order, that is when many Jews were sent to concentration camps and were killed in many numbers, and to the Nazis it was no big deal to kill off as many Jews as they could, they did not feel bad about killing them.
Since 1933, Nazi Germany had sung the rousing songs, and shared the glow of early military success. Twelve years later, May 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally. Only now would the true cost of the Nazi pursuit of a special racial destiny be exposed. Even today, this time is known as such a terrible time in history, and will never be forgotten.

According to the U.S. Immigration Commission?s Dictionary of Races of People (1911), Anglo-Saxons are at the top of the racial hierarchy while the lowest rung is occupied by the southern Italian ?race.? In 1924 a Virginia law prohibited whites from marrying anyone with ?a single drop of Negro blood.? Virginia was not unique; marriage between whites and blacks was illegal in thirty-eight states. Also in that year, Congress passed the Immigration Act, a series of strict anti-immigration laws calling for the severe restriction of ?inferior? races from southern and eastern Europe. Jim Crow ruled in both law and custom.

By 1935, racial attitudes in Nazi Germany crystallized in the Nuremberg Laws that stripped Jews of the protections of German citizenship and started the descent into the barbarisms of the Holocaust. In addition to claiming the lives of approximately six million Jews, three million non-Jewish Poles were killed during the Holocaust. Over two million Soviet prisoners of war were systematically brutalized and killed. Other victims of the Holocaust included the disabled (Operation Euthanasia), Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, non-fascist political activists, outspoken members of the clergy, and members of the pitifully small German resistance (for example the students of The White Rose). The Nazi program of genocide was also applied to the Roma (Gypsies).

In what ways were American and German racial views similar? How did they differ? Could something akin to the Holocaust have happened in the United States?

On the Line talks about the assembly line coming into our factories and making work a whole lot more effective. The 1920?s were a time where North America became modernized. Whether it was the music, the culture or the growth in technology, this time era is known to most people as the point where America advanced itself to become a world renowned country. An advancement that will be focused on is the Ford Model T. During this time owning a car was a symbol of wealth. Henry Ford, the creator of the Model T, made a system that revolutionized the automobile industry as we know it today. Henry Ford made it possible for people with an average income to own a motor vehicle by creating the assembly line and the theory of mass production. With the help of the Model T, the assembly line was created, but greatly the method of mass production was created because of this too. With the help of the assembly line mass production became to be a way of producing, not only in the United States but all around the world. Products would now be made in bulk and at an efficient rate because of the introduction of the Model T. Another method that was created from all of this was the method of interchangeable parts. Interchangeable parts helped increase the productivity and made tings more efficient.

Although the effects of the Great Depression were most keenly felt in industrialized countries, the economic tsunami spanned the globe. Chilean workers died from starvation as the mining and nitrate industries collapsed. In the United States one in four workers lost their jobs and were unable to find another for years. Former businessmen sold apples on street corners. There was no social ?safety net? in place to help people survive the economic dislocation. The Hoover administration decided to do relatively little in response, believing that the cycle of boom and bust was inherent and unavoidable in the capitalist system.

In the 1932 presidential election, Americans overwhelmingly voted for change. Franklin Roosevelt?s ?New Deal? dramatically addressed the crisis with a series of programs that fundamentally altered the role of government in American life. In his inaugural address, Roosevelt resolutely declared ?that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.? Most Americans were glad that, at last, their government was doing something. Did the New Deal end the depression? Had FDR ?actually saved the country? as Mancil Milligan (and countless others) believed?

Other countries dealt with the Great Depression in different ways: How did Sweden and Great Britain respond to the crisis? How did Germany respond?

I believe Ford was too intrusive with his employees. I believe that if you are a hard worker and prove to be one, you deserve the $5 wage. However, I do see his side of the story. This was during a time of a depression. People who needed money that were good people, not drinking, gambling, or producing out of marriage children should deserve that extra raise. He was trying to keep people?s lives on track and help society by rewarding the people who lived good lives. A lot of people during this time were losing hope and didn?t see reasons to stay with their morals. This was the reason he was giving to his employees to live better lives. If I owned a company I wouldn?t want to be giving bonuses and raises to people who are going out and spending on drugs and gambling it away. I would want to give it to a person who is in desperate need of money to help support his or her family and not waste it. He was trying to give the money to the people who were not going to through that money away at a time was money and jobs were scarce.