The Battle of Okinawa

Fighting in a battle that lasts eighty-two long days is something that not many of us could do. But the men who participated in the Battle of Okinawa somehow brought themselves to it. The battle, also referred to as Operation Iceberg, took place in the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa. It began on April 1, 1945 and didn’t come to a conclusion until June 22, 1945. The battle was very intense, the Allies brought huge numbers of men and armored vehicles when they began their assaulted on the Island. The battle resulted in some of the highest causalities for a single battle during World War II. The army of Japan lost around 100,000 troops while the Allied forces lost nearly 50,000. Also 100,000 civilians on the island were killed, injured, or committed suicide. The main objective of the invasion was to take full control of the island. The Allies wanted it because it is only 340 miles off the coast of Japan. If the Allies took control, which they did, they could use the island as their base for attacking the Japanese mainland. The battle was very important because it allowed the U.S. to drop the two atomic bombs which would lead to the war coming to a close. Even though many lives were lost on the islands of Okinawa, the victory proved to be critical for the Allied forces.

Propaganda for You

This poster displaying Nazi brutality is a very good example of propaganda. Propaganda is used to make an audience feel a certain way about a topic. The best forms bring out a lot of emotion and make you feel very strongly. The purpose of this poster is to show the public what is going on in Nazi Germany, and how people are being treated. The symbol being used is a person who has their head covered with a towel or rag and their hands are cuffed. Also the text in the poster tells you that these people being persecuted are civilians and they haven’t done anything wrong. The intended audience for this poster is the men in America. The poster wants people to know how the Germans are treating people and it wants a fiery response to sign up for the war. The poster wants you to feel outraged and obligated to fight. I find this poster persuasive because of the depiction of the person. We see a hopeless fellow human bound and head covered and it makes me want to go help them. This is propaganda at its best.

Top 5 Causes of World War 2

1. Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles is one of the main causes of World War 2. The Germans felt that this treaty really stabbed them in the back and they thought it was very unfair. They did not want to take responsibility for starting the war, and they didn’t want to pay the 33 million in war repercussions. So this all comes into play when Germany decides that they will not put up with these demands and they want to get back at the countries that created the treaty.

2. Failure of League of Nations

The Failure of the League of Nations is one of the main causes of World War 2. The League could not settle the little disputes that greatly lead to the fighting. The reason the League failed was because not all of the countries joined it, and it had no army so it couldn’t really enforce any of the rules that it laid down. For example the League couldn’t stop the Japanese invasion into China and it resulted in people being upset and wanting to fight.

3. Appeasement

Appeasement is another reason why World War 2 got started. This happened when Germany was being a sort of “Bully” to the other European countries. Germany started to put troops in the Rhineland which was against the treaty. But instead of stopping Hitler there, all the countries just asked him to stop. By doing this they allowed him to little by little grow into the dictator he was and it is a direct cause of the war.

4. Soviet-Non Aggression Pact.

The Soviet Non-Aggression act is one thing that made it possible for there to be a war. This pact was between Germany and the Soviets and it basically asked the soviets to remain neutral if a war broke out and made it so Germany and Russia would not attack each other (which Hitler later broke). This act made it possible for Hitler to wage war on the France and British. Because Russia isn’t into the mix, Hitler could just go on and fight a one front war instead of two.

5. Germany Invades Poland

Germany’s invasion of Poland is what really starts the war. This is what shows that Germany is serious and it really becomes apparent to everyone in the world that Germany is trying to do a lot more. They are trying to start a war and take over all of the lands around them. They aren’t doing these things because they feel threatened or attacked. But instead they are being the aggressions and trying to inflict pain and damage on defenseless nations. Germany invades Poland on September 1, 1939 and this officially starts the war.

World War 1 and the Home Front

Since the Great War has begun us civilians have done many things to help our boys that are overseas fighting. One big things is the Victory Gardens, they are gardens that myself and my fellow civilians have grown in our backyards and on street corners. In our private property we have started growing food crops so that we don’t have to go to the market to get food. This makes it so that more of the food in markets can go to the boys in service. This act is supposed to reduce the pressure on public food supply that was brought on by the war, and it has been very successful so far. Another thing we have done is reduce our usage of fuel and resources so then the fuel administration isn’t so busy. For example the fuel administration developed “Heatless Mondays” and “Lightless Nights”. This is when we civilians try not to use our heat on Mondays and on coordinated nights we try not to use our lights. We have done these in hope that it will make things easier on the fuel administration which is very busy during this time of war. Another program established was “Wheat less Wednesdays” and early results have showed that these have increased the production of food grown by famers by one fourth! It really shows how us civilians on the home front can play a role in the war and help our troops.

Neutral or Fight

In my opinion, I do believe that the United States should have entered the First World War. There were a couple key factors that lead the U.S. into war. One big reason was the unrestricted submarine warfare that the Germans were using. They were using their U-Boat submarines to attack U.S. ships without warning. This was going against all the rules of warfare at the time. Also these ships mostly weren't warships; they were merchant ships heading to Britain for trade. The U.S. could not stand for this because it was an unjust use of power. Another reason for war was “Zimmerman’s telegram”. This was a message that the U.S. intercepted while it was being sent to Mexico. It was basically the Germans telling Mexico to invade the U.S. and they would receive help if they allied with Germany. This is a very scary thought because if we let this occur it would drastically have changed the U.S. Also I believe that the Germans would have given Mexico some of their cruel weapons that they used on Armenian civilians. This would have brought death and destruction to the homelands of America. It is a very good thing that America rose to the challenge and fought the Germans and kept the people of America safe.