Why Study WWII?
It is so important to learn and understand WWII because the affects of the war still have such a major influence on us today. Students need to be aware of the atrocities that occurred during the war in order to ensure that they never occur again. The war was one of the bloodiest periods in all of modern World History. The Holocaust claimed the lives of 6 million Jews, Catholics, Gypsies, mentally ill, and many more groups. Racial purity was a major factor in the Holocaust. People were taken from their home, stripped of their belongings, starved, experimented on, gassed, enslaved, and executed in cold blood. These acts of inhumanity shocked the world at the time, and continue to shock the world today. In order to prevent massacres like this from ever happening again, it is important for the youth to be educated about the way the victims suffered and teach them to be empathetic to situations like the Holocaust. Extremely devastating in the amount killed during the Holocaust, it is trumped by the civilian and military deaths that occurred during the war—estimated at up to 80 million people.
Another reason it is so important for students to study this period in history is so they can see the effects that totalitarian regimes have on their people. During this unit, students will analyze how millions of people can become so desperate that they allow someone to take total control of their lives. It is important to see how these powers came to be and how they able to take over the control of all aspects of their country—including the lives their subjects lived. It is crucial that students do understand the power that a charismatic leader with a hidden agenda can have on a population, and the damage that it can create in society.
Probably one of the most important reasons for students to study WWII is to show students how it still affects us to this day. As a result of the war, there were many boundary changes in countries in Europe and the Middle East which still cause tensions in that region presently. Also, the war was the beginning of a long time of tension between the United States and USSR. This tension led to the Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War, and a strenuous relationship between countries in the Middle East and the United States. As a result of WWII, the students’ lives are still effected, therefore, WWII is still relevant in their lives even 70 years later.
Another reason it is so important for students to study this period in history is so they can see the effects that totalitarian regimes have on their people. During this unit, students will analyze how millions of people can become so desperate that they allow someone to take total control of their lives. It is important to see how these powers came to be and how they able to take over the control of all aspects of their country—including the lives their subjects lived. It is crucial that students do understand the power that a charismatic leader with a hidden agenda can have on a population, and the damage that it can create in society.
Probably one of the most important reasons for students to study WWII is to show students how it still affects us to this day. As a result of the war, there were many boundary changes in countries in Europe and the Middle East which still cause tensions in that region presently. Also, the war was the beginning of a long time of tension between the United States and USSR. This tension led to the Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War, and a strenuous relationship between countries in the Middle East and the United States. As a result of WWII, the students’ lives are still effected, therefore, WWII is still relevant in their lives even 70 years later.