World War II Axis

There is too much to write about on World War 2 for just one blog. So this one will be focused on the Axis powers of the war, who they were, who lead them, and why they where in the war.

The main Axis powers  were Nazi Germany, Italy, and the Empire of Japan.

Nazi Germany
As I'm sure everyone knows, the leader of Germany in World War 2 was Adolf Hitler. Based on the steps he took, it would seem that Hitlers reason for being in World War 2 was an attempt at world domination. Hitler blamed World War 2 on western powers that intervened on Germany's war with Poland. Hitler also claimed that Germany need the war because they were overpopulating and needed to expand their boarders.

Italy
The leader of this axis power was Duce Benito Moussalini. When Italy entered the war against France and England Moussalini said, "We are going to war against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the West who have invariably hindered the progress and often threatened the very existence of the Italian people." Along with that Italy also claimed that they needed to expand so there would be more room for their citizens they said they were fighting for "spazio vitale" or, vital space.

Japan
The Empire of Japan was a constitutional monarchy ruled by a man named Hirohito. Japan defended its right to be in the war by saying that they were trying to unite all of Eastern Asia under Japanese leadership. They called it the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. They said they were trying to free Eastern Asia from the control of Western Powers, specifically USA.

Joseph Stalin

All I can say about Stalin, is that he has a great first name. But that's about the only good thing he's got going for him. Many people consider Adolf Hitler to be the worst man in the history of the world. And there is certainly a place for him in the debate. But some people don't realize how terrible Joseph Stalin was. Many people assume that since he was on the same side as the US in WW2 that he must be a good guy. That is far from the case. Stalin was responsible for roughly 20 million deaths in Russia. Some of the things he was recorded saying show that he had little respect for human life.

Here are a few of his most known quotes,

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."

"Death is the solution to all problems, no man - no problem."

"In the soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance."


Maybe he was the leader of our ali and not our enemy, but you can not deny that Joseph Stalin was a terrible man. He cared little for the common man and treated them as pawns in his personal game.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi is known all over the world for his ways of peace, truth and simplicity. He led Indians in the ways of nonviolent disobedience in order to get rid of the British oppression in India. Through his nonviolence and hunger strikes Gandhi supported civil rights, reducing poverty, women's rights and religious amity. He encouraged everyone to learn the ways of Swaraj, or self-control.
Gandhi was the fourth child of his father's fourth wife. He was born October 2nd, 1869 in Porbander City, India.
Gandhi was raised on the coast of Western India. When he grew up he studied law at the Inner Temple in London. After that he went to South Africa which is where he first implemented his nonviolence practice. His nonviolence certainly did not leave him without enemies, he was assassinated in January of 1948. Though he has passed away, the world will never forget the strength and love shown by Mahatma Gandhi. He will forever be an inspiration to people regardless of race, religion or age.

World War 2 The Blitzkrieg

Did you know that a very common football term, the blitz, came from the word blitzkrieg which was a German attack strategy in World War 2? A blitzkrieg is a surprise full out attack. Blitzkrieg translates to Lightning War. Germany used this tactic against Poland, France, and the Soviet Union to catch them off guard. The Blitzkrieg used multiple different modes of attack, tanks, artillery, and bomber planes. The ground troops would communicate with the planes so that they knew just where to target the troops under attack so that the ground troops could crash through. It was an attack that utilized speed in the air and a fast paced ground attack to smash through the confused defenders.
To start the attack Stuka dive-bombers attacked the front line of the troops, or any mode that was used for transportation, railways and roads. As soon as the air attack was done the artillery would attack, once the artillery surprise had passed the tank panzer division would join in the fight. All the tanks focused on one specific place in the front lines and smashed through. Once a path had been cleared by the tanks the infantry soldiers rushed in on foot to quickly strike the foe's flanks and sides. Eventually the Germans would practically have the opponents surrounded, they were everywhere.

Nazi Germany - Rise of Hitler

I have been falling behind on my blog posts so I'll be posting a fair amount in the next few days. Today I'll be writing about Hitler's rise to power in Germany and how he helped form the Nazi party.

        Hitler was one of many Germans who were angered by the surrender of Germany in 1918 in World War I, and they were upset by the treaty of Versailles which forced Germany to disarm and pay for damage caused by World War I. Hitler was very angry about the current state of the German government so he spent a lot of time studying the different political parties. One party that caught Hitlers attention was the Germany Workers' Party and he decided to become the leader of that party. Hitler was a great public speaker and he was able to get people excited by the ideas he had. He told them of how Germany had once been glorious and how Germany had a destiny of a supreme nation. One of the points that Hitler made that would define how people look back at him now is that he blamed Jews for most of Germany's problems. Hitler decided to rename the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) it was commonly referred to as the Nazi Party. In July of 1921, Hitler was elected as the supreme leader of the Nazi Party and he had many plans for the future of Germany.
       Hitler started his reign of terror right then, he went around forcing people to support his party with the threat of death. Hitler was arrested for his actions and sentenced for 5 years in prison. While he was in prison Hitler wrote a book that told of his plans for Germany. He called it Mein Kampf which means My Struggles. It would become a sort of rule book that the Nazi's followed. Hitler didn't stay in prison for the full 5 years. When he got out he still had the same goal, but he went about achieving it slightly different. Hitler worked his way up in the political world, using every little thing to his advantage he eventually became the Absolute Fuher, the most powerful and influential position in Germany. The age of Hitler had begun, he called it the Third Reich and claimed that it would last for the next thousand years.

Life

Well, I am back in Dubuque now and things are starting to get back to normal. I start my soccer season on Monday and along with that get back into the swing of things with school. I was so blessed to have an opportunity to go live in Arizona for 2 months and I really think I grew from the experience. I definitely want to go back and visit sometime, hopefully sooner rather than later so that the kids I taught will still be there. However, whenever I can go back I will jump at the opportunity! I will try and post some of the pictures I took while I was there soon!

My last post while in Arizona: The Roaring Twenties

I am winding down on my time here in Arizona, and I am also finishing up my school work. I have been plowing through history a lot while I was here, I started in the late 1800s and am finishing up the 1920s. I have been reading a maginzine called Learning Through History. One story that I really enjoyed reading was about Harry Houdini and his war against all the fraud mediums that were tricking people and taking all their money.
As far as illusionists go, Houdini was the best of the best. And he didn't want to see people falling for tricks that he found very easy to spot. Houdini had gone to mediums before in hopes that maybe, just maybe there was some truth in spiritualism and he could contact his mother who had passed away. But to his disgust, Houdini was able to see through every single medium and realize that there were a lot of people being taken advantage of. So he set out on a war against spiritualism, he had performances that he used to show how these mediums did their tricks. He also was working with reporters who would publish his opinions.
Because of his work against spiritualism Houdini lost a friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who's wife was a well known medium. Houdini was able to prove Lady Doyle false and that caused a big gap in his friendship with the Doyles. Doyle would go on to defend all the mediums that Houdini uncovered.
Overall I thought it was very interesting how one illusionist would be so hard set to uncover others who were using their abilities in illusion to trick people, not to entertain them. Perhaps Houdini was so against the mediums because none of them were able to hep him contact his mother. I could be that his reasons were much more personal than just wanting to save people from losing their money.