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Sing A Song Of War-Time

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Nationalism has been a driving force of concord and discord throughout the 20th century: it has been a catalyst of nearly all wars, yet it has also brought people together to solve problems. During Big Era 8, wars changed dynamics in homes across Europe. As males were unable to work because they were fighting, women and children filled the gap to keep up production and munition for the war. Economically, the Great Depression crippled the economy of Europe and prevented trade to be prevalent. Politically, liberal governments that had flourished vanished and transitioned to new ideas such as fascism and communism; however, these new ideas eventually led to a more advanced world. Nationalism incited nearly all of these changes. Rationing and propaganda during World War 1, the rise of swadeshi in India and the formation of the USSR, and …show more content…

A total war encompassed the entire population, not just those who were fighting in the war. Propaganda and rationing encouraged citizens to participate in the war. Nina MacDonald’s poem Sing a Song of War-Time describes a young child and analyzes the change in roles and sacrifices for the war. When the narrator says, “If I ask for cake, or/ Jam of any sort/ Nurse says ‘What! In War Time’” (MacDonald 9-11). MacDonald goes on to hint that the economy suffers because they “Haven’t any money, / Can’t buy toys” (MacDonald 14-15) Socially, the war is impactful to the child because he isn’t able to have treats or buy any toys because every opportunity for rationing and limiting is used to give to the war. Economically, the family can’t buy toys for the child because there is no money to spend. Politically, the government introduced many laws to make distribution fair, but many new agencies were introduced during the first World War that led to counter-productive decisions that didn’t help families (Herwig

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