The Guns Of August By Barbara Tuchman

The Allies endeavoured to damage German morale enough so that the troops did not want to fight against the Allies, and a future possible uprising against the Nazi Party. But to a large extent, this did not occur. This point deserves greater emphasis because it would beneficially alter the future for Germany and as Stalin said, ‘the only way to break German morale is by bombing.’ One main aspect of harm caused to morale is due to a distraught civilian population. In March alone 1942, there were 305,000 deaths, 1.8million homes destroyed and 20 million deprived of basic utilities from raids at Nuremberg, Lubeck, Augsburg and Munich. February 1943 saw the damaging bombing of Dresden whereby buildings were obliterated and over 150,000 civilians were killed. Likewise, on the 27th July 1943, Hamburg was bombed killing women, children and leaving 30,000 people for dead. People’s lives were forever changed, 5 million people were evacuated in 1942, water supplies were ruined when the allies dropped ‘dam-busters’ and many restaurants and services were closed. Despite greatly impacting the population, people continued to fight the war and get revenge on the Allies for what they caused which shows that the aim of disillusioning people from fighting for Germany. The mentality of the generals changed when 23% of the Luftwaffe

The German Command, in planning for a short and swift war, found themselves in a bind when the war started to prolong itself. From the very beginning, their plan started to fall apart, as Belgium, who they assumed would just let them march through to France, took up arms in resisting their approaches (Hull, 2005). The war would get longer and longer and seemed farther away from its conclusion as the months grew colder. As a result of this as well as their Prussian roots, they resorted to dangerously risky and destructive tactics, trying to bring the war to a quicker end while putting more of their resources in jeopardy, a move that eventually did not pay off and ended up leading to the German Empire’s demise (Hull, 2005).

Unlike animals, humans are able to observe past the mere monochromatic vision of survival. We have an impeccable ability to desire more than just living to breed, and breeding only to someday perish. Thus, we gradually brush this canvas with the colours of ethics, control, and knowledge. Whether the colours fade or become prominent through time, this canvas becomes our perception of normality and we allow it to justify our actions; favorable or harmful. We, as well as the narrator in the short story The Hunt by Josephine Donovan represent this. However, because of the narrator’s difference in perception, self-indulgence, and greed for power, the story introduces a feeling of infuriation to the reader.

"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.

¨There was a law against luke. Not him personally everyone like him, kids who were born after their parents already had two babies (pg 6)¨. Would you like a law against you? Among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix clearly shows that dictatorship is horrible. In this novel Luke is not allowed to leave the house or be seen. Luke leaves the house in cover and meets a girl the same as him she can't go anywhere so she tries to convince luke to rebel to be like regular people with her but he is to nervous. Luke shows the character traits of brave, jealousy and adventurous as he hides in the shadows.

Whitney, Craig R. “World War I Why It Still Matters.” New York Times Upfront 4 May 2009: 24-27. Print.

to deal with the French and Russian forces , staunch allies, in order to avoid a war on

At this time things were not going well for the Allied troops. Italy had suffered a major defeat after the Battle of Caporetto when the Austrians captured 275,000 soldiers. This had forced French and British troops forces to change their troops from the Western front to Italy in order to help them. At the same time the French Army was experiencing mutiny and many feared that she would collapse from within. In Russia there was a revolution as the Bolsheviks came to power ousting and executing the Romanov royal family. The country’s internal struggle pulled them out of the war in 1917. The German submarine attacks on Britain were so powerful that many people predicted Britain’s collapse within months.

If the Germans, instead of being resisted by force of arms, had been passively permitted to establish themselves wherever they pleased, the halo of glory and courage surrounding the brutality of military success would have been absent, and public opinion in Germany itself would have rendered any oppression impossible.” He taught non-resistance as proper defense to violence. For such antiwar pacifists, all participation in war is morally wrong.

In Chapters 5 through 9, Tuchman doesn't discuss much about why Germany, France, or Russia

MP1 One of the Carl Von Clausewitz’s central issues that describes war’s dynamic is the concept of “culminating point of victory.” Clausewitz advocated the idea that an offensive should be focused on the defender’s collapse, otherwise there is a “culminating point”, a momentum where the attacker loses his advantage for strategic victory. As he mentioned, “every attack which does not lead to peace must necessarily end up as a defense.” Military history has been enriched by battles of commanders with an overestimating self-confidence and high spirit who failed to identify this momentum. As a result, they lost the tactical advantage and they were defeated. Classical example in the World War II

World War II is an important key point in history that addresses to young adolescents. The novel, T4 is based on a true story, in which the author, Ann Clare LeZotte is portraying a novel that is based on the theme of survival. It appears to be that the author’s argument in writing this novel is to simply maintain awareness of the past. Generally speaking, a story about survival is a difficult genre for young readers, “The majority of war stories for children are about World War II and the Holocaust.” (Huck 482) The reason war stories are mainly about World War II and the Holocaust is because it was the most recent, largest, and horrifying war during the twentieth century in Europe. Our textbook also states that these historical novels help children experience the past. Meaning, that it is important for a child to learn about the past including all the wars, conflicts, sufferings, and great happiness that had occurred so they can apply that to the present and to the future.

notion that the war wasn’t going to be an easy win, and the chances of winning the war

This book review is on Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. The book was very interesting but a lot of the information could have been cut because it’s a bit too long. Jared Diamond is a scientist, not a historian and he’s American. He upset many historians around the world by the way he bashes Europeans. However, he did win a Pulitzer Prize for the book so that says something.

“The story of post-revolutionary America,” writes Rosemarie Zagarri, “is the story of how American women and men sought to define – and ultimately to limit and restrict – the expansive ideals they had so successfully deployed against Britain.” In this excerpt from Revolutionary Backlash, Zagarri depicts the extreme radicalism of the American Revolution, while also suggesting that there were some constraints to its extremism. Unlike the normal way of life in European government and society, Americans desired a nation in which the inherent rights and freedoms of individuals were recognized and respected. While these rights and freedoms were ultimately achieved, many groups of people were still left out. Women of all kinds, people of color,