Semester DOS, Honors History #2

Although World War 1 and 2 are two wars that greatly influenced the world that we currently live in today, there were multiple events that occurred that helped to make this possible. The event that interested and grabbed my attention the most is when women were finally able to work, since I am of course, a lady.

when the government launched a propaganda campaign, in 1942, to sell the importance of the war effort and to lure women into working, the entire idea of women workers coming into existence began to explode.

They promoted a fictional character of "Rosie the Riveter" as the ideal woman worker: loyal, efficient, patriotic, and pretty. Not long after, did the song, "Rosie the Riveter", get released to women all across the US. This became an instant media success. This song not only motivated women who weren't working outside of their homes to start, but even women who were working in less intense jobs such as coffee shops, to began working in more intense locations such as factories.

However, while patriotism, and the hit song did influence women, ultimately it was the economic incentives that convinced them to work the most. Once they were at work, they discovered the non-material benefits of working, like learning new skills, contributing to the public good, and proving themselves in jobs that were once though of as only men's work.

All women responded to the call to work differently depending on age, race, class, marital status, and number of children. Half of the women who took war jobs were minority and lower-class women, who like I mentioned earlier, were already in the workforce.

I believe that by this sort of perspective that women looked at working is still being used today. In today's society, when women apply for jobs, they do tend to take into consideration the status of their personal lives. One women might think that its best for her to be a stay at home mom since she has a lot of children, while a less fortunate women might be in dyer need of money,a and will take any job that's available. In my opinion, I believe that it all depend son the person and their take on life.

Semester DOS, Blog #14

The most interesting aspects of World War 1:

- Involved most of the world's great powers

- More than 15 million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in history

- The decision was made to involve the United States in a war so that the "life of the entire people could be altered." This was the conclusion of a foundation supposedly committed to "peace."

- President Washington attempted to warn the American people about getting embroiled in the affairs of Europe. But in 1914, it was not to be. There were those who were secretly planning America's involvement in World War I whether the American people wanted it or not.

Cited Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

http://www.threeworldwars.com/world-war-1/ww1.htm

WW2:

- The war was directly blamed by the victors on the militant nationalism of the Kaiser's Germany; it was Germany that effectively started the war with an attack on France through Belgium

- Was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945

- No one wanted war. Yet, when Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, other European countries felt they had to act

- President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the United States during both the Great Depression and World War II. Paralyzed from the waist down after suffering a bout of polio, Roosevelt overcame his disability and was elected president of the United States an unprecedented four times

Cited Sources:

http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/World_War_II.htm

http://www.threeworldwars.com/world-war-1/ww1.htm

What I hope to learn:

- How were children involved or effected in these wars?

- What was the point of both wars?

- What other problems did these wars lead to?

How did the wars impact life today?:

I believe that both these wars are still impacting our world and society today. The reason why is because since both wars were so big, and caused so many different things to happen, the process sort of worked as a rotating circle. What happened then came back around and started affecting us today, just on a much smaller scale. We still have wars, we as the people still have to elect a president that we think will help change things for the better, and we still have laws that help to keep things in order.

By me learning about the wars, I'm able to learn about and understand what events happened in the past that led the world to where it is today, and why things happen the way they do.