the legacy of world war two

[forest]

OK I was watching for my sins the other other day
The exorcist the Beginning (Never watch it) The film is set in the 1950 or late 40’s
It has a lot of references to the second world war in it (One of the main characters was a soldier the other a jew)

This got me thinking. How strong is the legacy of WW2 in our everyday life’s and how does it impeded on our consciousness.
I don’t think anyone can argue against the fact that its impact on the world was enormous and the it is near to impossible to imagine the world, with out it, from a political point of view and in Europe at least from a social point either.

I remember reading travel advice for Yankees visiting our continent and how to fit in (This was written just after the Iraq war and all the anti war USA marches in Europe)
One of the pieces of advice was to look at war from the European point of view
That war was not something hat happen in far away countries, or on the 22,00 news
But that to many Europeans it was real, that 50million died etc etc.
Is this true, did the defestation of world war 2 on our continent change our view of war fare, do we as a result view war different to Yankees.
I meen their cant be many families in Europe that do not have a past family member who died during the war either as a soldier or civilian (except here in Ireland who managed to ad all new meaning to the phrase chicken out).
And will the legacy as World War 2 ever go or will it always be there, buried deep within us all

[gahane]

You'd be better off watching the original version of that movie by Paul Schrader rather then the studio ordered remake with Paul Verhoven. Still bad but not nearly as bad as Beginning.

[Leopold Bloom]

It's impact on the world would possibly have been less than that of WW1 were it not for one important fact: the discovery and use of nuclear weapons.

[Eirenua]

The saddest thing about WW2, apart from all the innocent being slaughtered, is that absolutely nothing has been learned from it. There has been so many wars and so many killed since.

[Paddylekker]

The saddest thing about WW2, apart from all the innocent being slaughtered, is that absolutely nothing has been learned from it. There has been so many wars and so many killed since.

Nonsense. Plenty was learned from it. Whether or not other countries implement what the Europeans learned is another matter.

But the part of Europe that took corrective action has been at peace since WW2 thanks to the formation of the ECSC and then the EEC.

[Rebel CNC]

The saddest thing about WW2, apart from all the innocent being slaughtered, is that absolutely nothing has been learned from it. There has been so many wars and so many killed since.

WW2 had to be fought. It was a just war. It is a stain on this country that we did not involve ourselves in the fight against the Nazis.
Something has been learned from it - there has been wars since but nothing of the scale of WW1 and WW2.
Wars kill people but so do endless debates about justification and legality of war when what is needed is forceful action.
All the hand-wringing, worthy speeches and international condemnation from the pulpits of the EC and UN did nothing to stop the slaughter and genocide in the balkans.

If a tyrant like Hitler rose to power today he'd have the world conquered while everyone else debated the issue, posted resolutions, vetoed same, announced sanctions, brokered talks, etc, etc.

[Leopold Bloom]

The saddest thing about WW2, apart from all the innocent being slaughtered, is that absolutely nothing has been learned from it. There has been so many wars and so many killed since.

Indeed, but nuclear weapons have not been used since: hopefully something has been learned.

[Riadach]

Sorry lads, regardless of the chicken remarks, or how just the war was, i think neutrality was undoubtedly the best option. What other countries, Ireland size, fought against the nazis and weren't overrun or annihilated. Ireland was a convenient weak flank for the British, and the nazis were toying with invading as was seen with operation green, so our explicit participation in the conflict would have been the perfect excuse. That said, there was support by the Irish government of the allies, i think this was the most that could have been expected.

[joel]

The saddest thing about WW2, apart from all the innocent being slaughtered, is that absolutely nothing has been learned from it. There has been so many wars and so many killed since.

WW2 had to be fought. It was a just war. It is a stain on this country that we did not involve ourselves in the fight against the Nazis.
Something has been learned from it - there has been wars since but nothing of the scale of WW1 and WW2.
Wars kill people but so do endless debates about justification and legality of war when what is needed is forceful action.
All the hand-wringing, worthy speeches and international condemnation from the pulpits of the EC and UN did nothing to stop the slaughter and genocide in the balkans.

If a tyrant like Hitler rose to power today he'd have the world conquered while everyone else debated the issue, posted resolutions, vetoed same, announced sanctions, brokered talks, etc, etc.

So what was the difference be teen Hitler and the British Empire?

After all, Hitler was just aping the British Empire when he wanted an Empire in the East. In fact, he said he wouldn't interfere in the BE if they didn't get involved.

Hitler had only been allowed to amass his army because it was hoped that he would take on Russia - in other words, he was seen as anti-communist. Take "appeasement" with a pinch of salt.

So, in reality, the WW2 was as much an Imperial war a WW1 had been. Hitler fighting for a German Empire and opposed by the British Empire and Soviet Empire.

[Eirenua]

The saddest thing about WW2, apart from all the innocent being slaughtered, is that absolutely nothing has been learned from it. There has been so many wars and so many killed since.

Nonsense. Plenty was learned from it. Whether or not other countries implement what the Europeans learned is another matter.

But the part of Europe that took corrective action has been at peace since WW2 thanks to the formation of the ECSC and then the EEC.

So the war in the former Yugoslavia was nonsense too was it, 8,000 slaughtered in Srebernica in two days, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus was nonsense too ,was it?