Many historians have often asked the question of whether or not World War II could have been avoided. Some scholars of military history point to the British led policy of appeasement that existed just before the war and culminated with the Munich Agreement on September 29, 1938, as one way in which the allies failed to realize the threat of Hitler’s regime.
Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 and immediately set about reversing all the conditions of the Versailles Treaty. Neighboring nations complained but did not take military action against Hitler when he began to build the new German, remilitarize the Rhineland or even annex Austria (Anschluss) in March of 1938.
On September 29, 1938, Hitler met with British leader Neville Chamberlain and French leader Edouard Daladier. The meeting was mediated by Italian leader Benito Mussolini and ended in an agreement which Hitler drafted and the other leaders simply agreed to. The treaty stated that the German people of Czechoslovakia in an area known as the Sudetenland would be annexed to Germany in stages during October of the same year. This was in line with Hitler’s policy of Lebensraum and uniting all German peoples every where.
There are few dates in recent human history that cause more of an emotional stir in historians than that of September 1, 1939. On this day, Adolph Hitler, then chancellor of Germany declared to his parliament (Reichstag) that enough was enough that Danzig in Poland was a German city full of German people and should be taken back. The culmination of the Nazi ideology of “Lebensraum,” in which all lands currently or formerly belonging to Germany should be returned to Germany and inhabited by German people, would soon signal the death of millions of Jews, Russians, homosexuals, gypsies, agitators, allies and non combatants.
The fact that it is the date that signals the beginning of World War II and the dramatic reformatting of the European landscape and culture is a matter of hindsight. In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. It would have been difficult to imagine then the true scope of that decision.
It all began with the Treaty of Versailles. The document signed in 1919 in a rail car in France where the then German leaders were forced to admit their wrong doing in World War I and accept a significant loss of formerly German land.
Adolph Hitler fought in World War I and like many Germans felt that the treaty of Versailles was a slap in the face to the German nation making them wholly responsible for a war that involved many nations that came into conflict because of the multitudinous pacts that punctuated European politics.
Whether the Germans were simply assisting their allies or whether they were the instigators of the Great War, in which 20,000 a day killed at the Battle of the Somme, is a matter of opinion. Hitler attempted many times to instill a sense of injustice in the German people because of the humiliation of Versailles. His work of propaganda and surreptitious influence came to an end during the speech he made on September 1, 1939.
“Poland has directed its attacks against the Free City of Danzig. Moreover, Poland was not prepared to settle the Corridor question in a reasonable way which would be equitable to both parties, and she did not think of keeping her obligations to minorities. I must here state something definitely; German has kept these obligations; the minorities who live in Germany are not persecuted. No Frenchman can stand up and say that any Frenchman living in the Saar territory is oppressed, tortured, or deprived of his rights. Nobody can say this.” - Adolf Hitler
German troops marched into Danzig to reclaim the city and the Danzig Corridor on September 1 by force. It was not the first act by Germany in regards to nullifying the Versailles Treaty but it would become the most significant. The invasion of Poland was a direct result with Hitler’s Non Aggression Pact with Russia and the secret plan for the two nations to invade Poland and divide her up between the to powers. Because of a pact Britain and France had with Poland, they were forced to declare war on Germany on September 3 and just like the First World War, nation after nation followed suit until the disastrous global conflict was played out once again, only this time religion and ethnic persecution would play a large and deadly role.
| All in all the Second World War took the lives of an estimated 22 million people. We see its legacy in the faces of aging veterans, in the gray wash memorial in town parks across the world and in the uncomfortable relationships of several nations. The significance of World War II will never be fully known in our lifetime, only becoming clear as the long line of modern history reaches its inescapable conclusions. What we do know now however is that the actions of one individual, good or bad, can change the world forever. |
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Superheroes have gone mainstream over the last few years and are as popular as ever. The characters once confined largely to comic books have reached a global audience with a wide variety of products and movies. One of the most recognizable superheroes in the world is Superman with his trademark costume and high moral compass. He has been in all media from comics and TV to motion pictures and animated shows. Although most people are familiar with the Superman of the past couple of decades the beginnings of the character are not commonly known. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932 and was conceived as a newspaper comic strip character. The guys worked on the character for several years with little success. They authored a variety of short stories for comic books such as “Doctor Occult” and “Radio Squad” but they always loved the Superman character they had created which had been shelved after submitting it to National Comics in New York.
The Adventures of Superman began broadcast in 1952 running for 102 episodes and became a wild success with appeal to the whole family. Over the years Superman was a central character in animated shows such as the 1966 title “The New Adventures of Superman”, “The Super Friends” (1973-84). There have been a number of Superman television shows over the years but the Christopher Reeve movies that began in 1978 are among the best known versions of the character. The Smallville series started in 2001 and represents the teen and young adult life of the Clark Kent/Superman persona. Regardless of the media, Superman has become a worldwide phenomenon and his ideals of truth, justice, and the American way have become ingrained in our society as the ideals to which we should all aspire.
It was spring 1939 when Cambridge archaeologists arrived at the ancient cemetery of Sutton Hoo to investigate the contents of a nine-foot high, one hundred foot long earthen mound. For years, the locals in the nearby towns of Suffolk and Ipswich, England had been turning up interesting finds, like Dark Age-era amulets, pottery and coins, while farming or venturing into the countryside to explore similar, albeit smaller, formations.
Museum officials have dated some of the Anglo-Saxon coins recovered at the site to between 625 and 630 AD. Curiously enough, though, not a single bone or trace of human remains was ever found within the Sutton Hoo “burial” mound, leading to much speculation. Some postulate that the formation was dedicated to a ruler who was lost at sea, thereby resulting in no body for a burial. 
Canned food is a ubiquitous part of our society. Grocery aisles are stocked with all manner of canned goods and the average cupboard or pantry also has an assortment of the items. They last a long time and the canning process is reliable and safe but long term food preservation is a fairly recent phenomenon.
The glass jars were too fragile for regular travel and during the 1810 work of Peter Durand, cylindrical cans made of tin or iron became popular. The cans were cheaper and easy to make but tin openers were thirty years away. Soldiers had to smash open the can or cut them with bayonets. The process of canning and transportation was slow so it was not successfully introduced in the mass amounts needed by the French army of the time.
Increasing population and the industrial manufacturing capability led to high demand for canned food. The time to process and cook the canned food had made dramatic leaps.
