The Good War?
Many Historians call World War II “The Good War.” The Second World war consumed every corner of the globe, pitting the world’s biggest powers against each other. There were two sides the Axis powers and the Allied Powers. The Axis included many Germany, Japan, and Italy. The Allied powers included the Soviet Union, United States, British Empire, China, and France to name a few. World War II was caused by several things. One was the Treaty of Versailles which Germany could not afford to pay. In turn they empowered a man who vowed to rip up the treaty. Two other reason were the failure of appeasement and the failure of the league of Nations. There are many reasons why people think that World War II was “The Good War,” Paul Fussell gives a good account on the subject.
A Good War, A Just War, A Moral: Fussell's accounts simply show that these terms are simply not possible for the teenage kid being shipped off to fight in the war at the tender ages of 18, 19, 20, or even 17. “For American troops, the first unpleasant act in their active and dangerous participation in what has been misleadingly termed the Good War was throwing up in the transport conveying them to the United Kingdom (Fussell pg. 15).” Fussell references to how the war is misnamed “The Good War” here. He suggests how can the war be good when we are putting these young boys in situations were they are throwing up out of fear. The fear is not the only problem, the men ate terrible food twice a day standing up while the officers ate at white linen tables with nice cutlery and better food. This was not the firs blow to his morale though. In training, many draftees were greeted with the letters R.T.C. which the draftee quickly learned meant replacement training center (pg. 95). Many thoughts would enter the draftees head after reading those letters, “Why, he wondered, were so many hundred of thousands of drafted boys needed as replacements? For whom or