RE#8: WW21 - Collapse/Recovery of Europe

I've read over and over again how the Europeans successfully conquered this country and that country, but it wasn't until we did the map activity on Monday that I visually saw how dominant they were on a global scale: they literally took over the entire world, marking each continent with some European ideal or belief. That left me wondering - if I were the most dominant and powerful country in the world (particularly the British and the French) and I've just finished dominating all the other countries in the world, what do I do now? The sensible answer would be to just... leave everything be. I'd be content with my achievements and work on my own country's happiness and success. I guess that wasn't a viable option for the Europeans back in the day, since they obviously chose to further perturb neighboring nations with their territorial, political, and economic greed. And like the analogy used in class, a full house facilitates angry siblings, especially if all the siblings are power hungry monsters who aren't willing to share their toys.

A positive thing came out of World War I - female involvement. Since all the men were gone fighting the war, women were left with the responsibility to carry on their work. Women even had the opportunity to rebel and shake up tradition, with their new social opportunities, new fashion styles, and taking part in voting. It's hard to say that without the war and this shift in perspective and lifestyle, that women would not still be stuck in the household and reduced to childbearing/housecleaning machines.

I particularly enjoyed reading the section of World War II. Not because I enjoy or encourage the suffering and pain of the war, but because of how close this war hits to home. Literally. WW2 officially started with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. And Pearl Harbor is literally my backyard, specifically the backyard of my high school. Every morning of my junior/senior year, I would park my car in the back parking lot and take the scenic walking route on my way to homeroom. I would take a few minutes to just stare into the harbor, with all the navy ships and the shouts and noise from the workers. While it may seem like just a bunch of old, rusting ships to the rest of my classmates, I always stare at that harbor in awe - knowing that 60 years ago, all hell broke loose on these very waters and grounds. Within a few minutes, bombs exploded, fires ensued, soldiers died for our freedom. Such epic history lay right before me. It's such a shame that the kids my age don't appreciate things like that.

By the way, the identity of Russia always confused me. Are they part of Europe or part of Asia? They way I see it, they seem much more closer to the Europeans in terms of physical features, cultural practices, and phonetics of their language. This is similar to the question I raised in an earlier blog about whether the Philippines is part of Asia or considered a Pacific Island. The dictionary describes Russia as "part of Northern Asia and eastern Europe", but I think they should officially list it as a European nation. Plus it would save the dictionary printers a few words, and therefore save ink, and therefore save money. And super therefore, the govt can use that extra money to fix the residence halls on this campus. Hey, positive thinking :) But really, I don't understand what the big deal is, or perhaps there was/is some major tension between Russia with both Asia and Europe that they don't want to fully associate themselves with either one.