The worst war, let's be honest

ARTICLE: "War and Remembrance," by David Gates, Newsweek, 24 September 2007, p. 54.

The best reason to watch this documentary:

"It was time," says Burns, "to just unwrap the bloodless, gallant myth of the second world war and say this was the worst war ever. The worst."

Amen, brother. I have always flinched when I've heard it described as the "good war."

60 million dead.

Comments

[Brian]

If wars are measured subjectively from "worst" to "best" based solely on number of dead, where does the GWOT stand? It's too early to tell but it could be worse than WWII.

I would say that the "worst" war was WWI because it lead to WWII. After WWI ended, nobody did anything proactive to ensure that another Great War wasn't fought. There was no clear superpower, or two, wage peace. After WWII, this was done - two superpowers locked horns but kept the other in check and, as a result, no major world conflicts arose. Although, one entity planted its roots during the waning years of the Cold War and began planning their worldwide offensive.

The Cold War is over, the next War has begun. Too bad we didn't know it until 2001. The decade of the 90's, when we sat idle thinking there were no more enemies left is akin to the era when a former painter and aspiring politician wrote a book in prison outlining his plans for world conquest.

It's ironic that media always paints the gloom and doom of the housing market or the whatever the problem du jour is yet never really address the coming storm other than to say that ending the war is based solely on when we stop fighting it. In war, it's the enemy who always dictates when the war is over - by laying down HIS arms or by being totally destroyed by a victor.

[stuart abrams]

There is a difference between America's WWII and everybody else's WWII. Nobody else in the world thinks of WWII as a "good" war. Even in the UK, I have always had the impression that Americans have a far more romanticized view of Churchill's heroism than most Brits do (Churchill was voted out of office before the end of the war). I always say that purely American civilization (i.e., the thing that started in 1776) reached its peak in 1941, specifically, with the film "Casablanca." Ever since then, pure American civilization has been in decline, as we have gone through a process of morphing into something else, namely, something that can fit into a role in a global civilization while still preserving, and even extending, some of the unique values that came out of 1776 (I am reminded of Kirk's final speech in "The Omega Glory"). That process is still going on today. But that's why most Americans have such a romanticized view of WWII.

[Nathan Machula]

I attended an hour-long screening and Q&A with Ken Burns at the University of Minnesota. It's every bit as good as his Civil War film, but has a much different character. Instead of a series of talking head historians, this one has WW2 veterans and their family members talking about their personal experiences.

[crystal]

There was alot of contrversy on this film when he was starting to make it with the "minority" population. That African American's, Hispanics and Asians also fought in the "good" war. Good in comparison to modern war. Only recently it seems that fight has been stopped. But in the few areas he focused on to get the True impact he should have worked with minority groups to see how it affect there life. African Americans fought in a war for a country that didn't see them as an equal. That would have made an impact.

[outback71]

Is it just me or does much of today's WWII history smack of trendy navel gazing? Yes, the personal stories are important, but they're never put into context of how the world was fundamentally changed by WWI and WWII. By 1945, European dominion over much of the globe was brought to and end. Five great empires were dismantled. Total new rule sets were created to recognize US supremacy in the capitalist world.

More importantly for us here in the US, WWII set us up for the incredible economic boom we've experienced over the past 60 years. In essence, the Great American Middle Class was born our of US economic hegemony over Europe and Asia. Yea, for us it was The Good War.

[Michael]

What I wonder sometimes is how many people who were itching for the Iraq war as an easy, glorious enterprise saw Saving Private Ryan?

[Nathan Machula]

Crystal, the controversy was only about Burns' exclusion of Hispanics and Native Americans, not African or Asian Americans. From the few clips I saw, there was considerable discussion of the disparity in treatment of blacks in the military and America in general, and Japanese Americans who volunteered for military service even while their families were interred in camps. In actuality, the controversy was much ado about nothing, just more political correct nonsense. Burns is clearly no racist or bigot. He didn't leave out certain segments of the population to deny their service, but concentrated on four American cities to tell a story.