War is something that has been happening since the beginning of human civilization and it is something that will not stop anytime soon. Webster dictionary defines war as “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations”, but war is much more than that. Every society believes they have an idea of what war is, what causes a war, why wars are fought, and many more seemingly generic answers. War is not just an event. War is an idea, a principle, and a mindset. The truth is that war is something different for every person on Earth because war affects all people in vastly different ways. In actuality, only a small percentage of world population has actually seen “open and declared armed hostile conflict.” Most
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Though the war was not going anywhere fast, all nations involved were still heavily invested in the war when it concluded. Germany still had men on the frontlines willing and able to fight. The reason the war ended, in the German soldier’s opinion, is known as the stab in the back myth. The stab in the back myth is the idea that Germany surrendered because those at home could no longer endure the war. The homefront gave up because food rations were low, living conditions poor, but also because of the media spreading the truthful ideas that the war was not going anywhere soon. The German home front could no longer take the struggle with the idea that victory was nowhere in sight. The stab in the back myth came from soldiers believing women and Jews, who were the majority of citizens at home, were responsible for the surrender. As a result, veterans had an utter disgust with their own people upon returning from the war. It was not the veterans who spread the idea, “This legend was widely believed and deliberately disseminated by the defeated German military leadership, seeking to avoid personal consequences for their policies” (American Holocaust Museum). The government twisting the media in the wrong way had dire consequences in the future. Thirty years later, Adolf Hitler rose to power using this idea to kickstart his campaign. One could only imagine how more control over the media during World War I could have changed the outcome of history. If the public believed German victory was on the horizon, Germany might not have surrendered and history would be drastically different. Also, if the German government did not spread this idea like a wildfire, there most likely would have been a lot less public unrest over the next decade. However, if you look at the media coverage of the United States’ Vietnam campaign, censoring the media is not
Though the war was not going anywhere fast, all nations involved were still heavily invested in the war when it concluded. Germany still had men on the frontlines willing and able to fight. The reason the war ended, in the German soldier’s opinion, is known as the stab in the back myth. The stab in the back myth is the idea that Germany surrendered because those at home could no longer endure the war. The homefront gave up because food rations were low, living conditions poor, but also because of the media spreading the truthful ideas that the war was not going anywhere soon. The German home front could no longer take the struggle with the idea that victory was nowhere in sight. The stab in the back myth came from soldiers believing women and Jews, who were the majority of citizens at home, were responsible for the surrender. As a result, veterans had an utter disgust with their own people upon returning from the war. It was not the veterans who spread the idea, “This legend was widely believed and deliberately disseminated by the defeated German military leadership, seeking to avoid personal consequences for their policies” (American Holocaust Museum). The government twisting the media in the wrong way had dire consequences in the future. Thirty years later, Adolf Hitler rose to power using this idea to kickstart his campaign. One could only imagine how more control over the media during World War I could have changed the outcome of history. If the public believed German victory was on the horizon, Germany might not have surrendered and history would be drastically different. Also, if the German government did not spread this idea like a wildfire, there most likely would have been a lot less public unrest over the next decade. However, if you look at the media coverage of the United States’ Vietnam campaign, censoring the media is not