Wwii: the Good War?

US History Surv Since 1877 The Good War? Many Historians call serviceman War II The Good War. The Second orb involution consumed every corner of the globe, pitting the worlds biggest powers against each other. There were two sides the Axis powers and the Allied Powers. The Axis include some Ger many an(prenominal), 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 ca employ by several things. One was the Treaty of Versailles which Germany could non afford to pay.In malefactor 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 atomic number 18 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 Fussells accounts simply show that these terms are simply not possible for the teenage kid being sh ipped off to fight in the fight 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 state of war is misnamed The Good War here. He suggests how can the war be good when we are beatting these young boys in situations were they are throwing up out of fear. The fear is not the only problem, the men ate howling(a) 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 knowing meant replacement training center (pg. 95). Many thoughts would enter the draftees head afterwards reading those letters, Why, he wondered, were so many hundred of thous ands of drafted boys needed as replacements? For whom or what? Was the army expecting that many deaths or incapacitating wounds (Fussell pg. 95). He soon learned that the answer was yes which as you can imagination was quite demoralizing and does not condescend to The Good War idea.Another Concept that Fussel used to support his motion that World War II wasnt the good war every matchless was talking about was disproving the idea that only the germans spared innocent lifes. He talks about the measures that the Allied forces used to protect the german assumption that the FUSAG was going to attack at Pas De Calais (Fussell pg. 32). To move troops and reserves quickly to this fancied battlefield, Hitler would have to use railways, railway stations, and alas, railway towns, where many French civilians were killed (Fussell pg. 32). The allies bombed many french railroad structures and in the process killed many innocent citizens. The innocent killing of civilians could not relate to Wor ld War II being called the The Good War. If World War II, was The Good War then why was there so much desertion. Relating back to one of the problems I mentioned earlier, one of the main causes of desertion was fear. Many GIs were so scared that they required special attention. Says an American woman who worked with the Red Cross, Just before they went crosswise to France, belts and ties were removed from some of these young men.They were very, very young (Fussell pg. 108). Fussell tells of a battle in france, where a fresh battalion arrived to relive a unit that was buffet from fighting and many of the men had been killed. Their bodies not yet been removed, but were laid out neatly just behind the foxholes and decently covered with pine boughs (Fussell pg. 107). When the reinforcements recount this, they instantly disappeared only to show up many months later. How can World War II be The Good War when young men are disbanding out of pure fear.World War II may be being fought fo r a just reason. Hitler is clearly an uncontrollable menace who needs to be put down. On the other hand, World War II cant be The Good War that many historians claim it to be. Just as Fussell suggests a war cant be good when we are sending our teenage young men in extreme situations which cause them to vomit out of fear. similarly how can a war be good when we are taking the lives of innocent civilians. In the end, World War is not The Good War that many suggest it to be.