Beyond WW2 (allies looked the other way on those crimes), Soviets did quite a number to East Germany in order to break their will. A lot of former eastern bloc nations are still incredibly insular to this day. The Japanese were probably wise to surrender before Russians stepped foot on their soil. Plenty of grudges and past wars to settle too...
Oh, Im sure. The culmination of war in general; fatigue, hunger, stress, depression and becoming desensitized to killing leads to people becoming savages. Theres nothing civil about any of it and its incredibly sad. Throw in the ignorance of those guys youre talking about, and it leads to those becoming savages in the rawest of forms.
Four and a half in two minutes. I thought for sure I lost but the next highest was a cute young lady next to me who hit two and a half. There was this super skinny Viking looking guy we were sure was going to beat us all. It was fun and everyone was laughing. The announcer asked what my secret was and I told him and the crowd that you just have to open up your throat and let it happen. Then I led a ziggy zaggy or whatever it is drinking cheer. ...oh, wait, were you asking about the sausage eating contest?
Great story.. Five years ago I was in the Philippines on the North part of the Leyte Gulf. That is where MacArthur defeated the Japanese in the largest naval battle in history. He came ashore there. I was thinking that it's unfortunate that more Americans didn't know that history and that area didn't capitalize on it to attract tourism.
For anyone that has Amazon Prime I highly recommend seeing "Generation War." It's a German series, three moves, made from the German POV of WWII. It get's into a lot of the moral ambiguity and compromise around why Germans served in the military and went along with the Nazis along with how horrible things ended for them.
Based on your recommendation, I'm watching this with my younger son. Got through the second episode, and wow is it good!! Thanks!
I'm going to Hawaii next week and the thing I'm looking forward to the most is seeing Pearl Harbor and the Arizona. #WWIIHistoryNerd
One of the interesting historical things about WWII to me is how the bitter enemies really changed quite quickly. Japan and Germany basically became some of the biggest allies of the US and the other Allies after WW2 heading into the Cold War. I mean, a lot of that was due to the Western influence on the defeated countries and a big bad in the Soviet Union, but literally a single generation after the most terrible war the planet has ever seen, those countries basically got along with each other. Japan surrendered in 1945, in 1958 you could buy a Toyota in the US, and by 1985 everybody had a Nintendo.
you may already know about the Museum of the Pacific War in little Fredericksburg, TX, but it is very much worth a visit.
Thanks to all yall tourists, Fredericksburg hasn't been little in a decade They've expanded the museum recently, btw, and it's more fantastic. also: this was on 60 Minutes last night, amazing interview with an amazing guy https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuremberg-prosecutor-ben-ferencz-60-minutes-2021-06-27/
