1) Link between WWI and WWII:
- It was not necessarily the causes the were unique for each of these wars, but the immense scale.
2) Can politics be logical/moral? Is it necessary to be immoral to be practical?
- Politics can be both logical and moral. At times, it may be more practical to follow through on an immoral decision, but not always. Additional point: what may be moral (and practical) to one side may be immoral to another (atom bomb on Hiroshima potentially saved American lives, but decimated many Japanese civilians).
3) What is a more "fruitful...approach to the issue of causes"?
- A more poignant question to consider is how the two world wars were made possible, with the "enormity of events" leading up to them.
4) "For the truth of the twentieth-century European civilization was that the world it dominated was pregnant with war."
- "Inevitable" (?) due to large population size (due to drugs, diet, and draining), wealth, railway control, improvements in (weapon) technology (with the aid of the Industrial Revolution), and "permanent surplus" of food, energy, and raw materials. In Keegan's words, there was just too much "blood, iron, and gold" to go sitting around, which quite possibly became the egotistical temptation that contributed to the commencing of the World Wars.
5) Factors Keegan describes that led to WWII:
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6) What is the impact of nationalism on the individual? What role did it play in the spawning of WWII?
- Nationalism can impact an individual in frighteningly powerful ways. Obsessive devotion can transcend inspiration, causing the individual to blindly sacrifice everything for the face of the cause. Oftentimes, however, this single-mindedness can greatly increase the success of rallying men for the military. A shift in thinking Keegan address which was found interesting is the difference between an 18th century soldier, viewed as having "surrendered [their] rights", as service was a punishment, to the idealization of the 19th century soldier who "wanted to be what he was" and carried with him honor.
7) "States cannot survive in a military vacuum; without armed forces a state does not exist."
- There are many examples of this post-WWI. For example, both Italy's and Germany's existing government caved due to their inability to maintain structured authority; in their "vacuum", a fierce, militaristic government was often favored by the people. Without these armed forces (either in convergence with the government or as the compliment of it), the nation would be all too vulnerable to other imposing nations.
8) "War had taken ahold of them...and would never let them go."
These words describe the arresting lifestyle which took hold of soldiers as they fell into the dependence of routine military life. An interesting paradox of such a lifestyle is, as Keegan fathoms, "escape from freedom was often a real liberation" of having to make daily decisive choices.
9) Did Keegan believe WWII was inevitable? Do you agree?
All in all, yes he did. In fact, he even uses that very word, "inevitable" to describe the pregnancy of war in the interrelation of the global society. For me, however, I would have to disagree, quite simply for the reason that, ultimately, nothing in history is inevitable. Nothing is predictable. Any last minute shift at and given moment is possible.
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Work Cited:Keegan, John. The Second World War. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin, 1990. Print.
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