HW #4

For Wed, Nov. 18. Please read Chapters 1 and 2 Handouts "From Lightning to Phoney War" and "The Fall of Western Europe" and answer questions A-C from Ch. 1 and A-B in CH. 2.

Chapter 1.

A)
1. Based on sources A-D, the effects of the war on the Polish people were devastating. Germany said that the war would be "humane", but right away, innocent civilians were targets. One of the first attacks on Poland killed 80 women and children out of 120 dead. Beyond the immediate effects of death, houses and villages were destroyed, and people were left starving. Dead bodies were piling up in the streets, and bombs were going off. Source D shows the utter devastation of a city attacked by the Germans -- the buildings are torn apart, the whole place is reduced nearly to rubble with only the foundations left standings.

2.
a) I think that sources A-C were anonymous probably because whoever was speaking out against the German occupation didn't want to be caught, because that could mean punishment for them and their families. This does affect their credibility somewhat, because for all the reader knows, these might not have been written by a Polish person after all -- it could be propaganda written by a British politician, or it could be exaggerated to evoke sympathy.

b) Source D helps use sources A-C because it helps the reader visualize what they are reading about in Sources A-C. Actually seeing the skeletons of buildings that the Germans bombed makes it much more real to the reader.

c) The Polish Black Book was published in Britain in 1940 probably as a kind if propaganda. This was just when Britain was entering the war, and Britain entered the war in the first place because of Britain's invasion of Poland. If this book was just coming out then, it would have been read by a number of British people who would have been moved to support the war and make an effort in it.

d) Its kind of hard to tell the usefulness of The Polish Black Book as a source after only having read 3 excerpts from it, but it seems as if it might be a little exaggerated for the sake of making people angry so that they wanted to fight the Germans, in which case it might not be the most reliable source.

B)
1. I think it's hard to argue that any methods of war are "humane", when the purpose of war is to kill as many people as you can on the other side. I don't think that any of the things listed in sources A-D are "humane", as they show the killing of civilians, the burning of houses and the destruction of cities.

2. Sources A-D suggest that the Germans weren't "humane" by listing all the things they did -- they bombed cities, systematically burned homes, destroyed villages, killed women and children, and left the people starving. This sounds like an example of total war to me.

3. This is the same question as the last two. I just answered this. "They bombed cities, systematically burned homes, destroyed villages, killed women and children, and left the people starving".

C)
1. According to Source E, the lives of the people in the "Big House" only really changed in that they did have arrangements made in case of an air raid. However, the lifestyle was still luxurious -- the description of the place the owner and her guests would stay sounds more like a luxury hotel than a bunker, and even the female servants' quarter sounds far better than whatever conditions the Poles were living in.

2. Source F suggests that daily life in London seems like it was affected, but that people did continue to lead their lives as normally as possible while incorporating precautions for what could come -- for example, the two gentlemen chatting while wearing gas masks by a pool of water for putting out fires. Still living life somewhat normally, but also being cautious of what could happen.

3. Based on Sources E and F, I would say that the British called WWII "The Phony War" because life was still going on in its normal fashion, without any interference from fighting that one would normally expect from war. Yes, people had bunkers set up and wore gas masks just in case, but behind these superficial precautions, life was unchanged.

Chapter 2

A.
1. In Source A, Churchill was offering the British a long, hard battle, but the only other option was defeat. Churchill recognized that the people would have to suffer throughout the war, and that it would be long and cruel, but to fight was the only real option.

2. I think that the "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" speech was so popular because it used strong language to evoke a feeling of national pride in the British people. Churchill's word choice made the suffering that was inevitably ahead for the British people sound heroic, and this attitude fortified them for battle.

B)
1. An 'armada' is a military term for a large fleet of ships, usually rescuing something/something. This word was probably used because it sounds grand and heroic, like the British were executing a daring rescue. Words like these build national pride and makes the reader feel like their government is doing something wonderful for the Poles.

2. I don't know that a French paper might have written this much differently. It might use less grandiose language and have less a search for breathless superlatives, but ultimately the depiction of the British as heros would have stayed the same. A German paper would have made the incident sound as if the British were unfair -- perhaps that they used unfair tactics, or had too large a fleet. Obviously it wouldn't be so complimentary to the British.