The Great Depression did not only affect the U.S., but many other places in the world, such as Germany, which had to pay reparations to the allies for the damage they had caused in World War I. World War II brought many countries out of this depression because it supplied jobs for the unemployed, such as factory work, and the obvious, the military. Many men and women on the home front were eager to join the armed forces after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Fierce patriotism was the norm in the US. The war effort was tremendous, even little children collected peach pits that were later ground up and used in gas masks. Infuriated youths lied about their age to join the military and get their revenge for that fateful incident at Pearl Harbor.

I also learned a great deal about the history and geography of different countries in Europe and in the Pacific. For instance, the Japanese people see their emperor as a god, and his word is the law. Because of their fanatical devotion, they sometimes crashed their planes into enemy ships just to prove their worthiness to the gods. The Germans had a similar vision for their notorious leader, Adolph Hitler. He is often referred to as the cruelest man to ever walk the earth. He killed millions of Jews and blamed all of the world’s problems on them. Even though allied with the U.S. and Britain, Joseph Stalin of Russia was and equally cruel man and killed millions of innocent people under his Communist dictatorship.

Before studying World War II, I thought the only countries that made a difference in the outcome of the war were Japan, the U.S., Germany, England, and Russia. I have since learned that countries like Brazil provided supplies to the allies during the war. Canada fought alongside the U.S. and the U.K. during the invasion of Normandy and helped create a small beachhead that the allies would use for attacking Germany and liberating all of the countries that had fallen into the clutches of Germany.

So, in conclusion, my worldview has changed dramatically. Now I see that if we had not fought in World War II, all of the good and righteousness we had ever known would have disappeared and the world would have fallen into a dark age of evil and despair.