Monday, October 25, 2010
Finally a Study of Battle
What surprised me most during this chapter of reading was that for once we studied the struggle itself. I do not care what rights women now have because of the war, or how minorities finally have an equal chance at getting a job. Well, yes, I do care and think that it is important to know but learning about minorities but not the war itself three years in a row can get tiresome. I find it interesting that we will spend approximately 33 days talking about the causes of the war and then spend two, maybe three if we are lucky, days talking about the war itself. It seems to me that war itself somehow gets lost in the goal of learning the cause of war and the affects of the war. I think the interesting part of this reading was that for once we looked at battles, leaders, and the soldiers themselves. I think a greater look into the war would allow for a greater level of understanding of history then the current way of learning about the tension that caused the war but then saying war happened and then moving on to the time between the wars.
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I'm glad you don't care about women's rights. Awesome. Anyways, I think we spent more time talking about the causes of war than the actual war because the whole point of studying history is to learn from it. We all understand how war works, we don't really need to study it. Learning what caused these wars can be helpful in preventing future ones.
ReplyDeleteAJ,
ReplyDeleteI agree. The war itself is by far the most interesting part of it for me. Also, the causes and effects of the war are very abstract and hard to pinpoint. All of our talking served only to give me a headache. I am also very happy that the chapter doesn't include a giant portion dedicated to women and minorities. Newsflash nobody cares. I just want to learn about war.
First, try not to base much of your blog on assumptions of the future. The unit we are currently studying is titled, "Practices and Effects" of the war, and I promise we will talk war. Your broader point is valid, which questions how and why we learn aspects of history. The truth is that there is not a lot militarily to WWI relative to other wars. There is relatively little change over the course of 4 years marked by trenches, trenches, trenches. Still, we will get into it! Further, Kaitlyn is correct that for most students of history (who will not go on to write about WWI military history), the main point is trying to understand why everything occurred, to understand actions and reactions, and to be able to find application to problems and situations today. Trenches are interesting, I agree, but much less relevant to the majority of students. Feel free to learn more about Joffre through your non-fiction assignment!
ReplyDeletehahahaha i loved the bit about women's rights... and you know i agree with you.
ReplyDeleteBut for once, i dissagree with your main point (sorry). I think that learning about the causes of the war was really more intresting than the war itself, since that was something we hadn't really done anything on...
also, trying to unravel the causes of the war and the reasons behind it (which are fairly obscure) is much less fact-oriented, and thus probably more interesting for your average student (isn't everyone tired of learning a list of facts about a war?)
Ok so I definitely see your point AJ and I think its great that we finally go to study the battles and war time strategies. But I also think you have to consider what type of class we are in. For so many years we have been learning facts facts facts and I think its kind of cool to get to discuss how certain things have led to other actions and events. And then also take that and apply it to the current situations. And alos, speaking of battle tactics I was super disappointed with the early strategies. I mean it was like invade each other then attack until everyone gets tired! Where is the fun in that? I mean stalemates I feel like dont solve anything and in the case of this war just were a waste of time.
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