Chapter 20 - Collapse At The Center; World War, Depression, & The Rebalancing of Global Power (1914-1970s)

Chapter 20 is filled with events that launched the 20th century. It's filled with events that had a huge impact in history that are  still looked at today as events that we don't want to happen again.  During this time in history events like The Great Depression, the rise of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and World War I and II happened.

World War I had a huge impact in societies, and The Great Depression lead to our economy crashing down. All of these things happening were definitely effecting the people living in this time. But to me, nothing was worse than the Holocaust. It all started with a new political ideology known as fascism.

"Fascism was intensely nationalistic, seeking to revitalize and purify the nation and to mobilize its people for some grand task. Its spokesman praised violence against enemies as a renewing force in society, celebrated action rather than reflection, and placed their father in a charismatic leader. Fascists also bitterly condemned individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary democracy, and communism, all of which, they argued, divided and weakened the nation."

It was this kind of thinking that eventually lead to the Nazi party lead by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). "Hitler's leadership proclaimed a message of intense German nationalism cast in terms of racial superiority, bitter hatred for Jews as an alien presence, passionate opposition to communism, a determination to rescue Germany from the humiliating requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, and a willingness to decisively tackle the country's economic problems."

Hitler was well supported, and quickly moved for the full Nazi control of Germany. Hitler has enormous power over his people, and when he implemented policies that restricted Jews people went with it and obeyed. The Jews were discriminated in a way that we had never seen before in history. They were excluded from universities, professional organizations, and civil employment. But this was just the start of how terrible things were going to get for the Jewish community. The Nazi's were determined to get rid of the entire Jewish population and this eventually lead to what we now know as the Holocaust. This part of history has always been the most fascinating to me for many reasons. One of those being just how could we let something like this happen, and the horror that these people were put through it leaves me speechless. 

The Holocaust can best be described as a genocide. The Nazi's believed that they needed to get rid of the entire Jewish population and they would stop at nothing to achieve that goal. During this time, the Jews were discriminated against. They were made to wear the Star of David on their sleeve, they would go into hiding, they were sent into concentration camps, they were killed in gas chambers, and all because the Nazi's saw them as inferior.

In grade school I read the story of Anne Frank, and ever science then this point in history has been the most interesting to me. Seeing it from the eyes of a young girl living in that time period definitely puts things into perspective in the fear that these people lived in.

What I think about when I read things like this, is what can we do as a society to prevent events like this from happening again. There are people out there that are still racist, and see others as inferior to them. It's truly sad that although we've come so far the things that we hear in the news sometimes make us think that events like this can potentially happen again.