What High Schoolers Are Taught About WW II That Is Complete Bull Shit!

How many movies have you seen, even in this day of age, that deal with World War number two? W have Pearl Harbor (horrible movie that dealt more with Kate Beckinsale being torn between two hot guys than the actual attack) Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, The Longest Day, and many, many, many more films that deal with one war that the United States was in four four years. I am actually convinced that it would take more than four years to see every movie ever made about those four years.

Was it important? Well, DUH! Of course it was! We were up against a horrible fucking dictator that was killing his own citizens left and right and wanted to take over the world! (And ironically enough we were allies with a man that did the exact same fucking things!)

Remember Me?

But even though we have movie after movie about one war, many Americans have the wrong ideas about what actually went on during the war. Between the conspiracies and good old fashioned propaganda, many people don't know what actually happened during the most IMPORTANT war in the 20th century.

Myth #1- America Did Not Know About What Was Happening To The Jews Until After The War.

Truth is, yeah, we really did. Eleanor Roosevelt begged her husband to allow more Jewish refugees into the country because of the atrocities they were facing. FDR, however, had a lot of anti-Semites in his own cabinet and ignored the pleas of his wife. 

America also had the plans of Auschwitz while they were building a goddamn railroad to the place! One strategically placed bomb could have at least delayed the transport of millions to the death camp, but America had more important things to worry about. (Like imprisoning Japanese-Americans.) 

But through intelligence a lot of people in the political system knew what was happening to the Jews. But if the American political machine was so clueless about the Holocaust, then why were soldiers ordered to go to concentration camps to "liberate" them? We knew. Well, not the average American, but the Americans with power? Yeah they knew!  

Why Did We Not Learn About This?

Simple, we were the victors. Yes, it is true that the American people as a whole did not know what happened in the concentration camps until the Nuremberg Trials, but the president and other higher up's in the American political machine did. But if we taught 10th graders that we knew about the slaughter of millions of people and really did nothing to stop it, it would make America look bad! So it is better that they don't know. We can't have anything that makes America look bad in our schools. (America... Fuck Yeah!) 

Myth #2- World War II "started" in 1939

So technically this is true. But the "war" that started in 1939 was about as much of a "war" as America's involvement in Libya today. Meaning, not much! In 1939 Great Britain did in fact declare war on Germany and vice-verse. But it prompted a year long stint of doing absolutely fucking nothing! That year long period is now known today as the "phony war". During the first days of WWII the English government was trying desperately to convince its citizens that they were not heading toward another World War.

Hence, a sign that would spawn a thousand memes

So during the first, of what would be known as WWII, England, and its vast Empire, did nothing! They did nothing but live in denial that they were in a fucking war. But then Churchill came into power and in 1940 Great Britain actually began to fight in a war that they declared almost a year before.

Why Did We Not Learn About This?

My best guess is that it doesn't matter that much to Americans. A lot of Americans still think that WWII did not start until we were brought into it, in 1941. (Two whole years before war was actually declared.) In American History we don't really care what happened before our country joined any conflict, just what happened once we got involved. And even in World History, if it is taught in America it is still going to be centered around America.

Myth #3- The D-Day Invasion Ultimately Ended The War In Europe 

Did the D-Day invasion help the Allied cause of the war? Yes. Was it the reason that Hitler decided he could never win the war and end up eating buck shot? NO! The truth is that the real deciding factor of the war in Europe was not the invasion on the western front, but rather the invasion on the eastern front. In a battle known as Stalingrad, Russian troops entered Berlin and kept bombing and fighting until it was clear that there was no fucking hope for Germany. So yeah, the liberation of France did suck for Germany but it would take a dictator just as evil (if not more) as Hitler, that did not care how many of his soldiers died, to really beat Hitler at his own game.

Still me bitches!!!!!

Why Did We Not Learn About This?

Two words- Cold War! Immediately after WWII the Soviet Union went from an Allie to an enemy. Stalin was so hated that Churchill tried to convinced the recently conquered Germany and his own country of Great Britain to declare war on the Soviet Union. But everyone was tired of war at that point, and Churchill even lost his re-election bid as Prime Minister of Great Britain. And Truman knew that the American people would not be happy about being on the winning side of one war just to jump into another one. But Fascism was no longer the dirty word in America, Communism was! To prove that point we would enter into two more wars and a few other "conflicts" just to show our disapproval at that particular political ideology.

Myth #4- More Deaths Occurred On The Axis Side Than The Allied Which Is Why We Won The War  

This absolutely sounds logical! After all, the deciding factor of WWI came down to whose side lost the most people, but in WWII, not so much. In fact there were a lot more deaths on the Allied side than there were on the Axis side. In fact of all the people who died (military and civilian) the Axis powers suffered a 5,930,000 loss,  while the Allied powers suffered a 18,587,000 loss of lives. Just to help you understand those figures more, here is a nice pie graph to help you compare those numbers:

This graph shows the percentage of the populations of the Allied and Axis powers that was killed during WWII. It shows that Allies lost not only more military lives, but also more civilian lives than the Axis powers. But we all know that the Allied side won the war, so it would only be logical that they would have suffered the least amount of casualties. That is a logical conclusion, but look at the bar graph below: (it repeats the above pie graph.) 

 China was under heavy attack from Japan which is why they had such a high civilian casualty rate. But the most people, military and civilian, died in the Soviet Union (who during the war was on our side) than any other country. At this point you have to remember that Stalin is credited to be responsible for more deaths than Hitler. (And these estimates include the millions that dies in the Holocaust. So yes, Stalin really was more evil than Hitler!)

Yep, that explains his logic perfectly!! 

Why Did We Not Learn About This?

Chances are you actually fucking did. Even though the Cold War tried to downplay the Soviet Union's role in the victory in Europe, America has never had any problems telling you what an evil FUCK Stalin was. Chances are you were just not paying attention because your teacher did not use the word fuck as often as I do. 

And even though it has no bearing to this post I would like to present a few more Stalin Memes. Enjoy!