Controlling International Power Shelly Lewis

The benefit of having a history of wars and tragedies is that as people of the future our government can see where the United States went wrong and prevent it from happening again. World War II is one of the major events that has been researched and now America has a better understanding of how the conflict began and why it exploded into a massive chaos. One country gained enough power to get resources that would help them get more than what they already had. The power to kill is a strong force that Japan and Germany used against the world. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and upset the United States, practically forcing them into the war in order to defend democracy. Germany killed millions of Jews during the holocaust, because that was their way of showing control over those who were weak. Our government did what it had to in order to preserve democracy, establish peace and save lives, not to take over the world. Japan and Germany became irresponsible and abused their privacy rights. Both countries kept their plans of attack and mass murder a secret from the rest of the world. The rise of powers came all throughout the 1930s, Mussolini of Japan showed his position of power by attacking China in Adolph Hitler climbed the ladder to the top of Germany’s leader as a dictator all throughout the 1930s he used power to control. Hitler overpowered his citizens and turned a majority of them into anti- Semitists and Nazis. With the rage and anger that Hitler grew in Germany, so did the people, and they began to take advantage of the weak Jewish people in Germany, and then Poland and so on. Eventually, concentration camps like Auschwitz were in effect and killing lives everyday. While Hitler was gaining power one step at a time, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and created a huge disturbance the Americans with this surprise attack. The United States was dragged into the war, in order to establish peace among all nations once again. So America became the central power of World War II, fighting for the allies and against the hunger for control around the world. Power was used in World War II as a necessity in order to gain control over others, but when power was abused by an irresponsible force, death was the result.

Power was the evil mechanism that the enemies of World War II abused because it was simple for them to kill and therefore gain control over others. The Nazi military was massive in numbers, and overpowered German Jews, along with other types of people who were discriminated against. In the co-mix to the left, Arte Spiegelman drew of his father at one of the selections that he had to go through in Auschwitz. The prisoners of war look very skinny, much like skeletons. Those who passed through these selections survived because they were fit and healthy so they could work for the Nazis. But as the right box shows, those who were sick and close to death were sent to the crematory. The way the Spiegelman makes the crematory look is so dark, evil and mischievous, which is exactly what it was to the prisoners of war. (Spiegelman, Arte. Maus; Volume 2, pg. 58)

Power was what Hitler and Mussolini used against the world, their plan was to take over completely so control was the only advantage they had. The political cartoon to the right depicts what Mount Rushmore would look like if Mussolini and Hitler took over the world. Democracy would no longer exist, a dictatorship of Nazi’s would overpower our free country. The lessons and laws that were established by our founding fathers would be destroyed, and Mussolini and Hitler would take over. This is the vision that America fought against in World War 2, letting these two terrifying leaders take over would be a sin to the world.

There needs to be a central control for the world, so in case of a time of war, there are boundaries of which each side can not disobey. Japan crossed the line when they bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7 th, This action can not be expectable, because justice is not right. This type of behavior from an international power needs to be contained, this is why there is international law about war. Unfortunately, what should have been the central power, was attacked and then had to be apart of the world war. But if the United States hadn’t been involved, Japan or Germany could have done more damage than they already had. In the comic above, all of the Japanese people are pulling in Uncle Sam (America) into the war, because of their attack on Pearl Harbor. ‘The end of the Nap’ is referring to how President Truman tried to keep our country as isolated as possible, but with the powers and forces that were going on overseas, America had to step in and help save liberty.

America used power as well, but didn’t use it as a way to gain control, just to preserve freedom and democracy in our country. The first Atomic Bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 th 1942, killing 100,000 people immediately or suffering through a causality that killed them later on. The irony of dropping the bomb, was that we helped Hitler gain more power in a way, and that is what the comic to the right is illustrating. When we attacked Japan, we used all of the intelligence of our scientists to create this killing monster through radiation. Our intentions were to make Japan realize we had more power than them and that they should surrender before we do something worse (Fat man). The power that the United States used was not to inflict

The End!! The End!!