The Life of People at War Places
Abstract
War remains and will continue to exist as controversial subjects in the life of people unless people decide to have a different perception of the world. The primary causes of war in the world are usually political, territorial, economic conflicts, and militarism. Battle gives benefits to a single group when the other side suffers greatly. The ultimate result of every war is usually the destruction and death of people.
The scenery of a place that has suffered from war is portrayed by the existence of corpses and blood all over.
Since the beginning of time, wars have brought many losses to the affected people. People lose their families during these times when others go away and end up never meeting again. The people who start had a purpose in their minds; others think that war will cause solutions to their problems or will make them achieve something. The truth behind the conflict is that wars usually result in many losses as compared to the benefits that can be related to war. War is sad since many human beings get killed. The result of war is usually hatred and a long-lasting conflict between the warring groups (Cooley, 2012).
Top 3 Deadliest Wars in the History of Human Beings
To bring to limelight the fact about wars, I will briefly summarize the ten most deadly wars that occurred in the past of man. Despite the fact that every individual has the right to live, others decide to deny the innocent this right for their benefits. Wars occur in various forms; some of these forms comprise of genocides, civil wars, and mass executions. The most deadly conflict in the history of human beings is World War II. This war occurred in the whole world. It started in 1939 and ended in 1945. During this war, the world’s first countries combined ii groups and categorized themselves as the Allies and the Axis. This is the most widespread war in the whole world, which had more than 100 million militaries that were mobilized to participate in the war. This war resulted in an estimate of 50 to 70 million people who died during the war (Sulzberger, 2015). The second most deadly war is the Taiping Rebellion. This war occurred in China. It was a widespread civil war that took place in southern China. The fight took place in the year 1850 to 1864, and the heterodox Christian Hong Xiuquan led it. The primary reason for him starting this war is because he claimed that he had received visions that he was the younger brother of Jesus and was against the ruling Manchu-led dynasty. This war led to the deaths of around 20 million people (Heath & Perry, 2014). In the year 1914 to 1918, there was another deadly war. The name of the war is World War I. The fighting took place in the entire world but was centred in Europe. This war involved all of the countries that are considered as a superpower. The war comprised more than 70million military that was mobilized to take part in the warfare. Among the 70 million armies, 60 million came from Europe. During this war, more than nine million soldiers were killed (Sondhaus, 2011).
Positive Effects of War
Even though many effects are associated with war. Positive effects also exist. However, the positive effects of war rely wholly on upon in the place that a particular kind of fighting took place. War can result in a positive impact on the economy of an area such as the great depression during the 1930s in the U.S. Technological advancement forms another positive result of the war. When a country has been threatened or defeated in battle, they will be cautious and, therefore, improve their technology so that they are not defeated again if such a situation repeats itself. The strengthened military is another positive impact that might come as a result of the war. Countries tend to improve and train their soldiers more when they have been defeated during the battle. These are usually done for purposes of being cautious if the same events occur in the future (Lieblich, 2013)
Analysis of War Documentary Films
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
The life and Times of Rosie the Riveter is a film that has been acted in the context of a documentary. It is an American documentary film that was created in 1980 by the Connie field. The major issues discussed in the movie are how wars affect women during international wars. The film majors on World War II, and talks about the American women were being exploited. During battles, women are usually given tasks that were supposed to be done by men. This act has been brought out in this documentary film. When fights start, soldiers are needed in plenty; if there is an insufficiency of soldiers, women are forced to become soldiers. Rosie is the main character who represents all the other women who were in charge of the manufacturing plants that created munitions and other war equipment that were required to be used during World War II. The idea of this film is taken from a California Rosie the Riveter reunion. In the documentary, five women are chosen to be interviewed. Among the five women, three of them were black while the other two were whites. All the women narrated the problems that they encountered during World War II. The women during World War II portrayed a mixture of pleasant nostalgia and so many detached bitterness (YouTube, 2015).
Women soldiers in the documentary The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
The picture above shows Rosie and other women working as soldiers during the war. They were forced to carry heavy ammunition that was supposed to be taken by men. Wars do not know the type of gender that an individual has; wars typically require the only workforce but not concerned with the sex.
Shootings and bombings in the documentary The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
The picture above shows the attacks that occurred during World War II. This is evidence of the destruction that is caused by war. From the view it can be seen that the environment has been destroyed, after the war in The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, the economy had declined since there was needed a lot of capital to build up the infrastructure that had been destroyed. The people who survived the war will face a lot of trouble trying to rebuild their countries and destroyed forests as trees require long durations of time to grow as they were before the war.
The picture below is evidence of Rosie attending to military services.
Rosie
Dirty Wars
Dirty War is a documentary that was written as an investigative journalist’s work in trying to find out what happened to the U.S. army. It was created and produced in the year2013. A director directed the film called Richard Rowley. It was written by two writers, namely Scahill and David Ricker. The synopsis of the movie is about an investigative journalist by the name Jeremih Scahill, who travels to Afghanistan where there is a war taking place. The Journalists also tour several other countries that war is taking place; Yemen and Somalia are the countries that he visits since the U.S. government has taken action in those countries. In Afghanistan, he investigates the U.S. military that had hidden the deaths of five civilians. From this, it can be seen that during wars, the military can engage in Killing innocent people and cover-up for the mistakes they have done. The most affected people during the war are women and children. Instances of killed women and men are evidenced in this documentary that Jeremih reveals. There are other occasions that the military engages in immoral acts such as raping women and small girls that are against their job ethics. It can also be noted that among the five killed civilians, two of them were pregnant women; it is sorrowful killing women who are pregnant. What is even sad is that the unborn children are also killed at a time, whereby they have not yet lived to enjoy the world just because of soldiers. The order for killing the pregnant women was given from the Joint Special Operations Command (YouTube, 2015).
When Scahill was done investigating the attacks, he travelled to the other parts of JSOC intervention. Here, he interviewed the proponents and the opponents. The survivors, including U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, was also interviewed. All of them showed that they were not happy with the results that were brought by the war. In this documentary, Scahill goes on to investigate the assassinations that were made on American Citizens. The killings were made on Anwar al-Awlaki and his son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki. The journalist concludes that these wars were the significant causes of radicalization that Muslims have. As the documentary ends, he discusses the Yemeni investigative journalist by the name Abdulelah Haider Shaye. The journalist had detained. After being arrested, he was tried and sentenced. All these charges that were placed on him were due to terrorism-related crimes that were brought about after he reported on American drone strikes (YouTube, 2015).
There are many immoral acts that soldiers commit during wars. One of the laws is abusing dead people during this wartime. Evidence can be found in the Dirty documentary Wars.
A soldier jumping over a dead man’s body
How War Changes the Characters of the Affected People
In my opinion, war affects the people who were victims and those who took part, for example, soldiers. From women, men, children, and even the soldiers have to live with the memories of the destruction and killings that occurred during these wars. These memories are the ones that result in a change of character and personality.
Negative Effects of War
War has a lot of adverse effects on the population around war zones suffers economically, socially, and politically. These effects can either be a long time or a short time.
Economic Effects
After the war, public debt, and tax increases to compensate for the loss, there is also the need to increase tax so that the government can pay the debt it had borrowed to sustain the country during the conflict. Thomas Paine, a revolutionist, warned in that war has one significant effect that is to increase taxation (Snow, 1996).
Education is also affected during and after the war; students cannot continue with their studies. For example, The United States sanction levied to Iraq in the year 1990 weakened the Iraq educational system that was once known to be the best in the Middle East. Students were not attending school due to insecurity, yet they were the future breadwinners and targeted groups to build the country’s economy (Strachan & Scheipers, 2011).
War causes inflation that affects the consumers of that particular war zone population; the price of various commodities subsequently increases to reduce living standards. Chinese strategist Sun Tzu described this inflation. Tzu stated that where the army is the price is always high and whenever prices of commodities rise, the wealth of the people is much exhausted. Another way to fund the war is to print more currency that contributes to inflation because it acts as an indirect tax on a state’s economy to support the war (Frank, Ziebarth & Field, 1982).
Many people are taken captive during wars; they are considered as slaves and made to work for the other country. By doing this, they will be building the economy of the other country while their country is stumbling. Evidence can be found in the movie Dirty Wars.
Prisoners were taken capture by Vietnam
Political Effect
After the war, several states creates hostility, which may cause endless disputes amongst themselves, an excellent example after the second world war Korea, which was one country divided into two states North and South Korea. North Korea adopted a communist government system, while South Korea became a Democrat country. The North was in support of the Russian while the South was on the side of The United States. This was the genesis of a more significant rift that emerged from the end of the Second World War up to today.
Social Effects
The civilians in war zones are the ones who are immediately affected. During the war, a lot of people lose their lives that lead to depopulation; for instance, during the Thirty Years’ War, the population of Germany state was reduced by 30%.
During the war, there is also a lot of destruction of the environment, loss of property, and human displacement. The use of chemicals by militants during war highly pollutes the environment. The United States atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki affected the civilians; most people after the war became sterile for decades, high amounts of cancer, increased number of Tumor victims, and a high number of birth deficiencies (Snow, 2011).
Displacement of people during the war was evident during The Rwandan genocide that leads to the killing of at least eight hundred thousand people. The conflict intensified the maximum migration of nearly 2million people of over two million people to neighbouring countries. The settling of refugee camps put pressure on the nearby ecosystem forest to be cleared to build shelters destroying the immediate environment (Strachan & Scheipers, 2011).
Most Affected Populations During War
The most affected population during conflicts are women and children. Women are not only killed, but they are mercilessly raped or forced to exchange sexual favours, making some of the women to contact deadly sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. Children are also affected during the war because in some parts of the world, like Africa, Asia, and some parts of Latin American children are used as children soldiers. A whole decade of war in Sierra Leone sparked a lot of children kidnapping to fight as child soldiers by the Revolutionary United Front (Frank, Ziebarth & Field, 2010).
Children running away from soldiers in the movie dirty wars
Conclusion
War is not right, the society is moving towards civilization, and thus people need to find more sophisticated methods of solving problems once they arise. There are many adverse effects as compared to positive results that are brought by war. Women and children are the people who are most affected while the country suffers significantly from economic decline. The movies Dirty Waters and The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter have brought out the states that were during those war times as they have vividly brought out the significant effects and happenings that are experienced in places where there is war.
References;
- Sondhaus, L. (2011). World War I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Sulzberger, C. (2015). World War II. New York: American Heritage.
- Heath, I., & Perry, M. (2014). The Taiping rebellion, 1851-66. London: Osprey.
- Frank, M., Ziebarth, M., & Field, C. (2010). The life and times of Rosie the Riveter. Emeryville, Calif.: Clarity Educational Productions.
- YouTube,. (2015). Dirty War. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poZXRUxlaqk
- YouTube,. (2015). Rosie the Riveter. Retrieved 8 December 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtEH6eQAUTI
- Strachan, H., & Scheipers, S. (2011). The changing character of war. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Snow, D. (2011). Uncivil wars. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
- Lieblich, E. (2013). International law and civil wars. New York: Routledge.
- Cooley, J. (2012). Unholy wars. London: Pluto Press.