Atomic Bomb

At 8.15am on August 1945 a US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb  “Little Boy” on the seventh biggest city in Japan, Hiroshima, intantly almost 80 000 people were killed. And three days later second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, causing 40 000 innocent people died. This was officially first nuclear bomb war in the history.  The bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred by US president Harry Truman. In the months of 2 atomic bomb dropped on Japan, not only it killed people instantly, but people had to die slowly as a result of radiation poisoning.

Since 1942, many scientists of the Manhattan project had been working on developing atomic bomb.  The Manhattan project was most secret wartime project in history. Although US military was cautioned by the new deadly weapon, Truman was convinced that the bomb was the only option to pay Japanese back from the pearl harbour. The result was successful numerous of people had died due to the atomic bomb and Japanese finally surrendered on August 15, six days after bombing in Nagasaki. Even though the war was won people wasn’t happy with it. Due to killing innocent civilians of Japan, lots of people questioned the government “was the atomic bomb necessary?”.

I think US should’ve had think of other way to win against Japan, instead of resulting numerous massacre took place. Conflict between one country to another is caused by their leaders, not the civilians. I think that US went too far on the atomic bomb, killing more than 100 000+ people instantly and totally destroyed the country.

Bennett comes to Power

After Bennett came to power, he believed that if he helped businesses survive and grow, they would provide jobs for workers. The workers then have a job and afford goods, thereby they would have increase in business growth and more employment around Canada. Bennett tried to accomplish his goals by increasing tariff to protect Canadian business from foreign business. But the problem was industries that exports their products such as wheat farming, mining and fishing were not helped by these high tariffs. Bennett only saw high tariffs would force foreign business to lower theirs. By 1935, only Britain had agreed to lower tariffs for Canadian products. While low prices for goods did not restart the economy. Unemployed and “transients” could not afford cheaply goods.

 

Bennett created relief camps for thousands and thousands of transients, single homeless men who are in search of work. In these years, people who does not have a job was treated like a sinner. To move them away from cities, federal government built relief camps deep in Canadian wilderness. Men in the camps were given food, shelter, army-style clothing and twenty cents a day from tiny budget by Department of National Defence. People in relief camps were building bridges and roads, cut tress , dug ditches, and worked on other projects. Lot of people were oppose to relief camps, because not only they working conditions were bad, they saw there is no hop for the future by saving twenty cents a day.

 

Bennett made a new deal after failure of relief camp. On January 3, 1935 he made coast to coast radio speech that shocked most of Canadians over the country. He ended laissez faire, which is a promises and laws to regulate hours of work, make minimum wage, better working conditions and provide insurance against illness, industrial accidents, and unemployment. This speech made unemployed Canadians happy, but others believed that Bennett’s new deal was desperate effort to win next election.

 

I think Bennett was somewhat a good Prime Minister even though he failed his relief camp project, he managed to get back with his new deal which to me it would be hopeful news if I were to be in that time with no jobs.

Appeasement

The new British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, came to power in 1937. As soon as he was elected, he had to face with threat of potential war and one of the worst economic depression in history. Like any European leader, he had no economic luxury and desire to go into another war, because memories of WW! Was still fresh in their minds. Chamberlain was unwilling to fight another war, he hoped that diplomacy could keep the fragile peace.

 

Chamberlain favored a policy of appeasement. Appeasement is to bring peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment. He believed that Hitler was reasonable leader and a great leader who had made German to get back up. Chamberlain wanted Hitler to tell the world what Germany wanted. Then through negotiations, German’s need could be appeased, so German Wehrmacht (army) could be kept inside German border. Chamberlain believed that Hitler was a man who kept his promises.

 

Canadian PM Mackenzie King also supported appeasement. In Mackenzie King’s diary, he noted Hitler was a sincere man who had no intention to provoke a war. He agreed with Chamberlain that Hitler, soon will be appeased.  

Radio

Nowadays, people don’t listen to radio as much as they did few decades ago, throughout developing technologies, people have more entertaining things to do other than listening to radio, such as playing video games and computer but in the 1920’s it was different. 1920’s was the year that many modern conveniences became part of people’s life, such as telephones and automobiles, air planes. Today, we have easy access to all of them, but back in the 1920s it wasn’t. The developing new technologies and great inventions in 1920s and 1930s was essential to have our present technologies.

 

 In 1901 Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden had made world first wireless transmission of the human voice. Not Guglielmo Marconi who is credited with inventing the radio. Three years later on July 22, 1922, radio station CKCK in Regina owned by The Leader made its first broadcast. This was significant event in Sasketchewan because according to 1921 census, over 70 percent of population lived in farms far, far apart from one another. Only few of them had access to telephones and automobile. When CKCK made its first broadcast, radio quickly began to break down this isolation. This phenomenon of radio quickly spread all over the country, by 1924 there were already fifty-one stations across Canada. The first national radio network began in 1923, when Canadian National Railways installed. CNR created the first coast to coast radio network. In that time, radio not only provided news and events it was one form of entertainment.  

Prohibition

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s two groups called Women’s Christian Temperance Union and Anti-Saloon League were against drinking alcohols, they were in favour of prohibition. Because they thought beers and liquors were better use in providing food for the soldiers and they thought it wasn’t fair for soldiers because people were drinking and partying back home sweet home, while soldiers are fighting and dying on the bloody battlefield.

Through pressure, the government of the United Stateds made law called Volstead Act, which they illegalize manufacturing and selling alcohols.

But this is where the negative effects of the law begins, many people who needed to get drink used their imagination to create home made alcohols, but homemade recipes were dangerous to drink because it has poisonous substances, fuel oils and cause internal bleeding, paralysing or even kill the drinker.

And other negative effect were the rise of gangsters. After people discovered that home made alcohol was not wise, they had to find other way to get drinks. salons disguised a Private association, known as speakeasies, led to the rise of gangsters such as “Scarface”, who made $60 million by bootlegging, gambling, prostitution and drugs.

As the result, Prohibition started with good reasons, but left negative results, such as people dying while drinking home made alcohols and led to the rise of gangsters.

Honourable Foot, Trench Foot

Trench was the fortification of the warfare, 7ft deep and 475miles long used for soldiers to avoid the explosions of bomb or hide from enemy’s ammunition.

During war like World War 1 which took 4 years to the end, soldier’s trench life was usual yet dangerous. In the first year of the war over 20 000 British soldiers suffered from the trench foot. Soldiers were not only dying from the attack by the enemy, they were also dying inside the trenches. Trench foot is a medical condition occurs by prolonged exposure to dame, poor environmental hygiene or when the feet are cold and damp while wearing constricting footwear. For soldiers they had to stay in trenches long time because they don’t know when will enemies will attack, they would stay hours or day to the end.

Affected feet become numb and begins to have a decaying odour due to the possibility of the early stages of necrosis setting in. As the conditions continues which is most likely to happened for soldiers because they need to watch enemy’s movement or prepare for an ambush, feet begin to swell and turn red. The sores become infected with fungi. It is like wrinkled thumb after being in the pool for 2 days that the wrinkly skin is no longer connected to the muscle

Trench foor was the serious problem during World War 1 becuase trench foot effects on both sides of armies during trench warfare and they had no medicines or good enviorment to prevent the trench foot, all they had to prevent was 3 pairs of socks to make feet warm and dry.

World War 1 and Domino effect

World war 1, started on Jun 28th 1914, It was beautiful Sunday morning when Francis Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary visited Sarajevo, Serbia. As his car drove along the path of Sarajevo 19 years old Gavrillo Pincip, the member of terrorist/nationalist called “Black hand” stopped the car and shot Archduke and his wife.

This assassination happened in Sarajevo became a spark of the World War 1. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for assassination of their Archduke and they declared war with little Slavic nations. This Austria-Hungary’s decision of attacking Slavic nations became a bigger spark of World War 1. After the declaration of war between Austria-Hungary and Slavic nation, the alliance domino starts to take place between Triple Entente (alliance between Russia, France and Britain) and Central powers (alliance Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy who did not fought). Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary because they were also a Slavic nation, they supported Serbia. Austria-Hungary asked Germany for help, and Germany declared war with Russia on August 1st 1914. France, alliance with Russia had declared war with Germany on August 3rd 1914. Since now Germany has France on east and Russia on west, German general, Alfred Graf von Schlieffen created a plan called “Schliemann plan” where they would circle around the Belgium and France to get rid of the east so they can now only focus to the Russia on the west. German troops went to Belgium in order to access France but the Germans did not know that Belgium and Britain was allies. Britain had promised Belgium to protect in a treaty signed so Britain went to France on August 4th and Fought with Germans in Belgium. And then Canada joined because back in that time Canada wasn’t fully independent they were part of Britain. 

In my opinion I think the blame goes to Austria because they could’ve find better way to solve this problem. Declaring war with slavic nations which caused domino affect and resulted WW1. Declaring war wasn’t necessary, they could’ve found lots of different ways to make Serbia to pay for what they have done.