World History Spring 2018

Sickening to read Hitler’s speech on the Nuremberg Laws. An extract of the speech reveals how he thought that the Jewish people were intolerable and causing the German people challenges. He said. “it may be possible still to create a level ground on which the German people may find a tolerable relation towards the Jewish people.” This goes to show how deeply engrained the fascist mentality had become, and how deeply this feeling of “us” against the “other” was at the core of Hitler’s campaign. We see hints of this today with our current President, and his views on Mexican immigrants to the United States… Reading the actual laws were disturbing. They forbid Jews and Germans from marrying one another and even offered punishments of hard labour to those who broke these rules. What’s heartbreaking is that most German people blindly followed the rules, because they assumed their leader had their best interest. These laws also threatened sterilization to anyone who suffered from ...

I thought it was interesting how Strayer describes the First World War as starting in Europe but provoking a series of “echoes” in other countries. He references the war as “a European civil war with a global reach” (881) and mentions the way the war prompted a global culture of communism. This was interesting because it reminded me of the Eurocentrism we studied and made me reflect on how Eurocentrism remained such an important concept (and arguably still is today, with countries like Britain remaining powerful in the global marketplace).   It was also interesting because from the reading I could sense Germany’s desire to become a strong world power. Strayer also mentions this when he talks about how Germany was desperately seeking its “place in the sun” (882). These are the early hints of WWII in the making.   I found our conversation in class particularly thought provoking, especially when we discussed how hints of fascism can be seen in our society today....