World War II Guns and Stuff

Not too long ago, I was invited to be part of a World War II weapons demonstration at the Idaho Military History Museum. This museum houses a great collection of artifacts from all the wars that the U.S. has participated in and highlights Idaho's contribution to those conflicts. For this particular evening, a class on U.S. military was getting a World War II weapons demonstration, and I got to tag along.

The first part of the evening was a talk about the weapons of World War II from three reenactors. The reenactors dressed up in period uniforms and discussed how weapons progressed between World War I and World War II. They included both German weapons, like the MG-42 and Luger, and Allied weapons like the M1 Garand, the M1 Carbine, the Thompson Sub-machine gun, and the B.A.R. The reenactors went through each weapon discussing what it was used for, what kind of ammunition it took, and it was fired.

The next part of the evening was getting a live demonstration of the weapons where the guns were taken outside and the reenactors fired off blank rounds.

Firing the M1 Garand

Loading the M1 Carbine

Loading the B.A.R.

Firing the German Maschinepistole

Overall, the evening was thoroughly enjoyable! It was great to see these vintage weapons in action and even get up close and personal with them!

Civil War Demonstration

A couple of weeks ago, I got a rare treat! I sat in on a military history class, and on that particular day, we got a Civil War demonstration. A Civil War reenactor came in and showed the class all sorts of equipment and clothing that soldiers used. The reenactor was dressed much the same as a typical soldier and gave a lot of information about the war and the typical life of a solider. Then, afterwards, the class was invited to come up to look at the gear and ask the reenactor more questions. Presentations like that really make history come alive, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The reenactor brought of lot of gear that a Civil War solider would have used. He brought in two muzzle-loading muskets, one a smooth bore and the other a rifled musket. He explained how the soldiers would have loaded their rifles using cartridges, percussion caps, and ramrods. Of course, there weren’t any live firing in the classroom! The reenactor also brought and passed around Minie balls and rounded bullets for smooth bore rifles.  He also showed us a cavalry saber, a side arm that a cavalry soldier would have carried, and an example of a timed shell that an artillery piece would have fired.

Moreover, the reenactor brought much of the gear that a Civil War soldier would have carried, including a bayonet, a cartridge belt, a canteen, a blanket roll, and a pack.  The reenactor also brought various clothes including jackets and hats that a soldier would wear. He also spent a lot of time answering questions but the class. It was much different than a normal lecture about the Civil War would be. The best part of the presentation was at the end where the class was invited to come up and check out the gear and ask more questions. I got to pick up the rifled musket and it came up to my chin!

Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation! I’m glad the professor of the class brought in the reenactor to give us a whole new perspective on the Civil War. It was much better than a standard lecture with a bunch of facts. I think that more history courses need to incorporate reenactors because they really make history more fascinating. I believe that more people would enjoy history if classes were that awesome!

Top Ten Songs about History

Every once in a while I get tips about history related content out there on the web. This last week Ben Eisen of the All Time Top Ten podcast contacted me to let me know about his episode Top Ten Songs about Historical Events . In this show, Ben and co-host Chris Wolfing share their top ten songs in history about history. The songs they chose are about topics ranging from the French revolution, racism, apartheid, and much more. Ben and Chris not only share the songs but also explain the events behind them.

Ben's top ten list:

• Bad Religion - "Los Angeles Burning"
• Allen Sherman - "You Went the Wrong Way Old King Louie"
• Artichoke - "Galileo Galilei"
• Bruce Springsteen - "Nebraska"
• Sublime - "April 29, 1992"
• Elvis Costello - "Let Him Dangle"
• Randy Newman - Burn on"
• Bob Dylan - "The Hurricane"
• Gordon Lightfoot - "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
• Crosby, Stills, & Nash - "Ohio"

Chris's top ten list:

• Stevie Wonder - "Black Man"
• The Moody Blues - "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume"
• Nolan McKelvey - "Dust Bowl Blues"
• The Human League - "The Lebanon"
• Crosby, Stills, & Nash - "After the Dolphin"
• The Scorpions - "Wind of Change"
• Bruce Hornsby - "The Way it Is"
• Peter Gabriel - "Biko"
• Sting - "Children's Crusade"
• Billy Joel - "We Didn't Start the Fire"

Being not only a big fan of history but of music as well, I really enjoyed the podcast and recommend it for anyone who is a history fan. Music is another avenue of learning about historical events and how past events have impacted the present, so check it out!

The Legacy of WWII

I just finished watching an excellent documentary on World War II from the History Channel called WWII in HD. This documentary follows the lives of twelve Americans throughout the war and explores the different battles and campaigns from their perspective as well as the impact of the war on their lives. What makes this documentary stand out is that most of the footage it shows had never been seen before. Despite some qualms about it, this is one of my favorite documentaries about WWII.

I know I'm a few years late in seeing it, but I thought it did a good job highlighting some of the most famous battles from the war including Guadalcanal, D-Day, Iwo Jima, the Battle of the Bulge, and Okinawa. However, I felt that the documentary skipped over too much of the early days of the war when America wasn't doing so hot. It also focused solely on the United States' involvement excluding events in Russia and China. But having just taken a class at Boise State about WWII, I understood the war from a different perspective than watching the episodes alone.

One of my favorite episodes in the series is called "Bloody Resolve," in which the main story is about the Marines fighting for Tarawa. I liked how the episode demonstrated the terrible price the U.S. would have to pay to fight the Axis, especially Japan. It did not gloss over the casualties to show heroic deeds but showed a lot of dead Americans on the beaches. This reminded me of a discussion in class about how cruel and merciless WWII became. To fight the Germans and Japanese, Americans had to be just as cruel and merciless, bombing German cities and knocking Japanese troops out of caves with flamethrowers. Then, of course, America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing thousands instantly.

The more I learn about World War II, the more I find that many documentaries only highlight how America won, painting WWII as "the good war." In reality, WWII was the most destructive war in history with over 60 million casualties, over half of them civilians. Let's not forget the Holocaust either. For my WWII class last semester, the instructor wrote on the syllabus, "I am sorry if you dislike human beings after the end of this course." Now I know why. Instead of being the good war, the legacy of World War II is more aptly described as the unspeakable things human beings to do each other.

What's a History Degree Worth?

Well, I did it! After three years of homework, papers, and exams, I finally graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in History from Boise State University a couple weeks ago. It feels good to finally be done with my degree. After all, I probably did more reading and writing in my history classes than I did the whole rest of my life! However, now that I have my degree, the question remains: what do I do now?

Throughout my coursework, I have had many people offer me their opinions on what I should do with my history degree. Some automatically assume I want to teach history, while others have no clue whatsoever what jobs are out there for history majors. They want to know exactly what positions history majors can fill in a depressed economy. 

In my last couple of semesters, I have gotten to do some career exploration and here are some of the career fields that I've found for history majors:

• Research - history majors are some of the most adept at research, no matter if it's legal, corporate, historical, or personal research. History majors must be good at research to do well in their coursework and that could open up a lot of doors in terms of potential careers.
  
  
• Writing or Editing –I don’t know of any other college degree, other than English or journalism, which requires students to be such good writers than history. History majors are usually famous for their aptitude and skill with the written word. It is difficult to pass classes without being a good, if not great, writer. Therefore, history majors are ideal candidates for writing or editorial careers.
  
  
• Education – history majors often serve as teachers at the secondary or postsecondary level. Those serving at the secondary level, however, spend the majority of their coursework in education classes in the last two years. History majors pursuing education careers must have a passion for teaching in order to survive the unrewarding, often underfunded life in a school.
  
  
• Museum Curators – history majors have the option of sharing their passion with the public by working at museums leading tours, setting up displays, working with archives and historical documents, and answering questions from visitors.
  
  
• Librarians – grads with history degrees are usually adept at finding information and this is an excellent skill to have working in a library to help others find information or categorizing historical documents and books, magazines, and articles.

With a little creativity, I’m confident I can find a career path out there using the skills I honed as a history major!

Movie Review of Lincoln

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my dad took me to see Lincoln, the new movie from director Steven Spielberg about the final months of the life of Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals, the movie follows the personal and political struggles of President Lincoln in the last months of the war in 1865 and in getting the Thirteenth Amendment passed in Congress. Both my dad and I left the movie theater amazed at what we saw, and both us believed this movie to be worth seeing in the theater - a rare compliment from us!

The plot of the movie revolves around the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, and is possibly President Lincoln's greatest legacy to the country besides his tragic death. Overall, the movie demonstrates the personal and political dilemmas Lincoln faced towards the end of the Civil War, wondering how the war could be brought to an end but also wrestling with this son, Robert, over whether to let him enlist and dealing with the grief of his wife over the death of their other son, Willy. This movie shows the inexplicable hardships Lincoln went through as president in an uncertain time for the nation.

The acting in this movie is superb! Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Lincoln with Sally Field as his wife, Mary. Tommy Lee Jones also makes an appearance as abolitionist and Representative Thaddeus Stevens. Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show as Lincoln. I felt as if I was watching the real Lincoln himself! Day-Lewis has Lincoln down in his voice, his mannerisms, everything. He's probably the closest we'll ever get to the real person. Sally Field comes in as a close second in portraying Lincoln's wife, Mary. Both of those actors made the movie one of the highest quality films out there.

While I enjoyed this movie thoroughly, I was disappointed that the film only covers the last few months of Lincoln's life. Much of the movie revolves around political maneuverings to get the amendment passed. I would have liked to see more of how the war affected Lincoln and the nation but I can't complain too much. This movie shows the human side of Lincoln, both his amiable qualities and his flaws, his political shrewdness and his relationships to his family members. It is an enjoyable, heartbreaking film that everyone with even the slightest curiosity in history should see!