The life of people at war places - Essay Example

The life of people at war places War remains and will continue to exist as controversial s 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. War brings benefits to a single group while the other group suffers a lot. The ultimate result of every war is usually 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. During these times, people lose their families while others part 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 a war is that wars usually result to many lose 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 Three 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 history 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 war in the history of human beings is the World War II. This war occurred in the whole world. It started in 1939 and ended in 1945. During this war, the world’s top most 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 war took place in the year 1850 to 1864, and it was led by the heterodox Christian Hong Xiuquan. 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 war took place in the entire world but was centered in Europe. This war involved all of the countries that are considered as a super power. The war comprised more than 70million military that was mobilized to take part in the warfare. Among the 70 million militaries, 60 million came from Europe. During this war, more than nine million soldiers were killed (Sondhaus, 2011). Positive effects of war Even though there are many effects that are associated with war. Positive effects also exist. However, positive effects of war rely wholly on in the place that a particular kind of war took place. War can result in positive impact on the economy of an area such as the great depression during the 1930s in the US. Technological advancement forms another positive result of war. When a country has been threatened or defeated in war, they will be cautious and, therefore, improve their technology so that they are not defeated again if such a situation repeats itself again. Strengthened military is another positive impact that might come as a result of the war. Countries tend to strengthen and train their soldiers more when they have been defeated during the war. 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 the World War II and talks about the American women were being exploited. During wars, women are usually given tasks that were supposed to be done by men. This act has been clearly brought out in this documentary film. When wars 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 the 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 their 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 ammunitions that were supposed to be taken by men. Wars do not know the type of gender that an individual has, wars typically require only manpower but not concerned with the sex. Shootings and bombings in the documentary The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter The picture above shows bombings that occurred during World War II. This is an evidence of the destructions that are caused by war. from the picture it can be seen that the environment has been destructed, after the war in The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, the economy had declined since there was needed a lot of capital in order to built 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 requires long durations of time to grow as they were before the war. The picture below is an evidence of Rosie attending to military services. Rosie Dirty Wars Dirty War is a documentary that was written as an investigative journalist work in trying to find out what happened to the U.S army. It was created and produced in the year2013. The film was directed by a director 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 tours 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 even 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 traveled 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 major 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 his report on American drone strikes (YouTube, 2015). There are many immoral acts that soldiers commit during wars. One of the acts is abusing the dead people during this war time. Evidence can be found in the documentary, Dirty 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 to the population around war zones suffers economically, socially and politically. These effects can either be a long time or short time. Economic effects After the war public debt and taxation increases to compensate for the loss, there is also the need to increase taxation 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 major 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 group 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. This inflation was described by Chinese strategist Sun Tzu. Tzu stated that where the army is the price are always high and whenever prices of commodities rise the wealth of the people is greatly exhausted. Another way to fund the war is printing 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 taken as slaves and made to work for the other country. By doing this, they will be building the economy of the other country while the there country is stumbling. Evidence can be found in the movie Dirty Wars. Prisoners taken capture by the Vietnam Political effect After the war several states creates enmity which may cause endless squabbles amongst themselves a good example after the second world war Korea, which was one country divided into two states North and South Korea. North Korea adapted a communist government system while South Korea became a Democrat country. The North were in support of the Russian while the South were on the side of The United States. This was the genesis of a greater rift that emerged since 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 destructions 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 lead to the killing of at least eight hundred thousand people. The war intensified maximum migration of nearly 2million people of over two million people to neighboring countries. The settling of refugee camps put pressure on the nearby ecosystem forest being cleared to build shelters destructing 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 favors .making some of the women to contact deadly sexual transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. Children are also affected during the war because in some parts of the world like Africa, Asia and some part 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 good, 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 effects that are brought by war. Women and children are the people who are most affected while the country suffers greatly from economic decline. The movies Dirty Waters and The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter have clearly 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. Read More