Why the fascination with WWII?

keefg

What is it about WWII that warrants such fascination & interest?

I love watching all the documentaries and reading books etc on the subject but for the life of me I can't put my finger on what it is about WWII that I find so interesting.

And of course it's not just me, with countless sources of information available about WWII there is still, all these years later so much interest globally.

I mean, it's not exactly a pleasant time in recent history so why the fascination?

For me, just one of the many reasons why I find it so interesting/incredible is because of the scale of the war. I often watch documentaries and think to myself after "How the feck did this happen?"

So, what's your reason(s) for the interest?

marcsignal

Great question OP, and one I could have asked myself tbh. For me there are many different areas of interest.

I'm 42 now and have been interested in it pretty much all my life, and began studying it intensively about 25 years ago. Firstly, like everyone my age, we were brought up on a diet of loads of classic WW2 movies, and then the World at War series, so my interest started through entertainment, and then morphed into the documentary side. I also have family who fought on both sides (though the german side were relatives through marriage) so I was able to get both sides of the story.

The more I've learned, the more fascinated I've become. Where in the beginning I was interested in the Tanks, Boats and Planes, the 'hard edged objects' if you will, later i began to dig around looking for answers to stuff, like you i guess, "How did this happen??"

If I'm honest, I'm more interested in the German side, because, let's face it, it's more fascinating. On the surface It all looked ordered and diciplined, and under the surface, they were, imo, 'Hippies in Uniform' and in the cold light of day, Nazism was nothing less than a Pagan Cult. How, and why, did the Germans go along with it ?? I've been curious about that for years ? How did one of the most advanced and cultured people in Europe allow themselves to be manipulated in such a way ?? It's almost as if it was like something 'not of this physical world' and that supernatural dark forces were at work somewhere.

It always seemed disturbing to me also, that, by and large, the people who had money and influence before the war, still had their money and influence after. It sounds a bit 'conspiracy thoery like' but some aspects of this reek of the illumaniti.

At this point, thats my area of interest, the things that went on in the background, that I never heard about years ago.

Some of the new info coming out of places like Russia since 1990 has changed my perspective on much of what I learned previously. If I'm honest I'm flabbergasted with some of the things that happened towards the end, like the Americans and Russians picking and choosing people who were clearly war criminals to work for them after the War, and the Vatican providing Red Cross documents for Joseph Mengele??? It's as if the principles for which they fought the Nazis became meaningless. Very depressing I always think .

One example is Albert Speer, the 'Celebrity Nazi', He got away with a 20 year jail sentence, and his subordinate 'Fritz" Sauckel' took the rope at Nuremberg on his behalf....... The politics of the allies selling out on their principles :(

I'm not even going to mention the Holocaust, I'm in enough trouble around here for that already.......:pac:

Fuinseog

keefg wrote: »

What is it about WWII that warrants such fascination & interest?

I love watching all the documentaries and reading books etc on the subject but for the life of me I can't put my finger on what it is about WWII that I find so interesting.

And of course it's not just me, with countless sources of information available about WWII there is still, all these years later so much interest globally.

I mean, it's not exactly a pleasant time in recent history so why the fascination?

For me, just one of the many reasons why I find it so interesting/incredible is because of the scale of the war. I often watch documentaries and think to myself after "How the feck did this happen?"

So, what's your reason(s) for the interest?

I for one wish there wasn't such a fascination with the Third Reich. then the price of anything associated with it wouldn't be so high

citizen_p

for me its was just the right time and setting...

using new technology and it had alot more pictures, documentation etc... to bring it to life and keep it going. lots of 1st hand sources of facts.

cameras and film were coming into their own
tanks were being developed
planes became the strong arm they are today
and i think of it as the last major war.
back then 1000 men would have to die to get the front page
nowadays when 1 dies in conflict his story is put on the news.


all wars from now on imo will be terror related and guerrilla warfare
besides in africa and maybe south america

Happy Monday

WW1 was largely an imperalist war fought between the great powers of Europe

WW2 was much more ideologically based with great personalities like Hitler, Stalin and Churchill and movements in an all out struggle which would shape the world for time to come.

jmayo

As mentioned by others above I think there are a few reasons that WWII became a much bigger subject of interest than other wars.

Firstly older people (in their 40s, 50s, and 60s) would have personally known people who fought in the war. Some would be fascinated with what their parents or older relatives did during the war.

I think there it is probably the first major war where war footage was more widespread and available.
Also both sides used this footage for propaganda purposes.
We can still see this today.

Now saying that we could argue why the likes of Korea or Vietnam doesn't hold the attention for the same reason, but these wars were small scale local affairs and most importantly I beleive they were seen as dirty little wars.

WWII was a world wide conflict, with theatres ranging from the mountains of Norway, to the Sahara of North Africa, to the Steppes of Central Russia, to the island paradises of the Pacific, to the steaming jungles of Borneo.
Drive across Europe from Roscoff to say Slovakia and it is actually very hard to imagine how the Germans could conquer and hold such a wide expanse of land mass.
Even more staggering imagine a front line stretching from Leningrad to the Black Sea.

Also in the western world (Europe, North America, Australia/NZ) it was seen as a good war, a war fought against the untold evil of the Axis powers and the darkness they spread. It was almost like Lord of The Rings type stuff.

Hollywood and Pinewood contributed a lot to this view and it stuck in the imaginations of young boys.

Unlike WWI it isn't seen just as a fight between empires with millions dying needlessly in trenches.
Unlike subsequent wars it isn't about a Western power trying to hang onto it's power or push it's power further.
It was about the very survival of those western powers.

Of course we might just all have spent too much time playing with our toy soldiers, guns and dreaming about spitfires

citizen_p

ohh and 1 thing i forgot



that last war on equal terms

both sides had planes, tanks etc....

Local-womanizer

Seem kind of ashamed to say my interest came from "Saving Private Ryan":o

Seen that when I was a young'un,and it fascinated me.From then I read as much I could on the war.One history teacher of mine had a great set of books he just let us read on the subject.

With people like Stalin,Churchill and Hitler involved it is going to be interesting.They all brought to the war an extra something whether it be good or bad but it made it that more interesting and easier to "connect" to on a personal level.

And then it affected family members too.

keefg

Fuinseog wrote: »

I for one wish there wasn't such a fascination with the Third Reich. then the price of anything associated with it wouldn't be so high

I think it might be worse if it was swept under the carpet & forgotten about.

Anyhoo..

I recently watched a series on one of the Discovery or Nat Geo channels called "Convoy - War for the Atlantic" which really opened my eyes to a part of WWII that I knew nothing about.

When I think of merchant sailors I think of Uncle Albert in Only Fools & Horses but now I realise what a nightmare job those guys had trying to avoid the U-Boat "Wolfpacks".

marcsignal

keefg wrote: »

When I think of merchant sailors I think of Uncle Albert in Only Fools & Horses but now I realise what a nightmare job those guys had trying to avoid the U-Boat "Wolfpacks".

My grandfather on my dads side was a merchant sailor first and second world war. He was trans atlantic all the way through WW1, and mainly the Irish Sea in WW2. In fact he was the Bosun on the Franconia II, the ship that was involved in the Yalta Conference. He met Churchill, Roosevelt and Uncle Joe Stalin, that's my familys claim to fame;).

I have his log books here somewhere, I must scan them and post them up.

Bears and Vodka

Maybe because of 3 or even more political systems fighting, maybe because its the bloodiest war in history, maybe its a good moneymaker for some idk