Lack of awareness on WW1/2

mattjd said:
Sadly in high school history you only learn about WW1/2 if you take History as a GCSE option.
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I've had two daughters go thru Seniors & left without knowing a thing about WW1/WW2 apart from what I've told them. (Yes they would have had to take it as a GCSE option.)

I find it disgraceful they are not taught this in general as it's a massive part of our history & should be remembered.
 
CD32 said:
I've had two daughters go thru Seniors & left without knowing a thing about WW1/WW2 apart from what I've told them. (Yes they would have had to take it as a GCSE option.)

I find it disgraceful they are not taught this in general as it's a massive part of our history & should be remembered.
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(They also can't appreciate a certain episode of Fawlty towers. :( )

oops, shoulda been an edit. :rolleyes:
 
setter said:
At school we didnt cover any of the wars for gcse, the rise to power of the nazis was one area we did cover. My knowledge of ww2 is what ive read myself over the years, it's a subject ive aways been interested in, though my level of knowledge/reading on ww1 is a lot less.
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I did WW1, WW2, The Russian Revolution and the American Depression.

I also learned a bunch of Chinese History in Hong Kong when I was in Primary School, used to be able to say the Dynasty (the surname), from the very first one at over 2000BC to the last one in 1900's.

Forgotten it now!

History was one of my favourite subjects in School.
 
The younger generation is going to have grandparents who were born post-war.

I suspect many of us here feel a closer association to it based on the experiences of our grandparents - I know I do.

I have a soft spot for Chelsea Pensioners, and the annual remembrance circus is a good and great thing - I love that still many many people will stop for a one or two-minute silence.

If anyone ever has a chance to go on, or send their children on a battlefields tour (I went on one with the school when I was 14) - DO IT. Seeing the thousands and thousands of names on monuments and on headstones - and visiting the Somme and some trenches which have been kept the way there were - brilliant. A true insight. My overriding memory from it is the comparison of Tyne Cot and Langemark (Langemarck?) cemeteries.
 
Ppl just know it happened and was around 1940s and ended i think in 45 or so. It is getting on now so ppl wont know as much with the new generation compared to old as it gets less and less discussed.
 
I studied the Russian Revolution but my big area of interest is WWII.

01/09/39. Germany invades Poland.
03/09/39. Britain and France declare war on Germany.
17/09/39. Russia invades Poland.
30/11/39. Russia invades Finland.
09/04/40. Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
10/05/40. Germany invades Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and France.
10/05/40. Britain invades Iceland.
10/07/40. The Battle Of Britain begins.
28/10/40. Italy invades Greece.
31/10/40. The Battle Of Britain ends.
13/09/40. Italy invades Egypt.
06/04/41. Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.
22/06/41. Germany invades Russia.
07/12/41. Japan declares war on USA by attacking Pearl Harbour.
08/12/41. Japan invades Hong Kong.

Too cut a long story short. Germany is mostly beaten by Russia but the Americans claim victory and decide Britain did nothing. Italy wants to team up with whoever is winning at any one time. America beat Japan and still refuse to accept Britain did them any favours by defeating Japan in Borneo and Burma.
 
Its a bit shocking to not know anything about 2 of the worst conflicts in our history. But i guess it probably will become more common for people to lose touch. I guess it probably is more easy for people with no connection to it or any conflict to have no knowledge on it. I didn't do history but I know quite a bit about th wars. What can you do
 
Raymond Lin said:
I did WW1, WW2, The Russian Revolution and the American Depression.

I also learned a bunch of Chinese History in Hong Kong when I was in Primary School, used to be able to say the Dynasty (the surname), from the very first one at over 2000BC to the last one in 1900's.

Forgotten it now!

History was one of my favourite subjects in School.
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Medicine, irish history and rise of the nazis, from the weimar republic were the main topics we covered in our curriculum. Though ive been an avid reader of ww2 history for years, got quite a decent selection of books on the subject. However, i know very little about ww1, though interested in learning more, one of the fellas i work with had a great uncle who won the victoria cross at the battle of the somme, (36th ulster division).
 
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Another thing; do you recognise the end of the war as 1945 or 1946? I've always seen it as 1945, although some friends have argued that there were still conflicts ongoing as a result of the war well into 1946.
 
Housemate I'm living with this year thought the Holocaust was just a film and didn't think it was something that actually happened :eek:

I was ****ing fuming to say the least!!
 
I know a decent amount about the politics and social aspects of how it started, how it was conducted, and how it was concluded.

Have to say though if asked I would be guessing, early 40s, 43,44? Can't say I ever really considered it an important specific figure, apart from maybe pub quizzes?

*edit*

If anything it highlights the change in teaching methods of history from pointlessly regurgitating rote-learnt statistics to actually understanding what was going on back then :p
 
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