I don't like it when I bring up some historical event, and someone who literally doesn't know much about the event automatically goes on the defense of what I've said about it. For example, I read a book recently, called "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (by Jonathan Safran Foer) and in it there is a passage about the Dresden bombings. It really hit me powerfully, so I wanted to know more about it- I researched it a bunch, and thought it was terrible. Basically, it was an attack by the Allies during WWII on the German city of Dresden, during a time when the end of the war was already in sight. Knowing it was a city holding up to 200,000+ refugees from other parts of Europe, and that there was nothing there to destroy, American and British forces dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on the city. Phosphorus was dropped as well, in liquid form, which combusts when reacting with air- so pretty much, the entire city was fire. From so much heat and flames, a firestorm started, and there were hurricanes of fire. People were swept up into the flames, people's skin literally melted off, people burnt to death- and up to 300,000 civilians (mothers and children and innocent men!) were killed. Now, the numbers of casualties varies from source to source- when Allied forces came up with the number of dead, they of course wanted to make it seem less deadly than it had actually been, and said it was merely 20,000-30,000. But other sources go anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000. Most bodies could not be identified, as they were charred beyond recognition. People who dove into bodies of water to escape the horrors couldn't stay underwater forever- thus, the parts of their bodies above the water were burnt to a crisp, while the parts of them underwater remained intact. What surprised me most about this event was how I wasn't taught about it in school- but then again, why would such a negative thing that Americans and the Allies did be taught in a negative light to our class? Of course it wouldn't be. It also shocked me from reading the first hand accounts of how violent it was- how mcuh flames, the screaming, the crying, how the flames frightened adults into crying for the mothers and begging for water. How babies were swept out of mothers' arms into "fire tornadoes" and people melted into the asphalt on the streets. Everything was fire during the bombing. There were two rounds of bombing too. So back to my original thought, it really pissed me off when I brought this up to my older brother. He immediately responded "I highly doubt they would do that knowing it was a city filled with civilians, and I'm sure there weren't fire storms. And how coudl you have read first hand accounts if there was so much fire- how could there be anyone to tell about it?" First off, I wanted to slap him. Then i wanted to tell him he was stupid because of course there were some survivors- there were survivors from even the Hiroshima bombing. And I guess that history websites, and encyclopedias, and first hand accoutns lie about there being firestorms, right? Gosh! And of course America would NEVER do anything immoral, just to show their power, and of course Great Britian wouldn't have done that for revenge on the Germans.... (sarcasm). It just pisses me off how people automatically want to oppose your opinion, just for the sake of it, before they even KNOW about what the event even is. My older brother hadn't even heard of the Dresden bombing, and he was already saying my information was false. And then I brought it up to a German friend of mine, who also had never heard of it (not to be mean, but he can be rather uninformed). He immediately said he didn't care and that the city where he lives had been bombed too. I said "yeah, but the bombing of Dresden was on such a large scale," and I just wanted to talk about it with him, and he just pretty much says he doesn't care and goes to watch some stupid Ebaumsworld bullshit. I have a German exchange studnet living with me, and when I brought it up to him he knew about it and told me more stuff about it and how terrible it was. He KNEW about it. But for some reason this got me really upset- how people can almost deny that such a horrific event took place. Gosh! sorry, I had to vent. try wikipedia-ing this event. or serach for first hand accounts on a google search- the stories are sickening, but incredible. I dont knwo if I'd suggest google IMAGING it though, because you'll likely come up with some gruesome images of tons of burnt bodies. Cheers, Dylan
Read the book Slaughter House Five by kurt Vonnegut. It's a really good book, and Vonnegut witnessed the bombings firsthand.
wow im gonna have to wiki that! Heh when i was a kid i had a massive collection of horrible history books, which are history books about gruesome stuff buit aimed at kids. They had quiz's in them and one of them described the Dresden bombings (or something similar) and it asked who do you think did the bombing, i guessed germans simply based on because it was horrific. of course i was young and innocent then and not quite so knowledgable
It really pisses me off when people don't agree with my opinion either.History is written by the victors and is always slanted.The losers always depict it as worse than it was and that too is slanted.Your brother is only taking human nature into account when he voices his opinion.Something you haven't accounted for.There's always more to the story.
man this is perfect timing! in my world history class we are studying world war two and i think im gonna ask my teacher about this
There is a difference between opinion and factual information, whether you get it from the victor or the loser. The big difference is what is covered up and/or left out.
