Why are those who claim to be interested in history actually just obsessed with WW2?

Question

It's like if you look on the history chanel - it's more commonly known as the Hitler chanel. I know WW2 was a defining period, but it's not the only topic is it. Are we all dumbed down these days??

Answer 1

I have History Channel on right now, and it's once again some sh*t about "n**i Flying Saucers."  I'm sure that later they'll have" UFOs in the Bible."  Again. I used to love History Channel, but now it's rarely interesting at all.  "Ice Road Truckers?"  What a load of garbage THAT is, and it's so typical of the "new" History Channel!  

Answer 2

Hockey Fan--"Okay "Manthebraces," whatever the h**l that means, but, then again, I'm an AmeriKan so I obviously am ignorant and don't know anything.  Grow up and go away."

Check out some his other answers!  He claims to have been playing guitar professionally for 50 years, so I'd guess he's at least 65, maybe 70. Funny, he sounds like any little emo punk.  Possibly Alzheimer's, tho'.

The world may never know....

Answer 3

Right with reference to US helping Bosnia.l am a Londoner and anti-american.l refuse to travel to the united states,until Bush has gone,and recently paid £200 more to go the other way round to get to NZ.But l am not blind or bigoted and the truth is that without american help Bosnia would today be part of Serbia.l followed this war every single day,and you have made a poor judgement.

This latest question is also completely wrong.The most written about and filmed about event of all time is WW1.People are not obsessed with WW2,but are 94 years later are still obsessed with WW1 (including me)Keep trying and you might get there eventually.At least your interested in topics that matter to the world!!!

Answer 4

the history channel has alot of stuff

Answer 5

Why when we have thousands of years of history do we concentrate on the blood letting of war , The simple explanation is that war is always the most closely reported either from a monk in the dark ages to news reporters in the modern age , you can almost read a blow by blow account of the battle of Hastings even to the standard bearer for William to individual peoples bravery. and yet if you wanted to know what soap a good wife used in the same year you would be very hard pressed to find out ( and to the ill informed there were a thousand recipes for lye soap some scented) As to that hater of Americans who thinks that they are all ignorant , my education is second to none but besides many of my American friends  i am just a child when it comes to knowledge . Do not judge others by your own poor standards . Lest you be judged by you spelling. I am an Englishman by birth and inclination and dislike unfairness in any form, especially when it is completely biased

Answer 6

I know I'm sick of it. I studied modern world history at GCSE then to my horror found A Level history was again modern world. I knew WW2 inside out by this time!!

Personally I find medieval history far more fascinating. I'm not being funny but Hitler wasn't the worst we've ever seen either, look at Genghis Khan he was ruthless.

Modern world is perceived as vital nowadays because it's recent, I know a lot of people that served in the war, my great grandad who died a couple of years ago served in the 1st and 2nd.

It just means more to people, it's difficult to comprehend ancient history because it was so long ago.  

Answer 7

It's probably because there is an abundance of film footage and photos of WWII as compared with events further back therefore they don't need to rely on reenactments.  Documentaries about the Civil War would have no film footage obviously so there would have to be reenactments instead, perhaps that is just not as popular with people.

I am less bothered by the amount of WWII stories on History Channel as I am the dumb shows like "Ice Road Truckers" since that has nothing to do with history at all.

Answer 8

No plenty of other channels show British History, but as many people  don't seem to know much about their own history, perhaps as this is more recent, more people are likely to watch. I watch all manner of programmes, like History of Britain, and others that have depicted our history through the ages. Currently there is a very good programme on the Thames, hosted by Peter Ackroyd, very informative

Hockey Fan, another American who seems to think that America won WW2.  Suggest you look at your history and revise it.

Answer 9

World War 2 was not merely a defining moment as you describe it.  For us here in UK it was a long drawn out process starting in 1939 and finally ending in the late summer of 1945.

I was born in 1941 and lived through the final stages of WW2 and it's aftermath in the late forties and growing up into my teens in the 1950s.

Remember, this is England and is not to be confused with the USA.

Here in UK we had in all some fifteen years of rationing, followed by years of austerity, something which the modern generation have no knowledge of nor yet should they.

The Battle of Britain was fought by every single person here in UK and not merely by the RAF. People gave their pots and pans to make Spitfire wings, they gave their beautiful Georgian wrought iron front railings.  Above all the people gave their money and their lives in the defence of our nation and to ensure that we remain free.

We must never forget the great sacrifices made by our people and we must also never forget the American leadership in WW2 which finally lead to the massive assault upon n**i occupied Europe at D-Day 6th June 1944.

Paris 1944

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oawZEYXIC...

People just cannot imagine what it was like living under the heel of the n**i Jackboot and how these vile monsters occupied our Channel Islands and systematically brutalised and starved our people to death.

Hundreds of Engish folk living on the Channel Islands when the n***s came were shipped out to Camps in n**i Germany.  You just don't want to know what happend.  Horrible.

Make no mistake,  Britain and her loyal Empire and Comonwealth, including Canada, Australia and Newzealand, lead by the USA and with our allies, the Free French, the Poles, Czechs, Danes and others, finally won a glorious victory over tyranny.

That vile n**i tyranny which murdered 6,000,000 Jews and a further 4,000,000 Gentiles was finally put down - thanks to the Red Army and all of us together.

We will remember them.

God bless them all - those wonderful darling people.

Answer 10

World War II was THE defining moment of the 20th Century. However, we never would have had a WWII OR WWI without a lot of History before and after those conflicts. World War II continues to define the World we live in today.

Perhaps your History Channel is the basic one. There are several you know. There are also the Military Channels, Discovery, PBS, et al which provide gobs of other History.

Note, probably most importantly, that WWII was the first major conflict where technology allowed for films, color photographs and films, publicly accessible radio, etc.

We are only as dumbed down as we allow ourselves to be. You might want to check out these, and other, chaNNels, or, read a book or two on another period in History which interests you.

Okay "Manthebraces," whatever the h**l that means, but, then again, I'm an AmeriKan so I obviously am ignorant and don't know anything.

Grow up and go away.

Quit using this site to bash MY Country. Is it perfect-no. But you are so far off base as to be laughable. You don't even attempt to answer legitimate questions - you twist everything into an opportunity to bash AmeriCa. You're pitiful.

I apologize to the rest of you for this public comment, but this BIG MAN hides in Cyberspace so one can't contact him directly.

EDIT:  A LOT of us have an interest in WWII over other subjects because we have a PERSONAL connection with it.

And anyone who has the B@lls to come right out and say they hate America IS stupid enough to spend an extra $200-300 to avoid us. Good. Stay away. It's attitudes like yours that had us throw you out in the first place.

EDIT RE: CLIVE--Clive has provided you with a terrific answer which you MUST read. The only thing I disagree with is that all children these days should know these things. England was on the brink of oblivion - held together with guts and that stiff upper lip (and a bit of scotch tape) and kept on going - every day - knowing it could be their last. Churchill helped them through this, but,"Never, in the field of human endeavor, have so many owed so much to so few." I probably screwed that up a bit, but that's the RAF he's referring to.

Answer 11

You are right, but this is not in my opinion part of a paranoid plot, but simply out of necessity.

Television is a visual medium, and excels when it has visual effects. World War II excels in this area because ALL sides in the conflict were intent on documenting their participation in the war, so the amount of film available is just staggering. Every year, even more film is released from archives around the world, often very inclusive of tactical procedures. Also, as is often noted, the generation that fought this war is dying off at an incredible rate (perhaps 2000 every day around the world as stated by some sources!), and when they are gone their testimony will go with them. If documentaries are going to be made with first person eye witnesses, they must be made NOW, as there are almost no remaining First World War veterans, while the veterans from Korea and Vietnam will be around for perhaps another twenty years before they are in the same situation.

Documentary films CAN be made about earlier conflicts, and often are made well, but because of the absence of moving pictures and new eye witnesses, the end result is often under much harsher constraints as there is only so much you can do with still photographs, paintings and sketches, while journals often prove very difficult to manipulate into a new and contraversial viewpoint. There is of course the choice of live recreation with actors, but with the limited budgets of the documentary film maker the quality of performances is often so low that it actually detracts from the end product rather than enhancing its beleiveability.

Answer 12

yeah know what u mean i love history that way but thats because its all ive looked into so far. Its just that theres so much of WW2 to look into it is the only period thats old enough to be history but close enough to actually effect us here today in a significant way. Anyway people who say they are interested in history cant be interested in all periods of time!! so its perfectly ok to say that you love history when WW2 is your main thing. As for the history channels... WW2 was the first major even to be filmed alot so they like showing it on the telly cos they can embellish the programmes with lots of clips n that. Hard to do a whole interesting programme on the battle of Hastings!! (ohoh thats gonna annoy some people i can tell)

hope this helps

XX  

Answer 13

*Good answer Hockey fan to Mac...what'shisname (sorry, I couldn't pronounce it. Probably because I'm a stupid, uneducated AmeriKan).

LOL! I've often wondered the same thing. I'm a history major in college and I've always had a fascination with the subject (all of it, world, American, ancient, present). However, I've noticed that every time someone claims to love history it's always "I love WWII" then you ask them about another part of history and they're like "I don't know... I just study WWII". I believe the reason is WWII is such a fascinating subject. Personally I never studied the war until I went to college. Up until that point I couldn't understand why people were so wrapped up in it. But when you start reading about all that went on you really become hooked. Hitler's story alone could take a lifetime to research and read about. Understanding the man's mind really intrigues people.

Also, you have to understand that WWII has all the things people fantasize about, only this really happened. You have an awful, awful villain. An entire continent, no an entire world frozen in fear wondering who will save them. Then your hero (the allies) comes to the rescue. Saving an oppressed people from certain annihilation. It's just like a movie only it's real.

You have to really love history to be fascinated by the technological advancements of the Sumerian empire, or the many gods of the Egyptians. Reading about the Gutenberg press or the Renaissance isn't going to do much for most people. The reason teachers dwell so long on wars is they know that is what will hold their students attention. And wars, especially WWII, are very important to history so it's not like the teacher isn't doing his/her job.

Answer 14

Plenty of existing newsreel makes for good documentaries. Its also something peoples grandparents were part of, so it's still palpable.

From a US point of view it's comforting, real good & evil stuff, right down to the uniforms... It's war without the realpolitick, the worrying that "our boys" (as you might put it) are just the tools of state involved in the morally ambiguous promotion of the state's interests. For Americans it's also hugely self-defining, prior to WW2 America was an economic monster but a foriegn policy recluse, unwilling to bear the burden of foriegn responsibility; the realities of WW2 changed all that and brought America forward to its position as leader of the free world.

In reality it holds no more important in the 20thC than The Great War. WW2 swept away (or in one case temporarily promoted) the crazy, unsustainable  regimes of ideology. WW1 transformed centuries of political certainties, the existence of which was indefinate, and ushered in the politically modern era, as such it was at least as significant as WW2.  

Answer 15

You are correct.  Many of the History Channel's shows are not even history and they do tend to concentrate on WWII.  I suspect it's because so many thousands of feet of film was shot in WWII and so little in WWI and Korea.

Answer 16

You need to check the history channel schedule.  They have a lot more.   You might have a point but I think that, like you said, that was a defining point in our history.  There is more to the olympics than Phelps.  However, a good portion of the news coverage is about him, for good reason.

Answer 17

There is a lot more than WWII on it. But what gets me is all the UFO and ghost shows. I like solid history, not myths.....I just checked tonights. Ice Truckers and UFO junk....Wish they would get back to history!

Answer 18

In my school we didn't even learn about World War 2 :

Egyptians

Romans

Middle Ages

Mayans and the Conquistadors

Tudors (A subject I have studied since starting school and now hate)

Stuarts

Victorian Factories (Not sure why)

Then the 20th Century history lessons were the worst we spent a week on the First World War (which is not enough to cover it)

Spent about 6 months on the rise of Hitler

Then we didn't learn anything about the 2nd World War, Communism or anything like the Cold War, The Space Race, Feminism.

The history channel does show a lot of WW2 programes but now a lot of it is mainly myths and other stuff I agree with whoever said they like real solid history, myths are all very well for a story but nothing more.

Answer 19

I am mad on history and obsessed in WW2

Answer 20

Not true.

Maybe one or two will be like that (lived through the war, cant get over the experience) but not all viewers immerse themselves perpetually on the WW2 feature films viewable through the HC.

Come on, there are more options on the history channel programming. They did not hire morons. They, however, are known to cater to wishes and requests by the viewers for repeats, reruns etc.

Maybe there has been a deluge of emails to replay old WW2 features to remind everybody the evils and futility of war. Has the population forgotten that It takes years , decades, eons to get over war?.WW1 & WW2 weres not happy chapters in our history as a human race.