War World 2
War World 2
Throughout the course of history, humankind has endured a myriad of wars. Wars have consumed millions of innocent lives, from mass genocides to massive battles. One can question the virtues of the human race by their inhuman acts in wartime. Adolf Hitlers “Final Solution” systematically wiped out millions of people off the face of the earth. Furthermore, The My Lai Massacre that occurred in the mists of the Vietnam War displays the poor moral fiber of American soldiers. Lastly, the present day War in Iraq did not have justified reasons for war, moreover, numerous abhorrent crimes against harmless Iraqi citizens exhibits the lack of moral ethics of the troops inside Iraq. These examples illustrates that there is no acceptable wartime behavior, thus war itself is not tenable.
Few events in history compare to the horror and ruthlessness of the Holocaust. Hitlers Holocaust was the worst genocide in history and exterminated twelve million innocent lives. Approximately half of the victims were of Jewish descendent. Hilter and his Nazi party blamed everything on the Jews, including starting War World II. Hilter, at first, isolated the Jews in overcrowded ghettos. Here, subjected the Jews to starvation and disease. This illustrates a completely atrocious wartime behavior that can never be justified. An intention of eradicating countless number of inculpable people, because their heritage is different then the majority, is completely ludicrous and inhuman. Shortly after, Hilter decides he must eliminate the “subhumans” quicker, thus creating several concentration camps. These factories of death perfected the skill of mass extermination by using cyanide and crematoriums. Hilter view towards Jews and other minorities, such as gypsies, exemplifies his lack of ethics. Believing that some humans are inferior is incredulously unjustifiable. Denouncing Jews and other minorities as “subhumans” extremely unacceptable in any war scenario; one must have some ethics to avoid such a horrendous idea and plan. The Holocaust proved to be an infamous event by its sheer death toll, however, the inhuman nature of Hilter and the Nazi party depicts that wartime behavior has severe consequences; moreover, no wartime act is uniformly acceptable.
The My Lai Massacre, an attack carried out in March 1968 by the United States
Army, demonstrated a truly unpardonable wartime behavior. On the sixteenth of March, the irate and vexed men from the 11th Brigade of the Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. Lieutenant William Calley, leader of the squad, exclaims to his soldiers “This is what youve been waiting for — search and destroy — and youve got it ” This remark made by Lieutenant Calley is inexcusable, and inhumane. It is never acceptable in war to wipe out and entire village without having sufficient evidence or reason. Many of the villagers present in My Lai were women, children and the elderly, nevertheless, the soldieries began herding them into groups for execution. Within several gruesome hours, about three hundred and fifty people were dead in My Lai and more than one hundred and fifty corpses were found in nearby villages. This illustrates how one sadistic personality can affect and group of people. This wartime behavior of “herding” innocent civilians for mass execution is unacceptable by any means. Although the Americans were in war, nonetheless, these soldiers had no right to terminate more than five hundred irreproachable lives. This clearly was a deliberate massacre of the unarmed population of a nonresistant village. Moreover, the sole reason of this malicious massacre occurred was because the soldiers were vexed and frustrated. At first, the army covered this massacre; the massacre was then later reported to the citizens of the United States as a significant victory. This illustrates the morals and humanity of hundreds of army personal. First covering up the massacre and trying to erase it from history, next creating a false account about what happened in My Lai depicts the armys views and virtues. When the actual event was uncovered a year later, the public were outraged. Furthermore, the exposure of the My Lai massacre acted as a catalyst and stimulated the growth of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Ultimately, Lt. William Calley served three years under house arrest and war paroled in 1974. Though Calley was convicted with a light sentence, the My Lai Massacre illustrates how slaughtering innocent civilians is incredibly inhuman and never justified. Additionally, the My Lai Massacre demonstrates