“World War I devastated the great powers of Europe and brought sweeping consequences for the entire world, including the deaths of millions, the reshaping of empires and colonial territories, deadly innovations in warfare, and an unstable peace that eventually ushered in the even more destructive World War II” (Gorman, 2013, para. 1).

The first World War took place between 1914 and 1918; many people called this the Great War because of the fact that is was such a terrible and unimaginable war. It also was the first war to stretch out as far geographically speaking. The main reason WWI ever started was because of an assassinated government official. “Austin Emperor Franz Joseph felt that his empire was under threat from specialist elements and blamed the Serbian government for the assassination of his heir, Franz Ferdinand” (Shubert, Goldstein Sect. 1.1).  In other words he was scared Serbians and other minorities would overthrow the government. The Austrian government gave Serbia an ultimatum to answer to whether or not they had assassinated their heir. Serbia answered the ultimatum, but the Australian ambassador was told to not accept any response from Serbia so therefore they decided to go to war. The reason this war got so out of hand is because of alliances. Germany, Italy, and Austria had a military alliance and so did Russia and France, but France had an Alliance with Britain as well. However, Italy would eventually join the side with Britain, France, and Russia. The actual war started when Austria invaded the Serbian capital on July 29th.  When it came to empires each was trying to outdo the other. Their goal was to become as wealthy and powerful as possible by taking over smaller communities, cities, and countries that didn’t have the means to fight back. This gave them resourceful territories which gave them access to much needed supplies to become wealthy and powerful. This did nothing but cause the war to get even more intense due to powerful countries overthrowing smaller less powerful countries for their resources and location.

War trenches were a big thing in WWI and this is how many people portray how the war went visionally. Most of these trenches consisted of at least 3 parallel trenches with interconnecting passages which usually faced enemy trenches anywhere from 200-1,000 yards away. Many trenches were dug deep into the ground and were protected by sandbags and barbwire, guns, and artillery. In many cases trenches were never attacked due to the man power behind them. In most cases the soldiers had to completely live in trenches meaning they had to sleep, eat, and do other daily tasks inside the trench. These trenches were dirty disgusting, rat and lice infested, had random body parts from deceased laying around, and when it rained, they were usually flooded. In most cases trench life was the same for both sides. In most cases trench life wasn’t different at all. Mainly because of the simple fact that usually only 1,000 yards would separate each trench. In many cases however, trench life was worse for German soldiers due to the fact of their leaders which expected them to fight at all times.  Trench life was a terrible life to live and for many it was the last life they remember.

By the middle of the war many soldiers were not sure why they were even fighting anymore. On a Christmas truce soldiers from each side decided to shake hands and they ended up playing soccer and singing Christmas carols in no man’s land. Many began to dessert their posts and eventually it came to individuals being arrested and court martialed. This happened on all sides and fronts as many countries had issues getting their soldiers to stay in the field. This helped lead to some countries withdrawing from the war. In many cases they didn’t continue to fight a lot of soldiers did dessert their posts. If they stayed it was to merely defend their lost soldiers and their country.

In many cases woman begin to fill the spots of the missing men. This includes in the industrial area because there were not enough men to work in these positions. This was a big deal for woman because this was the first time they were allowed participate in a once barred workforce. This also helped with woman fighting to be in the workforce and propaganda.

Germany was the first to leave the war due to having issues at home. This mainly includes workers striking which forced them to pull out of the war because they were no longer able to supply their soldiers and their home front like they needed too. The war ended because all of these countries were beginning to have these home front problems so therefore all countries decided to sign treaties.

Gorman, R. F. (2013). World War I. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89316811&site=eds-live&scope=site

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe[Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)

This module’s readings attempt to characterize the relationship between mass media and political parties/candidates. What is missing here? What don’t the readings explain? What questions do you still have? Find a news article that answers some of those questions and cite it here.

*Note: Reaction posts should be approximately 2 paragraphs in length. Responses to other students do not have a length requirement but serve as your participation grade (i.e., the more thorough the better).

Links to readings 

http://journalism.uoregon.edu/news/six-ways-media-influences-elections/

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-politicians-use-media-to-win-elections-2315204

https://www.wired.com/story/ossoff-social-media-campaign/

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Student replies 

3 sentences each 

#1

The readings for this module explain a decent amount between mass media and parties/candiates. The University of Organs article in particular explains how the media faces politicians. The readings neglect to address tone and partisan attitudes of mass media regarding politicians.

https://niskanencenter.org/blog/media-bias-real-perceived-rise-partisan-media/ states that while many perceive the media to be more biased than ever, “partisan bias is actually the norm in media history.” While there have been claims that the media is more biased to liberals than conservatives,”Overall, studies examining the content of news coverage have not found consistent evidence of bias favoring Democrats or Republicans across many different elections. There are studies finding Republican bias and studies finding Democratic bias. Others find only media bias toward the frontrunner, regardless of party. Dave D’Alessio examines 99 prior studies of presidential election coverage bias and finds no consistent partisan bias.” The article also claims that officials lambastment of the mainstream media has lead to the creation of more biased media sources that cover candidates with more favorable biases.   

#2

In the articles that we read this week, I learned just how much social media impacted politics. Being savvy in social media during a camping is a real game changer. Social media is the new way that the public can take a closer look into candidate’s campaigns. People don’t really read the news anymore. It is all bout TV, and the Internet, and all the social media that we can access in one push of a button. This is one statement that didn’t really surprise me, but just supports me; “According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 62 percent of Americans get their news via social media platforms.” Social media is very important to a campaign because any announcement or anything can be shared to millions of people very quickly. One thing that I read in another article that I didn’t see in our articles for this week is how they are getting this information out – sharing. “he White House’s Facebook page has nearly half a million fans; its Twitter feed has 1.7 million followers. That’s no surprise: President Obama was the first candidate to announce his White House run via Web video and his vice presidential pick by text message.” I found this very cool and interesting because it shows how much we have evolved. The idea that the President shares information through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc is so cool to me and really shows how personable social media can be. 

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/02/04/5-ways-new-media-are-changing-politics 

#3

In reading the articles I noticed that the impact of social media in politics has become a central focal point of a candidates campaign. Using the media as a means to promote the individual along with the issues that they plan on tackling in office is a sure way to put them out their publically. I do believe that a lot of what is being written may not necessarily be true, and the ads, interviews, news conferences, etc always have an agenda to promote the candidate. 

Depending on which side of the media you are on can either hurt or help a candidate. There are a lot of ads that are put on reflecting more negatives against each other, rather than focusing on what the issues they plan to tackle are. Public perception of a candidate is huge in regards to swaying voters.  While on freedom house it listed countries that have internet freedom, allowing the internet to be used as a means to manipulate and disinform the citizens.  What struck out the most is that in bold on the site it stated that “Governments around the world have dramatically increased their efforts to manipulate information on social media over the past year.  So how can you trust who is being elected when those who are being elected play a part in that statement? 

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2017

What is Fascism

“Fascism is a new type of mass, right-wing political movement created by Benito Mussolini in 1919, who ruled Italy between 1922 and 1943” (Shubert, Goldstein, 2012).

Discuss the role of fascism in the interwar period/What were the driving forces that accounted for the rise of fascism during the interwar period in Europe

Fascism started in 1919 in Italy by a man named Benito Mussolini. Between 1918 and 1920 Italy was given the nick name the two red years. Mussolini held this position in power until 1943. “Italy’s Fascist regime ended on 25 July 1943, when Benito Mussolini was arrested on order of the king, Victor Emmanuel III” (Foot, 2018).

This is because there were working class protests, factory sit-ins, and peasant discontent. Many Italians feared there would end up being a revolution if things did not get fixed. Mussolini then came up and he had been leading the PSI party until he was kicked out in 1914. That is when he organized a fascist group which soon took rein in Italy. This group challenged many traditional ways such as socialism, communism, and strikers. By the year 1922 the fascist groups had silenced most of these groups and many feel these groups saved the country.

What characteristics distinguished fascist states from merely authoritarian regimes

There are many different characteristics to fascism and those can be nationalism, and that is because fascism supports a very strong liking to patriotism and countries providing for themselves. Other characteristics are lack of recognition of human rights, supremacy for military, uncontrolled sexism, intertwined government and religion, and controlled mass media. In fascism the government’s power is unlimited and is used to control public and private life. This include political, financial, morals, and beliefs. In authoritarianism there is a strong central government, but it allows its citizens a small limited amount of freedom.

Why did the average person allow fascism to take hold 

In many cases after the war nationalism started to take effect on most countries. Italy was on the verge of collapse due to many different things such as factory sit-ins and working-class protests. Many feared that Italy was about to have a revolution by the working-class like Russia had done just years before. Therefore, Mussolini used this to his advantage and many Italians felts like this was the way to restore and expand Italian territories. This was their way of being superior leaders to the rest of the world and gain power and rein back to what they had prewar. Many also allowed this to happen because they were scared Italy was going to be over taken by a stronger power and they didn’t want it to decay under the hands of another country. They also hoped it would help resolve class conflict between employer and employee.

Foot, J. (2018). Forgetting Fascism. History Today, 68(8), 8–11. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=130528113&site=eds-live&scope=site (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ 

Socialism and communism are pretty similar to one another when it comes to their definition. “Generally, socialism refers to an economic system or political organization in which the means of production and distribution are owned or controlled collectively, often by a centralized government” (Azria, 2013, para. 1). Socialism was brought about in hopes that it would help erase class conflicts and social problems that were caused by a capitalist system. The main way to explain socialism is a government or source of power will collect ownership of many things such as food, clothing, and other goods and distribute them how and to whom they see fit. Communism is very similar to socialism because they both use a central power or government to distribute goods. “Communism is a political and economic system that seeks to eliminate private property and spread the benefits of labor equally throughout the populace” (Issitt, 2013, para. 1). In many cases communism is looked at to be an extension to socialism, both of these have theories written about them by a famous theorist named Karl Max. He believed that the working class would lead a type of revolution or rebellion before governments were able to gain ownership over wealth and property in hopes to eliminate a capitalist class-based system. Both are these are similar because they have the same strategy and goal. In communism the working class own everything, all members of the community work toward the same goal. In this form of government there are no wealthy and no poor people; this is because all members are considered equal. Members of the community work the same bare minimal because nothing is gained by working harder. In this type of society there is low production, mass poverty, and limited advancement. The community distributes what is produced and it is based on who they feel needs what goods and services. Socialism is pretty much the same except their main focus is on equality. Unlike communism workers in a socialism government will earn money that they spend as they feel is best, however unlike communism the government owns and operates production. Just like communism there is nothing achieved by working harder than others which results in poor motivation. In many cases socialism and communism arose because many people were wanting to overthrow the aristocracy which the bourgeoisie did, but when they did it ended up getting them capitalism instead. “Eventually, under the French Revolution, the bourgeoisie overthrew the aristocracy and created industrial capitalism” (Shubert, Goldstein, 2012, sect. 1.5). The main thing that promoted the rise of communism and socialism was the working class was tired of suffering while the wealthy did nothing to help them. Therefore, they wanted equality and for everyone to have the same wealth. When it came to strikes, they had a huge impact on European societies. This is because the main goal from strikes was to raise wages, address working conditions, while also challenging to change the political and economic situations within the European nation. In many cases Europeans likes socialism and communism mainly because it helped make everyone equal. It also helped bring societies together after they were torn apart by the French Revolution. At this point most Europeans were willing to try any type of political system if it meant getting away from capitalism. I personally feel that socialism and communism played a major role when it comes to WWI. I feel this way because of certain events such as Russia signing treaties with Germany helped lead to the war.

Azria, S. M. C. J. (2013). Economic Systems: Socialism. Research Starters: Sociology (Online Edition). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89185444&site=eds-live&scope=site

Issitt, M. (2013). Communist State. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=88390978&site=eds-live&scope=site (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe[Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/