World War I broke out largely because of an arms race, and World War II because of the lack of an arms race.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
War tore my family apart.
The American army between world wars after World War I had virtually disintegrated. It was a very small force, given largely to practicing cavalry charges on western outposts.
I was opposed to World War II, and indeed on June 22, 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union I suddenly found myself the lone supporter of peace since everybody else had, because of their communist beliefs, shifted over to become supporters of the war.
Almost everything about American society is affected by World War II: our feelings about race; our feelings about gender and the empowerment of women, moving women into the workplace; our feelings about our role in the world. All of that comes in a very direct way out of World War II.
My generation was the tail end of the Cold War.
World War II broke out in 1939, and many people credit that war with saving the economy.
I was born during the war and grew up in a time of rationing. We didn't have anything. It's influenced the way I look at the world.
World War II brought the Greatest Generation together. Vietnam tore the Baby Boomers apart.
The adverse economic events following the First World War turned me toward economics.
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.