Re-Learning European History

I don't think that, as an American, I truly understand the significance of WWII in the context of how Europe views it. I mean, one very small air raid was conducted on US territory and in the grand scheme of the war it was very small and its main significance was bringing the United States into the war as a major partner. However, since living in Europe I have learned more of their perspective in this story. From living in England I can see how the world wars completely changed their lives and re-shaped their world view and how they see themselves as a country. And now, from living in Holland, I am learning how only 60 years after this war a new mind set is revolutionizing their culture. Post-Modernism.

As Americans we have a very "select" view of World War 2. Perhaps I am overgeneralizing my culture, so feel free to correct me, but we generally see it as a war that took place somewhere over in Europe (I would gladly ask any 'average joe' on the street where exactly most battles took place and I would bet that he wouldn't have a clue). We don't really understand how someone like Hitler could come to power over a "civilized" society or how he wasn't stopped before a world war broke out, and though we consider Pearl Harbor to be a horrible attack on "our country" (most Americans fail to realize that Hawaii was not actually a state in 1941), we do not understand the gravity of what WWII really was: a vicious attack on militaries and civilians alike of peaceful countries whose people became oppressed and harassed during their occupation by a cruel and inhumane dictator who deceived, brainwashed, and destroyed his own country in his attempt for world domination.

Living in America we don't see the destruction that Europe experienced. We, leaving out one military base in a US territory, were not bombed. Our people were not in danger of nightly air raids. We don't have bullet holes in the sides of our buildings as remnants. We didn't experience the aftermath of having to rebuild our society out of its own ruins. And our economy didn't suffer after the war but was drastically improved. What can I say? Those two oceans on either side act as our natural buffer zones from attack. 9/11 was a huge shock to us because we assumed that our geography and world authority would always to protect us just as it had before.

Europe sees things a bit differently. The result of the Industrial Revolution culminated in two World Wars. The final one of which saw the transformation of humanity such that people were systematically exterminated based on race, religion, sexual orientation, economic background and those that attempted to assist the masses who were suspiciously being taken away were tortured and slaughtered as well. Each European country lived in fear of the Nazi regime, including many people in Germany. They feared invasion, occupation and destruction and most of the countries experienced some amount of that, including Russia.

I don't think many people living on the continental US ever worried that Hitler would invade us. We were a neutral country until an attack came directly on us and even then we did not declare war with Germany immediately after but only the Empire of Japan. From our perspective it seemed that Europe was always fighting with itself. Just twenty years before they had been engaged in a "World War" (then known as the Great War) and now they were fighting again. Can't we all just get along?...Apparently not.

I think one of the reasons I enjoy living in Europe so much more than I did in America is due to some of these history factors. Basically, Europe has history, America dosen't. I mean, really, a tad more than 200 years is nothing when you think that Europe has castles almost 1000 years old just sitting around and ruins dating back to before the Common Era (that means before the BC/AD change over for all who aren't science geeks). And it is this long history that fuels a part of their survival. Learning from the past to improve the present. America barely has a past to rely on and build upon and since we consider ourselves more advanced than most other societies we don't really rely on anyone else's history either. Our world is coming to an interesting and new global juxtaposition where all countries and cultures are becoming more intertwined with one another and the US was yanked into this realization by the attack on the Twin Towers. We are no longer a solitary power protected by our ocean buffers and friendly neighbors.