World War II

World War II

Description of the Source

The article World War II: The Pacific Islands by Alan Taylor (2014) is extraordinarily descriptive and imaged. It is a continuing primary source and as such, is itself growing source which continuously receives newer information. The source provides an analogy of the most critical battles of the Pacific sector of world war II (Taylor par 2). It is filled with real images of the occurrences of world war two and a description of the events based on first-hand information from survivors.

Context

Taylor compiled the picture during the seventieth anniversary of the US victory in Iwo Jima which is recorded as the bloodiest battle of the US marine. The marine lost more than seven thousand American before the capture of Iwo Jima after 36 days. The article reminds the readers of the sacrifices that the many of the Americans made to bring closer to the completion of the war before the US opted for the use of the nuclear weapons (Taylor par 3). It provides images of the last recorded scenes and loses to awaken the viewer memory.

Analysis

The article presents a new picture on the pacific front of world war II. Over the last years, very historians have questioned the efforts put by the US in the pacific to contain the war before the use of nuclear weapons in comparison to the western fronts (National War Museum par 6). Many researchers have argued that the US failed to put enough pressure for Japan to surrender by limiting its access to essential resources such as weapons and oil for their ship. They have further stated that if a better mechanism was well thought off, and the US used better platforms, targeted the most important resources to the Japanese people. There would never have been a spill out of the events in the Pacific theatre. Thus, bashing the preparedness of the US Navy and the US Marine (National War Museum par 7). However, this article provides a different perspective giving a new picture to the efforts and dedication of the US marine and navy service members. It also expounds on the loses the department experienced in the conflict.

Another presentation of the article if the human impact of the war on Japan and the US. The author uses several pictures of dead bodies afloat Japanese beaches of both US and Japanese fighter to show the cost of human life of the war. While these pictures are graphic, they present consciousness to the reader on the effect of the war (National War Museum par 4). The image of the Japanese woman and her malnourished children is disheartening to any viewer.  However, it offers knowledge on the impact of the war on both civilian and military life.

Questions

Taylor is successful in showing the occurrence of the Pacific theatre of the world war. However, Taylor is biased in selection of opinion using comments from US service members and none from Japanese survivors.  Thus, Taylor leaves various important question of the events of the pacific front unanswered. Some of these issues include

1. What was the role of the US army in the Pacific war? If there is any, why are there little to no mention of such tasks by most historians?
2. Would the Pacific theater have played out differently without the use of atomic bombs?
3. Why does the author avoid presenting pictures of the atomic bombs dropping which are readily available and other images of mass bombing of Japanese civilian regions? If deliberate, is this an acknowledgement of criminal activities in American theater against Japanese civilians.

Works Cited

National War Museum. The Pacific Strategy, 1941-1944. 2020. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/pacific-strategy-1941-1944.

Taylor, Alan. World War II: The Pacific Islands. 2014. https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/09/world-war-ii-the-pacific-islands/100155/.