The ride through the countryside was quite amazing. If you did not know, you would swear you were driving down a back road in Pennsylvania. The only visible difference were signs written in Cyrillic for little shops along the road. As the contours of Sarajevo came into focus, you could not miss the gaping, rubble-filled holes that were once buildings. I was not ready for the scenes of destruction that I was about to witness. I have hiked the hollow fields of Gettysburgh, read stories of the war in Vietnam, listened to stories from friends and colleagues that had served in Panama and Somalia, and watched the “100 Hour War'; on CNN. Who really witnesses the effect and the price a city pays years after the bombs stop falling? As you walk around the once beautiful city, five years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords ended the war, the physical, damage cannot be ignored.
On April 5, 1992 Sarajevo, the capital of the Republic of Bosnia- Herzegovina, was attacked. The city lies in the valley of the Miljacka River and is surrounded by mountains. The 260 tanks and many other weapons placed on these mountains could destroy the city. On May 2, 1992 Serbs completely blockaded the city. The parts of the city that could not be occupied by the Serbs were exposed to a barrage of
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shelling and artillery fire. Everyday the city was hit by some 4,000 shells. Targets included hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, synagogues, libraries, and museums.
As you cross the last crest coming into the city, the first image you see is the Unis Skyscrapers. These two skyscrapers are of equal height and were built to symbolize the brotherhood and unity of Sarajevo. Before the war, citizens called the buildings by the names of two famous characters from Sarajevo jokes, Momo and Uzeir. The names are of different national origin to show the multi-ethnic background of the city. The skyscrapers were continually hit by artillery fire because of their equal height to break apart the united spirit of the city. Both still stand like skeletons above the city. The progress of rebuilding is slow as only the first ten floors have been repaired. Fragments of concrete and glass still hang from iron pillars high above the street.
The Grabavica Cemetery, which dates back to the 17th century, was used extensively by snipers.
During the author’s life in New York and Oberlin College, he understood that people who have not experienced being in a war do not understand what the chaos of a war does to a human being. And once the western media started sensationalizing the violence in Sierra Leone without any human context, people started relating Sierra Leone to civil war, madness and amputations only as that was all that was spoken about. So he wrote this book out o...
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
their families who have suffered from war's visible and unseen effects. Some are still suffering to this day. The issues and ramifications which constitute their suffering will be examined in this
Hynes, Samuel Lynn. "What Happened in Nam." The soldiers' tale: bearing witness to modern war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: A. Lane, 1997. 177-222. Print.
Today in America, people see the war zones of Syria, Iraq and Turkey with all the families torn apart and do not think twice about it but for those in the war zones the struggle to keep a family together is hard. “You don’t involve any more Meekers in this terrible war,” (Collier and Collier 149). Mrs. Meeker has already lost half of her
Sebastian Junger, author of the book, “War” and documentary titled “Restrepo”, argues that civilians need to understand troops’ complex feelings about war and if they do not, they will not do a very good job bringing these people home and making a place for them in the society. Junger reports that he wanted to fully understand the universal war experience and accompanied soldiers to a post called Restrepo, Afganistan. The war was happening in the Korengan valley, one of the most dangerous fields to battle in. Junger reports that war is not a political endeavour but real life experience. He admits that good number of soldiers returned from this place damaged. He documents on the kind of life the soldiers experienced at Restrepo. He notes that there was nothing like running water and soldiers could go for days without showering; there are no women to give these young people company, there is no television, alcohol and so on.
Yes, There has been talks of nearby villages being destroyed to the ground. Yet, It hadn't occurred to her that the war will come to the cities. Sadly, it did. It happened on a sunny summer afternoon. It was scorching hot to be outside and so everyone was confined to their homes, only leaving when there's a call to prayer. My mother was cooking food for my father and oldest brother Mohamed. She didn't have the tomatoes or the onions to make the paste.She decided to quickly run to the market and buy these essentials. The walk there was eerily quiet or a summer afternoon. When she arrived at marketplace the walls were riddled with bullet holes. Overcome with fear, my mother froze in place. These group of armed men that look like they’ve been doped on khat stood on the other side of the street. An older gentlemen approached her. My mother lost the will to run but instead mustered in a meek voice, “adeer what are you guys
By the end of 1992, Serb forces had occupied more than 70 percent of Bosnia. Many of its cities were in ruins, among them Sarajevo, the capital. The United Nations imposed economic sanctions but obtained no peace settlement. Croatia and Serbia had determined to divide Bosina between them, leaving small enclaves for Muslims to inhabit. In Serbia itself the sanctions had created havoc. Hyperinflation was running at the unparalled percentage rare of quadrillions per year, posing a threat to the survival of the state.
Going through this, seeing the way other Syrians treated me and how they tortured me without any pity, looking at their faces which seemed to be as cold as ice, made me feel as if I was a stranger in my own country. As I stayed longer in captivity, the feeling of being a stranger grew inside me. I was being slowly detached from the place I’m in, from my country. And by time it wasn’t only the kidnappers that thought of me as a stranger, but I myself recognized that I was too. Everything seemed odd: the walls, the land, even the sound of language the people spoke was eccentric to me. Reading Ahmed Mohsen’s article all of those feelings directly arose to me. For Ahmed downtown Beirut seemed a strange
War has always been inevitable throughout the history of the world. The outcomes can differ greatly; it’s usually either a win or a loss. Wins or losses are just definite statements, but photos can represent these statements. Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “V-J Day in Times Square” shows an American sailor kissing a young woman right in the middle of Times Square, despite their surroundings. This iconic photo was taken after the U.S. declared victory over Japan in World War II, and was published in Life magazine a week later. John Gap’s (III) photo shows a young girl being consoled at a soldier’s funeral in a local high school gymnasium, later to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. This humble photo was taken during the war still raging in Afghanistan, showing that these types of losses happen quite often, as there are no iconic photos for Afghanistan compared to the photo shot after the win over World War II. Unlike its counterpart, this photo was published only at a local level on a website. Both these photos show a soldier being dismissed to go home from war. Although the two photos share that common factor, the scenario in which the soldier comes home differs greatly. Through these photos, Albert Eisenstaedt and John Gaps III help evoke pathos and give the observer a sense of the pride and the devastation felt of a home coming from war using photographic elements such as framing, focus, and angles.
Mobile killing squads would act swiftly, and would take the Jewish population by surprise. They would enter a town a round up all Jewish civilians wether they were women, men or children. They were forced to give up any valuables and then made to take all their clothes off, which was later used for Germany or distributed to local collaborators. The victims would then be led out to an open field or forest before being shot and put into a mass
It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting.
Dark clouds settled above, forever watching the monstrous scene forming below. Flashes of lightning lit up the caliginous sky, a temporary false dawn. Rain moulded the once solid ground into a sodden, quagmire mess. War was the worst at night; when the fear of whistling bombs deprived soldiers of sleep and dreams of drowning in a green sea caused their hearts to palpitate. It was then, that they were left with their undesired thoughts. Waiting, watching, for the next barrage. The men sat silent and still; their thoughts repressing them from distant rest. Their eyes were empty sockets, stripped raw by the weight of their experiences in war. Settled amongst the soldiers on the Western Front, a distinctively younger boy stood out from the rest, eyes vibrant, ardent for some desperate glory.
war is over, like in In The Making Of Me. People left at home also
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as