The Second World War is, in many ways, considered to be the apex of the “citizen soldier”

The Second World War is, in many ways, considered to be the apex of the “citizen soldier” approach to the dual-force concept. Great attention has also been lavished on the conflict in the past two decades, presenting it as a clear Manichean struggle of right versus wrong globally, as compared with other, murkier and more ambiguous wars and military interventions since 1945. This ranges from the strategic objectives of the war, its operational planning and execution, and the participation of over 12 million American men and women in a just moral cause. Using (but not limited to) our course materials, please offer your answer to two questions. First, does our historical memory focus disproportionately on the Second World War, now some 80 years after its end, at the expense of other past events? (And, course, why and how.) Second, how do we as a society reconcile the glorification of a long past historical event in the face of an ever-changing and shifting world in which new force-based challenges continue to arise?