Quote: (04-21-2014 07:09 AM)edtf Wrote:
Quote:Quote:
This is a typical mindset: "If it didn't directly involve a Western country, it didn't happen."
Not only western countries, the role of Russia in WW2 is vastly underrepresented in american history sources.
Russia isn't usually regarded as a Western country.
I don't mean American history books or even WWII in particular. In general, people are tought to think science, philosophy and mathematics started with the Greeks, even though the Babylonians and others in the Near East had advanced in all of these fields long before the Greeks as we know them even existed.
The Middle Ages in are looked at as a dark chapter of world history, even though it was really only "dark" (relatively speaking) in Europe, and plenty of other civilizations were thriving at the time in the eastern Mediterranean, Persia, India, China and some parts of Africa.
Most people are familiar with the silk road only because it affected Europe. Ask anyone about trade in the vast trade networks in the Indian Ocean and most people will look dumbfounded.
Likewise in WWII, we're only tought to care about those in which Europeans or Americans were affected. Mention Japanese war atrocities to the average person in Europe or the US and they'll think you only mean Pearl Harbour.
That Russia's role in WWII was downplayed in American textbooks isn't surprising considering the history the latter has had with the former. I mean, they were only on the verge of starting a nuclear holocaust with each other. It's not like they'd be all that quick to acknowledge eachother in any way.