World War Two sculpted the world and its people to what we recognize today. At first glance, it may seem to have been a minor speed bump in the history of the world, but the truth is it created our views on the rest of the world. The Second World War was the commencement of many of the world’s tribulations. Even many years after the war, the scars of battle cover Europe in many places. They are physical memories of what happened. As there are physically scars, there are emotional scars as well. Many nations don’t cooperate today because of what was done in the war. Grudges are held against enemies, and they will be there for a long time, as will the scars. World War Two is an allegory of global chaos as major powers on Earth struggled for international cooperation.

            To many, the Second World War was also a time of great innovation. Weapons and gadgets of many kinds were revealed throughout the war. In essence, weapons are what create war, and war changes the world. In simplified terms, weapons change the world. It would have been much different if we fought the war by playing chess or having a staring contest. However, that is not the real world. In the real world, men are signed up for the army, provided a gun, and are asked to risk their life’s for their country. It is not as simple as it seems because war is never the same. It changes in every battle, even every day as inventors, scientist, and engineers attempt to create “the perfect weapon”. World War II was a growth spurt of the weapons industry. In fact, today we still use most of the guns and ideas they created during the war. However, the most important part of war was also the most vulnerable of all the factions, the foot soldier.

            The infantry, or foot soldier, is the main unit of war, the base of all war. In World War One, infantry were the most used unit in the wars. However, the average assaulting soldier only had a bolt action rifle. You may have hear of this term before, it means you had to manually operate the firing mechanism of the guns. That means that a soldier would shoot, and then pull the bolt back and forward again. This was not exactly the best weapon if you were running at the enemy soldiers. It also didn’t help that the average number of rounds in a magazine was around five bullets (Bayonet Strength). One such rifle was the Springfield M1903, which was used by the United States Army (Bayonet Strength). These rifles may have been the leading cause of trench warfare. In the beginning of the World War Two, these guns were still distributed to the Army. However, in 1932 the M1 Garand was adopted by the United States as the common infantry weapon (Bayonet Strength). This made a world of difference to the infantry. Holding a semi-automatic rifle meant you could shoot a whole cartridge without ever having to touch the bolt. This changed war forever. From there on, new gun models were being made and in 1938 the army obtained the Thompson M1A1 (Bayonet Strength). This was the first American machine gun ever used in war. Though it was widely preferred by general infantrymen, it did not replace the M1 Garand. The Thompson was revolutionary as the standard cartridge held 20 rounds. That is low by today standards, but back then it was a godsend for the soldiers. The firepower that a soldier now held was massive. Now he could take down an entire squad of enemies within seconds of pulling the trigger. Many other guns were created during the war. However, this new type of active war spawned a new faction on the field. They were the cunning snipers. The long range assailants used a gun that you might be familiar with, bolt action rifles. However, this time around they came equipped with telescopic scopes that could hit a target on the dot at about 900 meters away (WWII Russian Snipers). The first country to use snipers was Russia. Most of the snipers enlisted for Russia were women (WWII Russian Snipers). Then, each country learned to adopt sniping as their troops were silently getting picked off from afar. Sniping is still used today as an effective way to combat enemies from over a long distance. However no soldier was capable of withstanding what brought them down the first time.

            In World War One, Mustard Gas was effectively used to reduce battalions of soldiers to blind, wheezing heaps on the ground. No one had a way to counter the horrid gas that enveloped anything in its way. However, in the Second World War, poisonous gases made their second appearance on the battlefield. They were devastating towards soldiers and their health. A single gas attack could leave you temporarily blinded, asphyxiated, and damaged lungs. Sometimes, the gases would control the battle.  Sometimes, sides of the battle would retreat because of the dangers of the gas. However, sometimes you could not choose when to quit. Gas would be released during a battle while you were in a firefight. Enemies did not care how their enemies ended up after these attacks. The gas could actually burn your skin as bad as fire burn (Poison Gas and WWII).

The risks of gas were so great that inventors hurried to make the best counter towards this new weapon. They quickly invented the gasmask. This filtered out the air from the horrible gas that could impair you forever. It was however a bad idea to make those gasmasks with asbestos (Mary Bellis Gas Masks).

            World War II was the first time armies widely used vehicles as machines of war. For the first time, trucks and personnel transports manufactured for war were being used. These helped in transporting supplies and soldiers to the battlefront. They were also helpful in transporting the wounded to medical facilities (Jr. Ike’s Team). In fact, this also helped increase the speed of battle. However, no vehicle could withstand the power the tank had. This is another instance where it was around in the First World War; however they were much more prominent in the Second World War. Now, instead of going five miles per hour, tanks went thirty-five miles per hour and had movable turrets (Jr. Ike’s Team). Tanks were feared by every foot soldier in any army. The thought of getting crushed and bombarded by these metal beasts was horrifying. However, even the best of the tanks such as the Panzer VI met its match.

In World War One, planes were rarely used. If they were, it was for reconnaissance. But now, planes had a greater meaning in the Second World War. Now, equipped with machine guns, fighter planes tormented the skies. Not only did they fight each other, but they were also feared by infantry. One fighter plane could be decorated with machine guns and bombs. They would drop these bombs on the soldiers and the shrapnel would tear them apart (Chuck Hawks). In fact, the dog fights in the air were so important, there was a leader board of how many kills the top pilots acquired (Chuck Hawks).

Also, the war at sea was much more prominent now that humans were able to manufacture massive battleships. The generals of armies used their fleet of ships to cut off supplies for opponents. This caused much confusion and suffering.

However, deep in the ground and water there was another fear. These are the mines that are designed to detonate at the lightest touch. Now, even without tanks at your heels or planes pelting down bombs, you were at danger of even walking in the wrong place. Expansive fields of landmines were laid down by many of the armies during World War Two. Such an excess of these fields were laid down that many have been forgotten, waiting for someone to trigger them (Explosive Devices). In fact, 26,000 people are killed each year by these hidden bombs. However, like every weapon that seems impossible to triumph over, landmines were soon being discovered by soldiers equipped with metal detectors. Huge ships used radar to seek out underwater mines (Mike Hanlon). Not only did explosives change, but so did explosive launchers. Rocket launchers such as the American Bazooka were the cause of major destruction towards tanks and other heavy artillery. One launcher usually took two people two operate. If you wanted to disable a tank this was the way. Before this, a fifty caliber rifle was used to penetrate the tanks and kill the people inside. As tanks transformed throughout the years, they became immune to these rifles. (Olive-Drab)

There are always twice as many injured men as dead men in a war (Olive-Drab). Throughout the war, there were many new items introduced to the soldiers that would help them repair themselves with medicine kits. Though they were given to all the soldiers, these were not quite adequate for more extensive damage to the human body from weapons. This created a new soldier, the medic. There was usually one medic per squad who carried many medicines and utensils as well as bandages and anti-septic solutions (Olive-Drab). One invention that highly helped the soldiers was sulfa. This is an abbreviation of sulfanilamide, which was a powder that was poured onto a soldier’s wound to prevent infection (Olive-Drab). Before this, disease would sweep the whole battalion from just one infected person. The individual wrapped bandages were called Carlisle Dressing. They were perfect when used with sulfa. These bandages saved many lives that could have been lost because of disease (Olive-Drab).

Not only did weapons and vehicles evolve, but the tactical maneuvers that the armies used also transformed. Now that trench warfare was obsolete, wars were not static anymore. One of the most infamous of these tactics was the Blitzkrieg. It was created By Heinz Guderian, an infantry officer of the Panzer Division (Blitzkrieg). The main objective of this plan was to move a large tank division as fast as they could across countries. Though simple, it was devastating. Whole British and French battalions were crushed using this method (Blitzkrieg).

            For infantrymen, it was common to have twelve people in you squad in the United States Army. Of the twelve, eight had rifles, two had Thompson M1A1’s, and two had BAR’s (Browning Automatic Rifles). These squads would patrol the spots they were assigned to. Usually, these groups could be stacked together for more support (WWII Tactics).

            In conclusion, the Second World War is the most prominent event in the nineteenth century. Any international event in the last sixty years was most likely caused by World War Two. The manner in which countries interact with each other today is another side effect of the war. It is possible to forgive someone who triumphed over you in a war, but it is impossible to forgive someone that shot you. This means that some people have forgiven the countries they battled against, but hatred is still in the hearts of some people. There are many important steps mankind has taken because of World War Two, and if the weapons had never existed, the war would have turned out different. If trench warfare was still being used, maybe Germany would have won. Luckily though, The Allies won the war due to our superior weaponry. But without our superb weapons, the world today would be decorated with swastikas.

FAMAS F1

The French service rifle, this bullpup selective fire rifle wouldn’t tand out that much if not for the carrying handle.  With 900-1000 rounds fired a minute, this rifle not only looks good but is effective, although it has remained almost exclusively in french service.  A newer version, the G2 is also available but it isn’t as visually appealing, although it does perform better.

M14

The M14 is basically an upgraded and shrunk M1.  It was intended to replace the M1 while still keeping contracts with springfeild armory.  The US Lobbied for it to be the standard NATO rifle but the M16 came and along and it only saw full service for a few years, although it is still in limited service.  It had selective fire but it was deemed too light to fire in full auto.

Sten

A british 9mm submachine gun, the Sten saw service in WWII and Korea.  It had a low production cost and a very simple design.  Firing at approximately 500 rounds a minute depending on the version, it was selective fire.  This gun did jam occasionally using because of the magazine.

Mosin-Nagant

Seeing service from 1891 into the cold war, this rifle has seen service in much of the 20th century.  A bolt action rifle, it has been obsolete for some time, although it is still kept in stockpiles in many countries, including Russia and most countries the Soviets and Russians ever aided.

AK-47

Invented in 1947 this rifle hasn’t  slowed down since.  Because of it’s ease of production, the Soviets quickly mass produced this assualt rifle.  Once it was distributed to the soviet bloc countries it quickly began spreading, as they began selling them in mass numbers to combat poverty.  In this manner it quickly spread to every corner of the globe and with it’s 600 rounds a minute and accuracy to get the job done, it soon became the firearm responsible for the most deaths of any gun.  They still are everywhere despite efforts to remove them, mainly because of their ability to survive any and all abuse.

IQ Scores

• 130+ Very superior
• 120+ Superior
• 110+ Above average
• 99+ Average
• 80+ Below average
• 70+ Borderline
• Less than 70 Extremely low.

Items included in IQ tests range from spatial awareness where you have to match patterns, to number sequences, and words. There is a free IQ testing site online.

IQ tests used to be standardized but now they are designed by many different organizations in an attempt to measure certain qualities in candidates. For example, Mensa, the High IQ Society, sets its own test which is very difficult in parts. One example of a Mensa question:

Take these letters:

C E I L M E R S S

Form two different 8 letter words from these letters. Each word must use all the letters.

Intelligence and personality have been combined to give sten and z-scores. These are often used by companies who want to recruit staff with particular traits and abilities.

Some very famous celebrities are know for their extremely high IQ level.

Bill Gates: Genius

Madonna 140

Al Gore 140

Hugh Hefner 152

Carol Vorderman 154

Bill Gates 160

Jill St. John 162

Jill St. John who claims the highest score on this list was a major American film actress during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Jill was admitted to the University of California at the age of 14.

Psychologists have estimated the IQ scores that some famous historical figures might have attained. This was done by looking at their work and their ideas and the way they put them together.

Leonardo da Vinci: Smarter than Bill Gates

George Washington 118

Napoleon Bonaparte 145

Albert Einstein 160

Charles Dickens 180

Michelangelo 180

Leonardo da Vinci 220

Leonardo da Vinci earns that massive score for his art but also for his helicopter concept . His solar power diagrams, calculator plans, and studies of plate techtonics. He had none of the modern day scientific equipment and he was way ahead of his time.