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Are people less aware of the Munich agreement compared to the Molotov–Ribbentrop agreement? And also about the Bengal famine? In your opinion, what other events seem to be less known? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact

Recently got banned in a community when I brought it up, when they talked about the latter.

I'm Indian, didn't really have to read too much(on such treaties and other stuff. We do learn about the dates, major groups involved and our own people) about WW1 and WW2 before getting on the internet forums.
But how is it in Western countries?

Also, is the Bengal famine of 1943 taught?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943
I only got the gravity of the situation after reading about it and seeing pictures on the net.

Are there any other events that should be more known by others, in your opinion?

I hope this is not too political. If it is, do forgive me, I'll delete this.

Edit:
Recently read about the Travancore famine of 1943, that killed around 90,000 people. It happened in my state, Kerala. But I never really knew about it.

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

Well, I had been taught about Munich and Ribbentrop in public school, both during standard history classes (though they were only mentioned in passing during US history, as part of the background of what happened before the U.S. joined in)

The famine, I didn't hear about until maybe fifteen to twenty years ago. Can't pin it down exactly because of shit that was going on in my life at the time, but it was something I read about in one of the books on ww2 that covered events outside of Europe and the Pacific theater.

And I've seen many a debate about the degree to which Great Britain was responsible for it.

But, I'd have to say that none of them are exactly high on the list of what the average person remembers about the era. Most people I've even mentioned Molotov-Ribbentrop to had no idea what it is. They maybe remember hearing the words in school, but didn't pay enough attention to link them to anything. The Munich agreement is pretty much unfamiliar to anyone that didn't have an interest in ww2 beyond high school history. And the famine is outside of what most people that do have an interest care about. The only books I have on the subject of ww2 don't mention the famine at all.

Ww2 is far enough in the past now that most of us no longer know anyone that fought in the war. It's passed into the kind of history that's "dead". Even though we all, everywhere still live with the ripples in world events that started then, it might as well be aztec history as far as the typical person here in the US is concerned. Even my generation, that had grandparents that were alive during the war, or fought in the war, the interest is largely no greater than surface level.

And I'm not sure that the details like the two pacts really do matter now. They're not anything that affects us still, unlike a lot of of events of the war. IMO, the famine is more important since it was a much broader event. Depending on how you look at it, the famine shaped a lot of events for India as a whole in ways that neither agreement did for Europe.