This is Herman P. Ullrich, the most unimportant man of World War I. Herman was born in Britain in 1875, and grew up there in a lower class household. He never enlisted in the military, for he never had any desire to fight. Herman didn't vote, and he didn't like to follow the news. He had no particular interest in foreign affairs and if asked, could probably not find Serbia on a map of Europe. If Herman wasn't at home with his family, or chatting on the street corner with some friends about Manchester's latest football match, you could almost certainly find him at his monotonous job. Herman operated a machine at a metal smelting plant. His sole responsibility was pressing the button that caused a press to come down and form a conical piece of aluminum. He must have pressed that button thousands of times each day. Herman didn't know what happened to that piece of metal, and frankly he didn't care. At the end of the week, he got his pay check, which was never much, and went on with his life. Such was the life of Herman P. Ullrich, the lower class British factory worker.
Obviously, this is an ironic story used to point out how even the most seemingly insignificant individual can have an impact on large scale events like World War I. Little did Herman know that the conical pieces of aluminum were actually being shipped off to another factory were artillery shells were being manufactured for the war. All over Europe, and even in America, the concept of total war was being implemented. Governments began to control economic affairs in order to make the greatest possible military effort. All types of military supplies were in huge demand. Because of this, not a single part of the production process could be overlooked. Herman P. Ullrich was actually much more important to the war cause than he could ever know.
(This story is entirely fictional.)
No comments:
Post a Comment