2.6: The Impact of War (1933-1945)

Question 1

State the 4 stages of was and describe public morale during that stage

Answer 1

Blitzkrieg: Sep 1939-June 1941: Victories were used as propaganda to display Hitler as a military genius so morale was very high
The Spreading War: June 1941-Dec 1941: Nazi propaganda downplayed soviet success but letters from soldiers revealed true harsh conditions and damaged morale.
The Tide Turning: Jan 1942-Jan1943: Goebbels couldn’t spin off propaganda as defeat was visible to the people however they were willing to endure hard time so morale remained high
Total War: Feb 1943-May 1945: May 1943 major allied bombings on Germany. Failure of U-boats due to improved US technology reduced morale. Also used of V1 + V2 missile 1944-5 temporarily raised spirits.

Question 2

How did Albert Speer rationalise production

Answer 2

He centrally coordinated production to armaments factories also he made a range of standardised products so that mass production was possible e.g: 1944 number of tank models reduced from 18 to 7 and vehicles from 55 to 14.

Question 3

Name two examples of a production miracle

Answer 3

Aircraft production increased from 180% to 1000% per month and between 1941 – 1943 aircraft production increased 200% tank increased 250%

Question 4

State the views of Intenationalists

Answer 4

Hitler had a clear view of the world and the aims of it were defined in Mein Kampf, Hitler was central to events from 1933-1945: all political decisions were made by Hitler; There was political infighting and chaos but this was a deliberate policy of divide and rule

Question 5

State the views of Structuralists

Answer 5

That the policies got more radical as they went along due to failures and roadblocks in other policies such as the Madagascar plan, there was no clear direction to how annihilation was going to be acheived