chapter 36 Flashcards
new conflagrations: world war ii and the cold war
Over the 1930s and 1940s, what global alliance formed between Japan, Germany, and Italy, along with their conquered territories?
the Axis powers
Over the 1930s and 1940s, what global alliance formed between France, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Soviet union, China, the US, and its allies in Latin America?
the Allied powers
What nations formed the Axis powers?
Japan, Germany, and Italy
What nations formed the Allied powers?
France, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Soviet union, China, the US, and its allies in Latin America
What nations engaged in a campaign of territorial expansion that broke apart the structure of international cooperation that had kept the world from violence in the 1920s?
Japan, Italy, and Germany
What were the nations of Japan, Italy, and Germany known as because they revised, or overthrew, the terms of the post-Great War peace, confronted nations that were committed to the international system, and to the avoidance of another war
revisionist powers
What was Japan’s first step in their revisionist process of expansionism and aggression (in China)?
conquest of Manchuria between 1931 and 1932
After the League of Nations condemned Japan’s actions for invading Manchuria, how else did Japan respond aside from withdrawing from the League?
Japan began following an ultranationalist and promilitary policy
What battle between Chinese and Japanese troops was the opening move in Japan’s undeclared war against China?
battle between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing in July 1937
Who became the first nation to experience the horrors of World War II in brutal warfare against civilians and repressive occupation?
China
- during invasion of China, Japanese forces used methods of warfare that led to mass death and suffering on a new, unimaginable level
What Chinese city did the Japanese bomb, killing thousands of civilians and securing it as a landing area for armies?
Shanghai
How many Chinese lost their lives as Japanese soldiers used them for bayonet practice and machine-gunned them into open pits?
400,000
What happened during the Rape of Nanjing? Why was it significant?
demonstrated the horror of the war as the residents of Nanjing became victims of Japanese troops inflamed by war passion and a sense of racial superiority
- over the course of two months, Japanese soldiers raped seven thousand women, murdered hundreds of thousands of unarmed soldiers and civilians, burned one-third of homes in Nanjing, 400,000 Chinese lost lives to Japanese using them for bayonet practice or machine gunning
Although Chinese forces failed to defeat the Japanese, who retained naval and air superiority, they tied down half the Japanese army, ___________ soldiers, by 1941?
750,000
What was a contributing factor to Chinese resistance to the Japanese during their invasion being less effective?
conflicts between Chinese nationalists and communists
Despite Chinese nationalists suffering major casualties in their battles with Japanese forces, how did they keep their government alive?
moving government inland to Chongqing
While the communist guerrillas did not defeat the Japanese, what did the communists’ spirited warfare inspire?
captured the loyalty of many Chinese peasants through their resistance to the Japanese and their moderate policies of land reform
What ten-year military and economic pact did Japan sign to align itself with the other revisionist nations, Germany and Italy?
The Tripartite Pact
How many Italian soldiers died in World War I?
600,000
Benito Mussolini promised to bring glory to Italy through what that it had been denied after the Great War?
promised to bring glory to Italy through the acquisition of territories
Italy created an overseas empire by conquering what two African nations?
Ethiopia and Libya
Italy intervened in what war on the side of General Francisco Franco?
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
The invasion and conquest of Ethiopia in particular infuriated other nations; but, as with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria, the League of Nations offered __________ __________ opposition.
little effective
What angered nonrevisionists about Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia?
- the broken peace
- the excessive use of force against the Ethiopians
__________ and ______ were the first nations to challenge the post-World War I settlements through territorial conquest, but it was ________ that systematically undid the Treaty of Versailles and the fragile peace of the interwar years.
Japan; Italy; Germany
What did Hitler refer to the signing of the 1918 armistice (the Treaty of Versailles basically) as? Who did he blame it on?
the “November crime”
- blamed on those he considered Germany’s internal enemies: Jews, communists, and liberals of all sorts
- neighboring states also shared the blame: Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Austria
Hitler’s scheme for ridding Germany of its enemies and reasserting its power was what main strategy?
remilitarization
- legally denied to Germany under the Treaty of Versailles
- yet abandoned all peaceful efforts, proceeded to destroy step by step
What nation withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933?
Germany
Hitler reinstated universal military service in 1935, and in the following year his troops entered the previously demilitarized ____________ that bordered France
Rhineland
After reinstating universal military service and militarizing Rhineland, in what war alongside Italy did Hitler’s troops (especially the air force) hone their skills?
Spanish Civil War
What was Germany’s forced union with Austria called?
Anschluss (“Union”)
How did Hitler justify his Germany’s annexation of Austria?
attempt to reintegrate all Germans into a single homeland
What was the Sudetenland?
western portion of Czechoslovakia, inhabited largely by ethnic Germans
Neither the French nor the British were willing to risk a military confrontation with Germany to defend Czechoslovakian territory, so what did they allow Germany to do?
Hitler demanded the immediate cession of the Sudetenland to the German government, but against the desires of the Czechoslovak government, the leaders of France and Britain accommodated Hitler, allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland
What was the policy of appeasement?
British and French policy in the 1930s that tried to maintain peace in Europe in the face of German aggression by making concessions
- British and French governments extracted a promise that Hitler would cease further efforts to expand German territorial claims
At what conference in September 1938 did European politicians (attended by representatives of Italy, France, Great Britain, and Germany) consolidate the policy of appeasement?
the Munich Conference
Who was Britain’s prime minister who arrived home from the Munich Conference announcing that the meeting had achieved “peace for our time”?
Neville Chamberlain
___________ for war and __________ by the depression, nations sympathetic to Britain and France also embramed peace as an admirable goal in the face of aggression by the revisionist nations.
Unprepared; distressed
Was the policy of appeasement effective on Germany? What did they do despite the policy?
the policy of appeasement was a practical and moral failure, which cause Britain and France to abandon it by guaranteeing the security of Poland
- Hitler refused to be bound by the Munich agreement, German troops occupied and annexed most of Czechoslovakia, and next threatened Poland
What agreement did the Soviet Union and Germany sign, agreeing to not attack each other and promising neutrality in the event that either of them went to war with a third party?
German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
In addition to Germany and the Soviet Union promising neutrality and peace between each other in the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, what else did the agreement establish about eastern Europe?
secret protocol divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence
- provided for German control over western Poland
- Soviet Union control over eastern Poland, eastern Romania, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
What was President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous radio broadcasts known as?
fireside chats
For how long had the war between Japan and China already stretch over eight years when European nations stormed into battle for World War II?
eight years
Germany’s stunning military successes in 1939 and 1940 focused attention on Europe, but after the Soviet Union and the United States entered the war in _______, the conflict took on _________ proportions. Almost every nation int he world had gone to war by ______.
1941; global; 1945
What military strategy did the Germans use to stun the world, but especially Britain and France, with a sudden victory?
Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”, term coined by journalists, but never an official doctrine or concept of German armed forces)
On September 1, 1939, Germany moved into what European country, and was able to subdue its western expanses (while the Soviets took the eastern) in one month?
Poland
What kind of German boats or submarines conflicted with British ship convoys, and proved to be a decisive asset in the European theater of war?
Unterseeboote (“U-boats”, or submarines)
In April 1940, what two European nations did the Germans occupy, before launching a full-scale attack on western Europe?
Denmark and Norway
The fall of what nation convinced Italy’s Benito Mussolini that the Germans were winning the war, and it was time to enter the conflict and reap any potential benefits of his partnership with the Germans?
France
By seizing control of Norway, what advantages did the Germans have?
gained control of the eastern North Sea and prevented Brtain’s navy from implementing a blockade
After the fall of France, what Allied power remained alone against the German forces?
Britain
What was the German air force called?
the Luftwaffe
What did the British call the Battle of Britain against the Germans?
“The Blitz”
The Germans hoped to defeat Britain almost solely through what kind of attacks?
air attacks
- rained bombs on heavily populated metropolitan areas, especially London, and killed more than 40,000 British civilians
What was the result of the Battle of Britain?
the Royal Air Force staved off defeat, forcing Hitler to abandon plans to invade Britain
By the summer of ________, Hitler’s conquests stretched from the streets of Paris to the Acropolis in Athens, and Hitler had succeeded beyond his dreams in his quest to reverse the outcome of WWI.
1941
What was the German term for living space, seeking to create more of it by expelling or exterminating Jews, Slavs, and Bolsheviks?
Lebensraum (“living space”)
Was the code name for the June invasion of the Soviet Union (believing that bankruptcy would take care of the rest of the Soviet Union after the invasion)?
Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler ordered his armed forces to invade what European nation?
the Soviet Union
For the campaign against the Soviet Union, the German military assembled the largest and most powerful invasion force in history, with how many soldiers?
3.6 million soldiers
- 3700 tanks, 2700 planes
What was the Russian heartland captured by the Germans in December 1941?
Leningrad
Despite having taken Leningrad and using Blitzkrieg tactics that proved effective in Poland and western Europe, why was Blitzkrieg ineffective for the Germans in the Soviet Union, and what else did the Germans fail to account for during war with Russia (4 advantages)?
- underestimated Soviet personnel reserves and industrial capacity
- Russia had vast expanses unaccounted for by Germans
- Stalin relocated industry to areas away from the front, allowed capacity of Soviet industry to outstrip that of German industry
- soviets received crucial equipment for their allies (trucks from the US)
How many divisions (military contingents from European nations) augmented the German force in their invasion of the Soviet Union?
total of 30
- included Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, and Finland
By the time the German forces reached the outskirts of Moscow, fierce Soviet resistance had produced how many German casualties?
800,000
Up until the winter of 1942, the Soviets had advantages over German forces that failed to account for the cold Russian winter, but by the spring, what happened?
German forces regrouped and inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army during the spring
- by June 1942, German armies raced toward the oil fields of the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad
- Soviet fortunes were the lowest they could’ve been when Germans invaded Stalingrad in September
As the Germans were advancing on Stalingrad and turning the tide of their invasion of the Soviet Union, what did Stalin order of his troops?
to fight a “patriotic” war for Mother Russia
- behind exhortations lay desperate attempt to stall the Germans with a bloody street-by-street defense of Stalingrad until the Red Army could regroup for a counterattack
In 1939, the United States instituted a cash-and-carry policy of supplying the British. What did this policy do?
the British paid cash and carried the materials on their ships
What was the lend-lease program initiated in 1941 by the United States?
the United States “lent” destroyers and other war goods to the British in return for the lease of naval bases
- program later extended such aid to the Soviets, the Chinese, and many others
Through what two main ways did the US government respond to Japans’ beginning to occupy French Indochina (now Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia)?
- freezing Japanese assets in the United States
- imposing a complete embargo on oil
In September 1940, Japanese forces began to occupy what land in Southeast Asia?
French Indochina
- moved with the blessings of the German-backed Vichy government of France
What was other nation that was the Commonwealth of Nations and the independent colonial government of the Dutch East Indies that supported the US oil embargo on Japan?
Great Britain
What were the two US demands of Japan, in addition to their economic pressure placed on Japan from freezing their assets and imposing an oil embargo?
- the renunciation of the Tripartite Pact (that sealed Japan, Italy, and German as the Axis powers in WWII)
- withdrawal of Japanese forces from China and southeast Asia
Who was a Japanese defense minister, who assumed the office of prime minister and set in motion plans for war against Great Britain and the US in October 1941?
Tojo Hideki (1884-1948)
For what two main reasons did the Japanese hope to destroy American naval capacity in the Pacific with an attack at Pearl Harbor?
- clear the way for the conquest of Southeast Asia
- creation of a defensive Japanese perimeter that would thwart the Allies’ ability to strike at Japan’s homeland
What was the date referred to as “a date which will live in infamy” as Franklin Roosevelt concluded that Japanese pilots took off from six aircraft carriers to attack Hawaii?
December 7, 1941
More than how many Japanese bombers, fighters, and torpedo planes struck Hawaii in two waves, sinking or disabling 18 ships and destroying more than 200 aircraft?
350
On December 11, 1941, what significant event occurred that provided the United States with the only reason it needed to declare war on Germany and Italy?
Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States
What three nations’ coming together linked two vast and interconnected theaters of war, the European and Asian-Pacific theaters. and ensured the defeat of Germany and Japan?
United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union
The humiliating surrender of what British-held port/city in February 1942 dealt a blow to British prestige and shattered any myths of European military invincibility?
Singapore
- Japanese seized from the British
The Japanese coordinated their strike against Pearl Harbor with simultaneous attacks against what places?
Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island, Hong Kong, Thailand, and British Malaya
What lands in Southeast Asia and the Pacific did the Japanese continue to militarily maintain after their victory at Pearl Harbor?
Borneo, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and several Aleutian Islands off Alaska
What was the slogan under which Japan pursued expansion in Asia?
“Asia for Asians”
- implied that the Japanese would lead Asian peoples to independence from the despised European imperialists and the international order they dominated
What did Japan’s efforts to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere represent?
Japanese plan for consolidating east and southeast Asia under their control during World War II, and represented their struggle for Asian independence from European imperialists
- soon became obvious to most Asians that the real agenda was “Asia for the Japanese”
Those who supported the establishment of Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere advocated for what? What were the true desires that they hid underneath this move for Asian nationalism?
Japan’s expansion in Asia and the Pacific
- cloaked their territorial and economic designs with the idealism of Asian nationalism
Despite the brutal exploitation of conquered territories, neither __________ nor __________ war production matched that of the _______, who outproduced their enemies at every turn.
German; Japanese; Allies
Not until the _________ ________ joined the struggle in 1942 did the tide in the battle in the Atlantic turn in favor of the _______.
United States; Allies
- primarily because of their industries
- ex: automotive industry alone produced more than 4 million armored, combat, and supply vehicles of all kinds for the war
What was the name of US ships that were built in US naval shipyards at a greater rate than the Germans could sink?
“Liberty Ships”
By 1943, German forces in Russia lost the momentum and faced bleak prospects as the Soviets retook territory. What Russian city never fell to the Germans, and battle over what Russian city marked the first large-scale victory for Soviet forces?
Moscow = never fell to the Germans
Stalingrad = first large-scale victory for Soviets
Drawing on enormous personnel and material reserves, the Soviets were able to push German invaders out of Russian territory, and by 1944 the Soviets had advanced into what three German territories?
Romania, Hungary, Poland
- reached suburbs of Berlin in April 1945
By the time the Soviets had reached the suburbs of Berlin and turned the tide once again in the German invasion of the Soviet Union, how many casualties had they inflicted on the German army?
more than 6 million–twice the number of the original German invasion force
In August 1944, the Allies forced what European nation to withdraw from the Axis and join the Allies?
Italy
With the eastern front disintegrating under the Soviet onslaught of German forces, British and US forces attacked the Germans from what two places?
- north Africa
- through Italy
Where did D-Day take place on June 6 1944?
French coast of Normandy
What happened on D-Day?
fighting deadly for all sides, Germans overwhelmed with two fronts collapsing around them and round-the-clock strategic bombing by the United States and Britain, leveling German cities and causing their resistance to fade
How did round-the-clock bombing by the US and Britain work/how did they divide up the work?
- Britain’s Royal Air Force committed to area bombing in which centers of cities became the target of nighttime raids
- US planes attacked industrial targets in daytime
What two battles forced Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 8 1945?
- brutal street-by-street battle in Berlin between Germans and Russians
- British and US sweep through western Germany
A week after Germany’s forced surrender on May 8, 1945 and as fighting flared right outside his Berlin bunker, what happened to Adolf Hitler?
Hitler committed suicide, as did many of his Nazi compatriots
- did not live to see Soviet red flag flying over the Berlin Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building
Where did the turning point in the Pacific war take place?
naval engagement near the Midway Islands on June 4, 1942?
What was the United States’ secret weapon/code-breaking operation used to prevail at a naval engagement near the Midway Islands, and turn the tide of the Pacific war?
“Magic”
- enabled a cryptographer monitoring Japanese radio frequencies to discover the plan to attack Midway Islands
What were the two main reasons that the United States prevailed at a naval engagement near the Midway Islands and turned the tide of the Pacific War?
- US aircraft carriers had survived the attack at Pearl Harbor
- had few carriers but did have a secret weapon/code-breaking operation: - “Magic”: enabled the US to uncover Japanese plans to attack Midway Islands
How many Japanese carriers were the US carrier-launched dive-bombers able to sink on the morning of June 4, 1942?
three Japanese carries in one five-minute strike
- fourth one later in the day
