History Flashcards
History
How many nuclear weapons have ever been used during war, when and by whom?
only 2
both by the USA
near the end of World War II in 1945
Who were the nuclear bombs dropped on?
Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
What age did the world enter into after the nuclear bombs were dropped?
The nuclear age
What happened to victims directly underneath the nuclear explosions?
they were vaporized instantly.
The heat was so intense that they disappeared into thin air.
How far away from the nuclear explosions did peoples clothes set on fire?
3km
What happened to roof tiles 0.5km away from the nuclear explosions?
they melted
How fast was the wind speed on the ground directly beneath the nuclear explosions?
1600km / hour
What did the force of the wind do during the nuclear explosions?
it flattened most buildings
What type of poisoning did the nuclear explosions release and what were the effects?
nuclear radiation killed 10’s of thousands of people in the cities and the deaths from radiation continued for years after the explosions.
Why have nuclear weapons not been used in warfare again?
Because of the extreme destruction caused from the bombs.
Who did the Allies fight in World War II?
The Axis Powers
Who had the Allied powers defeated by May 1945?
Germany and Italy
What did the Allies decide at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, before the end of the war?
That when Germany was defeated, it would be divided into 4 zones.
France, Britain, America and Russia would each control a part.
What did the Allies do in June 1945?
They divided up Germany and Berlin and took over the government of Germany.
Who moved into Berlin in July 1945?
American, British and French troops
Who controlled the capital city of Germany, Berlin, after Germany was defeated?
Russia
Who represented Britain at the Yalta Conference?
Winston Churchill
Who represented The USA at the Yalta Conference?
Franklin Roosevelt
Who represented Russia at the Yalta Conference?
Josef Stalin
What happened to Roosevelt and Churchill?
Roosevelt dies just before the end of the war.
Churchill was voted out of office.
When was the Potsdam Conference held?
at the end of the war…. 17 July - 2 August 1945
Who were the participants (countries) of the Potsdam Conference?
the Soviet Union
Britain
The United States
Why was the Potsdam Conference held?
To decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany.
Why was their increased tension between the Allies after WWII?
Tension regarding positions of power and trust amongst the leaders.
Britain’s new Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, deeply distrusted Stalin.
USA’s new President, Harry Truman was very suspicious of Stalin’s intentions.
Who replaced Churchill and Roosevelt at the Potsdam Conference?
Clement Atlee (Britain) Harry Truman (USA)
Why did Russian troops not withdraw from the countries in Eastern Europe?
Stalin insisted that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks from the West.
When and where did the USA test an atomic bomb?
16 July 1945
The New Mexico desert.
How did Stalin know about the atomic bomb?
He had KGB spies that had gained access to the group that made the bomb.
Who was the KGB?
The Russian Secret Police
What is ideology?
A set of beliefs, values and ideas
What great change took place in Russia during World War I?
The Russian Revolution of 1917:
King Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and a communist government took over.
Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
What does USSR stand for?
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Who was the leader of communist political party that took over Russia in 1917?
Vladimir Lenin
Which party was Lenin the leader of?
Russia’s communist party, The Bolsheviks
What did Lenin and the Bolsheviks party offer poverty stricken Russians?
Peace, land and bread
When did Russia withdraw from World War I?
1917
When did Stalin take over leadership of the Soviet Union?
When Lenin died in 1924
What kind of leader was Stalin?
A ruthless dictator.
He used extreme violence
From 1917 - 1991, How far did the Russian state stretch?
From the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean
It consisted of 15 SOviet Socalist Republics
What was the capital city of the Russian state?
Moscow
What is communist ideology?
- Do not believe in a few rich people controlling all wealth in the country
- Government should rule in the interests of all, not just the rich
- Wealth should be shared equally between all people
- Economy is centrally planned - economic equality
- No one can own private property or make a profit
- State owns all large industries and all sources of wealth
- Communist governments are not usually democratic
Who developed the ideas of communism?
Karl Marx
Vladimir Lenin
Leon Trotsky
Communism is a revolutionary movement that promotes…..
the violent overthrow of capitalism
Who did communism become a popular ideology among?
Poor people all over the world.
What do the stars on the American flag represent
The 50 States of The USA
What kind of governing ideology does the USA have?
The USA is a capitalist country
What is the capital city of the USA
Washington DC
What are the countries that are allied to the USA called?
the West
Who does the West include?
the capitalist, democratic countries in Western Europe, including Britain
What is the main ideology behind capitalism?
the belief that there is nothing wrong with some people being very rich, and others being very poor
In capitalist ideology, what does the possibility of making a profit motivate?
people to work harder
Can capitalist own private property?
yes
Does the government control the economy in a capitalist country?
No
What is the meaning of fascist?
Fascism is a form of government which is a type of one-party dictatorship. Fascists are against democracy. … Fascism puts nation and often race above the individual
How are capitalists, although democratic, sometimes fascist?
The rights of individuals who own huge industries and gather great wealth are protected while other people remain very poor.
What was Harry Truman strongly opposed to?
He was opposed to the SOviet Union expanding its control in Europe and other parts of the world.
He wanted the USA to resist communism.
Where did Albert Einstein grow up?
in Germany
What was Albert Einstein award with in 1921?
The Nobel Prize in Physics
How was Albert Einstein involved in the making of the nuclear or atomic bomb?
He was not directly involved, but his scientific theories were used in the development of the first nuclear bomb.
He encouraged the American government to invent the atomic bomb to stop Nazi ideas from spreading.
Why did Einstein leave Europe?
As he was Jewish, he left Europe when Hitler came into power, to escape the Nazis
Where did Einstein go live?
In America
Was the atomic bomb used on Nazi Germany?
No. It was used on Japan
What was the top secret research project to research and produce an atomic bomb called?
The Manhattan Project
What was the code name for the bomb that was successfully tested in the desert in New Mexico?
’’ the gadget ‘’
What happened to the sand under the explosion of the tested bomb?
It turned to glass
Who was the leader of the Manhattan Project?
RObert Oppenheimer
why were the Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki the chosen targets for the atomic bomb?
because they produced weapons of war for Japan
How many people died instantly in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
90 000 and 60 000 respectively
When and why did world war II end?
on 14 August 1945, Japan finally admitted it had been defeated
How did Einstein feel about the nuclear bombs after they had been dropped?
Regret.
He was deeply concerned about humanity and world peace.
He tried to convince world leaders to give up nuclear weapons
What 3 main reasons did the American Government have for dropping the bombs?
- To avoid further casualties
- To keep Stalin out of Japan and frighten or intimidate the USSR
- To frighten the Japanese military leaders into surrendering
What was the argued prediction of deaths per month(mostly in Asia) if the war had continued?
250 000 per month
What is a Purple Heart Medal?
an award given to soldiers who have been killed or injured in the US military
How many Purple Heart Medals did the USA have manufactured in anticipation of casualties from the planned invasion of Japan?
nearly 500 000
How many Purple Heart Medals were still in stock in 2003
120 000
What did the Japanese code of war say?
Never be captured, never break down, never surrender
Japanese fighters were trained to….
fight to the death.
Who was the Japanese Emperor during World War II?
Hirohito
The atomic bomb was more than a weapon of terrible destruction, it was a….
psychological weapon
What were the after effects for Japanese people long after the Nuclear bomb was dropped?
- Thousands of children were orphaned
- Weeks later, people continued to die from burns
- Within the next few years, people died of radiation sickness and cancer
- 50 years later, children were still being born with defects caused by the bomb
How did Harry Truman justify dropping the bomb?
He said dropping the bomb saved lives
What was the first atomic bomb that was dropped called?
Little boy
Who invaded Russia in 1941?
Hitler’s troops
Why did Russia join the the Allies and fight on the same side as the USA?
They had the same enemies, Germany, Italy and Japan
Who developed their own nuclear weapons after WWII by 1949?
Russia
What was the Cold War
The Rivalry between the USA and the USSR after WWII
Why was it called the Cold War?
It was not a war fought on a battlefield. (Hot War)
Who were the “Superpowers”?
America and Russia, the 2 most powerful countries in the world at that time
When did the cold war come to an end and the communist USSR collapse?
1990
Did the Superpowers use nuclear weapons in the cold war and why?
No.
They realized they were too dangerous and destructive and could destroy the world
What was the nuclear arms race?
a competition in which the USA and the Soviet Union tried to build up the most nuclear weapons during the cold war.
What did the nuclear arms race become known as?
What did it mean?
Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)
If one side attacked with nuclear weapons then the other side would respond with nuclear weapons
Why did the Cold War nearly become a “hot” war in the early 1960’s?
The Superpowers were competing over control of Cuba, threatening nuclear destruction
Where / what is Cuba?
An island off the coast of the American state of Florida.
What kind of government did Cuba have?
a capitalist, oppressive and corrupt government.
Who ruled Cuba?
General Batista
Who did Cuba have close economic ties with?
explain…
America
American corporations had important investments in Cuba.
Why were the Cuban’s very unhappy with the Batista government?
Cuba in the 1950’s was regarded as the playground for the rich who travelled there from the USA. But ordinary Cubans were poor and few human rights.
Who led the revolutionaries that toppled the Batista regime in 1959?
Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
Where did rich Cubans flee to?
America
What socialist reforms did Castro begin to implement in Cuba when he came into power?
- land redistribution from the rich to the poor
* nationalisation of American -owned businesses
Why did President Kennedy become alarmed at the socialist programme adopted by Castro in Cuba?
It threatened America’s economic interest in Cuba
How did the American government try to overthrow Castro’s government?
An army of Cuban exiles trained by the US army, invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
The Americans were quickly defeated by the Cuban army.
How did Russian leader, Khrushchev, help Cuba?
He offered economic aid and weapons to Cuba
When did the world come close to a nuclear world war?
At the time of the Cuban missile crisis
Where did America have nuclear missiles stationed?
In Western Europe and Turkey, close to Russian soil
What did American spy ships photograph in Cuba?
The construction sites of missile installations being built by the USSR in Cuba
Why did the American government decide to use Navy warships?
To block the seas around Cuba.
After tense negotiations, what did Kennedy and Khruschev agree to?
Kruschev agreed to remove the missiles based in Cuba, and in return the US guaranteed it would not attack Cuba.
Who was the space race between?
The United States and The Soviet Union
What did military scientists begin developing after WWII?
rockets which could carry nuclear bombs over long distances
Who took the lead in rocket technology?
The Russians
Who put the first satellite into space in 1957?
The Soviet Union
How was the cold war also fought in space?
After The Soviet Union put the first satellite in space, The United States and the Soviet Union began a long competition to be first in the exploration of space.
Was the space race peaceful or violent?
peaceful?
What did the Russians send into space in 1957 and what happened to it?
A dog named Laika, who died after a few hours from overheating and stress.
Who was the first person to go to space?
Russian astronaut, Yuri Gagarin
What clear goal did Kennedy declare, regarding the space race?
To land a man on the moon before the Russians
Who landed on the moon first, (names of astronauts) and when?
20 July 1969
American astronauts:
Neil Armstrong , Aldrin and Collins
What was the rocket that went to the moon called?
Apollo 11
What was the city of Berlin divided into in 1946?
Western Allied-occupied West Berlin
Soviet-occupied East Berlin
Who ordered the blocking off of East Berlin and West Berlin with a solid wall?
The USSR
What orders did the East German Communist government give, should anyone from West Berlin try and enter East Berlin?
To shoot and kill
How many people were killed trying to cross the wall?
About 100
What reforms did Mikhail Gorbachev (the new leader of the USSR in 1985) begin to introduce after the Russian economy became inefficient?
(glasnost) - a policy of openess
New freedoms for the Soviet people, such as greater freedom of speech
What is perestroika?
restructuring of the Soviet Union
Who did the restructuring of the Soviet Union have effects on?
Other communist countries in Eastern Europe
What new law did the government prepare after Erich Honecker, East Germany’s head of state resigned in 1989?
Travel restrictions to be uplifted.
What did Mikhail Gorbachev’s economic reforms lead to?
The end of the cold war
When did German reunification (East & west Berlin) and the wall destroyed?
1990
When did the communist government of the Soviet Union come to an end?
late 1991
When and Who declared the cold war officially over?
1989
Gorbachev (USSR) and George HW Bush (USA)
How long did the cold war last?
more than 4 decades
WW1 had begun in
1914.
WW1 ended in
1918.
WW1 : ? had
been defeated.
Germany
WW1: ? of Germany had been over thrown.
Kaiser Wilhelm II
After WWI, Germany was no longer ruled by a king and became a
republic
After WWI: A new democratic government of the Weiner Republic signed the ____?
with the allies and agreed to stop fighting.
armistice
_______?_______ was signed in 1919.
The Peace Treaty of Versailles
The following happened to Germany in the Treaty of Versailles:
• The terms of the Treaty were dictated to Germany. Germany had no say in
how it was punished.
• Germany had to pay for the costs of the war. They also had to pay millions in
reparations for the costs of the damage of the war.
• Germany lost land.
2
• Germany also had to admit that it was to blame for the war, by signing the
War Guilt Clause.
• Germany was not allowed to build up a defence force (army) again.
Adolf Hitler fought for Germany in WWI and was very disappointed that Germany lost. • When the war ended, he joined the ??? – an organisation that consisted of WWI veterans.
Freikorps
Hitlers job was to
spy on the political parties in Munich.
One of the parties that Hitler spied on caught his attention and he joined up. It was called the
German Workers Party.
Hitler realised that he was good at
politics, debating and delivering speeches.
(Nazi for
short).
National Socialist German Workers Party
The ? was adopted as the symbol for Hitlers party and it also had its own
army known as the brown shirts (SA) which was led by Captain Ernest Rohm
Swastika
Hitlers party also had its own
army known as the ?_____ which was led by Captain Ernest Rohm
brown shirts (SA)
The SA had no rules against the use of ?
and often ?
violence
beat up people who did not agree with them
By 1923 Germany was suffering ? & ? due to as a
result of the war debt.
inflation and unemployment
Hitler felt that it was time to use his party to take over the German government
by force.
• This event was called the
Munich Putsch.
Hitler was shot in the arm, arrested and tried for treason.
• The verdict was guilty, however, Hitler only had to serve ? in jail after
which he was legible for parole.
9 months
While he was in jail Hitler wrote his famous book
“Mein Kampf” (My struggle).
In his book, Hitler outlined his ideals. they consisted of
‘Lebensraum for the Herenvolk’
(living space for the master race) under a one party government
When Hitler left prison, things had started to improve for Germany, as a result
of
the country getting loans from the USA via the Dawes Plan.
Disaster hit the world economy in 1929 with the ?
which
started with the Wall Street (stock market) crash in the USA.
Great Depression
When the stock market collapsed the ? collapsed with it.
American economy
Germany’s economy was reliant on the US economy due to the
Dawes Plan.
The USA wanted the money back that it had lent to Germany.
• Germany was unable to pay back the money.
• As a result, more, German businesses collapsed, and more people lost their
jobs
• As a result of all this suffering the people of Germany started to look to ?
to fix the situation
Hitler
Hitler promised to
create jobs and make sure that Germany was not reliant on
the USA economy
Many people associated ? with the Great Depression and therefore
lost faith in the democratic Weiner Republic.
democracy
Because the Nazi’s were the biggest party in the Reichstag (parliament),
Hitler was made First Chancellor of Germany.
• He held the second most powerful position in the country. Von Hinderburg
held the office of president in Germany. This was the most powerful position.
• Von Hinderburg gave Hitler the post of Chancellor because
he hoped Hitler
would be happy with a mere title and be quiet and have no real say in politics.
In 1933 the ? was burnt down, and Communists in Germany
were blamed. (Hitler actually organised the Nazi’s start this fire).
Reichstag building (Parilment_
Hitler immediately went to the German newspaper and said that Germany
was at war with itself and that it had to be protected.
• In order to protect Germany, Hitler got the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act.
• This law swopped the positions of
President and First Chancellor. (Hitler)
This made Hitler the most powerful man in Germany and as a result he would
protect Germany.
Hitler immediately ? when he became president.
banned all other political parties.
Interns were ? if they did not show loyalty
to or criticised Hitler in any way.
incarcerated, tortured and even killed
In 1935 the Nazi’s passed the Nuremburg laws which denied people in
Germany many human rights.
• These included Jews having
German citizenship taken away and preventing
Jews from marrying ‘pure Germans’ amongst others.
These laws did not only apply to Jews, however, ???? were also subject to
these laws.
Jehova’s witnesses, Roma,
Slavs, homosexuals and mentally challenged people
The Russian Empire as an example of a fascist state
• was the king of Russia.
was his wife.
Tsar Nicolas II
Tsarina Alexandra
was their(Tsar) only son (he was a haemophiliac – a bleeder).
Prince Alexei
Tsar Nicolas II was an ? leader. (opposite to democratic)
autocratic
The Tsar had absolute power over 175 million people.
• Most of the people were
Russian peasants.
Industrially Russia was about ? behind Europe.
200 years
What percentage of the Russian population was illiterate.
(96%)
Hitler came into power in
1933.
In 1936 the Nazi’s re-militarised the ? in Germany.
Rhineland
The Anschluss took place in March 1938.
• This is where
Hitler marched is army Austria and took it over, without a shot
being fired.
Hitler’s next target was the province of
Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
At the Munich conference in October 1938 it was decided by ???? that this province would be handed over to Germany.
• Czechoslovakia had no say in the matter.
Britain, France,
Italy and Germany
Hitler was not allowed to take these areas over – according to the ?? it was therefore illegal.
Treaty of
Versailles
Many people in Europe felt that the treaty of Versailles was harsh on
Germany.
• The British decided to follow a policy of ? towards the Germans.
‘appeasement’
• Appeasement meant that the Germans could take back what was theirs in the
first place in order to safeguard their economy, to be able to defend
themselves militarily and ironically, to prevent a second world war.
In September 1939 Hitler marched his army into ??
• Britain and France had no other alternative but to stop him and declare war on
Germany – and so began World War II.
Poland.
World War II
• The war started on ?
when Germany attacked ?
1 September 1939
Poland.
? gave Hitler an ultimatum to withdraw his army out of
Poland, which Hitler ignored.
Britain and France
The Nazi’s signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Russia.
• I this pact Stalin) the Russian premier) and Hitler agreed
not to go to war with
each other, that Russia would remain neutral and that Poland would be
7
shared between Germany and Russia. Germany would get West Poland and
Russia would get East Poland.
Both powers
agreed not to go to war against each other for 10 years.
• Hitler broke this pact in ? when ?
1941
the Nazi’s marched into Russia (operation
Barbarossa).
America only joined the War when
Pearl Harbour was attacked by the
Japanese in December 1941.
America declared war on
not only Japan but also Germany
and Italy.
By the end of 1941 World War II consisted of two groups fighting each other:
1. The Allied Powers • Britain • France • America 2. The Axis Powers • Germany • Japan • Italy
Genocide is
the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those
of a particular nation or ethnic group
The Nazi’s believed that the Jews were
an inferior, evil race – responsible for
all the problems and suffering that German were experiencing. They also
believed that Jewish genes would contaminate the superior genes of the pure
German race.
In 1938, the Nazi’s ordered that
Jewish people, houses, shops and
synagogues in Germany be attacked, burnt and destroys because a Jew in
Paris murdered a German diplomat.
These attacks took place on 9 and 10 November 1938 and became known as
the Kristalnnacht (night of the broken glass).
The system of killing people was not effective enough for Hitler. Bullets were
too expensive, and the process was too slow,
9
• Einsatzgruppen soldiers suffered from psychological problems as a result of
having to kill unarmed civilians – especially women and children. A faster
more effective was of killing masses of people was needed.
The Holocaust
• The final solution was
death camps
Weaker victims were given the impression that were going to the showers
BUT were
gassed.
Stronger victims were often sent to
forced labour camps where they were
literally worked to death.
Doctors also chose victims for
human experimentation.
It is estimated that about ??? died as a result of the
Holocaust.
6 million Jewish people
Around ?? voters out of 35 million had voted the Nazi’s into power in
1932
17 million
Sophia Scholl and the White Rose Movement
• She was a German student and Anti-Nazi, active member of the White Rose
Movement. They were a non-violent group.
• She distributed anti-war leaflets to students at the Munich University.
• He brother Hans Scholl helped her,
• The Nazi’s executed them both by guillotine.
10
• Sophia Scholl is held in high regard in Germany today for standing up to the
Nazi’s.
Dietrich Boenhoffer and the Confessing Church
• He was a German pastor of a Lutheran church called Confessing Church.
• He was well known for standing up and speaking out against the Nazi’s,
especially the treatment of Jews and mentally disabled persons.
• He was imprisoned and then sent to a concentration camp. The Nazi’s
executed him in 1945.
The Nazi German army entered the city of Warsaw in Poland in 1939, just
after WWII started. They built a wall to enclose a part of the city, which
became known as the
Warsaw Ghetto.
Part of Warsaw were set aside as?????
• The conditions were harsh, they were very over crowded, full of disease and
hardly any food.
as a Ghetto for Jewish people waiting to be
sent to Concentrations Camps.
? had taken Western Europe and Western German
from the Nazi’s.
• American and British forces
? had pushed the Nazi’s out of Eastern Europe and East Germany.
Russia
Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin Bunker on
30 April 1945.
What is (VE Day – Victory Europe Day).
the Nazi’s surrendered to the Allies a few days after Hitler commited suicide
? was one of the major United States naval bases in
the Pacific
Pearl Harbour (in Hawaii)
On ?? Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese. America was caught
by surprise and were not prepared for the attack.
7 December 1941
The Japanese air force destroyed
19 US ships and 188 US fighter planes.
2400 people were killed.
110-120 thousand American’s with Japanese ancestry were
forced into
internment camps.
• About 60% of those interned were American citizens.
This was ordered by ???? who was the US president
at the time.
President Franklin Roosevelt
In 1988 President ?? passed the Civil Liberties Act, which was
an apology to the Japanese Americans for internments.
Ronald Reagan
Nanjing Massacre –
Residents were murdered, tortured, raped by the
Japanese army.
• Between 200 and 300 thousand people were killed by Japanese’s soldiers.
This remains a sore point in relations between the Japanese and Chinese
today.
About 140 000 allied prisoners were in ???
A third of them died from malnourishment, abuse and disease.
Japanese prisoner of war camps
