History - Everything. Flashcards
What were the causes of World War 2?
FARTED Failure of the League of Nations Appeasement Rise of dictatorships Treaty of Versailles Expansionism Depression (The Great Depression)
Describe and explain the consequences of WW1
- Some empires that ended at the end of the war were the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungary empire and Bulgaria empires were lost while new-nationstates began to thrive and began to emerge. Germany and Russia suffered most, both countries lost almost two million men in battle.
- Large sections of land, especially in France and Belgium, were completely destroyed. Fighting laid buildings, bridges and railroad lines in ruins. Chemicals and gun shells made farming land unusable for years to come. Some 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds or disease during World War I. Perhaps as many as 13,000,000 civilians also died. This immensely large number of deaths dwarfed that of any previous war, largely because of the new technologies and styles of warfare used in World War I.
- The rise of Hitler
Describe the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the establishment of policies in order to ensure lasting peace for the nation involved. Signed on 28 June 1919: called the Treaty of Versailles. It referred to peace with Germany. Germany opposed the many elements of the Treaty. If Germany did not sign, the allies would invade as well as an economic crisis.
Discuss the impact of the Treaty of Versailles terms on Germany
Terms on Germany: BRATLA: Why was Germany society vulnerable to the rise of Nazism?
Blame - Germany to accept full responsibility
Reparations - Make massive compensation repayments
Army/ Armaments - Reduce and disarm
Territory loss - They lost all overseas territories -> 13% of its land
League of Nations formation - without Germany
Anschluss forbidden - Austria and Germany could not unite
Discuss the purpose and aims of the League of Nations
The ‘League of Nations’ was formed at the end of World War 1. The idea was that countries could try to resolve disputes through diplomacy rather than turning to warfare: that one country would not simply take another. If a country tried to invade other countries would prevent them from doing so.
Established to prevent future wars by encouraging nations to negotiate rather than engage in military conflicts.
Explain the rise of extreme ideologies such as Nazism, Fascism, etc
Before World War 2 Germany was considered one of the most cosmopolitan and advanced countries in the world. The country had restored its economy and industry after the devastations of reparations, hyperinflation and the instability of the Weimar Republic. Hitler and the Nazis understood the power of propaganda and continually advertised that Nazism was the reason for the country’s success.
To be able to explain and discuss the rise of Hitler
The Nazi Party’s first attempt to seize power in 1923 was a disaster. Hitler was charged with treason (betrayal of country), but received friendly treatment from the court. In his defence he claimed honourable and nationalistic motives. The judge allowed Hitler to discuss his ideas in court with few restrictions. He eventually served only eight months in prison enjoying many privileges such as daily visits from friends and family, and no forced labour. Hitler used this time to write “Mein Kampf” a book outlining his ideology, experiences and plans for the Nazi Party. On his release form jail Hitler decided that the Nazis shoudl try to gain power by exploiting the political system rather than attacking it. His party gained a small number of seats in the Reichstag (the German legislative assembly) during the 1920s, but it was the Great Depression that gave the party its real opportunity. By 1932 the Nazi Party was the largest single party in the Reichstag. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 by President Hindenburg’s death in 1934, Hitler combined the roles of Chancellor and President, making himself the Fuhrer (supreme ruler) of Germany’s borders, systematic persecution of the Jewish community and compulsory sterilisation for many Jewish and Sinti/Roma people as well as those with disabilities and LGBTQ+ people. For the first three years of the war Hitler’s popularity remained strong. However in 1942 Germany suffered severe military losses and German cities were regularly bombed by the Allies. Some Germans began to turn against Hitler. There were at least 17 recorded assassination attempts against him and many more were rumoured to have occurred. Hitler gradually withdrew from public life and directed operations from his underground ‘bunker’ in Berlin. Hitler took his own life as the Soviet Army overran Berlin on 30 April 1945.
The reasons for Japan’s desire to expand
Faced with severe shortages of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the United States and British forces in Asia and seize the resources of Southeast Asia. Japan attacked Pearl Harbour even though it was not at war with the USA because it sought to expand across Southeast Asia. They launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii - weakening the US would mean precious time to secure the region and establish defences.
The invasion of Manchuria and the Mukden incident
On September 18, 1931, an explosion destroyed a section of railway track near the city of Mukden. The Japanese, who owned the railway, blamed Chinese nationalists for the incident and used the opportunity to retaliate and invade Manchuria.Following the attack on Pearl Harbour (7 Dec 1941), Japanese forces quickly occupied Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island.
Singapore was first bombed in 8 Dec 1941.
Japan wanted rubber and oil resources available on the island of Borneo (now Malaysia – Sarawak and Sabah, Indonesia – Kalimantan and Brunei). Many of these Southeast Asian islands also held strategic advantage for launching of airstrikes and as naval ports.
Japan conquered Burma (Myanmar), French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), British Malaya (Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), before invading New Guinea (part of which was an Australian protectorate).
What was Japan’s expansion into East and South East Asia including their takeover of French Indochina and the Fall of Singapore?
The main objective of the Japanese was to prevent China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina along the Kunming–Hai Phong Railway, from the Indochinese port of Haiphong, through the capital of Hanoi to the Chinese city of Kunming in Yunnan.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbour (7 Dec 1941), Japanese forces quickly occupied Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island.
Singapore was first bombed in 8 Dec 1941.
Japan wanted rubber and oil resources available on the island of Borneo (now Malaysia – Sarawak and Sabah, Indonesia – Kalimantan and Brunei). Many of these Southeast Asian islands also held strategic advantage for launching of airstrikes and as naval ports.
Japan conquered Burma (Myanmar), French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), British Malaya (Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), before invading New Guinea (part of which was an Australian protectorate).
What was the Holocaust?
The Holocaust was the systematic murder of Europe’s Jewish population by Nazis and their collaborators during World War 2. For the first time the mass extermination of a whole people was conducted using industrial methods. Between 1933 and 1945 Jewish people were subjected to discrimination segregation and extermination.
What was the Nuremberg laws?
On September 15, 1935, two new laws were announced by the Nazi regime: The Reich Citizen Law and the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor. These laws were enacted so the Nazi’s could intergrate their beliefs about race into the law. This was because they believed in the theory that the world is divided into distinct races, some of which were considered stronger and more valuable than others.
What was the Kristallnacht?
Kristallnacht (Crystal Night in German) also called the Night of Broken Glass or November Pogroms on the night of November (9-10,1938). It involved the German Nazis attacking Jewish persons and property. The name Kristallnacht derived from litter and broken glass left in the streets after the purges. Violence continued until the 10th of November, but in other cases, acts of violence continued for days.
What was the Final Solution: Deportation and Mass Murder:
Soldiers executing Jewish people by shooting were suffering mental health problems. So the SS (Military wing of the Nazi party) and German army officials determined that they needed a more effective way of killing Jewish people. After a meeting in 1942, The Wannsee Protocol was established. It specifically stated that there needed to be a coordinated effort of deportation, slave labour and extermination. Jewish people were transported on trains from Ghettos all across Europe to camps where they underwent a selection process. Some people were kept alive to help keep the extermination process running, or for medical experiments. Others were selected for immediate death. In Auschwitz assembly line extermination occurred. People were told that they were to have a shower but were gassed instead.
What was Ghettoization?
The early stages of the Holocaust are between 1939 - 1941, when Nazi Germany begani identifying Jewish people and segregating them into ‘ghettos’. ‘Ghettos’ were enclosed areas of a city where Jewish people were housed, but were not allowed to leave. They were to have no communication from the outside. Overcrowding, disease and starvation were rampant in these areas. As more territory was taken by the Germans these programs were expanded into new areas.The creation of ghettos was a key step in the Nazi process of brutally separating, persecuting, and ultimately destroying Europe’s Jews. Jews were forced to move into the ghettos, where living conditions were miserable. Ghettos were often enclosed districts that isolated Jews from the non-Jewish population and from other Jewish communities.
Describe pre-war Jewish life
Jewish communities before the Nazi Seizure of Power - Before the Nazis seized power in 1933 Europe had a richly diverse set of Jewish cultures were dynamic and highly develoed They drew from hundreds and in some areas a thousand or more years of Jewish life on the continent. The diverse nature of individual Jewish communities in occupations, religious practices, involvement and integration in regional national life and other areas made for fruitful and varied Jewish life across Europe. In many countries Jews stood as cultural and political luminaries and had marched alongside non-Jews in World War 1.
identity the different stages/ phases of the Holocaust.
Stage 1: Definition Stage 2: isolation Stage 3: Emigration Stage 4: Ghettoization Stage 5: Deportation Stage 6: Mass murder
What is stage 1: Definition of the Holocaust?
Jews are defined as the “other” through legalized discrimination.
Through racism: categorising people into fixed categories based on (supposed)
bloodlines.
• Through laws: The Nuremberg laws defined who was a Jew and who was not a Jew.
• Through propaganda: Cartoons, books, movies, and posters portrayed Jews as different from (and inferior to) their Aryan neighbours.
What is stage 2: isolation of the Holocaust?
Once individuals are labelled as Jews, they are separated from mainstream society.
Through laws: Jews were not allowed to attend German schools or universities.
They could not go to public parks or movie theatres. All German youth were
obliged to join the Hitler Youth Movement; Jewish youth were excluded from
membership.
• Through social practices: Many Germans stopped associating or “being friends”
with Jews. Jews and non-Jewish Germans were not allowed to join the same clubs.
• Through the economy: Jews were excluded from the civil service and Jewish businesses were taken over by Germans. Jewish doctors and lawyers had their licences
taken away. This made it less likely for Germans to interact with Jews in their daily
life.
What is stage 3: Emigration of the Holocaust?
Jews are encouraged to leave Germany. With the beginning of
World War II in 1939, the Nazis apply their racial laws to the countries they invade
and occupy. Thus, Jews in these territories also tried to emigrate outside of the Third
Reich
• Through discriminatory laws: Many Jews, especially artists and academics, left
Germany when they were no longer allowed to work in the universities.
• Through new immigration laws: Jews were allowed to obtain exit visas so long as
they left behind their valuables and property.
• Through fear: Kristallnacht encouraged many Jews to leave the area.
What is stage 4: Ghettoization of the Holocaust?
Jews are forcibly removed to segregated sections of Eastern
European cities called ghettos.
Ghettos were walled-off areas of a city where Jews were forced to live. They were
not allowed to leave their ghetto without permission from Nazi officials. Likewise,
except for Nazi officials, non-Jews were not allowed to enter the ghetto.
• Conditions in the ghettos were crowded and filthy. Many families were forced to
share one small apartment. There was limited access to proper waste disposal. Jews
had to give up their property and valuables. There were very few jobs in a ghetto
and since everyone had to give up their property and valuables, most of the residents were extremely poor. Food was scarce. Forced, unpaid labor was common
What is stage 5: Deportation of the Holocaust?
Jews are transported from ghettos to concentration camps and death camps. The Nazis built the first concentration camp in 1933 as a place to detain (place-byforce) communists and other opponents to the Nazi Party. At the beginning of
World War II, the Nazis began building more concentration camps where they
could imprison “enemies of the state,” including Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals, as
well as prisoners or war. Many concentration camps functioned as labor camps,
where inmates worked until they either starved to death or died of disease.
• Death camps, also called extermination camps, were designed for the purpose of
killing large numbers of people in the most efficient manner possible.
• Because these camps were located away from major cities, victims had to be transported to them via train. Some rides lasted for several days. Thousands of prisoners
died en route to the camps.
Many people were affected by these camps. Of course, there were the victims; millions of children, women, and men suffered as inmates in this camps. But there
were also bureaucrats—the train conductors, prison guards, cooks, secretaries,
etc.—that made sure that millions of victims were transported to camps throughout
Europe and who ran the camps once the victims arrived.
What is stage 6: Mass murder of the Holocaust?
It is estimated that the Nazis murdered approximately 11 million
innocent civilians during World War II. These are civilians killed not in the crossfire of
armed combat but murdered for being an “enemy of the state” or for belonging to an
undesirable group. The Nazis and those who worked for them killed children, women,
and men mostly through shooting, suffocation in gas chambers, and imprisonment in
labour and death camps. Conditions in the camps were such that many prisoners died
from disease, such as typhus, malnutrition, and exhaustion from overwork. Of those
killed, six million were Jews. Two-thirds of the entire European Jewish population was
killed by the Nazis.
Explain how the Nazis promotes antisemeitism and set the ground work for the Holocaust through events such as the Nuremberg Laws, the use of propaganda, etc
In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws defined Jews by race and mandated the total separation of “Aryans” and “non-Aryans.” On November 9, 1938, the Nazis destroyed synagogues and the shop windows of Jewish-owned stores throughout Germany and Austria (Kristallnacht). These measures aimed at both legal and social segregation of Jews from Germans and Austrians. To justify the murder of the Jews both to the perpetrators and to bystanders in Germany and Europe, the Nazis used not only racist arguments but also arguments derived from older negative stereotypes, including Jews as communist subversives, as war profiteers and hoarders, and as a danger to internal security because of their inherent disloyalty and opposition to Germany. The Nazis effectively used propaganda to win the support of millions of Germans in a democracy and, later in a dictatorship, to facilitate persecution, war, and ultimately genocide. The stereotypes and images found in Nazi propaganda were not new, but were already familiar to their intended audience.
Explain what the ghettos were, their conditions, and their purpose
During the Holocaust, the creation of ghettos was a key step in the Nazi process of brutally separating, persecuting, and ultimately destroying Europe’s Jews. Jews were forced to move into the ghettos, where living conditions were miserable. Ghettos were often enclosed districts that isolated Jews from the non-Jewish population and from other Jewish communities. The Nazis also introduced ghettos due to their false theories that Jews spread diseases and therefore should be segregated to protect the rest of the population. This was in line with their racist and eugenic beliefs.
As a result of their antisemitic ideology, following the invasion of Poland the Nazis developed ghettos to segregate and control Jews.
Explain the conditions of the ghettos
Life in the ghettos was usually unbearable. Overcrowding was common. One apartment might have several families living in it. Plumbing broke down, and human waste was thrown in the streets along with the garbage. Contagious diseases spread rapidly in such cramped, unsanitary housing. People were always hungry. Germans deliberately tried to starve residents by allowing them to purchase only a small amount of bread, potatoes, and fat. Some residents had some money or valuables they could trade for food smuggled into the ghetto; others were forced to beg or steal to survive. During the long winters, heating fuel was scarce, and many people lacked adequate clothing. People weakened by hunger and exposure to the cold became easy victims of disease; tens of thousands died in the ghettos from illness, starvation, or cold. Some individuals killed themselves to escape their hopeless lives.
To be able to explain the purpose of the concentration and extermination camps
In late 1941 and early 1942 the Nazis built camps in occupied Poland whose sole purpose was to kill people on an industrial scale. Belzec, Chełmno, Sobibor, and Treblinka camps were built to murder hundreds of thousands of people using carbon monoxide gas. They were located in heavily wooded areas, away from population centres, but connected to the railway network. On disembarking the trains, victims were ordered to undress and leave their possessions behind, and were directed to a ‘cleaning area’. Any valuables found were stolen for the Nazi war effort. At Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka they were herded into the gas chamber, into which exhaust from tank engines was pumped. The chamber was left sealed for around half an hour. At Chełmno people were murdered in gas vans. The bodies were taken to pits where they were burned. Around two million people were killed in this way – almost nobody survived.
