History Revision Flashcards
Treaty of Versailles - Germany
Second rate power, lost colonies, restrictions on army, lost land, war guilt
Why is the TofV a reason for WW2 for breaking out
Revenge, view treaty as unfair, reversing treaty could upset other countries
What was the USA in 1939
Isolationist
Why was USA an isolationist
Unhappy as WW1 cost them lots of money, lost men, American public didn’t want to get involved (94%) and as America was democratic they became isolationist
Why was USA being isolationist a reason for WW2 breaking out
Biggest world power was not involved in world affairs, if America involved could have deterred Germany from attacking
Wall Street crash what is Wall Street
Stock market
Where is Wall Street
New York
What was the Wall Street crash
New York stock market crashing October 1929, 24-29th October with worst being 29th with 14billion being wiped off, July 1932 89.2% of Dow Jones (us stockmarket had been wiped out
Effect of Wall Street crash on America
Economic depression, even more isolationist
Effect of Wall Street crash on rest of the world
England - less trade with us, dropped the gold standard, unemployment
Italy - became extremists, invaded Ethiopia, became aggressive
Germany - Nazi party voted in, became aggressive
Japan - Invaded part of china, became aggressive
France - began building maginot line
Overall Wall Street crash effect
Caused countries to look inwards so unlikely to help other countries
Unlikely for Br + Fr to combat aggressive power such as Italy and Japan
Gives an opening to get away with more
Wall Street crash led to hitlers rise in power
Wall Street crash was a turning point, gave more opportunity to many countries
Hitlers foreign policy
- Reverse TofV
- Defeat communism
- Lebensraum - living space
- Anschluss - uniting all German speakers
- (hfp explaination for reason 1)
France and Britain will have an issue if hitler goes against it (Alsace and Lorraine back)
Rearmament - worried France with threat of invasion, leading to conflict
- (hfp explanation for reason 2)
To do this will have to invade USSR
- (hfp explaination for reason 3)
Hitler wanted to expand to the east so would invade Poland, Latvia, Czechoslovakia, Russia = conflict
- (hfp explaination for reason 4)
Would have to invade Austria, Sudetenland = conflict
Invasion of Poland - when, what
1st sept 1939 - 6th oct 1939
Allied loss
Beginning of WW2
Division and annexing of Poland
First use of Blitzkreig
Dunkirk - when, what
26th May 1940 - 4th June 1940
Defence and evacuation of British and allied forces to Britain
Allied Loss
Little ships - everyone who had a boat evacuated people
Kept Britain in the war
Battle of Britain - when, what
24th August 1940
Allied win
RAF vs Luftwaffe
Saved Britain so can’t be invaded, keeps them in the war
Spitfire, hurricane, messersmichtt
Invasion of Russia - when, what
22 June 1941
Axis loss
Operation Barbarossa
5.5mil casualties - not including civilians
Initially Germans do well,then lose to the bad weather
Scorched Earth policy, everything was burnt or taken with the Russians
Ikea factories - Russians moved factories further in to keep producing munitions and guns
Allied bombing campaign of Germany - when,what
1939 to 1945
Strategic bombing of railway, harbour, cities, worker and civ homes
No winner, over 1mil casualties each side
Campaign to destroy Germany’s morale
Allied invasion of Italy, when, what
3-17th sept 1943
Followed the defeat of axis powers in North Africa
Churchill wanted to invade Italy to weaken axis power in Mediterranean and open it to allied traffic
Allied victory, surrender of Italy
First invasion of mainland Europe
Beginning of Italian civil war
D Day - when, what
6th June 1944
Largest seaborne invasion in history
Allies invaded Normandy in France with the aim to take the beach in 5 phases
10,000 casualties on first day
Allied victory
War on 3 fronts Russia France Italy
VE Day - when, what
8 may 1945
Victory in Europe day
End of WW2
German surrender
Allied victory
Pearl harbour - when, what
December 7th 1941
Japanese attack on USA (they were neutral at the time)
Allied loss
Roosevelt declared war on Japan, Japanese did not declare war)
230000 civs killed
350 Japanese planes, sunk 180 ships
Battle of Midway - when, what
4-7th June 1942
Naval battle
Occurred as a result of the Doolittle air raid on Tokyo
Japanese loss
4 Japanese carriers destroyed, 1 American destroyed
Iwo Jima - when, what
19th feb - 26th of march 1945
American invasion of Japanese island Iwo Jima
American victory
5 week battle
Atomic bomb -when, what
1st and 6th of August
2 atomic bombs dropped 1 on Hiroshima and 1 on Nagasaki
Effectively ended the war
220000 killed
Only use of atomic weapons in history
70% of building destroyed
Blitzkrieg - when, whay
Means lightning war
Tank, motorised infantry. Penetrate the weak points of the enemy
Luftwaffe provided air support by bombing objectives
Destroyed France and Poland in 4-6 weeks each
All forces used at once
Dunkirk - when, what
Also known as operation dynamo. Involved rescue of 338000 British and French soldiers from Dunkirk between 26th may to 4 June 1940, was a big boost for British morale. Created “Dunkirk spirit” which helped British to fight on. Could argue that Dunkirk could be either a win or a loss as 1.2mil allied soldiers were captured and most of the BEF’s heavy guns and vehicles
Battle of Britain, when, what
1st ever air battle
Stopped the German invasion of Britain and kept them in the war
RAF vs Luftwaffe
Operation sea lion was to follow this (German landing on Briton via sea)
Sea lion would only work if air superiority was gained. It could also intimate Britain into surrendering
July 10th 1940, Luftwaffe attacked British shipping to prevent supplies from reaching Britain
Majority of German airforce was bombers with a handful of fighters (tactic was bombing enemy airstrips to stop the dogfights before they even started)
British were well prepared (dowding system of radar, aircraft, ground defences) radar gave advance warning of German aircraft and fighters easily took out German bombers (slow, big)
8th Aug Germans started bombing and shooting planes down, impacted RAF
September was the British bombing raid in Berlin, key as infuriated hitler causing him to command the Luftwaffe to attack London instead of radar stations and airstrips.
RAF no longer threatened by bombers, were shooting them out of the sky faster then they were produced
Also allowed the Americans to establish a base in Britain
The Schlieffen Plan, when, what
Attempt to avoid war on 2 fronts - attack by Russia and France at the same time by doing a scythe like attack through Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Rest of German army would be sent to stop Russian advance.
If France defeated quickly, Britain and Russia would be unwilling to continue fighting
Was important for France to surrender in as short a time as possible
2nd August 1914, plan was put into operation
German army invaded Luxembourg and Belgium
3rd Sept French army retreated
6th Sept French 6th army attacked German 1st
Alexander Von Kluck moved to meet attack, split the German armies in half
British and French 5th army advanced into the gap
9th Sept Germans retreated
German loss
Why did Schlieffen fail
Belgian Army held them up at Liege
Russia was quick to mobilise
Britain was quick to mobilise
French resistance
Good French tactics
Somme, when, what
1916
Day 1 bloodiest day, 57470 casualties
1/8 of total battle casualties happened on the first day
Issues with battle were underestimating the Germans, German preparations, artillery failed to destroy the barbed wire, British lacked time to destroy German defences
Impact on Britain - DORA
Passed on 8 Aug 1914
Gave the government power to intervene in people’s lives to a level never seen before
Designed to protect sensitive information, maintain morale and maximise protection
Striking outlawed
BST was introduced and wages were lowered
Pub opening times were limited and strength of beer was watered down
Buying binoculars, trespassing on railways or bridges, lighting fireworks or bonfires and talking about military matters in public were all banned
Impacted Britain - lives restricted, more work, no idea what was happening on the frontlines
Impact on Britain - The role of women
Before WW1, women were considered to be within the home, during the war they took over the jobs of men and received wages. Impact on women from munitions factories, unable to have children, got sick, women over 30 were able to vote.
Impact of WW1 - rationing
April 1917, German U boats sinking, one in every four British merchant ships. That was less food so there was less energy and food became more valuable. Less money the economy got worse.
What caused WW1- countries
Germany: Wanted colonies and upset Britain by taking African land, built up armed forces
France: reacted by building up its own armed forces (could make Germany build up theirs)
Br: built up their navy (Germany worried by aggression)
What caused WW1 - the spark
Franz Ferdinand was assassinated (heir to Austrian throne)
Wanted revenge against Serbia (assassins hiding there)
Trench warfare, what
Front line trench, support trench, reserve trench
Concrete block for machine gun, artillery is placed 10km behind front line
Dug outs provide protection, barbed wire stops enemy troops, aircraft can warn allies of enemy troops and vehicles before they arrive.
