World War II (World History)

Question 1

How Axis Expansion caused the war:
(Writing)

Answer 1

German, Japan, and Italy took over countries/territories without being punished. Lack of punishment gave the Axis countries the courage to start a war and made them more powerful.

Question 2

The Role of the Allies in causing WW2
(Writing)

Answer 2

Allies let the Axis powers build up their militaries and expand their territories without punishment because of appeasement. Allies did not prepare for battle, so when the war started, they could not stop it. The US had a policy of isolationism which allowed Axis powers to gain power because the US did not get involved.

Question 3

Appeasement

Answer 3

Policy of Great Britain to give in to demands in order to maintain peace in Europe.

Question 4

Nonaggression Pacts

Answer 4

Mutual promise between the Soviet Union and Germany that they would not attack one another and they would divide Poland.

Question 5

Blitzkrieg

Answer 5

“Lightning war” - A form of warfare in which surprise attacks from fast-moving airplanes are followed by massive attacks with infantry forces - Hitler’s idea.

Question 6

What caused Great Britain and France to finally declare war on Germany?

Answer 6

Hitler invaded Poland.

Question 7

Name the Allies

Answer 7

Great Britain, France, US, and Soviet Union.

Question 8

Name the Axis Powers

Answer 8

Japan, Italy, and Germany.

Question 9

Rescue at Dunkirk

Answer 9

Allied troops trapped by Germans at Dunkirk. British Royal Navy and civilians in private boats rescued 338,000 Allied troops.

Question 10

Details of Battle of Britain

Answer 10

German Luftwaffe attacked England. Won by British because of the Royal Air Force. Important because it showed Hitler could be defeated in battle.

Question 11

Name of the German Airforce

Answer 11

Luftwaffe.

Question 12

Name 2 technologies that made in British successful in the Battle of Britain.

(Writing)

Answer 12

Radar - the RAF knew when the Germans were going to attack, how many there were, and from what direction.

The Enigma Machine - The Germans’ code machine that had been smuggled into Britain, so the British could decode German messages.

Question 13

Why did Mussolini attack Egypt?

Answer 13

In order to take control of the Suez canal from Britain.

Question 14

Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps

Answer 14

Known as the “Desert Fox,” he successfully led the German tank corps in Africa until he was defeated by British and American forces.

Question 15

Atlantic Charter

Answer 15

A declaration issued in August 1941 by British prime minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt showed their connection before the US entered the war.

Question 16

Details of Pearl Harbor

Answer 16

Took place on December 7, 1941. Japan launched a surprise attack on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Question 17

Turning points in the war in the Pacific

Answer 17

The battles of Coral Sea and Midway

Question 18

Island-hopping

Answer 18

US strategy of moving from one island to the next, capturing them and moving closer to Japan.

Question 19

Holocaust (targeted groups, details of concentration/death camps, how many killed?)

(Writing)

Answer 19

The main group targeted was the Jews. Jews were sent to concentration camps or death camps, used as slave labor, used in medical experiments, or killed in gas chambers. Germans killed 5-6 million Jews, which was 2/3 European Jews.

Question 20

Aryan

Answer 20

The group of people Hitler believed was the “master race” who created culture.

Question 21

Kristallnacht

Answer 21

The “Night of Broken Glass” where Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues were destroyed by the Nazis. It prompted many Jews to leave Germany.

Question 22

Ghettos

Answer 22

Prior to the Final Solution of the Holocaust, Jews were forced to live in ghettos: small, closed communities with limited resources where Hilter hoped they would die of natural causes.

Question 23

Final Solution

Answer 23

Hitler’s idea to eliminate the Jews by murdering them when life in the ghettos was too slow at eliminating them.

Question 24

Genocide

Answer 24

A systematic killing of a group of people.

Question 25

Battle of Stalingrad

Answer 25

The Germans were defeated by the Soviets because the Germans were frostbitten and starving, which allowed the Soviets to start pushing toward Germany.

Question 26

D-Day

Answer 26

The Allied invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 that led to a break in the German front and gave the allies a foothold in France.

Question 27

Battle of the Bulge

Answer 27

Germans moved into the Ardennes (a forest) and broke through the American defenses. As the Germans pushed forward it caused a “bulge” in the Allied lines, but the Germans were eventually pushed back.

Question 28

Kamikazes

Answer 28

Japanese suicide pilots that attempted to sink Allied ships by crash-driving bomb-filled planes into them.

Question 29

Tokyo Bombing and firestorm

Answer 29

US dropped incendiary bombs. Dry, windy conditions spread the flames which turned into a firestorm, destroying almost 16 square miles of the densely populated city and killed between 80,000 and 100,000.

Question 30

Dropping the Atomic Bombs and Japan’s Unconditional Surrender

(Writing)

Answer 30

The US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and devasted both cities. The bombs killed tens of thousands instantly, leveled the cities, it was the most destructive weapon ever used in warfare, and forced the Japanese to realize they could not fight against such a weapon. The Japanese then surrendered. WW2 ended.