World War Two

Question 1

How did Hitler’s Mein Kampf help set the stage for WWII.

Answer 1

-It said the all Germans should be together and that they needed more living space.
-Encourage the idea that taking over lands was right and needed to happen

Question 2

What were the first two ways that Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles? What was the Allied response?

Answer 2

-He remilitarized Germany
-Stopped payments to the Allies from WWI
-Nothing

Question 3

How did Hitler take over Austria?

Answer 3

Using threats of invasions to protect Germans from “mistreatment”

Question 4

How did Hitler gain control of the Sudetenland?

Answer 4

Using threats of invasions to protect Germans from “mistreatment.” The Allies met Hitler and agreed not to stop him if he invaded.

Question 5

What was the Munich Conference?

Answer 5

The meeting in Germany in which the French and English agreed to not intervene in Czechoslovakia as long as Hitler promised not to take anything else

Question 6

What was appeasement, and how did it help Hitler be able to take over Europe so quickly?

Answer 6

Giving in to a threat in order to avoid war. It gave Hitler the ability to take over countries that were smaller without anyone stopping him. It also gave him time to build his massive military before the Allies joined.

Question 7

Who were the Axis power? What did they have in common?

Answer 7

Germany, Italy, Japan. They were all fascist dictatorships, that had agreed to expand their empires through war

Question 8

Why was the United States not participating in world affairs?

Answer 8

We had passed laws saying we couldn’t get involved. This was meant to keep us from getting into another war

Question 9

What was the Non-Aggression Pact?

Answer 9

Agreement between Russia and Germany not to attack each other

Question 10

What reasons were the for both Russia and Germany to sign the Pact?

Answer 10

German wouldn’t get a 2-front war, and Russia wouldn’t have any war at all
They secretly agreed to invade Poland together to regain territory lost in WWI

Question 11

What is odd about Hitler and Stalin signing the pact?

Answer 11

Stalin and Hitler hated each other

Question 12

What was the first country the Nazis took over by force?

Answer 12

Poland

Question 13

What does Blitzkrieg mean, and how does it work?

Answer 13

Means “lightning war.” Attacking with planes, followed by tanks, followed by troops at the same time, without warning.

Question 14

What happened at Dunkirk?

Answer 14

The Allied troops were surrounded on a beach, but Hitler allowed them to be rescued by the British Navy and civilians in boats and taken to England. They would later be part of the D-Day invasion.

Question 15

Why was it a positive for the Allies?

Answer 15

It allowed us to save the troops, who participated in the D-Day invasion a few years later.

Question 16

How was it also a disaster for them?

Answer 16

They lost all their supplies and weapons. It also basically gave France to Hitler.

Question 17

Why didn’t Hitler invade Britain?

Answer 17

It is an island, and transporting an entire army by boat was suicide because the British Navy was so good

Question 18

What was his alternative strategy to deal with them?

Answer 18

Bombing them into surrender during the “Battle of Britain”

Question 19

What technology helped to save the British?

Answer 19

Radar

Question 20

Who broke the Non-Aggression Pact?

Answer 20

Germany

Question 21

What is Pearl Harbor? When was it attacked?

Answer 21

It is a navy base in Hawaii
December 7, 1941

Question 22

Why did the Japanese attack us?

Answer 22

They knew we would join anyway, and would beat them. This was an attempt to take us out of the war early before we got fully prepared for a war

Question 23

What was the real target for the Japanese? Were they successful?

Answer 23

Aircraft carriers. No

Question 24

As we were rebuilding our navy, what was Japan doing?

Answer 24

Quickly expanding its empires

Question 25

What are three reasons that Stalingrad had strategic value?

Answer 25

-It sits on the only river into Moscow, so it is important as a way to choke off transportation
-It is near massive oil fields
-It is a large industrial center full of factories making war goods

Question 26

Why did it become symbolic?

Answer 26

It was named after Stalin, so it was important for propaganda

Question 27

Who ends up with control of the city Stalingrad?

Answer 27

Germany

Question 28

What is the Russian response the takeover of stalingrad?

Answer 28

To surround the city and starve the Germans

Question 29

What battle saw the most people killed in history?

Answer 29

Stalingrad

Question 30

How many troops did the Allies pull together to reinvade France, and where did they put them?

Answer 30

3.5 million
England

Question 31

When and what is D-day

Answer 31

June6, 1944. It was the day the Allied countries launched an invasion on the beaches of Northern France.

Question 32

Why was the landing in France a big problem for Hitler?

Answer 32

It was the beginning of another front of the war, when he was already losing to Russia

Question 33

How did Hitler deal with the loss?

Answer 33

committed suicide as war coming to end , did not want to be captured

Question 34

What was the Nanking Massacre?

Answer 34

-When japan invaded china to control the area for resources
-They committed horrific acts of violence against citizens

Question 35

Why did Japan do this?

Answer 35

Told to leave no survivors

Question 36

What is island hopping?

Answer 36

The method the US used to get to Japan. We would skip over less important islands, and cut of supplies to them

Question 37

Why did we not want to invade the Japanese home islands?

Answer 37

It would have been incredibly deadly

Question 38

What did we do instead? One what two cities?

Answer 38

Used atomic bombs against civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to make them surrender

Question 39

How many were killed instantly? How many were killed in the following weeks from radiation poisoning?

Answer 39

100,000 and 300,000

Question 40

What decisions were made at the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 40

Split Europe into two
East- Communist controlled
West- Democratic and capitalist controlled

Question 41

What was the purpose of the Nuremberg Trials?

Answer 41

Attempted to bring justice to the Nazi LEADERSHIP in Germany
Run by the United Nations
Important step towards having an international court to prosecute war crimes and “crimes against humanity”

Question 42

what are the major functions of the United Nations
General Assembly

Answer 42

All countries have a vote in world affairs

Question 43

what are the major functions of the United Nations- economic and social

Answer 43

Economic and Social:
Gives loans to developing countries
Deals with disease outbreaks and health
Helps children in developing countries

Question 44

what are the major functions of the United Nations- security council

Answer 44

Security Council
Can step into conflicts in countries to stop them from escalating into war

Question 45

what are the major functions of the United Nations- international court of justice

Answer 45

Convicts war criminals

Question 46

How did Japan change after World War 2?

Answer 46

The United States took CONTROL of Japan
Forced it to DEMILITARIZE
Lost all COLONIES
EMPEROR had to admit he was not a GOD
A DEMOCRACY was set up
Became ALLIES with the US during the COLD WAR

Question 47

What problems did post-war Europe face?

Answer 47

Lack of homes, jobs, power, food, sanitation, medicine, transportation, etc.

Question 48

How did the end of WWII set up future conflicts between the US and Russia?

Answer 48

Russia and the US were the only remaining powers. They wanted to use Europe as a buffer, and make them Communists. We wanted to use Europe as trade partners and make them capitalists and democratic.