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Germany and West Germany (1918-89) > World War Two > Flashcards

World War Two Flashcards

1
Q

What 3 stages were there to the war for Germany?

A
  • Victory from 1939 to 1941
  • Stalemate in 1942
  • Defeat from 1943 to 1945
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2
Q

What victories did Germany experience from 1939 to 1941?

A
  • They quickly conquered Poland, Belgium, Holland and France
  • They forced the British army to retreat and leave France
  • The first few months of the invasion of the USSR was successful
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3
Q

What tactic did the German army use to quickly invade countries, and how did it work?

A
  • Blitzkrieg
  • Areas would be bombed to damage the military as much as possible
  • Tanks would then deal with any resistance left, and would be followed by the army
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4
Q

What happened in 1942?

A
  • The Germans failed to make significant gains in Russia
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5
Q

What happened from 1943 to 1945?

A
  • The German army faced big defeats in Russia
  • In 1944 and 1945, Russian troops advanced from the east while British and American troops advanced from the west
  • Germany had to surrender in May 1945
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6
Q

What were 3 key features of the Nazi government during the war?

A
  • Administrative chaos
  • The growing power of the SS
  • Lawlessness and radicalisation
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7
Q

Why was there administrative chaos during the war?

A
  • Hitler increasingly withdrew from daily administration as the war progressed
  • The chaos that already existed in the government therefore worsened
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8
Q

Give 2 examples of chaos in the government during the war.

A
  • Bormann used his power to refuse Göring and Goebbels access to Hitler
  • Even in the last days of the war, Bormann and Goebbels used their influence over Hitler to turn him against Himmler and Göring
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9
Q

What were 4 reasons why the SS became more powerful during the war?

A
  • It took over more of the government administration
  • Its members increased from 240,000 in 1939 to over a million in 1944
  • The SS took over the administration of occupied areas
  • The SS built and ran death camps
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10
Q

Why was there increased lawlessness during the war? Give an example of this.

A
  • The fact that the country was at war was used to justify actions with no legal basis
  • Secrecy was increased
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11
Q

Give 2 examples of radicalisation during the war.

A
  • The Final Solution (killing all of Europe’s Jews)
  • The SS carried out a racial war against Poles, Slavic and Roma people
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12
Q

In what 2 ways was control maintained during the war?

A
  • Gauleiters were given additional powers
  • The Nazis tried to set up some bodies to govern
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13
Q

List 3 extra powers given to Gauleiters during the war.

A
  • They were given the role of Reich Defence Commissioners, which gave them more control over the people
  • They ran the Home Front, including rationing and the Volkssturm (Home Guard)
  • In 1944 they were given control over the local bureaucracy
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14
Q

Give an example of Nazis trying to set up bodies in order to govern the country effectively.

A
  • The Committee of Three brought together senior figures from the government, the party and the army
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15
Q

What happened to the Committee of Three?

A
  • Hitler himself limited its power as he disliked group meetings
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16
Q

Give 4 details on how the regime treated Poland once they had taken over it.

A
  • The people were used for slave labour
  • Polish leaders were shot so they would not become a focus for resistance
  • There were Germanisation programmes
  • Half a million ethnic Germans from the USSR and the Baltic states went to Western Poland, and Poles were deported east to make space for them
17
Q

What were 2 reasons why people continued to support the Nazis throughout the war?

A
  • The German army quickly conquered parts of Europe
  • The Nazis ensured that there was enough food so that rations were big enough
18
Q

What was the turning point in the war for Germany? What were 2 reasons why?

A
  • Turning on the USSR
  • When the Red Army did not lose as quickly as they had predicted, Germany had to fight a war on two fronts
  • This was worsened even further when the USA joined the war in December 1941
19
Q

What were 3 reasons why support for the Nazis decreased during the war?

A
  • Defeats
  • Living conditions deteriorated
  • Allied bombing destroyed cities
20
Q

Once Germany was losing the war, what were 5 aspects of life for regular Germans?

A
  • Large numbers of boys as young as 16 were conscripted from 1944
  • Rationing was introduced (before Germany had been taking food from occupied territories)
  • Children were evacuated from cities
  • Shops that did not contribute to the war effort were banned
  • The myth that the army was invincible was starting to disappear, and resistance was starting to grow
21
Q

How well could Nazi government function in 1945? Give 2 details.

A
  • Central ministries had to leave Berlin due to bombing, which made it harder for them to do their job
  • From April 1945, the destruction of roads and power supplies made it hard for different parts of the government to communicate
22
Q

What did Hitler do towards the end of the war?

A
  • After the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944 and started to move towards Berlin, he moved into his bunker along with trusted staff, Eva Braun and the Goebbels family
  • He married Eva Braun on 30th April 1945, and they committed suicide on the same day
  • Goebbels and his family committed suicide the following day (committing suicide to avoid capture by the Allies was common amongst the Nazis)
  • Russian troops had control of Berlin soon after, which meant that the Nazi regime was over
23
Q

What happened to the German government after Hitler’s death?

A
  • He was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, who attempted to negotiate peace with Britain and the USA
  • However, the Allies continued to fight as they wanted an unconditional surrender
  • Unconditional surrender was agreed to on 7th May 1945
24
Q

What was the German economy like in 1939?

A
  • It was very inefficient and unable to support a war
25
Q

What happened as a result of the poor state of Germany’s economy from 1939 to 1941?

A
  • In 1940 Germany was unable to replace the planes lost in the Battle of Britain, and therefore could not take Britain out of the war
26
Q

How was it possible for the failures of the German economy in the early stages of the war to be overlooked?

A
  • The Nazis were able to economically exploit the countries they had rapidly invaded
27
Q

List 3 reasons why the German economy could not support a war in 1939.

A
  • Chaotic nature of government
  • Göring was unable to effectively control the economy
  • Impossible nature of Nazi military plans
28
Q

In what 2 ways did the polycratic government prevent the economy from working effectively?

A
  • The Office of the Four Year Plan, the Ministry of Economics, the army, navy, airforce and War Ministry were all organising war production
  • In 1940, Hitler appointed Fritz Todt as minister of arms and munitions (to organise war production)
  • Todt needed centralised control and wanted to reorganise, but couldn’t force the other Nazis to accept this
29
Q

What were 2 reasons why Göring couldn’t effectively control the economy?

A
  • He had multiple important positions, but refused to delegate work as this could have weakened his position
  • He was also in charge of the Luftwaffe, so favoured it when allocating resources
30
Q

Give an example of a target that Hitler had that was practically impossible.

A
  • He wanted to increase the size of the Luftwaffe to 21,000
  • The most planes it ever reached was 5000
31
Q

Who replaced Todt, and when?

A
  • Albert Speer
  • 1942
32
Q

What did Speer do differently to his predecessors?

A
  • He persuaded Hitler to pass a decree that made arms production the top economic priority, which gave him full authority over the economy
33
Q

List 6 measures introduced by Speer.

A
  • He set up a Central Planning Board to distribute raw materials
  • He introduced modern production methods like production lines
  • He made greater use of the employment of women
  • He used more concentration camp labour
  • He prevented the conscription of skilled workers
  • He standardised ammunition
34
Q

Give 2 figures on how successful Speer was.

A
  • He tripled production between 1942 and 1944
  • Ammunition production increased by 97%
35
Q

List 4 problems the German economy faced as Germany continued to lose the war.

A
  • Allied bombing destroyed infrastructure
  • Land that had provided the economy with raw materials was being lost
  • Damage to electricity, gas and water supplies
  • Sabotage by foreign workers
36
Q

What happened as a result of the damage to German infrastructure during the war?

A
  • By the end of 1944, it was no longer possible for the economy to produce enough armaments
  • Economic production began to collapse in 1945
37
Q

What 3 things were censored during the war?

A
  • The defeat at Stalingrad (the turning point in the war for Germany)
  • The Final Solution
  • The T4 euthanasia programme
38
Q

How effective were newspapers during the war? Give 2 details.

A
  • The government maintained production of them until the end of the war (2 days before Hitler’s suicide) to try to keep morale high
  • By 1943, the people could tell that the stories in them had very little resemblance to the truth, and so they relied on rumours instead

Germany and West Germany (1918-89) (26 decks)

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