WW2 1939-1945 Flashcards
Appeasement
The policy of making concessions to the dictatorial powers in order to avoid conflict
How did the allies try to stop Germany before the war
By signing an agreement with hitler. The allies would allow hitler to keep the land his armies had already taken if hitler stopped attacking other countries.
Why did aus enter ww2 and Menzies announcement
Menzie announced on the radio in 1939 that because britain had declared war on Germany ‘Aus is also at war’ - duty to support britain
Significant battles in ww2
Battke of Britain - an air battle, Germany wanted to gain air space over britain by destroying their Air Force
Battle of the coral sea
What happened at singapore
The fall of singapore
- after Malaya had fallen, singapore was directly threatened
- Singapore defence was poorly organised and in feb 1942 the British commander surrender his army to a Japanede force
Kokoda
The Japanese strategy was to take port moesby via a track over the owen Stanley range
Along the track they met aus and we fought against them on the muddy track
How were POWs treated
They were treated very badly and abused in concentration camps
How did aus feel about conscription
The labor party brought it in
They were split in two as some didn’t want it
What happened at pearl harbour
Japanese airplanes made a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy.
It was the attack that forced us into ww2
Did the war reach aus, what happened
Darwin was hit by two Japanese air raids by about 90 bombers with fighter escorts
Wide spread panic
Japan did not have resources to invade aus
Hitler and the holocaust
Nazi war crime
Genocide intended to wipe out European Jews
Mass murder, mass shootings, gassings
Hitler decided that the ‘final solution to the Jewish problem’ would be mass extermination in concentration camps
Why did the war end
Allies crossed into Germany and began the advance in Berlin and it fell. A week later Germany signed an unconditional surrender
Us used nuclear bombs on Japan, which caused them to surrender
Hiroshima / Nagasaki
The U.S. Wanted to develop nuclear bombs before Germany.
The first US test of a nuclear weapon marked the beginning of the nuclear age.
Several US scientists and political and military leaders recommended that the power of nuclear bombs be demonstrated to Japan rather than used on people without warning.
However, the US government decided that its two remaining nuclear bombs would be used.
On 6 August the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima and the US warned Japan of ‘ruin from the air’ if it did not surrender.
On 9 August the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Japan accepted unconditional surrender on 14 August and signed the formal surrender on 2 September.
Many killed, and many years later still dying from radiation sickness. Other victims included children who were born with terrible deformities because their parents had been exposed to radiation.
There is little doubt that the Allies would have suffered enormous casualties in an invasion of Japan or that in such an invasion Japan’s losses would have been greater than those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, many historians argue that the use of nuclear bombs was unnecessary because the Japanese were already seeking ways to negotiate for peace, and a demonstration of the power of nuclear bombs would have convinced them to surrender. In any case, the Japanese were given little time to reach a decision before the second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
