WW2 Overview

Question 1

Why was there a second world war?

Answer 1

• Hitler wanted to make Germany a strong and powerful country
• Germany was humiliated after signing the Treaty Of Versailles

Question 2

What were Hitler’s 3 aims?

Answer 2

• Get back the land/ territory they had lost during WW1
• Join together anyone who spoke German into 1 big country called the “Greater German Reich”
• He wanted to expand Germany and take over smaller countries as he believed the Germans were the superior race and needed more living space to reach their full potential.

Question 3

What was the Nazi Foreign Policy?

Answer 3

• Break: Break the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
• Unite: Unite all Germans
• Gain: Gain Lebensraum (living space)

Question 4

How was Germany made stronger?

Answer 4

• Rearmament – build up army/military forces (secretly)
• 1935 – navy, air force and soldiers (500 000) well established. Treaty of Versailles broken -> only allowed 100 000 and very little battleships/force
• Hitler told the world what he was doing, no one did anything as they didn’t want to start another war. (Appeasement)

Question 5

How did Hitler break the terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 5

• 1936 - Hitler sent soldiers into the Rhineland
  (demilitarized zone)
• Hitler began breaking more of the “conditions”
  of the Treaty of Versailles.
• Even though the world was aware of this they
  did nothing.

Question 6

Describe the timeline of WW2.

Answer 6

Sept 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland (official start of the war)
Sept 3, 1939: France and Britain declare war on Germany
Dec 7, 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbour = USA enters the war
Feb 1943: USSR beats Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad
June 6, 1944: D-Day
May 1945: Germans surrender
Aug-Sept 1946: Atomic bombing on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki = Japanese surrender

Question 7

Describe the process of “Blitzkrieg”.

Answer 7

• Germany invaded Poland on the 1 Sept 1939
• New tactic (Blitzkrieg – lightning war)
• Fast moving columns of tanks, soldiers
  and air force attacks
• End of Sept – Poland was overtaken
• Britain and France promised to defend Poland but were too far away to stop the invasion.
• They declared war on Germany

Question 8

Describe the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

Answer 8

• Britain stood alone with only the colonies to help.
• Hitler knew that he had to destroy Britain’s Air Force before invading. He began air raids on military bases.
• Hitler then launched massive night bombing on major cities.

Question 9

Describe Japan’s expansion into China.

Answer 9

• Japan & USA had economic interests in China
• 1930s - Japan had a military fascist government that wanted to expand Japanese territory to access raw
  materials.
• USA wanted to control trade with China
• 1931 - Japan invaded China
• 1938 - USA placed economic sanctions on
  Japan.
• Japan allies with Hitler and Mussolini.
• USA move their naval base to Pearl
  Harbour to deter Japan aggression
  against them

Question 10

When was Italy defeated?

Answer 10

1943.

Question 11

Describe D-Day/Doomsday.

Answer 11

• 1944 - Landing of 160 000 Allied troops in Normandy, France
• Troops from all over America, Britain & Canada.
• 5 000 ships carrying men and vehicles.
• 800 planes dropping 13 000 men.
• 300 planes dropping bombs on German troops.
• After 2 months Paris was liberated

Question 12

Describe the fall of Berlin.

Answer 12

- 1945 - the Soviet Union advanced through
Poland and into Germany in the east
- Hitler had moved into his underground
bunker
- American & French forces invaded from
South, British & Canadians from the west
- Heavy casualties on both sides
- 30th April 1945 Hitler committed suicide
- Germans surrendered 7 May 1945

Question 13

What was the Manhattan Project?

Answer 13

• The Manhattan Project = codename for the
  American-led effort to develop atomic bomb during
  World War 2
• Was started in response to fears that German scientists had been working on a weapon using nuclear technology since the 1930s
• 1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to
  bring together various scientists and military officials working on nuclear research
• July 16, 1945 - in a remote desert location in New
  Mexico, the first atomic bomb was successfully
  detonated

Question 14

Why did the USA drop the atomic bombs on Japan?

Answer 14

• The Bomb cost a lot of money
• They wanted to test it properly
• To avoid further casualties
• To demonstrate power
• Intimidate the USSR and show they were militarily superior.
• To end the war quickly
• Force Japan to surrender
• To get revenge for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour