WW2 Summary Notes Ch4 Flashcards
what were the key aspects of totalitarism?
- regines only had one leader with absolute power
- only one ideology allowed
- secret police used extreme measures to instil terror in population
- dictators allowed no dissent;citizens denied human rights
- censorship and propaganda were tools used to control population
- citizens only left with freedom of thought but it was kept to themselves
what was the inflation crisis in germany?
- 1923 ordinary inflation became hyper inflation when germany failed to make reparation payments; french and belgian troops occupied ruhr valley
- german currency lost all value
- gov trashed old mark and any money owned by germans was now worthless
why were germans mad at the inflation crisis?
- french occupied their country
- government allowed their money to disappear
- ppl with money in bank were furious and later became nazis supporters
how did hitler come to power? pt1
- depression deepend, germans believed weimar gov (democracy) could not solve their problems
- drove voters to extreme political allegiances
- 1932 nazis become largest party;but not asked to become parliament
- communist grew popular but middle ppl turned to nazis to stop the growing influence of communists
- late 1932 hitler became chancellor after another election
how did hitler come to power? pt2
- won but did not have majority;frustrated bc unable to pass laws/have more power
- called another election (feb 1933) -dutch communist burned down reichstag (german parliament)
- convinced ppl communist revolution was at hand
- nazis short of majority but hitler outlawed communists out of parliament;got majority
- bullied parliament to give him enabling act to make him powerful
what did the nurmeberg laws mean?
- jews had to wear star of david at all times
- jews lost professional careers and property
- jews could not interact with german population
- jews lost their citizenship
what was hitler now referred to?
-fuhrer (the leader)
what was apart of the five year plan? pt1
- collectivizing farm land by ending all private ownership of land
- land placed in large state owned farms
- former peasants became workers
what was apart of the five year plan? pt2
- invest in construction of heavy industry
- ignored production of consumer goods
- production of building large resource rich industries
what were the fundamental causes of the second world war?
- treaty of versailles
- great depression
- rise of adolf hitler and nazi party
- failure of league of nations
- extreme nationalism
- unwillingness of democratic governments to intervene in places like germany
what was the appeasement crisis regarding czechoslovakia?
- 3mil+ germans included in czech;lived in the west called sudetenland:bordered germany
- hitler wanted the ppl apart of germany
- threatened invasion on oct 1, 1938-br and fr panic
- conference called in munich germany;hitler demanded return of sudetenland-got what he wanted
- czech wishes ignored;PM edvard benes of czech not invited to meeting
- in exchange for czech hitler promised not to invade the remaining portion of czech but failed on march 15 1939 when hitler’s troops invaded the whole of czech and it ceased to exist
what happened at the invasion of poland?
- september 1 1939 nazis invaded poland and ww2 began
- nazis used blitzkrieg tactices to advance through poland with no resistance
- br and fr immediatly declared war on germany
- PM mackenzie king promised consription would never be required-this gained the support from quebec leaders
what happened during the phony war?
- october 1939-april 1940
- everyone expected germany to attack western europe
- prevented by weather
- allied troops and canadians waited for attack
- war was a reality in czechoslovakia, poland, and finland
when did war in western europe start?
- may 1940
- hitler took norway, denmark, belgium and neverlands in spring 1941
what happened in 1940 during the battle of britain?
- german bomber squadron got lost and bombed london civillians accidently
- retaliation br PM winston churchill bombed german city berlin
- hitler mad, abandoned assault on raf airfield and ordered daylight bombing raids on london (blitz)
- stragety shift cost hitler the war
why did germans want to take over lebensraum/spviet union?
- had resources germany desperately needed
- wanted to destroy his ideologist communist rival
what happened in north africa during ww2?
- war in north africa started in sept 1940
- mussolini attacked egypt;german forces went to aid italians
- battle of el amamein culminated for control of egypt
- british won;prevented germans from seizing the suez canal and denied hitler oil from middle east
- british soon joined with US after battle, which they forced germans into retreat in north africa until defeat
why did the allies want to attack/land in sicily?
- to take pressure off soviet allies and divert germans from northwestern europe
- captured in a month
how did the allies take italy?
- allied troops moved into italy penisula
- canadian forces pushed through until germans stopped them at ortona;vicious fighting dec 1943
- germans driven back by fr can unit (vandoos);cans continued to free northern italy
- april 1945 mussolini was captured by italians who were not his army soldiers;him and his wife were hung on streets of milan
- capture of italy led to liberation of europe
- many german troops required to defend italy making many german troops unavailable for defence of france
what was the liberation of neverlands?
- may 5 1945 can forces forced nazis to retreat from neverlands and surrender
- can victory allowed allied troops to continue forwards towards germany
what happend in berlin april 1945?
- american and soviet forces met in germany south of berlin
- soviets turned attention to demolish city
- hitler committed suicide on april 30 1945
what were the events that led up to pearl harbour?
- 1931 jap army invaded manchuria in northern china without government consent
- military conspirators made plans to terrorize civillian gov to force jap to accept martial law
- inner turmoil in jap-PM assasinated;led to fighting and hit squads sent to kill major political figures
- france fall june 1940, hap occupied french indochina;roosevelt froze jap assets in american banks;refused to sell japan any more oil or scrap metal which it desperately needed for war supplies
- jap concluded that war with US was the only solution
what is the battle of leyte gulf?
- in philippines
- americans took whole of japanese fleet;navy sank half
- jap introduced kamikaze suicide technique;pilots would load their planes with expolosives and deliberately tried to crash the planes into american ships committing suicide in the process
what two japanese countries did america capture?
- 1945
- iwo jima and okinawa