WWII (1939-1945)

Question 1

German Aggression
Rhineland

Answer 1

Germany marched into the Rhineland (area bordering France, Belgium, and Netherlands) in 1936, breaking the Treaty of Versailles. This march strengthened Hitler’s power and prestige. The balance of power changed in Germany’s favor since France and Belgium were open for attack.

Question 2

German Aggression
Anschluss

Answer 2

Germany partners with Austria and makes it under their rule, against the treaty of versailles.

Question 3

German Aggression
Munich Conference and appeasement

Answer 3

Hitler demanded Sudetenland (area bordering Czechoslovakia containing majority ethnic Germans) in 1938 because of nationalism. This led to the Munich Conference, where Fr. Germ, Gb, and Italy were trying to keep “peace”. They gave them appeasement for their aggression to not cause issues.

Question 4

German Aggression
Czechoslovakia

Answer 4

Six months after the Munich Conference, Germany takes the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Question 5

German Aggression
Non-aggression pact (1939)

Answer 5

USSR and Germ. Split poland, and don’t attack each other. They were neutral to each other at this time.

Question 6

German Aggression
Poland

Answer 6

Germany invades after the non-aggression pact in 1939 and takes over poland, making USSR super pissed.

Question 7

German Aggression
France

Answer 7

Belgium was the easiest way into france for Germany. Their strategy was Blitzkrieg/Lightning War, where fighter planes scattered enemy troops, disrupted communication, tanks charge into enemy territory. France is forced to surrender poland, austria, norway, denmark, and belgium in early days of war. France falls and is out mechanized. Germany deports “lesser peoples’ to concentration camps.

Question 8

German Aggression
Invasion of USSR (1941)

Answer 8

Germany needs oil. It was guns vs. people. Blitzkrieg didn’t work, but Germany underestimated Russian people’s #’s. Lend-lease act was extended from the US to the soviets and got trucks.

Question 9

Japanese Aggression

Answer 9

Manchuria was rich in iron and coal deposits, things they needed for industrialization. Japanese claim Chinese attacked a railway owned by Japan, and attacked (1931-1932). Chinese nationalists and communists halt their own civil war to fight Japanese. Nationalists stockpile weapons, and communists fight japanese gaining peasant support. They had little success. In 1937, territorial control was essential to japanese survival, using naval/air force bombs on Beijing, moving south to the capital to Nanjing. The rape of Nanjing was when thousands were killed, women raped, murdered soldiers/civilians.

Question 10

England
Battle for Britain

Answer 10

Germany’s Air Force bombs air bases and then heavily populated areas, leading to 40k dying. Bombings, however, gave cities time for the military to rebuild, coming out with superior planes/radars.

Question 11

England
Imperial assistance

Answer 11

They had Gurkha soldiers in Nepal and south-asians.

Question 12

England
US assistance

Answer 12

In 1939, “cash-and-carry” war supply policy to britain, where they pay cash for goods, and british then carry these resources on their own ships. US “lent” destroyer ship/war goods to the Brits, in the lend lease deal of 1941.

Question 13

Governments gain power to win the war
Governments and production

Answer 13

They switch production from consumer goods to war goods, making it a command economy filled with tanks, guns, planes, artillery, destroyers, aircraft carriers, and machine guns. Liberty ships were made in the US, transferring thousands of soldiers and tons of resources/weapons to allies. Women must work in factories to replace men, just like WWI

Question 14

Governments gain power to win the war
Governments and consumers

Answer 14

People had to consume less/ration their money so soldiers could be fed. Government raise money to pay for the war with loans and income taxes. 41% of the war was raised through taxes.

Question 15

Women
During WWII

Answer 15

Women were often raped in Nanjing, 1937, and in Spain under Mussolini. Women had to work in factories to replace men fighting at war.

Question 16

Women
After WWII

Answer 16

Women were finally given some sort of rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Question 17

Germany Loses
Two Front War

Answer 17

Germany, japan, and italy declares war on US, GB, and USSR. They were the Axis powers. Italy then left the axis powers in 1944. The US and Britain invade from the south and the west (France). USSR invades from the east and pushed germans out of Russia.

Question 18

Germany Loses
US production

Answer 18

More people and industrial capacity will with nis war. The US could build more armored cars and liberty ships than the Germans could sink. Creation of sonar, aircraft patrols, escort aircrafts finished the U-boat strategy where they would stay in a larger ship’s shadow and then attack.

Question 19

Germany Loses
Fire bombing

Answer 19

Germany loses factories due to allied bombings around the clock, and lost access to oil. Firebombing of Dresden led to 135,000 germans being cooked in their bomb shelters underground, called D-Day, 1944.

Question 20

Leapfrogging

Answer 20

US leapfrogs from across the pacific, hopping from one island to the other in order to reach Japan. Had multiple different groups of soldiers going from heavily populated military islands close to Japan to take out their army supply quickly before reaching Japan.

Question 21

Yalta Conference

Answer 21

The big three, GB, US, USSR meets in Yalta on how to end the war. US asks for Soviet help, but changes their mind because the US wanted to frighten USSR because of their atomic weapons.

Question 22

Atomic Bomb
Impact on the War

Answer 22

US drops the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan (1945)

Question 23

Reasons for dropping the a-bomb

Answer 23

It would save more American and Japanese soldiers lives than letting the war continue. It was the also intimidate soviets out of E. Europe.

Question 24

Holocaust

Answer 24

It was the Final Solution to eradicate those who Hiteler didn’t like or didn’t fit into the perfect race. This resulted into mass killing fields in Russia, work camps in Austria, concentration camps/killing camps in Poland and Austria, leading to 6 million dead jewish people killed in less than a decade. This led to the Establishment of Israel in 1952 when Jewish people were given a homeland by GB. Poles, Romanis, homosexuals, gay people, disabled people, non-protestants, and Russian POWs.

Question 25

Spanish Civil War and atrocities

Answer 25

Mussolini aids fascists nationalists in Spanish Civil war, 1936-1939, on the side of General Franco, committing mass atrocities. Killed 200+ with a bomb. There were mass shootings, 100k died during the war and 50k after. There were concentration camps (500K), and shaved womens heads and raped them. England, France, and US do nothing because of appeasement

Question 26

Japanese Atrocities

Answer 26

Japan invaded SE Asia and Indonesia, relatively easy and unscathed gathering up islands. Japan attacks the US to get oil in 1941. US freezes Japanese assets in the US, putting embargos on oil/steel. There was an attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7th, 1941, hoping to destroy US naval fleet and secure expansion into SE Asia. Only 8 Carriers were destroyed. Rape of Nanjing where thousands were killed and women were raped. Chinese were used as bayonet practiced and were mowed down with machine guns in pits.

Question 27

FDR’s Atlantic Charter

Answer 27

It laid the groundwork for the united nations. The charter explains how the US and GB wanted the world to look after the war. The document has 14 major ideas like Wilson’s 14 points. People will have freedom from want and fear, enforcing capitalism.

Question 28

Non-governmental organizations
United Nations

Answer 28

It is created in 1945, wanting to keep world peace/security. It came from the Allied cooperation during the war. The general assembly group vote on non-security issues, oversees the UN budget, and elects members to the rotating Security Council. SC has 5 permanent members, 7 alternating. Decisions have to be unanimous. United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China are the permanent states.

Question 29

Non-Governmental Organizations
World Bank

Answer 29

1944, the initial idea was the help rebuild European countries affected by WWII. Its first loan was to France in 1947 for for post-war reconstruction. Then lent out loans to LA, and Africa for large public works, electrical grids, and irrigation systems.

Question 30

Non-Governmental Organizations
International Monetary Fund

Answer 30

The goal was to stabilize exchange rates and assist in the reconstruction of the world’s international payment system. It stabilized the world economy by pooling resources, increasing trade and helping the US.

Question 31

Non-Governmental Organizations
International Court of Justice

Answer 31

“The Hague”. Judicial court of the UN in 1946. It investigates and settles international disputes and prosecutes leaders for war crimes and genocides.

Question 32

Declaration of Human Rights

Answer 32

The west was appalled by atrocities of war and the holocaust. The United nations General Assembly made a common standard achievement of all peoples and nations, some influenced by the Atlantic Charter. It sets out the first fundamental human rights to be universally protected and practiced, and has been translated into over 500 languages.