WWII Flashcards
What were the two main causes of WWII
- Mistreatment of Germany in the Versailles treaty
2. The Great Depression leads to the rise of dictators in Europe
The Great Depression began with what event?
The stock market crash
Name three extreme forms of government that arose in Europe before or after the Great Depression
- Communism - Russia/Soviet Union
- Nazism - Germany
- Militarism - japan
What was the main factor that allowed these forms of government to come to power
Dictators promised to get countries out of the depression and bring prosperity
What two promises did hitler give to the German people if they elected him
- To bring prosperity to Germany
2. Revenge for the Versailles treaty
Name three beliefs these governments shared in common
- Demanded fanatic loyalty to their leaders
- Racism- superiority over all other races
- Totalitarian states where government controls everything
List six or more groups that the Nazis considered to be undesirables
- Polish
- Handicapped
- Homosexuals
- Gypsies
- Jews
- Blacks
- Jehovah witnesses
What was the League of Nations response to the aggressive actions of Japan, Italy, and Germany?
Nothing, they feared another war
What event was used by hitler as a dress rehearsal for World War Two
Spanish civil war
Why did Great Britain and France appease or give in to hitlers demands at the Munich pact
They wanted to avoid war
Why were German Jews refused asylum into countries in the 1930s?
Because other countries were more focused on their citizens and trying to recover from the Great Depression
What is the name of the brainwashed group of German young people who were fanatically loyal to Hitler
Hitler youth (HJ)
What country did hitler consider a mongrel race
America
What country other than Germany was one that hitler respected? Why did he respect their country?
Japan, because they were mutuals
Name the four major Allied powers of WWII
Soviet Union, France, USA, Great Britain
Name the three major axis powers of WWII
Italy, Japan, Germany
What was the code name for the invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
What was the code name for D-Day, the battle of Normandy
Operation overlord
Define Anti-Semitism
Hatred of Jews
What were Jewish people forced to wear to segregate them
The Star of David
Nazis political/racial ideology in Adolf hitlers book called
Mein Kampf
The ___________ was a demilitarized buffer zone between Germany and France that was occupied by hitler in 1936
Rhineland
What was the importance of the Battle of Britain
It boosted American morale and made them more determined to fight
The _________ airmen were the first black service men to serve as military pilots in WWII
Tuskegee
What were the three major results of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
- US entered the war
- unites USA - wants revenge
- Internment camps
What reason did the US give for putting Japanese Americans in internment camps? What was the real reason.
- reason - national security
2. Real reason - fear and prejudice
What four things did hitler do in his final solution to rid Europe of the Jewish nation
- Immigration
- Mobile deaths quads
- Ghettos
- Concentration/death camps
What event did 16,000 Americans and Filipino soldiers died on their way to a POW camp
The Bataan death march
Name and give a brief description of the three different types of concentration camps
- POW camps: (stalags) - help prisoners of war mostly in Germany. Most prisoners survived
- Work camps: used slave labor to help the German war effort! - factories, mines, etc, many worked to death! Mostly in Germany
• Dachau was the most infamous one - Death camps: used to exterminate people! All six were located in Poland! Auschwitz was the most infamous! (1.1 million died)
Why did the USA decide to use the atomic bomb rather than invading the country?
It would spare lives
List the results of WWII
- The Cold War
- Israel becomes a homeland for Jews
- Nuclear age
- 60 million people died
- Great Britain lost its empire
